Knight of Cups - Chapter Five
21 January 2008
Ianto sat back in the chair, letting the diary fall closed to the workstation top, stunned by what he’d just read.
He didn’t know if he was hurt, disappointed, or angry; perhaps all of the above? The emotions were churning through him like a whirlwind. Of course, there’d been things he’d accepted about his lover, but this…
He pressed his hands into his eyes until sparks crossed against the darkness behind them. Now, more than ever, did he need to get Jack and Toshiko back, to find out just what had happened back in 1941 to have made the soldier who’d written down events believe what he had. There had to be an explanation, because if there wasn’t then Ianto would have to admit that he hadn’t really known Jack Harkness at all, for him to have…
No. Ianto couldn’t think that, couldn’t go there right now. He had to work out how to get them home first. Then he could take the time to ask Jack what the hell he’d been thinking, when he’d done what he had.
He had to remind himself that this was the man who’d promised…who’d sworn…that he’d never hurt Ianto deliberately.
There had to be a reason.
And Ianto would get it once Jack and Toshiko were home once more.
The alarm on the cog door went off, and Ianto didn’t even bother turning; he could hear Owen grumbling well enough. “I got Tosh’s laptop,” he reported, practically slamming the computer down on the desk. “Also found a stack of other shit you might want.” A grocery sack followed the laptop. “There better be something in there that’ll work, cause I don’t want to be the one to explain why I had to ransack Tosh’s flat more than once.”
Ianto pulled open the bag, to find several zip drives, SM cards, and actual discs. There was enough to keep them busy for a while, if Toshiko hadn’t left the rest of the equations on the laptop.
Setting the bag aside, Ianto opened the laptop, and booted it up. The main worry the dragon had now was the levels of security his friend had put on the equations he was looking for, and if he’d be able to crack it in time.
Luckily, he had the Torchwood mainframe. Their computer had the most sophisticated code breaking software available on the planet, and the dragon could use it to hack Toshiko’s computer.
When she got back, he’s apologize for invading her privacy…although Ianto knew that she was aware that he’d do anything to get them back. She’d understand.
After rooting around in Toshiko’s desk, Ianto found a network cable that he could use to hook up the laptop to the mainframe. Judging from the laptop he would, indeed, need a password, and that was something Ianto didn’t have.
“You gonna be able to crack Tosh’s security?” Owen asked, sounding almost excited.
“I don’t know,” the dragon answered honestly. “But I’m going to give it my best shot. This could be the only chance we have of getting them back safely.”
He began working, accessing Toshiko’s hacking programs and setting them at the laptop. Ianto could only hope that his friend hadn’t been too clever, and had made the security too tight on her personal computer.
Ianto found his gaze going back to the diary he’d found in the Archives. The innocuous looking journal disturbed him, and he found himself putting it back into its envelope. He had to keep in mind that he’d already found evidence that Jack and Toshiko were picked up by the Rift again; that they had, in fact, made it home in the end.
He just had to work it out in order to make it happen.
“How long has she been working on a way to open the Rift?” Owen interrupted once more.
Ianto barely stifled a sigh. “As I said: only a couple of weeks. The Rift’s been a bit busy, and she’s been taking the readings and feeding them into equations that she thought she could use to open the Rift relatively safely. From what I can tell, the maths are good…unfortunately I’m not a genius at them like Tosh is.”
“So…if this works, then the Rift can be opened whenever we want.”
“In theory, but I don’t see it happening.”
“But why not?” Owen protested. “Aren’t we all tired of living in fear of the Rift? If we can control it, then we can do whatever we want!”
Ianto turned away from his work, to regard Owen. He looked…expectant, and the dragon wasn’t sure why it would be so important for the medic to actually care if they could open the Rift or not. “Why are you so interested?”
Owen didn’t do shifty all that well. “You said it: to get Jack and Tosh back.”
“All right…I’ll buy Tosh, since that’s how I got you working in the first place. But you could care less about Jack; you’ve made that abundantly clear. Plus, you seem inordinately interested in using it besides saving our colleagues.” He crossed his arms, waiting for the reply.
“You’re too suspicious by half, Dragon Boy,” Owen scoffed. “Like you said, it’s not like we’ll ever open it past this one time.”
“You are a horrible liar, Owen Harper,” Ianto snapped back. “You’ve been acting off for weeks, and it’s not just you missing Diane. And now, you’re showing more interest in opening the Rift than is exactly healthy. Now…are you going to be honest with me, or do I order you out of the Hub?”
He could see the war going on in Owen’s eyes. If this was an issue with opening the Rift for any reason, then Owen would need to stay; if it was something else, then certainly he’d storm out in his usual huff?
Ianto could hear the soft whirring of the computers around him, as he waited for Owen’s answer. When he got it, to say he was surprised was an understatement.
“I need to open the Rift,” Owen admitted grudgingly, “to get Diane back.”
Ianto’s eyebrows shot up. “What do you mean? Diane doesn’t have anything to do with the Rift.”
Owen shook his head, looking wild. “When she left me, as she was taking off from the airport, the Rift re-opened and swallowed her.”
Where had this delusion come from? “Owen, Diane wasn’t taken by the Rift,” he explained slowly. “She’s in Alaska - “
“No, she fucking isn’t!” Owen exclaimed angrily. “The Rift took her!”
“How do you know?” Ianto had to get to the bottom of this; if he couldn’t, then there was no telling what the consequences would be. Was Owen actually capable of throwing himself into the Rift in order to chase this fantasy? At this point, the dragon didn’t doubt it.
“I saw her,” Owen answered. “The first time, I was at a pub, and she appeared next to me, telling me she was trapped in the Rift. She’s come to me other times, and she said we needed to open the Rift to get her out.”
What Owen was saying just wasn’t possible; it was totally absurd. “If she had been a Rift victim,” Ianto pointed out, “she wouldn’t have been able to appear to you. She’d be gone completely.”
“No, she explained that! Said there were weak places in the Rift, where she could interact with the outside world. She just wasn’t strong enough to get out herself.”
This was worse than anything Ianto had ever thought. How would Owen react to the truth? Would he even accept it? The dragon had to try.
“I know for a fact the Diane is safe,” he said.
“You can’t know that!”
“I can,” Ianto went on. “On the day that Diane left, there were no Rift spikes. Nothing. I didn’t sense one, and nothing showed up on any of the instruments. There was no spike, Owen; none at all.”
The medic was shaking his head in denial.
Ianto continued. “Also, both Toshiko and Deborah have been getting emails from her. I know for a fact that Tosh tried to give you the email address. In fact, Diane has been wondering why you haven’t contacted her. She’s been really upset about it, and I think she did try to call you once but you never answered, and she left a voice mail.” Now he knew why Owen had ignored it all…he’d somehow been convinced that Diane was gone.
But how? And why?
“No,” Owen growled, “you’re just trying to convince me to forgive Jack for her leaving.”
Another piece of the puzzle slotted itself into place. This was why Owen had been so confrontational toward Jack; if Diane hadn’t gotten that job offer, then the Rift would never have grabbed her away. “Of course I want you to forgive Jack, since he didn’t have any control over whether Diane stayed or left. But Owen…there was no Rift spike. Diane is safe and living her life in Alaska. I can even bring up pictures she sent Tosh of her home in Fairbanks and her latest email if you want.”
Owen looked as if he were trying to swallow a very large and bitter pill. Ianto turned back to the computer, getting into Toshiko’s email very easily, and bringing up the email in question. He was also able to find the pictures; she’d shown them to him the day they’d been received.
This explained so much about Owen’s behavior. He’d honestly been convinced that Diane was gone forever, and Ianto could see why he’d blame Jack, even though it had been Diane’s decision to leave. And as for seeing her, and her telling him that the Rift had opened up on her…
Something was going on. Ianto just didn’t know what it was.
He could feel Owen breathing over his shoulder as he looked at the pictures. There was even one of Diane herself, standing next to her plane, smiling happily. She was wearing current times’ clothing, which would have put paid to him accusing Ianto of showing him an old photograph or doctoring one up for his benefit.
Whatever was going on, it all came down to the Rift.
Ianto suddenly had doubts about opening it, even to retrieve Jack and Toshiko. Someone - or something - had tried to convince Owen that opening it would bring Diane back, even though she was safe and sound in her new home. What would be the benefit of opening it? Did what had done this to Owen know about Toshiko’s equations? Or did it want a blind opening? What was the point?
“I don’t understand,” Owen mumbled. “If Diane is really in Alaska, then what the fuck was I seeing?”
“I think something wants us to open the Rift,” Ianto said aloud. “But we already do, if the report that Torchwood at the time could be believed.”
“Then we should get on with it,” Owen said, “and once Jack and Tosh are back, we figure out what’s going on.”
Now, that sounded like the old Owen. Ianto went back to the mainframe, minimizing the email screen, and was gratified to see that the security in Toshiko’s laptop was now cooperating. Whatever had been on her personal computer was being slotted into the equations currently on the mainframe, and Ianto turned to get back to helping it along. From what he could see, everything seemed to be present; it was just up to completing the work and running simulations.
“Is it all there?”
“It is,” the dragon said in relief. “I’ll want to check to see if it works before we even try it…”
“Makes sense. Then we can get the others back and figure out what the hell is going on.” Owen paused, then with a healthy dose of contrition he said, “I’m sorry about my behavior. God knows, you all must’ve thought I was a prick.”
“It’s fine,” Ianto assured him. “It wasn’t you. We don’t know what it is, but we’ll find out. Now, I’m not sure what the time difference is, but I bet Diane would love to hear from you.” He pulled Diane’s emails back up. “I think her number is on one of those. I’ll get us a coffee while you talk to her.”
Ianto got up, leaving Owen to sort through the emails for the contact number. Yes, he really needed a coffee; but, at the same time, his mind was trying to work out the puzzle that was being laid out in front of him. If someone was trying to influence Owen into opening the Rift, then it was entirely possible that Jack and Toshiko’s disappearance was to do the same thing.
But, if the Rift taking his lover and his friend had been a trick in order to get them to open the Rift…well, then why didn’t whoever manipulated the Rift like that just do what they’d obviously been trying to get Owen to do? And why target Owen, who really didn’t know anything about the manipulator or the equations needed to do just that? It would have made more sense for Toshiko to have been influenced.
As his hands worked the machine, his thoughts went back to the envelope, and the diary. His chest hurt, and he rubbed it absently. He really couldn’t deal with it; if it was true, then he had some decisions to make.
No, he couldn’t. Not now. Now, he had to concentrate on getting their teammates back safe and sound.
By the time he’d finished with his and Owen’s coffees, the medic was just saying goodbye to Diane. There was such a look of peace on his face, for the first time in about a month, and Ianto was glad for one thing: that losing Jack and Toshiko had been the catalyst for him discovering what had been going on with Owen in the first place.
Not that knowing was necessarily a good thing.
It had simply led to more questions than answers.