Digging up the Past (short story)

Digging up the Past was a 2000 short story written by Mark Michalowski and released in the Bernice Summerfield anthology The Dead Men Diaries.

Synopsis
To be added

Plot
Benny angrily refuses Braxiatel's request that she allow a docudrama to be made with a synthespian playing her and returns to her room, where Gully from the Koben Foundation visits her and tells her that 20th century artefacts have squirted out of a time sphincter on Dali Prime. She has a look through the list of artefacts and finds nothing interesting, but learns from Gully that the docudrama is to be produced by InterMedia, the biggest media production company in the sector, and changes her mind about it.

After a call over a commlink with Layla Field, the AI head of InterMedia, Benny looks through a catalogue of synthespians with Gully when he makes her aware of the fact that her giving Field assent over commlink is as legally binding as signing a contract. This is confirmed by Ms Jones. Annoyed that she cannot find Braxiatel for his help, she uses his money to buy the Earth artefacts for an excessive amount and gets an idea; she goes to her box of mementoes, which Jason had called "junk", and finds an old video game card.

Benny calls Ms Field again and blackmails her with the knowledge that she started out as a video game character before becoming a pornstar, something that would not please the company's largest shareholders. Ms Field agrees to renegotiate the contract; Benny brings up her fee, the rights to her likeness and her choice of synthespian: Emma Thompson.

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Irving Braxiatel
 * Gully
 * Layla Field

Worldbuilding

 * Gully is a Koben from the Koben Foundation.
 * After the Great Cock Up of 2107, humanity lost most of western literature aside from a complete run of X-Men comics.
 * Heggarty is an archaeologist. He is away on Sapice.
 * Some of the potential synthespians for Benny are Marilyn Monroe, Joanna Lumley-Pryce, Margaret Thatcher, Hillary Clinton and Pamela Anderson. Benny eventually chooses Emma Thompson.
 * Benny thinks Gully looks like a character from The Hobbit.
 * The Army of Heavenly Light is one of InterMedia's largest shareholders.

Continuity
to be added