The Stand, Part III: The Betrayal

[Glen, Larry, Stu, and Ralph talk about the imminent restarting of the Boulder power station.]

Glen Bateman:
The plague took the people, but it couldn't take the gadgets, could it? No, they're all still out there. Everything from electric can openers to cobalt bombs, just waiting for someone to come along and pick 'em up. And the scavenger hunt… starts today.

Ralph Bretner:
Ah, hell, Professor. What's wrong with puttin' the rocks back in people's scotch?

Glen Bateman:
It's the old way. And the old way was a death trip.

Stu Redman:
That's a little heavy, don'tcha think?

Glen Bateman:
Do you? There's an old woman down there who might tell ya different, East Texas. If she'd talk about this end of it at all, that is.

Stu Redman:
What's the problem?

Glen Bateman:
I don't know if there is one. But I know I'm very concerned about the way things are going. She wants a mass meeting. Except she says it's really God who wants the meeting. We say, "Fine. You're fine, Mother. God's fine, too." And then we go right back to tinkering with the power station, trying to recreate the world that damn near choked the human race to death. What's wrong with this picture?