Eye of the Storm (audio story)

An alien power station is sending out waves of lethal energy, people are turning to stone and the water levels are rising. As Torchwood set out on a desperate mission, God takes tea with someone who has been playing a very long game.

Has the time come for Norton Folgate to save the world?

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

In Bide-a-Wee Care Home, God, posing as a nurse, talks with Roy about the rain and how it looks like the end of the world. Elsewhere, Andy calls Jack, having been shown a missing Mermaid Fishing Tours boat by a man and seen something out of the ordinary inside.

Jack and Mr Colchester arrive and Andy shows them the people aboard who have seemingly been turned to stone. Jack and Mr Colchester inform Yvonne of what has happened and, from photos, determine that they had found a Sorvix power plant halfway across the Bristol Channel. Norton suggests using the Lens to direct the energy of the power plant, soon to go into meltdown, into the Rift, which Yvonne agrees with. Jack, Norton, Mr Colchester and Ng head out to the station in the Torchwood submersible whilst Yvonne calls Admiral Charles Fisher to keep a nuclear submarine stationary, impressing Tyler.

The team arrive at the station. God tells Roy about this and that they will stop him and the Committee. Mr Colchester and Ng attach detonators whilst Jack and Norton use a laser to enter near the exhaust. Norton traps Jack in a concentration filter and accuses him of putting Flight 405 in a time loop, revealing that he was not a pharadyne projection, having "come the long way round", and was working for the Committee. Although Jack does not die, he absorbs the energy, allowing Norton to enter unharmed. Ng and Mr Colchester blow open the hatch and enter, despite Yvonne's orders for them to remain.

Ng calls the Hub to tell Yvonne about Jack being wounded and that Norton is a traitor, but she ignores her and tells Tyler not to worry and that this is the start of something new. Mr Colchester, suspicious of Norton, pulls his gun on him. Norton confesses his and Yvonne's true allegiance and says that the Committee want to stabilise the Rift for power and money. He paralyses Mr Colchester using a remote shockpad.

Tyler finds that the Rift is sending energy into the seabed. Norton realises this and believes that the Committee has been using him, directing the energy through the Earth's crust and to the planetary core to tear the planet apart. He moves the Lens to divert the energy into the Rift and at Flight 405. Mr Colchester falls into the water and is saved by Jack.

God says that she thinks that it went well, but Roy reveals that the Committee had manipulated her into causing Norton's betrayal. The power station explodes and is sucked into the Rift, but a tsunami is caused and heads towards Cardiff. Although Yvonne's job in this instance was to do nothing, Tyler convinces her to alert the authorities and initiate an evacuation. She opens the Rift to give it "a mouthful of tsunami" and Andy helps move people to higher ground. Roy tells God that the plan was to wipe the Earth clean and that she was to blame for the tsunami. It hits the care home and breaches the Hub, Yvonne taking solace in telling herself that she did her duty.

Norton finds himself aboard Flight 405 and realises that he was the one to cause the time loop. He laughs and says that every ending is a new beginning.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Roy quotes Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare.
The Mermaid Fishing Tours boat set off from Penarth Pier. Aboard was the pilot and three local men. The pilot's wife called the police when he failed to come home.
The stone people are made of calcium carbonate with traces of human DNA.
The power plant is radar-proof, sonar-proof and does not give off infrared.
Yvonne claims that the submersible belonged to Torchwood One and was being repaired in Purfleet during the Battle of Canary Wharf. It spent ten years in a government storage facility before Yvonne received an invoice for it. It has the same controls as the D7 and has a laser, sonic cannons and a stealth mode.
The Royal Navy have parked a nuclear submarine near Newport.
Yvonne calls the First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy, Admiral Charles Fisher.
Yvonne mentions how UNIT would want to take over the mission if they knew.
As a soldier, Mr Colchester once landed at San Carlos.
Mr Colchester says that the station reminds him of Chernobyl, but without the spiders.
Norton jokes about seals.
Jack has lost count of how many times he has drowned.
Norton has a School Certificate in Physics.
Norton did his national service at the Joint Services School for Linguists.
The remote shockpad causes temporary brain paralysis.
Norton says BOHICA, standing for "Bend Over. Here It Comes Again".
Yvonne uses the air raid sirens and informs Civil Defence, initiating evacuation protocols with Code Sapphire.
Yvonne mentions Penarth, Grangetown, Butetown, Newport and Bristol.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Norton mentions how he, Yvonne and Andy rescued the Lens from Flight 405. (AUDIO: Flight 405)
Yvonne asks if they are ready, and Jack replies "we've gotta be". (TV: Everything Changes etc.)
Yvonne mentions when "Canary Wharf went down". (TV: Doomsday)
Ng thinks that Jack wants to spare Colin from having to become a widower a second time. (AUDIO: Future Pain)
Ng says that Jack still does not trust her. (AUDIO: See No Evil)
Jack tells Ng about the deal between Torchwood and the Committee. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)
Mr Colchester once visited Roy at Bau Dewi. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)
Norton remembers God telling him to remember who his friends are. (AUDIO: Flight 405)
Yvonne says "I did my duty" as the Hub floods. (TV: Doomsday)
Norton uses the lens to trap Flight 405 in its time loop. (AUDIO: Flight 405)

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Official Eye of the Storm page at bigfinish.com