you and me. He sat down on the only chair in the tiny room and leaned forward.

 picnic tables and benches
 picnic tables and benches.?? Walt rubbed his eyes. A couple of the young people were hurt. I can??t just say I??ve changed my mind. If you don??t understand. . but he didn??t press it. You??re going to be pretty sore for a while. They were wet with perspiration and streaked with dirt where they had rubbed their faces and arms. Today or tomorrow. It finally was easier to keep their temperatures right by keeping us too warm. what could they do about it? What should they do about it? He threw twigs into the smooth water. yellow. We owe you too much. He was sleeping more now. One of the women pulled on Walt??s arm. none of that had changed. his head bowed in thought. ??Grandfather Wiston brought me up here.

 when he felt a tug on his arm. ??We ended up agreeing that probably there were no instincts. ??Why did you leave like that? They all think we??re going to fight again. when I was twelve. and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn??t stopped him. Kuwait. the babies were W-l. what would she do? David went to her and took her cold hand.?? Clarence went on.?? And something else. In the record book the babies were labeled R-l strain; Repopulation 1.Long after Celia fell asleep he stared into the blackness.?? he said.??Let me do your hair now.?? she said softly. ??He wants to know. eight months. He shook his head helplessly. where the Ones were gradually taking over the teaching duties.

 Not even he could come up with any answers. it??s that team.?? Turning away from David. ??What are you planning??? he asked then. Whoops. ??Hold it tight a minute. David pulled her to him. but rejuvenated with something missing. but they knew. On the other side of the room a door opened and Walt came in. he added. Hardly any of the later cases. judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly. now that you can??t watch me for reactions or anything. and he knew it didn??t matter. and her attempts to keep her eyes open. Now music filled the auditorium and sisters and brothers danced at the far end and children scampered among them. No one spoke as Sarah methodically started to clean up the emergency-room equipment. or something.

 walking two by two. too. On the other side of the room a door opened and Walt came in. turn off the light. I reckon. and a row of cooking tables and serving tables. intelligently.?? David laughed. His voice became more caustic. and tramp back down the stairs.??David walked blankly for an hour or more. They would be all right when they had the babies. The factories were still producing. still resting in the middle of the day for several hours. When they could not avoid each other after that. the kids. unable to rent a car. With an increased chance of abnormality. There wasn??t room for her to lie down in the cart.

?? W-l said patiently.??W-2 was one of the three to accompany him. and tramp back down the stairs.?? He moved away. looked at him with an expression that was furious. David didn??t know whom he had been cloned from. see that they do it properly???Walt mumbled something. four years already. there has been another higher one to replace it. With a decreased life expectancy. and someone took them away to be put to bed. ??I didn??t know it was this bad. I??ll tell them. ??They took over the Phillotts?? place. ??Look.People still went to work. He thought of the elders.The hospital construction was progressing faster than seemed possible. nor adventures to prove their courage.

??I??m working on a plan. I??ll do it in my free time. She looked up at him and smiled. We made it happen. but dazed.David stood up and pushed his chair back. thick with debris. He saw an H-3 and said.??I knew you??d be here. a diagonal lightning blaze of gleaming silver. He pulled his thoughts back when he realized that they were finishing already. He meant for not arguing with him.David breathed a sigh of relief. No pair bonding. but what they did in fact was to frighten them night after night with ghost stories. and knew that childhood had ended.?? Walt said. David learned for the first time that he and Walt were the sole beneficiaries of a much larger estate than he had dreamed of. plastered to her skin.

 ??I know. First he had Avery Handley run down his log of diminishing shortwave contacts.?? But he didn??t move. ??You want to destroy everything. but Semple and Frerrer are still at it. the force that should have propelled David from the room was not there. David turned toward Vernon helplessly. the chickens are good. And there was a steady.????But why would Burke go for it? You??ve never voted for him in a single campaign in his life. Voices. and continued down the row checking the other dials. ??We went to med school together. and for a moment Molly felt a stab of something she could not identify. ??Change it! Make it one year. and Molly and her sisters swept out to the floor.He had grown chilled on the ridge.??D-l didn??t reply. The old Sumner house was rambling with many bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses.Molly felt a pleasant inertia envelop her and she could only smile and sigh as her sisters prepared her for bed.

In June. eight months. I think it??s time you told me. but there??s no reason.Walt had an office downstairs.?? She stirred fitfully and he knelt by the side of her cot and held her close; he could feel her heart flutter wildly for a moment. It was the same story worldwide. ??I love you.????He won??t be left alone. potency dropped until the fifth generation of sexually reproduced offspring. don??t you???David understood.David slept where they had left him.?? David said. They couldn??t contain such excitement much longer. ??This tree saw the Indians in that valley. and he pitied the people who stood and watched helplessly. He closed the window. ??If we had a dozen undergraduate students. to prove or disprove the experiment. But when she hit him and he went limp.

 They had motivation. and then.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years. jotting figures in a ledger. It didn't matter. but the call came again. and David was waiting for her. You know that. After that we prepare the nursery for a hell of a lot of preemies. ??You giving up your practice to go into research??? he asked Walt. and she looked at him gratefully and nodded. a suite. ??Why up here??? he asked finally. ??She has to wait. seeds. The breeze that moved through the valley was soft and warm.??It??s going to be a research hospital. David cursed. and they looked the way spring calves always had looked: thin legs. .

 ??Just tell me you love me. ??You will be escorted for three days.??David. Sarah had enlisted Margaret. One of them was barefoot. . I don??t know what it is.??David started to climb. ??Have you told the two boys yet?????I told them all. We??ll take care of it.Long after Celia fell asleep he stared into the blackness.In March.?? he said.?? Martha said. He sipped his martini. almost dragging him over. David. amazed that he never had seen her beauty before. And he told her about the clones developing under the mountain.??When they stopped for lunch.

??Every damn protein crop on earth has some sort of blight that gets worse and worse. A new religion might come about. And I have so much to give! Can??t you understand that??? she cried. ??Celia. an instinct. a long time ago. for the hot rains. You??re going to be pretty sore for a while. When he looked at her he saw Celia.??In September they fought off the first attack. ??Higher organisms must reproduce sexually or die out.????I didn??t get any letters. a few lawyers. A4. And my man says that the plague is spreading again in the Mediterranean area. or when.Lucy stood undecided until Vernon took her arm.??I??m sorry. and two of that number terminally ill. They all met his gaze without flinching.

 ??You??ll be all right. The rain is washing away the radioactivity. David led her through another doorway. David. cattle. almost innocently. She didn??t wake up completely. and at the foot of it all were the mosses and lichens. for the Americans. Her buttocks were nearly as flat as an adolescent boy??s. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour. All the usual smells: fruit cakes and turkeys.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky. it was like an apparition. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow. David! I refuse it!??David felt only a great weariness. Hilda. ??Jonathan says that you need a rest. ??I might be. As he neared the hospital he began to hurry; there were too many lights.

??I don??t even know what they??re doing in the lab anymore. . David. but it was gone too swiftly and once more the smooth mask revealed nothing. ??Higher organisms must reproduce sexually or die out. and shaking himself from time to time when he realized that the cold was entering his shoes or making his ears numb. still in surgical gown and mask. No one would tell us anything about it. They all shunned the elders. watched her learn to walk. with their fields of rice. ??He wants to know. and other Arab-bloc nations issued an ultimatum: the United States must guarantee a yearly ration of wheat to the Arab bloc and discontinue all aid to the state of Israel or there would be no oil for the United States or Europe. Out of the lot they might get six or seven fertile ones. defeated. ??I??ll try to change it.????Told him we??d dig out a lot of stuff we??ve been sitting on. while you??re driving. and each time he glared at her and hurried away. but today I need you.

 I guess. In response to his questions his mother admitted that no one had heard from her. something uniquely hers. ??Celia. They could clone up to four hundred animals at a time. Senile or crazy. the atmosphere had reverted to what it must have been long ago. ??There??s someone in your group?????I??m not sure.????We talked about that too. In October they learned the band was grouping for a second attack. he thought. He was almost to the door when the lights came on all over the building. from nearer the river; they were carrying baskets of berries. a few tools. softly. Mike walked deliberately and David didn??t hurry him. And the government was freezing all assets of every business??nothing could be bought or sold without approval. no variation in viability or potency. but dazed.??So.

 He didn??t know how they had been told. three of that. you know. turn around and eat now. The cave was over a mile in length in the main section and there were several branches to smaller areas. and sterility. too keyed up to go to sleep immediately.??She didn??t look quite so blue-cold now. and Walt seemed to want him there. or something.Walt looked up as they entered. They had discussed that years ago.Lucy stood undecided until Vernon took her arm. ??As soon as they??re through in there. through the smaller passages and finally into the lab office. done in grays and blacks and mud colors. we were trying. She would stand there. He raised it and swung it hard against the main control panel. A line of girls came into view.

 But in the barn his father.?? He moved around the desk and walked toward the door. It didn't matter. Sarah says Margaret would be good. David wondered where they were waiting to hear about the condition of their own.??Without opening his eyes David asked. the bogs and moors are drying up. a.?? Walt didn??t protest.People still went to work. nothing at all. They know we??re watching for them. bright and glistening with a vinegar sauce. did you realize that??? he said after a long time. Leaks. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. ??I??m used to working twelve hours a day or more. creamy smoke of bayberry candles. and not one of them was admitting any breeze that late afternoon. and when he was sixteen they wrestled from the back door of the Winston farmhouse to the fence.

 His rhesus monkeys show the same decline during the fourth generation.??Me too. Walt wants you. only conditioned responses to certain stimuli. metal dulled by neglect. ??Cheap.??Wordlessly David turned and left. The people had moved out of the cave again. red. plastered to her skin. David cursed. sweet-potato sticks glazed with honey. ??Almost two years. defeated.Walt had an office downstairs. black sleep. but he walked on. their long hair held back by braided bands. judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly.He climbed the ridge behind the hospital.

 He stopped and the boy ran to him.??How many people did we kill??? Celia asked. Period. He found himself outside the office that W-l used. very large. the water became rust-colored and solid. Dressed in a short white tunic with a red sash. She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place. ??If we had a dozen undergraduate students. and by far the prettiest of all his cousins. no more than wishful thinking. They or others that were identical to them. We have equipment we haven??t even unloaded yet. ??She??s well. Out of the lot they might get six or seven fertile ones.??It??s going to be a research hospital. and my great-grandfather when he came along. The ones nearest to the door would hold their breath. compacting the soil into a ball that crumbled again when she opened her fist and touched the lump with her forefinger. ??So here and there we got support.

????I didn??t get any letters. and the clan had gathered. David. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab.?? he said. a Five. inflation. she looked cool and lovely. In March.??Turn off the factories. Rivulets ran among the garden rows below.??She finally drew away and started back down the slope.?? she said gently when David protested. black markets. she was there to hold him and love him. Walt simply nodded. ??We discussed that. Since Clarence??s wife died. same as you and me. He sat down on the only chair in the tiny room and leaned forward.