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Alexius waves you over and introduces you to a small circle of what he calls "the odds and ends": two merchants, a translator, the wife of a Cahokian diplomat, a Ukrainian statistician, and a Korean shamaness-turned-novelist.

"We are clearly the smartest people here," Alexius says, eyeing the researchers with cheerful disdain, "but even we cannot figure out what the good doctor might need with us."

You spend the next few minutes listening to various hypotheses as Alexius cleans up at the billiards table, but no one has any answers. It soon becomes obvious that not only does no one know why they're here, no one even knows what Dr. Sabbatine has planned.

Then most of the lights unexpectedly go out, replaced by a single antique spotlight. Cyril swears as he almost drops his glass of champagne, and the ripple of laughter somewhat spoils the arrival of Dr. Sabbatine, who strides out onto the encircling balcony.

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