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[cipher-training.git] / 2012 / 6b.plaintext
1 The machinations of the Fabulists had been exposed to me in the intercept I decrypted for Room Forty. They were intent on developing cruel weapons capable of demoralizing and injuring large numbers of enemy soldiers in defiance of all natural laws of warfare.
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3 I had already been exposed to the horror of modern conflict and their plans filled me with revulsion, but I could not have guessed at the full depth of their depravity until I had read the full text of their message, which was an invitation to a demonstration of the weapon. They proposed to test it on Prisoners of War held at a camp near the French border which at that stage was under VERONA guard, and I imagined, since it was difficult to believe that all of VERONA were privy to the Fabulists’ foul plot, that it was under the direct control of Proteus and Valentine.
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5 In my horror I resolved to travel there at full speed determined to confront them and to expose their vile plan. The majority of soldiers, both commissioned officers and enlisted men, are decent honourable men who would be horrified by what I had uncovered. Unfortunately the one man I chose to entrust with the knowledge I had gained, a young lieutenant colonel, was a partner in the crimes of the Fabulists. He had proven his valour at the Front, and like me he had been revolted by what he had seen. I was sure he would share my revulsion, but his hatred of the enemy was too strong and he was excited by what I told him, sure that the new weapon would end the war. He saw victory where I saw a crime.