Living Nature (Torchwood: Lincoln City)

Living Nature was the fifth episode of the second series of Torchwood: Lincoln City, it was written by 365ShaneEyoho.

The Story
Birds can be heard chirping in what looks like a forest, someone can be seen looking panicked at something, they find themselves in the city pretty quickly where they can be heard shouting constantly that "Were all dead" the person runs up to a police car and starts panicking and shaking at the officers the person even goes as far as wanting to be handcuffed, he seems traumatized and shocked, the police officer doesn't arrest him and asks the person if they could show them what they saw, the two of them would then arrive at the scene and the person would hold the police officer in the exact same place they was standing, the officer looks scared as a load of vines and alien looking plants can be seen attaching themselves to one of the walls of Lincoln Castle, the plants would then seemingly hiss and release purple spores which would head straight for the onlookers and even passers by, the spores would then split and attach themselves to the people on the street, they would start to cough and even puke purple liquid before seemingly dying, the spores would then detach themselves and head back to the plant which would continue to weave itself around the castle.

Following the title sequence, people can be seen examining and even taking photos of the plants, Shane can be seen arriving on scene "Ok...massive plant" he says not believing what he's seeing he sees people being carried away in body bags "High body count as well, that wasn't in the briefing" he says in shock, he would then walk under the plant and into the castle portcullis area he continues to look on one side and then on the other at a fast pace "Hmm seems to be growing of sorts but how did it get here?" Elsewhere more plant spores can be seen landing from a rift in the sky, a college student called Lucy is caught in the middle of this strange weather however instead of being scared she looks more intrigued, she moves her hair to one side and proceeds to touch a spore but, like with the others, it attaches itself however it doesn't kill her and instead the spores take her as a host. "Blending into this new world" she says, her voice is a mix of her own high voice and another girls voice.

Back at the scene, Shane scratches his head "So a strange looking plant has come out of nowhere, killing off people who gets too close for it and everyone's just going to walk past?" he says referring to the passers by on the street "Mind you, I guess there's used to this weird kind of thing by now...might be my fault....I don't know." he chuckles to himself, he then gets an alert from his iPad saying "Rift activated" over and over again. "That explains a lot" Shane says humbly before returning to the base, once Shane is gone the plant stops growing and launches more spores at the people passing by they attach themselves to the people but don't kill them instead it makes them oblivious to the massive plant which continues to grow, its nearly surrounded the castle.

Shane, now back at the base, is looking at rift activity revealing the spores "Well...looks like its impromptu hay fever season" he jokes "So, we have purple spores dropping out the sky and a massive plant looking to do whatever to the castle...that's new." In the city, Lucy can be seen walking around mindlessly she speaks to "herself" "We must find the castle and reunite with the mother plant" she smirks and then she starts walking towards the castle with the voice of the spores giving her directions as if they know where there going. "Definitely not from this universe" Shane says clearly deep in thought "Cant even find a plant seed in the database that is even related to this, its like its impossible...but because its here its possible" he laughs to himself, he then looks on the CCTV camera monitor looking out onto the main street of the city everyone just seems to be going about their business however they all seem to well behaved, Shane tries to zoom in on the people however the camera cant go far enough Shane gets annoyed by this and slams his fist on the desk beside him which hurts his hand.

Back at the castle, the plant has properly grown and looks a mix of green and purple in colour and is obviously not of Earth origin, Lucy can be seen walking up to the castle and kneeling down, the spores demand she become a permanent host for "the mother of the plant" the spores claim the plant mother is weak and attached itself to the castle because its an old building meaning plants (moss etc) would be forming all the time in the old walls of it meaning the plant mother can last longer, Lucy herself looks incredibly scared as the head of the plant comes down and surprisingly opens, Lucy then looks horrified seeing something however the spores that possess her force her to crack an unnatural smile.

Shane can be seen trying to peace this together "Unknown plant, unknown spores, unknown universe" He sighs "WOW, I hate not knowing" he seems aggravated by the fact that he doesn't know what's going on. "Looks like there's only one way to actually solve this...gotta go back to the castle."

The open plant head reveals a young woman with ginger hair and black eyes looking straight back at Lucy "Im weak....I need life....You can give me this" says the girl weakly who then slowly puts her right arm out in front of her causing vines to launch themselves at Lucy who is grabbed and pulled towards the girl in the plant, the spores that possess her change her attitude to make her enjoy it, she then screams her head off as the plant girl smiles as a warm glow surrounds the plant, Lucy falls on the floor and the spores leave Lucy's body. A few minutes later, Shane arrives on scene to see Lucy on the floor, she is nothing more than a husk "Looks like her life has been sucked out of her" he looks at the plant (the head of it that houses the "plant mother" is now back on the castle wall) which lays dormant "Have it your way" he says unimpressed, he takes the time to look at the people walking by totally oblivious to the strange goings on. Upon closer inspection, the purple spores can be seen attached to the people. Noting these characteristics the spores are making people do Shane finally walks up to the plant properly and simply asks "Anybody home?" to no response "Look, your spores are doing a lot of your work I see...you don't want to be found or seen which is understandable because you fell through a rift, Look im trying to understand your side of the story." finally a voice speaks up "Your voice is different yet you look so familiar" the head of the plant comes down to Shane's level revealing the "plant mother" again.

"Ok, you look familiar" Shane says clearly bothered by this. "It doesn't matter, I need you to stop these spores" the girl in the plant says, Shane looks confused "Didn't you produce them?" the girl in the plant nods "No, its just natural when it comes to making nature. You could say the spores are like kids, they need to mature and unfortunately there are not grown up." Shane just facepalms "So you have no control over them?" the girl laughs "Not really I just make the plants, they call me "the plant mother" because, of course, I made these things." Shane responds "Why choose here though? your making people oblivious to you...." he gets cut off "Are you NOT LISTENING, you moron" she says snapping at him "I had no choice when I landed I was weak, this universe not being my own is killing me, get me home...please."

Shane nods but is cautious "Hang on here a second" Shane uses his teleporter to head back to the base and pick up an alien looking vacuum when he returns the girl in the plant can clearly be seeing driving up "A device with a tube on it?" she seems annoyed "Look, this will get rid of the spores it will give you more time then I can help you try and get home" the girl responds panicked "Im already drying up here I cant last long here.....DO IT" she says all of a sudden, Shane then fires up the device which takes the spores off the people but due to its possession like effect it has on people, they all pass out. "That gives us a window" Shane says quickly as the rest of the spores are collected.

The spores shake the device "Let us out...Let us out" the spores seem to speak like kids however theres an echo tone to it, the plant mother speaks "You maybe hearing voices, there telepathic you can hear them without hearing them if that makes sense." The plant mother gets more dry and Shane notices this "I cant get you home without the rift re-opening" he starts to panic and checks all his devices for rift activity, nothing can be seen.

The girl is now fully dried up she is now essentially dying "Im..pretty sure...we don't know each other" Shane seems stressed "YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT THIS NOW?" the girl shushes him "I...don't...have...long left" Shane seems to be mentally falling apart as the spores start telepathically crying due to the fact their "creator" is dying. Shane says to himself "Come on...please don't let her die" Almost in time the rift finally reopens and the plant girl gives off a breath of life as a warm glow surrounds the plant, the spores start cheering and disappear into the rift.

The "plant mother" can then be seen looking at Shane, all her dry "skin" falling of, she would suddenly step out the plant and put her hand on Shane's shoulder "Thank you" she says before returning back to her plant, she would quickly then say "Shane" before the plant head closes up and the massive plant itself then darts towards the rift as it detaches itself from the castle.

Shane looks up at it as it leaves into the rift "She knew me...." he says confused as he looks at the castle, "Will I ever know who she is? Probably not." he says before wandering off. Whilst Shane is walking back to the base, Christmas decorations (trees and lights) can be seen everywhere around the city "Maybe she was someone from my past or something? I don't know....Maybe its just a Christmas miracle" he smiles as he looks up at the sky as the episode ends.