Nexus Point — John A. Schettler

Meridian Series, Volume II - Nexus Point

Book II in the series, entitled Nexus Point, begins some days after the conclusion of Meridian. The inimitable Professor Nordhausen, whose energy and wanton curiosity often sets the novels in motion, has planned a jaunt back to the Jordanian desert where he discovered a perfectly preserved ammonite fossil in book I. While trying to lift the fossil out by helicopter, they are approached by a Royal Jordanian Air force helicopter patrol and, not wanting to be prosecuted for removing the fossil illegally,  they make a hasty, unscheduled landing at Wadi Rumm. Here the professor and physics guru Paul Dorland discover something unusual in a cave where they sought refuge from the heat and sun, and a careless stumble then launches the story into its historical milieu--the time of the Crusades and the famous battle of the Horns of Hattin in 1187 that was featured in the movie Kingdom of Heaven, though this novel was written a full two years before that film was released.

In Nexus Point the two opposing sides in the Time War are uncovered by the team. The Assassin cult operating from their hidden castles in the highlands of Lebannon and Syria in this episode, plot secret missions to try and overthrow the Christian West, and they are opposed by another future group known only as "the Order." In effect, it is order versus chaos here, as the interventions run by the Assassin cult throughout the series are aimed at introducing chaos and catastrophe in the history of the West.