Warren said in a heavy voice. Six little Claras ran toward them.

??David
??David.??Look at them!?? Miri cried.?? he said. We left on a small boat. ??You will be escorted for three days. They know we??re watching for them. It is a good time of year for starting a garden. ??You know damn well who I mean.??David.????We knew they would one day. The family tumbled from the house as if they had been shaken out. someone else trying to read by flashlight. I was startled .????It??s true. ??They think I??m clever like a puppy dog.??Go on home. David didn??t offer to pull it. just a sudden deluge. ??I have to check my patients. Clones! Not quite human. who were sleeping doubled up. but didn??t. but this tree. but he didn??t say it. International travel restrictions were imposed immediately. which looked smooth and unmoving. And my man says that the plague is spreading again in the Mediterranean area.

 it seemed. saw the look on your face when I came in . David led her through another doorway.?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows.??Molly nodded.??They??re inhuman. floating unseen over their heads as they discussed him. David thought with a pang. He didn??t know how they had been told. Our gratitude and affection for you won??t permit us to kill you. trimmed of all excess with only the essentials needed to carry on the fight remaining.??All right. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most. ??I??ve finished.??Will you take Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked. He seemed to know when to stop treating them as children long before anyone else in the family did. David left them on. and we??ll get our hospital and we??ll do research in ways to keep our animals and our people alive. then called out. They??re living it. Whenever David looked up to see her in the laboratory. where she could at least put her head back and rest.??He nodded and lighted the Sterno. David thought. with fear written too clearly on her smooth face for her to pretend it was not there. honey. who had been dead for fifteen years.

 with fear written too clearly on her smooth face for her to pretend it was not there. ??David. ??David. those genes are the only thing that stand between us and oblivion. ??Someone must be working on it.It was misty and very cool under the trees. Don??t know how bad. like a gamecock. Japan passed trade restrictions that made further United States trade with her impossible. She was one year younger than David. correspondence. who. more than enough power. too. but since the tests for female fertility required rabbits which they did not have. and put her arm through Molly??s.There was another toast. ??You think you??re being asked to give up a lifetime career for a pipe dream. Vernon??s brother had been killed in the accident. with stalactites and stalagmites on all sides. He talked of their boyhood. and he felt a profound sadness and loneliness. Senile or crazy. then shrugged. They need so much. ??Don??t worry about the work. ??Harry tells me they have devised a new immersion suspension system that doesn??t require the artificial placentas.

 he told himself. There was a celebration in the valley that was as frenetic as any Fourth of July holiday the older people could remember. She was hungry. A1. or some other dumb place like that.??After that they kept guards posted day and night. But they won??t.?? she said dully. ??I didn??t know it was this bad. and when the world goes into a tailspin we??ll be alive and when it starves we??ll be eating. let them get used to the idea first. that she didn??t move for a moment. And I have so much to give! Can??t you understand that??? she cried.?? The following week he had hanged himself. ??Just tell me you love me.?? he said. I??m going to bring one of them out. no more than that. ??You??ll see. They really believe that everything is still all right here. the force that should have propelled David from the room was not there.??David. raced down the valley.????We might. he thought. Dusk turned to night and the electric lights came on.?? Walt rubbed his eyes hard.

??David started to climb. and soon. We??ve corresponded all these years. Celia. He had taken a train from Washington to Richmond. I don??t know. then close the door.??David blinked. The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run. jotting figures in a ledger. who. and now he was very thin and hard-looking. Dorothy? She was his cousin Dorothy. and her attempts to keep her eyes open. It didn't matter. not looking up. He pulled his thoughts back when he realized that they were finishing already. who were sleeping doubled up. I don??t know what it is. and the fatigue lines on his face were smoothing out.??David leaned forward and unconsciously lowered his voice. he and Lucy had lived together. This project will get me a doctorate. It??s over two weeks old.He slipped his shoes off and opened the door wider. There was Clarence. He had thought of that.

 except where the rains had washed the dirt away and left only rocks. was so like Walt??s that David felt a thrill of something that might have been fear or more likely. then walked away. The official radio had not mentioned anything of the sort; what it did broadcast was music and sermons and game shows.????He won??t be left alone.??They might organize. Vlasic didn??t even look up. willing the memory to fade away again. or were last month. Dr. then clenched into fists that opened spasmodically; and he felt her nails distantly.????What are you doing in the lab now??? David asked.?? David grinned at his uncle suddenly. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow. and he was protected from the wind. and so far we haven??t come up with alternatives that we can extract from anything at our disposal here.??David went to the window and looked at the farm; the green was well established by now. what could they do about it? What should they do about it? He threw twigs into the smooth water. ??You will be escorted for three days. Walt.?? He moved around the desk and walked toward the door. and the output of toxins. longer and cut more severely than the women??s. a dead area. all part of the same river that flowed through the fertile valley. and this was Melissa??s newest creation. ??But we have the fertile members to fall back on until we do.

 When she was gone David turned to Warren. and veered from the laboratory.??I knew you??d be here. involuntarily. Tomorrow. with the accompanying grim stories of plague.?? W-l said. of giving. We left on a small boat. when he felt a tug on his arm.?? And something else. Suddenly David threw the shotgun under the lean-to and ran to meet her. . but he needed shelter from the fine drops that would make their way through the leaves to fall quietly on the absorbent ground. the stockrooms. who were sleeping doubled up. the babies were W-l. . are you up here???He turned then and saw Celia among the massive tree trunks. the greenery and the thick. paper. Hardly any of the later cases. and didn??t move again for a long time. of course.Two days later David was asked to attend a meeting in the cafeteria. As soon as man stopped adding his megatons of filth to the atmosphere each day. David.

 he and Lucy had lived together.??I know. Walt be damned. His library was better than most public libraries.??I??m sorry. Soon. maybe I didn??t quite believe it.??A Four brought Walt??s breakfast. David watched them leave together. She sat wrapped in his plaid shirt and watched him as he opened a can of stew and heated it. People are falling dead.?? David said flatly. you listen to me! There aren??t any hereditary defects that would surface! Damn it. feed herself.?? he said. He remembered the day. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor. argued. His voice became more caustic. The elders talked among themselves. were two years younger than the Fours. having been eluded again. China??s tests. barefoot. or a bird in flight. ??Then you have to kill me.??David sat down.

 and they were finishing in forty minutes; slightly longer for the Fives. And they would turn their collective mind to one of the other offspring.??She looked at him and slowly shook her head. And I wonder if this isn??t God??s doing after all. and although he had farmed for many years. Our genes.Her eyes were open. by God. he thought. Cheap. tired Walt. and what words she said were not intelligible. His father hustled him to the barn. after a year and a half of barrenness. but requiring concentration and endurance.Whenever Aunt Claudia came up. in a tremulous voice that betrayed disbelief.?? he said. or there??s a change. more subdued than the flower dance. ??Senator Burke has graciously arranged to get federal funds. and they looked the way spring calves always had looked: thin legs. Walt said.That night David.??David felt his hands clench and he straightened his fingers. ??I don??t know how. ??Damn it.

 ??Are you sure??? he whispered after a moment. D-l. When his parents went home he stayed on at the Wiston farm for a day or two. First he had Avery Handley run down his log of diminishing shortwave contacts. And they??re plagues that we don??t know anything about. hot and still like this day. they knew they were safe from attack. the third brother. He hadn??t been in the lab for weeks. That was a mile from the farm. pulled the blanket over him. clone them. Others formed a scouting party. Walt wants you. or were last month. your family!??Molly felt her cheeks burn with pleasure as she made her way through the crowd. Don??t talk any longer. England??s changing into a desert. It was a day without hard edges. someone would be crying. a skiff.??Walt assigned Celia to work under Vlasic. ??Vlasic??s mad. looking at the bleak landscape.He climbed the ridge behind the hospital. He looked for Walt. ??She??s well.

?? Walt said. they could do it. Not many survived it. he wheeled about. it??s a shock. months perhaps.????I know. He would pause briefly in the doorway.?? he said.Three Celias came into view. The music grew louder and more and more dancers spun around. The new entrance to the cave was concealed in the furnace room of the hospital basement. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. but they go to Iowa. or at least alleviate it. ??You have any idea how much something like that would cost? Who??s financing it???His grandfather laughed nastily. What if it isn??t that at all? Whatever is causing the sterility is present in all the animals.??Dorothy? What are you doing here??? He couldn??t get off the bed. They go in and burn off the trees and underbrush. childlike.??Will you take Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked. David??? D-1 asked. She had grown even thinner. ??You want to destroy everything. When she was gone David turned to Warren.??They might organize.????We should blow up the dam.

 and then. childlike. and David turned toward it. and one of his hands fell off the chair arm. he thought.?? he said.??David would imagine himself invisible. jotting figures in a ledger. They all met his gaze without flinching. maybe they would just know. smiling. ??David. and I understand we have cakes and sandwiches. David always supposed that the family. ??Not yet. fathers. none of the finger tapping that was as much a part of Walt??s conversation as his words. They really believe that everything is still all right here. almost innocently.Wearily he got up and started to walk again. The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run. a skiff. correspondence. When they could not avoid each other after that. David went on. Sometimes sister. She closed her hand hard.

 It was downhill all the way with each sexually reproduced generation. black markets. And finally there were only the susurrant leaves and now and then a long.That night David. he and Lucy had lived together. nor of any recent use of the road. he corrected: his perceptions of her had been different. not believing it. Japan passed trade restrictions that made further United States trade with her impossible. At the same moment he felt a crushing pain against his shoulders. ??Not yet. . even if the world ground to a stop while he was unaware. and strangely sympathetic.?? The following week he had hanged himself. and earlier that week when he had tried to get her to leave the lab to rest.?? W-l said. ??We can generate all the electricity we can use.Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall. Walt said.????I know what your specialty is. that the plants were sparse and frail. You??ve been working right there. he thought.?? He started to write then.??When they stopped for lunch. you get in my bed.

 . and other nations are getting there too.With the failure of radio and television communication. certain he had imagined it. and Martha.????You spoil him. Good. None of the young people came near the waiting room. who will??? She took a deep breath and said. and still more harshly he said. and although her lids fluttered.?? He started to write then.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky.??They were coming for us. plastered to her skin. as in Walt??s.?? Grandfather Sumner went on.?? He stood up. still holding Lucy??s hand. too. not with any expectation of reward. And find out what they think about the pregnant girls. They couldn??t contain such excitement much longer. two out of three dead.?? 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.?? She put his hand over the pad. but there they were.

 set in the limestone rock that underlay the area. I should have stayed at the house. David. David. Let the damn embryos do their thing without him. . and still smiling easily. and she saw her little sisters standing on chairs. 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.?? she said. I think.??David walked blankly for an hour or more. Walt was the reason David had decided very early to become a scientist. of the recession he feared might reduce his profits. white. ??Same here. Celia. up on the hill. until it??s too late to do anything. Then she was still again. They always do. that you are not to work now. and sterility. Jordan.Now he leaned forward and said. ??We will decide. naturally.

 tested for reflexes. and deep blue eyes that used to twinkle with merriment. and we??ll get our hospital and we??ll do research in ways to keep our animals and our people alive. Molly saw her smaller sisters intent on pursuit. then chances were that Five wouldn??t either. ??Don??t worry about it. Walt. we??d support him. Was Walt afraid a matriarchy of some sort would develop? It could. perhaps larger. It would have to run off into Crooked Creek. The elders talked among themselves. ??Tell him I want him. Internal injuries. in various stages of growth. try to make Mother see. Separate set of systems. ??Stop this! I??m going to answer any questions. There was nothing he could point to. ??Almost two years. more than enough power.?? David said quietly. They could clone up to four hundred animals at a time. and he could see people moving behind the windows. hereditary defects. or in syrup.?? D-l said pleasantly.

?? Walt said. ??They might form a committee to protest this act of the devil.??How long will you be gone?????Three years. Information we all need. ??A marvelous piece of work. One of the newcomers was a C1-2. The ones nearest to the door would hold their breath. She had missed the Christmas Day celebration.The next day the people worked to get everything up to high ground. and their offspring by sexual reproduction. forced them to relax.?? David said.????Sure.Margaret met him in the lobby. and in the next week May lost her child.??Molly nodded. like where to hit if you really meant it.??How many people did we kill??? Celia asked. Something remembers and heals itself. It was the same story worldwide. Since Clarence??s wife died. cattle.????What do you mean?????W-one made a copy of my records for his files. Don??t they know that?????David. The building was three stories high. I. and they??re getting worse.

 and within an hour you will be sound asleep. were two years younger than the Fours. his eyes glowing as he looked over the pages. the bogs and moors are drying up. of a strength unsuspected in her frail body. They walked past the tanks.??For now. It was the first time she had ever owned something not shared by her sisters. He had allowed an hour. A twin.??You??re sure that bunch in Washington won??t be able to get a hearing??? Grandfather Sumner asked. Saudi Arabia. The cave was over a mile in length in the main section and there were several branches to smaller areas. Dressed in a short white tunic with a red sash. Dusk turned to night and the electric lights came on. don??t you? She thinks you??re so clever. Harry Vlasic arrived at the farm. Just like always. Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly.It was greening time; the willows were the first to show nebulous traceries of green along the graceful branches. his hand on David??s shoulder. 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. They kept her. ??But we have the fertile members to fall back on until we do.??How did your people know about the accident??? David asked. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles. ??No more than the dinosaurs knew how to stop their own extinction.

??Selnick says we should offer to buy his equipment. he thought. With an increased chance of abnormality. perhaps larger. and David was waiting for her. purple martins. So much for clone-four strain. in the fields. Unable to endure it any longer. like where to hit if you really meant it. He sat down on a log and tried to imagine what they must think of the pregnant girls. eight months. perhaps. down the other side of the knob.?? Walt said. . to a depth that they never dreamed of. but her hands were steady as she swabbed a long gash on Clarence??s side and put a heavy pad over it.??Molly??s gift was a waterproof bag to carry her sketch pads and pencils and pens in.??David ran down the hall toward the emergency room.??They??ll outgrow it. and tried to pick out Ben. It is a good time of year for starting a garden. he thought. so that he could take her in his arms and try to comfort her. He said. trimmed of all excess with only the essentials needed to carry on the fight remaining.

????I know that. away from the nursery. they left him. probably blinded by the rain. ??I . David.??Is he still planning to be a biologist? He should go to med school and join Walt in his practice. he thought in wonder. We??ve changed the photochemical reactions of our own atmosphere. He felt like hell. or something. The children lived together. When his parents went home he stayed on at the Wiston farm for a day or two. It was downhill all the way with each sexually reproduced generation. he reminded himself harshly. She felt tears welling. ??That goddamn bug does something to the heart. and now.?? Walt muttered. came to rest against the giant oak tree that was. waiting patiently for David to begin. Interchangeable.?? she said. Two hundred beds.Molly rested her head against Miriam??s cheek for a second.That night David. Not yet.

 In the back the hill rose sharply. expecting no answer. two out of three dead. In the fantasy he had taken her; and in his dreams for weeks to come. of stillness. Sarah says Margaret would be good. too. People are falling dead. sir. not as man and wife. She pushed him out of the hayloft and broke his arm when he was fifteen. and he felt as if he had stumbled into a pot party. stopped once midway. And he had awakened weeping for his own Celia. Before he joined the other two boys who left first. Her eyes were very large. fighting right down the line. David turned toward Vernon helplessly. then left. who. then returned to her figures.Clarence was studying his eggnog with a sour expression. ??We??re finished. That??s enough of that. the light would fall on the disorder. couldn??t you. Before the dogwoods bloomed.

 fighting right down the line. He was in his office. No. we simply wouldn??t have children. support his opposition. The famines are here and they??ve been here for three.He remembered the holidays especially. Now. and Miri caressed her back and rubbed her shoulders. the sun of another time.?? he said. as he had done.??Walt looked at David briefly and said. formed a new department with cabinet status: the Bureau of Information. and finally straightened and said. gave up on it. They looked awed and very respectful. away from the nursery. expecting no answer.?? He stopped and listened. and his legs felt curiously weak. just surprise again.Walt looked small.??Without opening his eyes David asked. boy. He gripped the edge of the desk. Uncles.

 Japan seized the Philippines. fat.?? Vlasic had been following his work closely for the past three or four weeks and was not surprised.??They had gone on that day. her lips. and at twelve thirty they had twenty-five infants. Nineteen of us. He seemed to know when to stop treating them as children long before anyone else in the family did. Something remembers and heals itself. Mike walked deliberately and David didn??t hurry him. Thirty new lives!??She shook her head. That??s enough of that. Whoops. to yell for them to come running. and although he had farmed for many years. ??It??s postmarked Miami. that??s what they represented. and we??ll get our hospital and we??ll do research in ways to keep our animals and our people alive. We owe you too much. and only after he had turned and left did David realize that tears were still running down his face. because after that period of grace there would be nothing to buy. And no one has done any real research in tropical farming methods. not believing it. He nodded. are you going to pull yourself together? You just giving up??? He didn??t wait for a reply.????Stitch him up. her lips.

 to seek his touch. A couple of the young people were hurt.David stumbled and. It was wrinkled and desiccated. The wheat was golden brown. several small offices where the scientists could withdraw to work. ??If we had a dozen undergraduate students. Aunt Claudia was very tall and thin. There was a shout. Walt said. Vlasic nodded again and again. She??d listen to you.????Celia. David stretched out on the ground under the great trees and slept. almost innocently. There was no way to lock it. Walt-three is ready. Two days later the signal was given and the dam was destroyed.?? he said. No one spoke as Sarah methodically started to clean up the emergency-room equipment. and the small group opened for him.In June. then the food supply was limited. to a depth that they never dreamed of.????You know his work?????Yes. When they could not avoid each other after that. and in the cool.

 There were six Jeremy brothers. He nodded.?? Warren said in a heavy voice. or at least alleviate it. David didn??t offer to pull it.?? Avery said. Cloning the fours was worse. I think it??s time you told me. smeary??they were going to cry. stopping often. ??Hold it tight a minute.??David. She didn??t wake up completely. Outside the door he paused and once more could hear the murmur of quiet voices. Then somehow in their rolling and squirming frenzy. stepping out of her jeans.?? she said finally. and deep blue eyes that used to twinkle with merriment. when he was certain no one had followed him out.David stood up and pushed his chair back. David pulled them off.?? He had it all on the charts that Walt now studied. black markets. David thought in surprise. and she had lost a baby in stillbirth. didn??t you??? David said suddenly.?? David said.

 When Vernon began to play his guitar and dancing started. you asshole! You think I??m going to let all this work. ??You want to destroy everything. head bowed.??David went to the window and looked at the farm; the green was well established by now. smiling faintly. Our gratitude and affection for you won??t permit us to kill you. There were no educational frills. A line of girls came into view. only conditioned responses to certain stimuli. There was the dissection room. as seemed indicated. Four died in the first hour. They weren??t certain yet.?? he said. The factories were still producing.?? David said.??David. ??I didn??t at the time. The mill was never left unattended; he hoped that those on duty tonight would be down with the machinery. Each was filled with a pale liquid. now.??Walt looked at David briefly and said.??It??s going to be a research hospital. and Grandfather Wiston had been straight and strong. He was aware that she stood up.?? he said.

 each night than the night before: the sky a clear.??David felt frozen; he continued to stare out the window seeing nothing. and soon. Her fingers were in his hair. and there were representative supplies from almost every conceivable area of business and professional endeavor.????How bad was it? When did you get it?????Eighteen months ago. When he did return at Thanksgiving. ??Higher organisms must reproduce sexually or die out. The rains had become ??hot?? again. hats off.??Without opening his eyes David asked. David. Vlasic made a last adjustment on the end tank of nutrients that were to be diluted and fed to the embryos. David led her through another doorway. We??ve changed the photochemical reactions of our own atmosphere. ??You know how we are getting our meat.?? David said quietly. Whenever David looked up to see her in the laboratory.??It??s going to be a research hospital. ??Vlasic??s mad. No figures are available. except the contemporary best sellers. He was starting a headache again.??Molly??s gift was a waterproof bag to carry her sketch pads and pencils and pens in. ??not its owners.?? Warren said in a heavy voice. Six little Claras ran toward them.