The New World
Reporter: Six AM is the appointed time of death as laid down by the state of Kentucky. Oswald Danes faces his last moments on this earth. Members of the public have gathered outside the Montrose Hill State Penitentiary, but the planned protests against the death sentence have failed to appear. Which isn’t surprising given the nature of the offense. A former schoolteacher, convicted in 2006 of the rape and murder of twelve-year-old Suzie Cabena, Danes will be remembered for his infamous line of defense. Upon his arrest, he told the police, “She should have run faster.”
Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins): All the same, this thing might be worth following. It just got sent down. The word “Torchwood” has been emailed to every single East Coast section chief, completely bypassing security. Just one word. Torchwood.
Rhys Williams (Kai Owen): You okay?
Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles): Yeah. Yeah. Just, you know, bad dream.
Rhys: What about?
Gwen: What d’you think? Torchwood.
EMT: He’s the second one tonight. DOA’s that just won’t die.
Wales, UK 8a.m.
Gwen: So. I’m inside, on my own. It’s midnight. Not a sound to be heard. When I looked up, and a woman came out of the sky. Ah! Shining, she was. Like moonlight. Her eyes white—blazing white. And then she started to sing. Like a thousand choirs. One woman with a thousand voices. And it was beautiful—
Rhys: That’s enough, don’t you think?
Gwen: Who’s being paranoid now?
Rhys: You promised me we’d keep it away from Anwyn.
Gwen: Yeah, but be fair. She’s too young. She thinks it all sounds like a fairytale.
Rhys: It was a nightmare, Gwen. Your life back then was a living nightmare.
Rhys: Hey hey. We’re safe, sweetheart. No one knows we’re here. All that stuff, all that nonsense gone. No more Torchwood, it’s gone.
Esther: The paramedics, they said he didn’t stand a chance.
Dr. Vera Juarez (Arlene Tur): Looks like someone changed the rules. Miracles got… easy. It’s not only Rex who’s still alive. So is everyone else.
Esther: Sorry, I don’t get you.
Dr. Vera Juarez (Arlene Tur): It started last night.
Dr. Juarez: First I knew, they called up from the morgue. They were laughing. They said, “What’s happening up there? You on strike?” Turns out, no one had died. Twenty-four hours since this hospital had a death. Not one. Not from old age, not from injury, not from sickness. All day long.
Esther: Could be just a coincidence, I suppose.
Dr. Juarez: That’s what I said, yeah. Then I was on a call to St. Jude’s in Chicago. They said, “Well here’s a funny thing. Past twenty-four hours, we’ve registered no deaths.” Not one. So I called my ex-husband—he’s at Cedar Brook—same story. All day, no deaths. I tried London. I have this friend at the Royal Free Hospital. I called her. She said, “Oh that’s weird. It’s the same thing over here.” Twenty-four hours, no one’s died. What do you think of that, hm? One lucky day.
Reporter: That’s what it’s being called. Miracle Day.
Oswald Danes (Bill Pullman): When you gonna let me go?
Alexander Peterssen (Brian Guest): I don’t think that’s possible.
Danes: I served my sentence.
Peterson: Granted the execution was… flawed.
Danes: I can guarantee you, Mr. Peterson, that when I talk of lawyers I mean the team that will be sending the governor—and I mean the governor himself, not his office but the actual man—they will be suing him for wrongful imprisonment. And I promise you that they will sue his ass to high Heaven, ’til angels sing songs of him in their laments. Is that clear?
Peterson: Perfectly.
Esther: Torchwood, that wasn’t a virus. It’s gotta be some sort of malware.
Noah: It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. The word “Torchwood” has vanished. It’s been eradicated. If you search for Torchwood, you get no results. Nothing gets no results.
Esther: There’s gotta be something on paper.
Noah: Shelves are buried. It’s all gone [?]. I asked Yvonne. She said it was classified under the 456 regulations. She said you want to stay away.
Esther: Why?
Noah: They all died. So the story goes, anyone that worked for Torchwood was killed in action. And they died young.
Dr. Juarez: You should have died last night. But when this thing happened—the miracle—it gave me time. To fix you. Without the Miracle you’d be dead.
Rex: It’s like someone cast a spell on the world. But what happens when it stops, Doc? What happens then? Do I die?
Rhys: Oh you are so cheating!
Gwen: Cheating? How can I cheat painting a wall? Only a man could turn this into a competition.
Rhys: It could be nothing.
Gwen: There’s only one reason that phone could be ringing. {she rummages through drawers} Where have you put it? Where have you put it? {answering} What is it, what’s happened?
Sergeant Andy Davidson (Tom Price): This is Sergeant Davidson confirming reports of one suspect, male, in the vicinity of St. Helen’s Hospital, Cardiff City. Suggest rendezvous 0200 hours in the agreed position. {he hangs up}
Gwen: It’s my dad, he’s in hospital. I’ve gotta see him. Sorry Rhys. We’ve gotta go back.
Esther: Just need to check on all the associations.
Guard: Okay.
Esther: Not sure where to begin.
Guard: Better find out then.
Esther: Right.
Jack: That man was after me, not you.
Esther: Why? Why would he want you dead?
Jack: On the very day that no one’s dying? Wish I knew.
Esther: You alright?
Jack: Yeah. I hurt my arm.
Esther: Considering what we went through I’d say that was a miracle.
Jack: Yeah, another one.
Jack: The Torchwood Institute was set up by the British Royal Family in 1879 to defend the realm of Great Britain by investigating the unusual, the strange. And the alien.
Esther: I’m kind of guessing alien doesn’t mean foreign.
Jack: Alien. As in extraterrestrial.
Esther: So that first email last night, the one that just said “Torchwood”?
Jack: Wasn’t me. God knows who it was. But it was enough to call me back.
Professor Victor Louis Santini: Session begins. Supervised by attending surgeon Professor Victor Louis Santini and witnessed to be listed in the hospital register. The purpose of this autopsy is to determine… well, as you’ll see. Following the explosion at the CIA archive […] One of the victims has been. Yes. … I think we can… I’m sorry, they brought me in as an expert, but I don’t know what the hell this is.
Jack: Excuse me, I was wondering— {he pulls out a badge} Owen Harper, FBI—but what if you detach the head? I mean, would he stay alive without his head?
Professor Santini: I suggest we find out.
Andy: Long time, no see.
Gwen: Oh my god.
Andy: Hey you. Big lunk. Daddy day care. Look at her.
Andy: So your father had a mild heart attack on Saturday night. And then a second on Sunday—and that was quite bad, to be honest. But he’s stable now. He’s out of ICU. Funny thing is, if you’re going to get sick, he did happen to choose the right day.
Mary Cooper (Sharon Morgan): You silly girl. I said stay away.
Gwen: How could I do that, mum?
Mary: What if someone sees you? It’s not safe. You told me. What if someone’s watching?
Geraint Cooper (William Thomas): You shouldn’t have.
Gwen: Well there we are then. Tough. I want you to stop all this nonsense, okay? I want you up and out of this bed. Lazy old thing.
Mary: Look at her, though. She’s huge.
Gwen: She’s perfectly normal, mum.
Mary: Don’t you be a fool, girl. What are you feeding her, lard?
Gwen: Yes, mum. I’m feeding her lard.
Geraint: Should I be dead, sweetheart?
Gwen: I don’t know, Dad.
Geraint: This sort of thing, your lot used to tackle.
Gwen: Yeah but Torchwood’s gone, Dad. There’s no one else left on Earth. Just me. And I’m sorry because I don’t know what to do.
Gwen: But this miracle, it’s specifically human. I mean it’s gotta be. This web site says if insects stopped dying we’d be overrun in forty-eight hours flat. And that hasn’t happened. So this thing must be targeted at us.
Andy: I’ve missed all this.
Gwen: I haven’t.
Andy: It’s quiet without you.
Andy: Planet Earth. On average, three hundred thousand people die every day. So if they stop dying, that’s an extra million people in just over three days. Add to that, five hundred thousand people born every day.
Gwen: That’d give us another million every two days. Plus the first million. Andy: Bloody hell.
Gwen: That’s the fastest population boom in history.
Andy: Well we’re gonna run out of room.
Gwen: Run out of food first. Guy on the telly was saying we’ve got four months—just four months. And then that’s it. Society just collapses. We’ll end up fighting each other for food like animals.
Rhys: Every time you investigate something you end up in danger, Gwen.
Gwen: ‘Cause I can help.
Rhys: Don’t you dare.
Gwen: But—
Rhys: I said don’t you dare! You got that?! Don’t you bloody dare, Gwen! The thing is, right, if you think Miracle Day is like a Torchwood crisis others will think the same, won’t they? Then they’ll come looking for you with guns. Like they did in the old days.
Gwen: That was—
Rhys: We shouldn’t even be in the city. There’s cameras everywhere! This is different now. You’ve got a daughter.
Gwen: Let’s go home.
Rhys: Yes.
Gwen: Let’s go home.
Esther: There’s nothing. There’s no news. The whole thing, it’s kind of intangible. How do you investigate something not happening? And all that Torchwood stuff, it’s gone up [?].
Rex: Oh yeah? So what’s Torchwood gotta do with it?
Esther: I don’t know. It’s sort of connected, isn’t it?
Rex: No. No it’s not. It’s a completely different case.
Esther: Sure. Of course it is.
Rex: Then why’d you mention it?
Esther: don’t know. Suppose it just happened at the same time.
Rex: So what is Torchwood anyway?
Esther: Um, some kind of British intervention agency. Closed down. Used to specialize in 456 cases and above.
Rex: So that first email with Torchwood—you know, the security breach—when did that come through?
Esther: This Sunday night. 22:36.
Rex: 22:36 was the last reported death. The last death on planet Earth.
Esther: Well that’s disputable. They said the last death was on Monday.
Rex: No no no. Monday is the same time. At 11:36. Washington DC is twenty-two hours behind. That’s 11:36. Both those things happened at the same time. Don’t you see? You were right. It’s all connected. Torchwood’s the key to this whole thing.
Rex: And what the hell is this bridge? Severn Bridge?
Esther: It connects England to Wales.
Rex: What, you mean Wales is separate? It’s like the British equivalent of New Jersey.
Rex: Now what is this. Wait a minute, I’ve gotta pay for this bridge? God damn Wales.
Rex: CIA.
Gwen: Yeah? So what?
News Anchor: Extraordinary scenes in Kentucky as the governor’s office releases Oswald Danes on parole. The charity Freedom and Liberty has employed a force majeur ruling to define Danes’ survival as an act of God. With liability now on the state to prove otherwise.
Gwen: So much for tying him up.
Rhys: I’ve never tied up a person!
Gwen: “Men are good at knots.” How many times have you told me that?
Rhys: At Christmas!
Rex: Hey hey hey! I had a pole through my chest. I was dead and then I wasn’t. I had to pay for this bridge. And now I want to know what the hell is going on, alright? Because I was dead. And now I’m not. And if that has anything to do with Torchwood or you or anyone, I need— You know, it would really help if I could hear myself think! What the hell is it doing?
Rhys: It’s a tourist thing.
Gwen: No. No, I don’t think it is.
Jack: I can’t leave you alone for a minute.
Rex: It’s you.
Jack: Never annoy me again. Now get in.
Jack: You there! CIA! Do something useful.
Rex: Wales is insane!
Rex: Who the hell are you people?
Gwen: Torchwood. {she fires a rocket launcher}
Cardiff, UK
Gwen: Right. So that’s sorted. Rhys, you take Anwyn to my mother’s, keep her safe and sound. Jack, if you’ve got access to weapons what else have you got? I’ve still got [?] but everything else is gone.
Rhys: I knew it though. Didn’t I say? First sign of trouble you go running off with Jack Harkness.
Gwen: What choice have I got? I mean they rebuilt the tower, now we rebuild Torchwood. Isn’t that right, Jack? Are you even listening to me?
Jack: I cut my arm.
Gwen: Okay, can’t help but thinking there’s more important things to be worrying about here.
Jack: No. I cut my arm. Look at it. It’s not healing.
Gwen: Do you mean—
Jack: I’m staying hurt.
Gwen: Oh my god.
Jack: I know!
Gwen: Seriously though.
Rhys: It’s only a cut.
Gwen: But it’s Jack. Don’t you see, the whole world becomes immortal—
Jack: And I’m mortal. I don’t mend. I’m normal again. I’m plain old human.
Rex: You’re what?
Jack: Doesn’t concern you!
Rex: You talk some crazy shit, you know that?
Gwen: You should get that seen to.
Rex: Yeah, any minute now. {sirens approach} Here comes my ride. {the others run}
Gwen: Andy, you can’t do this.
Andy: Orders from above. I’m sorry. He’s in charge.
Gwen: Since when?
Rhys: He can’t arrest us. He’s American.
Rex: I hate to bust up your sweet little tea party, but this isn’t an arrest. This is a rendition. And on behalf of the CIA, under the 456 amendments to US code 3184, I’m extraditing this so-called Torchwood team to the United States of America. Now. Get me out of here. Take me home.