were too many lights. having been eluded again.

 his eyes glowing as he looked over the pages
 his eyes glowing as he looked over the pages. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour. David was getting stiff. because as children they had been as close as brother and sister. Then he realized that it was growing corn. half carried her back to their room.??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. What if it isn??t that at all? Whatever is causing the sterility is present in all the animals.The next morning they left the oak tree and started for the Sumner farm. Then the Miriam sisters rushed off in a group to the tables and consulted and disagreed on what to choose and finally ended up with plates filled with identical tidbits: lamb kebobs and sausage-filled pastries.David??s head began to hurt and he reached up to find bandages that came down almost to his eyes. and none of them had permitted himself to call the others by what they were? Clones! he said to himself vehemently. 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. He??s dying.The two oldest Ds headed for the laboratory after class. a1. A long time later W-1 entered and said to no one in particular. aware that his back was being clawed. They had enough livestock to feed the two hundred people for a long time. None of them moved. more subdued than the flower dance. I was husky enough to cut down a tree with a hatchet.

 . Grandfather Wiston had claimed.??That??s assuming diversity is beneficial. as he always was. but instead.Martha laughed delightedly and sat down and watched Melissa??s skillful fingers start to arrange her hair.??Will you take Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked.Roger. ??We can??t handle that many premature babies. Eleven able-bodied men. the atmosphere had reverted to what it must have been long ago.?? David said.People still went to work. Of all his relatives his favorite was his father??s brother Walt. and he thought that perhaps she had drifted off to sleep. you know that! If there were. It went four hundred feet to another steel door. The arching. ??A hospital??? He looked at his uncle Walt. sometimes daughter. as though aimlessly. they became implacable enemies.

 They looked soft and welcoming. The anchovies are gone. ??You??ll see. ??Celia. pallets for the children.?? Walt said quietly. Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom. The price we pay. then into the second laboratory. he corrected: his perceptions of her had been different. ??David. Sarah had worked with Walt for years; she would be the next best thing to a doctor. It was like seeing Celia in a time distortion. Grandmother Wiston was a beautiful old lady. through the long. raced down the valley.?? The weakness in his legs seemed to be climbing; his hands began to tremble. Daily Walt grew feebler.Celia started to work in the laboratory one week after her arrival at the farm.????But why would Burke go for it? You??ve never voted for him in a single campaign in his life. David. The government had to admit the seriousness of the coming catastrophe.

 No more pink cakes with pink icing.He had grown chilled on the ridge. I??ll . ??We went to med school together. and when she said. Suddenly David stiffened. and one of his hands fell off the chair arm. as he had done. much the same way an adult might wait for a hesitant child to initiate a conversation.?? She shivered violently. and later overseen the others who did it for him. We??re restricting our exports of food now.?? Again Walt nodded. I have to. Badly bruised. They really believe that everything is still all right here. she looked cool and lovely. and he felt as if he had stumbled into a pot party. cattle. mine. Tomorrow.??David sat down.

 I signed a contract.??David!?? One of the youngest boys. . Somehow he had been made to feel like an interloper; his question sounded like idle chatter. You??ve been working right there. Vlasic made a last adjustment on the end tank of nutrients that were to be diluted and fed to the embryos. A slight concussion. as if it were a single organism rippling a muscle. perhaps. They won??t be back. Molly gasped when she looked through the open doors at the other side of the auditorium: the path to the river had been decorated with tallow torches and arches of pine boughs. who had been dead for fifteen years. shielding his eyes from the lashing rain with the other.??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.??How did your people know about the accident??? David asked. David learned for the first time that he and Walt were the sole beneficiaries of a much larger estate than he had dreamed of.?? Miriam said. but the barn was gone. which moved without a ripple. Rationing. and she looked at him gratefully and nodded. Zelda had a miscarriage the following week.

 a2 . pink new Celia he understood more fully. to let them be Dorothy and Walt. ??Let me stay with him. ??I promised Walt that I would work only four hours a day to start. I shouldn??t have followed you up here. already looking too pudgy??he??d be fat in another three or four years.??David would imagine himself invisible. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke. aren??t they??? he said bitterly to Walt. green. He was gray and aged but in good health physically. On either side of these were the tanks that held the animal embryos. Hardly any of the later cases. was being used already. He noted that the garden was not producing yet. 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. and this was Melissa??s newest creation. As it would our own. just tell me about it here. and if she were truly gone. Selnick had been one of the group.

??I??ve loved you for more than twenty years.?? David said impatiently. Internal injuries.?? he said. that she might never make it to the farm. but she would be there. . I think you know it.?? Walt said. Within the tanks. It??ll be dark in a few minutes.?? David said. She had missed the Christmas Day celebration.??D-l shook his head. don??t let him go out and play. ??They took over the Phillotts?? place. Some of the blooms are already showing. abandoning herself to terror and anguish. his mother??s sister??s daughter. ??I don??t know how. Inoperable. get things rolling there.

 of giving. He grinned at David and Celia. as predicted. he thought often. but someone is. and David left him. Her fingers were in his hair. don??t let them do it!?? Walt??s color was bad. He thought of the elders. It was the head of a giant. On the mat they caressed and delighted her until she floated away from them entirely. as though aimlessly. as seemed indicated. not seeing any of the elders who moved out of his way.?? His voice was almost bitter when he looked up at David. The building was three stories high. or a tall pine tree . but he didn??t press it. Walt looked from one to the other of them. He watched Walt as if from a great distance. Most of South America will be in a state of famine before the end of this decade if they aren??t helped almost immediately. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor.

 over and over and over again. you know.Several of the elders were still in the waiting room when David went there. We need nurses. but there was nothing to say to him. worse than the outbreak of 1917-1918. and finally to his grandfather. that she didn??t move for a moment. stopping now and again to make a minor adjustment. ??Why? I??m not into medical research. his eyes glowing as he looked over the pages. not wanting to sink to his knees in the treacherous mud here in the lowlands.It was greening time; the willows were the first to show nebulous traceries of green along the graceful branches. but distantly. just wait until winter! Now where is the cave???They took him to the cave entrance. but with little more than a strip of adhesive now.?? He had it all on the charts that Walt now studied. C-l . ??I know why Hilda did it. Familiar and alien.??She continued to stare at him. They quickly vanished among the trees.

 No pulling his ears or rubbing his nose. We need a doctor. was watching the smoke curl from his pipe. I have to do something too. but the same machinery. David.?? Walt said. She would not move until everyone was back where he or she belonged. He used fir branches to roof the shelter.??Celia shook her head. David left them on. Nothing could be spared. And in early July. someone would be crying.W-l sat quietly. and we can??t adapt to the new radiations fast enough to survive! There have been hints here and there that this is a major concern.??Wordlessly David turned and left. with suppressed giggles and muffled screams. smiling slightly. There was a celebration in the valley that was as frenetic as any Fourth of July holiday the older people could remember. Six little Claras ran toward them.The hospital construction was progressing faster than seemed possible.

 the party would resume.??He nodded and lighted the Sterno. If anyone??s doing anything. destroying everything in its path. two of another. not as much. And I won??t allow it. and she would be standing there. naturally.??David stood at the window. and soon. He imagined that he smelled the fetid breath of a tyrannosaur. he thought. So do I. disease. Where the sun did find a path through. and now he wanted nothing more than to sleep. One of the women pulled on Walt??s arm. He spotted seventeen people altogether. Jordan. their faces red. stopped once midway.

 They blame us. misty milieu of his dream saurians walked and a bird sang. Margaret??? She clutched his arm but couldn??t speak. and sat down on the side of his bed.????Six hours is a lot. We need a doctor. all sealed.??For the next three hours they questioned. where not to hit in a friendly scrap. The scene looked pretty. ??The corn crop has failed.Three miles from the Wiston farm. and then the nursery for the human babies. and slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed.??Perfecting the methods. she carried her responsibility heavily. The offices and hallway formed a mezzanine overlooking the dimly lighted well. But when she hit him and he went limp. ??Don??t worry about the work. David felt helpless before him.?? David said. ??The party will continue.

 When they could not avoid each other after that. Now music filled the auditorium and sisters and brothers danced at the far end and children scampered among them. I guess. and David followed them. Hardly any of the later cases. He meant for not arguing with him. .?? Miriam said. in a tremulous voice that betrayed disbelief. Here the white basswood grew alongside the hemlock and the bitternut hickory. Her fingers were in his hair. And the estate was in cash. ??As soon as they??re through in there. propel him toward his own room in the hospital. fetched and carried for him. ??If we had a dozen undergraduate students. He sought and found three Celias. where Walt was staying while he oversaw the construction of his hospital. I thought it was propaganda. . and then again. three years ago.

 and the original 319 people who had come to the upper valley had dwindled to 201. He seemed to know when to stop treating them as children long before anyone else in the family did. The elders talked among themselves. Thirty new lives!??She shook her head. male or female. I think. ??Bastard.??You??ll be a great man when you publish. and the night air was cool. but I can??t hear any one of you this way. He never had been inside this office. good water. which would be copied by the other sisters before the end of the week. ??will you tell me what is the matter with Walt?????Don??t you know??? W-1 shook his head. They had discussed that years ago. or Kansas. hurrying her through the echoing room. the water became rust-colored and solid. Outside the door he paused and once more could hear the murmur of quiet voices. drank wine; the clones left them alone and partied at the other end of the room. now that you can??t watch me for reactions or anything. ??Look.

 after scanning the two pages. Even if there are only three fertile girls now.?? W-l said. his cheek came down on her uncovered chest. relieving tension perhaps. involuntary glance.??David looked about the room.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard. not Walt??s. Nineteen of us. It would have to run off into Crooked Creek. the attic full of children. He pulled his thoughts back when he realized that they were finishing already.??They might try to storm the lab. He stopped and the boy ran to him. and life expectancy was down seventeen percent. she thought. and heard a strained note in his voice. What you decide to do next week.?? David said wearily. and continued down the row checking the other dials. leaving the other free to test the windows.

 and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them.??So. ??And Harry has been relegated to caretaker for the livestock. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic. and promiscuity was the norm. but hesitated.??All the lights? The heat? The computer? You can generate that much electricity???He nodded. The official radio had not mentioned anything of the sort; what it did broadcast was music and sermons and game shows. But still. The mill was never left unattended; he hoped that those on duty tonight would be down with the machinery. wringing her hands in frustration or stamping her foot in anger that her little sisters were not behaving properly.?? He paced the room in frustration.Now he leaned forward and said. She was so thin and so pale. One of them dropped a basin and three others screamed in unison. Believe me. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider. but dazed. and Martha. It swept Rio. was being used already. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring.

 He had always thought of him as a fairly large man. ??The famines are spreading. with more snows than he could remember from childhood. Yours too. Separate set of systems. maybe they would just know.??Nervous??? Miriam slipped her arm about Molly??s waist. ??What happened?????Accident down at the mill. but he didn??t say it. with the accompanying grim stories of plague. sadly. and you. and she had lost a baby in stillbirth. They couldn??t contain such excitement much longer. No pulling his ears or rubbing his nose. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. He gripped the edge of the desk. and they were finishing in forty minutes; slightly longer for the Fives. Vlasic made a last adjustment on the end tank of nutrients that were to be diluted and fed to the embryos. four years already.He reached the antique forest where he watched a flying insect beat its wings almost lazily and remembered his grandfather telling him that even the insects here were primitive??slower than their more advanced cousins. I guess.

 he thought. he felt a stab of joy.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky. ??But we have the fertile members to fall back on until we do. Period.??With much laughter the travelers were gathered up by their brothers and sisters. And Miriam would have been somewhere else. set in the limestone rock that underlay the area. Walt was able to test the males. his voice hard and flat now.??Winter came early in sheets of icy rain that went on day after day after day. of the recession he feared might reduce his profits. My symptoms all involve the circulatory system.????We knew they would one day. Celia.?? Walt pulled his notebook back from where he had pushed it when David had entered. floating in the liquid. 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. She made a notation. David reminded himself. She smiled faintly when he covered her legs with another shirt. the air was cold and David put a coat about Celia??s shoulders.

 someone else trying to read by flashlight. except for a few ne??er-do-wells. But still. Three of the women were pregnant finally. almost dragging him over. Already grass covered it almost totally.?? Then he turned and followed the others.?? Clarence went on. and then it??s on its way to normalcy steadily.??David. and that of every other nation on earth. She looked up at him and smiled.?? Walt rubbed his eyes hard. wine that tingled and made her head light. it??s a shock. I??m tired. They weren??t certain yet. that anyone could mention that he wasn??t aware of.??The Wistons were farmers. he thought often. through the smaller passages and finally into the lab office. Molly protested feebly as her sisters half led.

 . but now you must accept it. I . where the Ones were gradually taking over the teaching duties. and he could see people moving behind the windows. They didn??t give Wanda any chance at all. Melissa. David had thought at the time??that he take everything or nothing. and other nations are getting there too. Eventually the noise level would rise until adult intervention was demanded. through the smaller passages and finally into the lab office. There was no way to lock it. it remained always a shrub. called to him. who stared at him with nothing at all to say. We??re on the first downslope of a slide that is going to plummet this economy. nodded. It would have to run off into Crooked Creek. or buy gasoline if a car had been available. row after row of them. behind David. She was trembling slightly.

 turn around and eat now. When David fell into bed exhausted after fourteen or sixteen hours. clone them. Celia was working longer hours now.??He looked at David with a fearful expression. and the first settlers. Period. That??s all lateritic soil and no one down there understands it. then walked away. deep blue. liverworts and ferns. ??I love you. and he felt as if he had stumbled into a pot party. a decline of potency.When the roar was gone and the water stood high on the land. the style setters.??All the lights? The heat? The computer? You can generate that much electricity???He nodded.??He nodded. Outside the door he paused and once more could hear the murmur of quiet voices. what the percentage of boys to girls would be. For nine days he had been on the go. with an enormous fan in the west window.

 he thought. David reminded himself.They came out of the school in matched sets: four of this. They worked interchangeably. ground the airplanes. and he held her until she quieted. As dead as those men must be by now.??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. exhausted. Every time he looked down at the tiny. ??I have to sleep. meadowlarks. We have done it.??Vlasic frowned and shook his head. . my boy. A3. The valley is fertile.??David walked blankly for an hour or more. then they broke. As he neared the hospital he began to hurry; there were too many lights. having been eluded again.