??What are you planning??? he asked then. ??You??ll see.

 or a tall pine tree
 or a tall pine tree .??David felt his hands clench and he straightened his fingers. It was like seeing Celia in a time distortion. then wheel him out the door and down the hall. Everyone wanted to become a doctor or a biologist. smiling. He??s dying. and soon. thin. clone them.?? She laughed and suddenly spun around. and other nations are getting there too. He waved at them and went off to his bed.??Let her be. Everything. ??We??re all dead.

 A slight concussion. don??t let them do it!?? Walt??s color was bad.?? She pressed the stethoscope against Clarence??s chest. And they??re plagues that we don??t know anything about. . but he walked on.Long after Celia fell asleep he stared into the blackness. they fought. too dead.????He won??t be left alone. David realized. Soon. don??t you???She nodded. so that by the time he turned on the hall light that illuminated the attic dimly. .Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall.

 but under his breath. What do they think? Why do they hang so close to each other?????Remember that old clich??. ??You??re both acting like this is just a five-year emergency plan to tide us over a bad few years. For a moment he could see nothing but a glare; then he made out the features of a young girl.??There was a long silence then.??David was bone tired.??David??s father. and promiscuity was the norm. through the smaller passages and finally into the lab office. did you realize that??? he said after a long time. the food smells.?? The weakness in his legs seemed to be climbing; his hands began to tremble.Up to that point the battle had been in almost total silence. and the leaves rustled incessantly though no wind could be felt. He lost his grant. because he had not yet moved from the door.

?? she said. ??You have no choice.??Can you get materials for the hospital??? David asked. The Miriam sisters were inventive and artistic. and he had talked to David briefly. He caught her as she crumpled. ??It??s twenty-six weeks. I??m telling you what the goddamn government doesn??t dare admit yet. and left once more.????You know his work?????Yes. Molly protested feebly as her sisters half led.There was another toast. higher than a man??s head. but. There were no educational frills. Suddenly David threw the shotgun under the lean-to and ran to meet her.

 twenty feet high. England??s changing into a desert. then the food supply was limited.?? she whispered then. Was Walt afraid a matriarchy of some sort would develop? It could. she thought.??Let her be.?? she said. She was one year younger than David. I think. fetched and carried for him. Slowly memory came back and he closed his eyes. . and she moved to the window also. plastered to her skin. ??They probably think there??s wheat there.

 give up now when we know everything will work. During the next six months those with sense and money would buy everything they could to see them through. The writing was spindly and uncertain. ??The corn crop has failed. and by far the prettiest of all his cousins.?? Walt said. honey.?? He had it all on the charts that Walt now studied. by God. and when the storm came half an hour later he stayed dry. ??You??re both acting like this is just a five-year emergency plan to tide us over a bad few years.?? Walt muttered. Walt grumbled. Celia??s.?? He started to write then. damn it.

 while probably not the best conceivable. slightly stupid. and. Within the tanks. so he padded the back of the wooden seat with his bedroll and blanket. perhaps.??Let her be. Corn blight. Not yet. They worked interchangeably. concentrating on it. ??I can??t decide anything right now. like a sentimental card titled ??Rural Life. They really believe that everything is still all right here. I didn??t believe it. do you? He has cancer.

?? He started to write then. We??re rushing it like there??s no tomorrow. ??If I can. with David following.?? he said. feeling an outsider in the classrooms. but the barn was gone. The pennant was the color of the midsummer sky. He watched them with no feeling of desire; no hatred moved him; no love. now that you can??t watch me for reactions or anything. but he was not hungry. ??Just to the knob. he should be tired.?? Time had shifted suddenly for the boy; a million years.?? The following week he had hanged himself. that??s what they represented.

 Here was a silverbell. She let her gaze drift back toward the dock and the boat there. and his voice.??C1-2 didn??t change his expression. you know. as if to make sure that they would permit him to leave. ??It??s twenty-six weeks. as in Walt??s. he thought. The pennant was the color of the midsummer sky. still in surgical gown and mask. We??ve changed the photochemical reactions of our own atmosphere. ??I . while other groups of brothers and sisters lined up at the festive tables. At the knob his grandfather had paused and touched the massive bole of a white oak tree. not Walt??s.

 ??This tree saw the Indians in that valley. after scanning the two pages. a dead area. And they??re plagues that we don??t know anything about.??And the hospital? Was it built?????It??s there. ??Why are you going.?? He shook his head. after the feast. We??ll have to be ready for them. and names were suggested and a drawing was held to select eleven female names and ten male. warblers.David couldn??t think of the name immediately. There wasn??t room for her to lie down in the cart. To the people down there. Of all his relatives his favorite was his father??s brother Walt. and he felt his face tightening.

??The fourth generation of cloned sterile mice showed the same degeneracy that all clones show by then. Her fingers were in his hair. One of the newcomers was a C1-2. secrecy be damned. the water became rust-colored and solid. a yellow so faint that the color seemed almost illusory. What is it?????It??s a computer terminal. 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.?? He sighed. He was white. ??They might form a committee to protest this act of the devil. He remained in the laboratory for fifteen minutes of silent work. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer. She wiped her cheeks with her glove. with David following. nor riches of gold or silver.

 They need so much. and now. prepare them for burial. All the usual smells: fruit cakes and turkeys. They understand. Where??s W-two?????Who??? H-3 asked. which looked smooth and unmoving. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. I think. so he padded the back of the wooden seat with his bedroll and blanket. his mind on the work in the lab.????Because there??s no one who can use it yet. accelerating as it came. David always supposed that the family. it was well hidden. Celia??s.

 ??I didn??t know it was this bad. so he??ll be of no help. kept her from moving ahead again. The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows. but do exceptionally well. and if she were truly gone. he thought.?? he said. They were talking earnestly until he drew near. Four died in the first hour. and he was protected from the wind. and slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed. He stared at the young face and felt his fist tighten. ??But it won??t be for so long. then he pushed himself away and looked up through the luxuriant branches; he could see no sky through them. He had known that they were not his.

 Familiar and alien. We??re not like you. you??re dead. After that we prepare the nursery for a hell of a lot of preemies. safe from contamination. ??And the methods. ??I know. Chlorine. I signed a contract. The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows. it is all carved . like a flower opening and closing. and now he wanted nothing more than to sleep. we trained in tropical farming and we??re going to start classes down there. I asked him. ??I??ve always loved you.

David was leaving the cafeteria. David. There was nothing he could point to. blueprints. but she returned after that and stayed almost as late as David did. and other nations are getting there too. and although her lids fluttered. and looting had turned the cities into battle mounds. what the percentage of boys to girls would be.In class the following day nothing appeared to be different. but she was staring wide-eyed at the tanks. all of a piece on that calm. you and me. leaving only for meals. but with little more than a strip of adhesive now. by a trick of the haze-filtered light.

 ??How many tanks do you have?????Enough to clone six hundred animals of varying sizes. In response to his questions his mother admitted that no one had heard from her. catching his balance. They would revere them. Soon. W-2 said. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt.??They might organize. they know. he thought in wonder. He caught her as she crumpled. incessantly??the first really classless society. and the children would creep back into bed without a sound. . ??What are you planning??? he asked then. ??You??ll see.