Leslie was in the small library, hidden slightly by the endless rows of bookshelves. She was the one who pointed me to the books on “Recent History”, which was a nice way to say “a bunch of things we still don’t know how to exactly catalogue so they’re here, lumped together”. The shelves had a section regarding discoveries and was sorted by theme, which was perfect for someone who was looking for a specific object.
—A penny for your thoughts? —Leslie said, showing behind me with a small group of books.
—I need something about a black pearl, I remember reading something about it, but it was years ago. Where the hell can I find it…
—If it’s a curse try with those over there— she pointed to a small row at the top—. If it the discovery or a jewellery piece, try with those.
—Let’s see— I pulled a couple of tomes, and began browsing—. Pearl powder in Chinese medicine, Pearl Maxima, Pearl of Lao Tzu, La Pelegrina, La Peregrina, no, no, no.
Leslie has joined on the search, as was pulling books checking for the piece. She showed me a picture of the same pearl I had seen dangling from Dr. Tang’s neck; it was even in the same golden circled with encrusted diamonds.
—Is this the one?
—Yes, that’s it. What is it?
—No idea, I don’t know where I left my glasses— she said, handing me the book while looking for them—. What does it say?
—"Discovered close to the British Dominium of Hong Kong in 1896. The Brier Pearl is part of the Reginald Wright Collection since his disappearance.”
—Is what you’re looking for?
—Yes, but still doesn’t explain how Tang got her hands on it.
—Tang Zhu, the necromancer doctor? —she asked, back with her squared glasses and a large book in her hands.
—Probably, I only know the name.
—Is that her? —she pointed at a picture in the book.
The picture was a photograph dated 1914, right before the War. It was a group of people standing in the middle of an overly decorated room. The caption said “(From left to right) Sir Reginald Wright, Anne Beckett, Wallace Q. Ingram, Dr. Zhu Tang, and Henry Lowell, at the new BEARS Headquarters in New Guinea”. There she was, standing with tense lip in the middle of her group. But the pearl was not on the silver chain around her neck, instead it was on a brooch on the lapel of the man identified as Sir Reginald Wright. The brooch was part of a set which comprised it, a ring he wore on his left hand, and his monocle.
—The British Explorers, Adventurers, and Researchers Society— Leslie said—. I read about them. It was a group dedicated to different fields of study. Almost all of them disappeared in 1921. Only Dr. Tang survived, and she always refused to say what happened.
—Well, now she’s wearing the Brier Pearl. Perhaps is all in good faith, but still— I twisted my nose, but not wanting to extend this line of investigation, decided to asked something else—. So, I don’t saw your name on my list.
—Oh, I’m on Archives not on Retrieval. I’m part of the people who is going to update and correct the Card Catalogue.
—How do you know I’m in Retrieval?
—My job now is to know everything. That’s why your instruction manual looks like that, and mine looks like Don Quixote with annotations.
At the same time, while she pointed at the large book five times the size of my manual, someone else entered the room. Two people actually; a man dressed in day trousers with suspenders and a white dinner shirt, and a bald person with a completely grey and dark red jacket-tie-hat ensemble. They were chatting about something related to the latest excavations on Egypt, when they acknowledged our presence and greeted us.
—Oh, hi. Faraday, right? —the person on the wine-coloured jacket seemed straightforward and pleasant—. I’m Ariel Bonheur, Chief Archivist of Sophia…well, now of the RAIN. Anyway, I imagine you’ve met Mr. Ortiz?
—No, I can’t say I have— I extended my hand to the man, who’d seem to be about my age, but he just looked at it—. How…how do you do?
—So, you’re the one who’s been receiving the fake relics I sent to the British Museum? How…nice to meet you.
Man, I had to deal with condescending people before, but this Paolo Ortiz certainly could use a little of backhand learning how to talk with someone who’s going to work with you. I mean, that has to be basic common sense, not just one of my very specific types of insanity, right? At least I hope so. In the meantime, he eventually shook my hand.
—Miss Leslie Holmes, she’s going to be our liaison between departments, as Dr. Tang is yours— Mx. Bonheur added, perhaps to ease the slight tension—. If you excuse us, we have to get the others for our lunch. I’m sure you understand…
That not-so-subtle wording was their way of social cueing us into leaving the library, as the place was changing to make way for a dining table. I took off, as the clock stroke two and I still had to find where the lunch of Retrieval was going to be. What was I saying? First-Class Dining Hall. Still, not having absolutely no idea where that was, it was borderline the same as not knowing at all. Since I’m not quite good with orientation in a place I just woke up after being drunk, I had to use a location spell to find my way. In my case, since this type of spells change from witch to witch in a personal level, the guides were small silver pebbles on corners.
It was up the stairs from the library, through a corridor with large glass windows, to a set of four while double doors.
A white room with plants growing around the columns sprouting from the green carpet. On the normal layout, I imagine, would be squared tables in elegant white tablecloths with steel silverware and quaint decorations. In this occasion, however, it was a large rectangular table with, of what I could count, thirty places with people on them and a dozen with empty seats.
Ortiz, I don’t know how, was already there, as was Ursula, who had saved me a place nest to her and in front of an old man with fading blond hair and beard. He looked like a mixture of a blacksmith, with a bulky frame, and a depiction of the old gods. On my other side, was a young woman, probably from the range of Leslie, with short curly auburn hair held together with a thin yellow headband. I didn’t had much time to see the other people, but I caught a glimpse of Doctors Munoz and Tang chatting at one end a few chairs away; when I sat down, the elderly man sitting at the edge of the table, the furthest away from the doors, stood up with his wine glass.
—Don’t worry for the missing people, they aren’t on the ship and we have to pick them up going to the training grounds— he said—. Okay. Introductions. Yes, that should be the first thing one should do. I’m Taryn Darbinyan and I am the director of the four retrieval teams. So far so good. Any questions yet?
His improvised speech turned into a round of questions and answers regarding a few issues, which turned into a lot of issues as soon as the man opened his mouth. It was clear from the get-go, he was not meant to ask that question ever in his life, because for every answer he gave, just complicated the things more and more. I won’t repeat every single question, since it will be kind of pointless and I don’t have that good of a memory, but I will point out some that I found important.
—Why four teams and not just one?
—It’s easier for the hierarchy of the Terra Nova Research Base to divide large departments in more manageable teams. I will oversee all of you, but you’ll have liaisons to report to me, one for each team and a general one to help with communications between departments, for example, Support or Archive City.
—Who selects the liaisons?
—Daedalus Athenida and the Board did, with consultation from the Overseer at the base. Once all the teams are complete, I’ll let you know who they are.
—Where is this base? Is it in San Francisco? Is Fort Alcatraz?
—No and no. We’ve loaned the fort as a training ground on how to deal with artefacts, but the base is nowhere near San Francisco or the California coast. It is at a secure location beyond Point Nemo, and that is all I can say about it for now.
—Why do we need training?
—It will be painfully obvious when we have the demonstration at the pool today. Though most of you have impressive abilities in your different fields, there’s a bit of thin training we still have to do to avoid unnecessary deaths.
—Do we know who the members of each team are?
—We are still working the ins-and-outs of it, so we have idea of part of the teams, but not the entirety of them.
With that, we had a light lunch, a small chat in which you could see whom among us was hangover and who don’t, a cup of tea, and a piece of peach cobbler, which I never had before. For a few minutes we simply sat there, waiting for others to finish their meal. Mr. Darbinyan stood up after a while and began the tour talking about the First-Class dining room. From there, the large group moved through corridors and halls, decks and rooms, the cargo hold, the library, the theatre, and, at the end, the indoor swimming pool.
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