America, Reconstructionism -- her dream isn't dead.

I don't wanna hear it.

This is the face of our new hope.

Our new America.

Amelie?

My mother may be gone, but I'm here.

And you, Sam, you're here, too.

Been ten years since you saw each other, right?

And in all that time, she hasn't aged a day.

He knows why.

My body's still on the Beach.

I don't get to grow older.

But you do, Sam.

You look good.

So you're serious, then,

about "reconnecting" everyone and everything?

Someone has to succeed Bridget, Sam.

More importantly, someone has to carry on her legacy

and see our country rebuilt.

Samantha America Strand,

our new president.

A new beginning for our people...

...for our nation.

Under Amelie's leadership,

we'll reestablish the UCA, the United Cities of America.

This is how we'll rebuild our country.

But we'll need your help to do it, Sam.

No. I'm through with this.

I said my good-byes to all of you when I said 'em to Bridget.

We never forgot about you, Sam.

You ran away.

You cut us off.

Amelie put together an expedition --

the best of Bridges I -- and went west.

I led them past craters and BT territory.

I kept them safe while they searched for survivors.

Never once missed a BT.

Saw them coming a mile away.

We convinced community after community to join the UCA,

and we left behind our own people to help them.

It took us three years,

but we managed to make it all the way to Edge Knot City.

All the way to the Pacific?

Jesus.

Yeah. But then everything went to hell.

The team was wiped out, and Amelie was taken.

"Taken?"

I'm not being kept in a cell or anything like that.

I'm allowed to use their facilities

and to speak with you whenever I want.

I just can't leave the city.

It's all to safeguard the continued independence

of Edge Knot City.

That's what her keepers are saying at least.

They want the UCA to leave them be.

Amelie's their insurance policy in case we don't.

Who're these assholes again?

Homo Demens. Militant separatist group.

They run Edge Knot City.

I've heard of 'em.

Buncha terrorists who go around towns killing people

and leaving craters.

Right. Nothing's off-limits for them.

Not even engineering voidouts.

You think the suicide that took out Central Knot

was one of theirs?

Could be.

There are extremists like the Demens everywhere,

plotting in the shadows.

They're decentralized by nature.

No one organization to rule them all -- just a common ideology.

I know not everyone shares our vision for the future.

If we Americans don't come together again,

humanity won't survive.

I carried my mother's message to people all across the country.

But not everyone was willing to accept it.

More than a few would rather stay isolated.

Keep to themselves, go it alone.

Like you, Sam.

They think that America can only be rebuilt by force --

by men who tell them what to do,

who take away their freedom and put them in shackles.

And what'd you put on me, huh?

You're no better than the Demens.

Just another kind of cult.

They're not shackles, Sam.

They're a symbol of our bonds.

That's what we need right now --

not to stand apart, but to come together,

to form chiral KNOTs and reconnect.

Sam, we want you to go west and finish what Amelie started.

The people she left behind have been hard at work

setting up chiral network terminals.

But these terminals are still isolated.

We need you to bring them online.

And for that, you'll need a Q-pid.

This contains all the necessary security and operations

protocols to integrate a terminal into the chiral web.

Take the Q-pid west, Sam,

and reconnect the people of our great nation.

And when you get to Edge Knot City,

find Amelie and bring her home.

After that, I'll take over the presidency and carry on

Mother's work to save the country.

This was Bridget's dying wish.

This is how we'll move forward.

Please, Sam. We need you.

I'm Sam Porter "Bridges" now.

I'm not a Strand.

Hell, I'm not even part of this outfit.

You all saw to that.

I'm not getting involved with you or anyone else ever again.

Wait!

See?

It's like I'm not even here.

Same as it ever was.