The Year After I Died (audio story)
The Year After I Died was the first audio story in the anthology The Lives of Captain Jack. It starred John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, and took place in the aftermath of The Parting of the Ways, the Doctor Who series 1 finale.
Jack has been left behind in 200,100, after having been revived for the first time. The Year After I Died takes place in 200,101, and explores the consequences of the Battle of the Game Station, furthermore bridging the gap described in the television story Utopia, where Jack makes his way back in time to find the Doctor.
Publisher's summary
Set in the year 200,101, on an Earth ravaged by the Daleks, Jack struggles to save humanity from its oldest enemy.
Plot
Silo Crook attempts to interview Jack Harkness, but he is abrasive and refuses to be interviewed. At one point, she almost steps on a Dalek time limpet. Eventually, she ends up going to infiltrate Trear Station and the mysterious Hope Foundation, led by Vortia Trear and meets Malfi Pryn.
Once on the station, Malfi accidentally bumps into Vortia, where she remarks that he has blue eyes. The two end up in a holding area with multiple other people, until Malfi is taken. His eyes are removed and he is returned back to the holding area. Meanwhile, Vortia has a meal with others of the elite, along with her assistent Gorky Sax. Silo is then taken to have her organs removed, until Jack shows up and saves her.
Jack then reveals to Silo that the station and the foundation are a front for a rich elite, designed to exploit the refugees. Vortia later converses with Gorky over business, where she plots to destroy a workers' protest. She later intimates him and sends him off.
Silo and Jack continue moving throughout the station, where Jack mentions that he doesn't believe himself to be a hero. Gorky tries to calm himself with music.
In front of the holding pen, Silo and Jack notice a drone guard. Silo then distracts the guard long enough for Jack to destroy it. The two later enter the holding pen, where they are reunited with Malfi. Jack introduces himself to Malfi and promises that he'll put Malfi into position to get implants.
Silo and Jack rally the rest of the humans into revolution. The two decide to bring Malfi along while they attempt to find Vortia, despite his slightly drugged condition.
Vortia later gets a transmission from Gorky that a riot is occurring. She dismisses him and tells him to get the drones to kill them. However, Jack, Silo, and Malfi enter her quarters.
Gorky gives the order for the drones to kill and prepares Vortia's ship. The drones encounter resistance, where many are destroyed.
Vortia is tied up and the group questions why she did what she did. Gorky enters and threatens to shoot the three, but after Vortia insults him, he decides to let the three take her.
Arriving on central control, Gorky makes a deal; if he shoots the drones, he keeps Vortia. However, Silo uses a Dalek time limpet and the four enter.
Forcing Vortia to look into a retinal scanner, the console is activated. Gorky leaves with Vortia. Jack details his plan to set up a "synchronized flight plan" to make the ships that hold up the station to fly to Earth.
Gorky continues with Vortia, where she continues to act stubborn. The two encounter trouble getting into the airlock, as the station starts flying.
The station enters Earth's atmosphere, where Jack is forced to increase shielding to keep the station from burning. Meanwhile, Gorky flies Vortia and him away from the gravitational pull of station.
Jack is forced into a solution where he needs to grab live cables to increase the shielding. Upset, he recalls his experience fighting the Daleks on Game Station, where he got a "second chance". Despite the pleas of Malfi and Silo, he does the procedure, but gets shocked.
The station crashes on Earth. Silo tries to revive Jack, but there is no pulse. However, Jack suddenly returns to life.
On the ship, Vortia plots her future plans. However, Gorky takes out her eyes, to access her bank accounts.
Back on Earth, Jack leads the people outside the station and mentions how valuable the station is. Silo mentions she is still recording.
Cast
- Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
- Vortia Trear - Sarah Douglas
- Silo Crook - Shvorne Marks
- Malfi Pryn - Scott Haran
- Gorky Sax - Aaron Neil
References
Earth
- In the aftermath of the Battle of the Game Station, the Earth is in ruins, half the world is dead, and those remaining deal with starvation and radiation. They queue for food parcels and clothing, which are provided for them.
- Since the bombings, there are dangerous animals on the plains; some say they're mutations of Earth species, while others hold that they're Dalek experiments.
Locations
- Since the Dalek bombing of Blackcastle, the city has been uninhabitable, though there is a refugee camp nearby.
- Trear Station was built from on the remains of the Game Station, several starliners and a couple of freight ships.
Jack Harkness
- Jack lives in a small cabin, a couple of kilometres away from the ruins of the Black Country Dome.
People
- Silo Crook is a reporter, who wants to do a story on the Hope Foundation, or on Captain Jack Harkness.
- Vortia Trear started the Hope Foundation, and is easily recognised from her advertising boards.
- Malfi Pryn's sister is a gossip, who spreads the word about "big things" such as what boys you've smiled at.
- The Duchess of Poons has been after a pair of blue eyes for some time. She put a request in the system for a real pair, which they remove from Malfi Pryn.
- Silo has AB-negative blood.
Technology
- A time limpet is a Dalek weapon which erases its target from time. Silo thinks, at first, it might be a land mine.
Organisations
- The Hope Foundation is a charity founded by Vortia Trear, which helps people relocate off the planet, and "forge a new life". Those who've "resettled" are never heard from again.
Foods and beverages
- Jack has a nightcap before bed.
- Jack offers Silo reconstituted eggs for breakfast.
- Silo and Malfi have cans of coffee, nearly five hours into waiting for their numbers to be called.
- Malfi had a sandwich in the queue.
Music
- Gorky listens to Moonlight Sonata.
Notes
- The Year After I Died was recorded, with the rest of the anthology, in mid-May 2016, alongside Torchwood: Outbreak—over a year before the audio story's eventual 2017 release. (It was performed then because John Barrowman was already in Cardiff, recording for Torchwood.)
Continuity
- The Daleks ravaged Earth, leaving the planet in ruins. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)
- Jack fought in the Battle of the Game Station, and was brought back to life by the Bad Wolf entity in Rose. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)
- Jack doesn't yet realise that he's immortal. (TV: Fragments)
- Blackcastle was destroyed by the Daleks. Blackcastle was home to the Fourth Doctor's companion Sharon Davies. Beep the Meep briefly sucked the town into a black hole. (COMIC: Doctor Who and the Star Beast, The Collector, Star Beast II)
- Malfi spent months travelling from Polar Ventura, which is not as far as Reykjavik. Rose guessed Reykjavik on The Weakest Link, as the Icelandic city to have hosted Murder Spree 20, when the answer was Polar Ventura. (TV: Bad Wolf)
External links
- Official The Year After I Died page at bigfinish.com
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