Almost Perfect

IANTO IS CIVILISATION. END OF.

‘Oh come off it,’ snapped Brendan, clearly unimpressed by the gun. ‘You barge back in here in your little black dress and expect us to be amazed.’

‘Yes,’ said Ianto.

‘Do you know what we can do?’ sneered Jon, stretching out an arm.

Ianto suddenly smelt burning hair and shuddered.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘And I don’t care. I would like you to stop all this. And I would like Jack back.’

An outraged shriek.

‘Oh, and Gwen too, please.’

Brendan laughed. ‘We’re too late for this. Jon, honey, we’re getting old when we’re being menaced by a little girl with a gun. Just give us the machine, dear.’

‘We can do this the easy way, or the hard way,’ said Ianto, quietly.

‘Given the look of you, easy.’

‘Seriously. Last chance. Dismantle this room.’

Jon shook his head, almost sadly. ‘We can’t. It’s the machine – it’s taking so much power. We have to feed it.’

‘And that’s always been the problem, hasn’t it?’ said Ianto. ‘All those years, all those believers – it’s all just fuel for that machine. You’ve become enslaved by it.’

‘Yes,’ said Brendan quietly. ‘I suppose we have.’

Jack started to laugh. ‘You told me you were gods. Well, now we know what gods worship.’

‘Yes,’ snapped Jon. ‘Perfection. And we had it when we had the device. Now look at it – we simply did this to try and make everything right. We were acting in the best interests.’

‘Even gods lie to themselves,’ said Jack sourly.

Ianto spoke quietly. ‘I’ve talked to the machine.’

Brendan marched towards him.

‘You’ve got it? You’ve got it on you? You silly bitch. You’re not leaving the room with it.’ He raised a glowing hand to strike Ianto.

Ianto fired and Brendan fell back, whimpering.

Ianto turned to Jon. ‘I’m sorry. Would you also like to come and have a go? Are you feeling lucky? I am. I have your god on my side.’

He held up the device in its shiny plastic bag.

‘Don’t!’ shouted out both Jack and Brendan.

‘Ianto!’ continued Jack. ‘Don’t touch it – it knows you’re shutting down its power source. It will do anything it can to make you obey it. I don’t care what it’s offered you – it’s lying, trying to get its way.’

‘He’s right!’ barked Jon. ‘It’s the Lord of Lies. Why didn’t we see it?’

‘Because you were too busy looking in the mirror,’ snapped Jack.

‘Please,’ said Brendan. ‘Give us back the machine. Let us reset it. We can put everything right.’

Ianto shook his head. ‘Nope, sorry. Made a deal. It told me how much power it needed. And that it had to come from somewhere. And I’m looking at you.’

Brendan went to stand by Jon’s side. ‘You are kidding me.’

‘It giveth, and now, it tells me, it’s ready to taketh away.’

‘Wait!’ snapped Brendan.

‘Sorry,’ said Ianto, and pushed the button.

And the world went white and changed a little.