Schemes at Steiner's

[Thunderer]

The Steiner Estate was intentionally at a secluded location on Cambridge, a large mansion, almost a palace, a solemn but somber edifice built in Neo-Gothic style, with a facade of dark stone that sported intricate carvings at certain places. The gargoyles that sat on the roof overlooked the lawns and gardens that surrounded the estate, and then a belt of forest that stretched over the horizon.

Elizabeth Hall, who was besides being the prime minister, also the official representative of House Steiner, used the estate when she needed privacy. The Steiners had indeed withdrawn from public life, but they still kept pulling many crucial threads, some through Hall herself, and the estate was where anyone on close terms with the Steiners was safe from any hand, eye or ear from the outside world.

Dr Leopold King, the Inspector General of the Secret Service, was the first to arrive, before the minister of defence, and the first to be received by the Steiners' guard and butler. They had been invited here by the prime minister. The atrium was designed to instill awe of the Dynasty to the visitor. The first that caught one's sight was the grand, marble staircase, with mahogany railings. On the left and on the right hanged large and elaborate oil paintings of Steiner ancestors, and above them, stuffed heads of large reptilian carnivores from Gaia, their teeth still sharp. There was apparently a court organ in some room on the first floor, because the sound of a tune that fit the sound of the instrument was coming from there. Released inside by the butler, Dr King went in that direction. The loudness increased when he opened the door, but the music then abruptly stopped.

"I have been expecting you, Dr King. I decided to use the opportunity to practice the organ while waiting. I'm still on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star level, but I've managed to put it in minor key. Do you think I'm any good?"

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