uclear power, the need for hydroelectric sources
vanished and with it went the great dams and reservoirs with their
vast, wasteful surfaces of open water that evaporated by the thousands
of acre-feet before ever being utilized by man. The beds of the great
rivers were dry and the cities spread upon them together with the new
controlled auto-farms. Only the smaller rivers and streams continued
to flow until they reached a predesignated flow force. Then they
vanished, spilling down into tunnels and flowing for hundreds of miles
along subterranean aqueducts into great storage reservoirs beneath the
surface of the land and protected from the drain of the sun and wind.
From these, each precious drop of water was rationed upwards to meet
the increasing needs of the people. And still there was never enough.

* * * * *

It was still snowing when Troy and Alec awoke in the morning. The
snows had drifted over both the domes on the windward side. They
cooked a quick breakfast and then Alec began stowing the camp gear
into its compact containers. Troy took a small hand shovel and crawled
out through the double opening of the front dome and tunneled his way
up out of the snow. Twin plumes of vapor rose through the snow that
curved in gentle hummocks over the buried domes. The tall engineer
shoveled a short path to the downed spruce and cleared the way into
the shelter where the Sno cars waited. He removed the protecting
boughs and shoveled a short ramp out of the trough to the surface of
the snow.

The temperature had risen during the night and the snow had changed
from the crystal dry powder of the night before to fluffy, gentle
flakes, falling in a steady curtain through the trees. Troy opened the
side hatch of the bubble canopy of his Sno car and climbed in. He slid
into the single bucket seat and with a flick of his finger set the
tiny reaction motor into operation. Moments later heat filled the
bubble and a cloud of steam moisture flared from the thrust pipes.

The ten-foot-long tapered Snow car sat on twin broad-planted skis in
front with a single retractable wheel raised between them for snow
travel. At the wider rear, another pair of short, broad ski blades
rested on the surface of the snow on either side of a wide, continuous
track assembly. A pair of handle bars, much like an early-day
motorcycle, extended into the bubble from the front fork. The grips
were studded with additional control