As the night advanced they opened thepacks and set up the two nylon-mesh tents. Sos dug a pit downstream for offalwhile Sol did isometric exercises. Sola gathered a stock of dry branches forthe fire, whose blaze seemed to give her comfort.

      The bird remained with Sos all this time,moving from his shoulder when he had to get at the pack, but never strayingfar. It did not eat. "You can't live long that way, stupid," hereminded it affectionately. And that became its name: Stupid.

      A white shape rose before him as hereturned from the pit, spookily silent. One of the great hawk moths, hedecided, and stepped toward it.

      Stupid squawked unmelodiously and flew atit. There was a brief struggle in the air-the insect seemed as large as thebird, in this light-then the white collapsed and disappeared into the outsizeavian mouth. Sos understood: his bird was a night feeder, at a disadvantage infull daylight. Probably the hawk had surprised it sleeping and run it downwhile in a befuddled state. All Stupid wanted was a safe place to perch andsnooze by day.

      In the morning they struck camp andadvanced farther into the forbidden area. Still there was no animal life on theground, mammal, reptile or amphibian, nor, be realized was there insect lifethere. Butterflies, bees, flies, winged beetles and the large nocturnal mothsabounded but the ground itself was clean. It was ordinarily the richest ofnature's spawning habitats.

      Radiation in the earth, lingering longerthan that elsewhere? But most insects had a larval stage in ground or water.. .and the plants were unaffected. He squatted to dig into the humus with a stick.

      They were there: grubs and earthworms andburrowing-beetles, seemingly normal. Life existed under the ground and aboveit-but what had happened to the surface denizens?