Save Our Souls (audio story)
Save Our Souls was the fortieth story in the Torchwood - Monthly Range by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Scott Handcock and featured Rowena Cooper as Queen Victoria.
Publisher's summary
An experimental radio mast has been set up on a remote island. It has been picking up signals – a voice that claims it knows the future.
Five people have come to the island to hear the voice. A scientist, a soldier, a medium, an alienist and the most powerful woman in the world. The voice has something to say to all of them. It starts by saying who will be the first to die.
Plot
On Flat Holm, Florence Driscoll and Owain Pryce receive and translate a message in the voice of Queen Victoria, saying that "she is coming". The Queen arrives at the island with Captain Henry Morgan and Samuel Okonjo and is escorted to the lighthouse by Miss Driscoll whilst Mr Okonjo prepares for a séance at the hotel. The Queen, Miss Driscoll and Mr Pryce join Captain Morgan and Okonjo.
During the séance, Mr Okonjo claims to be possessed by the ghost of a little girl called Tilly but is interrupted twice by the voice from the speaker, saying that Mr Okonjo was a fraud, that Mr Pryce had a woman fired for loving someone else, that Captain Morgan had his men fire on villagers for a medal, that Miss Driscoll broke a window as a child and that the Queen has affections for a Scotsman. The voice also says that Mr Okonjo will be the first of them to die and that he would do so in six minutes. At the end of the six minutes, Mr Okonjo trips onto the power cable for the wireless and is killed. The voice says that all but one of them will be dead by morning.
The voice says that the next person will die in thirty minutes, but the Queen wonders if Mr Okonjo would not have died had he not been told that he would. Mr Pryce, annoyed with not being listened to, storms outside and heads to the boat. Harassed by seagulls, he falls onto the boat from the cliff-path to the beach. The Queen begins to be suspicious of those with her on the island, thinking that one of them might have pushed him.
The Queen decides that it would be best for herself, Miss Driscoll and Captain Morgan to spend the night alone, a choice that the voice tells her is the safest one. In the barracks, the voice tells Captain Morgan that he will die tonight and that his son will die in a battle in Omdurman soon after. To keep him from changing the future and bringing down the British Army by saving his son, Miss Driscoll kills him with one of Mr Pryce's screwdrivers. Captain Morgan begs her to warn his son as he dies, but she refuses to.
The Queen sits Miss Driscoll down and makes her confess to killing Mr Pryce and Captain Morgan, saying that Miss Driscoll planned on having Torchwood take over the British Empire and replace her with the voice. She hands Miss Driscoll a gun and tells her to shoot herself but, when she refuses, she instead tells her to shoot her. However, the gun is empty and the Queen shoots her dead with its twin. The voice tells the Queen that it could help her strengthen the Empire and shape the planet's future, but the Queen, believing it was merely cold reading, destroys the wireless and says that she is master of her own fate.
Cast
- Queen Victoria - Rowena Cooper
- Florence Driscoll - Gwyneth Keyworth
- Captain Henry Morgan - Wayne Forester
- Samuel Okonjo - Kingsley Amadi
- Owain Pryce - Gruffudd Glyn
Worldbuilding
- Torchwood made alterations to Mr Marconi's long-range wireless.
- Mr Pryce is a post office engineer, "confiscated" by Torchwood to assist them.
- Mr Marconi set up the apparatus in Flat Holm to see how far a wireless signal can be transmitted and received, the test being to see if it could go as far as Glamorgan.
- Mr Okonjo claims that candles attract ghosts due to the cold and darkness of the afterlife and prepares a soul path before the séance.
- The Queen cannot forget the touch of a Scotsman.
- A ferry capsized at Port Glasgow, killing seventy-four people.
- Miss Driscoll uses a powerful lantern.
- The Queen mentions Mr Darwin.
- The voice tells Captain Morgan that his son, Harry, will die on 2 September in Omdurman in a battle planned by Lord Kitchener.
- The Queen mentions her son, Bertie.
- The Queen mentions Albert and how lost she was after his death.
Notes
- The Queen and Miss Driscoll mispronounce Owain Pryce's first name as "Owayne" rather than "Owine".
Continuity
- The Queen says that she has survived a number of assassination attempts. (TV: Tooth and Claw)
- The Queen says that Bertie might not choose to fund Torchwood after her death. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)
- In the early 2000s, Flat Holm will be made secret by Jack Harkness and used to house those affected personally by the Rift. (TV: Adrift)
External links
- Official Save Our Souls page at bigfinish.com
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