"I've seen the world get smaller over my lifetime. Look at the village. The ceremonial hut is made of dried grass, wood and daub, but most of the buildings have pre-fabricated metal roofs.

We are in a game reserve the size of one of the smaller European countries, but its still a reserve. The people are still here though, and there's more outside. They're mixing with the tourists, following the progress of the Premiership, and drinking coke. Burger King isn't here yet, but give it a few decades.

The big tourist chains already have luxury safari lodges on the crater edge. And you know - part of that is a good thing. We don't have the right to deny the local people the things we take for granted, and you can't share the benefits of modern medicine and deny them the rest, just because we think its picturesque."

"Know what you mean, mate. World certainly has got smaller.

"Zulu" was on the telly just before I came over here. Michael Caine is the man in that pic! You know Rorke's rift was the year before I was turned. Big news, parades, everything. Took Dru to see the film when it came out. All that slaughter - she loved it. Course, it had taken me several years, and lots of dead cinemagoers, to teach her that the pictures on the screen weren't like her visions.

But, yes. I went to Citibank in Nairobi to get some local currency and drove past adverts for Japanese cars on the road out of town. Which was weird considering there were giraffes grazing by the side of the road.

Remember the whole thing; saw some of it in the flesh. Cape to Cairo. Opening up East Africa. Putting down the slave trade in Zanzibar. Not that it seemed to do the Chinese much good when we were there for the Boxer Rebellion! All those parks with no dogs or Chinese signs - don't blame 'em for being pissed off!

War. Height of Empire, more War, end of Empire, Independence, Cold War, and now here we are. But for all the World is smaller not much changes. Did you research show my uncle getting a medal, and a grave, in the Second Afghan War in 1878? Mother only just got out of mourning for him before putting it back on for me."

"It did. We can discuss historical parallels to current affairs going back to Alexander 'til the cows come home, and I think we'd both enjoy it. But events are moving elsewhere, and we need to focus.

I came here searching for answers. Last year Buffy wanted to know more about the origin of the slayers. I confess I wanted to know more too. I gave her what I had. It wasn't much. Even though The Watchers Council has some of the oldest written texts in the World.

The British Museum, The Louvre, The Pergamon and The Vatican even would kill just to see our collections. There are tablets so old even we cannot translate them. They are the works of our ancestors and predecessors. They cover legends, events and facts handed down verbally over countless generations before humans first tried to write their thoughts."

"Same as how Homer got passed on, so we got Odysseus, Troy and The Iliad, right? Always liked him, "the face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Illium, sweet Helen make me immortal with a kiss!""

"Just the same with a lot less sex and a similar level of violence. But the watchers have always remained close to the most stable and powerful rulers of the day. When you've accumulated some of the most powerful magical artefacts on the planet, bred the watcher lines for brains, magical power and sheer ruthlessness its not exactly difficult. That hasn't changed. We may have the main base now in the UK, but it's by no means the only one. And with modern communications location is less important.

In doing further research I found some of the Council were working with elements of the US Government. Hence the Initiative. How do you think they knew what they were hunting? The Time Life series?"