Nancy Kress: After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall

“Yes!” Tommy beamed at Pete. “You did make a big adventure!”

Pete clutched McAllister’s arm. “But I have to finish telling you what Julie—”

“Later,” McAllister said. “They’ll be time. There will be lots of time.”

Pete nodded. He raced with the others to where the Shell had been. The fertilizer machine was gone, the disinfectant and clean-water streams were gone, the Grab machinery was gone. Terrell and Pete each grabbed a rolled-up tent and staggered with it back down the slope. Darlene and Caity lugged buckets of soy stew from what had been the hot part of the farm. Over armfuls of canvas Pete spied Eduardo halfway down the incline to the sea, stooping to examine some low bushy plants.

“‘Abide with me,’” Darlene howled. “‘The darkness deepens’” until Caity told her to shut the fuck up.

For just a moment, Pete felt afraid. The Shell was all he’d ever known except for the Grabs, those terrifying jolts into places he didn’t belong. The Shell had been ugly and boring, but it had been home. Sort of. A cage-sort-of-home. And now—

Had the Tesslies really captured the Survivors, caged them, and twenty years later let them out because the Tesslies wanted to help? And what were they, anyway? Robots, aliens, Darlene’s angels, res-cuers—maybe not even McAllister would ever know.

The moment of fear passed. The Tesslies were gone. This was now. He was here.

A bird swooped overhead, and on the wind came the sweet smell of warm rain.

No book is ever the work of one person. I’d like to thank those who helped make this one possible:

Editor and publisher Jacob Weisman, who made so many valuable suggestions for revision.

Marty Halpern, copyeditor extraordinaire, who not only has one of the sharpest eyes in the business but also understands the difference between copyediting and co-authoring.

Jill Roberts, for her cheerful and prompt emails keeping me in the publishing loop.

And, always, my husband Jack Skillingstead for his encouragement and support.

“An ecological apocalypse so real that it’s like a three-dimensional object that can be viewed from all sides.”

“Nancy Kress displays all her usual strengths in After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall : strong plotting, fast-paced action, complex and interesting characters, thought-provoking speculation. But there’s something more here: a beautiful meditation on the fate of the earth, an elegy, a warning—and a glimpse of hope.”

“This is Nancy Kress in top form, but more importantly, this is SF done right. Here are big ideas about the environment and the future of humanity, married to an intimate story of family, community, and motherhood. With aliens and time travel to boot! I don’t know of another writer who balances the global and the personal with such skill. I inhaled this story, and was sorry for it to end.”

“This story, of the terrible choices people must make in the face of ecological catastrophe, asks wrenching questions— What does it take to remain human? What is survival worth? —and answers with the authority that Kress always brings to bear on both science and humanity.”

“The book is typical Kress, which means impossible to put down. A gripping tale of human survival.”

“ After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall is the coming of age story for the human race. Nancy Kress has written a chillingly plausible tale of the end of the world.”

© 2012 by Nancy Kress

This is a work of fiction. All events portrayed in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form without the express permission of the publisher.

Cover & interior design by Elizabeth Story

Tachyon Publications

1459 18 thStreet #139

San Francisco, CA 94107

415.285.5615

www.tachyonpublications.com

tachyon@tachyonpublications.com

smart science fiction & fantasy

Series Editor: Jacob Weisman

Editor: Marty Halpern

Project Editor: Jill Roberts

ISBN 13: 978-1-61696-065-0

ISBN 10: 1-61696-065-5

First Edition: 2012

Printed in the United States of America by Worzalla

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