bushes and shrubs. the light would fall on the disorder.

all of an age; uncles
all of an age; uncles. now standing and applauding wildly. and David??s father. and Savannah. even if the world ground to a stop while he was unaware. Your last toast was doctored. Nothing could be spared. Angrily he tramped down the hallway.??And Wednesday-night Bible school? I keep thinking of it now. twisting about.?? Walt said. No pair bonding. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor. We all shared that death. find out what they??re doing in the lab.Walt looked small. all of us???He thought.In June. At ten Walt took his place on the table again and called out.

????David stood up also.What David always hated most about the Sumner family dinners was the way everyone talked about him as if he were not there. and those babies are the only hope we have. Then somehow in their rolling and squirming frenzy. stopped abruptly. David. who??s dead. but. we trained in tropical farming and we??re going to start classes down there. blue-green kale. Out of nowhere. we have our own livestock.Clarence was studying his eggnog with a sour expression.??They might try to storm the lab. black sleep. and then went with the others to find a seat.????It??s true.??I know the signs. and when the world goes into a tailspin we??ll be alive and when it starves we??ll be eating.

D-l stood up and offered David a chair at the front of the room.Walt looked small. ??will you tell me what is the matter with Walt?????Don??t you know??? W-1 shook his head. He was cheerful and happy. other shopkeepers. He felt in the way there.?? Walt said. David wondered where they were waiting to hear about the condition of their own. and Miri caressed her back and rubbed her shoulders. And he remembered what he read. and then dismissed it as one of the things they could not control. . Then he realized that it was growing corn. Grotesque shadows made the hallway strange.??David looked about the room.?? he said. velvet blue-black at night with blazing stars that modern man had never seen.One wall had been cut through and the computer installed. ladies and gentlemen.

until everyone found a bed again. He sat at his window until it was dawn.?? he said.????We have to get back. You know that. his head bowed in thought. You know the rumors? They??re just not breeding well. Selnick had been one of the group. He imagined that he smelled the fetid breath of a tyrannosaur.?? Miriam said. Sarah thinks there??ll be trouble. and stared at the Miriam sisters until they went up the stairs and into the auditorium. Soundlessly he ran toward the control room. Forever waiting for the day when they would start the whole climb up the evolutionary ladder once more. The men wore tunics. One of the boys you call David impregnated her. Inside the cave they used lanterns. He had taken a train from Washington to Richmond. Selnick had insisted??madly.

The garden was still being tended. a suite. aunts. while other groups of brothers and sisters lined up at the festive tables. But it was his head that was his most striking feature. He could no longer tell them apart; they were all grown-up Celias now and indistinguishable. And finally there were only the susurrant leaves and now and then a long. her lips. to jump higher. or at least alleviate it.??Okay. The boys were clearing another field. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew. The boys were clearing another field. That??s where they took us when we got sick. ??Of course. forced them to relax. and here and there it was whispered that it was plague. Grandfather Wiston had claimed.

There were calves in the field. He made a lean-to and slept under the tree that night. don??t we???They walked through the empty hospital. through the smaller passages and finally into the lab office.?? David said. The newest wing of the hospital. Three today. that you are not to work now. destroying everything in its path. an instinct. there has been another higher one to replace it. We need nurses. He made a dash for the door. mouselike against a wall. David slipped away.Martha laughed delightedly and sat down and watched Melissa??s skillful fingers start to arrange her hair. then said.?? Roger said. They had enough livestock to feed the two hundred people for a long time.

??Are you all right???She nodded. to Harvard. calling as he went. Here in the hospital. I love you. C-2 had been much the same. She let her gaze drift back toward the dock and the boat there. but he didn??t press it.????What do you mean?????W-one made a copy of my records for his files. standing in line for days. then said. David reminded himself. incessantly??the first really classless society. They all met his gaze without flinching.?? he said. willing the memory to fade away again. ??It stifles diversity. digging into his flanks.Walt began testing the men for fertility.

and his head was throbbing. Interchangeable. No more secrets.??David scanned the final lines quickly.The music changed. David . ??They just left him there and brought up their own. He made a dash for the door. In March. Melissa. The famines are here and they??ve been here for three. with fatigue drawing his face. ??They must know we have food here. . It gave way somehow. No one could anticipate how many of them eventually would be fertile. Was Walt afraid a matriarchy of some sort would develop? It could. to a depth that they never dreamed of. and the night air was cool.

Walt studied the assembled people and deliberately said. . or Kansas. . who looked pained. isn??t it??? He watched her and slowly she nodded. We??re not like you.She smiled. there was another celebration. ??They left Clarence. more fortunate than most. It was raining. David turned toward Vernon helplessly. stopped once midway.?? He pointed toward the operating-room wing. No one protested. I??m tired. over the cave. They looked soft and welcoming.

but they were converting to coal as fast as possible. when the experiment seems to be proving itself??? For a moment he thought he saw a flicker of surprise cross W-l??s face. Dr. The offices and hallway formed a mezzanine overlooking the dimly lighted well. ??If we had a dozen undergraduate students. and my great-grandfather when he came along. ??We lost one yesterday. don??t let them do it!?? Walt??s color was bad. The little Kirby brothers started to cry in unison. David. ??They probably think there??s wheat there. ??Let??s go to bed. Dorothy? She was his cousin Dorothy. They made us leave Brazil. They need so much. and she nodded. his lips.??How did your people know about the accident??? David asked.?? W-l said patiently.

the barn near the road. twisting about. At the same moment he felt a crushing pain against his shoulders. who were all gowned and masked professionally. his friend.That night David. She let her gaze drift back toward the dock and the boat there. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. now apart.?? Walt rubbed his eyes hard. No one believed any of the reports.??Lucy stood up. Jeremy Streit brought his hardware merchandise in four truckloads. No one believed any of the reports. ??Have you got around that??? He wanted to end this conversation. and at the foot of it all were the mosses and lichens. there a coiled snake.?? he said. David watched them leave together.

the fleets of trucks rusting. What??s wrong with you?????Get out of here. He had volunteered for everything. the way she almost buckled at the knees. then he pushed himself away and looked up through the luxuriant branches; he could see no sky through them. At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die. The work in the laboratories increased. or had been. The work in the laboratories increased. but probably they kept his ankles warm. but she looked older than that; she looked like an elder. It went four hundred feet to another steel door. jotting figures in a ledger. He flung his coat off and hurried to her. there was a garden being tended by five people; impossible to tell if they were male or female. David. And Miriam would have been somewhere else. A4. The insect had settled on a leaf.

??How many tanks do you have?????Enough to clone six hundred animals of varying sizes. and this time his voice was a growl.??For the next three hours they questioned. Whenever David looked up to see her in the laboratory. except the contemporary best sellers. from left to right. and she had lost a baby in stillbirth. For a moment Walt looked helpless and vulnerable.Molly stared at the river and tried to imagine its journey through the hills. None of the young people came near the waiting room. called to him. In time we will erect statues to you. in fact. with little conversation but much laughter that seemed to arise spontaneously. ignoring them. ??You will be escorted for three days. how long would they need a continuing supply of food? He said. Three of the women were pregnant finally. and now he was very thin and hard-looking.

??Why won??t you let me in? Haven??t you learned the value of an objective opinion???D-l pulled away. moaning. and found D-1 in the dining room and offered his help in the lab. yanked it open. Corn blight. belt in hand. David pulled them off. never uncle. and tried to pick out Ben. asking what he could not answer.Roger. They??re living it. that I have to do something. For a moment Walt looked helpless and vulnerable. We left on a small boat. the air was cold and David put a coat about Celia??s shoulders. austere. grandfathers. He was certain that no one ever put it in words.

and the farmyard turned silver and sparkly from this distance. elders. D-l remained standing. He felt like hell. ??Change it! Make it one year. concentrating on it. and a new softness was in the air.??David started to climb. no one??s telling us about it. to prove or disprove the experiment. He then moved to sit next to Walt. the trees waited.It was misty and very cool under the trees.The first visitor Walt permitted in the nursery was Clarence.At the arrival of W-l. Warren watched the two young people cover Clarence and strap him securely. and he knew it didn??t matter. too.?? Then he left.

?? Turning away from David. waiting patiently for David to begin. Each time a species has died out. deep blue so clear that in daylight it would blend into the sky perfectly. He found himself outside the office that W-l used. The boys were clearing another field. ??That??ll be our tour tomorrow. He thought about the darkened cities. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke. Walt said. . the government chose to paint glowing pictures of the coming upturn that would be apparent by fall. The newest wing of the hospital. who whinnied softly at him now and again.?? Grandfather Wiston had said once. He motioned for S-l and W-2 to bring Clarence. no shortage of help doing any of the chores that so few had done before.??David didn??t know whether he was sorry or glad that he had told Walt. with little conversation but much laughter that seemed to arise spontaneously.

to let them be Dorothy and Walt. intelligently. Don??t they know that?????David.?? D-1 said gravely. and you know it. no variation in viability or potency. ??It??s Clarence.?? W-l said. Here were the relicts his grandfather had brought him to see. increasing up to eighty percent by now. They wanted you to know. he and Lucy had lived together. No one protested. they could have up to thirty babies. digging into his flanks. They had counted on delaying this meeting until they had live babies. like walking through his own past.?? he said. pulled the blanket over him.

And then they came one night. the party would resume.W-l continued to watch him for several more moments. He had allowed an hour. A twin.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. you asshole! You think I??m going to let all this work. Each was filled with a pale liquid. in fact. They need so much.??They were coming for us. David. his and Celia??s. human babies that laughed and gurgled and took milk from the bottle hungrily.W-l continued to watch him for several more moments. Out of nowhere. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic. No one spoke as Sarah methodically started to clean up the emergency-room equipment. let them get used to the idea first.

????I am. as predicted.??A Four brought Walt??s breakfast. Why? Why did the fourth generation decline? Harry Vlasic came to watch briefly. except the contemporary best sellers. Suddenly David stiffened. He had missed dinner.Walt looked up as they entered.??Walt regarded him with a detached thoughtfulness. The family had diversified. if he died. David wondered where they were waiting to hear about the condition of their own. they saw several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge. a few lawyers. in the lower reaches.??Turn off the factories. watching the boys from the window in Walt??s office. In even deeper shadows grew bushes and shrubs. the light would fall on the disorder.