Kaleidoscope (short story)

Kaleidoscope was a short story published in the anthology Consequences. It was written by Sarah Pinborough.

Summary
Now that Jack has disappeared, the Torchwood team clash over who should replace him as team leader, and resort to using alien technology to decide. But the technology has a deadly side effect.

Plot
Danny Dillard breaks a mug belonging to his alcoholic father, who then beats him in a drunken rage.

At the Hub, Gwen, Tosh, Owen and Ianto are fighting over who gets to drink a mug of coffee Jack left before he disappeared, which would symbolically decide who takes charge of Torchwood Three in his absence. On the computer, Ianto finds a Torchwood Institute manifesto written by Emily Holroyd in the early 1900s, dictating that in the absence of the leader, the longest-serving member of the team takes over the role. This means Toshiko is in charge.

The Hub computers detect a burst of energy, most likely alien, on the nearby Fenmere estate. After Ianto shuts down a squabble over who goes to and who stays, Gwen, Tosh and Owen drive out to the estate. Alone in the hub, Ianto laments Jack’s absence.

Gwen, Tosh and Owen track the signal to a pawn shop, where they find an alien device resembling a kaleidoscope. The pawnbroker says he’s just polished it, and Owen suggests this might have activated it. Gwen and Owen test the kaleidoscope, and finds it becomes more colourful and vibrant when aimed at a person. Gwen looks at Tosh through the device, and Tosh appears to have a silvery glow. Owen takes the device and does the same, and exclaims that Tosh looks “bloody gorgeous”. Tosh buys the kaleidoscope and puts it in her bag, but her bag is immediately stolen by a gang of youths. The team chases them, but they get away.

Danny Dillard runs into older boys Luke, Jude and Mickey at the community centre, where they are sorting through the contents of a stolen bag. Luke finds the kaleidoscope, and realising that he can’t sell it back to the pawnbroker who only just sold it, he offers it to Danny. Danny takes it and leaves the older boys smoking weed. At home, he finds his dad passed out drunk. Danny looks at him through the kaleidoscope, and he appears to look younger and healthier.

At the Hub Tosh is displaying a newfound confidence. She calls Ianto “uptight” when he doubts her, and tells Owen to stop wasting everyone’s time. Gwen and Owen feel low energy and in need of a sugar rush.

Danny has been staring at his sleeping dad through the kaleidoscope for a long time. When he puts it down, his dad is snoring less heavily and looks less overweight. Danny himself suddenly feels hungry and cold, and is later unable to concentrate on his homework. Danny’s dad wakes up and heads out, before returning home with fish and chips for them both. His mood appears to have completely shifted. Danny, feeling drained, longs for the rush of euphoria he got from using the kaleidoscope. When his dad goes to bed that night, Danny sneaks into his room and looks at him through the kaleidoscope again.

At the Hub Ianto notices the team acting strangely; Gwen and Owen are surrounded by chocolate bar wrappers, and Tosh is being uncharacteristically rude. Tosh finds something on the Torchwood database that matches the description of the kaleidoscope. In the 1990s, Jack filed a report on a device called a Rehabilitator. A person seen through the device becomes the an idealised version of themselves according to the viewer’s ideals. An effective transformation takes several hours to complete, and drains the energy of the viewer. The team realise that this is what’s brought about their changes in behaviour. Tosh orders the team back to the Fenmere estate, where she’s just detected another surge in the Rehabilitator's energy.

By the time they arrive, the device’s effect on Tosh has begun to wear off, and Tosh becomes lethargic. The team trace the energy readings to the Dillards’ flat, where Danny opens the door holding the Rehabilitator. Gwen recognises that he might be a victim of abuse. She notices that he'd just been using the kaleidoscope, and that there was only one other person in the house he could have been looking at, and discerns that Danny has spent the night viewing his father through the device. Danny's father appears to be acting inconsistently with the way Danny responds to him, and Gwen deduces that he's not being his usual self. Gwen takes the device from Danny, saying it’s “stolen government property”. Owen suggests that it might be radioactive, and offers the Dillards a pill to counteract any effects. He in fact hands them a Retcon, so that they won’t remember the past 24 hours.

A fortnight later, Gwen takes the kaleidoscope out of Torchwood storage to examine it. She tells Owen that she’s still craving chocolate, and suggests that even if Retcon removes a user’s memory of the device it might not undo its effects. The two then return to the Dillards’ flat to check up on them, where they find a fully transformed Mr Dillard. He tells them that Danny had been acting out, stealing sweets, and that three days ago he had taken £50 from a jar in the kitchen and left home. Gwen doubts that they will ever be able to find him.

When Gwen and Owen return to the hub, Tosh offers Gwen a coffee in Jack’s mug. Gwen insists that Tosh should be the leader according to the Torchwood rules, but Tosh replies that rules can be broken. Before Gwen can take a sip the rift monitor beeps, and the Torchwood team are once again called into action.

Danny sits in a decrepit room with three teenagers who are smoking from a bong. He has a needle and a spoon, which he uses to take an unspecified drug. He injects himself before passing out.

Characters

 * Toshiko Sato
 * Gwen Cooper
 * Owen Harper
 * Ianto Jones
 * Danny Dillard
 * Steve Dillard
 * Luke
 * Mickey
 * Jude

Worldbuilding

 * Jack left a mug of coffee in the Hub when he left.
 * Gwen and Owen have cravings for chocolate.
 * The pawnbrokers on the Fenmere estate has many items for sale, including an electric guitar, a microwave, and a Victorian vase.

Continuity

 * Jack has recently disappeared, (TV: End of Days, Utopia) and has taken the hand in a jar (TV: Day One) with him when he left. (TV: Utopia)
 * Gwen cites Owen's opening the Rift (TV: Captain Jack Harkness) and killing Jack (TV: End of Days) as examples of why he would be unfit to be leader.
 * Tosh finds a manifesto written by Emily Holroyd of the 19th century Torchwood Three team. (TV: Fragments)
 * Gwen is aware that Tosh is in love with Owen. (TV: Adam, A Day in the Death, Exit Wounds; AUDIO: Dinner and a Show)
 * Gwen remembers - with discomfort - her affair with Owen. (TV: Greeks Bearing Gifts, Combat)
 * Tosh has worked at Torchwood Three longer than the other three members. (TV: Fragments)
 * Ianto is hit hard by Jack's absence; believing they'd just started a relationship. (AUDIO: Broken) They would pick up their relationship upon Jack's return. (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang; AUDIO: Serenity, Tropical Beach Sounds and Other Relaxing Seascapes 4)
 * Gwen once again pursues thieves of alien tech. (TV: Ghost Machine)
 * Tosh brings up Owen's past career, working for the NHS. (TV: Fragments; AUDIO: Iceberg)
 * Gwen recognises Danny as a victim of domestic violence, drawing on her previous experience as a police officer. (TV: Everything Changes)
 * Gwen is unofficially put in charge of Torchwood Three. (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)