att(pirated)

You would have thought that the discovery of a sheet of paper identifying many of the puzzles within the Henry Estate would have given me and my allies the boost we needed to get ahead of the curve, and to finally start solving the various mysteries in the mansion, right?

Well, it wasn't so simple. Some of the puzzles were fairly easy once you knew what you were looking for. The one in the ground floor corridor in the west wing had been a series of paintings showing a man in various stages of his life. Even without the clue telling us to activate them in order of youngest-to-oldest, it wouldn't have been too hard to figure out from the title 'From Cradle to Grave.' And the sundial puzzle had been a piece of cake as well, once you knew it was a puzzle. But others were too well hidden. The library puzzle had cryptically hinted to something called 'eagle and wolf', but gave absolutely no hint about what we were looking for, or where we could find it. And the mezenne puzzle had mentioned switches on the second floor of the mansion's grand entrance hall, but the sheer amount of decorative work along the banisters and the walls made finding anything that even resembled a switch incredibly difficult. And just because we managed to solve a puzzle, didn't mean that we knew what the items we found went to. We had yet to find the lock for the key, and when Valerie solved the picture puzzle, she'd been rewarded with a ring with the profile of a piece of armor on it, and no hint about what puzzle it was meant to solve.

The result? While me and my small group of allies had managed to make some ground, we hadn't managed to make a lot of headway before the end of the year, and 1981 became 1982. And soon after, I found myself sent back to Umbrella's Paris Labs to once again serve as assistant to the talented Alexia Ashford.

It was an odd thing, all things considered. As part of me genuinely looked forward to leaving the Henry Estate, and going out into the wider world for even a day. But the fact that I was being placed with the girl on the orders of Sir Henry had put me on edge. The Frenchman had told Doctor Marcus that I was here to try and 'domesticate' Alexia, but that told me nothing about what I was meant to do. Was I just here to give her a friend? Was I supposed to try and teach her some manners? Was I meant to ply her for information on her project? All three options could easily apply, and while it was well within the lord's MO to try and build relationships between people he was interested in, I didn't know what his end goal was.

Still, things had been going fairly well. I'd met up with Alexia during the mid-morning, and we'd gotten down to work fairly quickly after that. We'd only been held up when the young doctor showed off all the work she'd done on the project while she was 'at home,' whatever that meant. I didn't know where Alexia lived, but I highly doubted that it had a world-class lab for this sort of viral research. Either way, in the few months since I'd last seen her, she'd made numerous changes to make the virus stronger and more potent. And to an extent, I was impressed with what she'd done. According to her, the virus was in a state where it could reasonably survive against an immune system response, and that took a lot of effort to develop. Though that was balanced out by the other part of me that was a bit concerned about what was going on. After all, this whole program had been sold to me as an experiment to try and reactivate the virus, and then reverse engineer an anti-virus for it just in case it became active out in the wild. But what Alexia was doing went well beyond that, and I was getting a bit worried about just how… enthusiastic she was about the whole thing.

And because of that, my work of trying to isolate and produce resistant cell cultures became all the more important. It wasn't too difficult, as a lot of the extracted material was provided to us by another lab. But at the same time, it was tedious to take batch after batch of prepared material, load it with Alexia's virus, and watch helplessly as the virus simply burned through everything in its path. Either destroying the samples, or leaving them as breeding grounds for the virus. It was boring and unfulfilling work, but it was something that I bore with in the hopes that one of the samples would give me what I wanted, and I could go from there.

That being said, I was more than happy that someone had moved a radio into the lab, and had it set to a local news station. Unfortunately, we were in the middle of spring in 1982, which meant that the only news that anyone was talking about was the start of the Falklands war, and wondering about which side would end up victorious. Of course, I paid the actual conversation no mind, as I knew that the results were never in doubt. But it was nice to have something to listen to.

"It's so pointless." Alexia sighed to herself, and I instantly picked up the hint that she wanted to talk about something. Alexia was a quiet girl when she wanted it, but she had a distinct issue with starting conversations. I'd picked up on that over the past few months, she'd talk when she wanted to talk, but usually by making a statement and then expecting someone else to pick up on it.

"Oh, the situation in the South Atlantic?" I asked, cocking my head towards the radio, and the continued broadcast about the start of the British preparations for the war. Of course, she could be talking about work. But given her recent successes, I doubted that she viewed what she was doing as pointless.

"Indeed. It's something I find rather… pointless. These are just a couple of islands with some sheep and some penguins on them? Why should either side bother with them?" Alexia confirmed my suspicions, before turning her seat around to face me. She must have been really bored if she was prioritizing this conversation over her beloved work.

"Well, penguins are cute. But I agree that the islands in and of themselves are fairly worthless to either side." I tried to lighten the mood with a bit of childish appreciation for the flightless birds that called the islands home. But when Alexia's expression didn't shift by an inch, I got down to the points. "The people of Argentina view those islands as their property, and their government needs a distraction to take attention away from the fact that their economy isn't getting better. The Argentine economy has fallen by around eleven percent, inflation is up by six-hundred percent, and the Argentine people are unhappy. So in order to get the people back on their side, the Argentine government has decided to take the islands. Meanwhile, while the British probably didn't plan for this war to happen, the fact that their government publicly decided to get rid of two of their aircraft carriers this year probably didn't help deter the invasion. And now they're fighting to retake the islands because their citizens live there, and are being oppressed by a foreign power. Both governments need to fight in order to maintain the popular support of their people, even if the islands aren't worth it in the long run."

"So that's all this is? The Argentine government needed a distraction, so they decided to gamble that the British would get rid of their ship before they invaded?" Alexia asked, and I couldn't help but feel a bit surprised that the little genius was having trouble understanding the situation. And in a way, that made me feel a bit more at-ease with her. The fact that Alexia wasn't some all-knowing super genius made her that little more human, and a bit easier to empathize with.

"To an extent. It's an issue that goes back hundreds of years, and there's a lot of history there that I've missed out for brevity. But as far as this war goes, yes. Both sides are probably both spending more on this war than the entire island's economic value. But the islands and what they represent are what they're fighting for." I shrugged as I summed up the situation in as few words as I could. Of course, part of me wanted to go in depth into the whole situation. The Falklands War was an interesting topic, as it was one of the few modern wars where you could reliably point to economic aspects as a cause for it. But as much as I wanted to go into detail about it, I had to hold my tongue. This was meant to be a conversation rather than a lecture, and I didn't want to run the risk of damaging my relationship with Alexia. After all, that relationship was the main reason why I wasn't sold to Doctor Marcus. Ruining it because I started rambling about a conflict that had yet to finish in this timeline would be a colossal own-goal.

"All of this is the product of weak men dealing in power that they have no right to hold. It's despicable." Alexia's frown, surprisingly enough, got deeper. She grumbled to herself, before sighing and gesturing to her workstation. "Still, I can't say I'm surprised. Humanity has always had a predilection for conflict, our species is addicted to war, regardless of the reasons behind it. It's all so predictable. After all, there's a reason why history is written by the victors."

While I could have let Alexia's statement lie, allowing someone as smart as her to maintain such a frankly simple view on history wasn't something that I couldn't allow to stand. So I countered it with the best argument that I had to hand. "But history isn't written by the victors. Take our books on the Eastern Front in the Second World War as a good example. Because the Soviet Union isn't willing to open their archives to researchers from the West, many of them have to rely on the memoirs of German officers like Halder and von Manstein. And isn't it just convenient that all of them sing the same tune about how they fought a clean and honorable war, while all the bad stuff was done by comically evil SS men, or people who happened to die during the war?"

And for a second, Alexia looked stunned at my answer. Perhaps she hadn't expected a succinct counterargument like that on short notice? Either way, she quickly regained control of her expression, and composed herself, before asking a question of her own. "I take it that you're not a fan of the books you've had access to in the west?"

"My personal opinion on it is irrelevant. The simple fact is that the West, in their rush to create a myth of a 'clean' German Army to make them a more palatable ally, has been far too willing to take the words of war criminals at face value. And as a result, they've essentially allowed history to be written by the loser." I explained, circling back to the point that I was trying to hammer home. That by using the memoirs of people who had a vested interest in developing the myth of a 'clean' Army, even if it was only to save their own skins. And that didn't even touch on just how readily the author believed their claims of the 'skilled and honorable' German Army fighting a brave war against the Soviet hordes.

At that, Alexia went silent for a few seconds, and for a few seconds I worried that I might have overdone it. Eventually, the Ashford girl snickered to herself, as a small smile spread across her face. Her tone remained casual, but there was no humor in her voice when she spoke. "I'd never taken you as the type to have a keen interest in the more militant aspects of human history. Tell me Tanya, do you love war?"

"Honestly, I hate war. I think humans killing each other is the worst part of human history. It's nothing but a waste of materials and human resources. Sure, it can sometimes be justified, such as against totalitarians who infringe upon the rights of the individual. But even so, I find the whole process incredibly wasteful." I replied almost on instinct. Almost so quickly that I wasn't sure if I'd spoken from the heart, or if the indoctrination at the Henry estate was finally bearing fruit. Either way, some deep part that I dared not give any more attention to, raged against my choice, but it was quickly shoved back into its hole by the rest of my mind. Sure, in my last life, I'd been a soldier. And a very good one at that. But this time things would be different. With any luck, I would never have to pick up a gun or take a life ever again.

Alexia was quiet for a few seconds as she considered my stance, before slowly nodding at me. Her expression hadn't changed, so I couldn't get a solid read on her reaction. But she didn't yell me out of the room, so I took that as a win. "I'm sure that Alfred would disagree with you, probably on some matter of honor or dogma. But on some level I agree with you, to an extent. War is a pointless endeavor, little more than two colonies of ants waging wars over scraps that are insignificant in the grand scheme of things."

"I'd argue that no war is truly insignificant. Especially for those who fight it. And especially when the cost is counted in lives lost and valuable assets destroyed. Besides, your average person is a lot more valuable than some ant. Ants don't pay taxes." I replied, barely stifling a wince at her comparison. The trenches of the Rhine front hadn't been insignificant to the people there, even if the front had barely moved for years on end. But at the same time, Alexia was a spoiled child. Expecting her to understand the impact of war on a person was asking for too much.

"Perhaps, but many people are just as replaceable as some worker ant. Assistants and other grunts are a dime a dozen, and they're only saved from irrelevance by the fact that automation isn't advanced enough to eliminate their jobs entirely." The Ashford girl continued, once again gesturing back to her workstation. I hadn't seen what she was working on, but given how she gestured back at it every time she mentioned ants, I figured that she was working with some of them.

"Maybe, but even the least skilled human workers are more productive than a million ants." I didn't bother to counter her argument on how easy it was for her to replace someone. After all, if the rumors I'd overheard from the other Doctors at the Paris facility were true, she was burning through assistants far faster than anyone else. So instead, I argued against her low value of human life. "The aircraft carriers that both sides in this war are probably the closest human equivalents to an ant colony. Each one has a crew of, what, one or two thousand people? That ranges from pilots, to engineers, and all the way down to technicians and catering staff. Every crew member is paid for their service and buys things when they're on leave, they contribute to the economy. When their service period is up, they will enter the civilian workforce with marketable skills to get better jobs, to buy more things. That's around a thousand people who, by simply existing, contribute to thousands more jobs by buying and selling things. Those thousands of people will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of market activity in their lives. That market activity betters everyone who interacts with it, and is the driving force behind mankind's prosperity. No colony of ants can match even a single person's contribution to the market, let alone an entire ship's worth of productivity. And a corpse can't contribute to that, which is why war is wasteful. It robs a country of valuable human resources, and rarely is the cause just."

"A military isn't made up entirely of aircraft carriers, Tanya. Sooner or later, you'll run into people who are easily replaced. And it's like that everywhere." Alexia countered my long argument with a simple point of her own, and a smug edge to her voice. She must have thought that she'd found a flaw in my argument by exploiting the example I chose.

"Sure, but a military isn't made up of people without any useful skills. A modern military is built on logistics and support infrastructure, all of which are required so that the fighting arm of the military can do its job. THose support units provide former soldiers with skills that will help them in civilian life. And that assumes that a military won't pay for a former soldier's education as a recruitment incentive." I shrugged as I replied. Given how her brother was, like many boys, a fan of the military. He'd probably told her all about guns and tanks and other parts of the combat arm, and completely neglected real war winners. After all, it doesn't matter who has the biggest tank if said tank never gets the fuel and spare parts that it needs.

"And those recruitment incentives are needed because, without them, nobody would join up. At least ants have the good grace to love their queen, and are willing to die for her. Humanity, on the other hand, is infected with the disease of selfishness." Alexia changed the subject with a dismissive gesture. And I had to force down a sudden flush of anger at her casual dismissal of the subject, rather than continuing with that topic of conversation.

"Except for when a colony has multiple queens, and the surplus needs to be killed off. Or when a queen starts becoming infertile. Or when the pheromones they produce don't work properly and their workers go berserk. Ants don't follow their queen out of blind love or loyalty, they follow them due to pheromones and other substances. They're little more than fleshy automatons." I countered, holding up a finger for every situation that I could think of where the ants that Alexia had fixated on as an 'ideal' would do the exact opposite of what she said.

"Humans are little better. Tell me, Tanya, how many countries have been torn apart by war in the past few decades? How many of those conflicts are simply down to a disagreement over who will rule, or for how long?" Alexia asked next. I could probably have answered her, but she continued to her point before I had the chance. "There have been dozens of wars, revolutions, and coups in the few years that I've been alive for. And almost every time, the one who wins will rule as the sole authority in their countries. It is simple nature that humanity, like ants, are naturally drawn to powerful individuals, and submit to their supreme authority. So would humanity not be better under a single leader, rather than all of these… pathetic bugs?"

I have to admit, at this point I was getting a bit sick of Alexia's continuously bad takes. I had grown to expect some measure of bad take from the girl. She had a poor reputation for a reason, and she was raised in isolation by a man who she held little love for. But even so, there did come a point where it went from something she learned, to something she actively believed. And we were rapidly approaching that point. "Those 'strong' leaders that you talk about are never strong for long. Either paranoia sets in, and they start killing off everyone that might be smart enough to pose a threat to them. Or they become exploitative and start prioritizing their vices over the good of the nation. Power corrupts, Alexia. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. I am Russian, ask me how I know this."

"Tanya, please don't use that quote if you intend to leave out the main point. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority." Alexia smiled as she read back the full quote by Lord Action -a very cool name, by the way- before finally agreeing with my point. "You are right, of course. It is all too common for those in power to abuse their station for their own ends. That is a very human flaw, to grow accustomed to one's station, and to abuse its power. It would be ideal for all of humanity to be united under one great leader, but people like that are rare indeed."

"Maybe. If you find someone who can do that without throwing people into gulags, let me know. But until then, treating people as if they are as disposable as ants is… inadvisable." I nodded, backing down from my more confrontational tone as Alexia sought to find a middle ground. "Ants can never grow or improve, but humans can. And it is that growth which has elevated humans out of mud huts, and into great cities like Paris. Ants can never create beautiful architecture, or works of art. But humans can, and squandering valuable human resources, either through war or mismanagement, is wasteful."

"I suppose so." The young doctor shrugged, before looking over at a clock on the wall, and standing up and changing the topic to something far less controversial. "Say, it's almost time for lunch. And there's a nice cafe in the city that I've wanted to visit. How about we head there, rather than putting up with food from the cantine again?"

"That would be very nice. This batch isn't going to get any better." I quickly agreed as I stood up. While the cantine at Umbrella's Paris branch was certainly good as far as company food went, we were in Paris. A city renowned around the world for it's food. Coming here and not enjoying the food would be a waste. Still, I couldn't help but sigh at my failed experiment before clearing up my workstation. Even though the workstation was an isolation unit, and leaks or spills weren't a problem, I had to keep the limited space clean and well managed. And part of that included cleaning up before I left the room.

"I wouldn't worry about that too much, Tanya. There will be many more opportunities in the future. And who knows? Maybe you'll find your resistant hosts there?" Alexia assuaged my worries, even though the tone in her voice made me wonder if she found my continued failures amusing. Once again, I couldn't help but wonder if she was losing sight of exactly why this project was being funded…

Still, I did make some headway with her. That had to count as a win, right?