Bernice still can’t bring herself to talk to Peter about Jason. Not yet. Talking about Irving Braxiatel, on the other hand, is a different matter. She first met him fifteen years ago, over a thousand years in the future. A nice guy called Gilmanuk was showing her the Garden of Whispers when Braxiatel overheard her making a comment on Mandrine, the Archalite goddess of plenty, and he corrected her pronunciation. He was impressed by the depth of her knowledge of the subject and by the fact that she wasn’t afraid to challenge him. Bernice thought he was dazzling - he was suave, smart, a real gentleman, and he appreciated archaeology. She met loads of people while she was travelling and not all of them made an impression on her - but even then she regarded Braxiatel as a spider, with legs in half a dozen pies, and she knew he was playing everyone off against each other.

She resumed her travelling and almost forgot about him…but then he showed up at her wedding. He knew a lot of the other people at the reception, but she guessed not a lot of them knew him. That was when he pointed out that her husband had one distinct advantage in being married to an archaeologist, because the older he got the more she’d be interested in him.

Later, after Jason had left her and after the divorce and everything that happened on Dellah, Braxiatel was waiting for her. She’d just discovered she was dying of a fatal brain illness as a result of a botched Mary-Sue and she recalls him telling her about the Riedel Manuscript, written by a man who claimed to have found the Fountain of Forever. It might just provide the answers she was looking for…

And of course Braxiatel was waiting for her when she got back from Earth after learning Jason had been killed. She remembers breaking down and screaming, and she remembers Brax telling her everything was going to be alright and that she should trust him. He said he would take care of her from now on…

After the funeral, Doggles congratulates Bernice on a fabulous service and asks her about the song that was played at the end. She tells him it’s the dance version of “Abide With Me”, something of a tradition in Jason’s own time. Doggles says it’s awful, but very hip and therefore appropriate. Adrian spoke about the Occupation, when everyone thought Jason was selling them out, whereas in fact he’d been sheltering their children and helping to get back information. Jason’s publishers have decided to re-release all his books to cash in on the interest that’s been generated by his death. The robot valet Joseph recalls a time when Jason re-programmed him to use words like “gank” and to say “oblong” whenever he meant to say “rectangle”. Hass recalls a secluded area of trees where Jason liked to go with Bernice so they could talk or copulate in peace. Someone comments that Bernice is finally starting to look her age.

At the wake, Braxiatel tries to speak to Bernice but she tells him she’s busy as she’s run out of sausage rolls and has to make tea for all the guests. He tells her it’s important and says it’s about her son…

Later, Bernice ’supervises’ as Peter builds a toy house, but he finds her interference irritating. He makes vague references to the need for people to have someone to play with, but at the same time he says children only make things messy. Bernice goes for a chat with Joseph and learns that Jason had promised to come home with a present for Peter, but he showed up empty handed. Unfortunately the records from the surveillance cameras seem to be a bit cocked up. Bernice doesn’t think Peter even understands what he’s done, but Joseph says he knows he’s being punished and that Braxiatel says Peter often sulks like this. Bernice blames Mira for getting Jason into trouble and wonders if they’ve had any luck tracing her yet, but Joseph says they haven’t. Bernice says goodbye to Peter and says she’ll come back later with his tea. She asks him to be good for Joseph and Peter knows this means he must play softly and not use his claws.

At a construction site within the nearby gardens, Adrian and his new assistant Bodie are building a new accommodation block. Adrian tells his apprentice to watch what he’s doing, but Bodie says he was distracted by the arrival of Bernice as he can see right down her top. As it hasn’t been long since the Occupation, Bernice is surprised to find they’re expecting lots of new students this year, but Bodie says just being here with Braxiatel will open up lots of doors for them. Bernice becomes angry and insists that Braxiatel is a right conniving swine. She tells Adrian she needs to speak to him about finding Mira. Adrian knows of her history and says if she thinks people are actively looking for he, she’ll go to ground and disappear. Bernice is frustrated that no one seems to be able to tell them anything and even the inquest into what happened to the Mim seems to have evaporated. Adrian assures her Peter isn’t a killer and although Bernice remembers seeing her son all grown up once before, she says she can’t believe it either. But things still feel wrong and there are too many unanswered questions. Adrian tries to talk to her about Braxiatel, but she becomes angry and storms off, refusing to discuss him any more. Adrian calls after her and assures her they’re both on the same side.

In his study, Braxiatel finishes hanging a picture of himself, Bernice, Peter, Adrian and Joseph and Doggles notes how everyone seems to have grown up a lot since it was taken. He also seems to recall that it originally had more people in it, but when Braxiatel challenges him to say who’s missing, he retracts his statement and says it must just be the way the picture’s been framed. Doggles reports that he has some bother with the new arrivals and he’s caught at least four students smuggling in handguns. He asks Braxiatel to provide some additional security or click his fingers and turn the guns into water pistols, but Braxiatel reminds him he’s no longer in a position of authority here. He suggests that if the people here have to have a leader they should turn to Bernice. Braxiatel asks the computer for Bernice’s current location, but it responds by saying she no longer exists. Doggles assumes this is a computer glitch, but Braxiatel knows better. He realises exactly where Bernice must be…

At that moment, Bernice is swimming around inside Hass’s secret pocket dimension that replicates the conditions of his gas-giant homeworld. She tells him it’s nice to get away from everything, but she has responsibilities and flying with Hass can only offer a brief respite. He tells her Bev Tarrant used to come here too, which isn’t surprising as she had a hand in building the place and made sure no one can hear them inside. Hass confirms that anything he discusses is confidential and Bernice says he’s the only person she can talk to privately. Her son has just murdered her ex-husband and there’s no good way out of the situation. Hass shocks her by revealing that he thinks he may have contributed to Jason’s death himself. He says Peter came to see him while she was away on the Drome last year…

Peter had visited Hass because he was curious about where the Yesodi lived. Just then there was a bang which, although they didn’t know it at the time, was caused by the temporal anomalies affecting the Collection around that time. Hass thought it was the pocket Universe breaking out and was worried Peter would be killed by the poisonous gas. To save Peter’s life, Hass stepped out from his pressure suit and allowed the boy to use it instead.

Bernice is sick with worry and tells Hass he could have killed Peter. Hass assures her Peter seemed fine and there were no side-effects from the radiation. He should have had the boy checked out by Dr Wt’hlm, but it seemed Peter had some immunity to Hass’s particular type of radiation, perhaps because the Killorans evolved on a world with a high proportion of cosmogenic radio-nucleids. He even let her son come flying with him afterwards. But now Hass is beginning to suspect it must have affected Peter somehow - why else would he do what he did? Bernice thanks him for being honest and assures him he had nothing to do with this. It’s made her realise she’s been blaming herself too, for all the things she could have done differently. She saw a future Peter once and he’d become a killer, and she thinks she should have taken more notice of the warnings. Then Ms Jones had told her she was a lousy mother and stole Peter from her, and even the Oracle of Delphi warned her to be on the lookout. Bernice wonders if things would’ve been different if she’d spent less time knocking about with the monsters and magic artefacts and more time looking after Peter.

The new students arrive and Braxiatel says it’s fallen to him to welcome them to the Collection, although he stresses that this doesn’t mean he’s in charge. He says their work here will be vital in helping to heal the scars of war and build a better, safer future - a future that won’t keep making the same silly mistakes and where there will be fewer misunderstandings and more parties. He picks out one of the students, a young man named Jarrard, and says that henceforth this day will be known as Jarrard’s Day and for the next 26 hours the drinks are free. The crowd cheers and applauds.

Braxiatel tells Bernice he finds it embarrassing that because his name is attached to the Collection people assume he must still be in charge. He knows he shouldn’t still be here now that the war is over and the Collection has been fixed, but he assures her he can still be useful. He offers to put the students at ease, but he says his powers are simply for show and although he gets to make a few speeches, open the odd garden fete and it’s his face that appears on the postage stamps, he says it’s just for fun. Bernice asks him outright just how bloody stupid he thinks she is. She likens him to Napoleon and tells him you can’t be a tyrant by popular decree. He starts to lecture her on history and she becomes even more offended, so he softens his tone and asks her what she would have him do. Should he leave, never to return, or should he stay and keep himself out of sight. He offers to obey her command, but she says she doesn’t know what she wants. She simply regrets that it’s ended up like this.

Adrian tells Bernice that he’s on her side, but he also thinks Braxiatel might have a point. He tells her it’s not all bad and they can still see Peter whenever they want, so they should make the best of the situation and try to rebuild. Bernice is grateful for Adrian’s support and he gives her a hug. She tells him she doesn’t want to be alone, particularly lying awake at night, and asks if she can stay with him, but Adrian says it wouldn’t be right. Bernice quickly makes an excuse to leave, promising to catch up with him another time. Adrian’s communicator flashes and he takes a call. He asks if it’s safe to talk, then he tells the person on the other end that Bernice has just left. He promises that he doesn’t see Bernice that way anymore and that he chose which side he was on a long time ago…

Later, Bernice is giving a lecture to some of the new students on the subject of Utopian thinking on 20th century Earth. Adrian’s apprentice Bodie impresses the others with his grasp of the subject. Bernice then makes an innocuous comment about children who don’t know their own strength, which causes her to hesitate for a moment before moving on. Then suddenly the lecture is interrupted by the arrival of musical robots who begin opening fire on everyone! The class ducks for cover and Bernice yells out instructions for someone to bring the armed guard. There’s absolute commotion as students dive for whatever protection they can find and the entire classroom gets shot to pieces. Bodie calls for Bernice to get down, but he’s hit and falls to the ground, apparently dead. Doggles arrives and hands Bernice a weapon - the Zinc E1269 - and she begins to return fire. The robots are proving to be an impressive attack force and hip to the beat as well, so Doggles urges Bernice to join him outside where they’ll have more room to move.

In the grounds outside the lecture hall, student and staff alike are engaged in full battle with the merciless robots. Bernice wonders what they could be after, but Doggles says they’re obeying simple protocols - blow things up and shoot people. She warns him to be careful, but he gets distracted and is hit. He apologises to Bernice and then dies right before her eyes. As she returns fire, she hears Adrian calling for everyone to keep behind the barricades, but then he is killed too. Braxiatel arrives and swears to the robots that he’s not a participant in the fight and is unarmed, but it makes no difference to them and he’s shot down as well. Amidst all the noise and explosions, Bernice catches sight of Jarrard collecting together all the other first year students and leading them to safety. She can’t believe what’s happening and then finally she snaps and charges towards the “tin bastards”.

Just then, an electronic hum fills the air and the musical robots stop in their tracks. As the dust starts to settle, Braxiatel gets up and congratulates everyone, in particular Jarrard, for being so plucky. Bernice is in a state of shock and demands to know what’s going on and Braxiatel says Doggles was supposed to tell her all about it. She slowly explains that Doggles is dead, but then the Cahlian gets to his feet and admits he made a mistake in not warning her, but somehow he couldn’t find the right moment as she had so much on her plate already. Bodie joins them and asks what they thought of his death scene, claiming to have practiced it for ages, but Adrian sends him away to start the clearing up. Bernice is horrified to discover this has all been a game, but Braxiatel tells her things are never a game. Doggles says they needed to test the systems after some of the students started bringing in weapons, but when Doggles says it was Braxiatel who’d suggested it, Brax quickly stops him and insists that all Doggles’ own idea. Convinced this is true, Doggles proudly adds that he turned the problem on its head and thought he’d make a virtue out of the students being armed. They were expecting something like this to happen, so it’s been cathartic. Bernice says it’s insane to allow the students to carry weapons but Doggles says this little exercise has shown them which students have genuine talent, so now they’ll be recruited and given proper duties to reward their enthusiasm. Bernice agrees this is quite clever. Bodie came up with the robots, but the idea to have them perform music was Braxiatel’s as he thought they needed something extra. Bernice decides she needs a drink and congratulates Doggles, albeit sarcastically. He asks if she’ll join him for dinner tonight as a sort of prize, but she says she was planning to sit with Peter tonight in case something happens. Doggles assures her Joseph’s security detail will make sure he doesn’t escape, but that wasn’t what Bernice meant. She realises she could do with a break, so she accepts Doggles’ invitation.

Over dinner in one of the restaurants, Bernice slowly gets drunk and laughs at Doggles for not realising where the robots kept their laser guns. She says she had a similar experience once when she was about to be executed just for splitting an infinitive. It was 5.30 in the morning and she was trussed up to a scaffold, gallantly refusing a blindfold. The death squad lined up in front of her and then suddenly out popped all their manboobs, laser guns in each one! However, Jason had already got inside their upholstery and smeared some kind of honey on the inside of their corsets - so when the moment came, their nipples wouldn’t open up. The lucky ones exploded. She asks if she can change the subject to anything except exploding tits because being a mother she knows all about cracked nipples. Doggles recommends a blanched cabbage leaf down the bra and says if the woman is special he’d even let it cool down first. Doggles reveals that Braxiatel has finally let him into his arsenal and says the weapons system here contains stuff from every armed race you can think of, even Brax‘s own lot. Bernice wonders if this is a good thing and reminds Doggles about what happened with the space-time telly thing and what he tried to do on Cantus. Doggles points out that the moment she stopped Braxiatel defending them, the Draconians were on the warpath.

Then Doggles remembers that he’s supposed to be cheering Bernice up and he asks her what she knows about ‘survivor’s guilt’. Bernice knows Doggles made it out of the Fifth Axis’s laboratory while thousands of others didn’t, but Doggles says sometimes he isn’t sure he made it out either. He’s read the case studies and he’s a rational man, yet he’s sure he remembers actually dying and he now believes someone else is pulling his strings and he wants to stop feeling like someone else’s puppet. He asks if she feels like that too - that although the war is over, they’re still not safe? Bernice says she’s been hearing the word ’safe’ a lot recently: the students will be ’safe’ if they have weapons and Peter will be ’safe’ if he’s locked up. Unlike others, she knows that Doggles tells things as he sees them and that’s why she feels she can talk to him, but Doggles says they’re not really talking and all she’s been doing is bullshit him back. He tells her she’s running away, which is what she’s always done, as far back as when she was in her teens. Bernice snaps and admits that her head is filled with absolute bloody terror. She’s spent most of her life fighting monsters and now she’s terrified she’s got one for her son. Peter killed Jason and she’s no idea what’s going to become of them now. Other people are starting to stare at them and although Doggles thinks it’s because she’s giving them the horn, she decides it’s time she went home.

It’s a beautiful evening and as they walk back through the gardens, Doggles points out that life is going on for everyone else all around them. He says Braxiatel just wants her to be happy, but she says he should realise it’s going to take time. Suddenly Bernice realises Doggles has walked her back to his house, not hers. He claims it was nearer and more convenient and he suggests a cup of coffee or maybe a shot of something stronger, followed by generous and lengthy sexual technique to help her unwind and help take her mind off things. Bernice insists that she’s not going to have sex with him, but then he reveals that Brax himself had suggested it would be good for her. She realises Braxiatel has set the whole thing up and he probably even arranged for the beautiful sunset. She storms off, leaving Doggles alone on his doorstep.

Adrian is wondering whether he’s responsible for what happened to Peter as he could never forgive Jason for getting in the way and they sometimes fought in front of him. Joseph suggests Adrian get some sleep as it’s worried Peter will pick up on his anxiety. Adrian refuses so the drone warns him that it’s licensed to use electrical stimulation should he not obey. Adrian asks who gave him that licence and Joseph reveals that there’s now a government on the Collection as it wasn’t deemed provident to rely on one leader. Adrian suspects Braxiatel is behind it, but Joseph checks its records and assures him Braxiatel is always elsewhere whenever decisions are made by the government. Joseph says its primary instructions are to protect Bernice and Peter, but Adrian points out this means doing whatever is best for them. Adrian reluctantly agrees to leave but asks Joseph to contact him should anything happen.

Bernice surprises Hass but fortunately he doesn’t jump out of his skin as he likes her brains just as they are, not drooling from her nose. He asks if she wants to come flying with him, but she has some questions that need answering. She reminds him that he was on the Mimsphere at the end of the war and witnessed an environment wiped out in a single afternoon. Millions of unique species died that day, including their pets, their children and their vegetation. She says the Draconians are denying any knowledge of the destruction of the Mimsphere and they’re hardly celebrating the fact that they won the war. She says the only things the Draconians actually got out of the war were restricted trade routes, a smaller Empire and a whole bundle of awkward questions to answer. But perhaps more importantly, they no longer have a claim over the Collection. She’s been having a chat with Doggles and it got her thinking about people being ’encouraged’ to do things. It might make sense of some of the odd things that have happened here in the last year. Then Bernice says she knows what Hass did. The Mim were entirely obliterated in just one afternoon and there were only two survivors - Joseph and Hass.

Hass finally reveals that he removed his pressure suit and killed an entire world. The Mim were mostly nervous tissue - it made them adaptable and strong, but it also made them vulnerable to certain kinds of radiation. Hass’s suit usually neutralises and discharges the radiation, but he deliberately let it build up for several days. Bernice asks what Braxiatel offered him and he says he was shown the future. He was shown people like Bernice, colonising Yesod in their millions, adapting to live inside a gas giant and queuing up ship by ship. His knows his people will welcome them, find them room and help them to acclimatise, but then the new arrivals would turn on them like a cancer choosing to finish off its host. Bernice realises Braxiatel promised he could stop the monsters invading and obliterating their world. Hass was given a choice - it was either his own people or the Mim. Bernice realises Hass was told exactly what he needed to hear to make him go through with it and she accuses him of doing exactly what he deplores in other people. Braxiatel has created a monster and Hass knows what he did was wrong and can offer no explanation. He says he should be made to atone, but Bernice knows he is safe here on the Collection.

Doggles wakes up in bed with a start and finds Bernice standing over him. She asks him what Braxiatel offered him, but he says Brax simply suggested she needed cheering up. Bernice says she’s already guessed that Brax offered him the incentive of working on the weapons systems if he could get her into bed. Doggles argues that they’ve both been damaged by things that have happened and the only difference is that his scars are visible. Bernice sympathises and knows the Axis went to town on him, but then Doggles becomes angry and accuses her of being a prick-tease. He insists that he can have her, whether she likes it or not, so she decides it may be best to leave. He stands in her way and says she’s not going anywhere. They start to struggle and Doggles tells her he hasn’t finished with her yet…

Bernice manages to escape from Doggles’ house and flees through the gardens calling for help. She can hear Doggles behind her, taunting her that there’s nowhere to run. She activates her bra and switches over to emergency protocols, but the bra refuses to co-operate and says all non authorised security operations have been disabled by order of the provisional diet. Doggles catches up with her and says he’s been waiting a long time for this. He tries to force himself upon her, but when she pleads with him to stop he says he’s fed up with her giving orders all the time and expecting other people to clear up her mess. He strikes her and says she should be happy enough with what she did to Jason, to Bev and to poor Ms Jones. He says everyone who comes near her ends up in pieces, but now it’s going to be her turn. She pleads that she’s sorry and then Braxiatel suddenly arrives and pulls Doggles away, saying that’s enough. He turns to Bernice and tells her she’s safe now…

Bernice regains consciousness and Braxiatel tells her they had to give her something to help her sleep. He asks her how she feels and although he’s satisfied that she’ll be fine, Joseph says she remains fragile and must be handled with care. Braxiatel dismisses the robot and tells Bernice she’s in the room next to Peter. She concludes that she must be in a cell, but he assures her it’s just a safe-house. He says he hasn’t done anything with Doggles yet, but promises her he‘s out of harm’s way. Bernice says Doggles tried to rape her and when Braxiatel accepts that she has the right to say “no” at any stage, she insists it wasn’t like that. He reminds her that she went to dinner with Doggles and then went back to his place, so he’s surprised when Bernice tells him she left Doggles on the doorstep as that’s not what the security records show. He says the situation is difficult - if the government take action against Doggles they’ll also feel obliged to do the same with Peter. Bernice also adds Hass’s name to the list and says she knows Braxiatel made him destroy the Mimsphere. He protests his innocence and when she says she doesn’t believe him he says he thinks someone must be trying to drive a wedge between them. He says he needs her help to take a stand and make things better, just as she did all those years ago against the Hoothi, but she insists she retired from that sort of thing years ago. Then it suddenly dawns on her that Braxiatel is envious of the time she spent with the Doctor. She accuses his people of being all the same and acting like Olympian gods, so Braxiatel brings the meeting to an end and promises to send her some food later. As he turns to leave, Bernice tells him she won’t work for him, even if he genuinely believes he’s acting with the best of intentions. Braxiatel says perhaps it’s time he released her from her contract and let her find employment elsewhere. She agrees and says it’s about time Peter saw the rest of the Universe, but Braxiatel reminds her Peter is a murderer and whatever she chooses for herself, they can’t let her son leave.

Braxiatel meets Hass outside. The gardener asks if she turned Braxiatel’s offer down and Brax says it was Doggles fault for pushing her too hard, but he still thinks Bernice will come round eventually. Hass is about to confess that he told Bernice everything, but Braxiatel says he already knows but Bernice would have worked it out eventually anyway. Braxiatel is still concerned that the security cameras show she spent all night with Doggles and make no mention of her meeting with Hass. There’s something else going on that Braxiatel doesn’t know about, and he really can’t allow that…

Adrian and Joseph visit Bernice and tell her everyone thinks she attacked Doggles and that she couldn‘t keep her hands off him. Her two friends know her better than that, but they’re the only ones that believe her. Although they’re supposed to have a provisional government now, Bernice realises Braxiatel has taken control again. Apart from getting everyone together and blowing up the Mansionhouse, she doesn’t know how they can fight him. Adrian has an idea, but it doesn’t go any further than just getting Bernice away from the Collection. Joseph says they lack evidence and aren’t in a strong enough position to confront Braxiatel and all he can do is get into the security records to help Bernice escape unseen, then erase his own memory banks. Bernice realises Joseph has already done this before, which is why there are no records of her visiting Hass. Joseph admits that he was trying to help her, but in fact all it’s done is make her look more guilty. Bernice is determined to find out what Braxiatel is up to, but Adrian warns her she’s in danger here. He offers to help her and Peter get away, then he’ll stay and keep an eye on Braxiatel.

Bernice collects Peter then Adrian takes them to meet someone who can help get them away. To their surprise, Bev Tarrant joins them and says she can smuggle them out through Hass’s pocket Universe as there’s a secret back door only she knows about. Bernice is amazed as she remembers seeing Bev die, but Bev says it wasn’t as it seemed. She left Bernice a message, but it got intercepted and they can guess who by. When she didn’t hear back from Bernice, she got in touch with Adrian who’s been keeping her up-to-date. Adrian tells Bernice she has to take Peter away and although he’s sad to let his son go, Bernice promises him it won’t be forever. He says goodbye to Peter and explains that he has to stay behind to keep an eye on Brax. Bernice thanks Adrian, then they leave with Bev.

Much later, Adrian is being tortured by Doggles. The Cahlian knows Adrian was the last one to see Bernice and Peter and is confident he knows where they’ve gone. When Adrian refuses to admit to anything, the torture intensifies…

Doggles reports back to Braxiatel and admits that he hasn’t learned much from Adrian, apart from a few Killoran swear words that he didn’t know before. Brax thinks they’re not likely to learn anything, but Doggles argues it’s only been a few hours and Braxiatel accepts that although Adrian is very loyal to Bernice, he’s also very jealous. He then decides to deal with the other matter. He summons Joseph and demands to know where Bernice is. The robot checks and states that it cannot locate her, so Doggles asks when it last saw her. Joseph says this was 32 hours and 19 minutes ago. Doggles tells Braxiatel that someone must have tampered with him and also with the security records. Brax is troubled as, apart from himself, only one other person has ever been able to re-write Joseph’s memory banks - the late Jason Kane. Doggles remembers that Jason had clones, but Braxiatel says they’re already taken care of. Brax suspects there’s something he’s missing. Doggles offers to set up the robots to look for Bernice throughout space and Braxiatel orders him to make sure they never give up or leave any stone unturned to the very ends of time. Brax adds that they can’t let this get in the way of their other obligations as they still have work to do and a galaxy to untangle. Doggles is pleased to see things are back to normal and he promises that Bernice will turn up eventually. Braxiatel agrees - she can’t run away forever and one day she’ll have to come back.