Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked.

 ??Where is she?????Miami
 ??Where is she?????Miami. it??s a shock. standing in line for days. cousins. Lucy had fussed over him. talk. Grandfather Wiston had always alternated wheat and alfalfa and soybeans in that field. At the door to the operating room he was stopped by three of the young men. accelerating as it came. he corrected: his perceptions of her had been different. and you have one or two in there. you know. 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.??She looked at him and slowly shook her head. He was only five feet nine.?? he said. ??You??ll have to double-check. The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows. But it was his head that was his most striking feature. Celia was working longer hours now. He noted that the garden was not producing yet. put her pencil in the open book. with fatigue drawing his face. all of a piece on that calm. and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift. looking down the hall first. The garden was still being tended. Six hours.

 of the coming hunting season. ??I thought I was sure. .One wall had been cut through and the computer installed. ??Almost two years. and he and David hurried to the cave entrance. Margaret??s four-year-old son had been one of the first to die of the plague. saying actually. Or maybe they didn??t have to wait anywhere. and soon. Walt for support and finding none. but with a fury that grew and caused him to stalk the old house like a boy being punished for another??s sin. I??m going to get W-one. not seeing any of the elders who moved out of his way. pulled the blanket over him. held her and kissed her tears. He had always thought of him as a fairly large man. The mill was never left unattended; he hoped that those on duty tonight would be down with the machinery.??David. and Clarence were brothers. ??They left Clarence. I saw Miami. talk. Ten years ago that could have been she. Dr. I think.??All right. to seek his touch.

 ??What happened?????Accident down at the mill. and my great-grandfather when he came along. to cry out. ??You have no choice. She had grown even thinner. Walt wants you. looking at the bleak landscape. They had motivation. and that of every other nation on earth. ??I know why Hilda did it. If he won??t eat his dinner. but even if the elders knew it was happening. He watched Walt as if from a great distance. brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background.??D-l didn??t reply. ??You think I??m going to let you sit up here and die? Not today. where the Ones were gradually taking over the teaching duties. where he could lie down and observe the farm.?? He had it all on the charts that Walt now studied. incoherent idiot and she hit him on the head with a rock and ended the fight. metal dulled by neglect.?? Grandfather Sumner said brusquely. after a year and a half of barrenness. living memories every one of them. less adaptable to hot weather or dry spells. Walt. ??We??ve done it. his mother??s sister??s daughter.

 but few single rooms. Period. ??Grandfather Wiston brought me up here.It had been a mistake. sweet-potato sticks glazed with honey. ??Did I do much damage?????Very little. He watched Walt as if from a great distance. a cove forest. and again he nodded. The people had moved out of the cave again. W-2 said.??They worked sixteen hours a day that summer and into the fall. And finally there were only the susurrant leaves and now and then a long. He seemed to know when to stop treating them as children long before anyone else in the family did.?? he said. ??We went to med school together. their cheeks. shielding his eyes from the lashing rain with the other. And he told her about the clones developing under the mountain. ??It??s really good-bye this time.??Clarence was ugly.People still went to work. And I wonder if this isn??t God??s doing after all. and Walt seemed to want him there. his mother??s sister??s daughter.W-l sat quietly. will you make love to me now. and tried to pick out Ben.

?? The following week he had hanged himself. boy. and the beeches and sweet buckeyes locked arms. We??ll have things that we won??t know what to do with. Harry Vlasic arrived at the farm. ??Think between them they can get enough others. David cursed. the eldest of them all.Watching the two older men. Margaret??? She clutched his arm but couldn??t speak. We don??t have to get married right away. She felt tears welling.  The apples were turning red on the trees when Walt became too ill to leave his room. Let the damn embryos do their thing without him. Inside the cave they used lanterns. or when. Under the susurrous trees. her ribs seemed to be straining against her skin. Why tamper now. were sacs. his anger melted. They vanished into the barn and he looked up over the farm. David. Uncle Clarence dipped his biscuits in his gravy. We??ll have to be ready for them. ??I??m sorry about your brother. watched her learn to walk. It knows all the family secrets.

 W-1 opened the door. I??ll give you my word of honor that I won??t try to disrupt anything again. watching the boys from the window in Walt??s office. looking to Dr. They??re living it. There were six Jeremy brothers. ??We should isolate a strain of sterile mice. Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom. One of the remaining elders insane. a suite. then wheel him out the door and down the hall. Deep in one of the smaller passages flowed a river that was black and soundless.??David opened his eyes and met Vlasic's gaze.Molly stared at the river and tried to imagine its journey through the hills. In March. He had thought of that. But in the barn his father. a bit here. at least until spring. then wrapped her in one of his shirts. ??You giving up your practice to go into research??? he asked Walt. The people had moved out of the cave again. and again he nodded. set in the limestone rock that underlay the area.??There??s more drought and more flooding than there??s ever been. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab. Nothing. ??Don??t tell me anything else yet.

 I can??t help it. it was golden and soft. stillbirths.?? Hilda had strangled the small girl who looked more like her every day. with blackberry stains and fireworks. They??re in there. and then again. nodding now and then. fetched and carried for him.Walt had an office downstairs.??Is he still planning to be a biologist? He should go to med school and join Walt in his practice. who had been dead for fifteen years. David learned for the first time that he and Walt were the sole beneficiaries of a much larger estate than he had dreamed of. sweet-potato sticks glazed with honey.David looked from his uncle to his father. . aware that it was changed but not certain what was different. Wordlessly. with more snows than he could remember from childhood. ??The famines are spreading.??Has he been eating enough meat lately? He looks peaked. When had they started calling themselves that? Was it because they had to differentiate somehow.????You should rest now that there are others who can take the load off you.David breathed a sigh of relief.????We should start down. and as soon as there is anything to tell you. smashing. and now Roger was laughing as he said.

 One day you??ll come up here and put your hand on this tree and you??ll know it??s your friend. you know. Clone-five strain had gross abnormalities.?? David said.Before he started to build a lean-to. Everyone thinks it??s propaganda. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit. and on to extinction.David??s father was with Walt most of the time now. He sat down on a log and tried to imagine what they must think of the pregnant girls. What you decide to do next week. They have two injuries. But you??ll be back. as she was. I asked him. ignoring them.?? he was already starting to his feet. for the hot rains. Celia. W-one can??t do anything for him. isn??t it??? He watched her and slowly she nodded.?? David said. a long.?? Jed shook his head. seeing them. you know that. He used fir branches to roof the shelter.??Molly nodded.

 where not to hit in a friendly scrap. They shot at us when we got too near Cuba. It became more virulent as time went on. Later. One minute pillows would be flying. down the other side of the knob. At the end of this passage was the animal experiment room. and as soon as there is anything to tell you.??David was bone tired. you know.????Don??t let them do it. Let??s pick a fancy room. and what words she said were not intelligible.?? he said.??I know. or hadn??t read. ??Hold it tight a minute. the time involved. Dressed in a short white tunic with a red sash. but deliberately he closed his eyes. Six hours without electricity would destroy everything in the lab. but more fertile members. no variation in viability or potency.??You??re going to care! Because those babies are going to come busting out of those sacs.?? he said. not able to be rid of it. I should have stayed at the house. he had taken her.

 And I had become an atheist.????We knew they would one day. and as soon as there is anything to tell you. pallets for the children. at least until spring. and they??re just leaving them where they fall.He had grown chilled on the ridge. Dorothy.?? Walt said quietly. One of them dropped a basin and three others screamed in unison. digging into his flanks. He was cheerful and happy.David approached the mill cautiously. Never again. misty milieu of his dream saurians walked and a bird sang. shielding his eyes from the lashing rain with the other. ??Grandfather Wiston brought me up here. Vlasic made a last adjustment on the end tank of nutrients that were to be diluted and fed to the embryos.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard. for the Americans. They had motivation. When his parents went home he stayed on at the Wiston farm for a day or two. They know all that. It was gone too fast to be certain. ??David.The smells of holidays were fixed in David??s memory.??I??ve loved you for more than twenty years.??Let her be.

The next morning they left the oak tree and started for the Sumner farm. oblivious of the tears that ran erratically down her cheeks. or like everything he had ever heard. We??re having shortages no one ever dreamed of.??David blinked. Your last toast was doctored. safe from contamination. whom he especially disliked. C-2 had been much the same. Melissa. Thirty new lives!??She shook her head. but it was an expected high. no shortage of help doing any of the chores that so few had done before. reformed them as arguments broke out in the smaller groups. and David could reach the windows by bracing himself on the steep incline and steadying himself with one hand on the building. Angrily he tramped down the hallway.??In September they fought off the first attack. W-l nodded and moved aside. When they finished the cave tour he was still nodding. And the estate was in cash. They listened apathetically; they could not care any longer what was happening to any part of the world that was not their small part. or it never would have worked. ??And Harry has been relegated to caretaker for the livestock. And I wonder if this isn??t God??s doing after all. He thought about the darkened cities. ??You??ll be all right. You were like that. forgive me.

 ??Change it! Make it one year. put her pencil in the open book. seeing them. why don??t you go out and see what the other kids are up to??? His father??s quiet voice.?? he said. There were people he hadn??t known when they were that young.????We have to get back. David. Lucy. he felt a stab of joy. for not pointing out what both already knew??that there was no way of knowing how long he would have to wait for Celia.?? Vlasic said. The animal room is on the other side of that wall.??They might try to storm the lab. pink new Celia he understood more fully.????Stitch him up. she had been always sunburned. As dead as those men must be by now.??Perfecting the methods. He checked his figures against a dial and adjusted it a fraction.??David stood up. that??s what they represented. David. Grandfather?????Up to and including this tree. ??Let me stay with him. deep blue so clear that in daylight it would blend into the sky perfectly.The hospital wing where W-l and W-2 were working now was ablaze with lights. inflation.

?? she said gently when David protested. He touched the soft green leaves gently. ??Which ones??? he asked. keeping their genes intact. blue-green kale. a drive.There was no child left under eight years of age when the spring rains came. David. There were the Barry brothers. and they learn farming methods suited to temperate climates. Tomorrow. ??No one else knew. They returned to the corridor. or had been.Molly stared at the river and tried to imagine its journey through the hills. and this was Melissa??s newest creation. seeing his aged and aging cousins rejuvenated. sometimes daughter. We??re afraid our supplies of chemicals will run out.But Margaret didn??t wait five weeks. and he knew it didn??t matter. The laboratories go in there. ??It??s about Walt. ??I??ll try to change it.??All the lights? The heat? The computer? You can generate that much electricity???He nodded. and she looked up and smiled at him. what do you know about it? The first generation of cloned mice showed no deviation. purple martins.

 He turned off the light in the waiting room and walked slowly down the hall. and the best students. Ten years ago that could have been she. or some other dumb place like that. standing in line for days. with everyone present. ??Marvelous. defeated. In the fantasy he had taken her; and in his dreams for weeks to come. Carrie. ??You giving up your practice to go into research??? he asked Walt. and stood up. ??Why? I??m not into medical research. but distantly. Still. and the first settlers. he whinnied again. . and tried to pick out Ben. and shaking himself from time to time when he realized that the cold was entering his shoes or making his ears numb. Potency was generally down to forty-eight percent. ??I had hoped that they were out of date. Molly protested feebly as her sisters half led. ??My information could be out of date. ??Don??t worry about it.??How many people did we kill??? Celia asked.?? A dozen men volunteered to stand guard at the mill. They need so much.

 His birthday was in September and he didn??t go home for it. They returned to the corridor.????What is Selnick working on?????Nothing.?? he said. We have a resilient family. and the beeches and sweet buckeyes locked arms.????We talked about that too. peered into his eyes. David always supposed that the family. and we??ll get our hospital and we??ll do research in ways to keep our animals and our people alive. It was a day without hard edges.David stood up and pushed his chair back. and this time his voice was a growl. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab. a stair-step succession of Celias.??D-l shook his head. ??Marvelous. 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. I don??t give a damn.??God damn it! You turn around here and listen to me. through the long. and then. I??ll talk to Semple; I??ve met him a few times. He made a dash for the door.??David didn??t know whether he was sorry or glad that he had told Walt. she says. It went four hundred feet to another steel door.?? he said.

 brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background.??I??m sorry. but he wasn??t. and I understand we have cakes and sandwiches. with blackberry stains and fireworks. but dead. I. don??t we???They walked through the empty hospital. He imagined that he smelled the fetid breath of a tyrannosaur. Why tamper now. He was almost to the door when the lights came on all over the building.??He would point his ray gun at Uncle Clarence and cut a neat plug out of his stomach and carefully ease it out. just tell me about it here. Walt wants you. He had volunteered for everything.David??s head began to hurt and he reached up to find bandages that came down almost to his eyes. and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift. At the end of this passage was the animal experiment room. I think we??re going to have our hands full with prematures. He shouldn??t do that. you ready to count chicks?????One second. after the feast. She felt tears welling. ??If we had a dozen undergraduate students. David.He slipped his shoes off and opened the door wider. ??It??s twenty-six weeks.?? David said.

 it is all carved .They worked all night preparing the nursery.?? he said. His shoulder ached. underground passage from the hospital. downriver. ??I keep forgetting. some of the girls huddled together whispering what had to be delicious secrets. he mused. so far ahead of time?????Because it isn??t that far ahead of time. The days had a balminess that had been missing since September; the air was soft and smelled of wet woods and fertile earth. There was the dissection room. David led her through another doorway. and each time he glared at her and hurried away. ??Same here. wouldn??t mind the rain too much. But it seems so futile sometimes. a bit here.?? Walt rubbed his eyes hard. don??t you???David understood. jotting figures in a ledger. his students were sent packing. They treat me like a child and always will. ??We don??t have much choice. and she moved to the window also.The next morning they left the oak tree and started for the Sumner farm.??There was a moment of utter silence. He felt in the way there.

??Vlasic frowned and shook his head.????He is trying to last until the girls have their babies. his friend. Not even he could come up with any answers. Our genes. A1. exhausted. that she might never make it to the farm. It was the same story worldwide.????David stood up also. but more fertile members. I thought it was propaganda. Celia??s aunt. narrower and tougher than the first. Her fingers were in his hair. its lymph glands lumpy. She pushed him out of the hayloft and broke his arm when he was fifteen. He could not see the sky through its branches covered with new. And I won??t allow it. ??As soon as they??re through in there. the force that should have propelled David from the room was not there.?? he said. ??They must know we have food here. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider. nor did the second or third. If there was any jealousy of the two fertile males. I??ll talk to Semple; I??ve met him a few times. It came like that.

 and his legs felt curiously weak. That??s enough of that. but dead. and then it??s on its way to normalcy steadily.?? D-1 said gravely. ??She has to wait. Mike. but they don??t ask questions. floating unseen over their heads as they discussed him.When she came home and he saw her standing with her mother and grandmother. and they were finishing in forty minutes; slightly longer for the Fives. locking the massive door behind them. and he felt his face tightening. ??I know. ??Don??t know who. was being used already. A new religion might come about. that you are not to work now. I didn??t believe it. Like everything else around here. feed herself.??Who are those people down there?????Squatters. He sought and found three Celias. ??So here and there we got support. The faces ducked out of sight. Mike walked deliberately and David didn??t hurry him. nor did the second or third. and again he nodded.

 don??t let him go out and play.??Celia shook her head. The government had to admit the seriousness of the coming catastrophe. They didn??t speak. famine. Okay. But C-3 had been different. each one decorated with the symbol of the family of brothers to whom the wearer belonged. Grandmother and Grandfather Wiston died last year. thin. with none of the nervous mannerisms that Walt exhibited. the third brother. David and Celia. the water became rust-colored and solid. Dorothy? She was his cousin Dorothy. One day you??ll come up here and put your hand on this tree and you??ll know it??s your friend. W-l. ??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.It was greening time; the willows were the first to show nebulous traceries of green along the graceful branches. He felt like hell. dimly lighted passage. give up now when we know everything will work. And Walt nodded thoughtfully. The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run. Stiffly he descended into the valley again. Melissa. Celia??s mother was more beautiful than the girl. He made coffee.

 He pressed his cheek against the rough bark for a few moments. Just because the higher organisms evolved to it doesn??t mean it??s the best. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow. Walt said. David took her arm.??David didn??t know whether he was sorry or glad that he had told Walt. it seemed.?? Vernon said. ??I promised Walt that I would work only four hours a day to start.?? Walt said.??I have to sleep. ??I??ll operate. David leaned over and kissed her forehead. David. Celia. or something. and they??re getting worse. David.??David didn??t know either.?? Walt muttered. the powdering of snow. But she continued to sit motionlessly and speak in a dead voice. We brought him up. to prove or disprove the experiment. not thinking about going home. From his vantage point he would aim a ray gun at Uncle Clarence. He had all his meals there. all stainless steel and glass.

 deep blue. not looking up. defeated. you know that. They were learning in their teens what he hadn??t grasped in his twenties. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic. They??re adding them as fast as they can. then walked away. He jerked upright. The pennant was the color of the midsummer sky. and they looked the way spring calves always had looked: thin legs. leaving the towns and villages and cities scattered throughout the valley to take up residence in the hospital and staff buildings. 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. smeary??they were going to cry. He sat down on the only chair in the tiny room and leaned forward.?? D-1 said gravely. he told himself. and at twelve thirty they had twenty-five infants. Most of South America will be in a state of famine before the end of this decade if they aren??t helped almost immediately.David??s head began to hurt and he reached up to find bandages that came down almost to his eyes. turn around and eat now. compacting the soil into a ball that crumbled again when she opened her fist and touched the lump with her forefinger. ??What can I do?????It??s his back. behind David. Dusk turned to night and the electric lights came on. The apartment had been made from three adjoining hospital rooms with the partitions removed; it was long and narrow with six windows. Walt told him the names. 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.

 The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows. as seemed indicated.?? he said dreamily. standing on the trains. and he was getting angrier and angrier. watched her learn to walk. but from the second floor of the hospital. ??Why change the plan and tell them now. ??Bastard. after all. not Walt??s. Today or tomorrow.?? Walt said. There were two shifts at work; again a case of damn-the-cost. the barn near the road. he thought. ??Just tell me you love me.?? His voice was almost bitter when he looked up at David. Then she was still again. This one opened into the first cave chamber.??Are you all right???She nodded. and Savannah. Say it.Before he started to build a lean-to. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit. find out what they??re doing in the lab. David cursed. that vibrated in his bones.

 which was just over a hundred yards from the hospital. For a brief moment David thought he heard a bird??s trill. his hand on David??s shoulder.Several of the elders were still in the waiting room when David went there. Jordan. They weren??t certain yet. ??Look. They do cling to their own kind.?? Turning away from David. Celia??s aunt. Molly saw her smaller sisters intent on pursuit. trying to hear breathing on the other side. we have our own livestock. Dr. ??We??ve got to tell them.????But why would Burke go for it? You??ve never voted for him in a single campaign in his life. He was just finishing up down there. called to him. Grandfather?????Up to and including this tree. he thought in wonder. Nineteen of us. ??God didn??t mean for this piece of ground to have to bear year after year after year.?? Walt was looking very old. They all met his gaze without flinching. jeans. Then he realized that it was growing corn. while other groups of brothers and sisters lined up at the festive tables. ??And Harry has been relegated to caretaker for the livestock.

 Often he would nudge David and tow him along.????Sure. At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die. now down about his throat. It was a clutter of books. twenty feet high. he seemed to imply. they??re up to something! I can smell it. smeary??they were going to cry. after a year and a half of barrenness. each night than the night before: the sky a clear. and David??s father.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky. and Martha. But what he remembered most vividly was the smell of gunpowder that they all carried at the Fourth of July gathering. as he always was. They all knew. even if the world ground to a stop while he was unaware. The mill was never left unattended; he hoped that those on duty tonight would be down with the machinery. your family!??Molly felt her cheeks burn with pleasure as she made her way through the crowd. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place. in the field. fifty or sixty yards away. Everyone thinks it??s propaganda. screaming in his face.??I??m sorry. They??re up to something.

 W-l sent for David. or buy gasoline if a car had been available. after scanning the two pages. ??Leave her be. For a moment Walt looked helpless and vulnerable. .????Don??t let them do it. ??Think between them they can get enough others. 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. Sarah says Margaret would be good. It gave way somehow. Molly thought. They wanted you to know. .??David nodded. the corn and wheat rotting in the fields.??David. We??ve corresponded all these years.??Walt assigned Celia to work under Vlasic. you can see a dogwood ready to burst open. what could they do about it? What should they do about it? He threw twigs into the smooth water. ??I don??t know how. No fields had been worked yet.She looked at him then. her mother had assured Grandmother Wiston. seeing them. He pushed a file cabinet an inch or so. ??Then let me work.

 he thought. I was husky enough to cut down a tree with a hatchet. maybe I didn??t quite believe it.?? W-l said. smashing. that she didn??t move for a moment. W-one can??t do anything for him. I did too. And they would turn their collective mind to one of the other offspring. When his parents went home he stayed on at the Wiston farm for a day or two. When they were very young they promised to marry one day. . They know all that.The hospital wing where W-l and W-2 were working now was ablaze with lights. Nothing. Here were the relicts his grandfather had brought him to see. He had thought of that. He had allowed an hour. A time-consumer question. When she faced him again. ??We??re finished. It finally was easier to keep their temperatures right by keeping us too warm. ??And I cajoled a few members of the family to put a little in the kitty.He walked a long time in the frosty afternoon. The fetuses were developing. no more than that. ??We just knew. now.

 and promiscuity was the norm. 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. seeing them. but suddenly a violent gust of wind drove a hard blast of rain against the window. Grotesque shadows made the hallway strange. were sacs. First he had Avery Handley run down his log of diminishing shortwave contacts. I guess. as though aimlessly. She was one year younger than David. and he was protected from the wind. The lower fields were flooded. I don??t know. row after row of them.?? David said flatly.He stared at their smooth young faces; so familiar. and didn??t move again for a long time. They shot at us when we got too near Cuba. . disease. ??We will decide. Wordlessly.??Why won??t you let me in? Haven??t you learned the value of an objective opinion???D-l pulled away.??The passageway was dimly lighted. ??Tell him I want him. Two more girls were pregnant; one of them was a Five. His library was better than most public libraries.??Will you take Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked.