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John shoves his way through the crowd of Deltas coming off shift and waiting for their daily ration of soma. As he looks around, he's overwhelmed by the sea of sameness—all one hundred and sixty-two people with just two faces and voices—two identical Bokanovsky groups, one male, one female. He thinks of them as maggots swarming around, like the ones that swarmed over Linda. "How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world…." The words now mock him. Then a loud voice announces the soma distribution and the Deltas line up. Enslaved, thinks John. Linda was enslaved, and she died. Others should live in freedom, he thinks, and the world will be made beautiful. It's suddenly clear what he has to do. He rushes through the crowd and begs the shocked Deltas not to take the soma. It's poison, he tells them. Unable to calm him, the Deputy Sub-Bursar calls Helmholtz. Helmholtz and Bernard arrive as the Savage is shouting at the Deltas. Exasperated by their sullen stupidity, he's calling them babies, asking if they like mewling and puking. Then he grabs up the chest containing the soma pillboxes and starts throwing the boxes out the window. Bernard tells Helmholtz he's mad, but Helmholtz laughs exultantly and presses into the crowd. The Deltas are surrounding the Savage, and he and Helmholtz are punching at them, all the while throwing the pills out the window. Bernard is paralyzed by indecision, afraid of being killed no matter what he does. Then the police arrive, and Bernard throws himself at them, crying, "Help, help!" They push him out of the way and spray the crowd with soma vapor, a few using water pistols filled with anesthetic. Bernard yells at them to hurry; in response, one of the policemen shoots him with the water pistol. Bernard collapses on the floor. A Synthetic Music Box starts playing Anti-Riot Speech Number Two (Medium Strength). A calm and soothing voice, the Voice of Reason, the Voice of Good Feeling, exhorts everyone to be happy and peaceful. Two minutes later, the voice and soma have taken effect. The Deltas are hugging and kissing, and a fresh supply of pillboxes is brought in from the Bursary. They take their pills and move out. The Sergeant asks John if he's come quietly, and he agrees, as does Helmholtz. Bernard has started to make for the door, but is stopped by another policeman. Although he says he can't imagine why they'd want him, he does have to admit he's a friend of the Savage. Everywhere John looks, the New World is filled with sameness. Nothing has any significance, and no one is allowed to feel. John realizes that Linda, like everyone else, has been enslaved by a life of ease. The soma pills are both a symbol and a cause of this slavery, and John tosses them out the window. But the simple-minded Deltas are too much a product of their society to understand his call for freedom. Recognizing the futility in his actions, John grows increasingly frustrated and violent until the police come and restore order with soma vapor and the near-hypnopaedic anti-riot tape. Again, Bernard proves a coward, unable to commit to rebellion or conformity, while Helmholtz dives into the fray to help John.
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