One man's name keeps reoccurring. Kitzinger was employed to send him information. And his name's Harry Bosco.
His name, over and over again.
EstherSorry.
What, can't you search him?
Esther
You think you're clever, Oswald? Is that really all you had?
Esther
Harry Bosco isn't a man. Harry Bosco's a process. It goes back to Vietnam. It was the first war to be televised and the government didn't want US networks taking feed directly from the Vietnamese, because for the first time information was beyond their control. So they put agents into every newsroom, every major TV network, filtering the output for the public. Cleverest of them all was a man called Harry Bosco.
Esther
He'd alter information. It was subtle. He did it by mistranslation. He couldn't censor or change, but he could manipulate the English translation. Change one word, change the entire meaning. If you say victims instead of bodies, you influence public opinion. All the channels Harry Bosco these days.
So that's it? Dead end? Done? You finished with him? Can I have him now?
Could you keep your dog on his leash?
My point still stands. The name's still important because Kitzinger works in PR. Why would she be handling this Harry Bosco process?
Esther
To be fair, it's a good question. Why would the families hire Jilly to do all this in the first place?
Esther
What's she mistranslating? Because the three families changed their name, now Jilly's changing words? Maybe they're connected.
I think I can get us in. Back in the old days, Torchwood tracked down a black market trade in alien artefacts coming out of China. Skullion metal and coins, things like that. We closed it down but the route stayed open for arms dealing.
Esther
We're gonna trust arms dealers?
I don't care. I'll do it.
Esther
Okay, okay, wait. What about Buenos Aires?
I don't know. Which city is it?
It's both, you bunch of nuts. You can't see for looking, can you? Eh? Look. Right, Shanghai, Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires, Shanghai. Opposite sides of the world. Quite literally, opposite sides of the Earth, yeah? Yeah? So whatever's going on, there's got to be something connecting them.
Are you kidding me? Is that right?
Esther
They're antipodes. They're the antipodes of each other. Two massive population centres balanced on either side of the planet.
As the old saying goes, count your blessings, because it turns out there's two of them.
Esther
Look at the PhiCorp logo. The letter phi, a circle with a line through it. It's been right there in front of us staring us in the face all this time.
A line through the world?
The Blessing. The Miracle.
Esther
But what is it?
We need to find out. We can get into Argentina no problem.
Esther
Maybe we need to get into both, Jack. Maybe you should go one way.
Esther
Buenos Aires.
So this is what we're doing? A mission on both sides of the world?
And you're taking me with you.
No, no, no. I've got, I've got better plans for you, bub.
And that's your problem, isn't it, Gwen? You can't let me walk free. Not a man with my desires. And you can't have me arrested. Not now that I know all about your little plans.
They can leave you here with me.
Well, that's just it, you joyous man. You've just trapped your wife completely. Leave me here with him and I think he would. I actually think he would. Your husband would kill me. He'd make me Category One with his own bare hands. You would kill me, wouldn't you?
Is that what you want? No. I'm coming with you. There's no choice. There's not a choice in the whole of the world. Okay?
You're about to meet the creator.
[As Gwen, Jack and Danes come down in the lift, the Mother goes to meet them. Her guards have their guns ready]
Captain Jack Harkness. At last.
No, no, no, no, this isn't about Jack. No, ma'am. Excuse me, but it's not at all. My name is Oswald Danes. Well. Hmm. Good evening, Miss Kitzinger. You've been promoted. And this is the new empire you're servicing? My, my, my, my, my, my, my.
With all due respect, Mr Danes, you're a by-product of the Miracle. Not really relevant at all.
That's what the Captain said. He tried to tell me that my life has become a very small thing. Tiny. And yet right here, right now, at the very end, I would describe myself differently. I would call myself vital. [Danes opens his coat to reveal a suicide jacket of explosives. He arms the trigger] Madam, you're a fine woman. You should be careful now, very careful indeed. It seems like you've been planning some kind of an explosion, but I'd love to make sure you're still inside.
Well, I'm afraid we have a major disagreement here in Buenos Aires. I'd say advantage Families. Say hello to your friends.
What's that supposed to mean?
Rex? Oh my God. And Esther?
Esther
I'm here. They caught us.
Just glad to hear you're alive.
I'll swap your standoff for my standoff. [aims his gun at Esther's head]
But nobody dies. She'll keep on living, just perforated.
Threaten me, you coward, not her.
Esther
Rex. Hey, I'm okay.
Jack If you hurt her, we've got explosives here ready to go.
And don't imagine I won't. Whatever happens here tonight, there's no place on Earth that I can go, and I wasn't planning on coming out of here alive.
[lowers his gun] So, who's gonna lose their nerve first?
The thing is, we don't need explosives or guns or threats, because I've got the most powerful thing of all. [walks to the cleft in the world and cuts his finger. His blood flies into it] It wants me. Mortal blood. The only one in the whole world. So I suggest you're very careful with me, okay?
And if you fail to take the Captain's advice, you can certainly come to oblivion with me. Jack, you're the future man. You've seen wonders beyond this world, so tell us of these Blessings and Miracles.
So, you found The Blessing and you worked out this morphic field.
The Blessing exists in a symbiotic relationship with the human race. It transmits a morphic field around the planet, binding us together like magnetism, like sunlight.
Esther
But finding it wasn't enough. You had to experiment on it.
We fed it the blood of an immortal. We had one remarkable artifact. We found a second remarkable artifact. The combination was inevitable.
So the Blessing absorbed the blood, copied it like a new template. So, the system changed its setting.
You know why it did that? I think you hurt it. It was being attacked, so it took the blood pattern and made it a gift. It's exerting itself to sustain every person on the planet. This whole Miracle, it's trying to be kind.
You've seen immortality. I'm living it. Why would you want this?
But you ruined the world out there!
The Miracle shocked the economy. The economy collapsed. We tear down in order to rebuild. And now it's almost within sight. The new world.
Yeah, with no room for the poor, the weak or the ones that don't fit in.
That's the way the world works. Now, we're just making it official. The families have just been waiting. Now we can step in to control the banks. The banks control government. The government controls people. Soon we'll be able to decide who lives, how long, where and why.
Oh, great. So it's the world according to Kitzinger, is it?
Listen, you can bleed your liberal heart all over the place, but are you really gonna tell me the world was working before? Because I have worked for the rich and the powerful and the obese. I have stared into the high end of Western society and let me tell you, it is like shovelling an open sewer. These families, they want to make the world fitter, more compact, more disciplined. And I like the sound of that. That sounds like salvation.
But before you launched this brave new world, you had to deal with one more thing. Yeah. Me.
Esther
So as soon as the Miracle happened, you sent the Torchwood email.
His blood endangers the plan. We had to draw him out into the open.
Well, you failed. I got to Shanghai. I've got the only mortal blood on the planet. If it gets into The Blessing, life switches back. I can make the whole world mortal.
[As Jack is about to slit his wrist, the Mother laughs]
He doesn't seem to get it.
Everything on this axis operates in a polar dynamic field.
You could reset the Blessing, your blood could make the whole world mortal again, but only by introducing it to both cities at once.
Entering The Blessing simultaneously.
That's how we made the world immortal.
And for you, I'm sorry, it's impossible.
You did very well, almost worked it out, but all that spare blood of yours went up in flames.
So I'm just gonna have to kill you. [gives an order to her Chinese henchmen]
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Whoa, whoa.
Jack, I know how your mind works. Even now you're ferociously calculating how you can get your blood to the other side of the world. But I can't allow that. Absolutely not.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I'm warning you, I'll do it.
Then I'll die. And that's a shame, because you can blast his blood into that wall and it won't make any difference at all.
[The henchmen cock their weapons]
Wait a minute. If you need the blood of Jack Harkness on the other side of the world, then just-
Just listen to me! Jack! All right. I'm all right. As I was saying, if you need Jack's blood, how about this?
[Rex cuts his finger, and the blood flows to the cleft. The ground shudders]
What was that? What happened?
That's impossible. No way. There's nothing special about you.
Oh, but there is, when I've got Jack's blood flowing through my veins. It's inside me.
See, we knew this blood was important, so as soon as we arrived-
Esther
We transfused it into Rex. We exchanged his blood for Jack's.
On most days it might've killed me. But we're all living on Miracle Day.
Esther
And everyone thought the blood was gone, so no one even suspected. All we did was keep one final bag, filled the rest with Rex's blood, and Jack's mortal blood...
...Just walked right in. Hey, Oswald, you want to be a walking bomb?
Well, try this. Shoot me! Shoot me! Come on! Shoot me!
Pull that trigger! Splatter my blood! Shoot me!
Get him out! Get him out!
[Jack produces a gun]
Nobody move! Huh? Wow, Rex, you're a genius!
You just shut the hell up. All right? This shit hurts.
Yeah, we've got blood on both sides of the world, Jack, but-
But they will die. Is that what you want? The Blessing will take every last drop. You'll both die, gentlemen. You'll both kill yourselves. You will die in a pit in Shanghai. Is that what you want?
I think I've lived long enough. Are you ready, Rex?
Oh, you know I wish I'd never met you, you World War Two idiot. Good times, huh?
Esther
Yeah.
Just one last thing, Jack.
You're never gonna be a suicide. [aims her gun at him]
[Jack faces the Blessing]
I think this might. [shoots Esther]
Torchwood · 349 quotes
