Plant Life (short story)

Plant Life was a short story written by Trevor Baxendale and published in the 2008 Torchwood Yearbook.

Summary
It’s a quiet day for Torchwood Three. Gwen arrives at the Hub carrying a spider plant she bought from the market. She greets Jack, Owen and Tosh, who have already begun their day at work. Ianto then calls down from the Hothouse, where he’s discovered that an alien plant Torchwood have been keeping has sprouted a new bud. Owen offers to examine the plant and cross-reference its cell structures with those on the Torchwood database, desperate for something to do. While Ianto waters the plant, Toshiko mentions that he looks tired and suggests that he should get some sleep.

In a meeting the next day, Jack expresses concern that Ianto is becoming obsessed with the plant. He asks Owen if he found a match on the database, but Owen says Torchwood have never encountered this species of plant before. Toshiko then goes up to check on Ianto in the Hothouse, and finds that he has moved all the other plants outside of the room. He explains that his plant was getting crowded and needed space. She asks Ianto if she can take a cell sample from the plant, but Ianto calmly tells her that she can’t. Jack then goes up to see Ianto, and tells him that he’s behaving out of character. He hasn’t slept or shaved for two days. Ianto tells Jack that he’s doing important work. When Jack reaches for the plant to take a sample Ianto suddenly grabs his wrist. Jack then calmly retreats, not wanting to fight Ianto over a plant.

Jack and Gwen stay in the Hub late into the night, watching Ianto through the Hothouse window. Eventually he gets up from his chair. Jack races up the spiral staircase to the Hothouse as stealthily as he can, followed by Gwen, Owen and Tosh. Inside he sees Ianto bearing his forearm, which is covered in deep cuts, while a proboscis from the plant burrows into his flesh. The proboscis pulses as the plant laps Ianto’s blood. Having seen enough, Jack pulls Ianto away then throws the plant as hard as he can. He then stamps on the plant, smearing it under his boot, which causes Ianto to go limp. Tosh scans the plant with her PDA and confirms that it’s dead. Owen then suggests that the plant was telepathic, and manipulated Ianto into caring for it. Jack then tells the team to clean up the room, and curses himself for having been too relaxed.

Characters

 * Jack Harkness
 * Gwen Cooper
 * Owen Harper
 * Toshiko Sato
 * Ianto Jones

Worldbuilding

 * Jack has a copy of The Times.
 * Jack has to “tidy some things up” with UNIT.
 * Jack compares a bad coffee to Sontaran dysentery.
 * Jack once spent a few weeks aboard a German U-Boat during WWII, as a prisoner of war.

Continuity

 * Jack had a "falling out" with spiders on Janus Prime. Janus Prime first appeared in PROSE: The Janus Conjunction.
 * Gwen and Rhys are married after TV: Something Borrowed
 * Owen doesn’t sleep since his resurrection in TV: Dead Man Walking.
 * The pterodactyl flies around the Hub.
 * Gwen notes that Ianto is “very fond” of his old stopwatch, also seen in TV: Everything Changes, They Keep Killing Suzie, and PROSE: Virus.