Not The Man From Atlantis is a rewrite of a Torchwood story I wrote very early in the history of that TV series. I have written three stories with a view to adding Torchwood to my list of stories, but was having trouble writing any new ones while the series was running and the characters seemed to be in flux. So I left the three stories on hold and didn’t go back to them for some time. Stuck for an idea for a Theta Sigma story, I decided to rework the idea.

There are some marked differences between the Torchwood story and the Theta Sigma one. In Torchwood, the alien, named Terry, emerges from Cardiff Bay naked, and is befriended by Jack Harkness. In Theta Sigma the alien is renamed Billy, since there is already a character called Terry. He emerges from Galway Bay in an all in one body suit. In Torchwood, Jack is ‘infected’ with the ability to grow webbed hands and feet and swim under water when he has sex with him. Chrístõ, simply comforts him when he is crying. There is, obviously, a watershed issue between Theta Sigma and Torchwood, which was part of the challenge.

An added ingredient of this story is the LE Aisling, the Irish Navy boat that patrols the seas around Ireland. The Aisling was, and still is, the flagship of the Irish Navy, and responsible for catching smugglers, illegal fishermen and, possibly, alien spaceships.

In both stories, showing the alien some of the local culture before he went home featured. In the Torchwood story that meant bowling and nightclubs, rugby at the Millennium Stadium and a tour of the Welsh National Assembly building. Here, it was lobster dinners in Carna, the home of lobster fishing in Ireland, street theatre in Clifden and some fantastic scenery in the Maam Valley. I recommend that as a way of spending a pleasant weekend for anyone, regardless of their home planet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_from_atlantis

http://www.pearsecom.co.uk/torchwood/03notthemanfromatlantis.htm

http://www.connemara-tourism.org/regions/carna-cashel.html

http://www.connemara-tourism.org/regions/clifden.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connemara

http://www.military.ie/naval/flotilla/p23/aisling.htm