Cirrus@Austlit

'Bev wakes up one morning to find that most of the Collection has disappeared, and it's Jason who points out that the only items that remain are the ones that weren't quantum-tagged by the Chester Industries inventory drones. While Jason puts about a temporary cover story, Bev contacts Lord Chester and is invited to a meeting of the Collectors' Guild, obsessives who have taken offence to the fact that Braxiatel entrusted his Collection to someone who doesn't place collecting above all other priorities. The Guild's chairman, Ori, gives Bev an ultimatum: the Guild also have a mission to taste the flesh of rare and exotic creatures, and unless Bev delivers one of the Quire to the Guild so they can slaughter and eat him or her, she'll never see the stolen artefacts again. Bev returns to the Collection, but Dorso realises that she's plotting something and confronts her, using specialised hands with stinging tentacles to get her point across. Bev and Dorso come up with an alternative plan, and Bev returns to the Guild with one of Dorso's hands, claiming that she cut it off and has brought it to bargain with. Ori agrees to return 30 percent of the Collection in exchange for the hand, but once the Collectors have sampled it, he reveals that they've already inoculated themselves against all known poisons in the Universe. He admits that they had no intention of going through with the deal; rather, they intend to capture the rest of the Quire, eat some of them and sell the others on the open market. But Bev then reminds the Collectors that she's from 2,000 years in the future, and that Dorso is from even further ahead -- and they've developed a semi-sentient type of poison that even the Guild isn't protected against. Bev causes two of the Collectors to explode from the inside out simply by speaking a command to the poison now in their bodies, and orders the terrified Ori to return the stolen artefacts within six hours. He does so -- but Bev hasn't forgiven him for what he did, and once the Collection is back in place, Bev opens her communicator and speaks a single word. She also hasn't forgotten how Dorso got the drop on her, and thus has the Collection's security system adjusted to alert her if any of the Quire go near the dangerous specialised hands again...'

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/bs_n16.htm). Sighted: 19/5/11