Ex Machina (audio story)

 was the forty-second story in the Torchwood - Monthly Range by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Alfie Shaw and featured Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto Jones.

Publisher's summary
Ianto Jones is Torchwood. Ianto Jones is the defender of a deserted city, a lone crusader who keeps the empty streets safe.

One day he meets one of the few survivors. She needs his help – because she's being chased by a darkness. A darkness which says it loves her.

Plot
Abi visits Ianto at the tourist information office and, invited into the Hub, tells him how she has no memory of any friends or family. He confirms that there are no records of her having any parents and, as he steals a car to get them to Abi's house, an alien blob absorbs a woman whom they both promptly forget about. When they arrive at Abi's home, Ianto notices that she has a number of shoes of different sizes, that she is alone in all of her photographs and that neighbour Mrs Evans is wearing a wedding ring despite claiming to have never been married.

Ianto and Abi look around the house, finding another woman's possessions in the spare bedroom and a man's washbag in the bathroom, and Ianto explains that he will not leave the city until he finds out who is responsible for killing Lisa. The blob emerges from a drawer and they drive back to the Hub with Mrs Evans. On the way, Mrs Evans helps them realise that Cardiff has only been a ghost town for two weeks given her fornight in Marbella and Ianto deduces that the vanished people are somehow stored inside of Abi, apparently explaining why it seems to be after her. Abi throws Mrs Evans to the blob to give her and Ianto time to run.

Forgetting Mrs Evans, Ianto and Abi hide from the blob on the invisible lift and descend into the Hub where Ianto detects and removes a blob from inside Abi's arm. She remembers walking in on her boyfriend, Luke, cheating on her with her roommate, Fran, and how she found and was bonded with a life-optimisation engine. After Luke and Fran told her that they were together, the engine made them both disappear and then started taking anybody who asked about their whereabouts along with any other reminders of her relationship. She spoke with Andy at the police station and met Jack, Tosh, Owen and Gwen, but they were all taken.

Ianto gets Abi to take charge of her life and tell the engine how she feels about the current state of her life, so she orders it to destroy itself and restore everybody it has taken. Cardiff returns to normal. Ianto gives Abi the keys to a flat to live in whilst she puts her life back together and she kisses him as he remembers his colleagues and tries to recall what his role in Torchwood is. Abi leaves, telling him that she hopes his friends are able to help him find out who killed Lisa.

Cast

 * Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
 * Abigail Forehill - Laura Aikman
 * The Absence - Joshua Manning
 * Mrs Evans - Kerry Joy Stewart
 * Fran - Misha Malcolm
 * Luke - Jacob Dudman

Worldbuilding

 * Abigail has her tea black with two sugars.
 * All of the love songs on Welsh Dragon FM have disappeared.
 * Abigail moved from London to Cardiff when she was six. She and her family lived on Florentia Street.
 * Abigail was born on 7 June, 1981 in the Royal London Hospital.
 * Abigail lives on 26 Sheldon Road. It is not within walking distance of Roald Dahl Plass.
 * Ianto has an adaptive skeleton key.
 * Abigail remembers sunny afternoons in Bute Park.
 * Ianto mentions Myfanwy.
 * Mrs Evans had a fortnight in Marbella.
 * Ianto had basic field medical training in London.
 * Ianto likens the life-optimisation engine to a butler.

Continuity

 * Ianto talks about Lisa's death. (TV: Cyberwoman)