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Then the electroshock generator broke down, and the operator could not repair it. John Galt himself gave the diagnosis of the trouble and suggested a repair, and the rich irony of the situation caused the operator to flee in terror. The three interrogators also fled, after one of them ([[James Taggart]]) cried out that he wanted "to make him scream," and then screamed himself, now that he realized exactly what sort of man he had become.

Then the electroshock generator broke down, and the operator could not repair it. John Galt himself gave the diagnosis of the trouble and suggested a repair, and the rich irony of the situation caused the operator to flee in terror. The three interrogators also fled, after one of them ([[James Taggart]]) cried out that he wanted "to make him scream," and then screamed himself, now that he realized exactly what sort of man he had become.

Not long afterward, Francisco d'Anconia, Dagny Taggart, Henry Rearden, and Ragnar Danneskjold staged a commando raid on the laboratory, killed several security guards, and rescued John Galt. As their escape plane overflew the Eastern seaboard, the entire ground fell dark in an instant. The collapse of the world system was now complete.

 

Three hours later, he heard a voice he recognized as that of Francisco d'Anconia ordering a guard to surrender himself. Then the hurried footsteps of four people pounded down the stairs to the single door. Galt heard several knocks on the door, and sounds of someone picking the lock.

 

Then Francisco d'Anconia rushed in, held his arm out to bar the entry of those behind him, and surveyed the scene. Galt caught his eye and smiled at him. Francisco lowered his arm, and then Dagny Taggart, Henry Rearden, and Ragnar Danneskjold raced in. Dagny rushed to his side and embraced him, while Ragnar and Henry cut him loose. Francisco offered him brandy, and Galt asked for a cigarette. (Midas Mulligan made the best cigarettes in the world, all bearing a dollar sign as their trademark.)

 

 

 

Ragnar concentrated on smashing the torture equipment to smithereens. Then the rescue party helped Galt to dress, and left the chamber. Galt took note of the signs of the battle, such as it had been, that his four rescuers had fought: five enemy dead, one "friendly" wounded (Rearden, who had sustained a flesh wound), a window broken in, and some other minor damage. As clean a rescue as he could have asked for.

 

The five made their way to Francisco d'Anconia's plane and took off in it at once, with Ragnar at the controls. Once they were in the air, Galt turned to Rearden and thanked him for his rescue. He and Rearden then repeated what they had said to one another last November, faithfully in reverse. Then Galt heard Ragnar giving a radio report, and Francisco told him that half the men in the valley had come to help rescue him. Galt spoke to one of those men: Hugh Akston. Galt didn't ask how Ragnar could have allowed such an oldster to take part in a mission more appropriate to a man half his age. Hugh Akston was the one such "oldster" who could have insisted.

 

As their escape plane overflew the Eastern seaboard, the entire ground fell dark in an instant. The collapse of the world system was now complete. Galt said only one thing: he told Dagny, seated next to him, not to look down.

Galt returned to Mulligan's Valley and finished out the winter there. He married Dagny, with Judge Narragansett presiding. He watched with pride as she built the narrow-gauge railroad for Francisco, and even accepted an order to build the world's first electrostatic locomotive for it.

Galt returned to Mulligan's Valley and finished out the winter there. He married Dagny, with Judge Narragansett presiding. He watched with pride as she built the narrow-gauge railroad for Francisco, and even accepted an order to build the world's first electrostatic locomotive for it.