The Slender-Fingered Cats of Bubastis (novel)

 was the eleventh full-length Bernice Summerfield novel published by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Xanna Eve Chown.

Publisher's summary
It wasn't true that you could see the Cats from space. It was impossible, a ridiculous idea that wouldn't stand up to even the slightest examination.

And yet there were people on Bubastis who believed it...

Most archaeologists — including Professor Bernice Summerfield — know only two facts about Bubastis: one is that its cheerless swamps are home to five giant stone Cats, whose ancient origins are shrouded in mystery; the other that it has more bugs and beetles than anyone should ever have to deal with.

So when Bernice, Ruth and Jack arrive on the planet to search for a missing girl, they are unprepared for what they will find. Like the insectoid villagers with a decidedly squeamish attitude to mammals. Or the archaeological expedition made up of over-sexed students. Or the alarmingly unprofessional Neon Tsara...

To make matters worse, Jack suddenly finds himself on the wrong side of the law and Ruth has brain-ache from ingesting forbidden historical knowledge. Worse still, Bernice has promised to write a book of poetry that's due to be published in a week... and she can't think of anything to rhyme with "Bubastis".

Chapter titles

 * 1) Before
 * 2) Legion
 * 3) Star Seasons
 * 4) Bil's Office
 * 5) Experimental Library
 * 6) Underground
 * 7) Press Transporter
 * 8) Ruth's Brain
 * 9) Media Buzz
 * 10) Storeroom Two
 * 11) Neon's Office
 * 12) The Cats
 * 13) Girls' Dorm
 * 14) Swamp Walk
 * 15) Bal Village
 * 16) Mina Gloap
 * 17) Storeroom Three
 * 18) Punishment
 * 19) Cat Twenty-Three
 * 20) Ultimatum
 * 21) Leaving Bubastis
 * 22) Friends of Stone
 * 23) After

Plot
Whilst working at the White Rabbit in the hopes of seeing Peter, Benny is shown a message by Irving in which Professor Bil Bil Gloap asks her to write a book of poetry that she has already written in the future. She, Ruth and Jack head to the Star Seasons resort in Irving's shuttle and, after taking the tour twice, they meet with Bil. He tells them that his niece, Mina, went to the nearby Bubastis with Professor Neon Tsara three weeks previously and disappeared five days ago.

Benny volunteers to travel to Bubastis to find Mina, leaving the matter of the poetry book until later. Jack goes to the Experimental Library, curious about the lack of attention given to it during the tour, and is soon joined by Ruth, who receives a message from Benny asking her to find information on the Ancient Bubastians. Whilst Ruth accesses the virtual books on Bubastian history and has the information downloaded into her mind, Jack visits Bil and learns that he saw Benny's yet-to-be-published book thanks to the Experimental Library. He then finds a trapdoor near the library, takes the Future Retrieval Device from the room beneath and hurries back to the shuttle with Ruth.

Jack and Ruth fly to Bubastis and, whilst Jack waits in the shuttle, Ruth joins Benny, who is pretending to be a journalist. They attend Neon's speech about the five Cats of Bubastis, how one of the cats has a total of twenty-three fingers on its front paws instead of twenty-two and how they are hollow and contain a message especially for her. The talk is interrupted by her ex-husband, Octavius Gregory, who claims that she has stolen and exploited the concept of sympathetic archaeology. Neon has him taken to her ship and ends the talk, leaving with the Dean and, unbeknownst to her, with Benny and Ruth following her. The journalists are returned to Star Seasons.

Benny and Ruth are bitten by insects and sleep for six hours. They are found by Jack, who charms Neon when she enters the room and accuses Benny and Ruth of being Friends of Stone. She tells them that Mina went on a solo expedition into the swamps and Allie informs them that the Dean has been killed by the Bal. Benny makes her way to the Cats, leaving Ruth, increasingly overwhelmed by the information in her head, with Jack. She meets Grey Line, a Bal ambassador investigating the Dean's death, and speaks with him about the Cats, but she is soon captured by three servers who shoot Grey Line non-fatally.

Ruth learns from Allie that the Dean is rumoured to have been spending Star Seasons' money on a secret project and is questioned by the servers about the theft of the Future Retrieval Device, which transmitted a distress call when Jack tried to open it.

Jack decides to hide the Future Retrieval Device in a Bal village. On the way, he meets Rufus, the boy who found the Dean's body, and learns that the Dean was touching Grey Line's antennae and tripped, causing himself to be pierced by the spikes that extended from Grey Line's body due to the unpleasant stimulation he had caused. Jack heads to the village, throws the Device down a Bal toilet and asks about Mina, but he then receives a call from Ruth, who tells him that Mina has shown up at the compound.

to be completed

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Ruth
 * Jack
 * Irving Braxiatel
 * Bil Bil Gloap
 * Octavius Gregory
 * Grey Line
 * Bexx Branagh
 * Danni
 * Neon Tsara
 * Allie
 * Haven
 * Rufus
 * Blue Shimmer
 * Mina Gloap
 * Green Tinge

Continuity

 * Irving now has a shuttle. (AUDIO: Everybody Loves Irving)