A SUCCESS.
Rose and I have had a rather pleasant weekend, despite it being full of worry and serious conversations. However, Jackie and Tony being in a safe house does make it a lot easier to relax a little. We've spent half the time trying to pretend Torchwood isn't out to get us, and the remaining half the time making plans for the future and for what we're going to do now.
Those plans can be summed up as follows:
I have also been working on a little project using some odds and ends from the hotel room, my pockets and the car. If Torchwood thought they could mess with our phones, let's see how they like it in reverse.
Using this, we will be able to phone any number and obtain a recording of the last 24 hours of calls (give or take a couple of hours depending on the power). Of course, if they're half way smart we won't be able to find any good information from publicly available phone numbers, but it's worth a try. Oh, and when we've obtained the recording, there's the option to wipe the phone and render it useless, but that's probably a bit petty of me. We can also make untraceable calls that can't be tapped.
I know! I'm a genius!
Let's just say, when it comes to making things out of laboratories and special rooms in the TARDIS, I've learned a few things over the past eleven months. Namely, that a waterproof material should be put down if the bed is being used as a work surface. Nothing ruins the mood more than lying down in something sticky and/or corrosive. So-
Oh blimey! The container in the sink just exploded! Back in a sec!
Right, back. Let that be a lesson to any amateur chemists out there (not that I'm an amateur, of course): if you need to mix some chemicals that produce gas in a sealed environment, don't wander off and forget about the container until the pressure gets so high the lid explodes!
Anyway, I was able to save most of the substance that just exploded, which is good, because I'll need it in a second.
Back to my project. The first step was to test the reactions of the chemicals I'd need to power the thing. Obviously I don't have access to a lab, so I'm making do with what I can find.
I'm not naming what I used because I don't want any of you lot creating temporal phone tappers, but the chemical in the tupperware reacts with water and had to be ground up. It somehow managed to get under my glasses and into my eye, reacting with the water in that. Perhaps I should invest in some proper goggles, since this human body isn't nearly as tolerant for pain as I'm used to being.
The second chemical acts as a stabiliser, to ensure the whole thing doesn't go too far. I hope.
Then, to test, I put a solution in a wine glass and added my powder on top.
This gave me something that looked a bit like a trifle. Doesn't taste nearly as nice, though. Trust me.
The final step in the chemical test involved adding another solution, the water in which made the powder react and the other chemicals (once again, unnamed) gave me the energy I need.
Once the mixture has been left, the reaction dies down. Therefore, we have to be careful our telephone conversations don't last too long (about 20 mins or so) or else it'll be traceable.
It smells worse than it looks, by the way. A lot worse, since it still looks almost edible.
Next, I needed to gather what I'd need. As well as a few bits of circuit I already had in my pockets, I needed a mobile phone and a nice clock to pull apart. Fortunately the hotel we're in had a clock for me to use.
The inside of a clock is neither particularly exciting nor particularly complicated. However, the metal outer structure and glass front gave me what I needed to actually conduct the proper reaction in it (the test wine glass was nowhere near big enough). Unfortunately, glass and metal were separate and most definitely not watertight.
This called for blue tack and a copious amount of the nail polish I acquired from Jackie last time I visited the Tyler mansion. The pink is amazingly bright, but it's good for making things watertight.
The insides of the clock - mostly just a lot of useless cogs and things! There were only a couple of bits I needed.
Assembling everything where needed gave me:
I also had to prepare a container for it, so it can be easily transported. This involved more careful waterproofing, since if the concentration of the chemicals is wrong, the bed may never be the same. I don't think we're planning on sleeping in it again because we're off tonight, but it seems a bit unfair to the next couple here.
Finally, putting it all together.
The phone is for making the calls, obviously. And I need to add the solution to both what was the front of the clock and the plastic bag with a little more of the chemical in the bottom. I sense this might get messy.
And now to actually set off the chemical reaction so Rose can phone her mother safely.
First I added a tea enhanced solution to the smaller amount of powder in the bag, then placed it carefully into the clock face.
It bubbled up rather nicely, and began to react with the powder in the clock face.
THEN, I added the pure solution (without the tea) to the clock face to speed that reaction up. This produced the right amount of power so Rose could phone Jackie.
ROSE WAS ON THE PHONE AS I TOOK THIS PICTURE.
This is what it looks like now. It should be good for a bit more mother-daughter conversation. But I'd better keep monitoring the reaction so I can't speak to Jackie myself. What a pity.
RESULTS OF THIS: a success! :D And a minimal amount of mess. Although I think I'm slightly high on Jackie's nail polish and various other chemicals. Rose tells me I keep giggling, but I don't actually remember doing it.
If we keep the shoebox safe, I should be able to replenish the chemicals as necessary to reproduce the reaction. This means we can phone people occasionally, but also that we should try and get on the phone with some shady looking people from Torchwood so we can obtain their conversations.
Now I'm off to get some fresh air because this room feels a bit weird. I'm not sure the walls are supposed to be moving like that...
Those plans can be summed up as follows:
- We're moving on to a new location tonight (and every few days thereafter) to keep us as safe as possible from being recognised. We're going to continue to do this until we have some more information about what it is Torchwood wants and how much they know, and if it is even Torchwood that's behind all this.
- Once we've sorted this all out, Rose isn't going back to Torchwood. We have plans! :D We're not sure of the details yet, and we're not concentrating on that just yet, but things will definitely be getting better!
I have also been working on a little project using some odds and ends from the hotel room, my pockets and the car. If Torchwood thought they could mess with our phones, let's see how they like it in reverse.
Using this, we will be able to phone any number and obtain a recording of the last 24 hours of calls (give or take a couple of hours depending on the power). Of course, if they're half way smart we won't be able to find any good information from publicly available phone numbers, but it's worth a try. Oh, and when we've obtained the recording, there's the option to wipe the phone and render it useless, but that's probably a bit petty of me. We can also make untraceable calls that can't be tapped.
I know! I'm a genius!
Let's just say, when it comes to making things out of laboratories and special rooms in the TARDIS, I've learned a few things over the past eleven months. Namely, that a waterproof material should be put down if the bed is being used as a work surface. Nothing ruins the mood more than lying down in something sticky and/or corrosive. So-
Oh blimey! The container in the sink just exploded! Back in a sec!
Right, back. Let that be a lesson to any amateur chemists out there (not that I'm an amateur, of course): if you need to mix some chemicals that produce gas in a sealed environment, don't wander off and forget about the container until the pressure gets so high the lid explodes!
Anyway, I was able to save most of the substance that just exploded, which is good, because I'll need it in a second.
Back to my project. The first step was to test the reactions of the chemicals I'd need to power the thing. Obviously I don't have access to a lab, so I'm making do with what I can find.
I'm not naming what I used because I don't want any of you lot creating temporal phone tappers, but the chemical in the tupperware reacts with water and had to be ground up. It somehow managed to get under my glasses and into my eye, reacting with the water in that. Perhaps I should invest in some proper goggles, since this human body isn't nearly as tolerant for pain as I'm used to being.
The second chemical acts as a stabiliser, to ensure the whole thing doesn't go too far. I hope.
Then, to test, I put a solution in a wine glass and added my powder on top.
This gave me something that looked a bit like a trifle. Doesn't taste nearly as nice, though. Trust me.
The final step in the chemical test involved adding another solution, the water in which made the powder react and the other chemicals (once again, unnamed) gave me the energy I need.
Once the mixture has been left, the reaction dies down. Therefore, we have to be careful our telephone conversations don't last too long (about 20 mins or so) or else it'll be traceable.
It smells worse than it looks, by the way. A lot worse, since it still looks almost edible.
Next, I needed to gather what I'd need. As well as a few bits of circuit I already had in my pockets, I needed a mobile phone and a nice clock to pull apart. Fortunately the hotel we're in had a clock for me to use.
The inside of a clock is neither particularly exciting nor particularly complicated. However, the metal outer structure and glass front gave me what I needed to actually conduct the proper reaction in it (the test wine glass was nowhere near big enough). Unfortunately, glass and metal were separate and most definitely not watertight.
This called for blue tack and a copious amount of the nail polish I acquired from Jackie last time I visited the Tyler mansion. The pink is amazingly bright, but it's good for making things watertight.
The insides of the clock - mostly just a lot of useless cogs and things! There were only a couple of bits I needed.
Assembling everything where needed gave me:
I also had to prepare a container for it, so it can be easily transported. This involved more careful waterproofing, since if the concentration of the chemicals is wrong, the bed may never be the same. I don't think we're planning on sleeping in it again because we're off tonight, but it seems a bit unfair to the next couple here.
Finally, putting it all together.
The phone is for making the calls, obviously. And I need to add the solution to both what was the front of the clock and the plastic bag with a little more of the chemical in the bottom. I sense this might get messy.
And now to actually set off the chemical reaction so Rose can phone her mother safely.
First I added a tea enhanced solution to the smaller amount of powder in the bag, then placed it carefully into the clock face.
It bubbled up rather nicely, and began to react with the powder in the clock face.
THEN, I added the pure solution (without the tea) to the clock face to speed that reaction up. This produced the right amount of power so Rose could phone Jackie.
ROSE WAS ON THE PHONE AS I TOOK THIS PICTURE.
This is what it looks like now. It should be good for a bit more mother-daughter conversation. But I'd better keep monitoring the reaction so I can't speak to Jackie myself. What a pity.
RESULTS OF THIS: a success! :D And a minimal amount of mess. Although I think I'm slightly high on Jackie's nail polish and various other chemicals. Rose tells me I keep giggling, but I don't actually remember doing it.
If we keep the shoebox safe, I should be able to replenish the chemicals as necessary to reproduce the reaction. This means we can phone people occasionally, but also that we should try and get on the phone with some shady looking people from Torchwood so we can obtain their conversations.
Now I'm off to get some fresh air because this room feels a bit weird. I'm not sure the walls are supposed to be moving like that...