and the fact that they are all sterile. These three people will teach various fields of science to the new race. Teddy Ottinger will teach engineering, Geraldine O'Connor biology and genetics, and Dr. Giles Lowell medicine. Kalki's wife Lakshmi is herself a physicist, and Kalki is a chemical engineer. Kalki succeeds in carrying out his plan and the entire world dies, leaving behind only Kalki, his wife Lakshmi and the three other Perfect Masters. However, Kalki's plans go awry when Lakshmi miscarries the first baby girl and it is learnt that Lakshmi is incapable of having children with Kalki. At this point, the only other male in the group, Dr. Lowell, announces that he never had a vasectomy and is the only one now with whom Lakshmi can conceive a child. It had been his plan all along to be the one to father the new human race with Lakshmi, whom he claims to be in love with. When Dr. Lowell admits his treachery, Kalki kills him. The story ends with a postscript from Kelly/Kalki, 43 years after the apocalyptic plague. In the interim period, Teddy died 27 years after the plague and Geraldine (Teddy's lover and Kalki's second consort) died, as has Lakshmi. Kalki has become the last human alive, and with his death, the human species will become extinct. It is implied that simians will inherit the post-apocalyptic world. Characters The five Perfect Masters Kalki, formerly James J. Kelly – Ex-US Army chemical-warfare chemist and purported 10th reincarnation of the god Vishnu; eventual last human survivor. Lakshmi, formerly Doris Pannicker – Nuclear physicist and reincarnation of Vishnu's wife. Dr. Giles Lowell (also CIA agent Dr. Ashok in disguise) – Medical doctor and avatar of Ravana. Geraldine O'Connor – Biochemist and geneticist. Theodora Hecht Ottinger (Teddy) – Engineer, aviatrix, and the novel's narrator. Reception Kalki was a finalist for the 1978 Nebula Award for Best Novel. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt gave Kalki a mixed review, saying that while the story is initially entertaining, "an icy wind blows throughout the novel, and when all is said and done that wind has blasted the characters and plot of Kalki into just so many opinions ... By the end, it doesn't seem like fiction at all that we're reading, but just another clever dissertation by Gore Vidal." Time critic R. Z. Sheppard took a more favorable view, finding the novel "an amusing, brittle tissue