Anthem

Many days pass before Equality 7-2521 speaks again to the Golden One. He tells her that, in his private thoughts, he does not think of her as Liberty 5-3000. She replies that she does not think of him as Equality 7-2521 and has also given him a personal name: The Unconquered. When he reminds her that such thoughts are forbidden, she answers that he thinks them and that he wishes her to do the same. "Yes," he whispered. "Our dearest one, do not obey us." She steps back, stunned at his words, her eyes wide. "Speak these words again," she says. "Our dearest one." Never, he thinks, have men said this to women.