An alien artefact travelled through the Rift and arrived at Ystrad Minach in 1938. It was quickly recovered by Torchwood Three, and catalogued in their archive. The artefact was a two-metre wide, white glassy sphere which appeared to be lit from within by bright, shimmering colours. It was initially believed to be a work of art. In 2008, Ianto Jones noticed the item was missing from the archive storage, prompting an investigation by Torchwood Three.
Uses
The artefact was composed of a wide, glassy, shimmering ball, which was placed atop a black, triangular pedestal. It was displayed in a number of instances as a sculpture, and was once used as an object of worship. However, its intended use was as a bomb. The artefact was a contained nuclear explosion, captured a femto-second after detonation, which was kept in stasis by concentrated time-fields and magnetic-fields contained within the artefact's pedestal. Jack Harkness compared the weapon to the Trojan Horse, suggesting that it could be smuggled into an enemy's capital city before the explosion was unleashed remotely. Due to some loose wiring inside the pedestal, the artefact emitted radiation at a level that was slightly above background levels. (PROSE: The Beauty of Our Weapons)
History
At some point in the 1950s, a member of Torchwood Three stole the artefact from the Torchwood archive and sold it at auction. At some point it came into the possession of Ashley ab Hugh, a wealthy philanthropist who made it the centrepiece of his then-private art collection. Ashley quickly became obsessed with the artefact, and on 13 August, 1963, Ashley was found tearing strips of flesh from his face and sticking them to the outside of the glowing orb. He was taken to hospital, and died of septicaemia three weeks later. The artefact was then resold by Ashley ab Hugh's estate to a cult.
This cult kept the artefact in a makeshift temple in a warehouse on Cardiff's docks. At some point in the 1970s, Russian mobster Dimitri Arkanovitch hired a private investigator to locate the artefact. When the detective did so, Dimitri had him killed and had some of his criminal contacts steal the artefact from the temple.
By 2008, the artefact was displayed in the atrium of the Arkanovitch Hotel in Cardiff city centre. When Toshiko Sato examined the artefact she realised that it was not in fact an artwork, but a nuclear weapon disguised as one. The shimmering light inside the orb was in fact an explosion captured a femto-second after detonation, which was being kept in stasis by devices in the artefact's pedestal. Jack believed the weapon was never intended for use in Cardiff. Torchwood Three later stole the bomb from the hotel and threw it back into the Rift. (PROSE: The Beauty of Our Weapons)