By
Chris Chibnall
Directed
by Richard Stokes
Music
soundtrack by Ben Foster
&
Murray Gold
It’s early evening and the night sky is
pitch over Cardiff. Something is
hurtling through the atmosphere, large judging by the sound of the roar. In the 10 pin bowling alley, Gwen Cooper is
enjoying annihilating her boyfriend Rhys’ scores, while the Kaiser Chief’s belt
out ‘Saturday Night’.
The sound of the roar across the night sky
has intensified but still it’s unclear what is making its way towards the busy
city below.
Later on in the evening Gwen and Rhys exit
the cinema, the boring film rendering Gwen asleep before the end.
The roar above is getting louder as it
drops in altitude.
Gwen and Rhys sit opposite each other at a
table for two outside a restaurant and Rhys asks her about the new job
. “Special Ops?” he enquires, hoping he’s right.
“More like filing.” She smiled.
“Special Admin.” He quips.
Gwen smiled, kissed Rhys and suggested they had an early night. He called for the check but a light in the
sky caught his eye.
“Is that plane on fire?” Everyone looked at the burning mass advancing
towards them.
“That’s not a plane.” Gwen replied getting to her feet, along with
Rhys.
As the fireball changed course and hurtled
over their heads. Gwen pulled Rhys away from the restaurant, despite his
protests that they’d not paid, and both ran out onto the street, following the
tail of the fiery mass as it hurtled ahead towards the trees and beyond. Everyone felt the crash and could only stare
in horror at what had crashed beyond the trees, the other side of Cardiff.
Within a few seconds Gwen received a call on
her mobile. She looked at Rhys. “I’ve
got to go to work.”
“A simple locate and clean-up
operation.” Jack called from the front
passenger seat, turning to look at Gwen.
“Good to see you by the way.” She
smiled nervously then stared in surprise as the keyboard folded down in front
of her and full computers front and back of her seat brightened up the back of
the SUV. Owen called to Toshiko as he drove
if she’d located the crash site. On a
blue screen monitor with a small file open displaying Node 26793053, a red blip
was visible.
Gwen was absolutely amazed at the level of
kit Torchwood had, but as Toshiko gave her the lowdown on the software they did
have, Gwen recognised something familiar on the screen.
“Is this CrimInt? You’re not meant to have
this?”
Jack called from the front. “You might want to stop saying you and start
saying we.”
Owen changed course from Toshiko’s
locations and drove out of the city. The directions took them along a quiet
country lane, and as Owen cursed, Jack saw they weren’t the only ones keen to
check out the crashed object.
Standing on the foot plate, Captain Jack
Harkness located the route through the Army tents to the site of the
crash. Gwen was still in total awe and
wonderment as to what they might expect to find beyond the tents. As Jack called out for the team to operate
usual group formation Gwen enquired to Owen what that might be, she was taken
aback by his reply.
“How can a group formation vary?” She replied keeping up with him before
realising she still had a kit to collect.
By this time Jack and the team had
advanced towards the crash site, leaving Gwen to navigate her way through the
army and police at the scene. Entering the
first tent she came face to face with two soldiers, Private Moriarty (Adrian
Christopher) and Sgt Johnson (Ross O’Hennessy).
Both soldiers tightened the gap and glared
at Gwen, assuming she was Press. Gwen
fumbled for the correct protocol, unsure how many people had heard of
Torchwood, and told them she was Special
Ops. When that didn’t raise any response
she told them the truth. But Sgt Johnson
saw it as another lie and began belittling her before the dashing Captain
Harkness came to the rescue of the damsel in distress.
Leading Gwen down to the crash site, Jack
thrust his hands into his pockets and instructed the team to hurry up with
their findings so they could get out of there.
He hated the army as much as he hated the Police.
Owen and Toshiko took readings and samples
of the rock, while Jack took readings with a yellow hand held device that monitored
the air quality around the site. While Gwen
watched the team work Owen called to her.
“Make yourself useful sweetheart and pass
the large chisel from the toolbox!”
“Not sweetheart, it’s Gwen, one syllable,
I’m sure you can manage it.”
“Not sweet cheeks, freckles, new girl?” Owen teased.
Gwen collected the chisel from the
toolbox. “It’s a shame your tool’s not
big enough for the job.” Jack grinned. “Catch!”
Gwen threw the chisel over arm as Owen yelled. “DON’T.” But it was too late; the chisel had pierced
the rock, cutting right into the rock itself.
A hiss and smoke released from the hole in the rock sending gas into the
atmosphere, a thick moving pink gas, that climbed higher and higher before
disappearing into the night sky. It’s
one of those moments when Gwen didn’t know where to put herself. Nobody was
impressed, least of all Jack!
At the back of Night Spot night club,
Carys Fletcher (Sara Lloyd-Gregory) was on the phone to her boyfriend, she’d
been stood up, and no amount of swearing down the phone, wishing she were dead
or worse still that Eddie was dead, would make up for the fact that she was
without a man for the night.
“Hello
Ladies.” Banksy, (Ceri Mears) called as
he eyed up the talent for the evening.
He was of stocky build, thick neck, bald head, and a bouncer for the
night club. He rejoined his fellow
bouncers as Carys made to re-enter the club and was stopped in her tracks.
“I only came out to make a phone call.”
“There’s no re-admission.”
Carys kissed him hard taking the bouncer
by surprise and for some moments after was still taken aback by the kiss. He allowed her back into the club.
Loud music, louder drunken lads singing out
of tune to the song playing saw a frown from Matt Stevens (Justin McDonald) as
he made his way to the bar. Of all the
talent that appeared to be in the club, nothing took his fancy, and it looked
like another night with a curry for one and a few bevies back in the flat, then
he saw her across the dance floor. Their eyes met, and Carys makes her move.
Crashing through the Ladies door both of
them couldn’t keep their hands off each other, lust, desire, need, urge, Matt couldn’t
believe his luck. He asked her name but
as Carys continued to kiss him, he pushed the question aside. Picking her up, he knocked into the cubicle,
then onto the counter near the sinks.
There was nothing stopping him, he wanted her, wanted her badly, and he
was ready to give everything for that one moment. He cried out as he climaxed and a brilliant
light of dust sparkled around him, just before his body exploded in a powerful orgasmic dust, his
scream lingering in the air, and his energy washed over Carys. As she regained her composure she glanced
over the counter at the mound of dust on the ground, the last remains of Matt
Stevens.
Back at the Hub and Gwen still apologised
for the incident, Owen didn’t let up with the sarcasm, but Gwen was determined
to sort it, no matter what it was.
“On the plus side.” Jack interrupted as he flipped open the box
containing a piece of the space junk.
“We have a piece of the barely damaged space debris.”
“On the downside, we have a gas alien on the
loose.” Owen quipped. Jack rolled his eyes.
“Give her a break!” Toshiko defended.
Ianto stepped into view, smartly
dressed as ever brandishing a clipboard.
There was a chance that their gas alien had just made its first contact
in a night club, a suspicious death had been reported? “Might be connected?”
PC Andy ran up the steps of the Night Spot
as the black SUV driven by Captain Jack Harkness pulled up abruptly the other
side of the road. Jack quickly identified
himself as he ran past the police officers, the rest of the team following
after him. Only as Gwen reached the
steps did Andy take notice. He was excited to see her, a new job he was keen to
know more about it but Jack called impatiently from the doorway. Gwen glanced back at Andy and relieved him
from his post.
“Don’t want you freezing your arses off out
here.”
“Boss over me now are you?” Andy quipped.
Inside the Ladies, the full team and
Banksy stared at the mound of ash on the floor beside the counter. What Jack couldn’t understand was how the
bouncer knew that this had once been a body.
After viewing the tape in the bouncers’ office it became clear to the
team just how the lad had died, but despite telling Banksy that they had all
the information they needed, they were still no further forward in who the girl
was and where she was now. As they left
the nightclub Jack ordered that Toshiko find another body matching it to the
deceased and dump it somewhere remote.
“Make it look like suicide.”
“You have a stack of bodies?” Gwen was horrified!
Jack took readings from the back of the
nightclub on the hand held device that told him that the same air quality at
the site was being detected where they were, and stronger at the wall. Glancing up he spotted the CCTV cameras and
back in Banksy’s office found the same girl again but this time just as the
alien took control.
“We can’t let her kill again.”
Morning across Cardiff city and in a quiet
terraced street, Carys Fletcher stared vacantly at the tv screen as the news
reporter reported the news for that day.
Her dad Ivan (Brendan Charleson) was busy buttering toast while slagging
off his work colleagues. As he came back
through finally getting his daughter’s attention she was still spaced out. Assuming she was partying hard last night he kissed
her before he left for work, and left her with her thoughts. The thoughts that allowed her to remember
what had occurred last night.
In the Hub Gwen watched Jack as he stood
guiding a laser pen across a Perspex screen with an odd looking map, definitely
not something she’d seen before on any ordnance survey map. As Gwen asked what Jack was doing and was
told by the Captain, Toshiko simplified the answer into layman’s terms.
“Hey, sometimes a little technobabble is
good for the soul!”
Gwen realised it was just a larger sat nav
to the one her boyfriend used in the lorries.
Toshiko was surprised that Gwen had a life outside of Torchwood; Gwen
was equally as surprised to discover that none of the team had any life outside
of the job.
Back at the Fletcher’s and the enormity of
last night came back in waves. The
regret, the realisation that there was nothing she could do about it, Carys
sobbed.
In the Hub Toshiko had discovered the two
favourite gases, while Ianto brought morning coffee. Toshiko ran a check on Carys using the
Crimint software that once again Gwen felt they shouldn’t have.
“Still doing that you instead of we
thing?” Jack called over.
Owen came up with 119 possible matches in
his search of suspects because of the low res on the CCTV, the search continued. As the fingerprint search came up empty, Jack
suggested they reformat the image using recognition software to trace Carys
journey back from the club. Gwen added
that they cross referenced that with all the possible face matches!
“Nice one newbie, that’s more like it!”
Carys Fletcher sat at her dressing table
brushing her hair as a wave of pain shot through her body, it was excruciating
and she cried out in agony. Just like an
addict craves another hit, so Carys’ visitor craved more sex. The door bell rang and the postie stood on the
doorstep with another parcel for Carys. But
before he could say “Sign here please.”
Carys had pulled him inside, and removed his belt, unbuckled his
trousers and pushed him onto the sofa and positioned herself for more sex.
Suddenly, the front and back doors were
kicked in and Torchwood entered the lounge.
Owen with Gwen entered at the front, Toshiko and Jack aimed their
weapons at Carys from the back door.
“GET YOUR TROUSERS ON AND GET OUT. NOW!”
Jack hollered at the postie. As
the air quality detector signifies it was safe to breathe, Carys makes a run
for it. As she passed Gwen heading for
the door, Owen tossed a small silver pebble before Carys’ feet, suddenly a
forcefield trapped Carys..
Back at the Hub and Carys was escorted
through to the cells by Gwen. It’s her
first interview with an alien and it doesn’t go strictly to plan. Having asked the usual about enslaving and
learning that the only thing the gas alien wants is the orgasmic hit, the
struggle between the alien and the human Carys begins. She feels the pain in her body again,
desperate for another hit, having lost the postie, Carys makes a pass at Gwen,
releasing the energy through Gwen’s system, not something she ever planned on
doing on her first day at work, snogging an alien!
But the events in the cell do not go
un-noticed. Owen sees and records
everything after calling for the rest of the team to view his find.
“We should get her out of there.” Finally realising that the longer Gwen stays
in there her life could be compromised, both Jack and Tosh run to the
cells. Carys on the other hand after
tearing back Gwen’s shirt realises to her horror she’s not what she’s looking
for, but with the love pheromones still circulating through Gwen, she’s ready
for another crack when Carys pushes her away.
“You’re no good. It has to be a man.”
As another wave of pain courses through
Carys, she pleads with Gwen to help her, as she’s losing the fight. Then the alien returns, and the look in Carys
eyes changes. Gwen backs out of the cell
as her phone rings. Rhys!
Back upstairs after reassuring Toshiko and
Jack she was fine, Owen applauded her actions with Carys. Incensed by his dry wit Gwen launched herself
at him, a hand gripped around his throat and berates him about Carys and the
alien inside of her. As Jack arrived to
break up the argument, Ianto arrived with Chinese.
Captain Jack Harkness had always been a
mystery to the team at Torchwood and although Owen, Tosh and Ianto had run a
search on Jack and drawn very little from the findings, they’d been banking on
the policewoman Gwen to bring something new to the table. Aside from his name and his American accent,
which Toshiko dismissed, given that no Americans by the name of Jack Harkness
had been born in the last 50 years. That the only definite factor was Jack was
gay!
“Period military is not the clothes of a
straight man!” Owen told her.
As they continued eating, Gwen heard
crying from the speakers. Owen switched on
the monitor as Jack slipped back into the boardroom and resumed his meal and
all eyes viewed Carys sobbing in the cell.
“Why are we all having Chinese when a young
girl fights for her life?” Gwen asked
after viewing the screen closer and turning her attention to the team.
As Jack gave Gwen the breakdown of what
the computers were doing while they ate, Gwen smiled and felt the team had
spent too long studying aliens they’d forgotten what it was to be human. So putting a profile together of Carys as a
human rather than Carys as the lab rat, she impressed Jack with her level of
investigative skills.
Toshiko discovered that the alien was
secreting its own airborne pheromones to attract a person. The readings had risen in the last hour. Gwen confessed to snogging the alien and was
horrified to discover the team knew.
When realising that Carys was a walking aphrodisiac, Gwen realised that
putting Carys father in with her would be a bad idea. No man should be allowed anywhere near
her. There was a moment of silence as
Gwen and Toshiko realised one of the team members was missing.
“Owen!”
Downstairs in the cells Owen stood buck
naked. Carys had made off with his swipe
card and vanished Upstairs however, Jack had located her, and was
determined to stop her, but after cornering her near a table of weapons, he
isn’t quick enough to grab the savage spiked hammer settling for the long
wooden style sword if only to block the assault. Carys determined to leave catches Jack in the
leg with the hammer and makes her bid for freedom, grabbing the hand in the jar
and backing towards the lift. Even with
his gun at the ready, the threat that he’d shoot is not convincing enough for
Carys to leave go of the article, and both she and it leave for the surface. . Jack tore after her, up the many flights of
steps and along the tunnel to the Tourist Information Booth where Ianto was
waiting.
“Need me to do any attacking sir?” Ianto asks stepping in to help.
Toshiko and Gwen run from the building and
out onto the Bay in search of Carys, but the girl has gone.
Back in the Hub, hand in a new jar, Jack
focuses on that while Gwen can’t believe that THAT is more important than a
vulnerable girl.
“You want to prove yourself, find her. Get your old pals in the force to do
something useful for once.”
“Alright, I’ll give them a call, put out an
APB, woman possessed by gas nobbing fellas to death!”
Jack rolled his eyes and laughed just as
Owen interrupted the moment..
Inside the cold storage room a rat sat in
a secure glass box, it had already been infected with the two gases that were
currently swarming around Carys Fletcher’s body. Owen pointed out on the overhead chart that
currently the rat was going through some changes, it’s internal organs were
beginning to swell, it’s heart rate was racing and despite the rat looking none
too different from any other rat, it suddenly exploded becoming nothing more
than RAT JAM!
“Right now it’s a struggle to know where
Carys ends and the alien begins.”
At the Hub the team put themselves in
Carys’ shoes, if they were her, where would they go? It all becomes apparent when they follow
Toshiko’s idea and head to the flat belonging to Eddie Gwynne (Alex Parry) only
to find a pile of ash.
“Toshiko was right, she went for the ex
boyfriend. If we worked through my back catalogue,
we’d be here till the sun explodes.”
Jack quipped leaving the flat.
The team had searched through every strip
joint and sex parlour in the area and turned up blank, it was now night fall
and they were still no further forward than when Carys left the Hub. Locating her place of work, The Conway
Clinic, it’s a race against time, because while she’s out there, not only are
males at risk, but so was Carys who could quite literally become rat jam.
Carys had had a head start on the team, having
worked through several of the sperm donors by the time Toshiko had located
her. With nowhere left to run and all
guns pointing at her, she grew weak, collapsing to her knees. Owen knew she didn’t have much time
left. She begged Gwen for help, to feel
alive, to feel human again, but when Gwen refused, Jack stepped in offering her
a surplus of alive. A yellow glow emanated around Carys body, the same glow
that Matt gave off before he expired. As Jack pulled away and looked at the
girl he smiled. “That’s just the kiss
imagine the buzz you’d get from the rest.”
Carys collapsed..
Gwen crouched beside Carys, her hands
supporting the unconscious girls head and spoke to the alien inside. “Take me, I’m stronger. Let Carys go.” Despite Jack’s doubts, he agreed, admitting
it was after all Gwen’s fault. Despite
protests from the other team members, Jack knew he needed leverage to draw the
creature out of the girl. Gwen got to
her feet and backed away as the alien gas released Carys and entered the room,
it honed in on Gwen, unaware that Jack was expecting this and cast the pebble
onto the floor, the force field that had been used to trap Carys was now
trapping the dying gas. Despite the
dodgy power cell it lasted long enough to see out the alien turnto dust, just
like its victims.
“Travel halfway across the universe for the
greatest sex and still end up dying alone.”
Said Jack wistfully, after the power cell died. As he reached for the cell, Gwen who knelt
down beside him, tilted up his chin and kissed him on the lips.
“Thank you!”
Back at the Hub after Owen,Toshiko and
Ianto had knocked off for the night, Gwen unpicked the posters and files off
the wall and placed them in the folder.
She didn’t notice Jack until he spoke.
“Don’t let this job consume you. You have a life, respective, we need
that.” Gwen placed the folder down and
looked at the Captain.
“Who are you Jack?”
“I’m sorry?”
“You can’t die; you say the 21st
century is when it all changes, that we have to be prepared.”
“And so you do.”
“But how can you know?”
“You think knowing the answers would make
you feel better?”
“But who are you, what are you doing here?”
“Go home Gwen Cooper, eat lasagne, kiss your
boyfriend, be normal. For me!”
Back at the flat while Rhys talked about
his day, Gwen toyed with her lasagne and drank her wine, her mind pondering on
the day’s events till Rhys noticed she was a million miles from the table.
“Am I boring you?”
Gwen turned to face him, smiled then
kissed him and suggested a very early night.
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