Red Skies (audio story)

Red Skies was the ninth release of the BBC Torchwood audio stories.

Publisher's summary
Jack Harkness is in need of a holiday. He wants to get away from Torchwood, away from the human race — and where better to get completely away from it all than Cotter Paluni's World, a planet surrounded by deadly scarlet lightning and cut off from the entire universe?

But there are some shocks in store for Jack: the "Devil's World" might be completely isolated and inaccessible, but its inhabitants worship Torchwood. And before he can find out why, or how this is even possible, he finds himself arrested for murder.

It looks as if someone on the planet knows who Jack is — and they're out to get him...

Plot
Wanting to get away from Earth, Jack uses his vortex manipulator to travel from a Universal Heritage spacecraft to the surface of Cotter Paluni's World, a planet subject to storms of unexplained red lightning. He learns from Heather, a barmaid, that her people worship Torchwood and is arrested by Detective Torsten Højer for her murder after she is hit by the lightning and burns to death, but he persuades Torsten to secretly release him and help bring down Torchwood. This results in Jack being hit by lightning and having a vision of Alex Hopkins's suicide in the Hub.

Jack comes back to life and, after evading the police and having a vision of Suzie's three deaths, he and Torsten enter the Hub monastery disguised as monks. After seeing the deaths of Ianto, Steven, Owen, Tosh and others that he feels responsible for, he tries to send Torsten away, but Torsten refuses as Torchwood oppresses homosexuals like himself and he wishes to be free. Jack has a vision of Gwen being shot and runs to return to her until Torsten reminds him of his duty and they find that the supposed god is Martin Gibbons, a Torchwood operative believed to be dead who has merged with a sentient spacecraft which crashed into Newport.

Martin explains how the spacecraft was without a passenger and how he longed for a fresh start because of how disillusioned he was with Torchwood, leading it to take him to Cotter Paluni's World to be a god. Jack makes him realise that he wants to be forgiven and to die, so Torsten forgives him and he takes a final breath before dying. After kissing Torsten and saying goodbye, Jack uses his vortex manipulator to head to Earth to avenge Gwen's death.

Characters

 * Jack Harkness
 * Torsten Højer
 * Martin Gibbons
 * Kim Ashman
 * Heather Blades
 * James Unsworth
 * Karen Baldwin
 * Alex Hopkins
 * Brother Michael
 * Brother Thomas
 * Gwen Cooper
 * Suzie Costello

Worldbuilding

 * Kim Ashman works for Universal Heritage.
 * Kim is asked a question by a Crespallion.
 * Jack's vortex manipulator is working.
 * Alex Hopkins killed James Unsworth and Karen Baldwin.
 * Ryan Hooper is the son of the mayor.
 * Jack and Ianto Jones used to watch a an old British quiz show which he is reminded of by the phrase "say what you see".
 * Martin died in a spacecraft explosion.
 * Gary was ripped apart by an alien bomb.
 * Jack remembers the deaths of Emily and Harriet.
 * Torsten went to school with Lawrence and Jenny.
 * Torsten was attracted to Sanjay.

Continuity

 * Jack sees Suzie Costello's three deaths. (TV: Everything Changes, They Keep Killing Suzie, PROSE: Long Time Dead)
 * Jack also sees the deaths of: Ianto Jones, (TV Children of Earth: Day Four, AUDIO: The House of the Dead) Lucia Moretti, (TV: Children of Earth: Day Three) Steven Carter, (TV: Children of Earth: Day Five) Gray, (TV: Exit Wounds) Owen Harper, (TV: Reset, Exit Wounds) Toshiko Sato (TV: Exit Wounds) and Alex Hopkins. (TV: Fragments)
 * Cotter Paluni's World was previously mentioned by the Tenth Doctor as one of the places where he wanted to take Donna Noble. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem)