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the eye,
"We're used to breathing purified air, with more oxygen, less
CO 2 , and no pollutants. Besides that there's the
ultraviolet ... and it doesn't look like there's much food to be
had ... "
    Teller narrowed her eyes and almost hissed, "Where do
you come from?"
    "Underground," Evie said.
    Eye of Eagle, watching intently, whistled softly, "So
that's where they went. We thought so."
    "We mean you no harm," Garret said.
"After our people went underground, they changed. They realized
what they'd done, and began the search and study of methods to undo
the damage. Unlike the scientists you spoke of who were pawns of the
Evildoers, New Scientists are trained in holistic thinking. Our
purpose is benevolent."
    Eye of Eagle, his blue eyes thoughtful, sighed,
"Sometimes, our finest dreams generate our worst nightmares." He
shrugged, "Where were you going in your fine vehicle?"
    "Southeast sector has lost their food supply. We're
bringing emergency rations and replacement producers." At the
puzzled look on their faces, Garret added, "Producers are microbes
that turn organic material into edible protein."
    "Organic material?" Eye of Eagle questioned.
    "Yes, organic waste, petroleum and so forth."
    At this, first Eye of Eagle, and then the other two
Mountain people began to laugh uproariously. Garret and Evelyn
looked at each other in wonder and waited for the outburst to
subside. Eye of Eagle tried to explain, "We find it very funny that
you say on one hand that you are so different from your ancestors
while at the same time you use petroleum to make your food. This is
a contradiction."
    When Evie thought to argue this point, he added,
"There is waste from your food production, isn't there? Some kind
of, I'm sure, completely innocuous, chemical by-product?" From the
look on her face he saw that he was right, "You contain it of
course," he added, his face a study in seriousness with a hint of
merriment behind it.
    "We do," Evie answered.
    As suddenly as the laughter had begun, all signs of
mirth disappeared from Eye of Eagle's face. "You are not of Earth,"
he said, getting up. "You are other."
    Teller and Cries at the Moon also got up and Evie and
Garret jumped to their feet. "Wait," Evie cried, "Wait."
    Eye of Eagle looked at her and waited.
    She reached out and took his big, rough hand in her
small, soft ones. They both studied the contrast as she spoke.
"Perhaps we are 'other' as you say, but it is not by choice. Garret
and I cannot help it if we came from underground. When we were only
eight we discovered an exit and stepped upon the surface of this
beautiful Earth. Since then we've worked every moment of our lives
to try and find our way back, to heal this world of the sickness
our fathers wrought on it. We cannot change who we came from,
anymore than you can change your history. Please, help us. We don't
want to be separate. We want to be of Earth."
    Eye of Eagle heard the passion in her voice and
nodded. "We are dying," he said, "every day another man discovers a
cancer, another woman miscarries an obscenity, which, thank the
Mother, does not live, or it becomes apparent that another child is
retarded or otherwise mentally deficient."
    "You created this world!" Teller cried.
    Tears coursed down Evie's cheeks, and Garret stepped
in to support her. "Not us," he said, "we didn't create it. We were
born into it just as you were."
    "It's so," Eye of Eagle said. "They're not
responsible. They are as much victims as we are. Perhaps more so."
He took Teller's arm, wiry and taut with anger, and spoke directly
to her. "They're not tough enough to survive here. When they die,
they won't return to the Mother, for they don't know her. They're
alone, cut off. We should pity them." To Evie he said, "Forgive
Teller, she's lost many children."
    Evie spoke softly, directly to the despairing woman,
"I'm not permitted to have children."
    Despite herself, Teller felt sorry for the
woman—living underground, locked away in the dark. She is a