The Year of the Flood

Adam One gathers everyone in the Edencliff Rooftop Garden, where they celebrate Toby’s promotion to full teaching status. He gives a speech explaining how humans are similar to primates because of their appetites and “uncontrollable emotions” (62). Adam One emphasizes that God had the power to create humans from dust, but instead he chose “the long and complex process of Natural and Sexual Selection” (62), with an intention that this will make humans more humble. Yet the opposite happened: People wanted to rise over everyone else on Earth and neglected their “sacred task of stewardship” (63). Adam One concludes his speech by urging all Gardeners not to consider themselves as “exceptional, alone in all Creation in having Souls” (63), but to respect and protect all living creatures on Earth. The Gardeners’ gathering ends with them singing the hymn “Oh Let Me Not Be Proud,” in which they ask God to help them stay humble and to remember their connection to other primates on Earth.

The narrative switches to Ren. She recalls the night when the Waterless Flood began. That afternoon, as in the days that preceded, she was locked in the Sticky Zone, and her boss, Mordis, called her on the videophone to check on her.