In the Ledgers of Madness (short story)
In the Ledgers of Madness was the eleventh story in the Bernice Summerfield anthology Present Danger. It was written by Mark Clapham.
Summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
In the Hollows (the base of Outland Revenue, or O.R.), an auditor named Felterby is visited by Bernice Summerfield (who used her Time Ring to break into the Hollows). Bernice reveals that she has the Codex Infernal - the only source of information on the language of the Red Monks of the Screaming Doom. Bernice offers to help Felterby analyze their tax records in exchange for the "World Cleaver".
Four days later, Bernice and Felterby travel to the home world of the Red Monks - Krepsyc, also home to a resort known as Fiesta!Ville and travel by bus to a resort near the "Temple of the Frozen Soul" on top of "Mount Cataclysm". Once inside the Temple, Bernice and Felterby meet with the Abbott. The Abbott sends them into the tunnels of the Temple, where they meet with the Keeper of the Ledgers. With his help, Bernice begins working on translating the ledgers. Once this is complete, Felterby begins looking through the records. Several hours into this work, he begins to fall asleep and Bernice brings him to his hotel room.
Over a few days, Felterby and Bernice comb over the records before Felterby finds an issue with them - a series of "losses" that are actually a series of extremely lucrative investments. Bernice and Felterby meet with the Abbott, who reveals that the Red Monks lost all of the money they had gained. Bernice offers to take the World Cleaver as payment. As such, the Abbott brings the two offworlders into the depths of the Temple where the World Cleaver is held. Unfortunately, the World Cleaver is missing - having been taken by one of the relatives of the Devourer of Innocents.
After Bernice and Felterby leave the Temple, a hovervan carrying a very large and empty box arrives. Bernice drugs Felterby and stuffs him into the box. Felterby awakens and emerges from the box to find that he is on a spaceship leaving Krypsec. He watches as all life on the planet is scorched (presumably by the Deindum) and is informed by Bernice through a portable comm that she had brought herself and Felterby into "the pages of history" to retrieve the Cleaver before the planet was destroyed.
Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Red Monks are worshippers of a god known as the "Devourer of Innocents". Originally members of a fish-like species, they were mutated by the Devourer into near-human creatures. The Red Monks use an archaic language that drives non-believers completely insane.
- Krypsec is a planet with large oceans. Originally a cold and icy world, it was terraformed and made into a resort planet.
- The Hollows (officially the Outland Revenue Central Administration) is a massive structure in the shape of an inverted ziggurat. It is surrounded by extremely complex security systems and buried inside of a desolate moon.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
to be added
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Felterby first appeared in Venus Mantrap.
