Paul recovers from an exploded brain and heart attack because God did not want him. Directly, he was concerned about finding a woman of his dreams rather than a commonplace whore. As well he was into undermining the financial structure of the world. He consulted Carmine, an old gypsy friend in Holland, one of the girls in his cell. She put him down.

He decides to run the Boston Marathon. A Paula Gladstone wins and he offers her his hand and gets a peck on the cheek. The race was on. Later he would meet her in a vicious dream when the world was dead and they were the only two left. They marry and have two children during the Period of Automation after the Period of Disinformation. in 3020. Their two children would do what Paul had been incapable of, i.e., make in the world.

Before the monstrous dream, Paul considered himself a writer and was caught up in Passion Plays, Pinball Machines, Videos, and Operas that seemed larger than life.

He finally awakens and despite the anarchy he represents, he has no wish to be strangled, burnt, or beheaded for his heresies. He leaves the reader with the hope that he will find that special woman of means in his next and last book of The Step Series.