From his high window, William could see the two departments of government. The Department of Fire, where broken bones were manufactured and agitators disappeared, loomed largest out of the foggy distance. William had never been to Fire; it was surrounded by snipers and barricades of burnt-out European cars for half a mile on all sides. Before Fire was the National Mall, now the largest stockcar racing track in the western hemisphere. William's workplace was closer: that was the Department of Earth, where employees would co-ordinate the movement of mud and clay throughout the Union, for use in improvement projects such as wallowing pits and motorcross tracks.