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Acts of Senseless Devotion was the fourth story in the Bernice Summerfield anthology Something Changed. It was written by Pete Kempshall.
Summary
Benny awakens in a hospital after Doggles’ history machine exploded, releasing a strange form of temporal radiation. Many have been killed, even more have been injured. Benny has been permanently blinded and Peter has so severely injured that he will surely die in the coming days.
Struck with grief and stress, Adrian Wall ends his relationship with Bev Tarrant in order to concentrate on his family. In a furious rage, Bev begins to pack up and leave the Collection. She feels out of place and frustrated that everyone seems to idolise Benny even when Bev worked so hard to lead the members of the Collection during the occupation by the Fifth Axis. But Benny soon asks for a favor: she needs to contact Avril Fenman and obtain a mind-swapping crystals so that she can trade bodies with Peter.
Jason Kane arrives at the hospital, trying his hardest to help his ex-wife out. He bumps into Bev just as she is leaving, and she tells Jason about the errand before rushing off to catch a shuttle off the collection. Jason rushes to the hospital room, and is angry at Benny for approaching Bev for help when he was practically begging to make Benny's life easier. Benny claims that Bev is the only person who disliked her enough to let her trade her life's for Peter’s, however Jason realises that Benny was planning on Avril switching bodies at the any opportunity due to being stuck inside of a man's for so long. Jason attempts to dissuade Benny from using the crystal, but she refuses to give it to him, and he storms off in frustration.
When Benny tries to find the crystal however, she realizes that it has been taken. Adrian, who had been listening nearby, took the crystal and sacrificed his own life for Peter's. Benny then vows to hunt down Fenman.
Characters
References
- Bev has scars on her face from being tortured by Moskof.
- Bev communicates through her wall-comm.
- Peter's unique hybridized human-killoran DNA made it difficult for Dr. Wt'hlm to treat him.
- Sherlock Holmes is mentioned.
- Benny might have to receive robotic eye implants because the damage to her retinal tissue is too great.
Notes
- Like most of the other stories in this anthology, this story takes place in an altered timeline created by Doggles' history machine; these timelines are (mostly) erased when Braxiatel returns things to normal.
- This story marks the first appearance of Avril Fenman since her introduction in PROSE: The Squire's Crystal. Because the events in this story are part of an alternate timeline, Fenman doesn't formally reappear until AUDIO: The Curse of Fenman.
Continuity
to be added