incidental [ open to capnhotness & viable torchwood people ]
Work. Work is good and safe and the most viable option for distraction at this point in time. Ianto does not want to think about anything - about everything, about how he's ruined it, again, just like always - and so he throws himself fully into his work. There are requisition orders to be signed (though he is conscientious of the budget and Torchwood Three's current state now), assignments to be handed out, decisions to make. The alien ship over Manchester proved to be the fluke he believed it was; the aliens, finally sent a polite (they'd hoped) message by Tosh that the planet was not quite prepared for their apparent sightseeing, had since moved on along their way.
But the surfacing of a piece of clearly alien technology seems a little more than coincidence. Ianto stands with his arms folded across his chest, scrutinizing the item. Around a foot long, it's a glossy black with a strange, gunmetal undertone, shaped like a flat cylinder with ovoid openings on each end and a series of bubbles that might be lights patterned across the top. It looks and feels like metal, but seems somehow more organic.
"What do you think it is?"
"Don't know," Myers responds. He's one of the tech specialists, another of the few survivors from Canary Wharf, but even with his older, obvious labcoat-clad expertise, he falls a little flat after Ianto's years in Cardiff.
"Mm." Ianto glances to the side, nods to one of the aides. "Please see if you can get Dr. Toshiko Sato."
Myers, obviously put out at the idea of being replaced, stiffens with a scowl he's clearly trying to restrain. "Now, we have found it appears to be functioning," he scrambles, "we're just not certain to what purpose." He moves closer to the table and places his hand inside one end of the device, causing a series of lights to spiral up, stopping at the middle. "When I do this, it lights up. I've tried putting the other hand in the other end, but nothing happens."
Ianto reaches out, impulsively placing his hand in the other end, but the device does not react.
"It doesn't appear to work when two people do it together, either," the scientist explains. "My best conclusion is that perhaps whatever connects the two sides is damaged."