Content Warning: The source material for this section includes representations of torture. It also includes outdated, offensive terms for Chinese people.

The cohort members clean Lovell’s cabin and tip his body into the ocean. They lie to the crew by claiming Lovell has a contagious disease and is not to be disturbed. Letty has qualms and suggests that they rely on British justice or even her elite connections to come clean without being sentenced to death. Robin, Victoire, and Ramy don’t have the heart to tell her that there will be no mercy for them because they are people of color and foreigners. With no other options, they decide to return to England.

Robin and the others go to Professor Lowell’s Hampstead house to regroup. Robin discovers papers that show Lovell and Babel connived to create a pretext for a war with China. Babel is directly engaged in managing the government, wars, and even the slave trade abroad. Military intervention would force China to accept trade with Great Britain. Robin, Ramy, and Victoire decide to give these papers to the Hermes Society. Now that they know what’s happening, returning to college seems pointless.

After Letty overhears them planning, she insists that British people are naturally decent and will prevent war once they know about the plot.