Submission (audio story)

Submission was the second in the Torchwood: The Lost Files mini-series. It aired the week after Series 4 started airing on Starz, but was set before Series 3.

Publisher summary
Torchwood are chasing aliens down the M4, when Jack accidentally blows a hole in the Severn Bridge, and the SUV hits the water. Whilst submerged Jack, Gwen and Ianto hear a strange noise, which, back at the Hub they realise is a cry for help. They track the cry to its source which turns out to be the deepest part of the Ocean - the Mariana Trench. Ianto rings old Torchwood flame, Carlie Roberts, who's an expert in marine geology, and Jack pulls strings with the US government to get them all on board the USS Calvin, an Arleigh Burke class destroyer, which is heading for the Trench. From there they board the Octopus Rock, the only submarine built to withstand the pressure at that depth, and follow the signal. But when the Submarine crashes, the team are left at the mercy of a hungry alien.

Plot
Whilst chasing aliens down the M4 with Gwen and Ianto, Jack accidentally causes damage to the Severn Bridge and the SUV falls into the River Severn where they hear a cry which they find was heard all over the world. Ianto discovers that it is a distress signal from the Mariana Trench and calls Carlie Roberts, a marine geologist who worked at Torchwood One, for help. Jack, Gwen and Ianto meet with her in Tokyo and travel aboard UNIT's USS Calvin before descending into the trench in the Octopus Rock submarine.

At the bottom of the trench, an old man without a diving suit punches the Octopus Rock and fries its power with his cry. Carlie realises upon seeing the Guernica, lost in 1959, that the man is Captain Sam Doyle and Jack deduces that his body is being used and protected from the pressure by a parasite. Jack and Gwen head to the Guernica in UNIT diving suits to resurface and Gwen gets in contact with Sam, who explains that he and his mate fell from space long ago and that his mate needs a body.

Inside the Guernica, Jack and Gwen play a message recorded by Sam's partner, Henry Goddard, in which he says that the parasite possessed him before moving to Sam, apparently because Henry was suffering from depression. Sam admits that he abandoned his mate on his dying homeworld and that he needs another mind to escape his guilt after feeding on Sam's since 1959. With Ianto and Carlie joining Jack and Gwen in the Guernica, the group begin to resurface, but Sam causes a breach in the hull and the parasite possesses Carlie.

The Guernica gets too far away from the black smokers where it has been living and the parasite dies, as does Carlie due to their life forces being entwined. Ianto successfully resuscitates her and, when they get to the surface, she decides that she gave up on Torchwood too soon and decides to get UNIT to fund further missions to the Mariana Trench.

Cast

 * Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
 * Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
 * Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
 * Carlie Roberts - Erin Bennett
 * Sam - Angelo Tiffe
 * Captain Cudlow - John Francis Harries
 * Henry - John Lee

Worldbuilding

 * Facebook and Twitter are mentioned.
 * Jack claims to have mentioned the Doctor to UNIT.
 * Carlie mentions expeditions down to the Mariana Trench in the 1950s and 1960s.
 * Jack compares the submarine to the Red October.
 * Sam refers to Gwen as being as sweet as a cupcake.
 * The submarine is named the Octopus Rock after a song by the Sex Pistols, an English punk band.

Continuity

 * Ianto mentions Torchwood One and the Cybermen, referring to the Battle of Canary Wharf in 2007 in which Carlie was also involved. (TV: Army of Ghosts / Doomsday)
 * Carlie talks to Ianto about his relationships with Jack and Lisa Hallett. (TV: Cyberwoman, TV: End of Days et al)
 * The Fourth Doctor, Romana I and K9 would later visit the Mariana Trench in 2040. (AUDIO: Phantoms of the Deep)
 * Sam warns that Jack's son will likely fall one day, like his own died on his burning planet. This foreshadows the death of his grandson in TV: Children of Earth: Day Five.