A la Recherche du Temps Perdu (short story)

A la Recherche du Temps Perdu was the fourteenth story in the Bernice Summerfield anthology A Life of Surprises. It was written by David Bailey.

Summary
Bernice wakes up on a spaceship of some kind. She is injured, with an especially nasty injury to her right leg. She can't remember what happened to her. She finds a blank diary in the room with her. It doesn't have her handwriting, but she feels it does have something to do with her. She decides to sleep.

Years later, Benny receives a message from Brax, telling her to expect a visiting academic, named Charles Stafford, in a couple of days, who wants to learn from her about her expedition to Canatha a few years ago. Benny does some research, but can't remember visiting Canatha at all.

Brax knocks at the door and reminds her of the visitor. When she expresses surprise that he's here already, Brax says he sent the message two days ago. Benny can't remember what happened to her for the last two days.

While she entertains Stafford, she keeps forgetting who he is. She starts to feel dizzy, and then finds herself tied to a chair, with Stafford holding an empty diary and ordering her to read it.

Because she can't remember anything, Stafford explains to her that he sent her to Canatha to find information, and offered her a mnemosine store book as payment. She found information about a super weapon, and in order to hide it from Stafford, wrote it into the mnemosine store book, from which only she can retrieve it. Stafford now has the book.

Benny can't stop herself from reading the book, but unknown to Stafford, she had added other information to the book and reads from that part first. She reads: "Comm channel open! Brax! Jason! Adrian! Help!" The comm channel opens, and Benny continues to read the story of her life to a frustrated Stafford.

Some time later, Benny remembers very little of what happened. She knows Stafford somehow attacked her and that her friends rescued her. She also knows that Brax took the diary and burned it. She decides to take a nap.

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Wolsey
 * Irving Braxiatel
 * Professor Charles Stafford

Continuity

 * During Benny's research on Canatha, Karthos is mentioned in its mythology, a planet Benny has recently visited. (AUDIO: The Skymines of Karthos)
 * Benny mentions how Avril Fenman destroyed her diaries. (PROSE: The Squire's Crystal)
 * Her diaries had mysteriously reappeared after an opening of one of Brax's art galleries, with a note that they had turned up on Kar-Charrat. (AUDIO: The Genocide Machine)