Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Glass Prison (novel)

Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Glass Prison, or simply The Glass Prison, was the fifth novel published by Big Finish Productions as part of their Bernice Summerfield series. This was the final paperback Bernice Summerfield novel published by Big Finish and also the last full length Bernice Summerfield novel published for some time, until 2004's The Big Hunt. This novel features the birth of Bernice Summerfield's son Peter with the naming ceremony for him featuring cameos of several characters going back to the Virgin New Adventures. This is writer Jacqueline Rayner's second original contribution to the Bernice Summerfield range.

Publisher's summary
Don't ever annoy the Fifth Axis. They might throw you into the Glass Prison on Deirbhile — and then throw away the key.

Once you're inside, there's nowhere to hide. They can see your every movement. They control you. You're going to be watched for the rest of your life, wherever you go, whoever you are. Even if you're a professor of archaeology. Even if you're a friend of the famous Irving Braxiatel, and you've written several popular coffee-table books.

Even if you're pregnant. Even if your baby's due any day now.

But, of course, they know all about your baby. And they're planning to take it away.

That is, if the loony cultists you're locked up with don't get it first.

Plot
Jason is jealous that Benny is pregnant with Adrian's child and is having a lot of casual sex whilst Adrian is upset that Benny is not the woman he fell in love with. The two of them want to be involved in the birth and do not listen to Benny's own wishes, causing her to leave the Braxiatel Collection with Claire and Joseph to give birth in peace.

Benny, Claire and Joseph end up in the Assimilated Territories and are shot down by the Fifth Axis, landing on Deirbhile where they are arrested and taken to the Glass Prison, accused of being spies. Benny finds that Kolonel Daglan Straklant is imprisoned on the floor above the cell that she shares with Claire, Gripper and Sophia and learns that the Wolf is interested in her pregnancy as there is a prophecy about the "Child of Two Mothers" spelling the end of Deirbhile's enemies. Indeed, her cult was responsible for her ship coming here. Sophia, being a Grel, tells the Wolf that the Imperator has arrived on the planet and that the Axis seem to be planning to launch a surprise attack from there, one which will include the Collection.

Benny wakes up to find that a prisoner has been hanged and that a threat has been written in lipstick on the wall. She later finds a noose in her cell, broken glass in her bed and that her water has been replaced with acid. Believing Straklant to be behind it, she begins searching for a secret passage and, when she mentions the invasion to Gripper, she realises that Gripper is still working for the Axis and is there to keep an eye on her. According to Gripper, the Axis plan to show to the cult that the Child of Two Mothers is no saviour once it is born.

Benny is sent to A-block when she stands up for Sophia, who was being punished for losing her smock after it was disintegrated by the acid. When she returns, she accepts that Straklant could not have left his floor and surmises that he is working with one of the dead girl's cellmates. She asks the Wolf for protection and Claire lets slip that they suspect Jevina, who Sophia says was seen putting the glass in Benny's bed. The cultists rip Jevina apart, horrifying Benny. The Wolf says that even if Jevina was not the killer, the real killer will now be too scared to continue their campaign.

Benny and her friends ensure that Gripper overhears their conversations in which they discuss how Straklant has offered to give them the identity of an Axis traitor in return for his freedom. This results in Straklant being taken away, apparently for intensive interrogation.

Claire tells Benny that her child has had a growth spurt and is now too large to be delivered naturally; the baby will have to be delivered by C-section. On the day of the birth, the Wolf kills the guards and takes control of the prison to make sure that the Axis cannot interfere. However, this means that the doctor is unable to get into the prison to deliver the baby. Benny's waters break. Sophia arrives with a man who claims to be Benny's doctor, but whose medical equipment is locked outside.

They manage to get access to Joseph, who assists in the birth. The baby - a boy - is delivered and, when Benny awakens, Sophia kills the doctor. In truth, the man was the Imperator and had come to investigate Straklant and to kill Benny's child to deprive the cult of their saviour, a task which was originally appointed to Gripper. Joseph picks up a transmission which indicates that Jason had told the cultist Marianne about Benny and her unborn child whilst drunk in a bar near the Collection.

The prisoners riot and fight one another, giving Sophia and Joseph the opportunity to slip away and to make use of the override codes which Sophia's dataxe had absorbed from the Imperator's head. The prison comes out of lockdown, having the inadvertent effect of freeing Straklant, and Joseph is able to send a message to Braxiatel about the invasion and Benny's current condition. Straklant and Crow go to Benny's cell with the aim of killing her son whilst she watches. She has Joseph record and amplify her son's cries, which shatter the cell door and allow the cult to enter and save her and her son, taking Straklant away to receive their justice.

The echoes of the baby's cries continue to resonate and cause the floor to shatter. The cultists fall to their death and Straklant hangs over the edge. Benny leaves him behind and flees with her son and her friends, escaping just before the prison completely collapses and all those still inside are killed. Braxiatel, Jason and Adrian arrive to take Benny, Claire, Sophia and Joseph to safety.

According to Braxiatel, the death of the Imperator and the rumours of a traitor in the upper echelons of the Axis have plunged the organisation into chaos. As such, their military campaign will not be going ahead and it seems that the Axis will soon fall apart, meaning that the Child of Two Mothers has indeed caused the downfall of Deirbhile's enemies. At the Collection, Braxiatel gives Sophia unlimited access to the treasures and arranges for Isaac to attend the baby's naming ceremony. Avril Fenman warns her that she will always be suspicious of her son and his connection to Avril, but Benny pays no attention to her. She names her son Peter Guy Summerfield.

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Claire
 * Sophia
 * Grippa
 * The Wolf
 * Kolonel Daglan Straklant
 * Dr Doom
 * Irving Braxiatel
 * Joseph
 * Jason Kane
 * Adrian Wall
 * Isaac Summerfield
 * Michael Doran
 * Jayne Waspo
 * Emile Mars-Smith
 * Tameka Vito
 * Chris Cwej
 * Starl Stanmore
 * Shell
 * Arko
 * Forno
 * Avril Fenman

Culture

 * "The Wolf" is head honcho in the women's prison and leader of a cult.

Individuals

 * Benny names her baby Peter Guy Summerfield.
 * Wolsey likes to sunbathe in Mr Croton's greenhouse.

Medicine

 * Bernice Summerfield gives birth (via C-section in a prison) to her half-Killoran half human baby.
 * Clare is midwife for Bernice and her baby.

Species

 * Claire (aka Clar'atol) is a Pakhar.
 * The Aseks are featureless, colourless humanoids employed by the Fifth Axis as wardens in the Glass Prison.
 * Terpsechians are walrus-sized aliens.

Technology

 * Sophia (a Grel) uses her dataaxe to kill the Fifth Axis Imperator.

Television series

 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer is in its 792nd season.

Vehicles

 * Irving Braxiatel has bought himself a space yacht.

Continuity

 * Benny was impregnated by Adrian Wall when Avril body-swapped her in PROSE: The Squire's Crystal.
 * Jason returned to this universe in PROSE: The Infernal Nexus.
 * Benny met and then subsequently made sure Kolonel Daglan Straklant of the Fifth Axis was placed in prison in PROSE: The Doomsday Manuscript.
 * Benny gives her son the middle name Guy after Guy de Carnac, whom she met in PROSE: Sanctuary.
 * Michael Doran, Jayne Waspo first appeared in PROSE: Oh No It Isn't!.
 * Jason laments that Peter's naming is like his and Bernice's wedding. (PROSE: Happy Endings)
 * It was later revealed that Iris Wildthyme was also in the prison. (PROSE: The Niceness)