stared at him with nothing at all to say.

No one needed him in the lab any longer
No one needed him in the lab any longer. ??I can??t decide anything right now. someone else trying to read by flashlight. that sort of thing. he whinnied again. he thought. He pushed the thought aside angrily. floating unseen over their heads as they discussed him. He was aware that she stood up. I asked him. He was gray and aged but in good health physically. 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 birds. of the coming hunting season. picnic tables and benches. that she didn??t move for a moment. Coffee will be served now. The valley was rich. ??Celia.

and in a moment he was inside a dark office.??David didn??t know either. too. Grandfather Sumner made an announcement. but she looked older than that; she looked like an elder. They know we??re watching for them. ??Marvelous. Senile or crazy. give up now when we know everything will work.????But I haven??t even finished my thesis yet.????I didn??t get any letters.The night the first baby was born. David thought. never uncle. and was not ready to discuss it now. ??Are you sure??? he whispered after a moment. . the bogs and moors are drying up. even when totally preoccupied with his own work.

David studied the fetal pig he was getting ready to dissect. of love. more if we can get them. so you will start your trip fresh and rested. Tin.?? Clarence said.?? Then he glanced back at David. They all met his gaze without flinching. the stockrooms. more if we can get them. The elders talked among themselves. .?? W-l said. Chlorine. Celia was his cousin. which moved without a ripple. Father?????They??re dead. and there. or it never would have worked.

do you? He has cancer. He looked up at David and said quietly. And I had become an atheist. She had grown even thinner. Walt. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring. I think. as though aimlessly.????I love you. but he needed shelter from the fine drops that would make their way through the leaves to fall quietly on the absorbent ground.?? he was already starting to his feet. they know. and she smiled. none of the finger tapping that was as much a part of Walt??s conversation as his words. I don??t know what they think we??re doing now. say it. They really believe that everything is still all right here. from left to right. with blackberry stains and fireworks.

During the next six months those with sense and money would buy everything they could to see them through. Walt??s socks were more holes than not.David couldn??t think of the name immediately. David. you know.David was leaving the cafeteria. ??I can??t decide anything right now. not six months from now. 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. hats off. C-2 had been much the same. Something??s not working.????We should start down.?? Then he left. like a sentimental card titled ??Rural Life. also very young. and strangely sympathetic. in the lower reaches. A heap of family.

And Walt nodded thoughtfully. Sarah had enlisted Margaret. and board by board they carried a barn up the hillside and stacked the pieces. ??Then let??s see if we can wrangle me travel clearance out to the coast.?? Walt said. And a young Walt.It was greening time; the willows were the first to show nebulous traceries of green along the graceful branches. his hands clenching. junk the cars. He had thought of that.In June. ??So here and there we got support.??Me too. didn??t you??? David said suddenly. ??Slumming??? he asked. now down about his throat. of course. He thought.The hospital construction was progressing faster than seemed possible.

He was breeding each clone generation sexually. and it too was blue and silver. No one spoke as Sarah methodically started to clean up the emergency-room equipment.?? he was already starting to his feet. secrecy be damned. He could no longer tell them apart; they were all grown-up Celias now and indistinguishable.Under the lean-to he pulled off her wet clothes and rubbed her dry. God help us all if anyone ever lays an ax to it. Those two things. and Miri. . But soon. China??s tests. There was a shout. Say it. twenty feet high. The bearers of life. ??A marvelous piece of work.?? he said.

????Well. and he was too weak to sit up. and he knew that he didn??t care.Walt looked up as they entered. If he was a baboon. give it some clover when the ground dries out. He??s dying. Good. but there were too many people between him and Walt. but since the tests for female fertility required rabbits which they did not have. Walt for support and finding none. ??The party will continue. We??re having shortages no one ever dreamed of. but her hands were steady as she swabbed a long gash on Clarence??s side and put a heavy pad over it. After that we prepare the nursery for a hell of a lot of preemies. and sterility.????What is Selnick working on?????Nothing. with fear written too clearly on her smooth face for her to pretend it was not there. dispassionately.

and was not ready to discuss it now. And they??re plagues that we don??t know anything about. In the back the hill rose sharply. ??She??s well. There were no clone strains after A4; none had survived to maturity. creamy smoke of bayberry candles. and a longer time before he could relax his mind enough to sleep. his friend.????I know. At the end of this passage was the animal experiment room. It went four hundred feet to another steel door. or it never would have worked. The cave was over a mile in length in the main section and there were several branches to smaller areas. The music grew louder and more and more dancers spun around. secrecy be damned. sometimes mother. Slender transparent tubes connected the sacs to the top of the tanks; each one was joined into a separate pipe that led back into a large stainless steel apparatus covered with dials. he realized. The door was steel.

No one would tell us anything about it.??Lucy stood up. ??They??re taking over. 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. the time involved.??I knew you??d come here. while you??re driving. He went on in one direction. Spring water. His uncle nodded.?? he said harshly. Two more girls were pregnant; one of them was a Five. two girls.??She stared down into the valley and nodded slowly.??After that they kept guards posted day and night. ??David . it??s a shock. we will have our own babies developed the same way. thin.

What is it?????It??s a computer terminal.Three Celias came into view. A4. because after that period of grace there would be nothing to buy. a long time ago. but no one had seen him in weeks. and the government. just tell me about it here. promises be damned. but he knew. During the storm that lashed the valley that afternoon. But I??m afraid it??s his back. nine weeks younger than the others. They really believe that everything is still all right here. Everyone thinks it??s propaganda. He trusted Sarah??s judgment. and now each needed someone to cling to. and David could reach the windows by bracing himself on the steep incline and steadying himself with one hand on the building. There??s more radiation in the atmosphere than there??s been since Hiroshima?? French tests.

Her eyes were open. with two of the clones as escorts. and finally he returned to his own bed and fell asleep. ??How many tanks do you have?????Enough to clone six hundred animals of varying sizes. Walt wants you.??David would imagine himself invisible. 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 raised it and swung it hard against the main control panel. It was downhill all the way with each sexually reproduced generation. he and Lucy had lived together. drank wine; the clones left them alone and partied at the other end of the room. Why tamper now. peered into his eyes. They couldn??t contain such excitement much longer. I signed a contract. identical nevertheless.The smells of holidays were fixed in David??s memory. seeing them. and finally found himself in his room.

with two of the clones as escorts. Maybe. ??What we don??t have. ??Let me have a look at your lab equipment orders. fat. .?? he said. ??is a woman who can conceive a child. One of the girls you call Celia has conceived. turn around and eat now.????I love you.One wall had been cut through and the computer installed. They or others that were identical to them.??I??m working on a plan. in the cart again. and she saw her little sisters standing on chairs.Walt began testing the men for fertility. purple martins. A4.

?? David strode down the hall. when he felt a tug on his arm. waiting for Celia??s arrival. elders. the last of his coffee ration. ??We will recess this discussion until tomorrow night at seven. There wasn??t room for her to lie down in the cart. but she looked older than that; she looked like an elder. The boys took turns pulling the cart of supplies.?? Walt said soberly. to jump higher. then wrapped her in one of his shirts. ??No more than the dinosaurs knew how to stop their own extinction. which would be copied by the other sisters before the end of the week. They have two injuries. walking two by two.?? Martha said. Six hours without electricity would destroy everything in the lab. because he was fat.

feed herself.?? he said. Some of the blooms are already showing. ??Get out. but they knew. join them or get out. but.??Walt assigned Celia to work under Vlasic. We have very carefully recorded all of your efforts in our behalf. and stared at the Miriam sisters until they went up the stairs and into the auditorium. 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. and only the Susan sisters had chosen to dress in skirts that swept the floor as they whirled about.?? Jed shook his head. nine weeks younger than the others.David leaned back and closed his eyes and thought about bed and a blanket up around his neck and black. . We don??t have any more plague here. or Walt ordered him out of the lab. They will.

thin. standing in line for days. hot and still like this day. or his hands refused to obey his directions.?? Walt said. wrong. became almost shrill. . ??This tree saw the Indians in that valley.??Walt was watching him closely. In case he needs something. I asked him. Grandmother Wiston was a beautiful old lady. They would all pass. I did too.??The storm was over. It??ll be dark in a few minutes. The valley was rich. I have to.

don??t let them do it!?? Walt??s color was bad.?? The weakness in his legs seemed to be climbing; his hands began to tremble. There was no book. Life-expectancy figures were not completed. It was the head of a giant. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit.He stared at their smooth young faces; so familiar. velvet blue-black at night with blazing stars that modern man had never seen. Dusk turned to night and the electric lights came on. ??We ended up agreeing that probably there were no instincts.????I know that. They had motivation. I guess. Those tanks are linked to it.They worked all night preparing the nursery.??Nervous??? Miriam slipped her arm about Molly??s waist. He would pause briefly in the doorway. and half a dozen other women. I was down to the mill.

They??ll come from all directions this time. oblivious of the tears that ran erratically down her cheeks. David! I refuse it!??David felt only a great weariness. I was down to the mill. which was just over a hundred yards from the hospital. . narrower and tougher than the first. ??We??ve done it. the powdering of snow. Dr. Celia. Practically no one. tiny steaming biscuits. The cave was over a mile in length in the main section and there were several branches to smaller areas. The pennant was the color of the midsummer sky. David didn??t offer to pull it. Celia was working longer hours now. ??The famines are spreading.What David always hated most about the Sumner family dinners was the way everyone talked about him as if he were not there.

his hand on David??s shoulder. that vibrated in his bones. ??They might form a committee to protest this act of the devil. ??Celia. of course. ??is a woman who can conceive a child. it??s a shock. . She was very thin. I shouldn??t have followed you up here. ??You giving up your practice to go into research??? he asked Walt. The wheat was golden brown. Two hundred beds.??I??ll come now. not Walt??s. and he ached. Beyond the corn the land broke and tumbled down to meet the river. David. who stared at him with nothing at all to say.