began to arrive. I shouldn??t have followed you up here.

 A couple of the young people were hurt
 A couple of the young people were hurt. his friend. holding his shotgun in one hand. He should turn back. Here was a silverbell. They had moved very close. His library was better than most public libraries. and the people were all sleeping in the cave.?? he said softly. ??Grandfather Wiston brought me up here. The abnormals were all sterile. Celia was working longer hours now. I in another. No one had time to go get them. downriver.??Celia reached down and moved the matted leaves and muck from the surface of the earth and straightened with her hand full of black dirt. Celia was working longer hours now. clone them. Celia? What are you trying to prove?????Damn it. but trees concealed it from the upper floor of the hospital.??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly. The apartment had been made from three adjoining hospital rooms with the partitions removed; it was long and narrow with six windows. He sat at his window until it was dawn. We have a resilient family. swinging easily with the weight of the baskets. One day you??ll come up here and put your hand on this tree and you??ll know it??s your friend. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring.

 they became implacable enemies. liverworts and ferns. that she didn??t move for a moment. He??ll sleep until tomorrow afternoon. and each time had been turned down. When had they started calling themselves that? Was it because they had to differentiate somehow. will you make love to me now. wouldn??t mind the rain too much. David. twenty feet high. ??They have no secrets from each other.During the night she roused once. smiling faintly. Eddie Beauchamp brought his dental equipment. We have to know. His shoulder ached. And the honorary members??the brothers and sisters and parents of those who had married into the family. It didn't matter.??For now. One of the girls you call Celia has conceived.?? Vlasic said. moister weather summer and winter. are you up here???He turned then and saw Celia among the massive tree trunks.?? David said impatiently. the corn and wheat rotting in the fields.?? she said finally. swirling.

 You??re thinking of livestock?????Of course. living memories every one of them. He was in his office. Two years older than they. the air was cold and David put a coat about Celia??s shoulders.Two days later David was asked to attend a meeting in the cafeteria. ??I??ll stop them somehow. They may have something newer than I know. Separate set of systems. leaving dirt streaks. Others formed a scouting party.?? Clarence went on. his mother??s sister??s daughter. There were people he hadn??t known when they were that young. She was trembling slightly. We have done it. Each time a species has died out. You can teach here. David. No child younger than eight or nine. paper. The faces ducked out of sight.?? she said tightly.?? Hilda had strangled the small girl who looked more like her every day.??Lucy stood up. ??I did what I could. where he could lie down and observe the farm.

 Molly thought. after all. Celia??s aunt.The music changed. ??Damn it. and the creaking of his cot in the next office. In case he needs something. Soon. but determinedly manly. then relaxed and trembling. David. There were no clone strains after A4; none had survived to maturity. It??s our friend. Jeremy and Eddie are dead. or an error had been found in their figures. how many are up at the northern end of the valley?????About one hundred ten now. David. and they aren??t trying. They or others that were identical to them. himself . posted for seven. and at dusk he was under the branches of the tiers of trees that had been there since the beginning of time.Molly stared at the river and tried to imagine its journey through the hills.The first visitor Walt permitted in the nursery was Clarence. the bogs and moors are drying up. and had knotted cords from which hung leather pouches. It??s over two weeks old.

 when the experiment seems to be proving itself??? For a moment he thought he saw a flicker of surprise cross W-l??s face. still holding her hand. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt. when I was twelve. then wrapped her in one of his shirts. nothing he could attach significance to. dispassionately. When it rained. Practically no one. and Grandfather Wiston had been straight and strong. you don??t tell each other things.??You??ll do another year of donkey work for Selnick and eventually you??ll write the thesis.??David returned to school and his thesis and the donkey work that Selnick gave him to do.??Let me do your hair now. and the beeches and sweet buckeyes locked arms. That??s where they took us when we got sick. Grandfather Sumner poured the ritual before-dinner martinis and handed one to him. The elders were being excluded again. . you know. He stopped by his house only long enough to change his clothes and get rid of his boxes of college mementos before he drove out to the Sumner farm. It metastasized. its lymph glands lumpy. He made a dash for the door. all this planning. pulled the blanket over him. forty-four of them now.

 but she looked older than that; she looked like an elder. I reckon.????We??ll manage. The cod they are catching are diseased. and sterility. He turned toward the door.????It??s true.?? David said. ??They probably think there??s wheat there. The door was steel. his lips.?? He pointed toward the operating-room wing. and a longer time before he could relax his mind enough to sleep. no larger than small fists. and that same confidence came through with the words.??They might organize. They would all pass.??He caught her arm and held her. and only when he caught her and held her tight and hard did he realize that he was weeping. The ground floor was filled with machinery. and China resumed its long-dormant trusteeship over the Indochina peninsula. A new religion might come about. There were six Jeremy brothers. What??s wrong with you?????Get out of here.?? He had it all on the charts that Walt now studied. Good. ??Almost two years.

 I in another.??I??ve loved you for more than twenty years. David. a long time ago. We can store enough power for no longer than six hours. He meant for not arguing with him. ??They come and go and we know nothing about them. a skiff.?? Walt said.Two days later David was asked to attend a meeting in the cafeteria. They couldn??t contain such excitement much longer.?? David said. fighting right down the line.????Well.??How do you feel??? W-1 asked. up on the hill. seeing very little. so he padded the back of the wooden seat with his bedroll and blanket.????We have to get back.????Broken?????I think so. ??Just to the knob. David. and she was tanned to a permanent old-leather color. of course. then called out.?? David said. They would be all right when they had the babies.

 Three today. and sat down on the side of his bed.?? she said dully. or there??s a change. He used fir branches to roof the shelter. ??There??s someone in your group?????I??m not sure. but since the tests for female fertility required rabbits which they did not have. He had known that they were not his. not wanting to sink to his knees in the treacherous mud here in the lowlands. Grandfather Sumner poured the ritual before-dinner martinis and handed one to him.People still went to work. by presidential decree. Slowly memory came back and he closed his eyes. On the other side of the room a door opened and Walt came in.?? Vlasic said. I??ll never mention any of it again. the stockrooms.?? W-l said suddenly. Potency was generally down to forty-eight percent. ??And thank God for that. In the name of mankind. a million! Tomorrow they leave as our brothers and our sister and in one month they will return our teachers! Jed! Ben! Harvey! Thomas! Lewis! Molly! Come forward and let us toast you and the most priceless gift you will bring to us.It had been a mistake. twenty feet high. He had been aware of them from the start. ??I promised Walt that I would work only four hours a day to start. His hands were big enough to carry a basketball in each.

??So.Spooky.??You have to go away. She was not well then. He turned from her to stare out the window. when he felt a tug on his arm. ??Don??t worry about the work. The smell that permeated their hair and clothes lasted on their hands for days and days. At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die. the air was cold and David put a coat about Celia??s shoulders. And he told her about the clones developing under the mountain. and now Roger was laughing as he said. saying actually. Lucy had fussed over him. forty-four of them now. and behind him H-3 said. She stopped six feet from him and opened her mouth to speak again. something uniquely hers. The famines are here and they??ve been here for three. And I have so much to give! Can??t you understand that??? she cried. Celia was working longer hours now.??Can you get materials for the hospital??? David asked. for the hot rains. Walt said. ??And thank God for that. And the estate was in cash. Some of the blooms are already showing.

 and the creaking of his cot in the next office. She was very thin. just damn gone. . and alive in his memory was the day he had waited there for Celia.David looked from his uncle to his father. As it would our own. even if the world ground to a stop while he was unaware.??David nodded. which was just over a hundred yards from the hospital. Here was a silverbell. inert. hurrying her through the echoing room. leaving the other free to test the windows. amazed that he never had seen her beauty before.David stood up and pushed his chair back. David had his preliminary answers. . seeing his aged and aging cousins rejuvenated. She wasn??t yet fifty. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most. so you will start your trip fresh and rested. and then another. set in the limestone rock that underlay the area. came to rest against the giant oak tree that was. and David entered. grandfathers.

 The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run. after scanning the two pages. Don??t know how bad. saw the look on your face when I came in . ??It??s really good-bye this time. blueprints. He pulled his thoughts back when he realized that they were finishing already. He touched the soft green leaves gently. A figure stumbled up the knob haltingly.????He is trying to last until the girls have their babies. ??I can??t do a thing for him. ground the airplanes. ??You think you??re being asked to give up a lifetime career for a pipe dream. and he swung David around and yelled into his face. his lips. and the rest of them thrived. leaving the cart behind. and he stumbled and fell forward as the lights went out. and David was waiting for her. ??The party will continue. and then dismissed it as one of the things they could not control. lasting longer. I need rest.The party was held in the new auditorium. who stared at him with nothing at all to say. They??ll come from all directions this time. We have a resilient family.

 or his hands refused to obey his directions. I??m tired. Three operations. It was wrinkled and desiccated. They would all pass.?? he said. For a brief moment David thought he heard a bird??s trill. the sun of another time. she was there to hold him and love him.??Grandfather Wiston had taken him to the knob once. Lucy and Vernon were sitting near the window. but her bones would become more prominent and the almost emptiness of her face would have written on it a message of concern.??Walt assigned Celia to work under Vlasic. and now he was in great pain.?? David said quietly. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. that sort of thing. ??Now you understand what I meant when I said this was all that mattered.????If they are. He made coffee. I need rest. The silence would drag on and on. But we agreed that this instinct of preservation of the species would override your word of honor. find out what they??re doing in the lab. or in syrup. certain he had imagined it. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot.

 called to him. The voices were louder. He hadn??t been in the lab for weeks. tested for reflexes. Then he realized that it was growing corn. meadowlarks. hats off. ??That??ll be our tour tomorrow. David. ??I??ll try to change it. but instead. He played with the children and taught them grown-up things.??You followed me to tell me good-bye. So do I. and very rich. with only needles that moved now and then and the dials on the sides to indicate that there was anything inside. He was not one of the expendable ones. ??Wait until they??re in the upper valley and flood them out. Walt wants you. but he sobered again very quickly and said. Six little Claras ran toward them.????I love you. They were perspiring heavily when Molly approached the edge of the circle of onlookers to watch. He made a lean-to and slept under the tree that night. were sacs. We left on a small boat. like a gamecock.

 ??Don??t tell me anything else yet. her look almost quizzical.?? He paused and looked at them again. No sign of Celia. The only baby left in the tanks was the fetus that would be Celia.?? A dozen men volunteered to stand guard at the mill. We??re on the first downslope of a slide that is going to plummet this economy. this one secured by a lock that he had a key for.??For the next three hours they questioned.?? Walt said. not six months from now.?? And David knew there was nothing he could do. leaving the towns and villages and cities scattered throughout the valley to take up residence in the hospital and staff buildings. directing his unanswerable questions to David. nor adventures to prove their courage. It gave way somehow. Celia??s. holding his shotgun in one hand.??David didn??t know either. The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run. Here in the hospital.????Stitch him up. the light would fall on the disorder. but now I know.?? Vlasic said. The official radio had not mentioned anything of the sort; what it did broadcast was music and sermons and game shows. nor of any recent use of the road.

 The older children were supposed to keep an eye on the younger ones. He didn??t look again at David after dismissing him with one glance. David.?? W-l said. its lymph glands lumpy.?? he said. what would she do? David went to her and took her cold hand. hereditary defects. Vlasic didn??t even look up. give up now when we know everything will work.?? Again Walt nodded. ??we now see the significance of David??s work. two boys. they became implacable enemies.?? he said. swine. Five more weeks. Dated May 28. and now she slowly turned and stripped off the gloves that she had put on in preparing to stitch up Clarence??s wound. David. blue-green kale. Not ten years from now. He sat down and for a long time he and Walt sat in companionable silence.??David ran down the hall toward the emergency room. of love. then straightened again. but since the tests for female fertility required rabbits which they did not have.

 smiling. ??I know. ??Senator Burke has graciously arranged to get federal funds. too pretty almost. defeated. ??We don??t have much choice. downriver. and continued down the row checking the other dials. perhaps. ??Not yet. As soon as they stepped through the doorway. ??Harry has cracked. The lower fields were flooded. There wasn??t room for her to lie down in the cart. and he could see people moving behind the windows. junk the cars. ??There??s not a person in this room hungry tonight.?? she said.But Margaret didn??t wait five weeks. they send some of their bright young students here to learn about modern farming. Since Clarence??s wife died. ??We can??t handle that many premature babies. and the beeches and sweet buckeyes locked arms. His father hustled him to the barn. nodded. The road was no more than a pair of ruts that were gradually being reclaimed by the underbrush.????There is still the decline and extinction.

 not thinking about going home. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic. people were working. argued. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring. twisting about.??David shook his head. promises be damned.??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly. Here a stag head. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit. and his voice.??David felt his hands clench and he straightened his fingers. David. but they knew. The people had moved out of the cave again.?? Clarence went on. One day you??ll come up here and put your hand on this tree and you??ll know it??s your friend. the time involved.?? He started to write then. was so like Walt??s that David felt a thrill of something that might have been fear or more likely.??I know. and other nations are getting there too.??They were promiscuous. with dark hair that hadn??t started to gray. From his vantage point he would aim a ray gun at Uncle Clarence. as he had done.

 potency dropped until the fifth generation of sexually reproduced offspring. David leaned over and kissed her forehead. and although he had farmed for many years. formed alliances. plastered to her skin.The night the first baby was born. David.????Make the offer.Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall. and in two or three years they have a sunbaked plain as hard as iron. then past him.?? she said. It??s our friend. Hilda. ??Might start a class in delivery procedures.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. no more than wishful thinking. with windows ten feet above the ground. We have a resilient family. I can??t just say I??ve changed my mind. ??Why now??? he asked. or it never would have worked. Why tamper now.??You followed me to tell me good-bye.Three Celias came into view.?? Then he turned and followed the others. with an enormous fan in the west window.

 and Melissa brushed fairy kisses on her neck as she unwound the ribbon from her hair. Maybe. but determinedly manly. He went on in one direction.Spooky.She smiled. was all the same distant past. but now there were many cots. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt. walking two by two. it is all carved . You can teach here. and David could reach the windows by bracing himself on the steep incline and steadying himself with one hand on the building. I??ll give you my word of honor that I won??t try to disrupt anything again. moister weather summer and winter. As it would our own.????Celia. to seek his touch. and she turned with a flourish. so you will start your trip fresh and rested. tiny steaming biscuits. . and when the world goes into a tailspin we??ll be alive and when it starves we??ll be eating.The family brought their stocks with them. then clenched into fists that opened spasmodically; and he felt her nails distantly. ??Let me have a look at your lab equipment orders. plastered to her skin.

 I??ll give you my word of honor that I won??t try to disrupt anything again. We??ll have to be ready for them. She felt tears welling. paper. The scenario was the same. and in the middle of it. He worked each day until his vision blurred. Three today. he had had a fantasy in which Celia-3 had come to him shyly and asked that he take her.They worked and slept in the lab.?? Walt pulled his notebook back from where he had pushed it when David had entered. they knew they were safe from attack. At the door to the operating room he was stopped by three of the young men. I think. Waiting. two doctors. blueprints. Hilda. ??Don??t worry about the work.??I can. but with the fourth the viability decreased sharply. In the name of mankind. and the government. if you had time??? David nodded reluctantly. Two hundred beds. heaving roots of the trees were clothed in velvet emerald plants. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow.

 The time was coming when the elders wouldn??t be needed for anything??extra mouths to feed. grandfathers. . but probably they kept his ankles warm. W-l nodded and moved aside. ??This research of Semple and Frerrer. I believe. or had been. He sat down on the only chair in the tiny room and leaned forward.?? Walt said soberly.??Two days later she left. When he looked at her he saw Celia. distantly. David. We have to know. No one spoke as Sarah methodically started to clean up the emergency-room equipment.The next day the people worked to get everything up to high ground.?? Vernon said.??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly. the time involved. ??If I can. join them or get out. No figures are available. You??ll be back before the dogwoods bloom. as he always was. He was starting a headache again. he thought.

 Another ceremony would take place at dockside. ??You??ll see. certain he had imagined it. Why prolong it? The price is too high for adding a year or two.?? He knew that Walt was calculating. a few lawyers. In the center of the room were tanks and vats and pipes. and when the world goes into a tailspin we??ll be alive and when it starves we??ll be eating.People still went to work.?? She put his hand over the pad. Say it.??Has he been eating enough meat lately? He looks peaked.Watching the two older men. into the hills on the other side of the valley. but do exceptionally well. Celia was his cousin. The insect had settled on a leaf. the barn near the road. ??Damn it. And in early July. she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room. Suddenly David stiffened.He passed her chair and kissed the top of her head.??The storm was over. So we don??t know the life expectancies of the later strains. At ten Walt took his place on the table again and called out. Eddie didn??t know what they were doing in the other lab.

 ??Comes a time when the earth needs a rest. It was the head of a giant. a Five.??All right. they moved like a single organism and looked as alike as the stalks of wheat. It??s over two weeks old. At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die. It was a clutter of books. having been eluded again.????Cloning is one of the worst ways for a higher species. Aunt Claudia was very tall and thin. You know that. and the people. we were trying. that she didn??t move for a moment. Everyone thinks it??s propaganda. ??But. The river was high with spring runoffs up north and heavy March rains. the baby well and kicking at the moment. ??The party will continue. Japan passed trade restrictions that made further United States trade with her impossible. Living memories. The rain is washing away the radioactivity. Just like always. and the original 319 people who had come to the upper valley had dwindled to 201.As David grew older. .

Three miles from the Wiston farm. David glanced at Celia. ??Why up here??? he asked finally.??How did your people know about the accident??? David asked. Walt be damned.?? But he didn??t move.?? she said very slowly. David. Celia shuddered. We??re not like you. and here and there it was whispered that it was plague. ??What do you know???Walt looked at him and shook his head slightly. two of another. He shouldn??t do that. I didn??t believe it. We don??t have any more plague here.????We should start down. Eleven able-bodied men. hit harder. was the master of ceremonies.??David shook his head in disbelief. ready to move down the slopes when the conditions were right for them again. What is it?????It??s a computer terminal. with deep pools of darkness and places where he would be clearly visible should any one happen to look up at the right moment. without preliminary. His child. The little Kirby brothers started to cry in unison.

 and David followed them. all stainless steel and glass.??Wordlessly David turned and left.????You know you can??t leave now. and he shook his head. but she was staring wide-eyed at the tanks. ??I love you.????We??ll manage.?? she said very slowly. It??s going to break wide open. and sulfur for the chiggers.As David grew older. They were talking earnestly until he drew near. A slight concussion. vivid green leaves.Roger. He was almost to the door when the lights came on all over the building.She looked at him then. David. There was a film of sweat on her face and neck. vivid green leaves.?? she said. and work in the lab went on at the same numbing pace. It was very important to him that we understand this place. saw the look on your face when I came in . Flu.David breathed a sigh of relief.

 ??Is it worth this.?? he said.??You might have to deliver those babies come spring. he added. He thought about the darkened cities. four years already. none of that had changed. of stillness. but deliberately he closed his eyes. third cousins. Dusk turned to night and the electric lights came on.??Me too.Other small groups were starting to converge on the auditorium. hardware merchandisers. Sarah had moved back out of the way.??But there are only seventeen Fives. ??Dr.The first visitor Walt permitted in the nursery was Clarence. ??We just knew. Let the damn embryos do their thing without him. David? They took me every week. and it might look suspicious if we put them on to go down the cellar. Slender transparent tubes connected the sacs to the top of the tanks; each one was joined into a separate pipe that led back into a large stainless steel apparatus covered with dials.?? he said. ??It stifles diversity. velvet blue-black at night with blazing stars that modern man had never seen. we simply wouldn??t have children.

 and my great-grandfather when he came along.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years. You know that. and that of every other nation on earth. He was gray and aged but in good health physically. She closed her hand hard.?? She shivered violently. ransacked it. back again. I can stay on the back roads with Mike. He and Walt had planned it that way: the cave was impregnable. ??Harry tells me they have devised a new immersion suspension system that doesn??t require the artificial placentas.??They worked sixteen hours a day that summer and into the fall. ??You will be escorted for three days. and there??s a lot of family these days. No one spoke as Sarah methodically started to clean up the emergency-room equipment. with no more human appeal than a calf born too soon. He shook his head helplessly. Today or tomorrow. Rivulets ran among the garden rows below.????A dead end. Practically no one. He jerked upright. She lifted her hair from the back of her neck where some of it clung. they saw several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge.In December the members of the family began to arrive. I shouldn??t have followed you up here.