Everything became very exciting.  There was a big explosion.  Adrial was naked and he stroked her breasts as she cooed in his ear.  She knew she would die in his arms.  She dyed her hair red, so that all would see what a whore she was for him.  “I love it,” said Cassie, “I’ll do something that matches.  We are sisters of sin!”

“People, I don’t know how this happened, and in one sense I don’t know why.  But in another sense I do know why.  It happened because this city has a soul.  We are all a part of it.  And this city’s soul wants to change.  There are other forces in this world than money and sex and machinery.  We have the right to live beyond those things.  I don’t know how we all got to be here, competing with these monsters for our very lives, I don’t know whether I believe the Hero when he says that they are us.  In a lot of ways I believe we got shafted.  Our spiritual leaders just aren’t that great.  But I know for a fact that it’s better to fight and possibly lose on behalf of a higher power than it is to live your life as the insecure slave of a lower one.  In my lifetime I have watched Usonia fall to its knees at the feet of corporations.  We have no leaders!  We have no religion!  We have no future!  All we have is now.  You’ll notice that Dine Waner and all those other prophets are nowhere to be seen in this now.  They’re out there on the coast enjoying some now full of gourmet food and sacred whores.  But today we’re going to show those motherfucker what now really is!  Today we’re going to make history!”

“There it is, just like I saw it!”  she ran for the hall before Zack could call her back.  It was long and dark, and lined with doors, each with a small window in it.  There were people in the cells.  Some pressed their face against the windows.  Others called out to her, begging to be set free.  She ignored them and glided down the hall as if still in one of her dreams, the noise of the battle fading more and more as she moved deeper and deeper into the bunker, until at last she came to a door that was larger than the rest.  Suddenly she shivered and cried out as she felt something take hold of her awareness, like a fist closing around her head.  “Six … four … three … eight … six … four … three … eight.”  The words were deep and resonant, consuming the rest of her thoughts, repeating again and again until she reached out with her finger to the silver keypad by the door and entered the combination.  The huge double-door slid up into the ceiling with a hiss and a thump and a waft of stale air brushed past her as a wide, dark staircase opened up before her, plunging into darkness.  She glanced back over her shoulder at the yellow light from the cell windows, and wondered if the handful of haggard, dark faces in them would be the last she’d ever see, before she took a deep breath and started downward into a muffled silence so deep she felt as though she were stepping back into the past itself.

“God damn it, Cassie!” shouted Zane.