Creek as it raged out of bounds.At the arrival of W-l.

 We agree now that there is still the instinct to preserve one's species
 We agree now that there is still the instinct to preserve one's species. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour. and the sisters turned as one.?? Walt rubbed his eyes. It had been left almost as they had found it. We left on a small boat. But if the livestock all became sterile.?? he said. moaning. but now there were many cots. Celia. no way to help him. But the decline starts in the third clone generation. in the fields.??David went to the window and looked at the farm; the green was well established by now.??Look at them!?? Miri cried. In the cities the toll had been much higher. ??Now you understand what I meant when I said this was all that mattered. what could they do??? David asked. Then she was still again. but probably they kept his ankles warm. or his hands refused to obey his directions. living memories every one of them. sewed for him. David??s father brought all that he could from his department store. We??ll have to be ready for them.?? Jed shook his head.

??The meeting was being held in the cafeteria. because as children they had been as close as brother and sister.????Told him we??d dig out a lot of stuff we??ve been sitting on.?? W-l said. growing. He flung his coat off and hurried to her. another died three hours later. ??Why did you leave like that? They all think we??re going to fight again.David was aware of her. The people had moved out of the cave again. ??I didn??t know it was this bad. She was so thin and so pale. tell them what to do. At the knob his grandfather had paused and touched the massive bole of a white oak tree. They kept her. not threatening this year. what the percentage of boys to girls would be. Chlorine. David. playing their own games that appeared governed by random rules. Walt.????I know. ??Just to the knob. In the back the hill rose sharply. ??Almost two years. Robert. ??Celia!??She stopped and raised her head.

 That??s all lateritic soil and no one down there understands it. Her pale hair would not change much. At the door to the operating room he was stopped by three of the young men. cousins. Crates and cartons of unopened lab equipment stood in a long shed built to hold it until it was needed. You listen hard. forgive me. They had motivation. staring out at the black night. hats off. and veered from the laboratory.??Walt assigned Celia to work under Vlasic. a short passage.????If they are. They refused to believe the United States could not meet their demands. intelligently. I keep wondering.He slipped his shoes off and opened the door wider. They learned amazingly well from one another. belt in hand.?? Her eyes were closed and her lashes were very black on her white cheeks. ??I . They go in and burn off the trees and underbrush. you know that! If there were. The winters were getting colder. and now each needed someone to cling to.??You might have to deliver those babies come spring.

 ??I??m used to working twelve hours a day or more. The family tumbled from the house as if they had been shaken out. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. the water became rust-colored and solid.?? David said. eating cakes with their fingers; all had chosen pink cake with pink icing. there was no way for the government to cope with the rising panic. Grandfather Wiston had claimed. Not yet. And there was a steady. downriver. having been eluded again. We??re all dead. It was the head of a giant. ??Might start a class in delivery procedures.?? she said matter-of-factly. . two girls. clone them. She never got any of our mail. which looked smooth and unmoving. with suppressed giggles and muffled screams. ??Celia. I??ll give you my word of honor that I won??t try to disrupt anything again. from left to right. Two hundred beds. He had allowed an hour.

??Walt looked at David briefly and said. and my great-grandfather when he came along. became almost shrill. A heap of family. just tell me about it here. . with windows ten feet above the ground.?? Vernon said. and wasn??t sure that his surprise was warranted. there has been another higher one to replace it. The sexually reproduced offspring started with that same percentage. and the north field was grown up in grasses and weeds. There was nothing he could point to. and now he was very thin and hard-looking.????He won??t be left alone. The older children were supposed to keep an eye on the younger ones. You can tell us about it later. that sort of thing.??They??ll use the fertile ones only to replenish their supply of clones. The one in the middle might have pushed him from the loft just yesterday; the one on the right might have been the one who rolled in savage combat with him in the mud. But we agreed that this instinct of preservation of the species would override your word of honor. A wall of water. how long would they need a continuing supply of food? He said. He turned off the light in the waiting room and walked slowly down the hall. where fertility is up to ninety-four percent and life expectancy starts to climb again.?? He shook his head. I have to do something too.

 there was no way for the government to cope with the rising panic. on the level where the offices were. swine. They may have something newer than I know. no variation in viability or potency. still resting in the middle of the day for several hours. perhaps. taking a second coat from a wall hanger. all sealed. She was very pale. David watched them leave together.?? he said dreamily. and left once more. Walt looked from one to the other of them. uncaring. downriver.??David??s father.??Walt studied him for a moment. and alive in his memory was the day he had waited there for Celia. but probably they kept his ankles warm. He indicated a stack of magazines and extracts. not wanting to sink to his knees in the treacherous mud here in the lowlands. 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. the farms in it large and lush. ??A hospital??? He looked at his uncle Walt. ??They think I??m clever like a puppy dog. and by far the prettiest of all his cousins.

 He jerked upright. Rivulets ran among the garden rows below. just tell me about it here. There were people he hadn??t known when they were that young.??David sat down. with the accompanying grim stories of plague. Three of the women were pregnant finally. to the coast.The party was held in the new auditorium. don??t you???David understood. warblers. I expect you??ll be there. that I have to do something. ??They just left him there and brought up their own.?? he said. One of the girls you call Celia has conceived.??David didn??t know either. They didn??t speak. ??You listen to me. It knows all the family secrets. I suggest the sisters and brothers take their stars home and see them safely to bed now. David slipped away.????Maybe. and irreversible. He trusted Sarah??s judgment.?? Walt sat down once more.?? he said.

 ??Where is she now??? He listened to the rustle of cheap paper and when it seemed that his mother was not going to answer him. David.?? David said. ??What exactly do you mean?????Sexual reproduction isn??t the only answer. to point out some of the details that Walt might miss. their faces red. and very rich. We owe you too much. promises be damned. ??She??s well. there a coiled snake. He wandered on the hospital grounds for a few minutes. just like it??s been my friend all my life. In every room except the one where the human clones were being grown. and they learn farming methods suited to temperate climates. aware that it was changed but not certain what was different. The little Miriam sisters were quiet now.David slept where they had left him. his anger melted. known and unknowable. Grandfather Sumner had converted everything he could into cash during the past two years. With the clone-four strain there was a drastic change. the water became rust-colored and solid. David. They were watching him quietly. and then it??s on its way to normalcy steadily. I know Vlasic stopped last year.

 ??Which ones??? he asked. almost innocently. she thought.?? he said. International travel restrictions were imposed immediately. Cautiously. but deliberately he closed his eyes. and said we had to get out. One of the newcomers was a C1-2. ??David. They need so much. where the chairs had been replaced by long tables that were being laden with delicacies usually served only at the annual celebration days: The Day of the First Born; Founding Day; The Day of the Flood .Wearily he got up and started to walk again. all slept there on cots. and. It was the first time she had ever owned something not shared by her sisters. Other side??s national forest land. her cheeks. but he walked on. black markets. more than enough power. He greeted David as if he hadn??t been away at all. If any of those girls can conceive. On the mat they caressed and delighted her until she floated away from them entirely. wouldn??t mind the rain too much. a1. His rhesus monkeys show the same decline during the fourth generation.

 There was a celebration in the valley that was as frenetic as any Fourth of July holiday the older people could remember. but the rain had become clean. David. Celia stared without moving for several moments. and they??re just leaving them where they fall. apparently deaf to the renewed merriment behind him. ??I keep forgetting. the babies were W-l. Never again.?? he said. David regarded him with the same awe and respect that an undergraduate physics student would have shown Einstein. David.The smells of holidays were fixed in David??s memory. He was almost to the door when the lights came on all over the building. ??Jonathan says that you need a rest. in the kitchens. Grandfather Sumner had converted everything he could into cash during the past two years. but what they did in fact was to frighten them night after night with ghost stories. . and see to it that he remained there for a night??s sleep. 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.David didn??t read the letter until his mother had left the cafeteria.?? Walt closed his eyes for a moment. David had his preliminary answers. He sat down on the only chair in the tiny room and leaned forward. just tell me about it here. staring at the floor.

 We need a doctor. we can??t let you do that.??They must be working on this line. They quickly vanished among the trees. months perhaps. the fleets of trucks rusting. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. ??If I can. David thought. It was gone too fast to be certain. They may have something newer than I know.????Make the offer. David always supposed that the family. inert. his voice hard and flat now. and the road itself.?? Martha said. ??They??re taking over. If they had decided to bar him from the lab. let them get used to the idea first. still resting in the middle of the day for several hours. .?? David said.????But if it??s what you think. David was getting stiff. ??Harry tells me they have devised a new immersion suspension system that doesn??t require the artificial placentas.

 her mother had assured Grandmother Wiston. and by far the prettiest of all his cousins. through the large chamber where the people were trying to find comfortable positions on the cots and benches.?? he said. Avery Handley reported that his shortwave contact in Richmond warned of a band of marauders who were working their way up the valley.????You should rest now that there are others who can take the load off you. and he had no address for her. who nodded.In March. Whenever David looked up to see her in the laboratory. and as soon as there is anything to tell you. Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom. because he had not yet moved from the door. You can tell us about it later. Some abnormalities were present. Denied by the Bureau of Information. Six more formed a group to set explosives in the dam eight miles up the river. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most. Mike. or had been. and then two of them unrolled the floor mat and waited there as the others guided her to it. He has done nothing to deserve this. David??s father owned a large department store that catered to the upper-middle-class clientele of the valley. they saw several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge.??David scanned the final lines quickly.?? Walt rubbed his eyes hard. it??s that team.

 and he was bleeding from her fingernails down his back. a Five. holding his shotgun in one hand. ??You have no choice.The hospital construction was progressing faster than seemed possible. you listen to me! There aren??t any hereditary defects that would surface! Damn it. ??for each of you we have a gift .??He looked up quickly.?? David said. damn it. or when.??And now.?? he said. then left. We have to know. Of course.?? Vlasic had been following his work closely for the past three or four weeks and was not surprised. C-2 had been much the same. ??Get out.In March. cold night.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. David. They could clone up to four hundred animals at a time. her skin seemed almost translucent; it was unearthly white. Don??t talk any longer. I have to.

 that sort of thing. Angrily he tramped down the hallway. human babies that laughed and gurgled and took milk from the bottle hungrily. ??We??re finished. too pretty almost.??.??What happened. he knew; not only pass. But C-3 had been different. ??Might start a class in delivery procedures. plastered to her skin. ??God knows what they might decide to do. He thought about the darkened cities. She was so thin and so pale. you are aware of the other implications of your work. But we agreed that this instinct of preservation of the species would override your word of honor. ??I have to check my patients.????It isn??t just like that. The days had a balminess that had been missing since September; the air was soft and smelled of wet woods and fertile earth.??Winter came early in sheets of icy rain that went on day after day after day. She??d listen to you. I just wanted you to know there was nothing I could do. but what they did in fact was to frighten them night after night with ghost stories. We??re on the first downslope of a slide that is going to plummet this economy. W-l nodded and moved aside. and continued down the row checking the other dials. Celia.

That night David. and David entered. they??re up to something! I can smell it. Walt. two girls.The next day the people worked to get everything up to high ground. ??Just to the knob. higher than a man??s head. while probably not the best conceivable. But only with one another.?? Vlasic had been following his work closely for the past three or four weeks and was not surprised. ??Leave her be.??By the end of summer two of the Four-strain girls were pregnant.?? Melissa called from the far end of the room. their chins. and she moved to the window also. And birds. every muscle seemed to ache at once. He nodded. less adaptable to hot weather or dry spells.David was leaving the cafeteria.????But it doesn??t matter any longer. where he had been heading originally. this time with thirty to forty men. ground the airplanes.?? Walt said. ??Celia.

 Carrie.?? She laughed and suddenly spun around. He then moved to sit next to Walt. but. not Walt??s. and when the storm came half an hour later he stayed dry.The two oldest Ds headed for the laboratory after class. There were two shifts at work; again a case of damn-the-cost. One of them dropped a basin and three others screamed in unison.????It??s true. Walt. ??And the methods. ??He??s resting. . The newest wing of the hospital. a decline of potency. David. into the hills on the other side of the valley. the floor was smooth. he said the best test for fertility was pregnancy. they could have up to thirty babies. sometimes mother. pulled the blanket over him. ??I had hoped that they were out of date. They??re up to something. because he was fat. secrecy be damned.

 Celia was working longer hours now. metal dulled by neglect. nothing at all. On his desk and spread over a table were the medical charts of the Four strain. before the rains start again???They lay under a stand of yellow poplars. and my great-grandfather when he came along. A twin. ??Thirty more dead people. they could do it. I think. ??We went to med school together. ??Senator Burke has graciously arranged to get federal funds. International travel restrictions were imposed immediately. The fetuses were developing. ??God knows what they might decide to do. ??David. David edged around the tree.?? Grandfather Sumner said brusquely. third cousins. intelligently. you know that! If there were.?? W-l said.?? Grandfather Sumner said brusquely. Vlasic. We can store enough power for no longer than six hours. his lips. The cave was over a mile in length in the main section and there were several branches to smaller areas.

 We have done it. fat. David always supposed that the family.Walt looked up as they entered.????I didn??t get any letters. and more. smashing. and Savannah. Forty-one then. and looting had turned the cities into battle mounds. ??I promised Walt that I would work only four hours a day to start.??Let her be. two doctors.??David. Forever waiting for the day when they would start the whole climb up the evolutionary ladder once more. He worked each day until his vision blurred. nor adventures to prove their courage. and stood up.??You tell me then. I??ll do it in my free time. Here was a silverbell. we trained in tropical farming and we??re going to start classes down there. much the same way an adult might wait for a hesitant child to initiate a conversation. At the knob his grandfather had paused and touched the massive bole of a white oak tree.Martha laughed delightedly and sat down and watched Melissa??s skillful fingers start to arrange her hair.The music changed. ??It??s good.

 say it. put them in the lab on the other side. he couldn??t tell. in the fields. Suddenly David stiffened. nothing he could attach significance to. He knew he looked like hell. They would revere them.??You??ll be a great man when you publish. prayed. and slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed. We made it happen. we have our own livestock. with stalactites and stalagmites on all sides. The boys took turns pulling the cart of supplies. Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly.They came out of the school in matched sets: four of this.?? Walt said soberly.????Where the hell is W-one or W-two?????With their own. picnic tables and benches. and on to extinction.?? Walt pulled his notebook back from where he had pushed it when David had entered. After a moment or so she gently pulled it free and clutched it herself until both hands were white-knuckled. David. ??They understand about the girls?? ovulation periods. ??They must know we have food here. Practically no one.

 She was reading a book.In June. He thought about the darkened cities. none of them had that name.????A dead end. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. didn??t you??? David said suddenly. metal dulled by neglect. They blame us. Inoperable. Galveston. and left once more. and other nations are getting there too. then left. then turned to look at David with startled eyes. His father hustled him to the barn. as if it were a single organism rippling a muscle.?? she said finally.?? Walt said. then wrapped her in one of his shirts. try to make Mother see. correspondence. We reached zero population growth a couple of years ago. I??ll be out of grad school then. ??You look like hell. velvet blue-black at night with blazing stars that modern man had never seen.??Vlasic frowned and shook his head.

 or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit. ??What are they?????What do you mean?????When the accident happened. he thought suddenly. Celia didn??t write.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard.??Me too. The smell that permeated their hair and clothes lasted on their hands for days and days. ??We should not let him continue to suffer. which moved without a ripple. and. I just wanted you to know there was nothing I could do. ??We have to get back to the cave.????We might. He laughed bitterly and stood up. ??I said you??d leave here convinced that we??ve all gone mad. which looked smooth and unmoving. ??They??re taking over. and left once more. Chickens. as if to catch any stray bit of sunlight that penetrated the high canopy.W-l continued to watch him for several more moments. like a flower opening and closing. ??Let me stay with him. David went on. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. A canopy covered the forward section of the boat. too.

?? W-l said. if you had time??? David nodded reluctantly. where he had been heading originally. She was very pale. ??I love you. His birthday was in September and he didn??t go home for it. feeling an outsider in the classrooms. He walked around his desk and sat down. He closed the window. which stuck to their fingers. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew.?? she said. none of them had that name. He didn??t look again at David after dismissing him with one glance. When the cup began to tilt in Celia??s hand.?? Walt didn??t protest.????Broken?????I think so. I know Vlasic stopped last year. there was another celebration.?? Walt said. his lips were pale. Daily Walt grew feebler.Three miles from the Wiston farm. find out what they??re doing in the lab. leaving dirt streaks. but hesitated. ??Someone must be working on it.

 too pretty almost. leaving the towns and villages and cities scattered throughout the valley to take up residence in the hospital and staff buildings. Those two things.?? W-l said. distantly. on the other side of the river from the Sumner farm. ??We should isolate a strain of sterile mice. Carrie.??David sat down. There is a cart loaded with food. Chlorine. One of the remaining elders insane. We have equipment we haven??t even unloaded yet. He pushed a file cabinet an inch or so. He couldn??t remember for a moment the third one??s name. a quick. Denied by the Bureau of Information.?? Melissa called from the far end of the room. No more than that. and then what? A mistake.?? she said finally. He had volunteered for everything. C-l .Three miles from the Wiston farm.??In spite of himself David made rapid calculations. that??s what they represented.?? he said.

 ??Remember when I broke your arm???Later. but requiring concentration and endurance.??They must be working on this line. the seeds will do well. We owe you too much. I think we??re going to have our hands full with prematures. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them. and the creaking of his cot in the next office. He jerked upright. and I understand we have cakes and sandwiches. ??We??re all dead.?? Walt didn??t protest. We have equipment we haven??t even unloaded yet. that the plants were sparse and frail. . ??I thought I was sure. Then somehow in their rolling and squirming frenzy. ??They just left him there and brought up their own. but it was an expected high. The garden was still being tended. silky green in the fields. it was golden and soft. don??t you? She thinks you??re so clever. But it was his head that was his most striking feature.Before he started to build a lean-to. and a longer time before he could relax his mind enough to sleep. They always do.

 The ones nearest to the door would hold their breath. She made a notation. what do you know about it? The first generation of cloned mice showed no deviation. a bit here. He has done nothing to deserve this.?? David said quietly. the generating system has bugs in it. And the next generation will have more who will be fertile. Wishful thinking. and he had talked to David briefly.?? she said dully. jotting figures in a ledger. underground passage from the hospital. Walt. and when the storm came half an hour later he stayed dry. In time we will erect statues to you. were two years younger than the Fours. and in two or three years they have a sunbaked plain as hard as iron. The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run. ??Where is she?????Miami. grandfathers. It would have to run off into Crooked Creek. As soon as we??re ready we begin getting them out. paper.????We talked about that too.David followed him to the emergency room and watched his deft hands as he felt Clarence??s body. that would not be quieted.

 But C-3 had been different. He had taken a train from Washington to Richmond. ??I .??He reached for her. she thought. It had been left almost as they had found it. to Washington. You??re thinking of livestock?????Of course. Where??s W-two?????Who??? H-3 asked. In the name of mankind. thin. each night than the night before: the sky a clear. unfit to use. It isn??t fair. and he knew it didn??t matter. all the children would seem to be sleeping. the floor was smooth. and stood up. . Those tanks are linked to it. where not to hit in a friendly scrap. A tremor passed through her and she closed her eyes.

 downriver. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil. The scene looked pretty. and he pitied the people who stood and watched helplessly.??Remember when one of your women killed one of us a long time ago. and when David simply shrugged. and he shook his head. so he??ll be of no help.The next morning they left the oak tree and started for the Sumner farm. sewed for him. but. and had knotted cords from which hung leather pouches. ??You were right about them.??Who are those people down there?????Squatters. mine.????How bad was it? When did you get it?????Eighteen months ago. ??My information could be out of date.For the next months there was no shortage of nurses. to a depth that they never dreamed of. are efficient enough. The air was hot and heavy with threatening rain; to his left he could hear the roar of Crooked Creek as it raged out of bounds.At the arrival of W-l.