The traffic on the city's congested streets came entirely to a halt. All the clocks stood still, registering 11:49 exactly. Had time ceased? Had movement frozen? People got out of their vehicles, which immediately dissolved into the air, leaving the people as a mass on the streets in their hundreds of thousands. Charles moved through the crowds calling out encouraging chants:
We have all the time in the world!
We have time on our side!
We have time on our hands!
We have time in our hands!
The at first hesitant chanting became a deafening, joyous uproar.
Time had stopped, but movement and life hadn't.
