Summary: James Marcus discusses with Oswell E. Spencer his stay at Umbrella. Alexander Ashford meets with the Jacob's Circle about their plan at the Antarctic base. Alexander presents Alfred and Alexia with two music boxes.
I
Dear Jamie:
I am glad to hear that your passion for the Progenitor virus has not let up since its genesis in the 1960s. However, I would not want you to be completely blinded by it. Umbrella is a company that needs to be managed. I know you hate politics, but it is part of corporate practice. If research into the Progenitor virus is to continue, the money must flow. Without funding, the prodigious affair that began in Africa is over. I gave you the Training Centre out of goodwill, as a friend, in exchange for nothing more than the availability of your scientific talent. I only ask you to reconsider your position. This is a crucial moment, and we cannot afford any mistakes. If you still feel that your career in this corporation is over, I will be the first to organise an honourable farewell. In any case, contact me for whatever you need. It would be dishonourable for me to let a trifle cloud our long and fruitful friendship.
Your friend,
Oswell E. Spencer
II
Oswell:
I appreciate your words and goodwill. For the time being, I have reconsidered my position and will still stay at Umbrella on the same terms. However, I will need an increase in funding. I am not unaware of your priority with the Arklay laboratory, but I underline that research of the highest level is still being carried out at the Training Centre. In this connection, I will ask you for one last favor: my former PhD student, Brandon Bailey, I am requesting his transfer from Africa to the Training Centre. His valuable experience will help me in the development of my projects.
James Marcus
III
I have spoken to Oz. Your transfer will be next month. Bring all the material for the exit plan.
J.M.
IV
Alexander Ashford and Anthony Campbell presided at the table of the Jacob's Circle. Alexander as the rightful heir of the former Grand Master, Edward, and Anthony on behalf of Grand Master Mary-Anne, who was absent due to ill health. Behind him on the left, the portrait of Veronica Ashford. On the right, that of Rupert Campbell.
The Inner Circle, consisting of fifteen members, had been convened to decide on several issues raised by Ashford, the most important of which concerned Umbrella. The fifteen members, including the under-chiefs of the Campbell and Douglas clans and an Irish Catholic bishop, listened attentively to the Grand Master's proposal.
"Spencer still doesn't want any Jacobins working for Umbrella?" asked an elderly man in Scottish, dressed in Douglas clan tartan.
"No, no one. He made a deal with my father," Ashford replied in the same language.
The fifteen members murmured among themselves. Campbell nudged Ashford closer.
"Won't it be possible in Antarctica?" he whispered.
"No," he replied quietly. "Martin will come with me, but no one else. I don't want to risk it. The Institute is still vetting personnel at the base."
"What do you think of the plan, ladies, and gentlemen?" Campbell raised his voice.
The murmuring stopped. A woman in the Campbell clan tartan raised her hand.
"I have a question about the virus. When Princess Alexia completes her development, where will the virus be hidden? At the Antarctic base?"
"First in my father's old private laboratory in Newcastle."
"And then?" added the Irish priest.
"At St Andrews. One of our members who is a professor there will have the means to ensure its temporary concealment until the contract is signed and it is released. Any other questions?"
The fifteen members looked at each other in silence. There were no further questions. Ashford rose. Campbell and all fifteen members rose at the same time.
"Brothers and sisters of the Circle," he continued in Scottish, "the convocation ends with the approval of the plan for the next five years. I pray that God will favour us in our undertaking."
"Amen," they all shouted in unison.
V
There was a friendly but naive king
who wed a very nasty queen.
The king was loved but
the queen was feared.
Till one day strolling in his court,
an arrow pierced the kind king's heart.
He lost his life and
his lady love.
The lyrics, engraved on a gold plate on the inside of the lid, flowed to the rhythm of the simple and beautiful melody. It was a feerical composition that enraptured the two children sitting on the tiled floor.
Their father had given them two identical, bulky music boxes for Alexia's graduation. Their only visible difference was the ant-shaped jewel that Alexander had included in the lid's opening mechanism in memory of Alexia's recent discovery: a blue ant for Alfred and a red ant for her. The piece corresponding to the insect's abdomen could be removed to operate the box's latch or unlatch it by inserting it. Both the jewel and the box were two masterpieces of craftsmanship worth their weight in gold. However, both children's fascination was not with the technical quality of the set, but with the song. The unnamed song that their father had ordered to be composed for them and which the twins had christened Berceuse.
Berceuse because it inspired a strange nostalgia for their early childhood, when both twins always lived together and without worries, when they imagined themselves as the protagonists of an endless fairy tale.
Alexia and Alfred held hands for the first time in three years.
They would never be separated again.
Nevermore.