Changes

== Epilog ==

== Epilog ==

Almost at once, Ragnar Danneskjold laid on a commando-style raid on the [[State Science Institute]] facility where John Galt was being held. At least half the male population of Galt's Gulch, under the command of [[Ellis Wyatt]], waited around the New Hampshire facility while Ragnar, Dagny, Henry Rearden, and Francisco d'Anconia went in by themselves to take the facility by stealth. Dagny drew the first blood in that attack, which succeeded easily because the men who guarded that facility were not only incompetent but also afraid to decide even the simplest things. They found John Galt lashed to a mattress and connected to an electroshock generator that had, happily, broken down. John assured them all that he was unharmed, and that he had known all along that his torturers would never deliver a lethal shock. Hurriedly they unbound him, allowed him to dress, and took him to Francisco d'Anconia's aircraft, which Ragnar had landed nearby.

Now Francisco got Dagny off Manhattan Island, the novel does not describe. Manhattan did not have too many areas, even in those days, where one could take off in a private aircraft. But somehow, not only did Francisco and Dagny get off the island; so did the militia, with orders to proceed at once to Lyme, NH, and the campus of the State Science Institute (probably at the site of the real-life [[United States Army]] Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory).

As they overflew the Eastern seaboard, Dagny gasped as she beheld it plunged into darkness. John told her sternly not to look down, but Dagny had already seen. The lights had gone out, and were not likely to come back on until the society was totally collapsed.

There, Ragnar Danneskjold laid on a commando-style raid on the Institute facility where John Galt was being held. The main militia force, under the command of [[Ellis Wyatt]], waited nearby while Ragnar, Dagny, Henry Rearden, and Francisco d'Anconia went in by themselves to take the facility by stealth. Dagny drew the first blood in that attack, which succeeded easily because the men who guarded that facility were not only incompetent but also afraid to decide even the simplest things. They found John Galt lashed to a mattress and connected to an electroshock generator that had, happily, broken down. John assured them all that he was unharmed, and that he had known all along that his torturers would never deliver a lethal shock. Hurriedly they unbound him, allowed him to dress, and took him to Francisco d'Anconia's aircraft, which Ragnar had landed nearby.

Dagny spent the winter in the Gulch, now as John Galt's wife; presumably they were married in a civil ceremony presided over by [[Judge Narragansett]], the original trial judge in the case of Hunsacker v. Mulligan. (He had joined the strike after being reversed on appeal in that matter.) But now Dagny built the railroad that she had said that she could build for Francisco d'Anconia's [[copper]] mine. Presumably she used rails of Rearden Metal, and ordered the first-ever electrostatic [[locomotive]]s from a company that John Galt could at last build.

As they overflew New York City, Dagny gasped as she beheld it plunged into darkness. John told her sternly not to look down, but Dagny had already seen. The lights had gone out, and were not likely to come back on until the society was totally collapsed.

In the following spring, John took Dagny on a hike to the lip of the ring of mountains around the valley. As they surveyed the now-desolate landscape, John Galt said,{{cquote|The road is cleared. We are going back to the world.}}

Dagny spent the early spring in the Gulch, now as John Galt's wife; presumably they were married in a civil ceremony presided over by [[Judge Narragansett]], the original trial judge in the case of ''Hunsacker v. Mulligan.'' (He had joined the strike after being reversed on appeal in that matter.) But now Dagny built the railroad that she had said that she could build for Francisco d'Anconia's [[copper]] mine. Presumably she used rails of Rearden Metal, and ordered the first-ever electrostatic [[locomotive]]s from a company that John Galt could at last build.

 

Before the last snow had melted, John took Dagny on a hike to the lip of the ring of mountains around the valley. As they surveyed the now-desolate landscape, John Galt said,{{cquote|The road is cleared. We are going back to the world.}}

So saying, he traced a dollar sign in the air before them.

So saying, he traced a dollar sign in the air before them.

{{endspoiler}}

{{endspoiler}}