Ficlet: Soothing Influence
Title: Soothing Influence
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Tosh
Rating: G
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Tosh likes to listen to the humming of mainframe.
Word Count: 175
Written For: My own prompt ‘Torchwood, Tosh, mainframe's humming is soothing,’ at
fic_promptly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
The Hub is where Tosh feels safest and most at home; here, she can forget about the world outside and concentrate on her work. In mathematics there is order, it makes sense and never lies to her, unlike people.
Mainframe’s humming is soothing; it wraps around her like a comforting blanket and fills her head, chasing away unwanted thoughts and emotions. It centres her, provides stability in the midst of the madness that comes with being a Torchwood agent, and helps her to concentrate. Sometimes, it seems as though the computer talks to her, tells her things, gives her previously unknown insight into the alien devices she studies.
Tosh thinks that maybe, if she could only talk to the semi-organic, semi-sentient computer, she could learn the deepest secrets of the universe. It’s a crazy idea, but late at night when she’s the only one left in the Hub and the lights are turned down low, she sits in the almost-darkness and finds herself listening to that steady and peaceful hum. Just in case she’s right.
The End