Disoriented Cosmos {A Torchwood Story} [COMPLETED]

6. I've Solved Something!

I study the footage of the alien killing the man, trying to take my mind off of Boss and his henchman's murder by figuring out... how he was murdered. Yeah, I didn't really think that one through when I volunteered to watch the tapes.

It seems to take out a small device from the belt I saw it holding, press something, and the huge ray of white light came out of it and aimed for the man.
As I watch the man die again and again, I inhale and steady myself, and Jack appears next to me. "Still not used to watching death yet?"
"Oh, I am," I say, "but it never gets easier."
"I hear that. Now, what's that?" He points to the light, and I put my chin on my knuckles.

"I think, seeing as it virtually disintegrated him into a puff of smoke, it could be something to do with the sun - I mean, nothing else could physically do that to a person, surely - oh, and all the alien seemed to do was try to find the biggest spot of sun," I inform him, "perhaps the alien... I don't know, lives on the sun?"
Jack looks at me. "You're kidding, right?"

"I said I don't know!" I force myself to laugh. "This is my first alien case, leave me alone!"
An idea pops into my head and I switch computers. I type some key words in and scour the results, until I point at the screen triumphantly and call Jack over, knowing my initial thoughts were true.

"Look. Okay, so the sun is made up of plasma, and plasma contributes to the hottest things on Earth. And, the closest planet to the sun is Mercury, though it's one of the coldest planets. Perhaps this alien is from Mercury and thinks the sun could be a type of energy source for its home planet, Mercury! I mean, you've seen the tapes - look at how much energy is stored in that device it has - degrees in the billions. And from how it's just been using it on everything it comes into contact with, it's obvious this creature doesn't understand the sun's full potential. I don't know, Jack, you've been doing this longer than I have, it's just my first case, but what do you think? I've got the web results to back it up."

Jack doesn't reply. I swivel back to where he is leaning with his hands supporting him on the table, staring at the screen in front of him showing a replay of the alien's face whilst it unleashes the power inside the device.
I watch him, tentative and wanting to have done right. "Jack?"
"Look up gravitational compression effects on a life form. And what creatures are cold-blooded."

I do as he says, and on two different computers I relay the results. "There is more gravitational compression on Mercury than Earth, therefore if a creature were to travel between the two worlds they would grow or shrink depending on which direction. And creatures that are cold blooded are amphibians, reptiles and fish. This is interesting though: reptiles need to absorb heat otherwise their metabolism would slow down until their death."

Jack and I look at each other, thinking the same thing.
Jack begins slowly, looking between each screen, "So, if this alien is a sort of reptile that slows down when they can't absorb enough heat... we have a way of stopping it from hurting anyone else."
I grin from ear to ear, trauma pushed to the side. I just solved something! I did that!

Jack moves away to grab his coat and shouts, "Suzie, Tosh, we need ice water, and buckets of it! And we need to stop off at a pharmacist's on the way to where the alien last was!"

"Oh, to get heat regulating supplements, gotcha!" I reply, reaching for my own jacket.
He raises his eyebrows in confusion. "How come you don't know how to drive but you know what heat regulating supplements are?"
I shrug. "Drug rings contain anything and everything - maybe one day I'll tell you all about my disgusting adventures. But for now, to wherever the alien was last!"

We follow the late afternoon sun to the top level of Pierhead Street Car Park, which is thankfully empty apart from a few stray cars. All four of us are in the field, with nobody at the Hub awaiting for instructions to shut something down; of course, it being just the four of us no exits are surrounded, but we shut them off as much as we can.