Disoriented Cosmos {A Torchwood Story} [COMPLETED]

16. Aliens Of London

I wake up to the loud blare of my phone's ringtone. Blearily, I scramble round for it, catch my pocketwatch, try to open it without thinking, remember that it never works, drop it and pick up my phone to press receive call and put it to my ear.

"Hello?"
"Evelina, we need you at the Hub right now; all orders are about the crash."
I blink, trying to focus. "What crash? Jack, you said it was my day off."
"Oh, for fuck's sake, don't you wake up for the morning news? The Big Ben crash, literally ten minutes ago. Turn on the telly, then get your ass up and into the Hub. Now!"

Jack hangs up, leaving me half asleep and confused. I groan, lamenting my loss of my only day off in months, and roll off of the sofa.
Flicking the kettle switch on and leaning over the kitchen counter, the telly shows BBC One, where a reporter is quickly firing off theories about something.
I'm initially confused about the theories, until they show earlier footage from the time Jack specified, and at that I straighten up and gasp.

Because it looks like aliens have just crashed a spaceship into the Big Ben in London, England, and the officials have started salvaging it from the Thames.

And no matter which way you look at it, that ain't good.

Forgetting all about the tea, I fly into my room to wake Owen up.
"Come on!" I grumble as I thump his side, and he moans in diluted pain and turns over in the bed.
"Stop it; my head hurts."
"No bloody wonder, after you came back at 3am with your fourth bottle of JD, you alcoholic," I protest, still hitting him.

"Piss off, Evelina! What do you want?"
"Watch the fucking telly, Owen! Aliens! In London!" I shout at him, and through his hungover state he wrenches his eyes open and stares at me quizzically. It's funny, actually - he looks softer and kinda cute when he's half asleep.

"Aliens?"
I nod. "Crashed into the Big Ben. Come; watch the TV. And get dressed - Jack wants us at the Hub!"
"Oh, for God's sake," he grumbles, but shoos me away to get dressed, so I go back to the TV.

The presenter talks about an alien body being moved to a place called Albion Hospital and of all the different experts of the world travelling to meet inside of 10 Downing Street to discuss the issue of aliens coming to Earth for 'the first time.'

It takes me a while to realise that 10 Downing Street is where the Prime Minister lives and where most of the political events are held, but when I do, I phone Jack.

"Jack! If they're holding a conference about the alien, shouldn't one of us be there?"
"One of the scientists in Torchwood One in London is in the thick of the conference; they said they're gonna let us know after the meeting, as they didn't want any communications devices in the room. As for the alien, all the doctors there are booked up with their own cases, so they want Owen to inspect it."

"Uh, they want Owen?" I repeat as I walk toward my room, open the door, and notice my coworker gone back to sleep on the floor halfway through putting his button-down shirt on.
"Yeah - why, can't he do it? Is he sick?"
"Uh - yeah, yeah he's sick," I bluff, biting my lip in hopes he'll fall for it. Surprisingly, Captain Jack Harkness, omniscient mysterious being as he is, does indeed fall for it, and simply huffs and tells me he'll order them to helicopter Toshiko to inspect the body instead as she's already at the Hub.

I flip my phone shut and sigh. Then I look into my room, where Owen is breathing heavily on the floor.

I'm so gonna kill him for this.

~∆~

I hurry through the giant cog door of the Hub and am immediately met with Suzie clutching my arm tightly and tugging me to her desk.
"Uh, and good morning to you too," I complain, but she hushes me sharply and makes me watch the screen that shows BBC One. On it, the presenter is explaining how nobody has heard from the Prime Minister since this all started, and starts listing off the experts and leaders coming to 10 Downing Street.