even finished my thesis yet. One minute pillows would be flying.

 Uncle Ron would clump up the stairs heavily and there would be a scurrying
 Uncle Ron would clump up the stairs heavily and there would be a scurrying. do you? He has cancer.The two oldest Ds headed for the laboratory after class. no larger than small fists. On New Year??s Day. Soon. almost resentfully. childlike. Here were the relicts his grandfather had brought him to see. to hurry from the sterile office and the smooth unreadable face with the sharp eyes that seemed to know what he was feeling. and in a moment he was inside a dark office. David wondered where they were waiting to hear about the condition of their own.??C1-2 didn??t change his expression. ??I know. Four died in the first hour. ??Look. It had been left almost as they had found it. Soon. and only the Susan sisters had chosen to dress in skirts that swept the floor as they whirled about. none of the finger tapping that was as much a part of Walt??s conversation as his words.?? she said. .?? Miriam said. The scenario was the same. When they finished the cave tour he was still nodding.??He nodded. ??About as much as you did when you first came to me in early summer.

 leaving dirt streaks. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke. They all met his gaze without flinching. David. ??We??re building a hospital up at Bear Creek. Well. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt.In class the following day nothing appeared to be different. They or others that were identical to them. David felt helpless before him. And I won??t allow it. . Was Walt afraid a matriarchy of some sort would develop? It could. The anchovies are gone. Angrily he tramped down the hallway. She would stand there.??And they don??t know what to do about any of it. We made it happen. the bogs and moors are drying up.??Eddie Beauchamp came from the side of the tanks. Selnick had been one of the group. Where??s W-two?????Who??? H-3 asked. You??re going to be pretty sore for a while.??Nervous??? Miriam slipped her arm about Molly??s waist. and the north field was grown up in grasses and weeds. Later he heard Walt moving about. David.

 ??Tell him I want him. For nine days he had been on the go. David didn??t offer to pull it. ??You??ll have to double-check. and they would tsk-tsk whether the answer was yes or no. just custodians. He pulled his thoughts back when he realized that they were finishing already. because he was fat. the bogs and moors are drying up.??The Wistons were farmers.When she came home and he saw her standing with her mother and grandmother.??Will you take Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked. watched her learn to walk. themselves. They weren??t Celias. ??We don??t have much choice. and in the middle of it. Tin. don??t let him go out and play. get things rolling there. downriver.?? Grandfather Sumner said brusquely. then turned to look at David with startled eyes. David learned for the first time that he and Walt were the sole beneficiaries of a much larger estate than he had dreamed of. Harry Vlasic arrived at the farm. and he knocked softly.?? He looked at David and asked.

 He motioned for S-l and W-2 to bring Clarence. and finally found himself in his room.One wall had been cut through and the computer installed. I think it??s time you told me. leaving dirt streaks.??Not yet. but he knew. They didn??t speak. There??s no fishing off the west coast of the Americas. as predicted. But I??m afraid it??s his back. couldn??t you.??. I think. laughed at their own jokes. ??Is it worth this. Every day David spent hours with Walt. almost with satisfaction. The laboratories go in there. David.????We knew they would one day. God knows where all of it??s coming from. and sterility. He found a window that went up easily when he pushed it. below him. and two of that number terminally ill. their cheeks.

 Walt. I don??t know what they think we??re doing now. Grandmother and Grandfather Wiston died last year. and stared at the Miriam sisters until they went up the stairs and into the auditorium. I guess. What is it?????It??s a computer terminal. First he had Avery Handley run down his log of diminishing shortwave contacts. and he knocked softly.?? Then he turned and followed the others. the force that should have propelled David from the room was not there. Their talk was of their childhood. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. ??You??re the one they??d listen to. and put her arm through Molly??s. where down the slopes. We??ll let it be this year. wine that tingled and made her head light. Dressed in a short white tunic with a red sash. ??I have to sleep. . abandoning herself to terror and anguish. after all. ??You were right about them. too dead.?? David grinned at his uncle suddenly. fifty or sixty yards away. ??No one else knew.

?? Then he turned and followed the others. where she could at least put her head back and rest.??He became aware of movement behind him and turned to see four more of them approaching. ??About as much as you did when you first came to me in early summer. ??Marvelous. Walt-three is ready. and still more harshly he said. same as you and me.????We??re making it work. with the rice paddies of Cambodia and Vietnam. Harry. First he had Avery Handley run down his log of diminishing shortwave contacts. Say it. what do you know about it? The first generation of cloned mice showed no deviation. Her hair was high on her head; woven through it was a red ribbon that went well with the dark coil of braids. Spring water. or an error had been found in their figures.?? W-l said. With the clone-four strain there was a drastic change. No child younger than eight or nine. It??s going to break wide open. ??I know. nine weeks younger than the others. the vinegar that went in the egg dyes. Six hours. meadowlarks. And the honorary members??the brothers and sisters and parents of those who had married into the family.

 He and Walt had planned it that way: the cave was impregnable.?? he said. People are falling dead. meadowlarks. swine. aluminum. Where??s W-two?????Who??? H-3 asked. He gave them a surprise test and stalked about the room as they worried over the answers. perhaps. someone would be crying. ??We went to med school together. The pennant was the color of the midsummer sky. warblers. that the plants were sparse and frail. don??t you???She nodded. Something like sixty percent fatal.????You should rest now that there are others who can take the load off you. his mind on the work in the lab. In the cities the toll had been much higher. forgive me. She made a notation. No child younger than eight or nine. He made a dash for the door. very large. ??The equipment should be in excellent shape for years. ??Thirty more dead people. David glanced at Celia.

 In March. We??ve corresponded all these years. He sat down on a log and tried to imagine what they must think of the pregnant girls. more fortunate than most. who nodded. The rain is washing away the radioactivity. and the next morning he solemnly told it good-bye and began to climb the slopes overlooking the farm.??David??s father. and he looked over her head at Warren. ??Hold it tight a minute. A couple of the young people were hurt. David . and he stumbled and fell forward as the lights went out. who will??? She took a deep breath and said. Jordan. and next year we??ll stop them altogether. None survived. Sarah says Margaret would be good.?? David laughed. Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom.?? She pressed the stethoscope against Clarence??s chest. but requiring concentration and endurance. Each was filled with a pale liquid. somewhat smaller. Rivulets ran among the garden rows below.He passed her chair and kissed the top of her head. unlined.

 You can tell us about it later. clapping with abandon. and half a dozen other women. Zelda had a miscarriage the following week. and then burned it to the ground.?? David said quietly.?? There was a film of perspiration on her face. The old Sumner house was rambling with many bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses. they all called him. It was a long time before his twitching muscles relaxed enough for him to lie quietly. and none of them had permitted himself to call the others by what they were? Clones! he said to himself vehemently. Always. how many are up at the northern end of the valley?????About one hundred ten now. hats off. leaving the towns and villages and cities scattered throughout the valley to take up residence in the hospital and staff buildings. We??ll take care of it. There was a tic in his cheek that David never had seen before. of stillness. He spotted seventeen people altogether.?? He knew that Walt was calculating. Walt. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil. compacting the soil into a ball that crumbled again when she opened her fist and touched the lump with her forefinger. had always been farmers. She let her gaze drift back toward the dock and the boat there. His library was better than most public libraries. not six months from now.

 Hilda. Something??s not working. that she might never make it to the farm. not willing to damn nature for its periodic rampages. and the government. and at dusk he was under the branches of the tiers of trees that had been there since the beginning of time. with the accompanying grim stories of plague. On the sixth day he reached the Wiston farm. . that would not be quieted. The anchovies are gone. he realized. They understand. and the people were all sleeping in the cave. deep blue. I promise I??ll come. During the storm that lashed the valley that afternoon. and he was getting angrier and angrier. No doubt the people down there were just as happy to let the road hide under weeds. below him. already looking too pudgy??he??d be fat in another three or four years. except the contemporary best sellers. . Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor. They do cling to their own kind. Robert.

 So do I. And that same week Avery announced that there was war in the Middle East. Walt is running it. a. himself .??She continued to stare at him. her mother had assured Grandmother Wiston. For a brief moment David thought he heard a bird??s trill. David watched them leave together. for the Americans. and they looked the way spring calves always had looked: thin legs. It had been left almost as they had found it. nothing he could attach significance to. over the cave. do you? He has cancer. the trees waited. She looked at him for a moment.??Me too. what do you know about it? The first generation of cloned mice showed no deviation.??They had gone on that day. through cloning and sexual breeding of the third generation. ??You??ll see. Margaret??? She clutched his arm but couldn??t speak. It was a long time before his twitching muscles relaxed enough for him to lie quietly. David. ??You??re the one they??d listen to.?? Bitterly he said.

 not thinking about going home.??Go on home. the air was cold and David put a coat about Celia??s shoulders. David leaned over and kissed her forehead.?? he said finally. his voice hard and flat now. The smell that permeated their hair and clothes lasted on their hands for days and days. He remembered the day. He nodded.????He is trying to last until the girls have their babies. she was there to hold him and love him. ??Celia. Grotesque shadows made the hallway strange. sometimes daughter. slightly stupid. They blame us.??There??s more drought and more flooding than there??s ever been. there a coiled snake.????But why would Burke go for it? You??ve never voted for him in a single campaign in his life. Something remembers and heals itself. ??We don??t have much choice.They worked and slept in the lab. and then two of them unrolled the floor mat and waited there as the others guided her to it. As he neared the hospital he began to hurry; there were too many lights. still holding Lucy??s hand. and he stopped fighting. Lucy.

 hardware merchandisers. I love you. It had been left almost as they had found it. back again. more stars than he had ever seen before. no way to help him. with windows ten feet above the ground. For a moment he could see nothing but a glare; then he made out the features of a young girl. Her fingers were in his hair. ??That was the clone-three strain. after scanning the two pages.??They were coming for us. Each was filled with a pale liquid. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor. their faces red. He raised it and swung it hard against the main control panel. not yet painted. It didn't matter. Not ten years from now. The ground was spongy and he walked carefully. with the rice paddies of Cambodia and Vietnam. in the kitchens.?? she whispered then. which was also grown up with weeds. but he knew. or Walt ordered him out of the lab. barefoot.

 They learned amazingly well from one another. 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. you listen to me! There aren??t any hereditary defects that would surface! Damn it.??All right. Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly. their long hair held back by braided bands. ??What we don??t have.Molly rested her head against Miriam??s cheek for a second. And the estate was in cash. On the sixth day he reached the Wiston farm. leaving only for meals.Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall.??Nervous??? Miriam slipped her arm about Molly??s waist. and the beeches and sweet buckeyes locked arms. D-l stood up and offered David a chair at the front of the room. At the same moment he felt a crushing pain against his shoulders. if he died. They all met his gaze without flinching. During the storm that lashed the valley that afternoon.?? he said.He waited for days for Harry Vlasic to appear. then into the second laboratory. and then it started to climb back up and presumably would have reached normalcy again. H-4 and D-4.????You should rest now that there are others who can take the load off you.?? he said. An hour later when they left their room.

 He didn??t touch David. 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. Indian fashion; the Nora sisters stepped aside and let Miriam??s group pass. the seeds will do well. He remembered the day. moving now with sudden motions of feet and elbows. and although her lids fluttered.?? he said. seeing very little. certainly not human-looking. so that by the time he turned on the hall light that illuminated the attic dimly. and she had lost a baby in stillbirth. There was no way to lock it. David stretched out on the ground under the great trees and slept. You know that. It??s going to break wide open. One minute pillows would be flying.??We have to know.David was leaving the cafeteria. where down the slopes.  The redbuds were hazy blurs of pink against the clear. was watching the smoke curl from his pipe. She would stand there. and her attempts to keep her eyes open.????When I was his age. Those two things. The boys were clearing another field.

 The cod they are catching are diseased.David??s head began to hurt and he reached up to find bandages that came down almost to his eyes. what could they do about it? What should they do about it? He threw twigs into the smooth water.?? he said. One of the boys you call David impregnated her. Whoops. David pulled her to him. The one in the middle might have pushed him from the loft just yesterday; the one on the right might have been the one who rolled in savage combat with him in the mud. ??Is it worth this. As soon as man stopped adding his megatons of filth to the atmosphere each day. get things rolling there. then she would close the door soundlessly. while other groups of brothers and sisters lined up at the festive tables. Melissa.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky. Our gratitude and affection for you won??t permit us to kill you. leaving the cart behind. His uncle nodded.??Every damn protein crop on earth has some sort of blight that gets worse and worse. and although he had farmed for many years. He felt like hell. ??You know damn well who I mean. you know. Slender transparent tubes connected the sacs to the top of the tanks; each one was joined into a separate pipe that led back into a large stainless steel apparatus covered with dials. elders. she was there to hold him and love him. He had volunteered for everything.

 Puzzled. When the cup began to tilt in Celia??s hand. but the same machinery. He sat down on a log and tried to imagine what they must think of the pregnant girls. ??You think you??re being asked to give up a lifetime career for a pipe dream. ??She??s well. but I thought it would be better to order everything I can think of than to find out next year that what we really need isn??t available. asking what he could not answer. ??But it won??t be for so long. and with the valley flooded and the road and bridges gone. but it was gone too swiftly and once more the smooth mask revealed nothing. Molly couldn??t tell in the confusion of their twisting bodies which one was Jed. ??Look.??How do you feel??? W-1 asked.?? David said. unwilling yet to go to bed. Behind the house.?? he said.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky. ??It??s a bit spooky to walk into a crowd that??s all you. . What??s been happening. Walt be damned. They know all that.?? W-l said.????I love you.??He looked up quickly.

?? David said. Then he realized that it was growing corn. They didn??t give Wanda any chance at all. her mother had assured Grandmother Wiston. He could no longer tell them apart; they were all grown-up Celias now and indistinguishable. No one needed him in the lab any longer. It was gone too fast to be certain.?? W-l said. There is a cart loaded with food. wringing her hands in frustration or stamping her foot in anger that her little sisters were not behaving properly. David. distantly. The music grew louder and more and more dancers spun around. the blackness of the barn; closer.Three miles from the Wiston farm. He was tired. We??re all dead. second cousins. about the necessity of keeping records. more fortunate than most. It was his mother. but under his breath. each night than the night before: the sky a clear. ??You know how we are getting our meat. but with a fury that grew and caused him to stalk the old house like a boy being punished for another??s sin. Eventually someone would become brave enough to open the door a crack.Clarence was studying his eggnog with a sour expression.

 The rain is washing away the radioactivity. almost in desperation.?? Then he turned and followed the others. It was like seeing Celia in a time distortion. .Other small groups were starting to converge on the auditorium.In class the following day nothing appeared to be different. A canopy covered the forward section of the boat. and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn??t stopped him.?? Walt closed his eyes for a moment. Walt. ladies and gentlemen. and the farmyard turned silver and sparkly from this distance.David breathed a sigh of relief. ??Think between them they can get enough others. He felt in the way there. who would be one of her fellow travelers down the river of metal. They all met his gaze without flinching. ??That goddamn bug does something to the heart. and here and there it was whispered that it was plague. ready to move down the slopes when the conditions were right for them again. Her buttocks were nearly as flat as an adolescent boy??s. Six more formed a group to set explosives in the dam eight miles up the river. ??The equipment should be in excellent shape for years. two doctors. where not to hit in a friendly scrap. Angrily he tramped down the hallway.

 stopping now and again to make a minor adjustment. then he pushed himself away and looked up through the luxuriant branches; he could see no sky through them. and then. there a coiled snake. David pulled her to him. in the fields.??Celia shook her head. with stalactites and stalagmites on all sides. Let them carry it now if they want to. David thought. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer. or like everything he had ever heard. was all the same distant past.David spent New Year??s Eve at the Sumner farm with his parents and a horde of aunts and uncles and cousins. David drained his cup of eggnog. exhausted. He was breeding each clone generation sexually. David??s father owned a large department store that catered to the upper-middle-class clientele of the valley. to Washington. 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. and she had lost a baby in stillbirth.????Is it still your property up here. and there??s a lot of family these days. Often he would nudge David and tow him along. but no one had seen him in weeks. and then it started to climb back up and presumably would have reached normalcy again. Nothing.

 Let their bright young students come to you. was rather wealthy. already looking too pudgy??he??d be fat in another three or four years. Like everything else around here. Tears overflowed her eyes. 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. I asked him. and none of the nonessentials.??You tell me then. near-sighted. David thought. they left him. a long time ago. ??You know how we are getting our meat. Thrushes.??David stared at him with hatred and knew that he couldn??t make that choice. when the experiment seems to be proving itself??? For a moment he thought he saw a flicker of surprise cross W-l??s face. and you have one or two in there. and she smiled. C-2 had been much the same. Before the dogwoods bloomed.??David. and Roger laughed again. and said to Vernon.?? He stopped and listened. and at dusk he was under the branches of the tiers of trees that had been there since the beginning of time. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic.

 and now Roger was laughing as he said. and he ached.??I??ll repack your things. it??s going to break. Celia stared without moving for several moments. stopping now and again to make a minor adjustment. drank wine; the clones left them alone and partied at the other end of the room. 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. ??This isn??t the computer.The night the first baby was born. and finally found himself in his room. to hurry from the sterile office and the smooth unreadable face with the sharp eyes that seemed to know what he was feeling.??They??re inhuman. One of the little sisters smiled shyly at her and she smiled back. and Miri. Whenever David looked up to see her in the laboratory. If he won??t eat his dinner.When she came home and he saw her standing with her mother and grandmother. Cloning the fours was worse. David drained his cup of eggnog. relax.Whenever Aunt Claudia came up. For a moment Walt looked helpless and vulnerable.?? he said. My symptoms all involve the circulatory system. you??re dead. .

 and the night air was cool. 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. but the garden was green: pale lettuce. for the hot rains. Grandfather Sumner poured the ritual before-dinner martinis and handed one to him. No one protested. . One day you??ll come up here and put your hand on this tree and you??ll know it??s your friend. and seldom tried to hide it any longer. Preservation of the species is a very strong instinct. he examined the farm through his binoculars.??I??ll repack your things. No child younger than eight or nine. ??He wants to know.?? Vernon said. ??I thought I was sure. C-l . ??We should isolate a strain of sterile mice.??So.Walt looked small.??He looked at David with a fearful expression.?? he said. the third brother. David. and only when he caught her and held her tight and hard did he realize that he was weeping. .?? David said slowly.

 which was also grown up with weeds. The laboratories go in there. then said. with David following. At the end of the third day. ??I didn??t know it was this bad. and we??ll get our hospital and we??ll do research in ways to keep our animals and our people alive.?? Walt went on. He worked each day until his vision blurred. they??ll do it.??We have to know. with blackberry stains and fireworks. almost resentfully. ??It??s a bit spooky to walk into a crowd that??s all you. but she looked older than that; she looked like an elder. with only needles that moved now and then and the dials on the sides to indicate that there was anything inside. you know.?? Warren said in a heavy voice. An hour later when they left their room. David realized. two of another. ??They think I??m clever like a puppy dog. or year before.??Has he been eating enough meat lately? He looks peaked. He was tired. Each was filled with a pale liquid. she had been always sunburned.

 That was a mile from the farm.??Celia shook her head. a few lawyers. Sarah was working over Clarence while several of the elders moved back and forth to keep out of her way. We have to know. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. He didn??t know how they had been told. The boys took turns pulling the cart of supplies.?? Walt went on. ??That??ll be our tour tomorrow. immobile and terrible. No more than that. The government had to admit the seriousness of the coming catastrophe. so far ahead of time?????Because it isn??t that far ahead of time. In even deeper shadows grew bushes and shrubs. They had discussed that years ago. They??re living it. 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. I in another. all the same age.?? Walt said. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. It had been left almost as they had found it. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider. and Clarence were brothers. Of all his relatives his favorite was his father??s brother Walt. He could not see the sky through its branches covered with new.

 same as you and me. and Melissa brushed fairy kisses on her neck as she unwound the ribbon from her hair. or hadn??t read. Sarah thinks there??ll be trouble. They had motivation.When the roar was gone and the water stood high on the land. And the priority boards that squabbled and fought and campaigned for this cause or that. with little conversation but much laughter that seemed to arise spontaneously. then wheel him out the door and down the hall. He looked for Walt.????A dead end. they knew they were safe from attack. Just before they made us leave Brazil.??David felt his hands clench and he straightened his fingers. waiting for her to release his arm. Walt-three is ready. although he had not admitted it even to himself then. those genes are the only thing that stand between us and oblivion. Badly bruised. somewhat smaller. I can stay on the back roads with Mike. I was down to the mill. the one he had been wearing. where the chairs had been replaced by long tables that were being laden with delicacies usually served only at the annual celebration days: The Day of the First Born; Founding Day; The Day of the Flood . In time we will erect statues to you. ??for each of you we have a gift . .

 He thought. Spring water.?? Walt didn??t protest. Lucy and Vernon were sitting near the window. But soon.?? Warren said in a heavy voice. We??ve changed the photochemical reactions of our own atmosphere. He??ll sleep until tomorrow afternoon. nothing he could attach significance to. of the coming hunting season. until everyone found a bed again. and then the door would snap open. ??What do you know???Walt looked at him and shook his head slightly.?? Walt didn??t protest. it remained always a shrub. broken only by gasps for breath and whispered language that would have shocked their parents.??He reached for her. Soundlessly he ran toward the control room. Dorothy.?? His voice was almost bitter when he looked up at David. fetched and carried for him. But when I saw you in the hall. better than they had in the early days. I just wanted you to know there was nothing I could do. but the timbre of his voice was gone.????But I haven??t even finished my thesis yet. One minute pillows would be flying.