<div class="floatleft">(http://hmsausonia.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Ala-005.jpg)</div><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_u"><strong>INTRODUCTIONS</strong></span></span><br/><br/>LT. WALKER, the Professor's guests were difficult to wrangle, but after some discussion and even fewer introductions, you managed to get everyone inside of the verdant Vauxhall to get your trip underway.  There was some argument about their<em>equipage</em>with the railway's porter, but that was smoothed over with the slip of a crown.  So on you went, driving the other five characters.<br/><br/>First, there was the<strong>DOCTOR</strong>, whom you had known about but never had met.  He was to come by way of the<em>Majestic,</em>and so he had.  The man seemed to be in very good spirits, especially after his morning libation and his gorgeous company.<br/><br/>Second, there was the<strong>PRIEST</strong>, whom you had never known.  You were under the impression that he had come from the colonies, like Dr. Brockman, but you quickly learned that Father Prescott had been in Southampton for approximately three months.  When asked what he was doing aboard the<em>Majestic,</em>Father Prescott would explain that there had been a murder onboard the ship and that he had read the deceased's last rites.<br/><br/>Third, there was the<strong>NURSE</strong>, recently returned from the European continent.  The last time you had seen her, you were helping her board the<em>Majestic</em>after she had suffered a somewhat strange mental breakdown.  You had sent her to Dr. Brockman, and it was not difficult to see that your relationship with your previous nurse was very dissimilar to the relationship the Nurse had with her Doctor.  Was it strained?  You did not know.<br/><br/>Fourth, there was the<strong>SYRIAN</strong>, a mysterious and beautiful woman.  It took about an hour for you to realize, but it just so happens that you knew Ms. Ezab's father, Lt. Walker.  He had come to your uncle's home on business on several occasions and it had been your duty to ferry him back and forth between the train station and your uncle's enormous home in Cheshire.<br/><br/>Fifth, and last, there was<strong>DEMALURE.</strong>It's funny.  Now that you think about it, you weren't actually sent to retrieve her.  But you had mentioned her earlier as if your bringing her was a point of fact.  You had said:<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"As for who else, I understand that I am to escort Doctor Brockman, <span class="bbc_u"><strong>a Miss Juliet Demalure</strong></span> and the good Reverend Prescott. They have come by the Majestic and I am about to go meet with them when you called out to me."</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>There was no way of knowing that Miss Juliet Demalure would be in Southampton, so why had you been so certain that she would be there?  It wasn't until her belongings were halfway to London that you realized that the Professor had never instructed you to bring her.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>MS. LINDGREN</strong>, you could not help but feel disappointed that you would not be revisiting the Professor's luxurious Kensington townhome.  It had been your home for a short time in your life, and you had forgotten how much you missed it.  The townhome was certainly spacious enough to house the Professor's guests.  Why, during your tenure as the professor's nurse, it was not infrequent for the professor to house a dozen visitors in his large abode.<br/><br/>Lt. Walker had explained that the Professor was renovating his already sizable library and that he wished to spare his guests of any inconvenience caused by the construction.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>MS. EZAB</strong>, as the Vauxhaul whipped out of the port and turned a corner, you noticed something strange.  First, you noticed that there was an olive-skinned stranger staring at you and your companions.  Second, you noticed that this man had an uncanny resemblance to your father.  Third, when you turned your head to get a better look, the man disappeared into a thicket of dockworkers.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>DR. BROCKMAN</strong>, in the midst of some droning conversation between the women, you reached into your inner coat pocket and retrieved the unopened telegram.  You opened it expertly with an index and pulled out the folded sheet of paper.  Your analytical mind quickly realized that the paper in this telegram was of a different kind and color than your other telegram.  You thought that it was made of parchment.<br/><br/>You unfolded the parchment.  In dark red ink, you saw the following letters:<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Ο θάνατος έρχεται για σένα.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/><hr/><br/><strong>MS. DEMALURE,</strong>you had done it and without very much effort.  You were on your way to see the Professor--something that you had felt almost instinctually.  But you did not know why.  You just knew that you had to see him again.  There was a thought inside your mind, clawing to get out, that you needed to see him for one single purpose: to say goodbye.  Your anxiety and revulsion had been checked by the comfort that each minute drew you closer to the Professor.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>ALL</strong>, the trip did not take two hours, but rather very nearly four.  The weight aboard the Vauxhaul had caused it to get stuck in muddy roads twice, and once, Lt. Walker had to negotiate a thicket of sheep on the road near Winchfield.  You stopped a number of times: once at a roadside delicatessen in Eastleigh to have a morning tea, twice in Winchester, for various reasons, once to admire the horses on a farm near West Stratton, and finally one final stop in Frimley, before doing a cannonball run to your London hotel.  There, you would find that your suitcases had been delivered and that the men and women were separated into two three-bedroom luxury suites.<br/><br/><div align="center">(https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/15/44/c3/c3/suite.jpg)</div>