Part 2 (2/2)

'I'm sorry.' It was inadequate, and they both knew it. But Gilmanuk smiled sadly and they continued down the path in silence.

'Isn't the reception area back that way?' Bernice asked after a while. She had a good sense of direction so the question was rhetorical. They were at the top of an avenue of tall, thin trees which stretched down (everything was down, the planet was so small) in the opposite direction.

'That's the way we came, yes.' Gilmanuk's spectacles caught the sunlight as he nodded quickly, as if the question had startled him out of reverie. 'But we can carry on the way we're going. The scenery is more interesting I should like to show you the Garden of Whispers.'

'Do we have time?' It seemed to Benny that they barely had time to walk the distance the flyer had brought them, let alone take some detour round a garden, however impressive.

'Oh yes, we have time. It's actually a shorter distance to keep going in our current direction than to turn back. But it's only a three*hour walk from the back door of the house round to the front.'

It took Benny a moment to work out what he was talking about. But looking down the length of the gardens ahead of her and seeing them dip away so steeply, she could believe that walking round the whole planetoid was not such a silly notion. She rather liked the idea of being able to walk away from the Mansionhouse and arrive back at the other side of it. 'Like Alice in Wonderland Alice in Wonderland,' she muttered.

'I'm sorry?'

'Or was it Through the Looking Gla.s.s Through the Looking Gla.s.s? Sorry nothing Lead me to this whispering garden, Professor.'

The Garden of Whispers was one of the most impressive areas of the grounds of the Braxiatel Collection. The centrepiece was a small lake, over which willows wept and oak trees towered. A perfect lawn stretched beyond the trees, bounded by the central driveway on one side and high hedges backing on to the parterres of the Small Trianon the other. There were statues humanoid figure positioned throughout the garden. Several were line up along the hedge, facing back towards the Mansionhouse, the roof of which was just visible gleaming above the foreshortened horizon. For a second Bernie imagined the statues' arms poking through the hedge and emerging bodiless the other side, grasping for a hold on pa.s.sers*by and feeling sightlessly for prey. The image seemed vaguely familiar from a vis*cast or play she had seen.

At the far side of the lake, raised on a vantage point, was a summer*house stone caryatids rising to a domed roof were the only walls. Inside the summer*house Benny could see several more figures, posed and immobile, as if some of the statuary that hid amongst the trees beside the lake had crept into the summer*house to admire the view.

Gilmanuk led the way through the trees towards the summer*house which, he a.s.sured Bernice, afforded an excellent view of the garden. 'Every single statue is visible from the summer*house, all forty*seven of them. And it's also the best place to hear the whispers.'

Bernice could already hear the whispers. It was the wind picking its way through the willow trees and playing on the lake's surface. Not real wind, she reminded herself as they pa.s.sed a stone figure poised on one leg as he raised a sword forward and high above his head. Everything here was artificial, except for the raw data in the libraries and archives, They paused outside the summer*house before going up the three shallow steps and stepping inside the ring of female figures which held up the roof for them. A single stone statue stood, ushering them in, and as they pa.s.sed it seemed that it was she who was whispering to them. 'Mandrine the Archalite G.o.ddess of plenty,' Bernice told Gilmanuk, He probably already knew that, and she hoped he had not seen her read it off the plinth. She had already impressed him with her understanding of pre*Elziran culture, secure in the knowledge that if he needed an expert in the subject he was not one himself. Now she wanted to make sure he knew her peripheral knowledge was also impeccable.

They turned from the three statues inside the summer*house without giving them a second look and stared out across the lake.

'Actually, it's p.r.o.nounced Marn*dry*nee Marn*dry*nee,' said a voice quietly behind them. Gilmanuk looked startled, and Bernice was sure her feet left the ground for a second.

She could see how she had mistaken him for a statue. He was wearing a close*cut grey suit, and he was standing perfectly still. His features were angular but attractive Bernice thought well*chiselled was an apt description. He was tall, thin, appeared to be a little older than Bernice and seemed completely at ease.

'I'm sorry if I startled you.' He smiled, managing to seem both friendly and completely detached, 'I too was admiring the view, although I cannot stay long I'm afraid I shall have to return to my researches soon.'

'It is quite a view.' Bernice was keen to show she had recovered from the shock, but the man hardly seemed to hear her. He pushed forward between Bernice and Gilmanuk, 'This summer*house was constructed by Dupok,' he continued as if she had not spoken. 'He worked from a holographic model. In fact the whole site was modelled as a simularity before construction began.'

'An interesting technique,' said Gilmanuk, 'although rather expensive on such a scale, I would imagine.'

'I imagine so.' The man turned to go.

'Hardly original, though.'

He stopped in mid*turn and looked at Bernice. 'Oh?'

'Much of the design is after all based on the ancient Palace of Versailles. Richard Mique worked from three*dimensional models when he created the small buildings in the grounds there. He gave the models of the Temple of Love and the Belvedere to Marie Antoinette.'

The man laughed. 'Touche.' Then he turned and left, disappearing into the trees behind the summer*house without a backward glance.

'Professor Summerfield Benny,' Gilmanuk had followed the exchange thoughtfully.

'Yes?'

'I'd have to check things with Lannic, of course. But would you consider taking a part in our expedition to Menaxus?'

Bernice swallowed, resisted the urge to hug him, and said quietly, 'Well, I'd obviously need to sort out a few things.' She thought for a moment of the small round device the Doctor had given her. There was no reason why the TARDIS tracker/locator would not work as effectively from Menaxus as from Osiris if she chose to activate it. And what could possibly go wrong on an archaeological dig? 'In principle I don't see any problem,' she said, and saw Gilmanuk's relief as he turned back to the view.

Then she remembered what he had said about the previous expedition, and she thought of her own experiences on Heaven. And she hoped the tracker/locator was still in her satchel.

Source Doc.u.ment 2 Plan of the Pentillanian Theatre of Menaxus Loaned to the Stanarbrian Library by unnamed beneficiary Sketch believed to be by De Witte, c2314. Not to scale.

Chapter 2.

A Bond Honoured The first principle of archaeology is doc.u.mentation. It is the willingness the pa.s.sion for recording minutiae of excavation data to the point of pedantry that separates the men from the boys. Or, in the case of an excavation where material as well as historical wealth may be gained, the archaeologists from the looters.Down Among the Dead Men Professor Bernice Summerfield, 2566 Professor Bernice Summerfield, 2566 They had arrived at Kotosh Station with a day to spare before their rendezvous with the Icoronata Icoronata. The others had already arrived, apart from the orbiter pilot, Lefkhani, who was bringing the s.h.i.+p to the station once it had delivered its current cargo of troops and munitions to the Arfalla colonies.

The first of the team that Benny met was Camarina Lannic. She was a tall, attractive woman, dark hair cascading onto her shoulders and framing a round face with a firm chin. She seemed fully in control of both herself and the expedition and Benny noticed that she took this for granted rather than trying to impress Benny with her position.

'Professor Summerfield? Status meeting on ”C” deck in ten minutes,' she told Benny without waiting for confirmation or acknowledgement.

'How do you do you must be Lannic,' Benny said quietly to her retreating back. She might not be impeded by all the niceties of social etiquette, but everyone was on time for the meeting.

The agenda consisted mainly of Lannic going over the events and discoveries of her previous expedition, with precious little time reserved at the end for a few questions and rather fewer answers. They all introduced themselves briefly at the start of the meeting, stating their names and responsibilities. There seemed to be two camps; the military either knew each other already or were indifferent, and the archaeologists seemed at least to have heard of each other. Benny was the odd one out, and this was probably why she was asked to go first.

'Professor Bernice Summerfield. I won t bore you with qualifications and past experience, but I'm here to advise on any artefacts we uncover and generally lend a hand in the excavation work.' There was barely any reaction from anyone; either they were nervous about their own performances to come, or they were more interested in what Lannic had to say. 'My hobbies include bug collecting and poker,' she added with a smile. n.o.body laughed, although several of them looked puzzled. Lannic glared at her, so Benny coughed politely and sat down.

Next up was a.s.sok Bannahilk. It took Benny a while to work out that a.s.sok was a rank rather than a name. Bannahilk was a well built man, stocky almost, with a moustache, Like all the soldiers he had close*cut hair, and like all the Heletians, his eyes were grey. 'a.s.sok Bannahilk in charge of the military side of things and responsible for safety and logistics.' He spoke in a quiet and authoritative voice, but the way his hands twisted together and his eyes darted round the room made Benny wonder what emotions he was bottling up inside. 'The military will already know me, and they'll know that I like things kept tight.' His small eyes swept round the a.s.sembled company, and only the tall man sitting beside him was anything other than indifferent was he stifling a smile, or grimacing?

'The military will also know,' Bannahilk continued, 'that I share their view that this expedition is not necessarily the best use of our limited resources in these difficult times.: He paused again, this time to glare at Lannic. She met his gaze without flinching, and it was Bannahilk who lowered his eyes first. 'That said, we shall of course give our fullest support to this this fool's errand.' He sat down quickly without sparing Lannic another glance.

'Thank you, a.s.sok,' Lannic said without looking up from the notes on her clip*pak. 'We are grateful for your help. Though I doubt the Exec would think this a ”fool errand”. It was on his patronage and for the greater glory of all Heletia that we undertake this.' She looked across the desk at him, and Bannahilk shuffled uncomfortably in her stare. 'Nothing that brings us closer to the Exec, nothing that enhances his standing in the eyes of the people or ourselves in his eyes is foolish. Nothing.'

Bannahilk looked embarra.s.sed, but he did not respond. After a short pause, the tall man sitting beside him came to his rescue. 'Fortalexa,' he said as he stood and introduced himself.

Fortalexa was, he said, an electronics and communications expert. He towered over his commanding officer, and managed to get the only laugh of the meeting with an aside about keeping them up to date on the malquatch results (whatever that meant). He seemed to be about Benny's age.

Fortalexa finished up with comments clearly aimed at both Lannic and his commanding officer. 'I think we all share a.s.sok Bannahilk's frustration at not being in the front line to contribute directly to the war, especially the way things are going at the moment. However, we are of course also conscious of the contribution we are able to make on a higher plane to the advancement of archaeology and our understanding of the dramatic arts.'

Benny wondered how he got away with it. A couple of times she saw Bannahilk twist his fingers in frustration or anger, but he said nothing. He even smiled his grat.i.tude to Fortalexa as he sat down again.

The other military personnel Benny a.s.sumed to be the grunts, just along to do the fetching and carrying. Tashman and Krayn were both muscle*bound troopers who could probably kill more efficiently than they could eat. Neither of them seemed as disappointed with this posting as their commander made out. Krayn seemed to be about twice as intelligent as his comrade in arms.

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