Moving On - 17/18
Title: Moving On
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, references to past Ianto/Lisa
Rating: R
Disclaimer: If I was the one who owned Torchwood, you think I'd admit it now?
Spoilers: Some information and events from s1,2. None for s3.
Summary: Lisa is gone, and Ianto is starting to move on with his life, but it isn't always as easy as it sounds.
Author's Note: Sequel to Guilt and Turning Point.
Thanks to: My sister angelzbabe1989 for stepping in as beta, morbid_sparks for all of her support and idea bouncing through the writing of this, and pinkfairy727 for cheerleading even when she doesn't know what happens.
For previous chapters see Master list for this fic
Chapter Seventeen
“Right, start at the beginning,” Jack said firmly. “And don’t leave anything out.”
Although not unheard of, one of their more independent Rift-ugees coming to them for help beyond the initial settling in period was rare - Ianto’s appearance at the cog door a few minutes before with Oelmue in tow had been surprising, to say the least. For the most part, the Rift-ugee population of Cardiff looked after their own, without overt intervention from Torchwood beyond occasional check-ins.
Oelmue’s fingers tightened around the cup of coffee in front of him on the conference room table, his eyes closing almost reverently as he took a sip.
“It start last week,” he began a little hesitantly. “In Wednesday.” Jack suddenly realised the nagging feeling that something was different that had been attacking him since Oelmue’s arrival; he was no longer carrying the small translation device he’d had on him when he crash landed on Earth all those months ago. His only-slightly broken English was a testament to his efforts at fitting into his new home, despite the circumstances under which it had become so.
He nodded encouragingly. “Yes?”
“We have meeting to talk of what to do. Bekar badly hurt by someone in Monday night, nearly die. So we have meeting to talk, so we find out who hurt Bekar, and we punish them.”
Jack knew better by now than to ask why they hadn’t involved the police - if there had been any suspicion that the crime had not been entirely contained within their own community, he knew they would have at least considered it, but for the most part they avoided the police - and many other official organisations - if they could. In their somewhat tenuous position, he couldn’t say he blamed them.
Besides, from what he’d observed over the years, they did a fairly good job of policing themselves. Unfortunately, Jack had a feeling he knew where this particular story was going, but he let Oelmue continue.
“We talk, but no one know what happen, no one see it, so for few days some gone to place where it happen, to look, and they ask Bekar questions but they find nothing, and Bekar see nothing.”
“There was no evidence at all?” Gwen interjected from the other side of the table.
Oelmue shook his head. “No. They find no evidence.”
“So what happened after that?” Jack prompted, more and more sure that his theory was correct.
“For few days not much happen,” Oelmue replied. “People ask questions, have talks, but still no one know. Everyone is…” He shook his hands in front of him, clearly not quite sure of the word he wanted. Jack nodded, the gesture clear enough to indicate the emotion involved.
“They want punish person who hurt Bekar,” Oelmue continued. “They angry they don’t know who is he.”
“What did they do to you?” Ianto asked quietly from his spot next to Oelmue, the worry in his eyes saying he’d come to the same conclusions as Jack.
“Last night…” Oelmue stopped and took a long breath, his hands beginning to tremble noticeably on the table. “Last night they come to my house, they make me go with them to meeting place and they say I do it, I hurt Bekar.”
He shook his head vehemently. “I never hurt him, it isn’t me, but they don’t believe me when I say that.”
Jack wasn’t entirely sure what it was about Oelmue’s words or expression, but unlike, it seemed, the rest of his community, he believed him. He just couldn’t picture him deliberately harming anyone, although Jack knew his instincts had failed him sometimes in the past. “Can you prove that you didn’t do it?” he asked gently, hoping Oelmue didn’t take the question the wrong way.
“No,” Oelmue said despondently. “When they say it happen, I am at home myself. I have no…” He trailed off.
“Alibi,” Owen finished for him. Oelmue nodded.
“Yes, alibi. I have no alibi. But I don’t hurt Bekar. They don’t prove I hurt him, they only say.”
“But the others believe them, and not you?” Jack guessed.
“Yes, they believe them. I can say nothing to change this. The man who say it first is important man, others think much of him. He say I hurt Bekar, so they say I do it.”
“What will happen to you if you can’t prove it wasn’t you?” Gwen asked, sounding worried.
Oelmue shrugged. “I not know. Maybe lock up, maybe hurt like Bekar hurt. They have many ways of punish. I get away this morning; they are angry for that when they find out too. Is bad.”
Jack sighed inwardly. He knew there was crime within the Rift-ugee community, and he’d never been so naïve as to believe that that didn’t include corruption, but he’d hoped it would never reach this level. Regardless of whether Oelmue was being entirely truthful or not, the situation warranted attention; they were going to have to step in and do some investigating.
“Right,” he said, looking around at his team. “It looks like we have some people we need to talk to.”
Given that he was supposedly a fairly prominent member of the community, Jack was amazed at how difficult this being, Peloski, was to actually pin down. Everyone they spoke to had an idea of where he could be found, but when they went to the directed places, all they found was someone else who was convinced he would be found somewhere else.
“Anyone else getting a sense of déjà vu here?” he sighed as they collapsed as one around a rickety picnic table.
“He has to be somewhere,” Gwen replied tiredly. “Surely someone in the community would know if he’d skipped town, right?”
Jack shrugged one shoulder. “Well, if all Oelmue says is true, then maybe no one in the community really knows him properly after all. There could be a lot he’s hiding.” It wouldn’t be the first time a Rift-ugee had harboured a dangerous secret - just like humans, most of them had many sides, and not all of them pleasant.
“What’s our next step, then?” Owen asked pointedly. “We don’t seem to be getting anywhere just asking around.”
Jack looked around. The area was a little run down, but there were a few CCTV cameras scattered around. He knew for a fact that a few of them weren’t on the city network. “Well, first,” he started, “I have a project for Tosh. We need to hack into a few cameras, and hopefully we’ll pick up on something. Meanwhile… I’m sorry, but door to door is really all we have right now. There’s always a chance someone will know something.”
Jack couldn’t really blame his team for their disheartened sighs as they shuffled out of their seats.
Countless mostly-fruitless conversations and a little over 24 hours later, they finally had the stroke of luck they’d been waiting for. Surprisingly, Peloski had put up no resistance when asked to come to the Hub to talk, and for the first time since hearing Oelmue’s story the day before, Jack was having doubts about what had really gone on.
Just to be safe, he made sure Ianto had taken Oelmue out of sight of the main entrance to the Hub before they returned with Peloski. No matter what the truth of the situation was, clearly something wasn’t right between them.
“So you’re absolutely certain of what happened that night?”
Peloski hesitated for a fraction of a second before nodding. “Yes.”
“Do you have any evidence? Did you find a witness?” Jack pressed - he wasn’t about to turn Oelmue over to them without hard proof he’d actually been involved in any wrongdoing.
“No,” Peloski admitted. “But I know that he did it.” There was an odd look on his face for just a moment before his features smoothed back into a look of calm co-operation.
“You’re sure?” Jack wasn’t convinced.
“Absolutely”
Jack steepled his fingers, staring at the table through the gaps while he thought. “Peloski,” he started after some contemplation, part of his brain already wondering if what they needed would be easy to find. “Would you mind if we carried out a lie detector test? Not that I don’t believe you, but we do want to be completely certain.”
Peloski nodded immediately, looking less perturbed by the idea than Jack would have expected if he’d been lying. “No problem.”
Jack mentally crossed his fingers as he set up the device on the interrogation room table. They’d had it for years, and it had been tested thoroughly when they had first found it, but they’d never had cause before to use it ‘in anger’. Like so much of what they collected from around Cardiff, it had languished in the archives, just waiting to be put to use - it was just lucky that Ianto had been through that section already and had known just where he’d stored it while waiting on the place being clear enough that he could properly start assigning shelving.
Pulling out the attached cables, he indicated for Peloski to roll up his sleeve and wired him up. He flicked a switch and a small, bright, green light came on at the front of the device.
“This is the best lie detector we’ve ever picked up,” he explained as he took his seat on the other side of the table. “If you tell a lie, the light will turn red. Is everything clear so far?”
Peloski nodded.
“All right.” Jack took a breath and cast his mind back through all the times in the (mostly distant) past where he had witnessed or carried out a lie detector style test. “We’ll start off with a few obvious ones, just so we can be sure the machine is doing what it’s supposed to. Is your name Peloski?”
“No,” Peloski answered immediately. “But that is the name I have chosen to be known by in the time I have been on this planet; most species here seemed to find my real name too difficult to pronounce.”
Jack nodded. Rift-ugees frequently ended up changing their names either to make it more universally pronounceable or just to feel like they fit in better in their new surroundings.
The light remained green.
Jack glanced down at the notes he’d taken from the sparse file on Peloski that had been in the arrivals records.
“This time I’d like you to deliberately lie in your answer,” he said. “How long have you been living on Earth?”
Peloski hesitated for a moment before declaring, “Just over seventeen years.”
The light turned red, correctly indicating that the statement was false - in truth, it was nearly seven years less than that.
“Okay then.” Jack settled his shoulders. “Everything appears to be in working order, so let’s get started. You’ve accused Oelmue of carrying out the recent assault on Bekar, is that correct?”
Peloski nodded. “That’s right.”
“Do you have any proof of his guilt?”
“No.” Peloski paused. “I just somehow know what happened.”
“And what happened is that Oelmue attacked Bekar?” Jack continued leadingly.
”Yes.”
The light turned red. Peloski frowned and looked confused. “How can it read as a lie? I know that’s what happened.”
“Evidently,” Jack replied, “you don’t.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “You do know who really did it though, don’t you?” He dropped his voice to little above a whisper, knowing most beings found that more intimidating than shouting. “Who are you lying for? Who are you protecting?”
“Nobody,” Peloski gulped emphatically. “I swear, no one.”
The light flickered rapidly between green and red for half a second and then blinked out completely.
Jack and Peloski both stared at it in shock. That definitely wasn’t what was supposed to happen.
Reaching around, Jack switched the machine off and on again - no matter where in the universe you were, or how much time passed, turning it off and on remained the best way to reset a broken system. The green light reappeared, causing Jack to sigh a little in relief.
“So let’s try that one again. Who are you protecting?” He fixed Peloski with a hard look.
Peloski kept one eye on the green light as he tentatively repeated his answer. “No one.”
The light oscillated between colours for barely a fraction of a second before going dark once again, this time with a worrying pop. Jack switched it off, wary of trying to turn it on again in light of the noise. He’d have to have Tosh take a look at it once this case was over.
It wasn’t a complicated question, so the only reason Jack could think of that could be giving the machine problems was that the answer was complicated.
“Are you absolutely sure you’re not protecting anyone?” he said, leaning towards Peloski.
Peloski’s brow furrowed. “I thought I was, but… I don’t know what I know anymore.” He looked at the machine. “I would have sworn under pain of death that Oelmue did it, I was so sure, but now…” He shook his head in defeat.
“Why were you sure?” Jack asked, moving the lie detector to the side of the table so he could see Peloski more clearly.
Peloski shrugged. “I don’t know. I just was. The knowledge was just there when I woke up a few days ago.”
Jack didn’t like the sound of that - not at all. He’d seen similar cases before - rarely, but often enough not to discount it as being prohibitively unlikely. Facts - usually false - and emotions would just spring as if from nowhere in a being’s mind - pushed there by a subjugated personality that almost never had the best interests of the dominant personality or their shared body at heart.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have the same technology here that he’d had back when he was a time agent, so there was no way for him to find out for sure if his suspicions were correct. Although… A device they’d researched when they were looking for a cure for Lisa suddenly sprang to mind. It hadn’t, in the end, been any use in what they’d needed from it then, but it might just be exactly what he was looking for now.
“Stay here,” he told Peloski. “And don’t try anything funny, the surveillance system will pick it up.”
Closing the door behind him, he ran up to the office area. “Tosh,” he said hurriedly. “Do you remember what happened to that probe device we found when we were looking for Lisa’s cure? Did Ianto put it back into the archives?”
Tosh nodded. “Everything we looked into that was of no use was taken back and added to his new system.”
“Brilliant.”
A call on the comms. on the way down meant that Ianto had the exact piece of tech he had in mind ready and waiting for him by the time he reached the entrance to the archives.
“We still don’t know what happened that night,” he told Ianto and Oelmue as he took the device and made sure the cables were all secure. “But we might be getting closer. And the good news is that it looks like you might be off the hook, Oelmue. Even if we can’t find out the truth, we have Peloski on tape saying that you didn’t do it.”
Oelmue slumped against the wall, eyes closing in relief. “Thank you. I glad to know I can be safe again from people think I do it.”
Jack nodded. “I’m glad to know my instincts were right and it wasn’t you, but hopefully we can find out who did do it. Which is where this comes in.” He cocked his head, indicating the bundle in his arms, and grinned. “Actually, you’re probably safe to come up now and watch, if you want.”
Oelmue and Ianto exchanged a look and both nodded. Pleased, Jack spun on one foot and made his way back to the main Hub, Oelmue and Ianto hot on his heels.
“So you think I’ve got some sort of multiple personality disorder?” Peloski clarified as Jack connected the last few leads to Tosh’s computer.
“It’s a possibility,” Jack replied. “It would certainly explain a few things - like the trouble the lie detector had with you.”
“Is this thing safe?” The various additional monitors Owen was setting up and connecting evidently had Peloski nervous.
Jack hesitated. They really had no way of knowing how safe the device was or wasn’t. All of the testing had been theoretical or simulated; they’d never actually connected it to a living being. “We’ll keep a close eye on you,” he assured him, carefully skirting the truth. “You’ll be fine.”
Peloski didn’t look entirely reassured, but nonetheless nodded his consent for them to continue.
“Everyone ready?” Jack asked, looking around at his team. Tosh sat at her desk, ready to control the probing device. Owen concentrated similarly on the readouts of the medical monitors. Gwen and Ianto hovered watchfully nearby, Oelmue doing the same from a slightly more distant viewpoint.
He looked one last time at Peloski, who took a deep breath and sat back into the chair he was lightly strapped to. “Ready.”
“Tosh.”
A focussed look on her face, Tosh typed a few commands into her workstation.
Peloski shuddered, a pained grimace passing fleetingly across his face, but no change of personality was evident.
“Okay?” Jack waited for Peloski to meet his gaze.
“A little thirsty, but yes,” he said, breathing hard. From the corner of his eye, Jack could see Ianto springing into action, most likely to find a glass of water for him.
A glance at Owen to check that nothing worrying was showing up on the medical scans later, Jack instructed Tosh to up the intensity on the probe, go a little deeper.
Peloski’s eyes screwed up for a moment as the new wave from the probe hit, clearly in some pain, but just as clearly still himself.
By the time his face started to smooth out, Ianto was there with a mug of water and a straw; Peloski emptied it gratefully.
Two more increases later, the change was clear in Peloski’s whole countenance. His face turned hard and angry, and every muscle tensed. This was no longer the same being that had come to them that morning.
Despite the restraints, Jack found himself taking an almost involuntary step back. “I’d say it’s nice to meet you,” he told Peloski’s alternate personality. “But I think we both know it would be a lie. I don’t much like what you’ve been up to.”
“Let me out,” the being in the chair growled.
“Why did you hurt Bekar?” Jack asked, ignoring the demand and making an educated guess at what had really happened that night.
“Let me go, or I will find a way to hurt you.”
“Did he do something to upset you? Or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Jack continued.
All of the muscles in Peloski’s body tensed as his usually hidden personality struggled against the restraints. “He shouldn’t have been there,” he ground out, face hard. “He shouldn’t have disturbed me.”
Jack frowned. “Disturbed you doing what?”
He didn’t get an answer.
Barely a fraction of a second after Owen started calling frantically for Tosh to turn down the intensity of the probe, there was a sickening splattering sound and Jack felt something hit his chest.
He looked back at Peloski, but he was unrecognisable.
Whatever it was that had happened between him and Bekar, Jack could at least say with some surety that it wouldn’t be happening again.
This just wasn’t really how he wanted to ensure that.
Chapter Eighteen
As always, comments and concrit are loved!
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, references to past Ianto/Lisa
Rating: R
Disclaimer: If I was the one who owned Torchwood, you think I'd admit it now?
Spoilers: Some information and events from s1,2. None for s3.
Summary: Lisa is gone, and Ianto is starting to move on with his life, but it isn't always as easy as it sounds.
Author's Note: Sequel to Guilt and Turning Point.
Thanks to: My sister angelzbabe1989 for stepping in as beta, morbid_sparks for all of her support and idea bouncing through the writing of this, and pinkfairy727 for cheerleading even when she doesn't know what happens.
For previous chapters see Master list for this fic
Chapter Seventeen
“Right, start at the beginning,” Jack said firmly. “And don’t leave anything out.”
Although not unheard of, one of their more independent Rift-ugees coming to them for help beyond the initial settling in period was rare - Ianto’s appearance at the cog door a few minutes before with Oelmue in tow had been surprising, to say the least. For the most part, the Rift-ugee population of Cardiff looked after their own, without overt intervention from Torchwood beyond occasional check-ins.
Oelmue’s fingers tightened around the cup of coffee in front of him on the conference room table, his eyes closing almost reverently as he took a sip.
“It start last week,” he began a little hesitantly. “In Wednesday.” Jack suddenly realised the nagging feeling that something was different that had been attacking him since Oelmue’s arrival; he was no longer carrying the small translation device he’d had on him when he crash landed on Earth all those months ago. His only-slightly broken English was a testament to his efforts at fitting into his new home, despite the circumstances under which it had become so.
He nodded encouragingly. “Yes?”
“We have meeting to talk of what to do. Bekar badly hurt by someone in Monday night, nearly die. So we have meeting to talk, so we find out who hurt Bekar, and we punish them.”
Jack knew better by now than to ask why they hadn’t involved the police - if there had been any suspicion that the crime had not been entirely contained within their own community, he knew they would have at least considered it, but for the most part they avoided the police - and many other official organisations - if they could. In their somewhat tenuous position, he couldn’t say he blamed them.
Besides, from what he’d observed over the years, they did a fairly good job of policing themselves. Unfortunately, Jack had a feeling he knew where this particular story was going, but he let Oelmue continue.
“We talk, but no one know what happen, no one see it, so for few days some gone to place where it happen, to look, and they ask Bekar questions but they find nothing, and Bekar see nothing.”
“There was no evidence at all?” Gwen interjected from the other side of the table.
Oelmue shook his head. “No. They find no evidence.”
“So what happened after that?” Jack prompted, more and more sure that his theory was correct.
“For few days not much happen,” Oelmue replied. “People ask questions, have talks, but still no one know. Everyone is…” He shook his hands in front of him, clearly not quite sure of the word he wanted. Jack nodded, the gesture clear enough to indicate the emotion involved.
“They want punish person who hurt Bekar,” Oelmue continued. “They angry they don’t know who is he.”
“What did they do to you?” Ianto asked quietly from his spot next to Oelmue, the worry in his eyes saying he’d come to the same conclusions as Jack.
“Last night…” Oelmue stopped and took a long breath, his hands beginning to tremble noticeably on the table. “Last night they come to my house, they make me go with them to meeting place and they say I do it, I hurt Bekar.”
He shook his head vehemently. “I never hurt him, it isn’t me, but they don’t believe me when I say that.”
Jack wasn’t entirely sure what it was about Oelmue’s words or expression, but unlike, it seemed, the rest of his community, he believed him. He just couldn’t picture him deliberately harming anyone, although Jack knew his instincts had failed him sometimes in the past. “Can you prove that you didn’t do it?” he asked gently, hoping Oelmue didn’t take the question the wrong way.
“No,” Oelmue said despondently. “When they say it happen, I am at home myself. I have no…” He trailed off.
“Alibi,” Owen finished for him. Oelmue nodded.
“Yes, alibi. I have no alibi. But I don’t hurt Bekar. They don’t prove I hurt him, they only say.”
“But the others believe them, and not you?” Jack guessed.
“Yes, they believe them. I can say nothing to change this. The man who say it first is important man, others think much of him. He say I hurt Bekar, so they say I do it.”
“What will happen to you if you can’t prove it wasn’t you?” Gwen asked, sounding worried.
Oelmue shrugged. “I not know. Maybe lock up, maybe hurt like Bekar hurt. They have many ways of punish. I get away this morning; they are angry for that when they find out too. Is bad.”
Jack sighed inwardly. He knew there was crime within the Rift-ugee community, and he’d never been so naïve as to believe that that didn’t include corruption, but he’d hoped it would never reach this level. Regardless of whether Oelmue was being entirely truthful or not, the situation warranted attention; they were going to have to step in and do some investigating.
“Right,” he said, looking around at his team. “It looks like we have some people we need to talk to.”
Given that he was supposedly a fairly prominent member of the community, Jack was amazed at how difficult this being, Peloski, was to actually pin down. Everyone they spoke to had an idea of where he could be found, but when they went to the directed places, all they found was someone else who was convinced he would be found somewhere else.
“Anyone else getting a sense of déjà vu here?” he sighed as they collapsed as one around a rickety picnic table.
“He has to be somewhere,” Gwen replied tiredly. “Surely someone in the community would know if he’d skipped town, right?”
Jack shrugged one shoulder. “Well, if all Oelmue says is true, then maybe no one in the community really knows him properly after all. There could be a lot he’s hiding.” It wouldn’t be the first time a Rift-ugee had harboured a dangerous secret - just like humans, most of them had many sides, and not all of them pleasant.
“What’s our next step, then?” Owen asked pointedly. “We don’t seem to be getting anywhere just asking around.”
Jack looked around. The area was a little run down, but there were a few CCTV cameras scattered around. He knew for a fact that a few of them weren’t on the city network. “Well, first,” he started, “I have a project for Tosh. We need to hack into a few cameras, and hopefully we’ll pick up on something. Meanwhile… I’m sorry, but door to door is really all we have right now. There’s always a chance someone will know something.”
Jack couldn’t really blame his team for their disheartened sighs as they shuffled out of their seats.
Countless mostly-fruitless conversations and a little over 24 hours later, they finally had the stroke of luck they’d been waiting for. Surprisingly, Peloski had put up no resistance when asked to come to the Hub to talk, and for the first time since hearing Oelmue’s story the day before, Jack was having doubts about what had really gone on.
Just to be safe, he made sure Ianto had taken Oelmue out of sight of the main entrance to the Hub before they returned with Peloski. No matter what the truth of the situation was, clearly something wasn’t right between them.
“So you’re absolutely certain of what happened that night?”
Peloski hesitated for a fraction of a second before nodding. “Yes.”
“Do you have any evidence? Did you find a witness?” Jack pressed - he wasn’t about to turn Oelmue over to them without hard proof he’d actually been involved in any wrongdoing.
“No,” Peloski admitted. “But I know that he did it.” There was an odd look on his face for just a moment before his features smoothed back into a look of calm co-operation.
“You’re sure?” Jack wasn’t convinced.
“Absolutely”
Jack steepled his fingers, staring at the table through the gaps while he thought. “Peloski,” he started after some contemplation, part of his brain already wondering if what they needed would be easy to find. “Would you mind if we carried out a lie detector test? Not that I don’t believe you, but we do want to be completely certain.”
Peloski nodded immediately, looking less perturbed by the idea than Jack would have expected if he’d been lying. “No problem.”
Jack mentally crossed his fingers as he set up the device on the interrogation room table. They’d had it for years, and it had been tested thoroughly when they had first found it, but they’d never had cause before to use it ‘in anger’. Like so much of what they collected from around Cardiff, it had languished in the archives, just waiting to be put to use - it was just lucky that Ianto had been through that section already and had known just where he’d stored it while waiting on the place being clear enough that he could properly start assigning shelving.
Pulling out the attached cables, he indicated for Peloski to roll up his sleeve and wired him up. He flicked a switch and a small, bright, green light came on at the front of the device.
“This is the best lie detector we’ve ever picked up,” he explained as he took his seat on the other side of the table. “If you tell a lie, the light will turn red. Is everything clear so far?”
Peloski nodded.
“All right.” Jack took a breath and cast his mind back through all the times in the (mostly distant) past where he had witnessed or carried out a lie detector style test. “We’ll start off with a few obvious ones, just so we can be sure the machine is doing what it’s supposed to. Is your name Peloski?”
“No,” Peloski answered immediately. “But that is the name I have chosen to be known by in the time I have been on this planet; most species here seemed to find my real name too difficult to pronounce.”
Jack nodded. Rift-ugees frequently ended up changing their names either to make it more universally pronounceable or just to feel like they fit in better in their new surroundings.
The light remained green.
Jack glanced down at the notes he’d taken from the sparse file on Peloski that had been in the arrivals records.
“This time I’d like you to deliberately lie in your answer,” he said. “How long have you been living on Earth?”
Peloski hesitated for a moment before declaring, “Just over seventeen years.”
The light turned red, correctly indicating that the statement was false - in truth, it was nearly seven years less than that.
“Okay then.” Jack settled his shoulders. “Everything appears to be in working order, so let’s get started. You’ve accused Oelmue of carrying out the recent assault on Bekar, is that correct?”
Peloski nodded. “That’s right.”
“Do you have any proof of his guilt?”
“No.” Peloski paused. “I just somehow know what happened.”
“And what happened is that Oelmue attacked Bekar?” Jack continued leadingly.
”Yes.”
The light turned red. Peloski frowned and looked confused. “How can it read as a lie? I know that’s what happened.”
“Evidently,” Jack replied, “you don’t.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “You do know who really did it though, don’t you?” He dropped his voice to little above a whisper, knowing most beings found that more intimidating than shouting. “Who are you lying for? Who are you protecting?”
“Nobody,” Peloski gulped emphatically. “I swear, no one.”
The light flickered rapidly between green and red for half a second and then blinked out completely.
Jack and Peloski both stared at it in shock. That definitely wasn’t what was supposed to happen.
Reaching around, Jack switched the machine off and on again - no matter where in the universe you were, or how much time passed, turning it off and on remained the best way to reset a broken system. The green light reappeared, causing Jack to sigh a little in relief.
“So let’s try that one again. Who are you protecting?” He fixed Peloski with a hard look.
Peloski kept one eye on the green light as he tentatively repeated his answer. “No one.”
The light oscillated between colours for barely a fraction of a second before going dark once again, this time with a worrying pop. Jack switched it off, wary of trying to turn it on again in light of the noise. He’d have to have Tosh take a look at it once this case was over.
It wasn’t a complicated question, so the only reason Jack could think of that could be giving the machine problems was that the answer was complicated.
“Are you absolutely sure you’re not protecting anyone?” he said, leaning towards Peloski.
Peloski’s brow furrowed. “I thought I was, but… I don’t know what I know anymore.” He looked at the machine. “I would have sworn under pain of death that Oelmue did it, I was so sure, but now…” He shook his head in defeat.
“Why were you sure?” Jack asked, moving the lie detector to the side of the table so he could see Peloski more clearly.
Peloski shrugged. “I don’t know. I just was. The knowledge was just there when I woke up a few days ago.”
Jack didn’t like the sound of that - not at all. He’d seen similar cases before - rarely, but often enough not to discount it as being prohibitively unlikely. Facts - usually false - and emotions would just spring as if from nowhere in a being’s mind - pushed there by a subjugated personality that almost never had the best interests of the dominant personality or their shared body at heart.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have the same technology here that he’d had back when he was a time agent, so there was no way for him to find out for sure if his suspicions were correct. Although… A device they’d researched when they were looking for a cure for Lisa suddenly sprang to mind. It hadn’t, in the end, been any use in what they’d needed from it then, but it might just be exactly what he was looking for now.
“Stay here,” he told Peloski. “And don’t try anything funny, the surveillance system will pick it up.”
Closing the door behind him, he ran up to the office area. “Tosh,” he said hurriedly. “Do you remember what happened to that probe device we found when we were looking for Lisa’s cure? Did Ianto put it back into the archives?”
Tosh nodded. “Everything we looked into that was of no use was taken back and added to his new system.”
“Brilliant.”
A call on the comms. on the way down meant that Ianto had the exact piece of tech he had in mind ready and waiting for him by the time he reached the entrance to the archives.
“We still don’t know what happened that night,” he told Ianto and Oelmue as he took the device and made sure the cables were all secure. “But we might be getting closer. And the good news is that it looks like you might be off the hook, Oelmue. Even if we can’t find out the truth, we have Peloski on tape saying that you didn’t do it.”
Oelmue slumped against the wall, eyes closing in relief. “Thank you. I glad to know I can be safe again from people think I do it.”
Jack nodded. “I’m glad to know my instincts were right and it wasn’t you, but hopefully we can find out who did do it. Which is where this comes in.” He cocked his head, indicating the bundle in his arms, and grinned. “Actually, you’re probably safe to come up now and watch, if you want.”
Oelmue and Ianto exchanged a look and both nodded. Pleased, Jack spun on one foot and made his way back to the main Hub, Oelmue and Ianto hot on his heels.
“So you think I’ve got some sort of multiple personality disorder?” Peloski clarified as Jack connected the last few leads to Tosh’s computer.
“It’s a possibility,” Jack replied. “It would certainly explain a few things - like the trouble the lie detector had with you.”
“Is this thing safe?” The various additional monitors Owen was setting up and connecting evidently had Peloski nervous.
Jack hesitated. They really had no way of knowing how safe the device was or wasn’t. All of the testing had been theoretical or simulated; they’d never actually connected it to a living being. “We’ll keep a close eye on you,” he assured him, carefully skirting the truth. “You’ll be fine.”
Peloski didn’t look entirely reassured, but nonetheless nodded his consent for them to continue.
“Everyone ready?” Jack asked, looking around at his team. Tosh sat at her desk, ready to control the probing device. Owen concentrated similarly on the readouts of the medical monitors. Gwen and Ianto hovered watchfully nearby, Oelmue doing the same from a slightly more distant viewpoint.
He looked one last time at Peloski, who took a deep breath and sat back into the chair he was lightly strapped to. “Ready.”
“Tosh.”
A focussed look on her face, Tosh typed a few commands into her workstation.
Peloski shuddered, a pained grimace passing fleetingly across his face, but no change of personality was evident.
“Okay?” Jack waited for Peloski to meet his gaze.
“A little thirsty, but yes,” he said, breathing hard. From the corner of his eye, Jack could see Ianto springing into action, most likely to find a glass of water for him.
A glance at Owen to check that nothing worrying was showing up on the medical scans later, Jack instructed Tosh to up the intensity on the probe, go a little deeper.
Peloski’s eyes screwed up for a moment as the new wave from the probe hit, clearly in some pain, but just as clearly still himself.
By the time his face started to smooth out, Ianto was there with a mug of water and a straw; Peloski emptied it gratefully.
Two more increases later, the change was clear in Peloski’s whole countenance. His face turned hard and angry, and every muscle tensed. This was no longer the same being that had come to them that morning.
Despite the restraints, Jack found himself taking an almost involuntary step back. “I’d say it’s nice to meet you,” he told Peloski’s alternate personality. “But I think we both know it would be a lie. I don’t much like what you’ve been up to.”
“Let me out,” the being in the chair growled.
“Why did you hurt Bekar?” Jack asked, ignoring the demand and making an educated guess at what had really happened that night.
“Let me go, or I will find a way to hurt you.”
“Did he do something to upset you? Or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Jack continued.
All of the muscles in Peloski’s body tensed as his usually hidden personality struggled against the restraints. “He shouldn’t have been there,” he ground out, face hard. “He shouldn’t have disturbed me.”
Jack frowned. “Disturbed you doing what?”
He didn’t get an answer.
Barely a fraction of a second after Owen started calling frantically for Tosh to turn down the intensity of the probe, there was a sickening splattering sound and Jack felt something hit his chest.
He looked back at Peloski, but he was unrecognisable.
Whatever it was that had happened between him and Bekar, Jack could at least say with some surety that it wouldn’t be happening again.
This just wasn’t really how he wanted to ensure that.
Chapter Eighteen
As always, comments and concrit are loved!