THE END OF THE OLD ORDER

Through Ostrog's viewing apparatus Graham watches the Council House surrounded by devastation.

The defenders have destroyed enormous sections of the surrounding city in an attempt to isolate their position.

Broken halls, severed cables and blackened structures form a wasteland around the final white stronghold.

Ostrog describes casualties and military positions with unsettling calm.

To him the revolt is already decided.

Graham asks whether the Council is truly defeated. Ostrog answers without hesitation: yes.

Across the world other cities have revolted or are waiting for London's result.

The flying stages are controlled. The Council no longer possesses the machinery necessary to recover power.

Ostrog tells Graham that the population now expects to see its Master.

Millions in London are gathering. Other cities will watch through remote transmission.

Graham is instructed to wear black and give the people a short formal phrase.

He submits because he still has no alternative framework for power.

Then the black banner of surrender begins to rise.

The Council has capitulated.

Lincoln arrives with the news that the people are demanding Graham.

Ostrog reminds him that the revolution armed those people and, for the moment, their wishes must be obeyed.

Graham passes medical rooms filled with wounded people on his way toward celebration.

Later Graham travels with Ostrog to witness the formal end of the Council.

The ruined district around the Council House is almost beyond recognition.

People cover every ledge and broken wall.

The surviving white-robed rulers emerge from the government they controlled for generations.

The old political order ends publicly.

Graham has won.

Only now does he begin to understand that victory gives him something more difficult than freedom: responsibility.