Fall to Earth (audio story)

The SkyPuncher is the first private spaceflight. But Ephraim Salt's visionary project has gone horribly wrong - the ship is falling out of the sky and there seems no way to stop it.

Ianto Jones thought the flight would be sabotaged. The only problem is... he's on board.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Ianto wakes up on Ephraim Salt's SkyPuncher, and it's falling out of the sky. He tries to call Torchwood, but just gets the machine. Then, he gets a telemarketing call from Zeynep at an insurance company. He tells her he's bleeding to death on a spaceship, and she offers to call back another day. To keep her on the line, Ianto decides to buy accident insurance. After this, he asks her to Google the SkyPuncher plans, and sends her a code to unlock her desktop computer. She hesitates, but then tells him to go to the cockpit and hit the green button to activate the autopilot. The ship starts climbing.

Ianto's leg is still bleeding badly. Zeynep explains that while company policy says she should transfer him to emergency services, she won't if he has securely tied a tourniquet to staunch the bleeding. Ianto tells her he was the steward on the flight, trying to make sure nothing went wrong, and now everyone else onboard is dead. Ianto and Zeynep both describe the view out of their windows.

Ianto goes back to check on the other passengers. The SkyPuncher was supposed to be looping around one of Salt's communication satellites, but instead it crashes into it, and continues off into space. Ianto asks Zeynep what he should do, but the plans are still downloading to her computer. Just then, Ianto is put on hold because he has gone to long without a purchase. He buys pet insurance for Myfanwy to stay on the line. Then, Zeynep gives him instructions on how to start the controlled descent back towards Earth. He tries to deploy the glide wings, but there isn't enough pressure to do so. Zeynep suggests pulling up the cables in the floor and using a fire extinguisher. Amazingly, it works.

Ianto's phone is down to ten percent. He searches the bodies of the other passengers for a charger. When searching Ephraim Salt, he feels a slow pulse. Suddenly, Salt wakes up and tries to attack Ianto. He runs back to the hold, but he needs to get to the cockpit. He ties Salt's suitcase to himself for protection, then tries to run to the front of the ship. He knocks out Salt, who quickly wakes up. Ianto gets to the cockpit, but not before being bitten by Salt.

The autopilot is no longer working, and his leg is bleeding again. He starts to feel tired, and Zeynep shouts him back into consciousness. She has him retie his tourniquet with the elastic from the suitcase. Meanwhile, Salt is still banging on the cockpit door. At Zeynep's suggestion, Ianto drops the oxygen in the cabin until Salt passes out.

Zeynep questions Ianto's account of events before he woke up. He served coffee to all the passengers and crew, but had none himself. At first he thinks something happened to the ship, then people started screaming, but he realises that order is backward. Zeynep suggests there might have been drugs in the coffee. Ianto tells her about how Torchwood is investigating the Committee, and that he thought Ephraim Salt was involved.

With no warning, the autopilot turns on and the ship goes into nosedive. The call goes on hold again, and when Zeynep comes back on she says her manager is concerned with how long she's been on the phone without a purchase. Ianto tells her to buy everything they have. He brings up the course information, and sees the ship is heading for western Turkey, where Zeynep is. She tries to figure out why, and finds out the building the call centre is in is owned by Ephraim Salt. She realises the ship is going to crash into the building, and pulls the fire alarm to get everyone out. She asks Ianto to call his organisation, but he confesses he's not actually a spy, he just gets the coffee.

Zeynep goes up to the top floor to investigate the research firm that recently moved in there. All of the employees had not been showing up to work for a while. They're called Harkness Industries. She runs back and forth trying to ram open the door, and Ianto notices the ship changes course slightly. It's not aiming for the building, it's aiming for her headset. The whole thing is a plot to take down Ephraim Salt: sabotage his spaceship, blow up his satellite, and, if possible, crash into one of his office buildings. If she hangs up, the ship will crash into the city centre. If she takes the headset off, the call will hang up automatically. She grapples with the fact that Ianto is asking her to die to save a bunch of people she doesn't even know. She asks Ianto if he even remembers her name, and he doesn't. She can't even hang up to call her family.

Zeynep is comforted to know that at least she and Ianto can talk to each other until the end and won't die alone. Until Ianto tells her he's found a parachute. He gets the glory while she sacrifices herself. She suggests he eject once he sees a scrubby park, then puts him on hold. After he ejects, she reconnects to tell him she got out. She ran outside into a quarry, and threw her headset as far as she could. She wishes him a happy landing, and hangs up.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
Zeynep - Lisa Zahra

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Ianto phones Jubilee Pizza.
Ianto tells Zeynep to google the SkyPuncher, the first private spaceflight.
Ianto's email address is [email protected]. His credit card number is 7674 9843 3333 3021, and it expires in 05/10.
Zeynep plays a lot of flight simulators.
Ianto uses his necktie as a tourniquet.
Zeynep jokes that she is in Glasgow, then admits she is in Izmir, Turkey.
Ianto tells Zeynep that he is not a spy like James Bond.
One of the deceased passengers aboard the SkyPuncher was a Big Brother winner.
Ianto buys pet insurance for Myfanwy as an "exotic bird".
Zeynep asks Ianto if he has seen Star Wars, and compares the graphic on a button to an X-wing.
Zeynep's daughter is a big fan of the boy band Star 7.
Ianto finds a copy of a Dan Brown book in Ephraim Salt's suitcase.
Zeynep say "Inshallah", meaning "trust in the will of Allah".

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

The story opens with pre-titles narration of "The 21st century is when everything changes", spoken by Ianto. This is the first time that it is spoken by someone other than Captain Jack Harkness.
Unlike the majority of Big Finish's other titles, this release features stronger language and sex references, in line with the Torchwood TV series.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Ianto accidentally calls Jubilee Pizza while trying to get in touch with Torchwood. The Tenth Doctor got the number for UNIT wrong in TV: Planet of the Dead, and got to them as well, but, unlike Ianto, did not get the answering machine.
Torchwood is investigating the Committee. Ianto tells Zeynep that Jack has gone missing. (AUDIO: The Conspiracy)
Ianto recalls that Jack and Gwen killed his girlfriend Lisa Hallett after she was "horribly wounded in the line of duty". (TV: Cyberwoman)