Episode summary by Anders Schmidt Hansen

The "Connaissance" project still has open slots for manga artists! Want your talent to be a part of a serious project, then we're the ones for you! P.S: You will be working alongside two other serious artists.

Prologue

Because of Stryker escorting and guarding the Archetype CEO, Johanna Picard is assigned to mentor Andreas, which she definitely is not pleased with. Given the task to further strengthening Andreas' control of his unique powers, Johanna and Andreas have been assigned to a new mission to retrieve the young science prodigy Bartholomew Yussopov, who has been held captive by Alpheus' terror organization for months. Their mission states that he needs to be tracked down, retrieved to Archetype and hereafter interrogated about Alpheus' group and other scientific discoveries which he has supplied them with.

1^st half

Rumored to be located somewhere in Russia, in a safe house controlled by cell unit of Alpheus', this will be their upcoming location throughout the first episode. Meanwhile, intelligence about Russia's current internal situation along with the massive emigration from Africa is also explained. Johanna and Andreas train shortly in a VR mission, which still is outdated since the Dome became functional, so it may be partially different in the city they have to infiltrate.

They afterwards buckle up and get deported. During their trip from Belgium to one of the "Grand Gateways" or import / export checkpoints, Andreas views the shocking change of scenery from harmony to complete dystopia outside the walls. Immigrants trying to sneak past guards, who immediately shoot them at point blank range; some are found and killed by the massive scanning system[1]. Hundreds of starving and poor humans live in shacks made out of debris or other materials. Sickened by it, Andreas asks Johanna why the EU doesn't do anything and asks about the human rights, that these people have. Johanna refuses to answer, and continues to look outside the windows of the VIP train coupe. Andreas taunts her by calling her a "natural ignorant", making her furious. After critically commenting her way of clothing and concluding that she only dress like because she is just a "vampire for attention", Johanna's eyes begins to fill with tears and leaves the coupe after smashing a game of solitaire at him and calling him an "arrogant bastard". As she shuts the coupe door with a smash, Andreas thinks "Prima Donna..." and takes a glance at the barren outskirts of the European borders and a military airbase in the horizon. Outside, Johanna runs through the corridors, ensuring herself of that Andreas is wrong. Suddenly the screen is split in two, as Marahana stops them both by telling them to stick together immediately as they are being monitored. Frowning, Johanna walks back to the coupe, and sits down. To her surprise, Andreas has reassembled her deck of cards and laid her previous game exactly as it were before.[2] After arriving at the military airbase, the scene cuts to their arrival in their destination city's airport, disguised as a pair, to each owns headache. They then check in and leave to observe the safe house in the city. The following scenes show how they track back to the hotel, sleep with their backs turned against each other while a good distance separate them. As the camera shifts to a top-down view, both get their own respective nightmares.[3] This closes the first half.

2^nd half

They wake up in each other's arms, shocking themselves greatly, resulting in both of them rolling and hitting the floor hard. As they both quickly rise up, Johanna punishes Andreas with a slight migraine, forgetting Andreas' condition; his body reacts and gives her a bad case of nausea. The scene then shifts to Johanna puking, swearing at Andreas who stands outside holding his head. Maybe laugh a little. Afterwards, the mission runs according to the plan. They infiltrate the safe house, pacify the guards and reach the lower holding area where Bartholomew resides. After realizing that Bartholomew seriously does not want to be kidnapped again[4] without putting up a fight, Johanna tries to paralyze his body, making him fall to his knees with a smile. Laughing, Bartholomew suddenly tries to send Johanna into one of his nightmare worlds, but Andreas' body reacts and immediately interrupts Bartholomew's attack. Because of Andreas still lacking complete control over his condition, he accidently sends them all three into one, big intervening nightmare. The camera rotates around them, showing their distant, trance-like glances into nothing. The episode ends in complete darkness, though some strange chatting from numerous people can be heard along with the sound of them scrambling with their chairs. As the noise dies out, an announcer welcomes the guests with his twisted voice.

Announcer: "Is everyone seated? Alright, great, fantastic! Welcome to the show, ladies and gentlemen!"

This ends the episode.

[1] See the "Illustrations" section.

[2] Johanna takes a short glimpse at Andreas, who reacts with a short glimpse, then frowns and continues to look outside.

[3] This is portrayed by their moving around on the bed and fighting something in their dreams. The actual nightmares are not viewed.

[4] Short glimpse of Bartholomew's original abduction.

Copyright © 2007 - 2008 Anders Schmidt Hansen