Learning from van Lustbader-Part 2

The Testament	Gutenberg's Other Book
Bravo/Jenny: She was his father's lover?? They fall in love/have sex He thinks she must be the traitor	Peter/Maddie: She was raised to be his match They fall in love/have sex She is (unwittingly) the traitor
Bravo/Jordan: Best Friends Jordan is using him On opposite sides	Peter/The Voice: Enemies from the start Peter doesn't know who he is Has a hold on Maddie
Observatines/Knights: Started by the church Secularized Competing for the same cache of info	Gutenbergs/Aldines: Two competing guils Secular with religious rituals Competing for the same cache
The Testament of Jesus Christ and the quintessence that shows Jesus was human and not divine and can give immortality to a person	The Library of Alexandria containing the Wisdom of Ptolemy showing the origin of the Jinn and casting doubt on Islam

Gee. Can you do that?

Where I want to go with "Gutenberg's Other Book:" More intellectual, less life threatening. I'd be just as happy if there wasn't a body count. Peter and Maddie will never kill anyone. Peter and Maddie are not trained in hand-to-hand combat. They really only have their wits. No superpowers. No eidetic memory. No savant code-breaking ability. They are scholars who may have to fight for their lives, but they just have to be clever about it. They do have the ability to use alternate identities.

They have the power of the press. They may need to exploit their ability to print or have things printed.

There are two rival secret societies that will surface. Peter is a member of one. Maddie may be a member or at least a pawn of the other. Maddie has been trained from childhood to be everything that Peter wants. He is everything that she wants. She betrays him -- accidentally or through conflicted loyalties. They have to be separated and get back together at a critical moment.

The treasure is different, but the same. I'll probably abandon the quest for the alchemical powder that enables the making of the Philosopher's Stone that van Lustbader calls the quintessence. The particular scroll they are after does hold alchemical secrets, but the real crux is that it will somehow change our perception of reality. First, it does or may hold content that casts doubt on both the New Testament and the Quran. Second, it shows the establishment of the Jinn. And third it gives a version of the fall (Adam & Eve) that makes it obvious that there is another power at work in the universe. Whether it is supernatural, alien, or alchemical, I don't know yet.

Peter/Robert: Policeman tailing Peter
Peter is oblivious of him
Robert turns out to be his savior