Sargasso (audio story)

Rhys Williams finds himself stranded on a container ship in a sea of debris. People on board are dying. Because, luckily, someone's found a solution to Earth's polluted waters. The Nestene Consciousness can never have too much plastic.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Rhys is travelling from Milford Haven to the Port of Wilmington aboard the Corinthian Tide when, in the North Atlantic garbage patch, the engines stop. Whilst looking for Captain Banaczik, he and Kaitlin find the ship covered in rubbish and come across the corpse of a man apparently crushed by plastic. Many of the surviving crewmen attempt to escape the ship, but their lifeboat is attacked and sunk by sentient rubber ducks which Rhys believes could be alien. Kaitlin, however, is sceptical about aliens and Torchwood until Rhys saves her and Banaczik from attacking shopping bags.

Power is restored to the ship and Rhys leaves Kaitlin and Banaczik barricaded in a room whilst he tries to save a member of the crew, but the crewmember is torn apart by the ducks. The trio hide in one of Rhys's shipping containers and Kaitlin confides in him that she has been doing research for an environmentalist group in opposition to the interests of her father, who owns Bakin Petrochemicals. In the hopes of sending out a message, Rhys and Kaitlin have Banaczik lead them to the server room, but Rhys notices that she barely seems to know her way around the ship. They eventually arrive and Banaczik reveals that she is an Auton.

Rhys and Kaitlin, whom the Nestene Consciousness has made a telepathic link with in the hopes of gaining information, are herded into engineering where Auton facsimiles of the dead crew are being stored, apparently ready to take their place when they arrive in Wilmington. Although Banaczik claims that the Autons are not their enemy, Rhys and Kaitlin set fire to the ship to destroy the plastics and escape in fire-retardant evac suits in which they float for several hours before they are picked up.

Rhys gives Gwen a call and Kaitlin tells him about the dangers of plastics, including how they can be inside people. She leaves to make use of her father's company, telling the Nestene that they have work to do.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Businesses[[edit] | [edit source]]

Kaitlin's family owns Bakin Petrochemicals.

Culture[[edit] | [edit source]]

Rhys is listening to James Brown.
Rhys remembers David Attenborough talking about the North Atlantic garbage patch on television.
Kaitlin refers to the real possibility of "some asshole with bad hair" blowing the world to hell.
Rhys refers to Kaitlin as a millennial.
The Nestene attack with rubber ducks.

Locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Corinthian Tide travels from Milford Haven to the Port of Wilmington.

Science[[edit] | [edit source]]

Still conditions in the ocean are called dead calm.

Technology[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Nestene Consciousness takes control of a plastic computer keyboard.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Though unremarked within the story, the North Atlantic garbage patch is located in the Sargasso Sea. The story is named for this location.
This is the first audio story Robert Jezek has contributed to in the Doctor Who universe since AUDIO: Zagreus over 15 years prior.
This story was recorded on 17 December 2018 at The Soundhouse.