Unplugged

This was my second short story for Torchwood Magazine, which was brilliantly illustrated by Adrian Salmon. Torchwood Magazine is sadly no longer in print, but I've got permission to post my story here, for free. Please don't repost, just link to this page if you want to share.

Thank you to Titan and the BBC for letting me put this on here, and Martin Eden from Titan Books for tracking the permission down for me. I've pasted the story from my final text copy, to save myself hours of formatting, so any grammatical errors are my fault and not the editor's. The printed story had some additional edits, so this is the full length version.

Adrian Salmon has also very kindly given me permission to post his wonderful artwork from the magazine, so I've included that at the bottom of the page. Check out Adrian's work at his blog here!

Story notes: Issue 25 was the final ever Torchwood Magazine printed, so I had a much tighter, stricter deadline than usual - if I was late, then it wouldn't ever be printed! Unplugged was actually one of my unused episode pitches for series 2, which was basically, what would happen if Toshiko was trapped in a dangerous situation without any of her computers, gadgets, or equipment? I knew she'd figure a way out of it somehow, but how? I love the character of Toshiko, and thought Naoko played her beautifully. My biggest regret working on the show was not getting to feature her in another episode, I wanted to do a showcase for her, as she didn't have a huge role in my first episode, Sleeper. This was my chance to give her a story to herself, show off her skills and ingenuity, and dig into her character some more. It was also my last chance to write for Torchwood Magazine, so it became a goodbye to both of them. This is one of my favourite things I've written, and the most unusual, so I'm really pleased that more people will get the chance to read it now.

While you're here, you may be interested in my Torchwood audio for Big Finish, called Serenity, starring John Barrowman & Gareth David-Lloyd. It's out now, and you can order it here.

"Serenity Plaza is the most exclusive gated community in South Wales. You’d kill to live there. Jack and Ianto have gone undercover as a happily married couple. There are rumours that something’s wrong at Serenity Plaza and they’re determined to investigate. But the problem is that Serenity Plaza is just so rigidly normal. Suddenly, Jack and Ianto have to confront the problems that normal couples face. Sharing a house together, doing the washing up, entering the residents’ baking contest, and hoping to win the Best Kept Lawn. Competition is fierce. Because this is Serenity Plaza. And you’d kill to live there."

Unplugged
by James Moran

Darkness. Dust. Pain.
Awake. I think I'm awake. I must be alive. If I was dead, I wouldn't be in this much pain. Am I still in the museum? Suppose I must be. The blast took out half of the ceiling, that means I'm stuck in the basement. Pitch black in here. Just me and the sound of dripping water somewhere. Wonderful. This will look good on my annual appraisal. "Hard worker, proficient at keeping up with changing technologies, but probably better off staying in the Hub and not trying to apprehend dangerous aliens without any backup."
Don't move yet. You don't know how badly injured you are. Can you move your toes? Yes. Fingers? Yes. Arms? Yes. Okay, feel around for wounds and bone damage. Just like you've been trained. Take it slow. Right, that would be a large open wound in your leg, don't panic. Doesn't seem to be any damage anywhere else. Let's try sitting up--
--OW. OW. OW.
Okay, add concussion to the list. Take it more slowly. Need to tie off that leg wound, or you'll bleed to death. Come on, sit up, you'll go into shock if you don't do something. Slowly. Sit up. And focus. Keep your mind centred. Don't lose track of what you're doing. Talk to yourself, out loud if you have to. Nobody's listening. Nobody's here. Just you.
My name is Toshiko Sato. I'm 26 and a half years old. I'm bleeding to death. And I'm going to die here, alone, in the dark.

Jack paced next to the desk, while Tosh typed. "How long?"
"Be quicker if you weren't standing over me, asking me every 30 seconds," said Tosh.
"We've got fifteen dead bodies already, and more about to come in."
"I know what's at stake! Don't rush me! You have no idea how tricky this is, I've got to align three satellites at the same time, with a tiny margin for error."
"Let her work, Jack," said Gwen. "Shouting at her won't help."
"Yeah," said Owen, packing a medkit. "Let her do her computer thing, so we can go and shoot the bad guy."
Tosh felt herself starting to blush. "Her computer thing"?? Typical. Just a few careless words, and she felt like an idiot, a gawky teenager all over again. Owen didn't even realise he was doing it. It must be his special skill.
Ianto breezed past. "SUV's all ready to rock, extra ammo, plenty of bug spray. Any progress?"
Tosh snapped. "Not yet! I'm going as fast as I can. Don't suppose there's any chance of a--" She stopped, as she saw the fresh coffee sitting next to her keyboard. Ianto must have put it there as he went past. Tosh flashed him a smile, and he winked back at her. The computer beeped. Tosh stared at it, and sighed.
"What's up?" said Jack.
"Didn't work. The satellites are tracking properly, but the Chirrka's not giving off enough hydrogen sulfide, they can't find it."
"Great, that was a waste of time. How are we going to find it now?"

Waste of time. Yes, of course. Because nothing I do is worthwhile, eh? Just do "my computer thing", tappity tap away on the keyboard, while you all run off and do the important stuff. Well, you wouldn't be able to FIND that stuff without me, if I wasn't there you'd get lost or shot or killed or turned into zombie monkey slaves (wow, that was a weird case).
I don't why I even bother explaining how I'm doing it. Every time, I can see their eyes glazing over. They don't care how it's done, they have no idea how difficult it is, they just expect me to work miracles. Get it done! Hurry up! Do your computer thing!
Okay, that's the leg wound tied off. Feels like the bleeding has slowed down. Now I need to see what I'm doing. Don't suppose the lights are still working. Even if I could find the light switch, and the power was still connected, the bulb's probably smashed. Stop rambling, Toshiko. Focus. You have to do this on your own.

Jack and Owen were arguing. Again.
"You're sure this thing needs carbon, nothing else?"
"Jack, I've got fifteen bodies in the morgue, all completely stripped of their carbon. The Chirrka's been carving its way through Cardiff ever since it came steaming out of the Rift, I think it's safe to say it's a bit peckish. It takes a few other trace amounts of sulfur and nitrogen, but carbon is the main dish of the day."
"How do we know it eats the carbon?"
"Who cares what it does with it? Maybe it's making a load of pencils. Jack, it's killing people by sucking the carbon out of their bodies. In my professional medical opinion, it's a carbon junkie."
Gwen stood between them, trying to calm them down. "Girls, girls, stop it! You're BOTH pretty! Come on, this is getting us nowhere."
Tosh stared at the last two death reports. Something was niggling at her, so she added the reports to her database and called them all up on a map of the city. She grinned triumphantly.
"Look!" she said. "It came out of the Rift here, and the first death was here. Ever since then, it's been moving in a straight line. These people just got in the way. It still wants carbon, but it must be going somewhere it can get easier access to it."
She extended the line of the alien's path, right to the edge of the city. At the end of the path, right on the line, was a large hospital.
"St Conlan's Hospital," she said. "It's got the largest morgue in the city, a cancer ward, and a coma ward."
"My God," said Gwen. "It's perfect - hundreds of bodies, alive and dead, who can't fight back. It's going to stuff its face."
Ianto raised an eyebrow. "Well, it is lunchtime. Sandwiches in the SUV, by the way."
Jack checked his gun and ran towards the exit. "Let's go and politely explain that tourists aren't allowed to eat the locals. Thanks Tosh."
"Yeah, good work," said Gwen, following the others.
Tosh stared at them, all ready with her gun and bag. "Should I come along? Might be a handful."
"No," said Jack. "We need you to keep an eye on things from here, update us if anything changes."
"Safer in here," said Owen. "Might get a bit shooty. Laters!"
"But I'm fully trained for--" The door slammed shut. They were gone. Tosh sat down again, sighing.

Yeah, you stay in the Hub. Might get a bit dangerous out there, and you'd probably just drop your gun or something. For God's sake, I'm fully trained! I've been out on operations, more dangerous ones than that. Why didn't they want me with them on this? They don't take me seriously. If there's fighting and shooting to be done, I'm never first choice to go along. I mean, sure, my main duties are in the Hub, co-ordinating, monitoring all the channels and cameras I can find to cover them, sort of their eye in the sky. Makes sense, don't get me wrong. But I'm just as good a shot as anyone. Better than Owen! Although he'd never admit it. And I wouldn't push it, don't want to embarrass him. Boys and their guns, they get a bit funny about them. I tried to make a joke about it so he wouldn't feel too bad. It's okay, you didn't get a good grouping on the target, it happens to everyone sometimes, you're just tired, you can try again later... That didn't go down too well. Oops.
But I get it, I'm the techie, the geek, the one with the glasses at the computer, living up to the stereotype. Want a secure server broken into? An impossible code cracked? Access to a military satellite that we're not supposed to know about? Brand new piece of equipment built from scratch that bends one or two laws of physics? Just bark at me and I'll do it, quickly, quietly, without complaint. Give me a keyboard, a phone, and a soldering iron, and I can hack the whole world.
But right now, I have nothing. No phone. No internet. No comms. No email. No computer. No plug sockets. No circuit boards. No cables. Not a single piece of technology. I've searched half of this basement, in the dark.
So far, I've found a fireplace.
Great. I'll be out of here in no time.

Tosh sat at her desk. She phoned Gwen, and heard the sound of the SUV speeding down the road.
"Gwen? It's me. Anything happening?"
"Not yet. We're halfway there. Traffic's terrible. But as you'd expect, Jack has been VERY patient."
In the background, Tosh could hear Jack shouting. "Stupid Sunday driving idiots would you GET OUT OF MY ROAD!"
Tosh grinned. "Nothing to report here, just sitting in the Hub, waiting. Very dull. I expect you're all--"
"Hold on. Got to go, there's another body. I'll call you back."
And she was gone. Tosh sighed, and looked around the empty Hub. She span around in her chair a few times, until she got dizzy and had to stop.
She stared at her map again, with the dots where the Chirrka had struck. She followed the line with her eyes, double checking.
Then frowned.

Okay, updated inventory: fireplace, one. Matches, one box. Old newspapers, lots of. Leaky water pipe in ceiling, one. Posh Victorian chair, smashed, one. Crumbly old antique playing cards, several packs. Rocks from the caved in ceiling, lots of. Useless nerd, one.
Some of the newspapers are burning merrily in the fireplace, so at least I can see what I'm doing. Which isn't much. Ruined my new boots, as well. More annoyed about those than my leg. Have to lie down again for a bit, no, sit down, don't lie down, can't fall asleep, if I fall asleep while I'm concussed, bleeding and possibly in shock, then I might not wake up again.
So basically I have nothing. I'm in the basement of an abandoned museum, with some bits of old rubbish. Should have stayed in the Hub, like I was supposed to. They were right. It's safe in the Hub. I'm hardly going to get killed sitting at my desk doing "my computer thing", am I?
I just wish they appreciated me. I wish I felt like it was worth it, that they knew how hard I work. I'm sure they don't even consider me a proper member of the team, I'm just the tech support, hiding in the background. Ianto used to be Alfred in the Batcave, now he goes out on operations, holds his own, and is a force to be reckoned with. Why am I still the invisible one?
I know why. Because I can't handle it. I'm stuck in a basement, dying. If one of the others were here, they'd figure a way out. I'm useless without my equipment. Just a phone, even! I could call for help, or use the browser to access the Torchwood server, or take it apart and make a sonic resonator to vibrate a hole in the wall and climb out.
And now I'm getting cranky because I haven't checked my email for over an hour. It's just not natural.

Tosh stared at the line, and double checked her figures. Ran a scan again. If she was wrong, she'd look so stupid... But she had to try. She dialled Jack's number.
"Yeah?"
"Hi, it's me. Listen, I've been looking at the path the Chirrka took, and I'm wondering if maybe it's after something else, not humans."
"We've been through this. It eats carbon. We're sweeping the hospital now, to make sure it doesn't get inside."
"Not just carbon. Sulfur and nitrogen, too. Add oxygen and hydrogen to that, and you've got coal. I think it needs coal."
"But it didn't take any oxygen or hydrogen from the bodies. Owen was pretty definite."
"I know, but maybe it can't. It's never been to Earth before, maybe its technology isn't suited to our bodies."
"So what's your point?"
"It's going to pass over a large coal deposit underground. I've found a few buildings with deep basements that might provide easy access for a hungry, determined alien."
"I don't think it came here to go digging, it's been eating the carbon out of the locals, we have to protect this hospital. If there's no sign of it in an hour, then we'll check out your theory."
"I could go and check myself, maybe--"
"No, stay there. We need you in the Hub. Keep an eye on CCTV, keep the facial recognition scans going, watch out for anything that might be our guy. Gotta go."
Click! He hung up. Tosh stared at the CCTV feeds, the facial recognition software doing its thing, the news and police reports coming in on another screen.
She sat there in silence for a moment.
"The hell with this," she said, and stood up, taking her gun out of the drawer.

Yep, brilliant move there, Toshiko. Get in trouble, and die in a hole somewhere. That'll show them. My only consolation is that they'll never know how badly I screwed up, because they won't ever find me. I never got a chance to tell them where I was going, they were so convinced my theory was rubbish. But I'm the one who got them to the hospital. That was my theory too. Why listen to that one, and not the other?
Look at all this junk. Nothing even from the 20th Century, never mind the 21st. I have no practical skills - take away all my computers and equipment, and what can I do? Nothing. Just sit here and complain, while I slowly bleed out. Guess they were right, I'm better off behind a keyboard. God, I sound miserable. Am I always like this? Or is my impending death making me overly maudlin?
If I'm going to die, why couldn't it have been doing something big? I know Torchwood members die young, but the least we can expect is that we die saving the world, or at least preventing some huge catastrophe. I was hoping for a more heroic death than this.

Tosh arrived outside the abandoned museum, laptop in one hand, gun in the other. The laptop had the CCTV, facial recognition, and police report feeds in separate windows on the screen.
"Don't need to be in the Hub to keep an eye on this," she muttered to herself.
The building was the second one on the Chirrka's path, but had the deepest basement, and soft soil. Should be easy enough for the alien to dig down to the coal, provided it had the right equipment. Tosh pushed the front door open.
Inside, the air was musty, stale. A thick layer of dust covered everything - apart from the footprints leading to the basement stairs. Still, could be local kids, squatters. Tosh walked down the stairs, and shone her torch around. Must be a storage room, just some old stuff piled up in a corner, chairs, old newspapers, various bits and pieces.
And a large excavation device, some sort of alien tech, with a sonic disruptor attachment.
It was here. The Chirrka was here.
Tosh ran upstairs, dialling Jack on the phone. "It's me! I'm at--"
But as she reached the top of the stairs, the phone was knocked out of her hand by a scaly claw. The phone smashed against the wall. The Chirrka kicked Tosh in the back, knocking her over. Her laptop and gun went skidding across the floor, out of reach. Tosh rolled over in agony. The creature hissed at her, pulled out a large gun, and aimed it at her head.

Ow. Shouldn't have tried standing up again, that was silly. Okay, so these rocks aren't moving. Damn. Oh, for half a stick of C4 and a detonator. Well, maybe quarter of a stick, don't want to blow myself up too. Come on, Toshiko! Think! You can always think of something when the team ask you to do the impossible, why not now? They don't even bother asking IF you can do it, they just assume you can--
Huh. That's interesting.
They never ask if I can do something. Not lately. And it's usually stuff that their lives depend on, too. They just assume I can do it. They KNOW I can. They throw impossible, crazy stuff at me, and expect me to have a solution within five seconds.
If they didn't appreciate me, they'd never ask me to do anything like that. They'd just decide I couldn't do it. They know I'm clever. They know! You don't ask a stupid, useless person to pull off insanely difficult, mission-critical stuff, especially if your life is at stake. They trust me with their lives. Of course they do, we all trust each other the same way. I just never realised I was part of that equation. But I am, I really am!
I miss them so much. Please don't let me die here, alone, before I get the chance to tell them all how much I love them. Please.
I deserve better than that, don't I?
Okay Toshiko, enough of this. Stop complaining and think of a way out. Don't worry about what you haven't got, focus on what you have. You can do this. Because you're bloody brilliant.

"Hey!" shouted Tosh. "I just bought that laptop!"
She grabbed a chair, and dived at the Chirrka, knocking the weapon out of its claw - but the momentum sent them both flying down the stairs into the basement. The creature stood up first, aimed a punch at Tosh, but she dodged it, and punched it in the throat. It staggered back, coughing. Tosh hit it again, then picked up a chair and smashed it over its head. The Chirrka picked up the alien excavator, and aimed it at Tosh.
"Careful! You'll cave in the ceiling--"
Tosh ducked as the Chirrka fired the device. The air howled as the sonic disruptor blasted a section of the wall. Bricks, rocks, and dust came cascading down as half of the ceiling collapsed, burying the Chirrka and the device, and sealing the only exit. Tosh was thrown to one side as several rocks hit her, and just as she lost consciousness, the room was plunged into darkness.

Right, what do I have that's useful? Matches, papers, broken pipe, broken chairs, and lots of old playing cards. Great, I can play Solitaire until I run out of blood. Not even new cards, they're probably all stuck together and dirty--
Hmm.
Toshiko Sato, you are an idiot.
Old playing cards contain nitrocellulose, it was introduced in the early 1930s, but isn't used so much now because it's unstable. And when it gets wet, it can be used as an explosive.
Worth saying again: you are an idiot.
Okay, I need to rip up all of these playing cards, stuff them into that broken pipe, add some water, and fold the ends over by hammering them with a rock. Bingo. One homemade pipe bomb. Shove it into the rock pile, put some old newspapers underneath, set them on fire, and get behind something. The pressure will build up, the nitro will break down, it'll blow a hole through the blockage, and I can get out. I can get out!
See? You're not so reliant on technology after all, when you put your mind to it. Now, let's get started.

Back at the Hub, as Owen tended to her wounds, Tosh couldn't stop smiling.
"You're looking chirpy, considering you almost died," said Owen.
"Yes, but I didn't die," said Tosh. "I got myself out of it, with no computers, no gadgets, no typing. And I stopped the Chirrka. All by myself. While you lot were wandering around a hospital, with no idea what was going on."
Jack, Gwen and Ianto watched from the staircase, glad that Tosh was safe.
"We'd have found you, sooner or later," said Jack.
"No you wouldn't," said Tosh.
"Sure we would," said Gwen. "You told us about the coal deposits, we'd have done a scan, and found the right building."
"Oh really? And how do you calibrate the main scanner to search for coal? Underground? Ignoring the surrounding rock?"
The others looked at her, clearly at a loss. Ianto shrugged. "Is there a 'coal' button??"
Tosh shook her head. "You'd be lost without me. Admit it."
Gwen smiled, and gave her a hug. "Absolutely. Good to have you back. Don't scare us like that again."
"So what are you up to tonight?" asked Owen. "Let me guess. Buffy marathon, bottle of cheeky Rosé, and some ice cream?"
"Sounds good to me," said Tosh. "You inviting yourself round, then?"
"Me? Nah. Got a hot date. Saucy redhead, with massive--"
"Owen!" said Gwen. "We don't want to know."
Tosh looked downcast for a moment. Jack noticed, and jumped in to fill the silence. "Tosh, there is no way you are staying in tonight. You can buy your team mates a drink to celebrate. Owen, is she okay to go out?"
"Yeah, just take it easy with her. Don't you break my Tosh."
Owen closed his medkit and walked off, with no idea of the effect he was having on Tosh, who just smiled at him.
"Okay then," said Ianto. "First round's on me."
"I'll meet you in there," said Tosh. "Just want to clean up and change my clothes."
"Don't take too long," said Jack. "Your pubs close weirdly early on this planet."
Tosh followed the team into the main Hub, and watched them go. She was looking forward to relaxing with a drink, but first she had something to do. A shower and a change of clothes, yes. But something else after that.
In case anything like this ever happened again, she wanted to make sure they knew how much she loved them. She was going to record a message on her computer, one that would be played after her final logout procedure.
One day, when she was dead - probably killed in action, hopefully doing something impressive - they'd find the message, and would know how she felt about them.
One day. But hopefully not for a long time.

The End