Three ascensions remain
About a week after New Year's, Esteban awakens to find a man in his kitchen. The man is dressed in a old-fashioned formal suit with a tattered gray shawl over his shoulders. He also wears a bowler, a brown mustache, and a polite expression. Esteban asks him who he is, and he says his name would mean nothing but admits to the name Richard Dawkins.
He tries to talk to Esteban about the King in Yellow, his master, about maybe not replacing him. The King will allow humanity to break out of the eternal cycle by being something new. The King is from beyond. Esteban has already met powers from beyond. The archetypes are just 333 masks that the powers beyond wear so that they can be their world, but they're just masks. Esteban is having none of it and gets his gun. It unfortunately jams when he tries to fire. Richard accuses Esteban of just obeying Sainte Germaine, obeying the rules, and he leaves, opening Esteban's door into a hallway that isn't usually there.
Esteban calls Graham and gets him to gather everyone at the Ranch. When he arrives, he tries to tell them what happened, but finds he can't. "I planted some peas in my kitchen!" he says urgently. "Peas!"
Eventually, because Esteban can answer yes or no questions and is obviously distressed, the team decides someone was in his apartment. Angelina examines his gun and finds it jammed. The team goes to the apartment, but finds little evidence: two old-fashioned glasses that the avatar produced out of a cabinet, and a bottle of very old scotch. Esteban is able to talk a little about the cosmology that the avatar described to him. Somehow, they all decide that it was the King in Yellow. The return to the Ranch for some discussion, except for Esteban who has a lie-down.
"What happens if the cycle doesn't go on and on? Then, Christmas!" - Esteban, a bit muddled.
"Pokemon is strangely reminiscent of the whole avatar thing." - Alexandra, taking a moment to consider stranger parallels.
The team wonders if Alex Abel ascends if he can take some of them to the next universe. Then they wonder about his path, and become worried that if the Masonic ritual will make him ascend, TNI should wait until after they fix the Communist to do that, in case of end of the world. They write up some recommendations.
That night, Alexandra and Thielo are visited by the man but are even more resistant. Alexandra suggests he should send them a pamphlet or something, mostly sarcastically. He agrees and goes away. They too cannot talk about the experience, except to each other.
The next day they get the pamphlet, which is in a turn-of-the-century style. "The King in Yellow Explained: Or, an Educational Treatise on the Universe, for Gentlemen and Ladies." It even has illustrative woodcuts. It has three parts. The first explains the nature of the universe, talking about the primal forces outside, such as "love", "creativity", "truth" and so on. The archetypes are the masks through which these create the world. The second explains the King in Yellow as a sort of outsider of creativity and change and freedom, and explains that he is scary because he is so different and that he drives people mad only because they can't cope with him in the present cycle. It implies that if he gets to help make the universe he won't be so scary next time. The last part talks about breaking the cycle - how the universe keeps going around and around and never gets anywhere, and people are always just human and can't become anything more. Including the King in Yellow would allow the cycle to turn into progress and the universe to get somewhere.
This is greeted with general skepticism, although they agree that they should ask Sam about it next time they see him. Even the most swayed of them still think getting rid of the King in Yellow is a good idea.
A few days later, the avatar visits Esteban again, trying to find out what they thing. He promises Esteban to try to allow Esteban to talk about it afterwards, but claims that it is hard because he is so close to the King. Esteban says that if the King wants to be liked he shouldn't be so scary. Richard says that he just is that way because he's different.
"Imagine you're a rabbit who has lived your entire life in a hutch. One days someone leaves the door open. It's the scariest thing that has ever happened to you." - Richard, trying to explain the King
"Who wants to go out anyway?" - Esteban