Siteadmin, Check users, Administrators
12,071
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 207:
Line 207: − + + + + Line 218:
Line 221: − + − From the accounts given of what happened next, one may infer that Henry gave Francisco his permission, and perhaps a suggestion, to share the news of his decision to quit and vanish with all his regular employees. The shop superintendent, the chief metallurgist, the chief engineer, Henry's long-serving secretary, and the doctor in charge of the infirmary were only five of the many employees who followed Henry Rearden in his retreat from society. Rearden Steel shut itself down completely. In the month that followed, one manager would try to run them and would ask for a transfer, and the next manager would enrich himself by selling off most of the equipment.+ − − Henry Rearden and his employees all joined the community that Henry came to know variously as Mulligan's Valley and [[Galt's Gulch]]. There Henry met [[John Galt]] for the first time. When he did, he had two words to say:{{cquote|Thank you.}} Line 229:
Line 230: − + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + − From the account given of Dagny Taggart's uninvited visit to the Gulch, and the things that several of its residents said of Henry, he was enthusiastically received by everyone, even one [[Andrew Stockton]], a foundry owner who realized that Henry Rearden must inevitably put him out of business.+
→Henry goes on strike
== Henry goes on strike ==
== Henry goes on strike ==
When he came to himself, his shop superintendent assured him that the rioters were beaten and on the run, and told his side of how the riots had started. It was much as Henry could have expected from Tony's account. But the superintendent provided a further detail: that their new furnace foreman, one Frank Adams, who had started working for Rearden Steel back in September, had organized the defense of the plant and had been the man who rescued Rearden from the violent rioters.
=== Waking up ===
When he came to himself, he was lying on a couch in his office. The chief physician had treated him for the blow he had gotten to his head. Henry had suffered a mild concussion, and the doctor advised rest.
The mills superintendent assured Henry that the rioters were beaten and on the run, and told his side of how the riots had started. It was much as Henry could have expected from Tony's account. But the superintendent provided a further detail: that their new furnace foreman, one Frank Adams, who had started working for Rearden Steel back in September, had organized the defense of the plant and had been the man who rescued Rearden from the violent rioters.
Henry asked to be left alone in his office. He now had many things to think about, including his family, the Washington officials with their "unification" plans, and now the riot. He was now ready to give up his steel company, because in no sense could he say that he owned it any longer.
Henry asked to be left alone in his office. He now had many things to think about, including his family, the Washington officials with their "unification" plans, and now the riot. He was now ready to give up his steel company, because in no sense could he say that he owned it any longer.
The two men talked for about an hour, during which Francisco told Henry the details of the great strike, and the man who led it.
The two men talked for about an hour, during which Francisco told Henry the details of the great strike, and the man who led it.
=== Taking leave ===
Henry went back to his apartment, packed a valise, and cleaned out his safe. The only thing of real value that he had was, of course, the gold bar that Ragnar Danneskjold had handed him. Francisco probably assured him that that was all that he would need, but in any event Ragnar Danneskjold had already told him that he had an account in Midas Mulligan's bank, located in the secret community that Dagny had visited, and that this account held an amount of money equal to his [[income tax]] payments for the previous twelve years.
Henry went back to his apartment, packed a valise, and cleaned out his safe. The only thing of real value that he had was, of course, the gold bar that Ragnar Danneskjold had handed him. Francisco probably assured him that that was all that he would need, but in any event Ragnar Danneskjold had already told him that he had an account in Midas Mulligan's bank, located in the secret community that Dagny had visited, and that this account held an amount of money equal to his [[income tax]] payments for the previous twelve years.
The rest of Henry's leavetaking, one can only infer from later accounts. Henry was, of course, in no shape to drive. But Francisco would almost certainly have brought at least one of his former employees at D'Anconia Copper with him, to back him up. That man probably drove Rearden in his automobile to the Reading Airport, the most likely place where he would have kept his aircraft. Most likely, John Galt himself greeted him there. Francisco would have alerted him as soon as he got wind of the planned riot. When Henry met Galt for the first time, he had two words to say:{{cquote|Thank you.}}
To which John Galt replied,{{cquote|If you understand that I acted for my own sake, then you know that no gratitude is required.}}
To which John Galt replied,{{cquote|If you understand that I acted for my own sake, then you know that no gratitude is required.}}
To which Henry answered, {{cquote|''That'' is why I thank you.}}
To which Henry answered, {{cquote|''That'' is why I thank you.}}
Henry then wrote a very brief note to [[Dagny Taggart]] and asked Francisco to mail it from a post office on the outside:{{cquote|I have met him. I don't blame you.}}
=== Arrival in Atlantis ===
Galt had Henry's aircraft fueled and ready to fly. The two men took off, with Galt at the control yoke, and headed west-southwest. Rearden was no doubt surprised, but only for a moment, to find Galt flying toward the very mountains where Dagny had disappeared last summer. Galt then headed for that same weird valley, the one that receded as the plane got close. And then Rearden saw something that staggered his imagination: after Galt made a brief radio call, the craggy valley ''disappeared,'' revealing the lights of a thriving village and what were obvious landing lights of a single runway. So instead of a crash landing, Galt piloted them to a very safe landing.
Rearden no doubt asked the obvious question, "What is this place?" To which Galt probably replied, "That depends on whom you ask. I call it Mulligan's Valley. Most of the residents here call it [[Galt's Gulch]]. A mutual acquaintance of ours, who is still in the outer world, calls it Atlantis—I think Francisco suggested that name without knowing it. But the important thing is that you may now call it home."
Rearden spent his first night in a room in Galt's small cabin in the valley. The walls of that room were covered with cryptic messages and signatures. Rearden recognized nearly all of them: [[Ellis Wyatt]], [[Ken Danagger]], [[Lawrence Hammond]], and many others. When Rearden woke up next morning, he likely planned to leave no message of his own—but would have wanted to leave one anyway. Its likely content: "Free at last."
The first person to visit him was Dr. Thomas Hendrix, a famous neurosurgeon who had quit the outer world many years ago, when the country had embraced socialized medicine. Hendrix likely gave him some fast-acting drugs of his own invention that would help him recover much faster from his injuries. When the time came to settle his bill, Henry gave the doctor an IOU. Henry knew, of course, that he already had a very large bank account to draw on; all he would need to do was see [[Midas Mulligan]] to discuss opening it.
Henry wouldn't get his car back until a day or so later. (The record for driving cross-country is just under forty-five hours of continuous driving.) But Francisco landed in mid-day, carrying at least five passengers: the mills superintendent, the chief metallurgist, the chief engineer, Henry's long-serving secretary, and the chief physician of the former Rearden Steel. Many other former Rearden Steel employees would arrive later, driving in through the one-and-only camouflaged road into the valley.
John Galt allowed Henry to write a very brief note to [[Dagny Taggart]], a letter that Midas Mulligan's men would mail from a post office on the outside:{{cquote|I have met him. I don't blame you.}}
That night, John Galt took Henry Rearden to dinner at Midas Mulligan's manor house. There Mulligan greeted him:
{{Gentlemen, I give you Rearden Steel!}}
The men of Atlantis received him enthusiastically. This was true even of one [[Andrew Stockton]], a foundry owner who realized that Henry Rearden must inevitably put him out of business. Henry made immediate plans to settle his employees (those who had followed him) in the valley, a process that involved building individual houses for them all. (Galt's Gulch did not have a dedicated homebuilder, but the Rearden workforce could probably build houses for themselves readily enough.) Then he plunged into an effort to rebuild Rearden Steel, knowing that his old plant was now shut down and would soon be in no condition to operate, with government men to try to run it.
== The decline and shutdown of Rearden Steel ==
Immediately after Rearden's disappearance, the Unification Board nationalized Rearden Steel as the property of a "deserter." Orren Boyle was in no condition to take it over, however. Without Henry Rearden, the Steel Unification Plan was an utter failure. Boyle suffered a nervous breakdown, and a physician set him to weaving baskets.
A member of Boyle's faction became the first People's Manager of Rearden Steel. A month later, with orders unfulfilled and the gradually worsening failure of discipline at the plant, that manager begged for a transfer.
The next manager came from the Cuffy Meigs faction. He demanded discipline at the point of a gun. And then, weeks later, he vanished to an undisclosed location. The government auditors found that he had sold most of the cranes, the conveyors, the supplies of refractory brick, the emergency generator, and the carpet from Rearden's old office to various racketeers in [[Europe]] and Latin America.
After that, discipline broke down completely. Older workers and newer workers would fight one another over trivial causes. And then, on the night of January 22, some worker, whose name is unrecorded, set fire to a building and declared that he did it "to avenge Hank Rearden."
Rearden almost certainly heard about it, according to John Galt's strict code:
{{No one stays in this valley by faking reality in any manner whatever.}}
But he wouldn't let it bother him. By then, he would have far more important things to do. [[Steel]] was probably the most important commodity that Midas Mulligan had had to import from the outside, through his secret sources. Rearden took that market away from Mulligan, probably to Mulligan's immense relief, by building his own furnace (or furnaces) and pouring Rearden Metal. The raw materials for that were readily available, between Andrew Stockton's iron mine, Ken Danagger's coal mine, and D'Anconia Copper Number One. Rearden, being an impatient man, would have organized his and Francisco's workforces into a joint force to build a truck road from the valley to the copper mine. Both men knew that Francisco needed to transport his copper ore by rail, not on muleback or even by truck. But they would have to wait until Dagny Taggart finally made up her mind to quit and join them in the valley, for only she knew how to build a railroad along the ledges of the truck route at a non-prohibitive cost.
== Rescue of John Galt ==
== Rescue of John Galt ==