  We use a path-integral approach to study the tunneling wave function in
quantum cosmology with spatial topology $S^{1}\times S^{2}$ and positive
cosmological constant (the Kantowski-Sachs model). If the initial scale factors
of both $S^1$ and $S^2$ are set equal to zero, the wave function describes
(semiclassically) a universe originating at a singularity. This may be
interpreted as indicating that an $S^1\times S^2$ universe cannot nucleate out
of nothing in a non-singular way. Here we explore an alternative suggestion by
Halliwell and Louko that creation from nothing corresponds in this model to
setting the initial volume to zero. We find that the only acceptable version of
this proposal is to fix the radius of $S^1$ to zero, supplementing this with
the condition of smooth closure (absence of a conical singularity). The
resulting wave function predicts an inflating universe of high anisotropy,
which however becomes locally isotropic at late times. Unlike the de Sitter
model, the total nucleation probability is not exponentially suppressed, unless
a Gauss-Bonnet term is added to the action.
