Chapter 2
With the new trainees already in their seats in the main lecture room, Dr. James Marcus walked to the lectern and set a few sheets of paper on top. He didn’t need any notes to teach this introductory class, as he could easily do it from memory, but he felt the students were more attentive if they thought he was reading from prepared notes. He pressed a button on the lectern and the slide projector at the rear of the room clicked on, illuminating the screen behind him with the red and white Umbrella logo. He surveyed the students with a critical eye, to see which ones were paying the most attention.
“Turn your computer screens on,” he said as an introduction. Only a few of the trainees had not done so already. In his years of running the facility, Marcus had learned not to gauge his opinion of a student on his first impression of them, but on how they handled themselves in the first training class. The ones who were prepared and attentive right off the bat were usually destined for mediocrity, while the ones who showed up late and unprepared usually climbed the ranks quickly and eventually ran their own research teams. It seemed backwards, he knew, but that was the way it was.
He pressed the slide projector button again and the Umbrella logo switched to three words in large capital letters: DISCIPLINE. OBEDIENCE. UNITY.
“These three words are the motto of this facility,” he intoned. “I want you all to learn them, memorize them, and live your life by them while you stay here. Discipline, obedience, and unity. They are the characteristics by which I will evaluate you. Everything you do while you are here should be done in accordance with these simple rules.”
He scanned the crowd of faces. All of them under the age of thirty, with the prodigies Wesker and Birkin still in their teens, they were inexperienced and untested in their real abilities. It was Marcus’ job to determine just what they had to offer Umbrella. For most of them, the answer was nothing. Obviously, all of them could do the basic scientific work, or else they wouldn’t even be there. But very few of them could be trusted to handle the intellectual and emotional demands of working in the more advanced labs. Most of them would never get that far.
“Discipline is first. You are all expected to display discipline in both your personal and professional lives. I will not tolerate lack of self-control or willpower. You are employees of the Umbrella Corporation, and the way you conduct yourselves reflects on Umbrella.
“Obedience is second. You must always follow the rules and orders you are given, by me or any of your other superiors. As employees of Umbrella, you must always show obedience and loyalty. I will not tolerate insubordination in any form.
“Unity is third.” At this, he paused to examine the faces in front of him. “I have already spoken to you all about this. While you are here, you are all equals. You are to cooperate and work together in all your endeavors, and never let your own self-interest conflict with the overall goals of your research team. You are one group, one cohesive unit working toward a common goal, and as such you should never let personal ambition get in your way.
“These are the three ideals you are to live by. But don’t think of them as three separate rules, think of them as one all-important creed. You are always to be disciplined, obedient, and unified. Your career here depends on your adherence to that rule.”
Some of the trainees, the less-creative, less-ambitious ones, nodded or gestured agreement with what he said. Some of them might even take it to heart and sincerely try to follow the instructions. But Marcus knew they were only words, an abstract ideal far from the concrete reality. Few of the men here were disciplined, a couple might be obedient, but hardly any would be truly unified. Since Umbrella specifically looked for candidates with proven ambition and creativity in their labors, Marcus sometimes felt he was telling them to follow rules in direct opposition to their very natures.
Like the young geniuses, for example. If there was anyone in the room not likely to follow orders, it would be the cocky Wesker, and if anyone was not unified with the others, it was the solitary Birkin. Both of them were brilliant, determined, and destined for successful careers with the company, but Marcus doubted either of them cared an ounce about discipline, obedience, or unity. In Wesker’s case, he cared only about himself, and in Birkin’s case, he only cared about his work.
Marcus had to admit that even he didn’t live up to the three words. He was the one to came up with them as a slogan for the training facility, but he never bothered to apply them to his own work ethic. Do as I say and not as I do, he wanted to say.
The rest of the training session went smoothly. Marcus gave his new trainees their first lessons, telling them the same things he said to every group of trainees for almost fifteen years. He was anxious to get it over with as soon as possible, so he could get back downstairs to continue his private work. He’d made huge progress in the past few weeks, which frustrated him because it came right when he was busiest with the new trainees. Unfortunately, it could not be helped.
After he finished the lecture and the obligatory question-and-answer session that followed, he handed out the Umbrella Employee Handbook and dismissed class. He gathered his papers and stuck them in his briefcase before heading out the back door to the patio behind the mansion, quickly escaping the room before any of the students had time to ask him something else. For now, he decided it was better to leave them to their own devices.
Outside, the sun was beginning its long descent behind the mountains to the west, and temperatures were dropping accordingly. Marcus walked briskly down the sidewalk along the south side of the building toward the astronomical observatory. It was a two-story tall domed tower with a large rotating telescope at the top. A balcony on the mansion’s second floor connected to the tower’s main observation room, but Marcus didn’t head that way.
He always wondered why it had been built, since Umbrella had no financial interest in astronomy and neither did he. It remained unused for the most part, since the scientists working at the mansion had little interest in or time for stargazing. As far as Marcus was concerned, it was only an expensive prop designed to cover up the real work done at the mansion. It was a mask, a decoy.
He pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the main door to the tower. The door squeaked when he pulled it open. A circular metal staircase led up to the second floor, but Marcus ignored it, instead walking right up to the elevator that took up most of the room on the ground floor. There were no up and down buttons on the panel beside it, there was only a numerical pad. Marcus entered in his five-digit code and the door hummed open.
He stepped inside and the door closed after him. The elevator transported him underground.