Changes

== Flight to the Gulch ==

== Flight to the Gulch ==

After an unspecified period, Quentin Daniels agreed to join John Galt in his great strike. John Galt had flown in to the town in which Daniels lived, and now proposed to fly Daniels out to what Galt might have described as a "secret place of rest." The two men climbed into John Galt's aircraft (a Dwight Sanders monoplane), and John Galt took off. They probably noticed another monoplane landing at the same airfield just as they were taking off. John Galt certainly noticed, and probably shared with Daniels, that that other aircraft had taken off from that airfield within five minutes of landing at it and was now pursuing them.

Quentin Daniels agreed at once to join John Galt in his great strike. John Galt had flown in to the town in which Daniels lived, and now proposed to fly Daniels out to what Galt might have described as a "secret place of rest." The two men climbed into John Galt's aircraft, and John Galt took off.

Again, the novel gives no details of any conversation between these two men. One would expect, however, that Daniels asked Galt whether the pilot of the other aircraft would discover his secret, and Galt assured him that he would not. Daniels would be worried when Galt began to descend into a desolate-looking, rocky valley, and Galt would ask him to have patience. Galt would then call a mysterious "ground controller" on his radio, and suddenly a lovely green valley would appear below their plane, instead of the rocky valley that had appeared before. Daniels would later learn about the refractor-ray screen that kept the valley invisible to anyone looking down on it from above.

Neither man noticed another aircraft (a Dwight Sanders monoplane) taking off in pursuit. Galt flew into a mountainous region, and probably scared Daniels very badly as he began to descend into what to all appearances was a valley of jagged rocks. But Galt spoke to someone on his radio, and suddenly a green meadow appeared below them. They landed safely, and there Daniels met [[Midas Mulligan]], the owner of what he came to know as [[Galt's Gulch]].

John Galt would land his aircraft safely enough, and then would ask Daniels to excuse him while he attended to "an emergency." A man like Daniels would not be content to remain aboard the aircraft. He would step out, look up, and realize that the pursuing plane was still looking for them, and still descending. Then a bright flash would appear, and after the after-image had cleared, Daniels would see the pursuit craft again—falling in a dead-stick spin. The pilot would have time to make one last, desperate control input before crash-landing in the grass.

Daniels would later receive the shocking news that another aircraft ''had'' tried to follow them, and had intercepted the refractor-ray screen responsible for projecting a false vista to any pilot approaching from above. The pilot had spun out of control and had barely regained sufficient control to make a hard belly landing. The pilot was, of course, [[Dagny Taggart]]. To Daniels' immense relief, she was uninjured except for a twisted ankle.

 

The pilot was, of course, [[Dagny Taggart]]. Remarkably, she was uninjured except for a twisted ankle.

== Life in the Gulch ==

== Life in the Gulch ==