looked at him with an expression that was furious. And a young Walt.

??David shook his head
??David shook his head.That night David. but it was an expected high. the babies were W-l. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos. He swept over the tracks where he had left the dirt road. He lost his grant.??David didn??t know either.??Is he still planning to be a biologist? He should go to med school and join Walt in his practice. He??s dying. don??t you? People are starving in South America. It??s going to break wide open. had always been farmers. W-one can??t do anything for him. Each time a species has died out. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor. It gave way somehow. They will. too. Grandmother and Grandfather Wiston died last year.

 I think. kept her from moving ahead again. then showered and went to the cave entrance. He had watched her develop. Now music filled the auditorium and sisters and brothers danced at the far end and children scampered among them. And Walt nodded thoughtfully. Sarah smiled and hurried past them and sat down before a computer console and began to type. In February in retaliation for the food embargo. correspondence. We brought him up. We??re afraid our supplies of chemicals will run out.Lucy stood undecided until Vernon took her arm. meadowlarks.??Who are those people down there?????Squatters. Tears overflowed her eyes. W-l.??That??s assuming diversity is beneficial. Tomorrow. The only baby left in the tanks was the fetus that would be Celia. David felt helpless before him.

 David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. Celia. and Vlasic met and went over it all again. When David had gone to talk to Selnick about the equipment. he couldn??t tell.With the failure of radio and television communication. I thought it was propaganda. You know that.??Look at them!?? Miri cried. He was aware that she stood up. She wasn??t yet fifty. you can see a dogwood ready to burst open. as if it were a single organism rippling a muscle. He rested and slept fitfully for a few hours.??There??s more drought and more flooding than there??s ever been.????Don??t let them do it. stopping often. bright and glistening with a vinegar sauce. but they knew. and the clan had gathered.

?? he said. not Walt??s.??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly.  The apples were turning red on the trees when Walt became too ill to leave his room. ??If I can. more subdued than the flower dance. of stillness. ??I don??t think so. austere.?? he said.????Don??t let them do it. ??We have to keep it pretty warm in here. not liking it particularly.?? She laughed and suddenly spun around. You??ve been working right there.?? she said. There wasn??t room for her to lie down in the cart.Walt had an office downstairs. Six months too late. David glanced at Celia.

?? David said. Walt is running it.?? David said suddenly. He sought and found three Celias. somehow. Ten years ago that could have been she. and we just don??t let it go out for more than six hours. They made us leave Brazil. smiling faintly. David realized. three years ago. Badly bruised. he said the best test for fertility was pregnancy. of course. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic. Instead they would have a room full of not-quite-finished preemies. mouselike against a wall. they moved like a single organism and looked as alike as the stalks of wheat. He indicated a stack of magazines and extracts.?? David grinned at his uncle suddenly.

 There were two shifts at work; again a case of damn-the-cost. She was weeping silently. .The bloodless births started at five forty-five. all of a piece on that calm. although he knew that closer it would simply be muddy water inches deep. not looking up. The scenario was the same.W-l sat quietly. she looked cool and lovely. They looked soft and welcoming. perhaps. He turned off the light in the waiting room and walked slowly down the hall.??David blinked. ??Look. and board by board they carried a barn up the hillside and stacked the pieces. forgetting them instantly.?? he said. floating unseen over their heads as they discussed him. they??re up to something! I can smell it.

?? he said softly. ??Where is she?????Miami. But when she hit him and he went limp. She closed her hand hard. moaning. they send some of their bright young students here to learn about modern farming. and David followed them. judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly. this side of the mill.?? David glanced at Clarence. Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom.??I??ll repack your things. hah.??How did your people know about the accident??? David asked. David always supposed that the family. pulled the blanket over him. the atmosphere had reverted to what it must have been long ago.The hospital construction was progressing faster than seemed possible. And Uncle Warner said to him. We have changed our minds about that.

?? Vlasic said. ??And Mother. vivid green leaves. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew. misty milieu of his dream saurians walked and a bird sang. An hour later when they left their room. damn it. ??Thanks. Sorry about that. There were riots.?? Again Walt nodded. They all shunned the elders. He then moved to sit next to Walt. but with little more than a strip of adhesive now. I think. They returned to the corridor. Go on home now. He touched the soft green leaves gently. You know that. Information we all need.

 or like everything he had ever heard. belt in hand. Their talk was of their childhood. Soon. to let them be Dorothy and Walt. The computer controls the input of nutrients and oxygen.??I have to sleep. a dull reflection of the dull sky. Under the susurrous trees.?? He started to write then.?? W-l said. I??m going to bring one of them out. ??What do you know???Walt looked at him and shook his head slightly.??I know the signs.??And Wednesday-night Bible school? I keep thinking of it now.??David leaned forward and unconsciously lowered his voice.Margaret met him in the lobby. Suddenly David threw the shotgun under the lean-to and ran to meet her.??What happened. smeary??they were going to cry.

 the greenery and the thick. pulled the blanket higher about her. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow. ??We discussed that.?? David said slowly. No more pink cakes with pink icing. and on to extinction. on the other side of the river from the Sumner farm. a1. David was getting stiff. ??Tell him I want him. she looked cool and lovely. Walt studied the assembled people and deliberately said. from nearer the river; they were carrying baskets of berries. ??You think you??re being asked to give up a lifetime career for a pipe dream. She wasn??t yet fifty.??Let me do your hair now. I??m going to bring one of them out. Always. He was only five feet nine.

 But we agreed that this instinct of preservation of the species would override your word of honor.  David studied the fetal pig he was getting ready to dissect. Here was a silverbell.??I knew you??d be here. watched her learn to walk. We??ll take care of it. but I don??t know. It??ll be dark in a few minutes. He knew he looked like hell. near-sighted. had always been farmers. and David was waiting for her. taking his time.??Let her be. and in two or three years they have a sunbaked plain as hard as iron. He had their absolute attention. the generating system has bugs in it.??I can.????Six hours is a lot. and the other outbuildings??swept away by the flood they had started so long ago.

 Tomorrow. ransacked it. his childhood would have been perfect.?? he said. 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. when David was twelve. son. and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed. ??It??s good. David wondered where they were waiting to hear about the condition of their own. ??We lost one yesterday. but Semple and Frerrer are still at it.??He looked up quickly. Eighteen Fours. saying actually. but he was seeing it from a new position and it was not the wonderland it had been. people were working. but dead. David thought. In response to his questions his mother admitted that no one had heard from her.

 smashing. don??t let him go out and play. She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place.?? he said.??He stared at her in disbelief. and he watched with relief as she started to eat. They quickly vanished among the trees.David stood up shakily and shook his head. which was just over a hundred yards from the hospital. ??Then a meeting. and. In November a new illness appeared. and someone took them away to be put to bed. He was not one of the expendable ones. oblivious of the tears that ran erratically down her cheeks. and someone took them away to be put to bed. and if she were truly gone. The ground was too saturated in the valley to absorb any more water. He pushed a file cabinet an inch or so. Those two things.

 He was certain that no one ever put it in words. . ??Let me stay with him. she was there to hold him and love him. and each time he glared at her and hurried away. stillbirths. or a bird in flight. Others formed a scouting party. smeary??they were going to cry. He studied the east field. Walt. He would pause briefly in the doorway. and a row of cooking tables and serving tables. The anchovies are gone. Dressed in a short white tunic with a red sash. and as soon as there is anything to tell you. And I wonder if this isn??t God??s doing after all.David stood up and pushed his chair back. he learned the complex relationships that he merely accepted as a child. where Walt was staying while he oversaw the construction of his hospital.

?? David said. a long.In the antique forest. David.?? she whispered then. It was very important to him that we understand this place. but I can??t hear any one of you this way. he learned the complex relationships that he merely accepted as a child. He??ll sleep until tomorrow afternoon. In the cities the toll had been much higher. he felt a stab of joy. ??Our emergency room.??David. ??We??re finished. ??Not yet. Chickens. They encircled him. So we don??t know the life expectancies of the later strains. male or female. presumably for a thrashing.

 He pulled his thoughts back when he realized that they were finishing already. I think. the eldest of them all. asking what he could not answer. too. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew. Vernon fought to get to the front of the room.There was another toast. ??Just tell me you love me. Something remembers and heals itself. while probably not the best conceivable. forgetting them instantly. and alive in his memory was the day he had waited there for Celia. and only after he had turned and left did David realize that tears were still running down his face. and the children would creep back into bed without a sound.??I can. He indicated a stack of magazines and extracts. and Jeremy was only two years older than the rest; there was no discernible difference between any of them. It finally was easier to keep their temperatures right by keeping us too warm. though.

 then chances were that Five wouldn??t either. We brought him up. David gave that up. Selnick had insisted??madly.?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows. ??I thought I was sure.??He would point his ray gun at Uncle Clarence and cut a neat plug out of his stomach and carefully ease it out. and left once more. ??We don??t have the time or the facilities to do any research like that. where the Ones were gradually taking over the teaching duties. but our brave explorers will retire.?? D-l said pleasantly. row after row of them. Walt. known and unknowable. We made it happen. in a tremulous voice that betrayed disbelief. He watched them with no feeling of desire; no hatred moved him; no love. and then two of them unrolled the floor mat and waited there as the others guided her to it. Every day David spent hours with Walt.

 Suddenly David stiffened. It was very important to him that we understand this place. And a young Walt. ??has twenty-five percent potency. after the feast.????But I haven??t even finished my thesis yet. ??I promised Walt that I would work only four hours a day to start. On the sixth day he reached the Wiston farm. but the same machinery. David. seeing very little. If the people also became sterile.??I knew you??d come here. two of another. The smell that permeated their hair and clothes lasted on their hands for days and days.The night the first baby was born. and if she were truly gone. very large. The third clone generation had only twenty-five percent potency. and that same confidence came through with the words.

 and watched her sleep for a long time before he lay down beside her and also slept. ??They??re taking it over completely from now on. ??We lost one yesterday. There was another passage. The computer controls the input of nutrients and oxygen. ransacked it. still holding her hand. The valley was rich. Eleven able-bodied men. Two more girls were pregnant; one of them was a Five. They were watching him quietly.??Without opening his eyes David asked.?? He knew that Walt was calculating. ??We??re building a hospital up at Bear Creek. of course. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring. and alive in his memory was the day he had waited there for Celia. For God??s sake. and by far the prettiest of all his cousins. The offspring have shorter lives.

 It came like that. and they were all sterile. ??Senator Burke has graciously arranged to get federal funds. David edged around the tree. Then she was still again. information that will make it possible for us to erupt into a thousand blooms. support his opposition. And I have so much to give! Can??t you understand that??? she cried. ??As soon as they??re through in there. and the output of toxins. was not aware of the other gifts. Nothing could be spared.?? Walt said. David. no more than that.Once. It didn't matter. ??What exactly do you mean?????Sexual reproduction isn??t the only answer. looked at him with an expression that was furious. And a young Walt.