m_findlow

Title: Everything changes
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Yvonne Hartman
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,665 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for prompt "Alien Encounters 101"
Summary: Ianto gets his first taste of the reality of Torchwood

Ianto took his seat in the large room, watching as it slowly filled with people. Up at the front of the room, the projector scree stood idle, with nothing but the large T-shaped corporate logo that adorned everything in the building. He'd only been here about two months, but it looked as if this briefing, whatever it was, wasn't restricted to newcomers. He searched the room for the few faces that he did know, but couldn't spot them amongst the thousands filing into their seats.

Once the room looked as it it could fit no more, the back lights were dimmed, and Ms Hartman took to the stage, heels clicking audibly across the wooden floor until she reached the podium.

'Thank you all for coming to this very important briefing. As you all know, the Torchwood Institute was established in 1869 by Queen Victoria to preserve and defend great Britain from alien threats. Now, many of you may think that we are a research facility only, but I assure you that the threat of aliens is real.' She subtly hit a key on the laptop nestled on the podium. A photo of a man in a pinstripe suit and sneakers flashed up on screen.

'This man is an alien. Not just any alien, but the single biggest threat that faces this planet to date. He calls himself The Doctor. Notice how he looks human. A ruse.'

Well, that wasn't what he expected, Ianto thought, sitting there, and committing the man's features to memory. He hadn't actually believed all those rumors that floated around down in administration where he worked, that they actually dealt with aliens. London had its share of odd phenomena sure, but it was just hysterics. People posting on Facebook and Twitter that they'd seen shop mannequins come to life, of that they imagined their Christmas tree had attacked them after they'd drunk way too much egg nog. The Thames being drained as far as the west end had been put down to freak tidal surges, and the gravitational effects of a large comet that had passed by the earth's atmosphere. None of it was anything to do with aliens and other phenomena that might lie out they're beyond their own planet. That was just crazy.

'You are all here today because such threats to our nation, and to the world at large can not be allowed to go about disrupting our very democratic way of life. To that end, it is up to each and every one of us to remain vigilant in the identification and capture of any alien that inhabits this city. That is our purpose, Torchwood's purpose.

Whilst you've been sitting here, we've been uploading an application to each and every one of your phones.'

That sent a flurry of movement and murmurs through the room. Ianto slipped his own phone out of his pocket, watching as the notifications panel read "Torchwood app successfully installed." How had they done that? Just installed software on his phone without his knowledge. He didn't even have Candy Crush on his phone.

'The purpose of this application is to assist you in the identification of aliens.' She clicked the laptop's keys again.

'The application is very straightforward to use. You simply identify the target of your enquiry and take a photo. The app will analyse the image, along with other basic readings and cross reference this information to our main database.

The system has been traffic lighted for ease of identification. A green frame around the image will indicate that a false identification has been made,' which she demonstrated on the screen. Naturally it was a photo of herself, framed in green, with the words "Not alien" printed below.

'Positive identification will result in either a yellow, amber or red frame,' she continued. 'Yellow will be used to identify aliens that are of little immediate threat, but which will still be required to be apprehended and returned to the Torchwood Institute immediately. A much more detailed overlay appeared, with informational displays. 'For these low priority threats, you will be required to personally apprehend the entity. Failure to take all reasonable steps to capture entities identified may result in termination of your employment.' That sent another way of murmurs around the room.

'Amber and red identifications will send an automatic notification to our rapid response teams, including your location. Amber alert aliens should be treated with suspicion and care. You should read the information provided on your app as to how to best deal with such encounters, and to ensure whoever possible, that if the entity moves from its current location, that you proceed to follow it, ensuring that the rapid response team are able to track both yourself and the entity.'

Was she serious? She really expected that on the off chance they found an alien, that they'd have to go after it? What was he supposed to do then? Say "stand back, I've got a mobile phone and I'm not afraid to use it"?

'A red alert should be taken very seriously. These alerts have been reserved for known dangerous entities. You must follow all advisory and warning signs issued from your app. Do not approach a red alert. We will have satellite imagery pinpoint your location and to follow any live threat remotely from our control centre. You should ensure your safety and that of the public. I repeat, do not engage a red alert.'

She surveyed the room full of people, as if making eye contact with each and every one of them.

'I ask you all to be vigilant and use the app to check and log any suspicious behaviour. Please ensure that you take a photo of the entire entity as this will assist in returning positive matches from our database.'

'Not much chance of that when I'm out getting slaughtered on a Saturday night,' Ianto heard someone in the row behind him mutter.

'Yeah, well that bird you took home last weekend looked alien to me. Must've been to go home with you. Lucky I didn't have this, mate, or I'd have clocked her on it,' another replied.

'Now,' Yvonne said, tapping another key, returning the screen to the T-shaped logo, serious look fading from her face, replaced by that insincere smile again. 'Are there any questions?' The room remained silent. 'No? No questions at all? Lovely.'

They were beginning to shuffle in their seats, ready to leave, when she gripped the podium again. 'Oh, just one more thing I wanted to say. A reminder of what you stand for. We are Torchwood. We are this country's greatest asset, and each one of you has been recruited, sitting here today, because we hold you to a higher account than the general public. Aliens come in all forms. Use this to help protect yourself and others. That's will be all, thank you.'

She swelled with pride at the sight of so many people suddenly looking not at her, but at their phones. A whole army of people out on the streets of her city, secretly scanning their friends and neighbours, complete strangers on the tube, having coffee in Soho, or walking along Westminster Bridge. An army of alien hunters armed with more technology in their pockets now than any of Yvonne's predecessors had ever had. More importantly, every scan taken would be searching for one thing above all others, two heartbeats. I will find you Doctor.

Ianto sat down on the steps in the plaza outside Canary Wharf, enjoying the weak spring sunshine on his lunch break. He snapped open the seal on his bottle of water and sipped it, before setting it down beside him and pulling out his phone. He tapped on the red T logo and watched the app open up.

"Capture image to begin" the screen read.

Damn. He'd rather hoped he could just browse the underlying database, acquaint himself with pictures and details of some of the things he supposedly shared his existence with. Even that sounded crazy. This morning he'd been worried about having enough clean socks to last the week, and now he was discovering that aliens were real. His mum would never believe him, even if he could tell her.

Staring across the plaza, he watched people going about their day, some just out enjoying the sun like he was, others on their phones, or bustling by on their way somewhere important, whlist others loitered, taking photos and consulting tourist maps.

He held his phone up and put a large red post box in its sights, clicking the camera.

"Not alien" the app read. Of course not, but a relief all the same. So it really was Royal Mail he could blame when parcels didn't arrive.

Emboldened, he watched the sea of people ebbing by. He surreptitiously snapped a few more interesting looking characters. "Not alien."

Well, if I was alien I suppose I'd want to look like I fitted in. He picked out a few blander choices, men in suits, ladies in jeans, a dog walker and his dog, a mother with a pram. "Not alien."

Nope. It was rubbish, he decided. Just a one in a million chance that there was anything alien around here. Torchwood being paranoid, he thought, annoyed that they'd wasted their money on this, rather than something else, like better coffee or a decent Christmas party.

'S'cuse me,' the voice interrupted him. Ianto looked up, seeing the tall man with closely cropped hair and a thick leather jacket. 'D'you mind if I borrow your phone for a minute?'

'Uh, okay,' Ianto said. He didn't look or sound like a tourist, thick Northern accent obvious.

'Thanks,' the man said, quickly tapping the keys for a minute. 'There you go, all done. Thanks. Just needed to send out an urgent message,' he said, smiling the whole time.

'Er, no problem,' he said, taking back the phone.

'By the way, do you know anywhere around here that sells chips?'