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Work in Progress was a 2006 Bernice Summerfield short story written by Nick Wallace and released as the first story in the anthology Collected Works.

Summary[]

As the Braxiatel Collection welcomes visitors from the far future, Bernice Summerfield is distracted by a ghostly apparition of Irving Braxiatel that seems to be haunting her in his absence.

Plot[]

On the Braxiatel Collection, Bernice Summerfield continues living with her partner Jason Kane and son Peter Summerfield in light of Irving Braxiatel's departure. However, she remains unaware that Peter has retained contact with his "Uncle Brax". Bev Tarrant and Doggles continue to prepare for the arrival of the Quire - a clan of scholars from the far future - by establishing a temporal anchor to lock onto their coordinates and transport them to the Mansionhouse through a time door. As Benny joins them to await the Quire's arrival she is dismissive of Jason who contacts her to report his sighting of Peter communicating with a ghostly apparition of Brax which Benny puts down to Jason having drank too much coffee.

The mission is successful and the six scholars - Verso, Dorso, Bifolium, Incunabula, Colophon and Rubric - soon arrive. Bev questions the whereabouts of Epitome, the matriarch of the Quire and Brax's first point of contact, only to learn that she had since died of old age and was replaced on the expedition by Incunabula. Before the Quire are able to be shown around the Collection, a commotion breaks out as the blood-soaked apparition of Brax appears and lunges at Benny only to disappear again before making contact. Benny and Bev hold a conference to discuss the recent events and are joined by Jason who reiterates his sighting of Brax. Suspicion falls on the Quire and Bev orders them to be kept under non-invasive surveillance.

Back at the house, Benny, Jason and Adrian probe Peter for information about his conversations with Brax. Peter confirms that he had spoken to Brax but is vague about the subject of those conversations. Benny notices that a crystal holograph containing an image of Brax seemingly moves and distorts on its own before the power battery dies, and later when she is talking to Hass she briefly sees an image of Brax in the reflection of his spacesuit. Realising that every appearance of the apparition seemingly came with mention of or involvement from Jason, Benny and Bev confront him with the latter holding him at gunpoint.

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