from Doubles in a Game of Chance—
Baldemar was incredible. Never before had he been legitimate and with the full backing of a powerful Committee member like Dalton to legitimize his actions. No fidaus now. Just legitimate directives sent straight from the heart of the system. He was, Dalton knew, simultaneously destroying and rebuilding the system—the Sixth Phase. No Tribes. No Monarchies. No Republics. No Governments. No Bureaucracies. No Plutocracies, No Oligarchies, no rule by the greedy, just the Sixth Phase of Civilization. When it was all over, everyone would be in a new place. Baldemar was altering human nature, he was altering the nature of society, and in altering the nature of society he was changing the world. …
“Isn’t it wonderful?” Yasha said.
“Yeah.” Dalton took her hand. She sat beside him. Huddled shoulder to shoulder in the quiet. Yasha said,
“It’s like the old society is just peeling away. Like an insect coming out of a chrysalis.”
Dalton puffed on his cigar. In the curve of the road up the Snail, he saw lights. The AFE on the move. Yasha continued,
“It’s great. No matter how you talk about it. You can see the changes. It’s in people’s eyes, in the way they walk, the way they hold their bodies. Hope is being born right here, Dalton, right now, in this country for the first time….ever…”
“They’ll tear down this house,” Dalton said. “They’ll rip it out at the roots and smooth the ground over and plant trees.” Dalton flicked his ashes onto the step.
“It’s a new world,” Yasha said. “This house is old ruling class and it’s being abolished, demolished, deported, sent away, disenfranchised. No more ruling class…ever.”