While giving a speech at Trafalgar Square (now with Nelson's Column replaced with statues of prominent socialists), Oliver Brand is wounded in the arm by a Catholic layman armed with a pistol. After the would-be assassin is beaten to death by the assembled crowd, Oliver informs Mabel of the news. Senator Felsenburgh is crisscrossing the East delivering multiple speeches, possibly on the behalf of the Emperor, trying to disperse the warmongering Eastern Convention (vaguely associated with the Sufis). Even so, Oliver explains that he must travel to Paris to prepare armaments for expected war. He explains that an explosives manufacturer named Benninschein has developed weapons of mass destruction and sold them to both power blocs. Therefore, a war will leave at least one power bloc completely annihilated.