Doctor Who - 03 - The August Sky

.6. Weevils and Sparks

"What?" Mickey said incredulously. He shrugged uncomfortably in Jack's bear-like hug. "What did you say?"

"Oi! Boss! Geroff me!" He weaselled his way out of Jack's arms, just to fall into Gwen's tight embrace.

"We thought you were dead. We thought you've burnt to a cinder! Bloody hell, Mickey, we thought you were a goner!"

"Well, apparently, I'm not," said Mickey with important airs. "What didya think that for, anyway?"

"What...?" Gwen pulled back, still holding Mickey's shoulders in a strong grip, as if afraid that a gust of wind from over the Cardiff Bay could grab him and carry him away. "We saw it! I saw it!"

"Where?" He pulled a face.

"On the screen, Mickey, not on the news," Gwen finally let go of him and turned to Martha, who was standing next to workstations, arms crossed on her chest, eyebrows arched questioningly. "I saw that... that creature... using the Manipulator... just like you could use a gas pump. And then it noticed Mickey, and then it shot that ray of light, sort of like an electric arch, and then... Well, that was it, basically. He burnt. He died."

"Not in this life," Mickey grumbled. "Or in this world."

"So, there was nothing going on here?" asked Jack, his voice low and harsh. "Nothing out of ordinary?"

"Just energy fluctuations," Martha answered. "And the dam is leaking really badly, you should see to those boxes you've put aside, Ianto, I think they look a bit soggy."

"No, but..." Gwen gazed at everybody in turn, her eyes wide. "I saw it. Don't you believe me? Jack? Ianto?"

"Well, I, for that matter, can see no reason for you killing me off in your hallucinations." Mickey shrugged again. "I know I wasn't welcome here, but..."

"We believe you, Gwen," Jack said. "Ianto heard it as well."

"But what was that?"

Martha drew a deep breath, tightening her lips, as her eyes met Jack's stare.

"An anomaly," he answered. "Just another flux."

"An anomaly?" Gwen repeated angrily. "What does it even mean: an anomaly?"

"It's what a paradox causes," said Martha slowly, her arms still crossed in a defensive gesture. "There are paradoxes in time and space; endless paradoxes. They can rip the world apart. And they cause waves, ripples. What Donna presented earlier – her visions, her precognitions, her memories – those were anomalies. Our little weather quirks. Our funny energy fluctuations. Our wonderful finds. Anomalies, Gwen, echoes of some event in time-space continuum."

"The Doctor." Ianto stopped fussing over damp cardboard boxes to look at Jack with a sort of accusation. "What'd'you bet it was him?"

"That's possible," Jack muttered.

"Bloody meddler."

"Now wait a minute!" Mickey spat furiously, turning to Ianto. "He's no meddler! You don't even know him, do you? So don't you call him names!"

Jack sighed and walked across the Hub, taking in the desolate walls and ruined mirrors of the water fountain.

"Let's just calm down," Gwen said. "We're all alive and kicking, which is good, right? An anomaly? Fine. I'll take ten of them over what I saw on that bloody screen. Let's just focus on the things at hand, shall we? There's a big, bad nest of Weevils down in... Jack?"

"Yes, carry on." With a dismissive wave of his hand Harkness climbed the stairs to his office.

"Now, that's..." Gwen gasped.