In
an anonymous but darkly formal room, a group of soldiers are brought to attention by
a bellowing sergeant. Joseph Kreutz enters the room, speaking like a commanding officer.
He addresses the soldiers, reminding them of the dangers they will face when they come up
against the Assassin, and telling them that to succeed, they must be just as ruthless,
just as deadly.
With a fluid motion, Kreutz draws a
gun from within his jacket, pointing the barrel directly into the face of one soldier and
telling them that if he sees one man fail or falter in their duty, he'll be the one
pulling the trigger. The soldiers do not flinch. Kreutz finishes his briefing, telling the
soldiers to meet up again at 4:00 that afternoon, dismissing the unit.
Kreutz addresses the Assassin,
his unseen deadly foe. Behind him the eye in the pyramid, symbol of the secret
organisation Kreutz is representing, glows in blood red and black. Kreutz smiles, anticipating the fight yet
to come.
[SUMMARY OF PAGES 57, 58, 59, AND
60] posted
10/27/00
John is shocked by what the
Assassin and Michael have told him. He refuses at first to believe that the gems could destroy the universe, telling Michael that the idea is absurd. Michael tells him
quite how powerful the gems in question are, and how much damage they could do if an
alignment were to occur. For such an alignment to take place, forces on many planes will
have to align. Until such a time, the universe is safe, but such a time is approaching and
approaching fast. John next asks who his mysterious hosts are, and is first answered by
the Assassin, who does little more than to tell him his name.
The Assassin is described. The
embodiment of the Assassin stone. Inheritor of the blood of Adrian. A man brought forth to
put right the mistake of a genius. A man who, fundamentally, is the only one who can
threat the alignment.
John is still skeptical. He cannot believe that the Assassin Stone and the man standing
before him are the same
thing. He is still in shock, and refuses to accept how powerful the Assassin Stone and the
other 49 gems are. Michael tries to drive the point home. The gems pervade John's world,
in fact they have influence in all worlds. They form an integral part of what John sees as
'reality'.
Michael tells a still-skeptical John about Dreamwalkers. Men and women who seem perfectly normal, who live alongside people as normal every
day members of society, but who are inhabited by the gems through their dreams, and used
as puppets of Order. The job of the Assassin described here is to eliminate these
Dreamwalkers, reducing the power of the Gems. John reacts at this point, realising for the
fist time that the central
job of the Assassin is to kill people.
The Assassin reminds John that he has already seen
the Assassin kill, so the
knowledge that the Assassin is a killer shouldn't come as any surprise. John asks him if there isn't a way of
doing it without killing people. The Assassin tells him that what he thinks of as 'people'
have been dead since the gem came into contact with them. The body may live on, but the
person is entirely sequestered. Michael tells John that there is another advantage to
killing in this context. If the gem is inhabiting the Dreamwalker and the Assassin kills
the host, the Gem dies too.
John asks if the gem would take such a risk. Wouldn't it be safer not to inhabit a body?
Michael tells him that there are certain advantages to inhabiting a host, only alluding to
what the advantages are. He goes on to remind John that the only person who can kill the Gem is the Assassin,
and in the whole universe, the Assassin is unique. The Dreamwalkers, in addition, are
hardly unguarded. Whether they know it or not, each Dreamwalker is protected by guards,
only moments away from the Dreamwalker, precisely so assassination attempts are averted.
However, as the Philip Talbot case shows in graphic detail, the Assassin is not deterred
by something as mundane as guards.
John turns his gaze to Michael. He becomes aware that whilst he has been given an
explanation for who the Assassin is, Michael is very much an unknown commodity. He asks,
as bluntly as he can who Michael is. Michael smiles, and tries to tell him that he's
no-one special. Just a technician. A man supporting a good cause. John's reply is
absolutely to the point. 'Bollocks'. He argues that Michael would not be in this situation
unless he himself had a LOT going on in his background. Michael sighs, and looks away for a moment, doing which time his fist clenches gently as
if to relieve stress. When he speaks, he is gentle but firm. He tells John that there is a
lot about himself that he doesn't tell anyone, but for now John only needs to know one
thing. He looks him right in
the eyes. 'My name is Michael. I'm a technician'.
Michael's stare obviously unnerves John. He breaks eye contact with the soft spoken
technician and looks out of the window. He sees the slow beginnings of dawn in the
distance. Michael asks him if there won't be anyone looking for him. John explains a bit
more of his situation, mentioning the loansharks who are after him, and says he had meant
to ask the Assassin for help and a place to stay before the weirdness of the situation he
was in became apparent to him. Michael offers him a room to sleep in, and all of a sudden
John realises how tired he is. Seeing the sun come up makes him realise how long it has
been since he slept. Michael directs him to his room.
John heads towards Michael's room, looking exhausted, the Assassin and Michael watch him
go. When John leaves, the Assassin asks Michael how he's persuaded John to leave. Michael
admits it was hypnotic suggestion, but also points out that it is 6:00 in the morning. On
this note, Michael voices his displeasure with the Assassin, asking him what he was
thinking, bringing someone to their HQ. The Assassin counters by telling him that John
needed help. Michael doesn't buy the superhero act for a second, reminding the Assassin of
what he is. The Assassin tells him that they need help as
well. Michael seems about to say something, then relaxes, almost as tired as John. He
admits that the Assassin is right, they do need help. The Assassin asks him if he thinks
John would be here if he knew the real situation. Michael replies that sometimes he wishes
he wasn't there himself.
An expensive car speeds down the London streets. From outside we hear, but cannot see, a
conversation in progress. As the car moves, we can see Kreutz at the wheel. He is talking
to an unnamed person on a mobile phone. Kreutz starts by telling him that their forces are in position, and
concerns himself with backup procedures, which he does not elaborate on. The voice on the
other end of the phone clearly thinks Kreutz is making way too much of a deal out of this
and is quick to remind him that he has been doing this kind of thing much longer than
Kreutz himself. Kreutz reminds him that these are special circumstances and that his main
concern is for the safety of the voice on the phone. The voice accepts Kreutz' explanation
and ends the call. In the final shot of the page, we see someone looking out of their
window at Kreutz emerging from his car, voicing his opinion that Kreutz is a fool.
[SUMMARY OF PAGES 67, 68, 69, AND
70] posted
12/08/00
The bed of the
second room in that Mitcham's Bed & Breakfasthas between its sheets an insomniac guest. John
cannot sleep. He's wondering how he got involved in all this gems conspiracy and the
future of the universe. He look back at every detail not knowing if what he just lived was
a bad dream or a part of his ever-changing reality. He leaves the bed, wadding with a
thick blanket and watches the dawn over the London's roofs.
He realises he wasn't been awake till the next day since he was
seventeen. He also thinks in how bad it used to feel as it does now. With no more than a
bunch of confusing thoughts John goes back to the bed. He needs to sleep. His body it's
been beaten up twice just hours ago. He closes his eyes entering in a heavy and tired
sleeping.
John easily passes to a
dreaming state. He drifts into a comfy and pleasurable dream. He sees
himself naked, floating at his will in the middle of a black comfortable place, away from
the troubles of the world. John feels self-secured, a notion of safety surrounding him.
But the voice he was hearing turn into a threatening tone at this point. Suddenly he
comprehends he's in the middle of a big palm, tiny, fragile.
Then John sees the
situation. He has the look of the Dreamwalker, naked, no hair on his face, completely overwhelmed under the hand's threat.
The voice speaks on his head while the palm starts to close on him, the words talk about
destruction, his own destruction. The voice tells John he can be destroy as easily a hand
can be closed, unless he joins to its will. A familiar second voice says 'enough!' when the the fist has totally collapsed over
John's diminutive body.
John awakes, screaming, to find the Assassin by his bedside, telling him
that he is safe. He asks what it was that
had attacked him, and the Assassin answers that it was the Gem, explaining that the Gem's
hold on the dreamwalkers is carried out through their sleeping minds, and that it was
using the same powers to attack John. John starts to say what the gem had threatened, the
Assassin tells him he knows the threats it made. John asks if this would be possible, the
Assassin answers that the Gems are immensely powerful, but that John is safe while he is
near the Assassin.
John asks if the Assassin knew this would happen. The Assassin admits he did, and tells
him that he was in danger of this from the moment he came into contact with the Assassin. The penny drops and
John understands why the Assassin was so keen to get rid of John after the attempted
mugging. The Assassin explains that anyone who he has been in contact with is a potential
target for the Gem, so he had to protect John after John saw him kill the Gem's hired
thugs. John thanks him for saving his life. The Assassin answers telling him not to give
thanks yet, as he wasn't the easiest person to be around.
The Assassin reassures John that it's safe to go back to sleep, now he has the measure of the Gem he can fully protect him.
John falls asleep with the Assassin watching. The Assassin assumes the Lotus position and
meditates to regain energy, thinking that with what he has to face tomorrow, he needs all the rest he can get.
room, a group of soldiers are brought to attention by
a bellowing sergeant. Joseph Kreutz enters the room, speaking like a commanding officer.
He addresses the soldiers, reminding them of the dangers they will face when they come up
against the Assassin, and telling them that to succeed, they must be just as ruthless,
just as deadly.
With a fluid motion, Kreutz draws a
gun from within his jacket, pointing the barrel directly into the face of one soldier and
telling them that if he sees one man fail or falter in their duty, he'll be the one
pulling the trigger. The soldiers do not flinch. Kreutz finishes his briefing, telling the
soldiers to meet up again at 4:00 that afternoon, dismissing the unit.
Kreutz addresses the Assassin,
his unseen deadly foe. Behind him the eye in the pyramid, symbol of the secret
organisation Kreutz is representing, glows in blood red and black. Kreutz smiles, anticipating the fight yet
to come.
telling Michael that the idea is absurd. Michael tells him
quite how powerful the gems in question are, and how much damage they could do if an
alignment were to occur. For such an alignment to take place, forces on many planes will
have to align. Until such a time, the universe is safe, but such a time is approaching and
approaching fast. John next asks who his mysterious hosts are, and is first answered by
the Assassin, who does little more than to tell him his name.
The Assassin is described. The
embodiment of the Assassin stone. Inheritor of the blood of Adrian. A man brought forth to
put right the mistake of a genius. A man who, fundamentally, is the only one who can
threat the alignment.
John is still skeptical. He cannot believe that the Assassin Stone and the man standing
before him are
the same
thing. He is still in shock, and refuses to accept how powerful the Assassin Stone and the
other 49 gems are. Michael tries to drive the point home. The gems pervade John's world,
in fact they have influence in all worlds. They form an integral part of what John sees as
'reality'.
Michael tells a still-skeptical John about Dreamwalkers. Men and women who seem perfectly 
normal, who live alongside people as normal every
day members of society, but who are inhabited by the gems through their dreams, and used
as puppets of Order. The job of the Assassin described here is to eliminate these
Dreamwalkers, reducing the power of the Gems. John reacts at this point, realising for the
fist time that the central
job of the Assassin is to kill people.
surprise. John asks him if there isn't a way of
doing it without killing people. The Assassin tells him that what he thinks of as 'people'
have been dead since the gem came into contact with them. The body may live on, but the
person is entirely sequestered. Michael tells John that there is another advantage to
killing in this context. If the gem is inhabiting the Dreamwalker and the Assassin kills
the host, the Gem dies too.
John asks if the gem would take such a risk. Wouldn't it be safer not to inhabit a body?
Michael tells him that there are certain advantages to inhabiting a host, only alluding to
what the advantages are. He goes on to remind John that the
only person who can kill the Gem is the Assassin,
and in the whole universe, the Assassin is unique. The Dreamwalkers, in addition, are
hardly unguarded. Whether they know it or not, each Dreamwalker is protected by guards,
only moments away from the Dreamwalker, precisely so assassination attempts are averted.
However, as the Philip Talbot case shows in graphic detail, the Assassin is not deterred
by something as mundane as guards.
John turns his gaze to Michael. He becomes aware that whilst he has been given an
explanation for who the Assassin is, Michael is very much an unknown commodity. He asks,
as bluntly as he can who Michael is. Michael smiles, and tries to tell him that he's
no-one special. Just a technician. A man supporting a good cause. John's reply is
absolutely to the point. 'Bollocks'. He argues that Michael would not be in this situation
unless he himself had a LOT going on in his background. Michael sighs, and looks
away for a moment, doing which time his fist clenches gently as
if to relieve stress. When he speaks, he is gentle but firm. He tells John that there is a
lot about himself that he doesn't tell anyone, but for now John only needs to know one
thing. He looks him right in
the eyes. 'My name is Michael. I'm a technician'.
John. He breaks eye contact with the soft spoken
technician and looks out of the window. He sees the slow beginnings of dawn in the
distance. Michael asks him if there won't be anyone looking for him. John explains a bit
more of his situation, mentioning the loansharks who are after him, and says he had meant
to ask the Assassin for help and a place to stay before the weirdness of the situation he
was in became apparent to him. Michael offers him a room to sleep in, and all of a sudden
John realises how tired he is. Seeing the sun come up makes him realise how long it has
been since he slept. Michael directs him to his room.
John heads towards Michael's room, looking exhausted, the Assassin and Michael watch him
go. When John leaves, the Assassin asks Michael how he's persuaded John to leave. Michael
admits it was hypnotic suggestion, but also points out that it is 6:00 in the morning. On
this note, Michael voices his displeasure with the Assassin, asking him what he was
thinking, bringing someone to their HQ. The Assassin counters by telling him that John
needed help. Michael doesn't buy the superhero act for a second, reminding the Assassin of
what he is. 
The Assassin tells him that they need help as
well. Michael seems about to say something, then relaxes, almost as tired as John. He
admits that the Assassin is right, they do need help. The Assassin asks him if he thinks
John would be here if he knew the real situation. Michael replies that sometimes he wishes
he wasn't there himself.
An expensive car speeds down the London streets. From outside we hear, but cannot see, a
conversation in progress. As the car moves, we can see Kreutz at the wheel. He is talking
to an unnamed person on a mobile phone. Kreutz starts by telling
him that their forces are in position, and
concerns himself with backup procedures, which he does not elaborate on. The voice on the
other end of the phone clearly thinks Kreutz is making way too much of a deal out of this
and is quick to remind him that he has been doing this kind of thing much longer than
Kreutz himself. Kreutz reminds him that these are special circumstances and that his main
concern is for the safety of the voice on the phone. The voice accepts Kreutz' explanation
and ends the call. In the final shot of the page, we see someone looking out of their
window at Kreutz emerging from his car, voicing his opinion that Kreutz is a fool.
has between its sheets an insomniac guest. John
cannot sleep. He's wondering how he got involved in all this gems conspiracy and the
future of the universe. He look back at every detail not knowing if what he just lived was
a bad dream or a part of his ever-changing reality. He leaves the bed, wadding with a
thick blanket and watches the dawn over the London's roofs.
he wasn't been awake till the next day since he was
seventeen. He also thinks in how bad it used to feel as it does now. With no more than a
bunch of confusing thoughts John goes back to the bed. He needs to sleep. His body it's
been beaten up twice just hours ago. He closes his eyes entering in a heavy and tired
sleeping.
into a comfy and pleasurable dream. He sees
himself naked, floating at his will in the middle of a black comfortable place, away from
the troubles of the world. John feels self-secured, a notion of safety surrounding him.
But the voice he was hearing turn into a threatening tone at this point. Suddenly he
comprehends he's in the middle of a big palm, tiny, fragile. 
completely overwhelmed under the hand's threat.
The voice speaks on his head while the palm starts to close on him, the words talk about
destruction, his own destruction. The voice tells John he can be destroy as easily a hand
can be closed, unless he joins to its will. A familiar second voice says 'enough!' when the the fist has totally collapsed over
John's diminutive body.
He asks what it was that
had attacked him, and the Assassin answers that it was the Gem, explaining that the Gem's
hold on the dreamwalkers is carried out through their sleeping minds, and that it was
using the same powers to attack John. John starts to say what the gem had threatened, the
Assassin tells him he knows the threats it made. John asks if this would be possible, the
Assassin answers that the Gems are immensely powerful, but that John is safe while he is
near the Assassin.
contact with the Assassin. The penny drops and
John understands why the Assassin was so keen to get rid of John after the attempted
mugging. The Assassin explains that anyone who he has been in contact with is a potential
target for the Gem, so he had to protect John after John saw him kill the Gem's hired
thugs. John thanks him for saving his life. The Assassin answers telling him not to give
thanks yet, as he wasn't the easiest person to be around.
The Assassin reassures John that it's safe to go back to sleep, now he has 
the measure of the Gem he can fully protect him.
John falls asleep with the Assassin watching. The Assassin assumes the Lotus position and
meditates to regain energy, thinking that with what he has to face tomorrow, he needs all the rest he can get.