Tears of the Oracle by Justin Richards

Author:Justin Richards [Richards, Justin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Action & Adventure, Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Space Flight, Women College Teachers, Summerfield; Bernice Surprise (Fictitious Character), Oracles
ISBN: 9780426205333
Google: sYsEAAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0426205332
Publisher: New Adventures
Published: 1999-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

LINKS

Braxiatel read through the reprinted document in the book

slowly and carefully. „Hmm,‟ he said when he had eventually

finished, and handed Living Archaeology back to Benny.

„Is that it?‟ she said. „Just hmmm?’

„What more do you expect?‟

„Well, don‟t you see it?‟ she asked, waving the book, which

given its weight was not an inconsiderable feat in itself.

„I see the report of another archaeological expedition that

got into some sort of trouble.‟ He shrugged. „You, Benny,

more than most people ought to know that this is not a

unique scenario.‟

„But the similarities,‟ Benny protested. „The links between

Watkinson and Mikelz, between this expedition to Paracletes

and our own…‟ She tried to stare him down, but failed.

„Don‟t you see it at all?‟

Braxiatel said nothing. Instead, he stood up and crossed

over to a small cupboard in the comer of his cramped room,

and opened it up. Inside was a collection of bottles and

glasses. A moment later he was handing Benny a glass of

wine.

„Thanks,‟ she murmured. The liquid was cool, slightly

oak-flavoured, and very dry.

„I‟m not convinced,‟ Braxiatel said as he poured himself a

glass of the wine, „that there is anything to see.‟ He turned to

face her. „Truly I‟m not. So an expedition had some sort of

problem, Watkinson was by all accounts never the same

again and soon after that he set off on his final journey to...‟

he waved his free arm in an all-encompassing are, wherever.‟

He sat down opposite Benny at the small table. „But that‟s it,

I‟m afraid. There are coincidences, maybe. But we can‟t tell

from this,‟ he tapped the book, „whether there‟s any more to

it.‟

Benny was blinking back tears of frustration. She riffled

through the book until she found the right page. „But look - it

talks about “the state of the bodies”,‟ she said, pointing to the

words. „And here it mentions the suspicion of a bio-hazard.‟

In answer, Braxiatel ran his fingers through his hair and

gave a short, mirthless laugh. „So what does that mean? It

doesn‟t say what state the bodies were in. Maybe they were

burnt, or frozen, or mutilated, or knifed in the back with a

knitting needle.‟

„Or mummified.‟

He nodded. „I admit that could be the case. But we can‟t

tell, not from this alone. They could have been in penguin

fancy dress wearing yellow top hats from what this tells us.‟

„And the bio-hazard?‟

„Again could mean anything. In fact they say there wasn‟t

one, so far as they could tell. It‟s a term to cover ignorance or

incompetence. In this case I suspect ignorance.‟

„We don‟t know what killed Follett,‟ Benny said

emphatically. „There is a link, I‟m sure of it.‟

„Then tell me how you are sure. At the moment we don‟t

know for certain that there is anything to link Watkinson

with the Oracle apart from a couple of letters from Mikelz. Let

alone mysterious deaths. Give me more evidence than

supposition and intuition. Something we can work with,

build on. Research.‟

Benny drained her wine and stood up abruptly. „All right,‟

she said. „I will.‟

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