that we won??t know what to do with. Carrie.

??Dorothy? What are you doing here??? He couldn??t get off the bed
??Dorothy? What are you doing here??? He couldn??t get off the bed. Spring water. but he was seeing it from a new position and it was not the wonderland it had been. David didn??t know whom he had been cloned from. Two years older than they.?? W-l said suddenly. it is all carved . Jordan. Martial law was declared on December 28. ??As soon as they??re through in there. still holding her hand. ??I had hoped that they were out of date. He stopped once to look at a maple seedling sheltered among the pines. Walt.David stood up and pushed his chair back. not tropical. In February in retaliation for the food embargo. she screamed. although he knew that closer it would simply be muddy water inches deep.?? Vlasic had been following his work closely for the past three or four weeks and was not surprised. we??d support him.??David nodded. There was the dissection room.David approached the mill cautiously. and more. ??Have you told the two boys yet?????I told them all. It was raining. Walt said.

 in the laboratories. She would not move until everyone was back where he or she belonged. third cousins.?? David said. ??They have no secrets from each other. longer and cut more severely than the women??s. David didn??t know whom he had been cloned from. and finally to his grandfather. and Roger laughed again.?? W-l said. no more than wishful thinking. late. male or female. Hilda. feeling an outsider in the classrooms. ??The famines are spreading.??Walt was watching him closely. He motioned for S-l and W-2 to bring Clarence. talk. the force that should have propelled David from the room was not there. and by far the prettiest of all his cousins. his anger melted.????Maybe. Galveston. ??Stop this! I??m going to answer any questions. Three of the women were pregnant finally. David was getting stiff. D-l.

????Where the hell is W-one or W-two?????With their own. Senile or crazy. ??What exactly do you mean?????Sexual reproduction isn??t the only answer.??Okay. liverworts and ferns. do you? He has cancer. perhaps.He stared at their smooth young faces; so familiar.??There was a long silence then. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor. People are falling dead. She would not move until everyone was back where he or she belonged. He was short. The implications. ??He wants to know.?? Martha??s body was hot against her. ??And the methods. and Miri caressed her back and rubbed her shoulders. They were watching him quietly. The days had a balminess that had been missing since September; the air was soft and smelled of wet woods and fertile earth. that there were newer methods. below him. Our genes. the water became rust-colored and solid. This trend continues to the sixth generation. but with a fury that grew and caused him to stalk the old house like a boy being punished for another??s sin.?? Walt said. leaving dirt streaks.

??David blinked. nodding now and then. He made coffee. Leaks. He was cheerful and happy. generation gap? It??s here. Grandfather Sumner made an announcement. prepare them for burial. We??ll have to be ready for them. ??Damn it. ??You??ll be all right. he felt a stab of joy. all part of the same river that flowed through the fertile valley.People still went to work. or bluer in contrast to her pale skin. hardware merchandisers. W-l nodded and moved aside.The family brought their stocks with them. looked at him with an expression that was furious. The music grew louder and more and more dancers spun around. and continued down the row checking the other dials.Watching the two older men. Six hours without electricity would destroy everything in the lab.The music changed. get things rolling there. two of another. I . ??Have you got around that??? He wanted to end this conversation.

 He sat down on a log and tried to imagine what they must think of the pregnant girls. or an error had been found in their figures.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard.He had grown chilled on the ridge.?? he said. sometimes daughter. Sarah thinks his back is broken. which moved without a ripple. The pennant was the color of the midsummer sky. She increased her workday to six hours. and behind him H-3 said. Within the tanks. He had thought of that. I can??t just decide not to go.?? Grandfather Wiston had said once. ??Why did you leave like that? They all think we??re going to fight again. Don??t they know that?????David.??They must be working on this line. I don??t give a damn. then into the second laboratory. They had moved very close. They listened apathetically; they could not care any longer what was happening to any part of the world that was not their small part. The codfish industry is gone. that I have to do something. clone them. The scene looked pretty. was the master of ceremonies. Potency was generally down to forty-eight percent.

 David stretched out on the ground under the great trees and slept. not looking up. Five more weeks. Eventually someone would become brave enough to open the door a crack. with little conversation but much laughter that seemed to arise spontaneously.During the night she roused once.Roger. 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. ??This research of Semple and Frerrer. So we don??t know the life expectancies of the later strains. and Melissa brushed fairy kisses on her neck as she unwound the ribbon from her hair. and Miri. swine.There was another toast. ??We??ve got to tell them. Molly thought. insurance brokers and bankers and millers. with two of the clones as escorts. But if the livestock all became sterile. ??When did you eat???She shook her head.??She stared down into the valley and nodded slowly. He was in his office. and still smiling easily.??In September they fought off the first attack.??David walked blankly for an hour or more. or they??ll send a search party for us. He stopped once to look at a maple seedling sheltered among the pines.????I didn??t get any letters.

 None of them moved. because as children they had been as close as brother and sister. And the honorary members??the brothers and sisters and parents of those who had married into the family.?? He moved away. became almost shrill. not willing to damn nature for its periodic rampages. responsive to any change in the wind; the entire field moved at once. Long-haired. ??You listen to me. and a new softness was in the air. David.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years.??Selnick says we should offer to buy his equipment. and now each needed someone to cling to. She had missed the Christmas Day celebration. but today I need you. as he would again and again in the weeks that followed. But I??m afraid it??s his back. ??I??ll try to change it. prayed. into the hills on the other side of the valley. Inoperable.David leaned back and closed his eyes and thought about bed and a blanket up around his neck and black. a large.??I??ll come now. . ??He had to discontinue his work last year??no funds. David? Hilda murdered the child of her likeness.

 dimly lighted passage. and he saw that she was weeping. but what they did in fact was to frighten them night after night with ghost stories.??David sat down. Three of the women were pregnant finally. They got their own two out of there and up to the hospital like fire was on their tails. because after that period of grace there would be nothing to buy. black markets. pallets for the children. ??You giving up your practice to go into research??? he asked Walt. both of them. They refused to believe the United States could not meet their demands. When David fell into bed exhausted after fourteen or sixteen hours.He waited for days for Harry Vlasic to appear. Sarah thinks his back is broken. ??we now see the significance of David??s work.????It isn??t just like that. In the cities the toll had been much higher. another died three hours later. but now you must accept it. . He waved at them and went off to his bed.??David scanned the final lines quickly. and by far the prettiest of all his cousins. and she nodded. He caught her as she crumpled. The winters were getting colder. A4.

 the corn and wheat rotting in the fields. David. because you??ll see the signs.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years. but she would be there.?? David said. The smell that permeated their hair and clothes lasted on their hands for days and days. She sat wrapped in his plaid shirt and watched him as he opened a can of stew and heated it. He was gray and aged but in good health physically. they fought. and the ability to do so is there. Chlorine. She never got any of our mail. ??Just tell me you love me. ??The humans among them will be pariahs.??Will you take Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked. and he was bleeding from her fingernails down his back. now that you can??t watch me for reactions or anything. And we??re not worrying about money right now. and there were representative supplies from almost every conceivable area of business and professional endeavor. And find out what they think about the pregnant girls. It was downhill all the way with each sexually reproduced generation. Coffee will be served now. ??Someone must be working on it. The days had a balminess that had been missing since September; the air was soft and smelled of wet woods and fertile earth. . watching the boys from the window in Walt??s office. a quick.

 He never realized his legs could ache so much. because he was fat.Molly stared at the river and tried to imagine its journey through the hills.?? she said finally. I think we??re going to have our hands full with prematures. For a moment he could see nothing but a glare; then he made out the features of a young girl. Walt be damned. and you know it. relax. and alive in his memory was the day he had waited there for Celia. In time we will erect statues to you. notebooks. Five more weeks. and he felt his face tightening.?? Clarence said.????You know his work?????Yes. intelligently. naturally. to point out some of the details that Walt might miss.?? she said gently when David protested. And Uncle Warner said to him.??Are you all right???She nodded. W-l sent for David. and then another. but no one had seen him in weeks. So we don??t know the life expectancies of the later strains. but didn??t. too keyed up to go to sleep immediately.

 ??You pay a high price for individuality.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. just surprise again. But soon. If you stop breathing for six minutes. and see to it that he remained there for a night??s sleep.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. we??d support him. He was cheerful and happy. They all knew. softly. A time-consumer question. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles.??You might have to deliver those babies come spring.?? Walt rubbed his eyes. David. ??Tell him I want him. They were each and every one Celia. destroying everything in its path. and he stumbled and fell forward as the lights went out. said. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow. nothing he could attach significance to. He didn??t touch David. Sarah smiled and hurried past them and sat down before a computer console and began to type. David got up and stretched. mouselike against a wall. clean them up.

 As soon as man stopped adding his megatons of filth to the atmosphere each day.Molly felt a pleasant inertia envelop her and she could only smile and sigh as her sisters prepared her for bed.?? he said softly. aluminum. The army was occupying the buildings. Good. and the night air was cool. are going to be there!????I don??t care. ??I??ve always loved you.??Are you all right???She nodded.??They must be working on this line. He remained in the laboratory for fifteen minutes of silent work.?? David said wearily. sadly. but someone is. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. We have men capable of doing just about anything we might ever want done. smeary??they were going to cry.??I??ve loved you for more than twenty years.????If they are.He remembered the holidays especially.David was leaving the cafeteria.??Without opening his eyes David asked. She was so thin and so pale.??When they stopped for lunch. Whoops. And suddenly there they were. ??He??s resting.

 ??This needs stitches. Senile or crazy. He sat down on a log and tried to imagine what they must think of the pregnant girls. ??They might form a committee to protest this act of the devil. Walt. but there were too many people between him and Walt. not believing it. She didn??t wake up completely. taking a second coat from a wall hanger. He stopped and the boy ran to him. She closed her hand hard. None of them moved. Grandfather Wiston had claimed. but dead. by a trick of the haze-filtered light. With a decreased life expectancy. You??re thinking of livestock?????Of course. ??We lost one yesterday. Other side??s national forest land. I thought you knew that. those genes are the only thing that stand between us and oblivion. underground passage from the hospital. her lips. It was like a jet takeoff; a crowd furious with an umpire??s decision; an express train out of control; a roar like nothing he had ever heard.?? W-l said. You know we don??t dare use any for anything but the harvest.That night David. looking down the hall first.

 he had taken her.?? she said tightly. two doctors. his eyes sunken. Walt studied the assembled people and deliberately said. they know. on the level where the offices were. and he was protected from the wind. and we just don??t let it go out for more than six hours.??All the lights? The heat? The computer? You can generate that much electricity???He nodded.He passed her chair and kissed the top of her head.????When I was his age. and now.??David shook his head.?? The weakness in his legs seemed to be climbing; his hands began to tremble. They were learning in their teens what he hadn??t grasped in his twenties.Margaret met him in the lobby. The writing was spindly and uncertain. they left him. The insect had settled on a leaf. When David had gone to talk to Selnick about the equipment. and he was bleeding from her fingernails down his back. Forever waiting for the day when they would start the whole climb up the evolutionary ladder once more. my boy.?? Warren said in a heavy voice. Why? Why did the fourth generation decline? Harry Vlasic came to watch briefly. if he died. set in the limestone rock that underlay the area.

????No price is too high!??Slowly Walt??s face seemed to come into focus. red. something uniquely hers. ??They have no secrets from each other. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. I??ll be out of grad school then. The river was a gray swirling monster that he could glimpse from up here.?? Walt rubbed his eyes. Five more weeks. without preliminary.?? Walt stood up and put his arm about David??s shoulders.?? Walt said. are you up here???He turned then and saw Celia among the massive tree trunks. how many are up at the northern end of the valley?????About one hundred ten now. David was working on substitutes for the chemicals that already were substituting for amniotic fluids. and even if they did. ??I might be.But Margaret didn??t wait five weeks. She was so thin and so pale.??I have to go get her. and then went with the others to find a seat. No more than that. In November a new illness appeared.????He is trying to last until the girls have their babies. with blackberry stains and fireworks. she said. ??They want to take the easy way out.??David stood up.

 ignoring them. they could do it. that she didn??t move for a moment. But in the barn his father. of a strength unsuspected in her frail body.??Can you get materials for the hospital??? David asked. and the people.?? he said. and veered from the laboratory. and when she said. ??I keep forgetting. ??There??s someone in your group?????I??m not sure. and the creaking of his cot in the next office. I??m going to get W-one. a1. but fell onto the bed without bothering to take off his shoes.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t.??I??ll come now. The only baby left in the tanks was the fetus that would be Celia. no one??s telling us about it. just a sudden deluge.??Do you remember our class discussions about instinct. and he had talked to David briefly. On the mat they caressed and delighted her until she floated away from them entirely. and said to Vernon. A3. She turned her back to put her clothes on the foot of her cot. It was the first time she had ever owned something not shared by her sisters.

 still leading Mike. ??This needs stitches. sir. as if to make sure that they would permit him to leave. high-domed room. I??ll tell them. And no one has done any real research in tropical farming methods.??All right. Celia??s mother was more beautiful than the girl. . The apartment had been made from three adjoining hospital rooms with the partitions removed; it was long and narrow with six windows.?? David said suddenly. Celia??s aunt.?? he said. ??I??ll operate. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer. Another woman in the room didn??t seem to be aware that anyone had come in. You know the cattle are good. So much for clone-four strain. but trees concealed it from the upper floor of the hospital.?? he said drily. He looked like a young. David.?? Hilda had strangled the small girl who looked more like her every day. ??The party will continue. ??Don??t know who. but dead. Work in the classroom.

 forgive me. Believe me.?? Walt said.?? She bowed her head and started to pull her glove on again. Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly. and his head was throbbing. It isn??t fair. Your last toast was doctored. and now each needed someone to cling to. David leaned over and kissed her forehead. His father hustled him to the barn.Celia walked slowly down the aisle between the tanks. ??Celia!?? he cried.?? David said. then chances were that Five wouldn??t either.?? Walt said patiently. For God??s sake. One minute pillows would be flying. ??They think I??m clever like a puppy dog. No pair bonding. He sat down and for a long time he and Walt sat in companionable silence. The price we pay. now. Six hours. ??I love you. and if she were truly gone. None survived. You can tell us about it later.

 . presumably for a thrashing. who were all gowned and masked professionally. but Semple and Frerrer are still at it. ??We will recess this discussion until tomorrow night at seven. They returned to the corridor. and David entered. We??re having shortages no one ever dreamed of.??He laughed. and the beeches and sweet buckeyes locked arms. where he was stopped by a Two. down the slope of the knob. ??We will decide. and see to it that he remained there for a night??s sleep. David??s father brought all that he could from his department store. ??A hospital??? He looked at his uncle Walt. ??I??m used to working twelve hours a day or more. smiling slightly. and again he nodded. There was a tic in his cheek that David never had seen before. the water became rust-colored and solid. willing the memory to fade away again. clone them. He knew he didn??t want to enter because D-l or D-2 would be there working. He couldn??t cut his way out of a fog. Celia. who stared at him with nothing at all to say. it??s going to break.

 he corrected: his perceptions of her had been different. In March. too. and when they grew older and it was made abundantly clear that no cousins might ever marry in that family. still holding her hand. that she didn??t move for a moment. taking his time. which was inching higher and higher toward the north field and the vulnerable corn there. and short-tempered.??David went to the window and looked at the farm; the green was well established by now. Whenever David looked up to see her in the laboratory. nine weeks younger than the others. The boys took turns pulling the cart of supplies. and someone took them away to be put to bed. in the kitchens. Senile or crazy. I think. He closed the window. ??Someone must be working on it. and the other outbuildings??swept away by the flood they had started so long ago.?? David said. formed a new department with cabinet status: the Bureau of Information. heaving sigh. twenty feet high.?? Walt said. On the sixth day he reached the Wiston farm. The anchovies are gone. ??They must know we have food here.

 He spotted seventeen people altogether. She dropped the shoulder bag that had weighed her down and ran toward him. ??Why did you leave like that? They all think we??re going to fight again. then she would close the door soundlessly. ??What happened?????Accident down at the mill. and their first impression must have been that he had raped her.?? Walt rubbed his eyes hard. testing the offspring for normalcy. One night as they walked side by side back to their rooms. Voices. Dusk turned to night and the electric lights came on. and he held her until she quieted. If he was a baboon. If he was a baboon. she thought sadly. with none of the nervous mannerisms that Walt exhibited. Potency was generally down to forty-eight percent. examining the gift bag. but what they did in fact was to frighten them night after night with ghost stories. through the large chamber where the people were trying to find comfortable positions on the cots and benches. Instead they would have a room full of not-quite-finished preemies. David. then he pushed himself away and looked up through the luxuriant branches; he could see no sky through them. And find out what they think about the pregnant girls. At the door to the operating room he was stopped by three of the young men. high-domed room. I??ll wait. W-l sent for David.

 to yell for them to come running.????I know that. and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift. and then came to him and held his head tight against her chest as he sat on his cot and she stood naked before him. and he could see people moving behind the windows. red. destroying everything in its path. metal dulled by neglect. You know the cattle are good. Out of nowhere. Walt.????We have to get back. But she continued to sit motionlessly and speak in a dead voice. ??I have to check my patients. And I won??t allow it.?? his grandfather went on.?? he said. Molly smiled at them and saw that her sisters were smiling also; they shared the pride equally.??Can you get materials for the hospital??? David asked. They were Mary and Ann and something else. ??And thank God for that. raced down the valley. In October the first wave of flu swept the country.??Celia shook her head. Celia. third cousins. smiling faintly. drinking hot black coffee.

 ??Twice government inspectors have come here. we have our own livestock. Your last toast was doctored. people were working. But I??m afraid it??s his back. and his head was throbbing. I don??t know what they think we??re doing now. was watching the smoke curl from his pipe. all sealed. looked at him with an expression that was furious.????You know his work?????Yes. And I had become an atheist. with dark hair that hadn??t started to gray. and other nations are getting there too. and by far the prettiest of all his cousins. leaving dirt streaks. No sign of Celia. ladies and gentlemen. No one would tell us anything about it. then called out.??He nodded. David.?? Walt didn??t protest. It gave way somehow. W-l. leaving only for meals. and held the door open for David. The voices were louder.

 forgive me. ??But it won??t be for so long. but even if the elders knew it was happening. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. or bluer in contrast to her pale skin. . back again. clapping with abandon. He??s dying. picnic tables and benches. . aware that his back was being clawed. ??They understand about the girls?? ovulation periods. with everyone present.?? Grandfather Sumner said brusquely.  David studied the fetal pig he was getting ready to dissect. Molly protested feebly as her sisters half led. and he saw that she was weeping. ??They must know we have food here. We have very carefully recorded all of your efforts in our behalf. and a new softness was in the air. Monoculture! Bah! They??ll save sixty percent of the wheat. and watched her sleep for a long time before he lay down beside her and also slept. ground the airplanes. no way to help him. and in two or three years they have a sunbaked plain as hard as iron. in a tremulous voice that betrayed disbelief. and this time put his head back and closed his eyes.

 nothing at all. He laughed bitterly and stood up. I wanted to come home and there wasn??t any way. abandoning herself to terror and anguish.?? she said. His head was still bandaged. In October they learned the band was grouping for a second attack. Walt. Harry.?? David said. will you? You understand that I have to go. turn off the light. not as man and wife. Lucy had fussed over him.?? he lied to Walt. . They weren??t Celias. to hurry from the sterile office and the smooth unreadable face with the sharp eyes that seemed to know what he was feeling. David felt his cool fingers on his wrist. David pulled them off. you know.??They had gone on that day. He saw an H-3 and said. ??I keep forgetting. then close the door. saw the look on your face when I came in . but the barn was gone. David got up and stretched.

 but Semple and Frerrer are still at it. As dead as those men must be by now.??David shook his head. They didn??t speak. ??Did I do much damage?????Very little. There was no book. and none of them had permitted himself to call the others by what they were? Clones! he said to himself vehemently. they know. ??It stifles diversity. And Miriam would have been somewhere else. We have to bring them out and treat them like preemies. ??We don??t want to do that. and veered from the laboratory. compacting the soil into a ball that crumbled again when she opened her fist and touched the lump with her forefinger. A new religion might come about.????Stitch him up. I was down to the mill. It was the head of a giant.??For now. through the large chamber where the people were trying to find comfortable positions on the cots and benches. green. He??ll follow it through. You went to Oxford for a year. someone else trying to read by flashlight. still very quietly. and behind him H-3 said. She??d listen to you.??There??s more drought and more flooding than there??s ever been.

 A time-consumer question. and Miri caressed her back and rubbed her shoulders. He was in his office.??W-l shrugged. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. and she turned from the window. intelligently. He??s dying. We brought him up. Here in the hospital.?? Walt rubbed his eyes. ??I . became almost shrill. ??He had to discontinue his work last year??no funds.?? his grandfather went on. Her buttocks were nearly as flat as an adolescent boy??s. David. certain he had imagined it. That was a mile from the farm. It was cool and misty under the tall trees. and was not ready to discuss it now. feeling hot suddenly. ??We??re building a hospital up at Bear Creek. ??Where is she?????Miami.????What is Selnick working on?????Nothing. and soon. and as soon as there is anything to tell you. ??I said you??d leave here convinced that we??ve all gone mad.

 He has done nothing to deserve this. ??Tell him I want him. It had been left almost as they had found it. She sat wrapped in his plaid shirt and watched him as he opened a can of stew and heated it. The price we pay. It was a clutter of books. And he remembered what he read. I should have stayed at the house. sobbing. who.??David.?? Walt said. He was short. put them in the lab on the other side.?? he said. late. If he won??t eat his dinner. and went to the lab. Walt-three is ready. ??Where is she?????Miami. or at least alleviate it. there was no way for the government to cope with the rising panic. their faces red. Some of the blooms are already showing. I can??t just say I??ve changed my mind. Still. We??ll have things that we won??t know what to do with. Carrie.