Every Picture Tells a Story (short story)

Every Picture Tells a Story was the sixteenth story in the Bernice Summerfield anthology Life During Wartime. It was written by Jim Sangster.

Summary
Vosta Dankasta has been hacking into the Fifth Axis' surveillance loop. He gathers together a group of academics, including Benny, to tell them of his progress.

Axis guards arrive and remove Vosta, holding the rest at gunpoint. They are eventually set free, but they don't see Vosta until three days later. He has been tortured, but he didn't tell them anything and he has a cheerful attitude.

He tells Benny that he convinced the Axis to burn a valuable, "lost" painting from 19th century Earth by telling them it was a fake. He gloats that he is safe from anything the Axis could do to him.

Vosta dies of a rare disease that he had before the Axis arrived. They couldn't defeat him because he knew the Axis couldn't take away his death.

Benny realises she will soon have to take a stand against the Axis.

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Vosta Dankasta

Continuity
to be added