I call on the resting soul of Galileo, king of night vision, king of insight...

[thatsortofaman]

The Doctor has been in the sewers for a few days now. He'll continue to be down there until he's sorted out what's wrong, because... well, because it's the Doctor, and he's not good at giving up on a problem if he thinks he can sort it out. He is, at the moment, wandering down a tunnel lit only by some sort of phosphorescent fungus, sonic

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[akablackkitty]

These days Marshall spends a lot of time in the control room- when Thane paid them a visit, he saw the whole sad affair from the monitors and somehow it's become some sort of induced paranoia to just want to lock himself up in there whenever he wasn't occupied with something else.

He was preoccupied with one thing or another in the office he uses as something of a work station when he can actually find the parts to work with, but after awhile, that got old, and now he's back to the control room and more than a little surprised to find it occupied.

"Oh Toshiko- hi!" He says nervously, rubbing the hand not currently wrapped around his laptop through his hair. "I didn't, uh, know anyone was in here. I just kinda started hanging out in here, because, you know, better to have someone in here after... Everything, and, uh... But you're here! So I guess I can just..." He pauses awkwardly, frowning, because she doesn't look the least bit okay and that deeply upsets him. Marshall is not the kind of person to ignore someone upset- especially not a friend. "You gonna be all right?"

[techniclybrill]

Tosh jumps a little when the door opens, more startled than she really should be that someone's actually come in here. She relaxes a little, seeing it's Marshall there. He's at least... easier to deal with than some of the other possibilities. Even if the last time she saw him, the situation was...

She's not going to think about that.

"Marshall! Hello. I didn't expect..." Oh, and then there's the question. She presses her lips together for a second and nods. "I'm fine." She looks, really, anything but.

[akablackkitty]

Marshall's frown deepens and he puts his laptop down somewhere, but doesn't take a step further- more to give her space than anything. He doesn't blame her for what happened and he's more than happy to have her back and not acting strange anymore, but he still doesn't feel comfortable crowding her right at this minute even if she does look like she could use a hug.

"Oh, well, yeah. I'm kinda... Unexpected, but, uh, in a happy way! Not like the Spanish Inquisition or anything." He chuckles a little nervously. "And not to call you a liar or anything, but you really don't seem fine, which is understandable given the week... Or month.. Or, well, some timeframe- I've really lost count, honestly, with everything's that been going on." A pause, followed by a wince. "Not helping. Um... If there's anything I can do..."

He trails off. Occasionally, he's rather useless in empotional situations- not like some people are, but rather in the whole bumbling, socially awkward, rambly way.

[techniclybrill]

No matter how bad a mood you are in, it is very hard not to smile just a little at a rambly, slightly flailing Marshall. "Thank you. It's just been a long... timeframe of some sort." And she didn't need to be questioned about her earlier meltdown on top of everything else. Tosh pauses a moment, and then decides that a change of subject is in order. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about teleports, would you?"

...Only in Torchwood is that a valid change of subject.

[akablackkitty]

"Like in Star Trek? Well, not really, but.... You know, close." Only Marshall wouldn't be completely derailed by that train of thought, despite coming from a world where that stuff didn't happen. "Not.. Really. I mean, beyond the basic Sci-Fi geek theory, but what our Time Agency friends were using is a little less 'Beam Me Up, Scotty' than I usually see... Especially since it was... Real."

He's gotten used to the fantastical becoming reality, but that doesn't mean he can understand it without actually getting to prod at the technology and even then, the components are probably a bit more complex than the systems he's used to.

[techniclybrill]

Tosh nods, with a tight smile at him. "I'm not exactly an expert with them either. I would have killed to get my hands on one back in Cardiff... and I didn't have much time to look at Hart's wristband before. I was just wondering if there might be a way we could block the teleport, or at least set up some sort of advanced warning system so we'll know when they're coming."

She's got to do something about this, or she's going to completely lose her mind. What to do about it, really, is the real problem. And they don't really have the luxury of second chances with Hart and Thane. Either they get it right on the first try, or they don't and they risk Hart and Thane killing them all.

[akablackkitty]

Marshall chews on his bottom lip and nods slowly, his brain working in several different directions, going through lists of things that he might have been able to whip up in his lab to counter this, but the problem is lack of government funding and materials.

He pinches the bridge of his nose, wincing a little. "Theoretically, and I might be just full of hot air, because these guys? They're super-competent and for all I know they've got the technology to blow everything we throw at 'em out of the water, but, anyway, if the teleports operate on a-a specific frequency, you could jam it, but that sounds way too easy to be effective and probably is."

Of course, for all he knows, they don't operate on frequency at all. Marshall's not used to there being problems he can't solve somehow.

"And running the CCTV tape of them coming in through an infrared filter to- to get a handle on the specific heat signature of the teleport to feed into the security system won't work for advanced warning, since the alarms would only go off when they're actually in the building.... Well, unless we set up the security system to lock down the section of the building they're in as soon as it picks up the teleport's heat signature, but, uh, if they teleported into say, Sam's office again, we just locked Sam in with two dangerous criminals with guns and, well... Bang."

Marshall's face falls a little at the last.

[techniclybrill]

Tosh nods, a little dejected, but that's mixed with just a little pleasure at actually having someone to talk to who can actually... talk to her about them instead of just nod and smile. Or not, as the case may sometimes be. "That was more or less my line of thought, unfortunately. If we blocked them, it wouldn't be much more than a last resort - they'd probably be able to break through anything we did unless I actually threw them out, and we wouldn't know if it worked until it was too late."

She pauses a moment, chewing her lower lip, and then brightens a little. "If I got us the frequencies, do you think you could help me work out a tracking system? I can track them myself, but I can't always be doing that, and I might not be around when we need it." Still, the signals and frequencies their wristbands give off are very distinctive to someone like Tosh, and if they could develop a system to pick up those signals and track them... well, it couldn't hurt.

[akablackkitty]

Marshall brightens, himself. Having someone to talk geek shop with? A very good thing, indeed.

"Yeah!" He responds, far more gleefully than was probably necessary. He coughs a little and chuckles waving a hand a bit to cover up his overenthusiasm. "I mean, yeah, of course." Oh yeah, he's cool. "No problem."

Of course, there's the off-chance that Hart and Thane could figure out what they're doing and kill them all, but it's their best option and there's also a chance that it might work, and really, Marshall does not have time to be paranoid right now.

[techniclybrill]

She grins at him. There is no need to control your geekish glee with Tosh, Marshall. She's right there with you. Even when you are constructing a system to track two insane Time Agents who might kill you if they find out.

"I'd have to go out and pick some things up... You could come with me if you wanted?"

[akablackkitty]

If at all possible, Marshall's smile brightens just a little more. "I'd like that, yeah."

This is why there really should be more than one op technician in an organization. Sure, it might not be necessary, but geeks get lonely too and having people to flail at is conductive to an excellent work enviroment.

Or so goes Marshall's logic.