The Devil Delivered and Other Tales by Steven Erikson Page A

sure?”
    “In the way Mother adapts, in the way she refuses to surrender.” Sitting Bull raised his rifle and sighted down its length. “In my days, the white men and Indian alike gathered the buffalo skulls beside the tracks of the iron horse. We piled them into mountains. They were taken away, and ground up into fertilizer. The fertilizer was used in the breaking of the prairie soil so that crops could be planted, and so the buffalo returned to the earth, and gave forth life.”
    “Your irony’s a little too bitter for me, friend.”
    “In your words, then, William. Nature revises. She is each life and she is all life, and so she will outlive us all.”
    “There’s secret reports,” William said. “Data compiled on the Inside populations—inside the rad shields, inside the cities and complexes. The trends are alarming. Increased toxemia across the board, dropping fertility—inactive, sluggish sperm in low numbers, impermeable ova, toxic lactation syndrome, chronic respiratory diseases, a whole host of immunodeficiency disorders. Projections bring to mind the fate of the Neanderthal in Europe when faced with what could’ve been as little as a point-five percent differential in infant mortality rates, when compared with the emerging true humans. Ten thousand years and complete displacement, absolute extinction.”
    “Who waits in the wings this time?” Sitting Bull asked.
    William smiled at the Lakota chief. “You already know. Peripheral populations. Pressured populations. Are you ready for that, Sitting Bull? To look upon your children and see that their faces are no longer a match to yours?”
    The old man thumbed back the flintlock and squinted as he aimed. “Where I am, these ghost buffalo seem real. I still take pleasure in hunting them.”
    “Meaning?”
    “Meaning, William, that my face isn’t the face of God.” He squeezed the trigger.
    The loud report echoed dully across the valley.
    NOACOM: Freedom Files require clearance. Who is this, please?
    JOHN JOHN: ********
    NOACOM: Welcome to Freedom Files. This information block complies with all New United Nations charters and conventions. Proceed with Query.
    JOHN JOHN: University of Saskatchewan, Applied Sciences Ministry, Department of Anthropology\student field projects\summer 2014.
    NOACOM: Seven graduate field projects are listed. Six are sponsored by USask Board of Funding. One is through private funding. List?
    JOHN JOHN: Private funding only.
    NOACOM: Potts, William. Project Description unavailable.
    JOHN JOHN: Student File, Potts, William.
    NOACOM: Please note: Student File, Potts, William, is docked with Securicom. Proceed?
    JOHN JOHN: Yes.
    NOACOM: Password?
    JOHN JOHN: …
    NOACOM: Password?
    JOHN JOHN: *M*A*L*A*C*H*A*I
    NOACOM: Good evening, Dean Roberts.
    JOHN JOHN: Open file, please.
    NOACOM: Potts, William, student number 5257525
    Department of Anthropology, Graduate Studies
    Family Status (last updated A.C.12):
    Deceased parent:   Berman Potts, PhD, Mathematics
    Deceased parent:   Lucinda née Bolen, PhD, Biology
    Deceased sibling:   John (elder) (leukemia, 2011)
    Deceased sibling:   Arthur (twin, SIDS, 1987)
    Course History:
    Pertinent to field of study:
    Intro. Applied Anthro 0:01
    Applied Anthro 0:02
    Culture Dynamics 0:02
    Social Evolution 0:02
    Extinction Dynamics 0:02
    Systems Theory in Anthro 0:03
    Processual Anthro 0:03
    Revised History of Anthro 0:04
    Additional Studies:
    Biological Ethics 0:01
    Systems Theory in Gov’t (required)
    Communications (required)
    History of the Oral Tradition
    Semantics (required)*
    Genetics and the Mind
    Advanced Systems Theory (required)*
    Advanced Communications (required)
    Models of Multiculturalism*
    * denotes incomplete
    Major Papers (Grade):
    Ethics in Systems Theory (sat)
    Communicating Knowledge (sat)
    Rewiring the Mind (brain function and instinct) (sat)
    The Evolution of Fieldwork (fail)
    Unpredictability in Systems Theory (fail)
    Failures: revision required, status