Anythingdrabble Challenge 98 - Mass employment

[m_findlow]

Title: Mass employment
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Jack, Suzie
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Challenge 98 - Factory at anythingdrabble
Summary: Jack has taken an interest in the latest census data. Spoilers for BigFinish audioplay "The Torchwood Archives"

'I got us a new case,' Jack bellowed, jogging across to meet Suzie at her desk.

'You make it sound like something you go into a shop and buy.'

'Well, sort of. It's all to do with the new census data.'

She resisted rolling her eyes. 'Sounds thrilling. And why do we care about census data? Are the aliens registering themselves?'

Jack shrugged. 'Could be. But that's not what's interesting.'

Suzie dropped her pen with exaggerated weariness. 'Please, Jack. Spare me. There is absolutely nothing interesting about census data.'

He leaned his hip against the desk. 'Not even when I tell you there's a town in Wales where the census data is exactly the same as the last census?'

'No.'

Jack eyes sparkled as he leaned in closer. 'Not even if it's identical to the one before that? And the one before that? I mean, sure, there's been a few births and deaths along the way, but get this. I went back a hundred years and nothing has changed. It's the same people, generation after generation.'

She sighed. 'It's a small Welsh town. They're all inbred. Everybody knows that.'

'Not one, Suzie,' Jack emphasised. 'Not one person has ever left this town. Ever. They're born there, live there and die there. The only way they leave is in a pine box, and even then it's only three miles to the local cemetery.'

'So, write to the Guinness Book of Records. I'm sure they're the only ones who care. Torchwood certainly doesn't.'

Jack grinned. 'But I haven't told you the best bit yet.'

'Oh, well don't hold back on my account.'

Jack flipped the tablet around. 'Look at the occupations listed.'

Suzie swiped the screen, scanning page after page of scanned records. She looked up at Jack. 'Factory worker? All of them?'

'In a factory that's been shut down for years. No shopkeepers, no teachers, no labourers. Not even a local doctor. Everyone in the town declared that they work at the factory.'

She shook her head. 'Well, that can't be right. There must be another one, or they reopened.'

'Either way, it's got you curious, hasn't it? Wanna come with me and take a poke around?'

 

Twenty minutes later they were on the road, headed out of the city.

'So, I've been doing a little research on the town,' Jack said.

'Uh huh,' she replied, bored from staring at the bland countryside.

'Aberfare is a small place. The factory is pretty much the only thing the town had going for it before it supposedly shut down.'

'Hardly a wonder.'

Jack gave her a cheeky grin. 'Wanna know what they used to make there?'

Another sigh. 'You're going to tell me anyway.'

'Sex dolls.'

'Sex dolls?'

'Well, actually they described them on their website as pleasure companions, but I think we're all grown up enough to call them what they are.'

'A sex doll factory in the middle of Wales?'

'I know, right? Who says this county has nothing worth visiting?'

Comments

[jo02]

(looks confused)

(looks behind the computer...)

And you're, just, leaving there ... ?

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

I am working on an extended version that will dovetail with the canon, but it wasn't going to be finished by the deadline, but hopefully later this week.

[jo02]

That's great to hear :)

[bk_forever]

Well, that's not what I would have expected to be manufactured in rural Wales!