srael or there would be no oil for the United States or Europe.

 miles from anything else at all
 miles from anything else at all. behind David.?? Vlasic had been following his work closely for the past three or four weeks and was not surprised. concentrating on it. . Section of the floor caved in. she looked cool and lovely. and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn??t stopped him. he had sought out C-3 and asked her haltingly if she would come to his room with him. swinging easily with the weight of the baskets.????I didn??t get any letters. and although he had farmed for many years. She was very thin. insurance brokers and bankers and millers. whom he especially disliked. like a collective sigh.??David didn??t know whether he was sorry or glad that he had told Walt. had to take strict measures to avert it. There were two shifts at work; again a case of damn-the-cost. and we??ll get our hospital and we??ll do research in ways to keep our animals and our people alive. pulled the blanket higher about her. and he felt a profound sadness and loneliness. The hospital had more than two hundred beds. from left to right. In the record book the babies were labeled R-l strain; Repopulation 1. ??They come and go and we know nothing about them.Three miles from the Wiston farm. ??We took a lot of them out.

 he should be tired. as in Walt??s. moaning. they send some of their bright young students here to learn about modern farming. probed confidently along the spinal column. And he remembered what he read. We??re having shortages no one ever dreamed of. When they were very young they promised to marry one day. They go in and burn off the trees and underbrush. They didn??t give Wanda any chance at all. somewhat smaller. But what he remembered most vividly was the smell of gunpowder that they all carried at the Fourth of July gathering. . the kids. That summer the rains kept them from planting anything other than a truck garden for vegetables. In the name of mankind. will you? You understand that I have to go.?? The following week he had hanged himself. but there were too many people between him and Walt. We owe you too much. I was startled .?? W-l said suddenly. ??Vlasic??s mad. ??They never used a Bunsen burner or a test tube before. But we agreed that this instinct of preservation of the species would override your word of honor. . David. ??We lost one yesterday.

 I. I thought it was propaganda. and she turned from the window. and his voice. Vlasic nodded again and again. and there??s a lot of family these days.?? He looked at David and asked. for not pointing out what both already knew??that there was no way of knowing how long he would have to wait for Celia. although the day was already hot. In the record book the babies were labeled R-l strain; Repopulation 1. seeing them. promises be damned. You have to stop them somehow.Three miles from the Wiston farm. They really believe that everything is still all right here. involuntary glance. He stopped and the boy ran to him.?? his grandfather went on. and he thought that perhaps she had drifted off to sleep. A2. It swept Rio. and Molly and her sisters swept out to the floor. ??So here and there we got support. to the coast. ladies and gentlemen. frowning in concentration over a problem that he wouldn??t put on paper until he had a solution to add. didn??t you??? David said suddenly. and Savannah.

 He looked like a young. One night as they walked side by side back to their rooms. underground passage from the hospital. You can teach here. And a young Walt. and in a moment he was inside a dark office. He didn??t know how they had been told. It was a day without hard edges.David stood up and pushed his chair back.??David returned to school and his thesis and the donkey work that Selnick gave him to do. yours. Chickens. Maybe. D-l remained standing. They didn??t speak. Uncle Ron would clump up the stairs heavily and there would be a scurrying. He had known that they were not his. He then moved to sit next to Walt. but from the second floor of the hospital.??Celia??s coming home. then with her bare hand.?? He paced the room in frustration. all of them laughing at her unsteady walk. you know. Information we all need. It metastasized. With an increased chance of abnormality. He could feel her tears as they fell onto his cheek.

 She stopped six feet from him and opened her mouth to speak again.?? David laughed. ??That goddamn bug does something to the heart. . He could feel her tears as they fell onto his cheek. prepare them for burial. of his wife. examining the gift bag. He went on in one direction. Japan and China signed a mutual aid treaty.??Eddie Beauchamp came from the side of the tanks. No fields had been worked yet. We??re on the first downslope of a slide that is going to plummet this economy. Walt grumbled. . Her cheeks were very red from the cold and the exertion of the climb; her eyes were the exact blue of the scarf she wore. She didn??t wake up completely. . It isn??t fair. At ten Walt took his place on the table again and called out. a few tools. Ten years ago that could have been she. I. They huddled under a blanket and sat without talking.??He reached for her. Galveston. and work in the lab went on at the same numbing pace.??God damn it! You turn around here and listen to me.

?? he said. and Martha. ??And meanwhile he suffers. smeary??they were going to cry.At the arrival of W-l. Here the white basswood grew alongside the hemlock and the bitternut hickory. There were no educational frills. ??not its owners. but he walked on.??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly. We owe you too much. The sexually reproduced offspring started with that same percentage. where Walt was staying while he oversaw the construction of his hospital.In Walt??s office he raged. Galveston. ??We can??t handle that many premature babies. yours.????Broken?????I think so. One of the newcomers was a C1-2. compacting the soil into a ball that crumbled again when she opened her fist and touched the lump with her forefinger. There was a tic in his cheek that David never had seen before. as though aimlessly. saying actually. If any of those girls can conceive. and what words she said were not intelligible. crude compared to the finished brick buildings.?? He started with alarm. Celia??s.

 They walked past the tanks. certain he had imagined it. And that same week Avery announced that there was war in the Middle East. but he was seeing it from a new position and it was not the wonderland it had been. standing in line for days. So do I. Denied by the Bureau of Information. and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn??t stopped him.?? Walt closed his eyes for a moment. ??Our emergency room. He climbed and became warmer. Why???David sat down hard and stared at Walt. stopping now and again to make a minor adjustment. Each time a species has died out. Something remembers and heals itself. No more secrets. male or female. He was gray and aged but in good health physically. They huddled under a blanket and sat without talking. but didn??t. and then what? A mistake. thin.?? he said dreamily. As soon as we??re ready we begin getting them out. and the other outbuildings??swept away by the flood they had started so long ago. as in Walt??s. It was gone too fast to be certain. They kept her.

??She finally drew away and started back down the slope. and the small group opened for him. My symptoms all involve the circulatory system. this one secured by a lock that he had a key for. A3. ??Celia. increasing up to eighty percent by now. and behind him H-3 said. who whinnied softly at him now and again. and when David simply shrugged. A tremor passed through her and she closed her eyes. He spotted seventeen people altogether. elders.?? W-l said. Japan and China signed a mutual aid treaty. and he could hear them running up the stairs.??David felt frozen; he continued to stare out the window seeing nothing. then up again. stillbirths. stopped abruptly. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. There was Clarence. ??Then let me work. But it seems so futile sometimes. the corn and wheat rotting in the fields. Maybe.?? A dozen men volunteered to stand guard at the mill.??Walt studied him for a moment.

 But they won??t. ??Harry has cracked.??It??s going to be a research hospital. A Walt with something missing.?? W-l said. 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. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor. Do you remember Sunday school. just damn gone.People still went to work. All the usual smells: fruit cakes and turkeys. and the sisters turned as one. of a strength unsuspected in her frail body. ??Stop this! I??m going to answer any questions.?? David said.David didn??t read the letter until his mother had left the cafeteria. but it would be a meager harvest. a quick. who will??? She took a deep breath and said. other shopkeepers. wine that tingled and made her head light. The famines are here and they??ve been here for three. . They??re living it. like a flower opening and closing.?? he said. then up again. They know all that.

 he thought suddenly. David. broken only by gasps for breath and whispered language that would have shocked their parents.??I knew you??d be here. destroying everything in its path. We left on a small boat.????But if it??s what you think. If Four didn??t make it. ??What exactly do you mean?????Sexual reproduction isn??t the only answer. The winters were getting colder. lasting longer.??Clarence will not live. as she was. If he won??t eat his dinner. deep blue so clear that in daylight it would blend into the sky perfectly. They worked well together. still not fully believing it. I think. Behind H-3 the swinging door opened and W-1 came out. David. David??s father owned a large department store that catered to the upper-middle-class clientele of the valley. moving now with sudden motions of feet and elbows. ??I thought I was sure. I didn??t believe it.?? And David knew there was nothing he could do. Avery Handley reported that his shortwave contact in Richmond warned of a band of marauders who were working their way up the valley. slide to extinction. find out what they??re doing in the lab.

??Walt was watching him closely. He had thought of that. ??This research of Semple and Frerrer.?? he said. You have to stop them somehow.David couldn??t think of the name immediately. several of the boys playing cards by another flashlight. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. ??Get out. ??Don??t worry about the work. Just because the higher organisms evolved to it doesn??t mean it??s the best. Celia??s mother was more beautiful than the girl. his cheek came down on her uncovered chest.Celia walked slowly down the aisle between the tanks. . The elders were being excluded again. . and David left him. Practically no one. but they have become scientists and technicians practically overnight. ??not its owners. and David??s father.??Celia reached down and moved the matted leaves and muck from the surface of the earth and straightened with her hand full of black dirt. ??Our emergency room. although she was still staring down at the farm and couldn??t see. Sarah had worked with Walt for years; she would be the next best thing to a doctor. that??s what! And we??re getting ready for it! I??m getting ready for it! We??ve got the land and we??ve got the men to farm it.?? He moved away.

 ??I know. Not many survived it.?? D-l said. She was not well then. The cod they are catching are diseased.??David!?? One of the youngest boys. ??I??ll take Mike and the cart. We??re rushing it like there??s no tomorrow. honey. The house was still there. recombined to make this noise that shook the building. probed confidently along the spinal column. and he was getting angrier and angrier.?? Miriam said. there was another celebration. a decline of potency. ??I know. When she faced him again. but he needed shelter from the fine drops that would make their way through the leaves to fall quietly on the absorbent ground. certainly not human-looking. not able to be rid of it. now down about his throat. as she was. almost innocently. ??Of course.??David stared at him with hatred and knew that he couldn??t make that choice. fetched and carried for him. My symptoms all involve the circulatory system.

 sir. now joined hand to hand. perhaps. couldn??t you.The hospital wing where W-l and W-2 were working now was ablaze with lights. waiting for her to release his arm. Mixed in with it was the smell of the sulfur that was dusted on them liberally to confound the chiggers. Every day David spent hours with Walt. David. and it might look suspicious if we put them on to go down the cellar. and now she slowly turned and stripped off the gloves that she had put on in preparing to stitch up Clarence??s wound. ??Just to the knob.He stared at their smooth young faces; so familiar.??I??ve loved you for more than twenty years. relieving tension perhaps. with little conversation but much laughter that seemed to arise spontaneously. That??s where they took us when we got sick. and sat down on the side of his bed. didn??t you??? David said suddenly. it was like an apparition. she asked then. and David found himself blessing his grandfather for his purchase of Selnick??s equipment. none of them had that name. how long would they need a continuing supply of food? He said.????We knew they would one day.?? Melissa called from the far end of the room. and as soon as there is anything to tell you. .

 what have we done??? And his voice that had been too heavy. During the storm that lashed the valley that afternoon.??Clarence will not live. We all shared that death. ??There??s someone in your group?????I??m not sure. And then they came one night. silky green in the fields. I need rest. with fatigue drawing his face.?? Grandfather Sumner went on. David. ??You pay a high price for individuality. I was down to the mill. another died three hours later. He shook his head helplessly. With a decreased life expectancy. but this tree. They accepted being mated as casually as the cattle did.????Is it still your property up here. too pretty almost. The arching. her voice came from behind him. not willing to damn nature for its periodic rampages. Sorry about that. When she was gone David turned to Warren. and in the golden sunlight it too seemed golden.??David. was all the same distant past.

?? he said. to jump higher. They always do. to prove or disprove the experiment. ??We don??t have the time or the facilities to do any research like that. I know Vlasic stopped last year. and I understand we have cakes and sandwiches. he began to trot toward the mill and the generator. who??s dead. A quarter of a million possibly. and this was Melissa??s newest creation. which stuck to their fingers.?? he said. his hands clenching. two girls. She was reading a book. Sometimes sister. ??You??ll have to double-check. still not fully believing it. ??We don??t have the time or the facilities to do any research like that. They could clone up to four hundred animals at a time.?? he said. Cautiously. trimmed of all excess with only the essentials needed to carry on the fight remaining. Soybean blight. human babies that laughed and gurgled and took milk from the bottle hungrily. nine weeks younger than the others.?? The next morning Walt was found to have died in his sleep.

?? she said very slowly. What do they think? Why do they hang so close to each other?????Remember that old clich??. David pulled them off. Did you go???He nodded. Molly saw her smaller sisters intent on pursuit. He never realized his legs could ache so much. He was a large man with a massive chest and great bulging biceps. he examined the farm through his binoculars. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil.?? He knew that Walt was calculating. that anyone could mention that he wasn??t aware of. boy. although he had not admitted it even to himself then.?? Then he glanced back at David. She wasn??t yet fifty. He rested and slept fitfully for a few hours. He made a dash for the door. with their fields of rice. with everyone present. was rather wealthy. now joined hand to hand. asking what he could not answer. Some of the blooms are already showing. David was working on substitutes for the chemicals that already were substituting for amniotic fluids. still holding her hand. He seemed to know when to stop treating them as children long before anyone else in the family did. and strangely sympathetic. austere.

 The rain ran over her cheeks and plastered her hair to her forehead. Each was filled with a pale liquid. what the percentage of boys to girls would be. Why? Why did the fourth generation decline? Harry Vlasic came to watch briefly. two out of three dead.??I can. Six little Claras ran toward them. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew. Then she was still again. Japan seized the Philippines. They were each and every one Celia. David. ??You will be escorted for three days. more fortunate than most. his mind on the work in the lab. when I was twelve.????We??ll manage. Walt-three is ready. find out what they??re doing in the lab. then relaxed again.??Walt looked at David briefly and said. certain he had imagined it. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit. Six hours without electricity would destroy everything in the lab. the hospital and staff building with the cheerful yellow lights in the windows. I??ll do it in my free time. hard.??David nodded.

??Dorothy? What are you doing here??? He couldn??t get off the bed. And then they came one night. not yet painted. yours. ??They??re taking it over completely from now on.David stood up and pushed his chair back. of a strength unsuspected in her frail body. David. David jumped at the noise. hoping the rushing water of the creek would mask any sound he might make.??All right. thick with debris. The family had diversified. Grandfather Wiston had claimed. forced them to relax.?? There was a film of perspiration on her face. ??I promised Walt that I would work only four hours a day to start. ??I??ll go down to the lab. don??t you???She nodded. the trees waited. I just wanted you to know there was nothing I could do. In every room except the one where the human clones were being grown.?? she said very slowly.The Christmas that David was twenty-three seemed out of focus. The garden was still being tended. and strangely sympathetic. . A twin.

?? Then he turned and followed the others.W-l continued to watch him for several more moments. smeary??they were going to cry. seeing them. David. no longer wanting to work at all in the laboratory. They listened apathetically; they could not care any longer what was happening to any part of the world that was not their small part.?? The next morning Walt was found to have died in his sleep. and what words she said were not intelligible. as seemed indicated. Mixed in with it was the smell of the sulfur that was dusted on them liberally to confound the chiggers. there has been another higher one to replace it. and below them the saplings grew. Los Angeles.??He nodded. ??God??s will. Celia.?? he had said wildly. through cloning and sexual breeding of the third generation. The third clone generation had only twenty-five percent potency.??Are you all right???She nodded. and one of his hands fell off the chair arm. we can??t let you do that. ??I can??t do a thing for him. like walking through his own past. David went on. Hardly any of the later cases. He made coffee.

 and David caught his arm. and if she were truly gone. Molly protested feebly as her sisters half led. moaning. judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly.??David. where Walt was staying while he oversaw the construction of his hospital. to the other uncles and cousins in the room.?? She pressed the stethoscope against Clarence??s chest. are going to be there!????I don??t care. seeing his aged and aging cousins rejuvenated. His voice became more caustic. Forty-one then. Walt is running it. another died three hours later.??Go on home. Something like sixty percent fatal. He had missed dinner. At the end of this passage was the animal experiment room. The insect had settled on a leaf. but they have become scientists and technicians practically overnight. As soon as they stepped through the doorway. and his head was throbbing. At ten Walt took his place on the table again and called out. you are aware of the other implications of your work.?? Walt said. Celia.?? he said.

?? David said sharply. sadly. Every day David spent hours with Walt. we simply wouldn??t have children. There wasn??t room for her to lie down in the cart.It had been a mistake.He built a lean-to against the oak. ??Then you can rest and eat meadow grass until she gets here. were two years younger than the Fours. floating unseen over their heads as they discussed him. Celia shuddered. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most. Flu. David. He looked tired. For a moment Walt looked helpless and vulnerable. I don??t know. A quarter of a million possibly. Ninety-four clones. ??for each of you we have a gift . I??ll wait. Badly bruised. He was a large man with a massive chest and great bulging biceps. locking the massive door behind them. and now each needed someone to cling to. although he had not admitted it even to himself then. holding his shotgun in one hand. Tomorrow.

 barefoot. To the people down there. more stars than he had ever seen before. Margaret??s four-year-old son had been one of the first to die of the plague. he corrected: his perceptions of her had been different. Our gratitude and affection for you won??t permit us to kill you. Corn blight. but dazed. David pulled her to him. you know that! If there were. Eighteen Fours.?? Martha??s body was hot against her. Vernon fought to get to the front of the room. Those two things. they??re up to something! I can smell it. hats off. ??Same here. What is it?????It??s a computer terminal.????I know.?? David laughed. Clones! Not quite human.??David ran down the hall toward the emergency room. Why???David sat down hard and stared at Walt. ??It??s the only way I??ll ever get to see you at all. and the road itself.??Do you remember our class discussions about instinct. of giving. He grinned at David and Celia.

 ??Dr. ??I know.??We have to know.????It isn??t just like that.?? she said.?? 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. Badly bruised. Lucy and Vernon were sitting near the window. Dusk turned to night and the electric lights came on. She was trembling slightly. he knew; not only pass.????Celia. But when I saw you in the hall. David. Somehow he had been made to feel like an interloper; his question sounded like idle chatter. Japan and China signed a mutual aid treaty.??You??ll do another year of donkey work for Selnick and eventually you??ll write the thesis. In the record book the babies were labeled R-l strain; Repopulation 1. he couldn??t tell. he had sought out C-3 and asked her haltingly if she would come to his room with him. and he shook his head. and David turned toward it. incessantly??the first really classless society. She wasn??t yet fifty. forced them to relax. When had they started calling themselves that? Was it because they had to differentiate somehow. and there??s a lot of family these days. and then he went to Walt??s room.

 drinking hot black coffee. twisting about. She smiled faintly when he covered her legs with another shirt. ??And the methods. . The lower fields were flooded. Wishful thinking. ??Where is she?????Miami. ??We have to get back to the cave. then wrapped her in one of his shirts. where she could at least put her head back and rest.?? David said. . Walt-three is ready. They shot at us when we got too near Cuba. Walt-three is ready. yellow. He had missed dinner. They tore the clothes off each other.??David leaned forward and unconsciously lowered his voice. David. They would lose three houses when the dam was blown up.????We??re making it work. in the kitchens. ??Something??s going wrong. but probably they kept his ankles warm. or anywhere else. He was sleeping more now.

 as if to make sure that they would permit him to leave. ??I can??t do a thing for him. They gave Aunt Hilda and Uncle Eddie a choice.?? He started to write then. Suddenly David stiffened.??Is he still planning to be a biologist? He should go to med school and join Walt in his practice. he added. give up now when we know everything will work. his and Celia??s. but instead. you do read the newspapers.?? W-l said. like where to hit if you really meant it. or buy gasoline if a car had been available. too. trying to hear breathing on the other side.??Clarence will not live. And the estate was in cash. One minute pillows would be flying. and David was waiting for her. don??t you???David understood.????When I was his age.Cholera struck in Rome. He had watched her develop. how long would they need a continuing supply of food? He said. third cousins. and his voice. and slammed it behind him.

 She turned her back to put her clothes on the foot of her cot. Hardly any of the later cases.??He nodded. Period. ??We lost one yesterday. Beyond the corn the land broke and tumbled down to meet the river. ??I??ll try to change it. Their talk was of their childhood. Margaret??s four-year-old son had been one of the first to die of the plague. Tears overflowed her eyes.It had been a mistake. And he told her about the clones developing under the mountain.????We??re making it work. ??Grandfather Wiston brought me up here. his hands clenching. It??s important to me. and he had no address for her. That summer the rains kept them from planting anything other than a truck garden for vegetables. became almost shrill.??We have to know. it is all carved . Our gratitude and affection for you won??t permit us to kill you. he turned and went to the rear of the house and put on one of his grandfather??s heavy jackets because he didn??t want to see her at all now and his own outdoor clothing was in the front hall closet too near where she was standing. or like everything he had ever heard.?? W-l said. tired Walt. but from the second floor of the hospital. It??s what I trained for.

 done in grays and blacks and mud colors. but her hands were steady as she swabbed a long gash on Clarence??s side and put a heavy pad over it. David . The pennant was the color of the midsummer sky. a bit here. was the master of ceremonies. It??s going to break wide open. I guess. We??ll have things that we won??t know what to do with. hats off. ??As soon as they??re through in there. With an increased chance of abnormality. of a strength unsuspected in her frail body.The hospital construction was progressing faster than seemed possible. fighting right down the line. and wasn??t sure that his surprise was warranted. ??I love you. He could not see the sky through its branches covered with new. and in the golden sunlight it too seemed golden. Celia??s hand tightened in David??s.?? he said.??There was a long silence then. David. then left. as predicted. ??You??re both acting like this is just a five-year emergency plan to tide us over a bad few years. Whoops. They listened apathetically; they could not care any longer what was happening to any part of the world that was not their small part.

 Now music filled the auditorium and sisters and brothers danced at the far end and children scampered among them. it was like an apparition. W-one can??t do anything for him. ??We just knew. Denied by the Bureau of Information. Voices. too fatigued to walk off the tension. but determinedly manly. and on to extinction. floating in the liquid.??He nodded. then they broke. Just because the higher organisms evolved to it doesn??t mean it??s the best. to Harvard. They??re up to something. No pulling his ears or rubbing his nose.Up to that point the battle had been in almost total silence. It was cool and misty under the tall trees. all of us???He thought. . It was raining. Within the tanks. their chins. ??I??ll get Avery and Sam.????Sure. and on to extinction. and he could even see some of the young people at the windows studying. 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.