Doctor Who: Big Finish - Bernice Summerfield [017] - Old Friends (3 Novellas) by Jonathan Clements & Marc Platt & Pete Kempshall

Author:Jonathan Clements & Marc Platt & Pete Kempshall
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
Publisher: Big Finish
Published: 2006-11-15T14:46:50+00:00

09

Once ship security had closed the beach area off, the shadow warriors lost interest and shut their windows in the sky. The shadow arrows just faded away, but insubstantial as they looked, they had been lethal. From what Benny heard, three people were dead and five more hurt. Tilani went for stitches at the ship’s surgery. Audrey polished off the bottle.

Fresh orders came from the Captain. Solarfleet apologised for any inconvenience caused. Passengers were asked to restrict their movements around the ship to the minimum. Any sightings of the shadows must be referred to security.

Elsa was asked to cancel the night’s concert. She refused on the grounds that ship’s morale needed raising. She issued instructions that the Choir were to meet at the Assembly Hall at 19.30 hours for a briefing.

Benny, her thoughts jangling and with three hours to spare, went to the library. The cupboard was bare. No sign of Ohatsu. She sat at the library port and googled Michio Dankizo. There were 18,755 hits. The first entry stated that this celebrated actor had played his first Kabuki role at the age of 19 in the Earth year 1790.

Benny read and re-read the entry. 1790. It was an error. It must be.

How could anyone, apart from Brad Caramel, be nearly 800 years old? (Shame on you, Benny. The late Mr Inkerstrom is lying in the fridge at this moment, next to the smoked salmon. The partnership is over. His wig faces a solo career.)

1790. When you’re in shock, things can take a while to make sense.

1790! Her blood ran cold and her head went into superlight. Dankizo was married to Elsa Gibichung, but he was in service to Iwafuji. Or was that vice versa? Iwafuji could summon demons and was in league with the shadows, who were running amok on the ship. She had shadows in her eyes and a trickle of blood on her mouth. She and Dankizo were both bloodsucking monsters…

She started to check the other entries… and then realised her error.

Call yourself an archaeologist, Benny Summerfield? Michio Dankizo was a stage name. A dynasty of stage names. Michio Dankizo I began his career in 1790. Elsa’s husband was Michio Dankizo XXVIII and played his first role in 2519, 21 years before Benny was born.

Okay, calm down, she thought. She was overwrought and overtired.

Overwrought? She was bloody uberwrought! It was an easy enough mistake to make. She bet these entries were full of inaccuracies. But that didn’t change all the stuff about Iwafuji. She was still a bloodsucking monster. So that was all right then.

She wished Ohatsu was here to make the tea and idly tapped in her name.

3,298 hits. Ohatsu: Character in the Kabuki loyalty play ‘Kagamiyama Kokyono Nishiki-e’ (Tribulations of the Kaga Family: A Women’s Treasury of Loyalty). A courageous servant of the lady-in-waiting Onoe who seeks revenge on the villainous lady Iwafuji who drove her mistress to suicide.

If Hanekawa Goro was living out the onnagata role of Ohatsu, avenger and tea-lady extraordinaire, then his mortal enemy Iwafuji was here on the ship too.

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