The Year of the Flood

Adam One gathers everyone to celebrate the Feast Day, but the Gardeners cannot have an actual feast because they are displaced from the Edencliff Rooftop Garden and now live in the Fernside Truffle cell on the Street of Dreams. Their new shelter is a space allegedly dedicated to botanic splice designers closed for renovation, and the Gardeners have to wear uniforms to create an impression of working there.

Adam One explains that CorpSeCorps destroyed the Edencliff Rooftop Garden because they suspected the group of having connections with the “schismatic and heretical group calling itself MaddAddam” (327), which has recently carried out bio-attacks on the Corporations’ infrastructure. Since they had to evacuate and run into hiding in a hurry, they couldn’t bring anything with them, so they lost all their stashed-away food.

Considering that it is Pollination Day, Adam One reminds everyone of the “mysteries of Plant Reproduction” (328) and the deep symbolism of fruit. He also cautions the Gardeners about a newly created type of bee; they are inserted with micro-mechanical systems that turn them into a “bee cyborg spy controllable by a CorpSeCorps operator, equipped to transmit, and thus to betray” (329).

At the end of their meeting, Adam One ponders whether such bees could be considered a Creature of God.