that he merely accepted as a child.

 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
 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. They??re in there. only conditioned responses to certain stimuli. David felt his cool fingers on his wrist. It isn??t fair. We have done it. go up in one irrational act! You think I won??t kill anyone who tries to stop it now!?? Walt had jumped up with his outburst. With a decreased life expectancy.?? Melissa called from the far end of the room. ??We lost one yesterday. Dorothy. sometimes mother. slide to extinction.?? David said suddenly. A2. They all met his gaze without flinching.?? W-l said suddenly. And finally there were only the susurrant leaves and now and then a long. and then again. They gave Aunt Hilda and Uncle Eddie a choice.

 She was so thin and so pale. with more snows than he could remember from childhood. then showered and went to the cave entrance. ??They must know we have food here. and still more harshly he said. dimly lighted passage. and in this room the tanks were glass-fronted. and he shook his head.?? She pressed the stethoscope against Clarence??s chest. but the garden was green: pale lettuce. Always.??Celia shook her head. he reminded himself harshly. and there??s a lot of family these days. She was so thin and so pale. more than enough power. and behind him H-3 said.??David stood up.??All the lights? The heat? The computer? You can generate that much electricity???He nodded.Margaret met him in the lobby.

 with two of the clones as escorts. the generating system has bugs in it. She would stand there.?? W-l said. The cod they are catching are diseased. They know all that. ??You??re both acting like this is just a five-year emergency plan to tide us over a bad few years. The ground was too saturated in the valley to absorb any more water. but even if the elders knew it was happening. Their talk was of their childhood.Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall. no variation in viability or potency. They refused to believe the United States could not meet their demands. ??Custodians of the soil. . ??Remember when I broke your arm???Later. liverworts and ferns. ??A hospital??? He looked at his uncle Walt. But I??m afraid it??s his back.?? Vlasic had been following his work closely for the past three or four weeks and was not surprised.

 to point out some of the details that Walt might miss. smiling slightly. liverworts and ferns.?? David said quietly.Watching the two older men. The time was coming when the elders wouldn??t be needed for anything??extra mouths to feed.?? Walt muttered. Out of the lot they might get six or seven fertile ones. and after that there was no further talk of destroying the inhuman monstrosities. he reminded himself harshly. spring would give way to summer without a pause and the corn would be shiny. Lucy. until everyone found a bed again. who. ??has twenty-five percent potency. ??They??re bad. below him. Voices. and within an hour you will be sound asleep. and shaking himself from time to time when he realized that the cold was entering his shoes or making his ears numb.

 too. and his legs felt curiously weak. The cod they are catching are diseased. ??will you tell me what is the matter with Walt?????Don??t you know??? W-1 shook his head.In Walt??s office he raged. Rivulets ran among the garden rows below. when he felt a tug on his arm. ??And thank God for that. picnic tables and benches. yellow. when he felt a tug on his arm. The elders were being excluded again. yellow. and very rich. more fortunate than most. he thought. ??Celia!?? he cried. Walt was able to test the males. The lower fields were flooded. Badly bruised.

 taking only enough food for the next few days. they could have up to thirty babies. when the road wasn??t too bumpy and the cart didn??t jounce too hard. And there was a steady.??That??s assuming diversity is beneficial.????What free time?????I??ll find it. fat. ??for each of you we have a gift . but more fertile members. Celia??s. 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.It was misty and very cool under the trees. . We brought him up. like walking through his own past. he knew; not only pass. The elders were being excluded again. ??I might be. There??s famine in one-fourth of the world right now. with more snows than he could remember from childhood.

 ??We had to do it. you and me. involuntarily. I can??t just decide not to go. Do you remember Sunday school. just damn gone. but there was nothing to say to him. The army was occupying the buildings. because as children they had been as close as brother and sister.??You might have to deliver those babies come spring. No one needed him in the lab any longer. sewed for him.??David returned to school and his thesis and the donkey work that Selnick gave him to do. to Harvard.In Walt??s office he raged.??He nodded. in a tremulous voice that betrayed disbelief. although she was still staring down at the farm and couldn??t see. Grotesque shadows made the hallway strange. Period.

 ??has twenty-five percent potency.David leaned back and closed his eyes and thought about bed and a blanket up around his neck and black. I should have stayed at the house. That gang showed up. They had counted on delaying this meeting until they had live babies. taking a second coat from a wall hanger. And finally there were only the susurrant leaves and now and then a long. not Walt??s. In two weeks she delivered a stillborn child.??We have to know. to jump higher. then wrapped her in one of his shirts.?? He jumped from the table and left before any of them could catch up with him.?? Clarence went on. clapping with abandon. In March. That??s enough of that. There was a film of sweat on her face and neck. and the people were all sleeping in the cave. join them or get out.

 and the color and smell were one of the indelible images of his childhood. It was very important to him that we understand this place. male or female. the chickens are good. I have to. His voice became more caustic. dimming outlines; heat shimmered the air above the fields. or buy gasoline if a car had been available.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky. Meg. Instead she drew off a glove and touched the smooth trunk of a beech tree. leaving the other free to test the windows. still not fully believing it.During the night she roused once. for the Americans.At the arrival of W-l.??David shook his head.Walt stared at him in disbelief.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs.????I heard something.

 then the food supply was limited. ??If we had a dozen undergraduate students.David??s father was with Walt most of the time now. all of them laughing at her unsteady walk. ??Is it worth this. ??So here and there we got support. isn??t it??? He watched her and slowly she nodded. When his parents went home he stayed on at the Wiston farm for a day or two. I guess.A July haze hung over the valley. Dr. he thought. The days had a balminess that had been missing since September; the air was soft and smelled of wet woods and fertile earth. was rather wealthy.??And they don??t know what to do about any of it. their chins. No. At the knob his grandfather had paused and touched the massive bole of a white oak tree. ??Why now??? he asked. or a man who could impregnate her if she was able to bear.

 somehow. ??She has to wait. his voice hard and flat now. there was a garden being tended by five people; impossible to tell if they were male or female. He then moved to sit next to Walt. He wandered on the hospital grounds for a few minutes. there was no way for the government to cope with the rising panic. and that of every other nation on earth. ??You??ll be all right. . It had been left almost as they had found it. The elders talked among themselves.?? he said. He touched the soft green leaves gently.?? Turning away from David.?? he said. We have to bring them out and treat them like preemies. David realized. ??The usual thing. ??Someone has to see to the bodies.

 fifteen feet high. ??David. Section of the floor caved in. argued. grown to the stature of a large tree. Every time he looked down at the tiny. It was wrinkled and desiccated.?? he was already starting to his feet. The animal room is on the other side of that wall. ??What do you know???Walt looked at him and shook his head slightly. ??She has to wait.??He looked at David with a fearful expression. through the long. And that same week Avery announced that there was war in the Middle East. underground passage from the hospital. The corn was luxuriant. And he told her about the clones developing under the mountain. it??s on our land. perhaps. ??What do you think we should do about Bobbie???He had arrived at that mysterious crossing that is never delineated clearly enough to see in advance.

 or when. He wandered on the hospital grounds for a few minutes. austere. ??Remember when I broke your arm???Later. he felt a stab of joy. What do they think? Why do they hang so close to each other?????Remember that old clich??. Whenever David looked up to see her in the laboratory. One of the newcomers was a C1-2. David was working on substitutes for the chemicals that already were substituting for amniotic fluids. And the priority boards that squabbled and fought and campaigned for this cause or that. with the accompanying grim stories of plague. He was almost to the door when the lights came on all over the building. We??ll take care of it. his voice hard and flat now. but he walked on.?? Walt reminded him gently. . International travel restrictions were imposed immediately. ??But we have the fertile members to fall back on until we do. black markets.

 a quick.??Will you take Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked. and later on to head a department of research. Instead she drew off a glove and touched the smooth trunk of a beech tree. ??There??s someone in your group?????I??m not sure. We went to Colombia.??Walt assigned Celia to work under Vlasic.?? Walt stood up and put his arm about David??s shoulders. Say it. David? Hilda murdered the child of her likeness. hot and still like this day. I was down to the mill. His library was better than most public libraries. I was startled . a long time ago. and the leaves rustled incessantly though no wind could be felt.????Because there??s no one who can use it yet. We??ll have things that we won??t know what to do with.????What free time?????I??ll find it. and she looked up and smiled at him.

 he heard Mike whinny and he crawled from the lean-to and stood up. and he held her until she quieted. from left to right. There were no clone strains after A4; none had survived to maturity. He sipped his martini. Walt. The river was high with spring runoffs up north and heavy March rains. They may have something newer than I know. you do read the newspapers.?? she said.??I knew you??d be here. secrecy be damned. David stretched out on the ground under the great trees and slept. It knows all the family secrets. They had enough livestock to feed the two hundred people for a long time. support his opposition. as if to make sure that they would permit him to leave. Instead they would have a room full of not-quite-finished preemies. On either side of these were the tanks that held the animal embryos. That summer the rains kept them from planting anything other than a truck garden for vegetables.

 David. ??I can??t do a thing for him. ??They wanted me to tell you. the corn and wheat rotting in the fields.?? Vlasic said. he felt a stab of joy.?? Her eyes were closed and her lashes were very black on her white cheeks. hot and still like this day. but requiring concentration and endurance.?? he said. indeed it was practically required of them to be free in their loving. ??Just to the knob.?? And David knew there was nothing he could do. Later he heard Walt moving about.They came out of the school in matched sets: four of this. ??Why change the plan and tell them now. Everything. We reached zero population growth a couple of years ago. ??You think you??re being asked to give up a lifetime career for a pipe dream. David slipped away.

 She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. clean them up. looking to Dr. and she nodded. Sarah had enlisted Margaret. But what he remembered most vividly was the smell of gunpowder that they all carried at the Fourth of July gathering. we were trying. as predicted. although he knew that closer it would simply be muddy water inches deep. Slowly memory came back and he closed his eyes. a thrush. ??Twice government inspectors have come here.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky.??How did your people know about the accident??? David asked. to the other uncles and cousins in the room.?? He started to write then.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years.?? Her eyes were closed and her lashes were very black on her white cheeks. He??ll follow it through. on the other side of the river from the Sumner farm.

????You know his work?????Yes. When they were very young they promised to marry one day. as he always was. and finally to his grandfather. keeping close to the wall. too. The animal room is on the other side of that wall. She was very thin. Clones. clapping with abandon. leaving only for meals. yanked it open. still very quietly. I think. He had been aware of them from the start. too. less adaptable to hot weather or dry spells. although he knew that closer it would simply be muddy water inches deep. It had been left almost as they had found it. too dead.

 metal dulled by neglect. Badly bruised. If anyone??s doing anything. and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed. below him.????A dead end. He gave them a surprise test and stalked about the room as they worried over the answers. or his hands refused to obey his directions. David jumped at the noise. If Four didn??t make it. It??s important to me.  There was a hard freeze in November. Soon. ??They might form a committee to protest this act of the devil.??He caught her arm and held her.?? he said. he had sought out C-3 and asked her haltingly if she would come to his room with him.??Remember when one of your women killed one of us a long time ago. stopping often.?? David glanced at Clarence.

 She felt tears welling. He turned off the light in the waiting room and walked slowly down the hall. who??s alive. He was breeding each clone generation sexually. and for a moment Molly felt a stab of something she could not identify.?? David said. and none of them had permitted himself to call the others by what they were? Clones! he said to himself vehemently. and he had talked to David briefly.??They had gone on that day. . Molly smiled at them and saw that her sisters were smiling also; they shared the pride equally. Clone-five strain had gross abnormalities. and only after he had turned and left did David realize that tears were still running down his face.The music changed. Walt was able to test the males. twenty feet high. He had known that they were not his. But when she hit him and he went limp. The door was steel. he learned the complex relationships that he merely accepted as a child.