Summary: Oswell E. Spencer invites Alexander and Alexia Ashford to the Spencer mansion. Spencer outlines to Alexander his plan for obtaining human test subjects for T-virus research.
I
Spencer's driver picked them up at the airport in the morning. An hour and a half later, the vehicle was driving through the Arklay Mountains. Exhaustion was killing him, exacerbated by the random obstacles that littered the dirt road and which the driver swerved to avoid. But he fought back the nausea as he endured a throbbing headache.
He took Alexia's hand. She was distracted by scanning the landscape through the window. An unexpected stop on the way. Just as they were about to leave, Alexander received a call from Spencer. Oswell was inviting him to his country home in Raccoon City to discuss an urgent matter of vital importance to the company. The second phase of the Progenitor. Apologetically, Oswell offered his transport at no extra cost. The point was that Alexia would have to go with him. Oswell didn't mind, he let her come too. Their arrival in Massachusetts was delayed by a day.
Alexia increased the strength of her grip to reposition herself in the seat. The gesture gave him a moment of satisfaction. For the first time in years, he was happy. Anomie. Intrusive thoughts. Apathy. Sadness. Negative feelings he had avoided by working out at the gym and focusing on parenting and business. Imitating his parents and with the support of his mother, Alexander took responsibility for the care and education of his children, minimising his absences and the care provided by others. This parental approach was confirmed when Alexia learned to speak within a few months.
It was unexpected.
He sat down to watch a boxing match, as he usually did in the evening to relax, and she suddenly appeared in the living room to tell her father that Alfred was crying because he had tripped over a toy. The diction was awkward, but the words were unusually precise. It was then that he knew that Alexia was Edward's desired granddaughter. After tending to Alfred, he scooped her up in his arms and ran into Elizabeth's bedroom. Her mother, thrilled, congratulated him on having fathered a genius.
His initial surprise turned to genuine self-absorption. His demeanour changed to a self-imposed aloofness that caught Elizabeth's attention. Despite his constant presence, Alexander hardly interacted with his children. Elizabeth asked him why. He didn't know what to say. It turned out that he was still trying to adapt to Alexia's accelerated learning. Elizabeth empathised with his only child's inexperience and his fascination with her granddaughter's chaotic personality and unexpected reactions, such as biting a babysitter, taking apart half her toys by herself, hiding in the most unlikely places until the police were called, and the demonic pranks she and her twin brother plotted, which included liquefying a clown doll in the kitchen and turning on the microwave to heat the carcass of a rat that no one knew where the hell she got it from. Precisely because of this, and to avoid future misfortune, Alexander needed to get to know his children and not become obsessed with maintaining an absurd and selfish safety distance that would never benefit him. He had to learn to be a father to his children so that they would not reject him as a stranger, something Edward and Elizabeth always avoided with him. He realised that his mother was right, so he tried to change his ways.
The change included spending quality time with Alexia and defining his relationship with Alfred. He still didn't know how to relate to his son. He was looking forward to the possibility of a second successful embryo... Alexia withdrew her hand. Alexander shifted in his own seat. It reminded him of himself with his father. Elizabeth was always telling him how much Alfred looked like him and Edward. Alexander denied it. Alexia was more like Edward, a comparison Elizabeth underestimated because of Alexander's apparent lack of knowledge about himself and Alfred. He didn't care; he still believed that Alexia was the one most like Edward. Although Alfred was the apparent heir by order of birth, it was Alexia who was on her way to university at the age of seven. She was Edward's heir.
II
The hallway of the Spencer mansion gave her a dizzying sense of déjà vu.
"Alexander." Oswell caught his eye. "Are you all right?"
"Yes. I'm just tired."
Oswell gave them a tour of the ground and first floors.
"What about the traps?" Alexia asked, genuinely intrigued.
"Because of the lab." Oswell winked.
As the host led them through the rooms, Alexander took a temporary break from reality to fantasise about writing a romance novel to distract himself from the post-traumatic association of the manor with the base...
"Dad." Alexia grabbed his hand.
"Yes?"
"What happened to George Trevor?"
He had no idea.
"He disappeared," Oswell replied immediately. "He and his wife and daughter. The Arklay Mountains must have taken them to the afterlife."
Oswell opened a door. The room resembled a pub, with a huge grand piano huddled to its right. A sheet of music lay on the music stand. Oswell approached the instrument and lifted the cover of the keyboard.
"I doubt that such a piece would challenge a young woman of such unparalleled genius as yours, princess," Spencer challenged, imitating the style used in Jacob's Circle to refer to them as suitors.
Alexia ran to the armchair. Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 14, Moonlight.
Alexander and Oswell retired to the bar.
"Princess?" Alexander whispered in confusion.
"Edward told me a few things about your family."
Alexia began to play. After the first few notes, the floor shook and a wall panel began to rise. Without stopping the melody, the pianist concentrated on the trompe l'oeil.
"Ha!" Oswell let out a chuckle.
The panel revealed a secret corridor-like room with a bust of Beethoven in the background.
"Ludwig Van." Oswell lit the cigar he had taken out of his jacket. "You can go in, but don't touch anything."
Without a second thought, Alexia ventured into the glassed-in secret room.
Their last stop was the library in the west wing. Alexia lost herself in the shelves, anxious to find a book that would interest her. Alexander and Oswell settled into a pair of armchairs that had to be wiped clean with a handkerchief because of the fine layer of dust that had accumulated on them.
III
"Marcus insists. That old cunt even calls me to remind me." Oswell lit a second cigar.
"Uhm…" Alexander drew his gaze to the shelves in case he could see his daughter through the gaps.
"And he's right." Oswell took a long drag. "We must begin the second phase. We can't go on like this. We built the company for this and I'm not prepared to give up, and I doubt very much that your father would have given up either."
The deliberate allusion to Edward forced Alexander to look at Oswell.
"No."
"I have a plan." Oswell extinguished the cigar in the ashtray. "Leave the rearrangement of the second phase to me. James will be a pain in the ass and you know how annoying he can be when things don't work out. It'll take time."
Alexander turned the ashtray, ready to speak.
"I will run the company from Harvard." Another full turn. "And what about our research teams? Will we continue as before, each on our own?"
"That's a question you and I will work out." Oswell was concerned about the long-term viability of the model based on independent research teams. "We'll discuss it when I've finished designing the second phase."
Alexander sighed and removed his hand from the ashtray.
"We can't give up now," Oswell continued. "Umbrella hasn't taken off."
"I know."
Alexia appeared, holding two books.
"I'll give them to you." Oswell picked up the ashtray.