Interstitial
SUBMITTED: LETTER OF RESIGNATION FROM KARAM, ALEXANDER [CLEARANCE REQ.]
C/O: DR. CORNELIUS IVER, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DIV.
Cor,
Please accept this as my formal resignation from the Extended Reality Lab (Group B), as well as from all projects and ventures
associated with it. My last day will be today, 11/21. While I am deeply grateful for your confidence and for many productive
and enlightening years at the CIA, I have come to believe that we are too divergent in our thinking and that our philosophies
regarding the work cannot be reconciled.
I am aware that by exiting the lab at this crucial juncture, I am leaving you shorthanded, and I apologize for the suddenness
of my departure. I am also aware that the office may find it necessary to relocate my family and me and perhaps even provide
us new identities. If so, this letter will also serve as my farewell to you.
Cor, I continue to believe, as you do, that our work will herald a new age. It is only recently that I have begun to question
whether that age will be one of freedom, or one of tyranny. I am not prideful enough to be certain that I will not fall prey
to the same sins and indulgences that have been the corruption of so many men before.
I would rather relinquish the potential of power in exchange for the certainty of safety and love. This has not been an easy
decision, but when I look into my daughter’s eyes, I know that it is right. I don’t want her to grow up a soldier. If there
is anything I wish to fight for, it is for her right to be exactly what she is: just a little girl.
I hope that you are stronger than I am. I hope that you are able to resist man’s “primal fault” (Housman, 1936). I hope that you can use our work for good.
—Alex
PS On my first day at the lab, you gave me a page from a book, with a quote underlined. Please find it enclosed with this
letter.
Adrian, I am about to return to Greece, to become again a soldier, perhaps a conqueror. Will you accompany me? You will behold
new scenes; see a new people; witness the mighty struggle there going forward between civilization and barbarism; behold,
and perhaps direct the efforts of a young and vigorous population, for liberty and order. Come with me. I have expected you.
I waited for this moment; all is prepared—will you accompany me?