In the dream, John delays approaching a concrete building, burns a petrol-soaked car, and sits away from the flames with the silent listener. Speaking more at the listener than to the listener, John describes how, after his group’s earlier miracles and confrontations, powerful people treated him as useful but inconvenient and expected gratitude instead of action.

John recalls a kitchen meeting where the group decides polite persuasion has failed. John insists they were meant to save the planet and stop the wealthy escape project, while the others press him for a practical plan. P— argues that John must gain leverage by becoming frightening enough to force governments and power brokers to respond.

An opportunity arrives when a black car brings representatives of an unnamed organization whose dead leader must appear alive. John initially says he cannot resurrect the dead, but the representatives only need the corpse to look living, bleed, maintain a pulse, and potentially speak. John proves he can do the job, arranges offshore travel with A—, M—, and G—, and receives a secret bank account for a large payment that the group hopes might fund their cryo project.

Before the trip, John’s group learns that the FTL evacuation project has suddenly received major international commitments and claims it can move people off-planet within five and a half years. John, A—, and M— believe the plan is a corporate con, but their warnings are dismissed while others accept the apparent evidence. Their frustration deepens because the same people who obstructed their cryo efforts now seem ready to trust the escape scheme.

John, A—, and M— travel by helicopter to an oil rig, where John sees the corpse and realizes the client is not merely an organization but a nation involved in a massive political conspiracy. Under A— and M—’s urging, John repairs the corpse, restores its mechanical functions, installs speech support, and enables it to sit, walk, blink, bleed, and make a video call. John feels sickened, but the clients justify the deception as temporary and necessary during an extinction event.

After the demonstration succeeds, A— and M— take over negotiations and demand payment beyond cash. Their aggressive bargaining nearly provokes violence, but the other side finally agrees. John returns with billions of dollars and a suitcase nuclear weapon, giving his group the terrifying leverage P— had proposed.