Braxiatel in Love (audio story)

Braxiatel in Love was the third story in the Bernice Summerfield box set The Story So Far: Volume One.

Publisher's summary
Irving Braxiatel likes to collect things, and when he gains a fiancée, Bernice Summerfield can't help but be suspicious. What are her mysterious employer's motives? It can't just be love, can it? Nothing on the Braxiatel Collection is ever that simple. Not even love.

Plot
On the Collection, Braxiatel falls in love with and becomes engaged to Veronica Bland, whom Benny seems to take an immediate disliking to. Veronica reluctantly gives an interview to Reep Saluja of the student newspaper and impresses Braxiatel with her answers about the future of the Collection, although he believes that she overshared in saying where she was from.

When Veronica meets with Benny to try to make friends with her, Benny explains that she does not trust that Braxiatel is not using her to get something and that she should not marry him. Veronica counters her by sharing how she came to the Collection with Mister Crofton, who lost his wife in a war and never stopped loving her, but Benny remains sceptical of Braxiatel's intentions. Reep approaches Veronica again and asks some follow-up questions, being confused about the story of her past.

An illness spreads across the Collection with Bev being among those who catches it. With temporary gardener Jason in space, Braxiatel puts Veronica in charge of husbandry, but Benny soon complains about how the east wing is inaccessible because of the overgrown plants and that she cannot complete her inventory without access. Veronica contacts Jason to prove that the blame is his and accuses Benny of having a vendetta against her and sending Reep to interrogate her, leading Braxiatel to attempt to broker a peace between them; Benny, however, says that Braxiatel is simply trying to collect Veronica because she is one of the few survivors of the Glossulan Catastrophe.

Braxiatel banishes Benny from the Collection. Reep, who has caught the cold, apologises to Veronica, who offers to become her tutor and promises to have a word with Braxiatel about his decision to close the paper. She invites Reep to her room to discuss something important, but Reep immediately calls security to report a burglary when they enter the room and find it entirely bare. Braxiatel checks the security camera and sees Benny in a shimmer-sari, hiding in Veronica's room and apparently conspiring with Reep to keep her busy.

Benny and Reep break into Braxiatel's bedroom whilst he is sleeping and Veronica is writing her diary. Benny recounts how they were attacked by a giant plant and went looking for Mister Crofton's notebooks, which they found had been added to a bonfire being prepared for Braxiatel and Veronica's wedding. Using the books, they identify Veronica as Fallopia glossulensis, also known as Stratfield's knotweed, and that she uses a pheromone to attract people and feast on them. Her pollen is what has caused the illness and she is planning on using the bonfire to spread the seeds of her core self, i.e. the giant plant.

Benny reveals that she and Reep cut back the giant plant until it was small enough to fit in a plant pot and that she knows that Veronica planned on eating Reep. Veronica uses her influence to make Reep shoot Benny, but she shoots herself instead. She then seems to influence Benny into loving her and being Braxiatel's best man at their wedding. Benny gives a sentimental speech on love and quotes Shakespeare, snapping Braxiatel and the guests out of their conditioning and causing Veronica to wither away without everybody's affection.

Braxiatel keeps the remains of Veronica's core self on his desk, but maintains that his love for her was entirely forced and that he would not make the mistake of opening himself up to somebody again. Unless he can think of something else to do with it, he will keep it safe, just as he had promised Veronica.

Cast

 * Bernice Summerfield - Lisa Bowerman
 * Irving Braxiatel - Miles Richardson
 * Veronica Bland - Gabrielle Glaister
 * Reep Saluja - Taj Atwal
 * Jason Kane - Stephen Fewell
 * Computer - Luke MacGregor

Continuity

 * Braxiatel regrets the Fifth Axis occupation. (AUDIO: Death and the Daleks)
 * Mister Crofton has died. (AUDIO: Death and the Daleks)
 * Veronica mentions the attack on Beta Caprisis, where Claire Summerfield died. (PROSE: Love and War, Return of the Living Dad)
 * Mister Crofton told Benny that his wife died in a war. (PROSE: The Crystal Flower)
 * Braxiatel sends a letter to Irinidoi Saluja, who makes an appearance in Benny and the Grieving Man.