Vam

The Vam was an animated form of oil.

Biology
The Vam was similar to diesel in composition and appearance, but had a molecular shield which contained its consciousness. This allowed it to retain knowledge after parts of its body was destroyed. The Vam could gain more knowledge by eating living creatures. If a section was removed from this shielding, it turned inanimate and acted like normal oil. This shield also made the Vam difficult to kill.

The Vam could feed on anything, but it preferred plastics and living creatures. As it ate, it grew until it could cover entire planets. The Vam could also shape itself to move, forming a ball or a amorphous blob, and could produce eyes and limbs. (TWN: Risk Assessment)

History
The Vam was known to have conquered entire star systems, engulfing them star and all. At some point, a fragment of the Vam was broken off and was picked up by the Cardiff Space-Time Rift. It attached itself to a xXltttxtolxtol pod and landed in Cardiff. After feeding on a pigeon and then an real estate agent, it went to feed on SkyPoint and its residences. The disappearance of the inhabitants alerted Torchwood Three and Agnes Havisham and Gwen Cooper investigated SkyPoint. The Vam had already escaped and went in search of more food.

Agnes and Jack Harkness next tracked it to a toystore where it was feeding on the shoppers. Though they tried to fight it, Jack and Agnes were forced to simply collect a sample and rescue the survivors. While analysing it, Agnes found out about its composition and believed it could be used to solve the oil crisis, providing a limitless source of oil in exchange for garbage. Jack believed that there was no point in negotiating with the Vam. When Agnes tried to communicate with the Vam, it refused to obey and ate her instead, though she was protected by a personalised force field. Jack, with the assistance of Rhys Williams' trucks, attacked the Vam with Ice Warrior sonic cannons. This weakened the molecular shield of the Vam, allowing Jack to kill it with the Singularity Scalpel on wide beam. This caused the Vam to explode, covering much of Cardiff in oil. (TWN: Risk Assessment)