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“THE STONE'S LAMENT – A SQUARE-SHAPED TRIANGLE DRAMA”

The Stone’s Lament sees Bernice Summerfield return to her archaeological roots—though not without the usual bizarre side-effects. Set on a rain-soaked world, this gothic sci-fi tale begins with a traditional mystery setup: Benny joins a dig investigating an alien artefact near the automated mansion of Bratheen Traloor, a reclusive and wealthy tech magnate. The entire excavation team has mysteriously vanished, and naturally, Benny’s curiosity (and poor survival instincts) compel her to investigate.

Enter Adrian Wall, the hulking Killoran from the Braxiatel Collection. This story marks Adrian’s debut in the series, and Harry Myers makes a solid first impression, even if the character doesn’t. Gruff, inebriated, and far from likeable, Adrian spends much of the first half leering at Benny and picking fights with Bratheen. It’s not the most flattering introduction, and the subsequent attempts to redeem him feel a bit too quick and convenient. Still, Adrian would go on to become a major part of Benny’s life, so it's interesting to see how his arc begins here—however clumsily.

WHEN HOUSE LOVES YOU BACK

The mystery of the vanished workers quickly fades into the background once the true nature of the story emerges: Bratheen is obsessed with Benny. Not in a cute fanboy way, but in the I've-plastered-my-mansion-with-photos-of-you-and-programmed-my-AI-to-mimic-you kind of way. Yep, the house—simply called House—has been designed to emulate Benny's mind and mannerisms, and now it's grown sentient, jealous, and dangerously unstable.

The result is a bizarre love triangle (square?) between Benny, Bratheen, Adrian, and House. Bratheen believes he’s in love with Benny, House believes she is Benny, and Benny believes everyone around her has completely lost the plot. When House decides to fuse with Bratheen to become the “real” Benny-lover, things escalate into a proper technogothic horror, complete with voices whispering through the walls, creepy obsession, and existential meltdowns.

The idea of a sentient planet or structure manipulating its inhabitants isn’t new (Marvel’s Ego, Doctor Who’s Xoanon, or even HAL 9000 come to mind), and The Stone’s Lament doesn’t quite bring anything fresh to the table. The jealous computer trope can be played for laughs or tragedy, but this story does neither convincingly. It’s a little too absurd to be scary, too self-serious to be funny, and not insightful enough to be tragic.

FROM DIG TO DRIVEL

While the early scenes suggest a spooky archaeological mystery, the dig itself is swiftly discarded in favour of the more melodramatic “mad computer in love” plot. It’s a shame, because the setup had promise: a cursed site, a strange artefact, and a vanishing team. But the story chooses to focus on Bratheen’s increasingly unhinged infatuation with Benny and House’s descent into possessive madness.

There’s atmosphere to be had, certainly—the relentless rain, the ghostly voices calling out to Benny, and the crumbling madness of the AI all contribute to a haunted-house-in-space vibe. But these elements are undermined by sound design that can only be described as a lot. Echo effects, screeching noises, and garbled voice filters clutter many scenes, making dialogue hard to follow and even painful to listen to at times. The climax, where House tries to destroy itself (and Benny with it), is a sonic onslaught that may have you reaching for the volume dial or the paracetamol.

PROBLEMATIC AUDIO AND HALF-BAKED IDEAS

Production-wise, The Stone’s Lament is let down by subpar mixing. House’s voice is particularly unpleasant—sure, it's appropriately artificial, but it's grating and difficult to parse. The use of echo and layered voice effects to represent the House’s mental deterioration makes thematic sense but ends up muddling the clarity of the story’s most important scenes. The final confrontation is a mess of distortion and yelling, lacking the emotional payoff the story seems to be reaching for.

Thematically, the story feels like it’s groping towards ideas about identity, obsession, and consent—House believes it’s earned Bratheen’s love because it was made in Benny’s image—but these are brushed past in favour of overwrought melodrama. Unlike the thoughtful, melancholy AI in the brilliant movie Her, House is a caricature: a computer programmed to think like someone who ends up trying to murder the original out of romantic jealousy. It’s a daft premise that could have worked with a more knowing script or a stronger emotional core. Sadly, The Stone’s Lament is neither subtle nor self-aware enough to pull it off.

📝VERDICT: 4/10

The Stone’s Lament starts with an intriguing archaeological premise and descends into a muddled, melodramatic mess of AI obsession and sonic overkill. While Lisa Bowerman is typically excellent as Benny, and Harry Myers’ Adrian Wall shows glimmers of future potential, the story itself fumbles both its character arcs and its central concept. The haunted mansion setup is atmospheric but ultimately hollow, and the sound design actively works against the listener.