Signifiers of the Verphidiae (audio story)

Signifiers of the Verphidiae was the fourth story of the audio anthology The Christmas Collection.

Publisher's summary
Bernice is enjoying planning a traditional Christmas party for her friends – and Bev, Jason, and Joseph are happy to join in. But Benny should have learned by now not to trust a mysterious alien artefact, especially at Christmas time...

Plot
Benny wakes up, hungover, and is invited by Joseph to meet with Braxiatel in his office. She agrees to join Bev in looking at the pile of items she found on the surface of a crumbling planetoid that Braxiatel bought at auction and finds, amongst the space flotsam, a stone slab that looks like it was once part of a wall. She and Bev move it to her research lab with anti-grav lifters and remove the sand, revealing twenty-four engraved symbols inside rectangles, one of which opens whilst she uses a radio carbon scanner. Inside is an empty cavity and another symbol.

When Benny wakes up at her console, Bev points out that another little door has opened, almost a full day after the first. She waits until the third day and finds that another cavity has indeed opened, confirming her theory that it is an emptied Advent calendar, and threatens Braxiatel with carols to celebrate Christmas after the last cavity opens despite it not yet being December. She eventually realises that the doors only open when she is away, asleep or distracted and that she has not yet actually seen one open and ensures that she does so one day; when one opens, Bev catches what falls out and hands Benny a piece of Draconian cutlery.

Benny takes a trip for several weeks to buy everybody Christmas presents and records the stone whilst she is away. When she returns, she shows Braxiatel the footage; each time a door opens, there is an electrical discharge and Bev catches or collects another item. As Bev failed to mention this, Benny becomes suspicious and wonders if she had deceived her with the Draconian cutlery and been taking the objects to Braxiatel. He denies this and suggests that they confront her the day before the final door opens.

After identifying the symbols as the Signifiers of the Verphidiae, Benny ignores Jason and begins translating them into Bespertarian before having a program translate it into English. The first part says "Bringing you sentiments of peace, love and tolerance from". On the twenty-third day, Joseph opens Bev's door and Benny and Braxiatel confront her and Bev shows them a model Christmas tree she made from the shapeless bits of metal that came out of the stone. Benny remains suspicious, however, particularly after realising that Bev had started making the tree before she had convinced everybody to do Christmas.

On the twenty-fourth day, Benny, Braxiatel, Joseph and Jason celebrate and Bev arrives just before the final door opens. The last item flies into her hand and she completes the tree, wishing everybody a happy Christmas and promising a surprise at midnight. This also allows Benny to complete her translation and find that it is signed "from the stars". Wary of Bev, Braxiatel suggests that Benny translates the message not in the order that the doors opened but as read in the order the symbols are placed. This second message says, "These are the doors of the Verphidiae. The sequence is complete. Death and destruction upon you all" and her scan indicates that the Verphidiae stone is sentient.

The Verphidiae stone overrides the door system and traps Benny before a possessed Bev enters through the ventilation with a sack. The Christmas tree flies out of the sack and attacks Benny with its branches. She avoids the tree and tricks Bev into walking into the cables and disconnecting the scanner from the stone. The doors open and Benny tells Braxiatel what has happened; they realise that Jason has not been seen since going off with Bev and they break into her room in search of him, but the room is empty. They return to the lab, chased by the Christmas tree, and find Bev wrestling with Jason, who is dressed as Father Christmas.

The Christmas tree hides in the ventilation shaft and, when it emerges and inspects the Father Christmas costume, Benny, Braxiatel and Jason destroy it with blasters before separating it and putting its pieces in their stockings. When Bev wakes up, she has little memory of anything that has happened since her return from the planetoid. Benny runs a translation of the symbols on the doors and learns that it is a warning to keep the stone buried, explaining why it was on the planetoid, and has the stone moved back to the storage chamber where she and Braxiatel bury it in rubbish after returning the Christmas tree pieces. Bev takes the pile with a transmat scoop.

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Joseph
 * Irving Braxiatel
 * Bev Tarrant
 * Jason Kane

Worldbuilding

 * Benny drinks three black coffees.
 * Benny mentions the Fifth Axis.
 * Bev used a transmat scoop to move her pile of items.
 * The pile includes artefacts originating from the Martians, Greater Cyrrhenic Empire and Draconian Fifth Dynasty.
 * Benny and Bev use anti-grav lifters to move the slab to Benny's research lab.
 * Bev looks at Benny as though she were speaking Venusian.
 * Benny promises to make mince pies.
 * Braxiatel drinks lapsang souchong.
 * Braxiatel brings Benny a goose.
 * The group drink sherry and mulled wine.
 * Braxiatel hangs up a pair of fishnets.
 * Benny likens Jason to an overheating Ice Warrior when he retracts into his Father Christmas costume.
 * Benny gets Braxiatel a fruit knife, Joseph a subroutine, Bev perfume from France and Jason a pair of socks.
 * Braxiatel drinks brandy.
 * Braxiatel gives everybody an engraved pendant.
 * Jason gives everyone fruit and sweets.
 * Joseph gives everyone a signed 3D printout of himself.

Continuity
to be added