Atlas Shrugged II: The Strike

It's 2018: the global economy is on the brink of collapse; unemployment has risen to 24%; gas prices have risen to $42 per gallon, which results in rail becoming the nation's primary means of transportation. The consequences of oil entrepreneur Ellis Wyatt's earlier disappearance is a severe national oil shortage. And the government, led by the State Science Institute's Dr. Robert Stadler, is incapable of duplicating Wyatt's ability to produce oil. Dagny Taggart, Vice President in Charge of Operations for Taggart Transcontinental, is shouldering the burden of the nation's crisis. In spite of decreasing profits and increasing government regulations, she struggles to keep her family's railroad alive and the economy moving. But her brother and CEO, James Taggart, stands in her way at every turn, siding with Washington and its cronies. Unbeknownst to society's looters, Dagny uncovers what may very well be the solution to the energy crisis. Deep in the ruins of a once productive factory, Dagny finds a revolutionary motor that could seemingly power the entire World, let alone the struggling nation. But the motor is dead and no explanation of its design can be found. But Dagny faces an even bigger mystery: why are all the country's greatest minds vanishing when the world needs them most? Why, when Dagny reaches out to these important creators, industrialists, and entrepreneurs, are they refusing to offer any explanation? And why is Francisco D'Anconia, Dagny's oldest friend, delivering cryptic messages and purposefully driving his centuries old family business into the ground? The answers to these questions are in a choice. And as Dagny races across the country to find the inventor of the motor -- the one person she believes to be the antidote to her enemies' tactics -- she will discover that the choice is hers. When the motor of the world is slowing to a halt, what is she supposed to do? Who is John Galt?