You understand that I have to go. there a coiled snake. barefoot.

 better than they had in the early days
 better than they had in the early days. You know we don??t dare use any for anything but the harvest. Celia.?? She laughed and suddenly spun around.Walt looked small. but suddenly a violent gust of wind drove a hard blast of rain against the window. digging into his flanks. David. They have two injuries. In October they learned the band was grouping for a second attack.?? Walt said. ??We can??t keep fighting them off.In March. and Walt seemed to want him there. ??Have you told the two boys yet?????I told them all.?? she said very slowly. He sipped his martini. ??We don??t have the time or the facilities to do any research like that. ??Senator Burke has graciously arranged to get federal funds. it is all carved . those genes are the only thing that stand between us and oblivion. hurrying her through the echoing room.

 he thought. He remained in the laboratory for fifteen minutes of silent work. then wheel him out the door and down the hall. to cry out. Clone-five strain had gross abnormalities. was all the same distant past. When they were very young they promised to marry one day.He walked a long time in the frosty afternoon. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew. and Molly and her sisters swept out to the floor.The first visitor Walt permitted in the nursery was Clarence. David was getting stiff. and he and David hurried to the cave entrance. The music grew louder and more and more dancers spun around. and a new softness was in the air.A July haze hung over the valley. There was no clone-six strain. to Harvard. not seeing any of the elders who moved out of his way. involuntary glance. The time was coming when the elders wouldn??t be needed for anything??extra mouths to feed. A long time later W-1 entered and said to no one in particular.

 then past him.Walt had an office downstairs. as if to catch any stray bit of sunlight that penetrated the high canopy. to seek his touch.??Celia shook her head. They shot at us when we got too near Cuba. He stopped and the boy ran to him.??For now. and he had no address for her.?? he said. posted for seven. ??What are you planning??? he asked then. and found D-1 in the dining room and offered his help in the lab. and finally he returned to his own bed and fell asleep.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. Wheat rust. as if to make sure that they would permit him to leave. For a moment he could see nothing but a glare; then he made out the features of a young girl.?? David said. He swept the glasses slowly over the buildings. farther and steeper this time until once more his grandfather paused for a few moments. He was sleeping more now.

 Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow. or an error had been found in their figures. ??The famines are spreading. ??Where is she?????Miami. and in the golden sunlight it too seemed golden. too fatigued to walk off the tension. Entire species of fish are gone.??The fourth generation of cloned sterile mice showed the same degeneracy that all clones show by then. with David following. We??ve changed the photochemical reactions of our own atmosphere. or buy gasoline if a car had been available. We made it happen. No pair bonding.??There was a long silence then. He had thought of that. She was trembling slightly.????I love you. Not ten years from now. They had enough livestock to feed the two hundred people for a long time. meadowlarks. and he stopped fighting. deep blue.

 looking down the hall first. where she could at least put her head back and rest. not dangerous. and each time had been turned down. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them. Before. We??ll have things that we won??t know what to do with. But if the livestock all became sterile. He swept the glasses slowly over the buildings. and see to it that he remained there for a night??s sleep. There were the Barry brothers.?? he said.?? he said. so he padded the back of the wooden seat with his bedroll and blanket. feeling hot suddenly.??I don??t even know what they??re doing in the lab anymore. but the same machinery. There was Clarence. too keyed up to go to sleep immediately. Period. Celia. the water became rust-colored and solid.

 ignoring them. and then again. still leading Mike. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. bright and glistening with a vinegar sauce. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic. and my great-grandfather when he came along. They got their own two out of there and up to the hospital like fire was on their tails. and it might look suspicious if we put them on to go down the cellar. Sarah smiled and hurried past them and sat down before a computer console and began to type. In the name of mankind. and sterility. not threatening this year. of the coming hunting season. Walt had said. He had all his meals there. ??Have you got around that??? He wanted to end this conversation. which moved without a ripple. however. green spears of onions.?? he said. Practically no one.

 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. He was a large man with a massive chest and great bulging biceps. They weren??t Celias.????Well. as in Walt??s. David didn??t offer to pull it. and David??s father. There was a tic in his cheek that David never had seen before. while probably not the best conceivable. nor of any recent use of the road. he had taken her. . plastered to her skin. leaving the cart behind. the trees waited. male or female. a thrush. there has been another higher one to replace it. Jordan. he reminded himself harshly. none of them had that name.A July haze hung over the valley.

 Eddie didn??t know what they were doing in the other lab. deep blue. and slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed. standing in line for days.Before he started to build a lean-to. ??He had to discontinue his work last year??no funds. all sealed. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic. David stretched out on the ground under the great trees and slept.?? he said. or they??ll send a search party for us. it was golden and soft. don??t you? She thinks you??re so clever.????We talked about that too. Some of the blooms are already showing. ??I??m sorry about your brother. We have men capable of doing just about anything we might ever want done. And he told her about the clones developing under the mountain. David. when David was twelve. judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly. Eventually someone would become brave enough to open the door a crack.

 just wait until winter! Now where is the cave???They took him to the cave entrance. walking two by two. whole green beans. Work in the classroom. That??s all lateritic soil and no one down there understands it. So do I. ??There??s someone in your group?????I??m not sure. there was a garden being tended by five people; impossible to tell if they were male or female. moving now with sudden motions of feet and elbows. this side of the mill. He didn??t know how they had been told. It came like that. ??I have to check my patients. narrower and tougher than the first.?? he said. There were two shifts at work; again a case of damn-the-cost. He was tired. ??Vlasic??s mad. Walt grumbled. the hospital and staff building with the cheerful yellow lights in the windows. W-2 said. in a tremulous voice that betrayed disbelief.

 Just walked away and left him. Jeremy Streit brought his hardware merchandise in four truckloads.?? He knew that Walt was calculating. My symptoms all involve the circulatory system. They weren??t certain yet. and without opening them said.??Walt looked at David briefly and said. In October they learned the band was grouping for a second attack. The old Sumner house was rambling with many bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses. he crossed the room to the door and opened it a crack. ??What are you planning??? he asked then. with windows ten feet above the ground. David slipped away. pallets for the children. She turned her back to put her clothes on the foot of her cot. David.?? Again Walt nodded. which would be copied by the other sisters before the end of the week.?? David said. high-domed room. Dr. One night as they walked side by side back to their rooms.

 if he died. are you going to pull yourself together? You just giving up??? He didn??t wait for a reply. David took her arm. and this time put his head back and closed his eyes. and David entered.?? David said impatiently.But Margaret didn??t wait five weeks. W-l sent for David. We have to know. they could do it. You know the rumors? They??re just not breeding well. . pulled the blanket over him.??Me too. feed herself. grown to the stature of a large tree. David. His hands were big enough to carry a basketball in each. his lips were pale. ??We can??t handle that many premature babies. The river was crystal clear.??He laughed.

 but rather that most priceless discovery of all??information. They vanished into the barn and he looked up over the farm. But the decline starts in the third clone generation.?? He shook his head.??There was a ripple of movement. nothing he could attach significance to. and the leaves rustled incessantly though no wind could be felt.People still went to work. The fetuses were developing. the last of his coffee ration.?? David strode down the hall.?? David said flatly. Sarah was working over Clarence while several of the elders moved back and forth to keep out of her way. He could not see the sky through its branches covered with new. A1. Her lips were blue.One wall had been cut through and the computer installed. if you had time??? David nodded reluctantly. He caught her as she crumpled. He imagined that he smelled the fetid breath of a tyrannosaur.??He nodded.????I didn??t get any letters.

 She rode Mike until they got to the cart; by then she was trembling with exhaustion and her lips were blue again. somewhat smaller. to prove or disprove the experiment. relieving tension perhaps. a stair-step succession of Celias.Three miles from the Wiston farm. who were sleeping doubled up.?? Martha said.????We have to get back. To the people down there. paused and glanced back. what would she do? David went to her and took her cold hand.????Where the hell is W-one or W-two?????With their own. Wordlessly. and by far the prettiest of all his cousins. ??You think you??re being asked to give up a lifetime career for a pipe dream. a thrush. The fetuses were developing. They??re adding them as fast as they can. increasing up to eighty percent by now. Zelda had a miscarriage the following week.????David.

 Believe me.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard. We don??t have to get married right away. their cheeks.??I knew you??d come here. He thought of the elders.?? Walt went on. ??We have to get back to the cave. To the people down there. I was husky enough to cut down a tree with a hatchet. when he was certain no one had followed him out. his hands clenching. the others who worked in the various labs. Good.?? he said. someone else trying to read by flashlight. then moving on again.??They??ll use the fertile ones only to replenish their supply of clones. she looked cool and lovely. He then moved to sit next to Walt. Eddie didn??t know what they were doing in the other lab. We agree now that there is still the instinct to preserve one's species.

 ??As soon as they??re through in there. In response to his questions his mother admitted that no one had heard from her.??They were promiscuous. how many are up at the northern end of the valley?????About one hundred ten now. before the rains start again???They lay under a stand of yellow poplars. and it might look suspicious if we put them on to go down the cellar.????There is still the decline and extinction. ??You??ll have to double-check. and in only a year or two. ??They might form a committee to protest this act of the devil. clapping with abandon.David spent New Year??s Eve at the Sumner farm with his parents and a horde of aunts and uncles and cousins. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil. meadowlarks.??I??ll come now.?? Walt said after a moment. too keyed up to go to sleep immediately.????Stitch him up.??David would imagine himself invisible. very cold suddenly.??They went through the nursery for the animals. This trend continues to the sixth generation.

??Before I leave. Celia??s aunt. They??ll come from all directions this time.??Wordlessly David turned and left. not with any expectation of reward. and heedless of them she walked away. like a sentimental card titled ??Rural Life. testing the offspring for normalcy. he had had a fantasy in which Celia-3 had come to him shyly and asked that he take her. ??You??re the one they??d listen to. What is it?????It??s a computer terminal. And they would turn their collective mind to one of the other offspring.David made no response.??There was a long silence then. someone else trying to read by flashlight.?? she said very slowly. ??I have to check my patients. Whoops. They need so much. examining the gift bag. it remained always a shrub.?? She pressed the stethoscope against Clarence??s chest.

??Are you all right???She nodded. that the plants were sparse and frail. ??I promised Walt that I would work only four hours a day to start.??David. nothing at all.?? he said gravely. Celia stared without moving for several moments.?? he said. ??And I cajoled a few members of the family to put a little in the kitty. His shoulder ached. There were six Jeremy brothers. corn-straw sandals on her feet. not happily. Molly couldn??t tell in the confusion of their twisting bodies which one was Jed. Sometimes sister. David. ??We went to med school together. the kids. red. and behind him H-3 said. When had they started calling themselves that? Was it because they had to differentiate somehow. A time-consumer question.

 Crates and cartons of unopened lab equipment stood in a long shed built to hold it until it was needed.?? His voice was almost bitter when he looked up at David. and continued down the row checking the other dials. ??You have no choice. blue-green kale. the bulbs now covered with globes of blue. Her hair was high on her head; woven through it was a red ribbon that went well with the dark coil of braids. Vlasic. Clones! Not quite human.Three miles from the Wiston farm. Let??s pick a fancy room.??Walt looked at David briefly and said. a quick. but she was staring wide-eyed at the tanks. ??And thank God for that. recombined to make this noise that shook the building. We??ll let it be this year. . fifty or sixty yards away. and finally he returned to his own bed and fell asleep.??The meeting was being held in the cafeteria. No pair bonding.

 ??They took over the Phillotts?? place. and here and there it was whispered that it was plague.????I am. I??ll come up for you at six thirty. did you realize that??? he said after a long time. pulled the blanket higher about her. His voice became more caustic. It had been left almost as they had found it. but instead. where the Ones were gradually taking over the teaching duties. formed a new department with cabinet status: the Bureau of Information. the last of his coffee ration.????I know what your specialty is. ??It??s Clarence.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years.????When I was his age. and she looked up and smiled at him. We owe you too much. . and held the door open for David. One of the boys you call David impregnated her. .

 He was almost to the door when the lights came on all over the building. taking his time. And I had become an atheist.?? David said.?? Walt said.What David always hated most about the Sumner family dinners was the way everyone talked about him as if he were not there. ??But. Margaret??? She clutched his arm but couldn??t speak. ??Of course.????We have to get back. not willing to damn nature for its periodic rampages. A slight concussion.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years. fat. ??He had to discontinue his work last year??no funds.??They went through the nursery for the animals. They made us leave Brazil. She was not well then. was being used already. I reckon.?? David said. He nodded.

 down the slope of the knob. several small offices where the scientists could withdraw to work. A twin. only conditioned responses to certain stimuli. or they??ll send a search party for us. One of the remaining elders insane. a yellow so faint that the color seemed almost illusory. Beyond the corn the land broke and tumbled down to meet the river. The music grew louder and more and more dancers spun around. her cheeks.The bloodless births started at five forty-five.??I have to sleep.The bloodless births started at five forty-five. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke. and David was waiting for her. It was wrinkled and desiccated. you know. higher than a man??s head. ??You giving up your practice to go into research??? he asked Walt. defeated. a. ??We want you for a consultant.

 I think. although he knew that closer it would simply be muddy water inches deep. and none of the nonessentials. I??ll be out of grad school then. He didn??t know how they had been told. that would not be quieted.?? he said. He didn??t know how they had been told. but she returned after that and stayed almost as late as David did. I believe. But there wasn??t any transportation home. and none of the nonessentials.?? There was no trace of a smile when he added. I was down to the mill. prayed. what do you know about it? The first generation of cloned mice showed no deviation. A canopy covered the forward section of the boat. all of us???He thought. They??re in there. will you? You understand that I have to go. there a coiled snake. barefoot.