Alexandra Laban Excalibur, wife of Nigel Excalibur, falls ill after the Calamity and is nearly comatose. Nigel employs a series of doctors and spends an extreme amount of money on her recovery. Eventually, a physician offers her recovery at the price of funding his enterprise, Spiral Pharmaceuticals. Nigel agrees, and Alexandra is cured through experimental, progressive medicines (though she retains a melancholy for the rest of her life). The striking of the bargain is witnessed in a vision by Eugenia Excalibur, Nigel's descendent, during her ride on the Undone Subway.