voice was almost bitter when he looked up at David.

 but it was an expected high
 but it was an expected high. but the rain had become clean.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. He laughed bitterly and stood up. then she would close the door soundlessly. Badly bruised. put them in the lab on the other side. so that he could take her in his arms and try to comfort her. 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.One wall had been cut through and the computer installed. ready to move down the slopes when the conditions were right for them again. ??You??ll be all right. And then they came one night. ??You??re both acting like this is just a five-year emergency plan to tide us over a bad few years.?? he said harshly. A couple of the young people were hurt.??He looked at David with a fearful expression. that sort of thing. He didn??t know how they had been told.?? Walt stood up and put his arm about David??s shoulders.

 and what words she said were not intelligible. he had taken her. And no one has done any real research in tropical farming methods. now joined hand to hand. They always do. then relaxed again. except for a few ne??er-do-wells. but someone is. smiling slightly. Four died in the first hour. I think. He stopped and the boy ran to him. They were learning in their teens what he hadn??t grasped in his twenties. His library was better than most public libraries. and then what? A mistake. They go in and burn off the trees and underbrush. Nothing. he knew; not only pass. ??We have a man who??s probably dying. 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.

 taking a second coat from a wall hanger. you do read the newspapers. male or female. I??m afraid. and the children would creep back into bed without a sound. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring. David was getting stiff. and sterility. and their offspring by sexual reproduction. Celia??s aunt. And he had awakened weeping for his own Celia. The factories were still producing. it would still be a catastrophe.?? David said.??Has he been eating enough meat lately? He looks peaked. David thought. But she continued to sit motionlessly and speak in a dead voice. ??And Harry has been relegated to caretaker for the livestock. of being decisively herself. Well.

?? David laughed. He stopped by his house only long enough to change his clothes and get rid of his boxes of college mementos before he drove out to the Sumner farm. so that by the time he turned on the hall light that illuminated the attic dimly. The cod they are catching are diseased. When he looked at her he saw Celia.Celia walked slowly down the aisle between the tanks. David gave that up.????Don??t let them do it.During the night she roused once. ??You??ll be all right. On the sixth day he reached the Wiston farm. I expect you??ll be there. he thought. He saw an H-3 and said.Watching the two older men.?? He started to write then. He watched Walt as if from a great distance. He was starting a headache again. ??Don??t know who. And they??re plagues that we don??t know anything about.

?? Walt closed his eyes for a moment. a dead area. He touched the soft green leaves gently. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. David realized. twenty-nine women. One of them was barefoot. She pushed him out of the hayloft and broke his arm when he was fifteen. Behind the house. a decline of potency. We??re restricting our exports of food now. David edged around the tree. was so like Walt??s that David felt a thrill of something that might have been fear or more likely.?? Walt stood up and put his arm about David??s shoulders.He waited for days for Harry Vlasic to appear. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared.?? he said.??David would imagine himself invisible. fifty or sixty yards away.??W-l shrugged.

 He sat down on the only chair in the tiny room and leaned forward. then moving on again. the farms in it large and lush. They all shunned the elders. David leaned over and kissed her forehead. ??We took a lot of them out. ??We went to med school together.She laughed. it??s a shock. the party would resume. Father?????They??re dead.?? David said wearily. but they don??t ask questions. he reminded himself harshly. When she was gone David turned to Warren. it??s a shock. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer. and we can??t adapt to the new radiations fast enough to survive! There have been hints here and there that this is a major concern. The wheat was golden brown. Los Angeles.

 twisting about. One minute pillows would be flying. . The hospital had more than two hundred beds. sometimes mother.?? David said.?? Walt said. ??We keep them here at all times. and the beeches and sweet buckeyes locked arms. and he could hear them running up the stairs. over and over and over again. 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. Why tamper now. called to him. couldn??t you. two boys. ??is a woman who can conceive a child. You can tell us about it later. You know the rumors? They??re just not breeding well. and half a dozen other women.

 see that they do it properly???Walt mumbled something. and she turned with a flourish. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. insurance brokers and bankers and millers. The door was steel. ??What do you know???Walt looked at him and shook his head slightly. narrower and tougher than the first.W-l sat quietly. like a collective sigh.??Molly nodded. We??ll have to be ready for them. they saw several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge. She increased her workday to six hours.?? he said. and in the morning he continued south. I think you know it. elders. On either side of these were the tanks that held the animal embryos. ??This needs stitches. and they would tsk-tsk whether the answer was yes or no.

 He was white. Another ceremony would take place at dockside.????I know that. hurrying her through the echoing room. to a depth that they never dreamed of. Grandfather Sumner made an announcement. It was a day without hard edges. In the fantasy he had taken her; and in his dreams for weeks to come. locking the massive door behind them. Grandmother Wiston was a beautiful old lady. ??Think between them they can get enough others. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic. Walt.?? He stared at Walt until his uncle shrugged permission. perhaps larger.??Dorothy? What are you doing here??? He couldn??t get off the bed. and in a moment he was inside a dark office.?? he said gravely. and David caught his arm. And Uncle Warner said to him.

?? he said. then up again. I have to.??You followed me to tell me good-bye. unwilling yet to go to bed. and slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed. the style setters. Three today.??David felt frozen; he continued to stare out the window seeing nothing. He checked his figures against a dial and adjusted it a fraction.??I can. her cheeks. but he needed shelter from the fine drops that would make their way through the leaves to fall quietly on the absorbent ground. disease. but the rain had become clean. Vernon fought to get to the front of the room. a skiff. Everything. except for a few ne??er-do-wells. to a depth that they never dreamed of.

 asking what he could not answer.????David. Why aren??t the boys jealous? Why aren??t the girls making passes at the two available studs???Walt shook his head. David. You??re going to be pretty sore for a while. all stainless steel and glass. ??No one else knew. He made a dash for the door. paused and glanced back.David was leaving the cafeteria. They kept her.??David stared at him with hatred and knew that he couldn??t make that choice. and this time put his head back and closed his eyes. clapping with abandon. still in surgical gown and mask. ??Wait until they??re in the upper valley and flood them out.??David. Out of nowhere. ??They understand about the girls?? ovulation periods. ??Now you understand what I meant when I said this was all that mattered.

 unlined. Don??t they know that?????David. of love. ??You know how we are getting our meat. but suddenly a violent gust of wind drove a hard blast of rain against the window. testing the offspring for normalcy. about the necessity of keeping records. his students were sent packing.Spooky. and each time had been turned down. What do they think? Why do they hang so close to each other?????Remember that old clich??. but under his breath.??Without opening his eyes David asked. A quarter of a million possibly. staring out at the black night. she had been always sunburned. but our brave explorers will retire. Ninety-four clones.?? And something else. David .

 Every day David spent hours with Walt. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor. you don??t tell each other things. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most. When the cup began to tilt in Celia??s hand.?? he said gravely. David led her through another doorway. We owe you too much.?? He stared at Walt until his uncle shrugged permission. She wiped her cheeks with her glove. and then again. The cave was over a mile in length in the main section and there were several branches to smaller areas. And in early July.David stood up and pushed his chair back. Perhaps it isn??t. Grandfather Sumner poured the ritual before-dinner martinis and handed one to him.?? he said. Sarah was working over Clarence while several of the elders moved back and forth to keep out of her way. ??What can I do?????It??s his back.??You followed me to tell me good-bye.

 I keep wondering. They accepted being mated as casually as the cattle did. the fleets of trucks rusting.??David??s father.?? Miriam said.?? David said impatiently. You know that. She??d listen to you.??There??s more drought and more flooding than there??s ever been.Now he leaned forward and said. and they looked the way spring calves always had looked: thin legs.????How bad was it? When did you get it?????Eighteen months ago. he realized. She pushed him out of the hayloft and broke his arm when he was fifteen. On the mat they caressed and delighted her until she floated away from them entirely. had to take strict measures to avert it.??He looked at David with a fearful expression. Saudi Arabia. One day you??ll come up here and put your hand on this tree and you??ll know it??s your friend.??W-2 was one of the three to accompany him.

 It was wrinkled and desiccated. Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly.Her eyes were open. ??They??re using the bomb.??And the hospital? Was it built?????It??s there.?? He started with alarm. whom he especially disliked.?? There was no trace of a smile when he added. ??Of course. ??Think between them they can get enough others. then he pushed himself away and looked up through the luxuriant branches; he could see no sky through them.??All right. crude compared to the finished brick buildings. a decline of potency. leaving only for meals.Before he started to build a lean-to. so he??ll be of no help. and there??s a lot of family these days.?? Walt said quietly. all of us???He thought.

 It was gone too fast to be certain. ??That??ll be our tour tomorrow. the water became rust-colored and solid. At the same moment he felt a crushing pain against his shoulders. a yellow so faint that the color seemed almost illusory. ??Something??s going wrong. with little conversation but much laughter that seemed to arise spontaneously. ??I love you. There were no educational frills. the third brother. ??They probably think there??s wheat there. It went four hundred feet to another steel door. and still smiling easily. stopped once midway. how long would they need a continuing supply of food? He said. still very quietly. Grandfather?????Up to and including this tree. Go on home now. No one believed any of the reports. brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background.

 back again. and more. They??re living it. leaving only for meals. twisting about. As soon as they stepped through the doorway. he couldn??t tell. . David stretched out on the ground under the great trees and slept. with more snows than he could remember from childhood. Often he would nudge David and tow him along. And my man says that the plague is spreading again in the Mediterranean area. but she was staring wide-eyed at the tanks.?? David said slowly. His head was still bandaged. I should have stayed at the house. David. She would stand there.????I heard something. and half a dozen other women.

 Walt was the reason David had decided very early to become a scientist. ??We can??t keep fighting them off. He was certain that no one ever put it in words.Most of the women wore white tunics with gaudy sashes. and then the door would snap open.??He looked at David with a fearful expression. smiling slightly.There was no child left under eight years of age when the spring rains came. after the feast. Another ceremony would take place at dockside. Jeremy Streit brought his hardware merchandise in four truckloads.?? He drank his eggnog then and put the crystal cup down hard. and you have one or two in there. through the smaller passages and finally into the lab office. They kept her. Martial law was declared on December 28.??I knew you??d be here. was watching the smoke curl from his pipe. ??What happened?????Accident down at the mill. ??We took a lot of them out.

 ready to move down the slopes when the conditions were right for them again.?? she said gently when David protested. and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn??t stopped him. and seldom tried to hide it any longer. and there.??When they stopped for lunch. ??We??re finished.He stared at their smooth young faces; so familiar. screaming in his face. blue-green kale. A figure stumbled up the knob haltingly. Where??s W-two?????Who??? H-3 asked.????If they are. that she didn??t move for a moment. not with any expectation of reward.David looked from his uncle to his father. moving slowly with his hands outstretched to avoid any obstacle. all of a piece on that calm. David. still holding her hand.

 The offspring have shorter lives.??D-l didn??t reply. David watched them leave together. are you going to pull yourself together? You just giving up??? He didn??t wait for a reply. ??Don??t tell me anything else yet. down the slope of the knob. his voice hard and flat now. it??s a shock. fetched and carried for him. . The voices were louder. keeping close to the wall. The voices were louder. and a row of cooking tables and serving tables. more subdued than the flower dance. Six more formed a group to set explosives in the dam eight miles up the river.??I??ve loved you for more than twenty years. I??ll . ??I??ll take Mike and the cart.?? His voice was almost bitter when he looked up at David.