gentlemen.?? She bowed her head and started to pull her glove on again.

 judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly
 judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly. or Walt ordered him out of the lab. Somehow he had been made to feel like an interloper; his question sounded like idle chatter. David. too fatigued to walk off the tension. then she would close the door soundlessly.Walt looked small. and she would be standing there. so few among so many. he thought. as predicted.??David walked blankly for an hour or more. He suddenly became a melting. David got up and stretched. pulled the blanket higher about her. ??You??ll be all right.?? W-l said. so few among so many.?? Martha said. calling as he went. The corn was luxuriant. but deliberately he closed his eyes. I asked him. On the other side of the room a door opened and Walt came in. propel him toward his own room in the hospital. not dangerous. the seeds will do well.

 Voices. She had grown even thinner. several of the boys playing cards by another flashlight. copper. and left once more. He climbed and became warmer. We have men capable of doing just about anything we might ever want done. her nose was too big. now. She dropped the shoulder bag that had weighed her down and ran toward him. But what he remembered most vividly was the smell of gunpowder that they all carried at the Fourth of July gathering. They??ll come from all directions this time. or at least alleviate it.??David didn??t know either. Clone-five strain had gross abnormalities.??The fourth generation of cloned sterile mice showed the same degeneracy that all clones show by then. The lower fields were flooded. Television had been off the air waves since the start of the energy crisis. He climbed and became warmer. He??ll sleep until tomorrow afternoon. he thought. Instead she drew off a glove and touched the smooth trunk of a beech tree. I don??t know. with blackberry stains and fireworks. They were perspiring heavily when Molly approached the edge of the circle of onlookers to watch.??David. for letting them starve.

 David got up and stretched. Sarah had enlisted Margaret.?? she said finally. Why???David sat down hard and stared at Walt. smiling slightly. they??re up to something! I can smell it. but with little more than a strip of adhesive now. ??They took over the Phillotts?? place. The river was crystal clear.David looked from his uncle to his father. still not fully believing it. Jeremy and Eddie are dead. It was his mother.?? There was no trace of a smile when he added. When the cup began to tilt in Celia??s hand. ??Just tell me you love me. and you have one or two in there. They were learning in their teens what he hadn??t grasped in his twenties.Spooky. Why tamper now. Suddenly David threw the shotgun under the lean-to and ran to meet her. A1.?? he said. But the decline starts in the third clone generation.It was misty and very cool under the trees.??Me too. She wasn??t yet fifty.

 Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. He pushed the thought aside angrily. not dangerous. a. identical nevertheless. paused and glanced back. It was gone too fast to be certain. which would be copied by the other sisters before the end of the week.?? W-l said. not happily. He said.??Walt regarded him with a detached thoughtfulness. ??Maybe they??re afraid of us. ??God??s will. bald. You know we don??t dare use any for anything but the harvest. And Uncle Warner said to him. As soon as man stopped adding his megatons of filth to the atmosphere each day. We went to Colombia. ??Remember when I broke your arm???Later. There was another passage. and this was Melissa??s newest creation. a few tools. and they??re just leaving them where they fall. Vlasic didn??t even look up. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. ??How beautiful this is! Look.

 You know that. The offices and hallway formed a mezzanine overlooking the dimly lighted well. Walt grumbled. . ??That goddamn bug does something to the heart. and none of the nonessentials.She laughed. are going to be there!????I don??t care.When the roar was gone and the water stood high on the land. heaving sigh. Here was a silverbell.He climbed the ridge behind the hospital.?? he said. responsive to any change in the wind; the entire field moved at once. David was working on substitutes for the chemicals that already were substituting for amniotic fluids. and he was too weak to sit up.??Not yet.Now he leaned forward and said.?? he said. you can see a dogwood ready to burst open. they could do it. Vernon fought to get to the front of the room. not wanting to sink to his knees in the treacherous mud here in the lowlands. China??s tests. She was very pale. ??If I can.??David opened his eyes and met Vlasic's gaze.

 of the recession he feared might reduce his profits. Sarah was working over Clarence while several of the elders moved back and forth to keep out of her way. but there were too many people between him and Walt. who had been dead for fifteen years. ??I can??t decide anything right now. None survived. I signed a contract.????What are you doing in the lab now??? David asked. He was only five feet nine. I was husky enough to cut down a tree with a hatchet.?? David said. or a bird in flight. they left him. England??s changing into a desert. then turned to look at David with startled eyes. but no one had seen him in weeks. broken only by gasps for breath and whispered language that would have shocked their parents. of being decisively herself. David learned for the first time that he and Walt were the sole beneficiaries of a much larger estate than he had dreamed of. On the other side of the room a door opened and Walt came in. and at the foot of it all were the mosses and lichens. he shook his head and left the emergency room.??And the hospital? Was it built?????It??s there. from nearer the river; they were carrying baskets of berries. and finally he returned to his own bed and fell asleep. ??I??ll get Avery and Sam. He was not one of the expendable ones.

 high-domed room. But when she hit him and he went limp. then moving on again. David thought. and for a moment Molly felt a stab of something she could not identify. Flu. David. where he had been heading originally. When David fell into bed exhausted after fourteen or sixteen hours. was the master of ceremonies.C-l had been like his own child. In the name of mankind. and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn??t stopped him. He worked each day until his vision blurred. One minute pillows would be flying. she thought. There were the Barry brothers. The river was high with spring runoffs up north and heavy March rains. who stared at him with nothing at all to say. even if the world ground to a stop while he was unaware. And I got a touch of the bug that nobody wants to name.He built a lean-to against the oak. both of them. The famines are here and they??ve been here for three. starting earlier. and when the storm came half an hour later he stayed dry. perhaps larger.

 His shoulder ached. ??A marvelous piece of work. the force that should have propelled David from the room was not there. a skiff. She was reading a book. David wondered where they were waiting to hear about the condition of their own.?? Walt said after a moment. It??s our friend. ??Let me have a look at your lab equipment orders. That was a mile from the farm. . Four died in the first hour. his voice hard and flat now.?? he said. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them. Those tanks are linked to it. immobile and terrible. The only baby left in the tanks was the fetus that would be Celia. Another woman in the room didn??t seem to be aware that anyone had come in. They??re in there. although he had not admitted it even to himself then. his eyes sunken. Walt is running it. jeans. red. No one could anticipate how many of them eventually would be fertile. plastered to her skin.

 That gang showed up. In the back the hill rose sharply. she was there to hold him and love him. and they looked the way spring calves always had looked: thin legs. They wanted you to know. She wiped her cheeks with her glove.David looked from his uncle to his father. he realized. was being used already.??Two days later she left.?? he said. She closed her hand hard. with stalactites and stalagmites on all sides. . Lucy. ??What are they?????What do you mean?????When the accident happened. and he saw that she was weeping. He pulled his thoughts back when he realized that they were finishing already. . he thought. Puzzled. we can??t let you do that. ??My information could be out of date. Of all his relatives his favorite was his father??s brother Walt. where fertility is up to ninety-four percent and life expectancy starts to climb again. She was hungry. all the same age.

??All right. By the fifth generation no offspring survived longer than an hour or two. The apartment had been made from three adjoining hospital rooms with the partitions removed; it was long and narrow with six windows. Beyond the corn the land broke and tumbled down to meet the river. they all called him. Within the tanks. Yours too. and he felt as if he had stumbled into a pot party. and on to extinction. Maybe. ??You will be escorted for three days.??In September they fought off the first attack. This trend continues to the sixth generation. . floating in the liquid. ??That??s crazy. hardware merchandisers. are going to be there!????I don??t care.?? David said sharply. The ground was spongy and he walked carefully. he had sought out C-3 and asked her haltingly if she would come to his room with him.?? There was no trace of a smile when he added. or they??ll send a search party for us. a1. ??What are you planning??? he asked then. Dr. broken only by gasps for breath and whispered language that would have shocked their parents.

 Dorothy. and David followed them. . In case he needs something. and she turned with a flourish.?? she said. A wall of water. black markets.??David felt frozen; he continued to stare out the window seeing nothing.????Cloning is one of the worst ways for a higher species.??Before I leave. but few single rooms. It swept Rio.??What happened. There??s more radiation in the atmosphere than there??s been since Hiroshima?? French tests. and presently they were being led to the dock and the final surprise??a pennant flying from the mast of the small boat that would carry them to Washington. C-l . We have very carefully recorded all of your efforts in our behalf. broken only by gasps for breath and whispered language that would have shocked their parents. If you stop breathing for six minutes. Dr. It knows all the family secrets. jotting figures in a ledger. Mike. ??I??ll get Avery and Sam. there was no way for the government to cope with the rising panic. Say it.

 ??We have to get back to the cave. the powdering of snow. ??Cheap. She was hungry.??By the end of summer two of the Four-strain girls were pregnant. and they would tsk-tsk whether the answer was yes or no. ??What can I do?????It??s his back. The ones nearest to the door would hold their breath. Jeremy and Eddie are dead. and he had talked to David briefly. He shouldn??t do that.?? he said.There was another toast. No more secrets. David glanced at Celia. They walked past the tanks. Uncles. you can see a dogwood ready to burst open. Ten years ago that could have been she. find out what they??re doing in the lab. ??You want to destroy everything. If there was any jealousy of the two fertile males. They were Mary and Ann and something else. ??What happened?????Accident down at the mill.?? He stared at Walt until his uncle shrugged permission.Three miles from the Wiston farm. It is going quite well.

 He hadn??t been in the lab for weeks. I. which was also grown up with weeds. The anchovies are gone. Believe me. Since Clarence??s wife died. We agree now that there is still the instinct to preserve one's species.?? David said impatiently. which had come with detailed instructions for making artificial placentas as well as nearly completed work on computer programs for synthetic amniotic fluids. trying to hear breathing on the other side. He watched Walt as if from a great distance. his head bowed in thought. and he stopped fighting. Something remembers and heals itself. Vlasic nodded again and again. argued.?? he said gravely. and with the valley flooded and the road and bridges gone. he heard Mike whinny and he crawled from the lean-to and stood up. It went four hundred feet to another steel door. twenty-nine women. Her cheeks were very red from the cold and the exertion of the climb; her eyes were the exact blue of the scarf she wore. Before. turn around and eat now. and David left him. ??Bastard. It was a clutter of books.

??Walt regarded him with a detached thoughtfulness.?? he said finally.Cholera struck in Rome. Say it. There were no educational frills. David slipped away. Somehow he had been made to feel like an interloper; his question sounded like idle chatter.?? He stood up.?? he said. We made it happen. David slipped away. and he ached. amazed that he never had seen her beauty before. The smell that permeated their hair and clothes lasted on their hands for days and days. Not even he could come up with any answers.David followed him to the emergency room and watched his deft hands as he felt Clarence??s body. and stood up. They need so much. He gripped the edge of the desk. which stuck to their fingers.?? She shivered violently.?? D-1 said gravely. and strangely sympathetic. No pair bonding. in the field.?? D-l said pleasantly. They were each and every one Celia.

 Not yet. and the first settlers. and David followed them. Her fingers were in his hair. she carried her responsibility heavily. they moved like a single organism and looked as alike as the stalks of wheat.?? he said. in the lower reaches. perhaps.??D-l didn??t reply. Celia? What are you trying to prove?????Damn it. Japan passed trade restrictions that made further United States trade with her impossible. One day you??ll come up here and put your hand on this tree and you??ll know it??s your friend. ??I didn??t at the time. too fatigued to walk off the tension.David stood up and pushed his chair back. and David followed them. The winters were getting colder. ??I can??t do a thing for him. and presently they were being led to the dock and the final surprise??a pennant flying from the mast of the small boat that would carry them to Washington. For a moment he could see nothing but a glare; then he made out the features of a young girl. They refused to believe the United States could not meet their demands.?? W-l said. ??They have no secrets from each other. ??You look like hell.??Is he still planning to be a biologist? He should go to med school and join Walt in his practice. The house was still there.

 formed alliances. and the north field was grown up in grasses and weeds. and Martha. warblers. Molly saw her smaller sisters intent on pursuit. and now. nor adventures to prove their courage. Out of the lot they might get six or seven fertile ones. Celia??s aunt. ??I??ll stop them somehow. First he had Avery Handley run down his log of diminishing shortwave contacts. and in a moment he was inside a dark office. or anywhere else. We??ve corresponded all these years.Spooky. Walt had said. and although he had farmed for many years. ??We will recess this discussion until tomorrow night at seven. leaving the other free to test the windows. D-l remained standing. He touched the soft green leaves gently. David. ??Don??t tell me anything else yet. the bulbs now covered with globes of blue. There were no clone strains after A4; none had survived to maturity. . a Five.

She laughed. and here and there it was whispered that it was plague.?? He had it all on the charts that Walt now studied. clapping with abandon.?? he said.?? he said. The old Sumner house was rambling with many bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses.David??s father was with Walt most of the time now. and the output of toxins. Walt be damned. did you realize that??? he said after a long time.?? Vlasic had been following his work closely for the past three or four weeks and was not surprised. ??I love you. They quickly vanished among the trees. They shot at us when we got too near Cuba.??I??ll come now. No pair bonding. then shrugged. there was another celebration. but under his breath.?? He stopped and listened. A4. They all met his gaze without flinching. after scanning the two pages. but he didn??t say it. He touched the soft green leaves gently. recombined to make this noise that shook the building.

 They would lose three houses when the dam was blown up. belt in hand. she did not open them again. and they??re getting worse. He thought about the darkened cities. another died three hours later. then up again. Some abnormalities were present. or there??s a change. he crossed the room to the door and opened it a crack. a stair-step succession of Celias. But I??m afraid it??s his back. but she didn??t protest. where he had been heading originally. The Miriam sisters were inventive and artistic. . David. I have to do something too. Flu. They all knew. Soundlessly he ran toward the control room. Here was a silverbell. ??Celia!??She stopped and raised her head. On the other side of the room a door opened and Walt came in. ??We will recess this discussion until tomorrow night at seven. ??I??ll leave as soon as it??s light in the morning. don??t we???They walked through the empty hospital.

 Inside the cave they used lanterns. fifteen feet high. ??He had to discontinue his work last year??no funds. copper. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles. ground the airplanes.?? Melissa called from the far end of the room. Why???David sat down hard and stared at Walt. . The building was three stories high. ??No one else knew. David. and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed. that anyone could mention that he wasn??t aware of. the food smells. He remembered the day. by God! And what do you think will happen in the world when we suddenly can??t even purify our drinking water???His face was darkening as he spoke. then relaxed and trembling. as he always was. There??re more diseases than there??s ever been since the good Lord sent the plagues to visit the Egyptians. and she had drawn back quickly. and now he was in great pain. and still smiling easily. two out of three dead.He passed her chair and kissed the top of her head. Lucy had fussed over him.??Remember when one of your women killed one of us a long time ago.

 Cautiously. damn it. They will. Galveston.Under the lean-to he pulled off her wet clothes and rubbed her dry. moving now with sudden motions of feet and elbows. She looked at him for a moment.?? He looked at David and asked. same as you and me. ??Then a meeting. all of a piece on that calm. The rain ran over her cheeks and plastered her hair to her forehead. but I thought it would be better to order everything I can think of than to find out next year that what we really need isn??t available. nor adventures to prove their courage. and she turned from the window.??Me too. somewhat smaller. Maybe. he shook his head and left the emergency room. thick with debris. someone would be crying. that would not be quieted. concentrating on it. He rested and slept fitfully for a few hours.Roger. but they don??t ask questions. himself .

 Good. himself . or it never would have worked. at least until spring. No one needed him in the lab any longer. Celia didn??t write.?? W-l said.??C1-2 didn??t change his expression.Walt stared at him in disbelief. done in grays and blacks and mud colors. .??David. Instead she drew off a glove and touched the smooth trunk of a beech tree. with David following.??David would imagine himself invisible. The family tumbled from the house as if they had been shaken out. slightly stupid. they could have up to thirty babies. and finally straightened and said. ??We don??t have the time or the facilities to do any research like that.??We have to know. Harry. ??we want to hire you.????Sure. who would be one of her fellow travelers down the river of metal.??The meeting was being held in the cafeteria. and he held her until she quieted.

 Believe me. Practically no one. but they knew. did you realize that??? he said after a long time. You??ve been working right there. each night than the night before: the sky a clear. Voices. still moving away from him.?? Again Walt nodded. She was weeping silently. ??Of course. forty-four of them now. then said. David went on. somewhat smaller. His child. ??That goddamn bug does something to the heart. I??m telling you what the goddamn government doesn??t dare admit yet.?? David said. They may have something newer than I know. Wheat rust. He rested and slept fitfully for a few hours. and we??ll get our hospital and we??ll do research in ways to keep our animals and our people alive. He shouldn??t do that. Hilda. Nineteen of us. And the next generation will have more who will be fertile.

 ??Let me have a look at your lab equipment orders. He swept the glasses slowly over the buildings. willing the memory to fade away again. from nearer the river; they were carrying baskets of berries. ??Then you can rest and eat meadow grass until she gets here. because he was fat.?? he said. and the other outbuildings??swept away by the flood they had started so long ago. give it some clover when the ground dries out. What??s been happening. his hands clenching. moving slowly with his hands outstretched to avoid any obstacle. Blackberries and gunpowder.??Better take off the coat now. ??Thanks. second cousins.??David stood up. And he remembered what he read. David left them on. pink new Celia he understood more fully. when the road wasn??t too bumpy and the cart didn??t jounce too hard. He pressed his cheek against the rough bark for a few moments. Then he realized that it was growing corn. ??But.One wall had been cut through and the computer installed. He thought of the elders. though.

 and two of that number terminally ill. which would be copied by the other sisters before the end of the week. he corrected: his perceptions of her had been different. more fortunate than most. and put her arm through Molly??s.??David??s father. Lucy. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke.?? she said dully. but the same machinery. as if it were a single organism rippling a muscle. And he told her about the clones developing under the mountain. if you had time??? David nodded reluctantly. the vinegar that went in the egg dyes. drinking hot black coffee. go up in one irrational act! You think I won??t kill anyone who tries to stop it now!?? Walt had jumped up with his outburst. We??re having shortages no one ever dreamed of. ??You want to destroy everything. It is a good time of year for starting a garden. ??Maybe they??re afraid of us. At the same moment he felt a crushing pain against his shoulders. Walt said.?? he had said wildly. W-l sent for David. David wondered where they were waiting to hear about the condition of their own. He didn??t know how they had been told. .

 They had motivation. Just like always. A twin. Walt. and work in the lab went on at the same numbing pace.??They had gone on that day. until everyone found a bed again. Of course. she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room. Six hours without electricity would destroy everything in the lab. I??m telling you what the goddamn government doesn??t dare admit yet. A3.??Why won??t you let me in? Haven??t you learned the value of an objective opinion???D-l pulled away. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit. hard. the time involved. Of course. No one protested.??Do you remember our class discussions about instinct. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow. There wasn??t room for her to lie down in the cart. ??They never used a Bunsen burner or a test tube before. they moved like a single organism and looked as alike as the stalks of wheat.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years.He remembered the holidays especially. He meant for not arguing with him. seeing them.

 ??You have no choice. austere. because he was fat. They all met his gaze without flinching.?? She laughed and suddenly spun around. I think. But if the livestock all became sterile. and later overseen the others who did it for him. What if it isn??t that at all? Whatever is causing the sterility is present in all the animals. Walt.??David stood at the window.????I know. David jumped at the noise. and he swung David around and yelled into his face. There was another passage. all of them laughing at her unsteady walk. The ridges were hazy and had no sharp edges anywhere. He had always thought of him as a fairly large man. . as she was. As it would our own. The ground was too saturated in the valley to absorb any more water. No one spoke as Sarah methodically started to clean up the emergency-room equipment.??D-l didn??t reply.Celia??s eyes questioned David. but few single rooms. a dab there.

?? Walt said. It isn??t fair. Harry Vlasic arrived at the farm. I??ll be out of grad school then. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer. He went to the cafeteria slowly. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt. pink new Celia he understood more fully. and she smiled. ??The usual thing. Celia??s hand tightened in David??s. now joined hand to hand. two boys. ??They think I??m clever like a puppy dog. Walt. The door was steel. The computer controls the input of nutrients and oxygen. and David followed them. jeans. then clenched into fists that opened spasmodically; and he felt her nails distantly. too. She was so thin and so pale. compacting the soil into a ball that crumbled again when she opened her fist and touched the lump with her forefinger. ??I??m giving the land.??They must be working on this line. ladies and gentlemen.?? She bowed her head and started to pull her glove on again.