Fic: Full Disclosure
Title: Full Disclosure
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Nosy, OCs.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Set after Children of Earth, but everyone survived.
Summary: Her Majesty decides the time has come for Torchwood to step out of the shadows and into the light, and that means informing the world about the existence of aliens as well.
Word Count: 2214
Written For: Challenge 180: Disclosure at beattheblackdog.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
After the whole 456 debacle, once the worst of the mess had been straightened out and the guilty parties appropriately dealt with, Her Majesty had decided that for good or ill, the only way forward for Torchwood lay in full disclosure. If, God forbid, the 456 ever returned, or if another alien race came along threatening the entire planet, the people of earth needed to know they were defended, and by whom.
Hiding in the shadows made the small organisation vulnerable to unscrupulous individuals in positions of power, as had been proven by recent events. If people knew exactly who Torchwood were and what they did, if they were out in the open, then perhaps they would be able do their job more efficiently the next time they had a serious crisis to deal with. For one thing, there would be no need for the team to be so small if they didn’t have to keep their existence a closely guarded secret. It had become apparent that the Rift itself had grown more active in recent years; Torchwood wouldn’t have to spread themselves so thin if they could employ a few more field operatives to help with the increasing workload.
There was widespread panic when the announcement was made of course; that was inevitable. Learning that alien races had been visiting earth for some time, often with less than friendly intentions, was bound to cause some alarm amongst the general public, as was the fact that the various governments had been doing their best to cover up such incursions. No one liked learning they’d been lied to, especially not over matters involving their own safety and security.
But the fear was tempered by gratitude because, despite being forced into hiding by their own government’s attempts at assassinating them to prevent them from ‘interfering’, the Torchwood team had not given up. They’d kept fighting against almost insurmountable odds, had put their lives on the line without a second thought, and they’d won. No one was under any illusion that if the valiant Torchwood agents hadn’t found a way to defeat the 456, thousands of families across the globe would have been mourning the loss of their children, and that was more than reason enough for parents everywhere to be grateful.
In every nation the seven members of Torchwood Three were being acclaimed as heroes, dedicated defenders of earth and ALL its peoples, not merely those who lived in one little corner of the British Isles, where the small band were based. Not only that, but hundreds of people around the world were now sending in applications to join the organisation, wanting to help defend their planet from alien threats.
That led inevitably to another problem for Torchwood because they were dedicated to defending aliens from humans as well as the other way around. They couldn’t take the chance that the lives of innocent, peaceful beings from other worlds might be put in jeopardy through ignorance and blind fear. Just because someone wasn’t an earth native didn’t automatically make them a threat to humanity. That was an issue that needed to be addressed as soon as possible, in order to avoid any unfortunate incidents that might hamper the future development of peaceful relations between earth and the wider universe.
“We understand everyone’s fear and concern,” Ianto Jones, Torchwood’s second in command told the press in an interview outside Buckingham Palace. “Our whole planet has just been through an extremely traumatic experience and everyone’s nerves are understandably still on edge. Frankly, I’d be surprised if they weren’t. It’s going to take us all a while to come to terms with what happened, myself and the rest of the Torchwood team included. My own niece and nephew were among the children being rounded up to be handed over to the 456.” He paused for a moment, letting that sink in. “But the truth is, hostile and dangerous alien races are in the minority. Most aliens are friendly and quite charming, although many look rather peculiar from our point of view. That’s something everyone will have to get used to, and it won’t be easy. Humans have a lot to learn before we can take our place as part of the Galactic Confederation. We’re still a very young race by galactic standards.”
“But the press release said the 456 weren’t the first aliens to attack earth,” someone in the mass of reporters shouted, a statement rather than a question.
Ianto nodded. “Yes, it’s true that earth has come under threat several times in the last sixty or seventy years, although most of those incursions were by small bands of hostile aliens. They were dealt with very quickly, quietly, with minimal damage, and in most cases without any loss of human life. It’s worth noting that our planet does in fact have protected status, enforced by the Shadow Proclamation, sort of an intergalactic police force, but unfortunately not all races are willing to respect that. We also have a protector, an alien known as the Doctor, who helps us whenever he can, but understandably he can’t do everything for us, nor should he be expected to. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t be everywhere at once; he’s only one person, and he does have other responsibilities.”
“Have you met this Doctor? What does he look like?” The question came from one of the reporters toward the back of the crowd.
“I have met him on a number of occasions, and as for what he looks like, if you passed him on the street, you’d never know he was an alien. Some races from other planets look very much like we do, while others are completely different, but it’s important to remember that the majority are peaceful, civilised, good people.”
“Why don’t those kinds of aliens visit us?” another reporter asked.
“For several reasons. First and foremost, as I said earlier, earth has protected status; it is our right to develop in our own way and at our own pace, free from outside interference. Because of that, other races are prohibited from coming here. That’s for their own safety as well as to make sure the evolution and technological development of the human race can follow its natural course. It’s a shameful fact, but humanity as a whole does not display a great deal of tolerance even for those of our own kind who are different in any way, whether that’s down to skin colour, nationality, religion, sexuality, gender, social class…” He trailed off with a sad sigh. “We even discriminate against each other because of age, weight, physical disabilities… How do you think we’d treat someone who has tentacles instead of arms, or two heads, or scales instead of skin, feathers instead of hair? Would people take the time to get to know them, learn to understand them and focus on their similarities rather than their differences, or would they be attacked on sight, feared and hated merely for not being human?”
There was a lot of murmuring from the crowds of civilians listening from beyond the palace gates.
“What we have to remember is that as strange, and even scary, as the various alien races might look to us, we look just as strange and unnatural to them. The difference is, most of them are willing to overlook our physical differences, accept us just as we are, another of nature’s many and varied evolutionary miracles. They might not find us pleasant to look at, but they won’t judge us for that. Can all of you say the same, that if you encountered someone who looked completely alien that you wouldn’t react with hatred and violence?”
An uncomfortable silence ensued as people looked at each other, shuffling their feet awkwardly. Ianto let a few moments pass before nodding.
“That’s what I thought. We still have a long way to go before we can consider ourselves civilised enough to earn a place in the wider galactic community, but we will get there. As I’ve already mentioned, compared to other races, ours is still in its infancy. We are very young and still learning about ourselves, but that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Most races are billions of years older than we are, but they all had to go through a similar evolutionary process to ours. When it comes right down to it, we’re not so very different.”
“Have any of these really alien but friendly… uh… people ever come to earth?” another voice called from off to one side.
“Yes, in fact there have been quite a lot. Most have arrived by accident, either because they lost their way and were unfortunate enough to crash here, or because they were accidentally sucked trough a Rift in space and time that runs through Cardiff. Torchwood’s primary function is to monitor this Rift and deal with anything that comes through. Mostly, what we get is a load of old rubbish; broken tech, bits of spaceships, things like that. The Rift doesn’t discriminate, it just sucks things up at random and then ejects them, a bit like a faulty vacuum cleaner. But sometimes we get alien plants, or animals, and occasionally sentient beings who need our help to get home. Occasionally advance scouts for an invasion force will arrive by spaceship, or come through the Rift, but we’re very efficient at dealing with such incursions. They never get very far.”
“Are there any aliens on earth at the moment?” a reporter in the front row wanted to know.
Ianto smiled; this was the opportunity he’d been hoping for.
“Yes, there are a few, creatures and beings who, for whatever reason, we were unable to send home. In fact, while you credit Torchwood for saving your children, we didn’t do that completely alone. We’re currently a team of seven humans, and we were forced to defend ourselves against our own government while trying to find a way of stopping the 456. Luckily we had help from a very special friend of ours, a member of a very alien race indeed, so alien that when we first met it, we assumed it was an animal. We’ve since learned it’s highly intelligent, very friendly, enjoys helping people, but is somewhat hampered by a lack of hands. Nevertheless, without its help, most notably its resilience and its vocal abilities, it’s entirely possible we would not have been able to destroy the 456, along with their ship in orbit, and end the threat they posed. Allow me to introduce to you our friend and valued team member, Nosy the Fluff.” Ianto gestured to the side of the platform he was standing on.
Gasps went up from the press and the audience alike as Nosy slithered into view.
“I’m sure I don’t need to explain why we call it a Fluff,” Ianto said with a smile as the furry creature joined him.
“It’s really from another planet?” the same reporter who’d posed the previous question asked, her eyes wide with wonder.
“Yes, although the planet where it evolved was destroyed by a meteor.” Ianto didn’t bother explaining that technically it hadn’t happened yet; adding time travel into the equation might be a bit too much for people to handle on top of the evidence of alien life, both hostile and friendly. “The people of a neighbouring planet rescued as many of its kind as they could before the meteor hit, and they opened their homes to them, but there are very few Fluffs left out in the universe. Nosy was unfortunate enough to fall through the Rift, but we found it and it’s been living with us for almost four years now.”
“How do you know it’s intelligent?” another reporter asked. “I mean it just looks like an animal of some sort, a gigantic fluffy snake.”
“It understands our language and has learned to both read and write. It can use a computer too. If you doubt Nosy’s intelligence, you might want to challenge it to a game of scrabble. Or chess. It would most likely beat you.”
“HUM!” The alien nodded its head vigorously and the crowd laughed, delighted and enchanted, as Ianto had been sure they would be. Fluffs had a way of bringing out the best in people.
The interview gradually wound down after that, and members of the press were invited to a reception afterwards, where they could talk with Jones and the two other members of the Torchwood team who’d accompanied him to London, the other four having remained behind in Cardiff, doing their job.
Nosy mingled with the guests, answering questions by tapping out words on the keypad of a tablet, holding the stylus in its mouth. It was slow, but its answers were clear and remarkably perceptive. No one who spoke with it could deny its intelligence, nor could anyone dislike the Fluff.
Mingling with the guests himself, Ianto observed proceedings and smiled with satisfaction. The truth was out, and so far people were taking it pretty well. He knew it was still early days, but he could afford to feel cautiously optimistic. A new stage in earth’s history had just begun, and with luck it would lead to a better, kinder, fairer world for everyone who called the planet home.
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Nosy, OCs.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Set after Children of Earth, but everyone survived.
Summary: Her Majesty decides the time has come for Torchwood to step out of the shadows and into the light, and that means informing the world about the existence of aliens as well.
Word Count: 2214
Written For: Challenge 180: Disclosure at beattheblackdog.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
After the whole 456 debacle, once the worst of the mess had been straightened out and the guilty parties appropriately dealt with, Her Majesty had decided that for good or ill, the only way forward for Torchwood lay in full disclosure. If, God forbid, the 456 ever returned, or if another alien race came along threatening the entire planet, the people of earth needed to know they were defended, and by whom.
Hiding in the shadows made the small organisation vulnerable to unscrupulous individuals in positions of power, as had been proven by recent events. If people knew exactly who Torchwood were and what they did, if they were out in the open, then perhaps they would be able do their job more efficiently the next time they had a serious crisis to deal with. For one thing, there would be no need for the team to be so small if they didn’t have to keep their existence a closely guarded secret. It had become apparent that the Rift itself had grown more active in recent years; Torchwood wouldn’t have to spread themselves so thin if they could employ a few more field operatives to help with the increasing workload.
There was widespread panic when the announcement was made of course; that was inevitable. Learning that alien races had been visiting earth for some time, often with less than friendly intentions, was bound to cause some alarm amongst the general public, as was the fact that the various governments had been doing their best to cover up such incursions. No one liked learning they’d been lied to, especially not over matters involving their own safety and security.
But the fear was tempered by gratitude because, despite being forced into hiding by their own government’s attempts at assassinating them to prevent them from ‘interfering’, the Torchwood team had not given up. They’d kept fighting against almost insurmountable odds, had put their lives on the line without a second thought, and they’d won. No one was under any illusion that if the valiant Torchwood agents hadn’t found a way to defeat the 456, thousands of families across the globe would have been mourning the loss of their children, and that was more than reason enough for parents everywhere to be grateful.
In every nation the seven members of Torchwood Three were being acclaimed as heroes, dedicated defenders of earth and ALL its peoples, not merely those who lived in one little corner of the British Isles, where the small band were based. Not only that, but hundreds of people around the world were now sending in applications to join the organisation, wanting to help defend their planet from alien threats.
That led inevitably to another problem for Torchwood because they were dedicated to defending aliens from humans as well as the other way around. They couldn’t take the chance that the lives of innocent, peaceful beings from other worlds might be put in jeopardy through ignorance and blind fear. Just because someone wasn’t an earth native didn’t automatically make them a threat to humanity. That was an issue that needed to be addressed as soon as possible, in order to avoid any unfortunate incidents that might hamper the future development of peaceful relations between earth and the wider universe.
“We understand everyone’s fear and concern,” Ianto Jones, Torchwood’s second in command told the press in an interview outside Buckingham Palace. “Our whole planet has just been through an extremely traumatic experience and everyone’s nerves are understandably still on edge. Frankly, I’d be surprised if they weren’t. It’s going to take us all a while to come to terms with what happened, myself and the rest of the Torchwood team included. My own niece and nephew were among the children being rounded up to be handed over to the 456.” He paused for a moment, letting that sink in. “But the truth is, hostile and dangerous alien races are in the minority. Most aliens are friendly and quite charming, although many look rather peculiar from our point of view. That’s something everyone will have to get used to, and it won’t be easy. Humans have a lot to learn before we can take our place as part of the Galactic Confederation. We’re still a very young race by galactic standards.”
“But the press release said the 456 weren’t the first aliens to attack earth,” someone in the mass of reporters shouted, a statement rather than a question.
Ianto nodded. “Yes, it’s true that earth has come under threat several times in the last sixty or seventy years, although most of those incursions were by small bands of hostile aliens. They were dealt with very quickly, quietly, with minimal damage, and in most cases without any loss of human life. It’s worth noting that our planet does in fact have protected status, enforced by the Shadow Proclamation, sort of an intergalactic police force, but unfortunately not all races are willing to respect that. We also have a protector, an alien known as the Doctor, who helps us whenever he can, but understandably he can’t do everything for us, nor should he be expected to. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t be everywhere at once; he’s only one person, and he does have other responsibilities.”
“Have you met this Doctor? What does he look like?” The question came from one of the reporters toward the back of the crowd.
“I have met him on a number of occasions, and as for what he looks like, if you passed him on the street, you’d never know he was an alien. Some races from other planets look very much like we do, while others are completely different, but it’s important to remember that the majority are peaceful, civilised, good people.”
“Why don’t those kinds of aliens visit us?” another reporter asked.
“For several reasons. First and foremost, as I said earlier, earth has protected status; it is our right to develop in our own way and at our own pace, free from outside interference. Because of that, other races are prohibited from coming here. That’s for their own safety as well as to make sure the evolution and technological development of the human race can follow its natural course. It’s a shameful fact, but humanity as a whole does not display a great deal of tolerance even for those of our own kind who are different in any way, whether that’s down to skin colour, nationality, religion, sexuality, gender, social class…” He trailed off with a sad sigh. “We even discriminate against each other because of age, weight, physical disabilities… How do you think we’d treat someone who has tentacles instead of arms, or two heads, or scales instead of skin, feathers instead of hair? Would people take the time to get to know them, learn to understand them and focus on their similarities rather than their differences, or would they be attacked on sight, feared and hated merely for not being human?”
There was a lot of murmuring from the crowds of civilians listening from beyond the palace gates.
“What we have to remember is that as strange, and even scary, as the various alien races might look to us, we look just as strange and unnatural to them. The difference is, most of them are willing to overlook our physical differences, accept us just as we are, another of nature’s many and varied evolutionary miracles. They might not find us pleasant to look at, but they won’t judge us for that. Can all of you say the same, that if you encountered someone who looked completely alien that you wouldn’t react with hatred and violence?”
An uncomfortable silence ensued as people looked at each other, shuffling their feet awkwardly. Ianto let a few moments pass before nodding.
“That’s what I thought. We still have a long way to go before we can consider ourselves civilised enough to earn a place in the wider galactic community, but we will get there. As I’ve already mentioned, compared to other races, ours is still in its infancy. We are very young and still learning about ourselves, but that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Most races are billions of years older than we are, but they all had to go through a similar evolutionary process to ours. When it comes right down to it, we’re not so very different.”
“Have any of these really alien but friendly… uh… people ever come to earth?” another voice called from off to one side.
“Yes, in fact there have been quite a lot. Most have arrived by accident, either because they lost their way and were unfortunate enough to crash here, or because they were accidentally sucked trough a Rift in space and time that runs through Cardiff. Torchwood’s primary function is to monitor this Rift and deal with anything that comes through. Mostly, what we get is a load of old rubbish; broken tech, bits of spaceships, things like that. The Rift doesn’t discriminate, it just sucks things up at random and then ejects them, a bit like a faulty vacuum cleaner. But sometimes we get alien plants, or animals, and occasionally sentient beings who need our help to get home. Occasionally advance scouts for an invasion force will arrive by spaceship, or come through the Rift, but we’re very efficient at dealing with such incursions. They never get very far.”
“Are there any aliens on earth at the moment?” a reporter in the front row wanted to know.
Ianto smiled; this was the opportunity he’d been hoping for.
“Yes, there are a few, creatures and beings who, for whatever reason, we were unable to send home. In fact, while you credit Torchwood for saving your children, we didn’t do that completely alone. We’re currently a team of seven humans, and we were forced to defend ourselves against our own government while trying to find a way of stopping the 456. Luckily we had help from a very special friend of ours, a member of a very alien race indeed, so alien that when we first met it, we assumed it was an animal. We’ve since learned it’s highly intelligent, very friendly, enjoys helping people, but is somewhat hampered by a lack of hands. Nevertheless, without its help, most notably its resilience and its vocal abilities, it’s entirely possible we would not have been able to destroy the 456, along with their ship in orbit, and end the threat they posed. Allow me to introduce to you our friend and valued team member, Nosy the Fluff.” Ianto gestured to the side of the platform he was standing on.
Gasps went up from the press and the audience alike as Nosy slithered into view.
“I’m sure I don’t need to explain why we call it a Fluff,” Ianto said with a smile as the furry creature joined him.
“It’s really from another planet?” the same reporter who’d posed the previous question asked, her eyes wide with wonder.
“Yes, although the planet where it evolved was destroyed by a meteor.” Ianto didn’t bother explaining that technically it hadn’t happened yet; adding time travel into the equation might be a bit too much for people to handle on top of the evidence of alien life, both hostile and friendly. “The people of a neighbouring planet rescued as many of its kind as they could before the meteor hit, and they opened their homes to them, but there are very few Fluffs left out in the universe. Nosy was unfortunate enough to fall through the Rift, but we found it and it’s been living with us for almost four years now.”
“How do you know it’s intelligent?” another reporter asked. “I mean it just looks like an animal of some sort, a gigantic fluffy snake.”
“It understands our language and has learned to both read and write. It can use a computer too. If you doubt Nosy’s intelligence, you might want to challenge it to a game of scrabble. Or chess. It would most likely beat you.”
“HUM!” The alien nodded its head vigorously and the crowd laughed, delighted and enchanted, as Ianto had been sure they would be. Fluffs had a way of bringing out the best in people.
The interview gradually wound down after that, and members of the press were invited to a reception afterwards, where they could talk with Jones and the two other members of the Torchwood team who’d accompanied him to London, the other four having remained behind in Cardiff, doing their job.
Nosy mingled with the guests, answering questions by tapping out words on the keypad of a tablet, holding the stylus in its mouth. It was slow, but its answers were clear and remarkably perceptive. No one who spoke with it could deny its intelligence, nor could anyone dislike the Fluff.
Mingling with the guests himself, Ianto observed proceedings and smiled with satisfaction. The truth was out, and so far people were taking it pretty well. He knew it was still early days, but he could afford to feel cautiously optimistic. A new stage in earth’s history had just begun, and with luck it would lead to a better, kinder, fairer world for everyone who called the planet home.
The End