'Toshiko…' the voice rasped. 'I smell something sweet.'
'I just can't believe it,' said Michael, running down towards the water's edge. 'That — over there — that would have been the place where all the bananas used to come in. They used to come in from Brazil in those days. And over there…' He laughed. 'Over there was this place, you know, where the sailors would go when they were on shore leave for a bit of how's your father…'
Jack could hardly keep up with him, but for a moment it was as if all his memories of that night, over forty years ago, had faded, like a bad dream. Michael looked almost happy.
'But where are the docks now?' Michael asked. 'I mean, if this is all fancy bars and restaurants, and that bloody great big opera house, where's the docks?'
'They're gone,' said Jack. 'They went a long time ago.'
Michael's ebullience waned and he stopped running.
'Really?' he said. 'Everything's gone?'
'Things change. The world changes. People change.'
Michael nodded pensively, and then walked slowly along the waterfront, gazing out over the sea.
'That's where I worked,' he said, pointing out across the water at a distant headland. 'That's where we all worked.'
He leaned against the black railings and smiled wistfully at the lights on the water. He'd thought, for a moment, that he was home, but he knew deep down that home was very far away.
Owen raced up the steps and into the Hub only for something to hit him full force in the chest, flinging him back against the wall. As he gathered his senses and looked up, he saw them for the first time.
The Vondrax.
One of them held Toshiko in the air by her throat, while two more were methodically stalking around the Hub, tilting their heads in a curious, almost childlike fashion, as they examined each workstation. One of them came to the Orb, and picked it up as if it weighed next to nothing.
Owen's gun was in its holster, but that holster was slung over a railing in the Autopsy Room. He cursed himself for leaving it there but, as he tried to stand, that same invisible force struck him once again, pinning him down. One of the investigating Vondrax turned to him, lips curled back, its rows of metallic, pointed teeth gnashing together, and it smiled. The thing actually smiled at him.
'Stop!'
He heard Ianto's voice and, from his corner of the Hub, Owen saw Ianto and Gwen, both with their guns aimed squarely at the Vondrax.
'Put her down,' said Ianto, Jack's words racing through his mind — his description of how bullets had passed straight through the Vondrax. Any effort now, Ianto felt, would be pointless. What could they do?
'The Traveller…' said the Vondrax, still holding Toshiko by the throat. 'Where is he?'
'Put her down!' Ianto shouted again. He was stalling, he knew that he was stalling, but what else was there? Where was Jack?
One of the Vondrax was now peering into Toshiko's monitor, tilting its head first left, and then right. On the screen there was a CCTV image of two men walking across the piazza outside: Jack and Michael. The Vondrax tapped the screen twice with its clawed index finger.
'The Traveller,' said the Vondrax that held Toshiko before hurling her to the ground and vanishing in a sudden blur. Toshiko got to her feet and ran across the Hub to the others. The remaining Vondrax followed her.
'I wonder how long I've got left,' said Michael. 'Here, I mean. Now. How does all this end?'
Jack couldn't answer him. He'd told him, so many years ago, that it was wrong to know your future. That rule didn't just apply to finding out lottery numbers or sports results. Even so, knowing the importance of that didn't make it any easier.
'I don't know,' he said softly. 'Maybe somebody will find a way home for you.'
He turned to Michael. He wanted to say and do so much more.
'I just wish it could have been me.'
'Jack!' Michael shouted. He was looking over Jack's shoulder, at something in the distance, his face suddenly a frozen mask of fear. Jack span around and saw, on the edge of the piazza, a man in a black suit and bowler hat, walking towards them. He turned again and saw three more on the other side of the square.
'It's them,' said Michael. 'They're here again. They've come for me, haven't they?'
'It's OK,' said Jack, standing between Michael and the Vondrax. 'This time they'll have to deal with me.'
They edged their way back across the square. Looking in every direction for an escape route, Jack saw another Vondrax appearing, until finally he could no longer count them. They were marching forward, forming an ever tightening circle around the two men.
They never ran. That was, perhaps, what disturbed Jack most about them. It was as if they never needed to run. As if they knew they would always get you in the end.
One of the Vondrax had advanced on them and was now only feet away. It looked at Jack with a strange kind of curiosity, as if sizing him up, before very slowly removing its sunglasses. Jack and Michael were still edging their way back toward the water tower, and Jack had drawn his pistol, though he knew it was pointless.
'Give us the Traveller…' said the Vondrax, smiling and hissing.
Jack laughed, causing the Vondrax to grimace and then frown, as if it had been able to taste his derision. It stepped closer again, now staring into him with its melanoid eyes, and Jack felt a familiar surge of pain from one end of his body to the other, every nerve once more being twisted, but he wouldn't give in.
The Vondrax made a self-satisfied gurgling noise in its throat, a sound cut short as its expression changed quickly to one of horror.
Black fluid, like liquefied tar, began to pour from its eyes, and then its nose, and its skin began to crack and tear, with more dark sludge spilling out from the cracks.
'The darkness!' it hissed. 'The darkness!'
As its whole body buckled and twisted on the ground, Jack turned to Michael.
'Close your eyes,' he said. 'Don't look at them… and follow me!'
Jack grabbed Michael by the arm and together they ran across the square, the circle of Vondrax growing tighter still. He dragged him to the water tower, with its reflective metal surface, and they stood with their backs against it.
Seeing their reflections in the surface of the tower, the Vondrax hissed, covering their eyes, but they didn't come any closer.
'Ha!' said Jack. 'How d'you like that, huh? And they say public art serves no purpose. I knew it would come in handy one day.'
'What's happening?' said Michael. 'Why are they just stopping?'
'Because,' said Jack, almost out of breath, but smiling, 'they don't like mirrors. Something to do with the waveform they use to kill, but it's more than that. They've been around so long they can't stand to look at themselves in the mirror. Well, that's my theory, anyway'
'So what do we do now?' said Michael.
Jack's smile faded. 'That's a good question. That's a very good question.'
And…?'
Jack laughed. 'I'm sorry, Michael. I'm a little out of ideas right now. But at least that's about as far as they're gonna get.'
He hated this. He hated the helplessness. He'd wanted to protect Michael, just this one time, but here they were again, stuck in a hopeless and helpless situation. How much longer could they stand there, with their backs against the water tower? They couldn't go down into the Hub; the Vondrax would follow.
'It's OK, Jack,' said Michael. 'I think it's going to be OK.'
Jack turned to him. What did he mean?
'I think it's happening again,' said Michael, smiling. 'I can feel it. I'm going again.'
'No,' said Jack. 'No. Stay. This time stay.'
Michael shook his head. 'I can't. I can't control this.'