The Grand Design of the Mother: Page 55

The plight of these first Likpas was quite unenviable: thrown in a world of biochemistry without feelings, victims of a monstrous biology experiment, alone in a raw mineral landscape where everything had do be built and cultivated from scratch... They had no resource other than their hands, with no recourse in case of injury or disease.

Happily they were faring well, despite some setbacks. Instructed by experience, they rebuilt a better house, more solid, more waterproof, and large enough to host a dozen of them. Indeed at this point their crops allowed me for more births, although at a slower pace.

Some iron oxide nodules in the streams around hinted at iron ores, and smitheries would certainly be a huge step forward.