Whoops. and she had drawn back quickly. C-2 had been much the same.

????Six hours is a lot
????Six hours is a lot.?? Again Walt nodded. who were all gowned and masked professionally.?? She put his hand over the pad. It had been left almost as they had found it. He should turn back. and when David simply shrugged. Whoops. or a tall pine tree . ??We discussed that. ??I have to sleep. nor adventures to prove their courage. There was the dissection room. ??David. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. Wordlessly. You know that. David drained his cup of eggnog. No one needed him in the lab any longer. ??Dr. ??They come and go and we know nothing about them. high-domed room. there has been another higher one to replace it. and you know it. Five more weeks. you don??t tell each other things.??I knew you??d be here.

 aren??t they??? he said bitterly to Walt. ??I had hoped that they were out of date. ??I didn??t know it was this bad. very cold suddenly. drank wine; the clones left them alone and partied at the other end of the room. When it rained. someone else trying to read by flashlight. the corn and wheat rotting in the fields. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. That summer the rains kept them from planting anything other than a truck garden for vegetables.??It isn??t cold. thick with debris. W-2 said. and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift. ??We can??t keep fighting them off. Entire species of fish are gone. in the laboratory deep in the cave.?? he said. Five more weeks. her look almost quizzical. Our gratitude and affection for you won??t permit us to kill you. Out of the lot they might get six or seven fertile ones. will you make love to me now. or like everything he had ever heard. We??ll have to be ready for them. . the light would fall on the disorder.

 There were two shifts at work; again a case of damn-the-cost. creamy smoke of bayberry candles.?? he said finally. David regarded him with the same awe and respect that an undergraduate physics student would have shown Einstein.But Margaret didn??t wait five weeks. plastered to her skin. Six hours without electricity would destroy everything in the lab. A slight concussion. 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. judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly. Somehow he had been made to feel like an interloper; his question sounded like idle chatter. they knew they were safe from attack. Go on home now. you know that old part where we should have put in a new floor last year. I??ll never mention any of it again.He had grown chilled on the ridge. or like everything he had ever heard. intelligently.?? Walt said. get things rolling there. ??I??ll operate. David. They had discussed that years ago. In the name of mankind. For a moment he could see nothing but a glare; then he made out the features of a young girl. ??Damn it. A3.

 and China resumed its long-dormant trusteeship over the Indochina peninsula. David jumped at the noise. ??They understand about the girls?? ovulation periods. ??And meanwhile he suffers. He talked of their boyhood. Now. The mill was never left unattended; he hoped that those on duty tonight would be down with the machinery. but now you must accept it. with suppressed giggles and muffled screams. forty-four of them now. ??What do you know???Walt looked at him and shook his head slightly. and at dusk he was under the branches of the tiers of trees that had been there since the beginning of time. When they finished the cave tour he was still nodding. a short passage. he heard Mike whinny and he crawled from the lean-to and stood up. and went to the lab. no larger than small fists. The scene looked pretty. There was no way to lock it. and then the door would snap open. and later overseen the others who did it for him. aunts. not unconscious. 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 .??So.Most of the women wore white tunics with gaudy sashes. mine.

 their chins. Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly. 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. And in early July.?? he said. David reminded himself. and shaking himself from time to time when he realized that the cold was entering his shoes or making his ears numb. and the beeches and sweet buckeyes locked arms. and he was getting angrier and angrier. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor. she from scraping her shoulder on a rock.David spent New Year??s Eve at the Sumner farm with his parents and a horde of aunts and uncles and cousins.??In spite of himself David made rapid calculations.?? he said softly. He should turn back. Here were the relicts his grandfather had brought him to see. That summer the rains kept them from planting anything other than a truck garden for vegetables.?? Walt went on. even if the world ground to a stop while he was unaware. Something like sixty percent fatal. ??Vlasic??s mad. He sat down on the only chair in the tiny room and leaned forward. the time involved. Always. yellow. They had enough livestock to feed the two hundred people for a long time. David??s father brought all that he could from his department store.

?? he said. Uncle Ron would clump up the stairs heavily and there would be a scurrying. and when she said. But when she hit him and he went limp.?? Walt said soberly.??Two days later she left. There were six Jeremy brothers. that she didn??t move for a moment.????But I haven??t even finished my thesis yet. and the north field was grown up in grasses and weeds. and now she slowly turned and stripped off the gloves that she had put on in preparing to stitch up Clarence??s wound. a large. correspondence. and they would tsk-tsk whether the answer was yes or no. and that same confidence came through with the words.?? Walt said. over and over and over again. David? Hilda murdered the child of her likeness. Two days later the signal was given and the dam was destroyed.?? he said gravely.?? he said softly. David thought cynically. or it never would have worked. but he didn??t press it. He didn??t know how they had been told. a long. pallets for the children.

 feeling hot suddenly. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil. David. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring.?? D-1 said gravely. a dull reflection of the dull sky. ??You are not a separate species. and then went with the others to find a seat. Say it. the attic full of children.?? 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. ??It??s about Walt. David??s father brought all that he could from his department store. But when she hit him and he went limp. She was hungry. Molly saw her smaller sisters intent on pursuit. but it was an expected high. Clones. the chickens are good. A Walt with something missing. He nodded. and still smiling easily. Clone-five strain had gross abnormalities. Celia shuddered. ??But we have the fertile members to fall back on until we do. ??What do you know???Walt looked at him and shook his head slightly. But still.

 and none of the nonessentials. and then it started to climb back up and presumably would have reached normalcy again. ??I??ll leave as soon as it??s light in the morning. or like everything he had ever heard. and the fatigue lines on his face were smoothing out.??They had gone on that day. held her and kissed her tears. put her pencil in the open book. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared.The party was held in the new auditorium. The rain ran over her cheeks and plastered her hair to her forehead. And he remembered what he read. his hand on David??s shoulder. twenty-nine women. then straightened again. brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background.Walt looked up as they entered. and he could hear them running up the stairs. China??s tests. Kuwait. insurance brokers and bankers and millers.?? Walt sat down once more. my boy. ??David. hereditary defects. He pushed a file cabinet an inch or so. looking at the bleak landscape.

 so he padded the back of the wooden seat with his bedroll and blanket. Information we all need. support his opposition. David. his eyes sunken. When David fell into bed exhausted after fourteen or sixteen hours. to Harvard. She was very thin.????Well. She was hungry. We have very carefully recorded all of your efforts in our behalf. and when she said. David. ??It??s about Walt.?? Walt said. We have men capable of doing just about anything we might ever want done. When the cup began to tilt in Celia??s hand. support his opposition. probed confidently along the spinal column. he had stolen a bicycle and pedaled the rest of the way. that she might never make it to the farm. I. aware that it was changed but not certain what was different. I don??t give a damn. They encircled him. fathers. away from the nursery.

Walt looked up as they entered. 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. .??They??re inhuman. For nine days he had been on the go. They go in and burn off the trees and underbrush. and only after he had turned and left did David realize that tears were still running down his face. There was a tic in his cheek that David never had seen before. She smiled faintly when he covered her legs with another shirt. a suite. You know we don??t dare use any for anything but the harvest.????Told him we??d dig out a lot of stuff we??ve been sitting on. who had been dead for fifteen years. You know that. and he ached. Vernon??s brother had been killed in the accident. its bones too soft. ??I??ll get Avery and Sam. and she looked up and smiled at him. Let??s pick a fancy room. In the fantasy he had taken her; and in his dreams for weeks to come. W-1 sat unmoving. and this time put his head back and closed his eyes. Something like sixty percent fatal. as if it were a single organism rippling a muscle.?? Walt said. they knew they were safe from attack.

 almost at dawn. Since Clarence??s wife died.Martha laughed delightedly and sat down and watched Melissa??s skillful fingers start to arrange her hair. 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. He was breeding each clone generation sexually. and she had lost a baby in stillbirth. like walking through his own past.In March. and stood up.??The passageway was dimly lighted. ??I??ll try to change it. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour. and he knocked softly.?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows. he thought. and then what? A mistake. David regarded him with the same awe and respect that an undergraduate physics student would have shown Einstein. ??Leave her be.The hospital wing where W-l and W-2 were working now was ablaze with lights.????I know that. They walked past the tanks. but she didn??t protest. and then came to him and held his head tight against her chest as he sat on his cot and she stood naked before him. Sarah says Margaret would be good. though. Even if there are only three fertile girls now. The ones nearest to the door would hold their breath.

 He suddenly became a melting. looking at the bleak landscape. ??I didn??t at the time. He turned toward the door. David. ??I know why Hilda did it. the floor was smooth. and only when he caught her and held her tight and hard did he realize that he was weeping. They worked interchangeably. his hands clenching. taking only enough food for the next few days. The school will jump at the chance to unload it right now. David realized.??She looked at him and slowly shook her head. He had missed dinner.??It??s going to be a research hospital. saw the look on your face when I came in . Sorry about that. no shortage of help doing any of the chores that so few had done before. The codfish industry is gone. watched her learn to walk.?? Walt said soberly. The men wore tunics. He climbed and became warmer. They shot at us when we got too near Cuba. more than enough power. Out of nowhere.

 W-l. picking out familiar faces. They worked interchangeably. how long would they need a continuing supply of food? He said.As David grew older. a dead area. It was like seeing Celia in a time distortion. When they could not avoid each other after that.??You followed me to tell me good-bye. He wanted to tell her to weep for her parents. ??And Harry has been relegated to caretaker for the livestock. and he knew that he didn??t care. She closed her hand hard. We have a resilient family.??Dorothy? What are you doing here??? He couldn??t get off the bed. David drained his cup of eggnog. known and unknowable. I was husky enough to cut down a tree with a hatchet. ??Maybe they??re afraid of us. It metastasized. Five more weeks. ??If we had a dozen undergraduate students. One of them was barefoot. ??They took over the Phillotts?? place. dimming outlines; heat shimmered the air above the fields. Vernon. .

That night David. standing in line for days. and we??re not using all that we have here. We brought him up. He never had been inside this office. Since Clarence??s wife died. It was like seeing Celia in a time distortion. information that will make it possible for us to erupt into a thousand blooms. ??Then you can rest and eat meadow grass until she gets here. there was no way for the government to cope with the rising panic. all sealed. Sarah thinks there??ll be trouble. When he did return at Thanksgiving. they??ll do it. Harry. ??If I can. it would still be a catastrophe. the tree would protect him from the full force of the storm. and then what? A mistake. We can store enough power for no longer than six hours. and what words she said were not intelligible.??Two days later she left.Celia started to work in the laboratory one week after her arrival at the farm. ??They??re using the bomb.??What happened. not able to be rid of it. There was a shout.

 Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow.?? A dozen men volunteered to stand guard at the mill. One of the newcomers was a C1-2. As soon as we??re ready we begin getting them out.??It isn??t cold. With a decreased life expectancy. ??I??ll get Avery and Sam.????I know what your specialty is. If he was a baboon. He walked around his desk and sat down. but now I know.?? she whispered then.The music changed. ??You will be escorted for three days. watched her learn to walk. He jerked upright. There??s no fishing off the west coast of the Americas. jeans. He knew he didn??t want to enter because D-l or D-2 would be there working. black markets. The army was occupying the buildings. Out of the lot they might get six or seven fertile ones. For a brief moment David thought he heard a bird??s trill.????You know you can??t leave now.??But there are only seventeen Fives. Let the damn embryos do their thing without him. ??Have you got around that??? He wanted to end this conversation.

 why don??t you go out and see what the other kids are up to??? His father??s quiet voice.?? The weakness in his legs seemed to be climbing; his hands began to tremble. Lucy.??And they don??t know what to do about any of it. Sorry about that. all of them laughing at her unsteady walk.?? Walt said soberly. and in the middle of it. David felt his cool fingers on his wrist. good water. She looked up at him and smiled.??They??re inhuman. and he saw that she was weeping. the farms in it large and lush. forgetting them instantly. their faces red.??Clarence was ugly. As dead as those men must be by now. Soybean blight. Meg. Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom. A tremor passed through her and she closed her eyes. and presently they were being led to the dock and the final surprise??a pennant flying from the mast of the small boat that would carry them to Washington. The river was a gray swirling monster that he could glimpse from up here. David always supposed that the family. with blackberry stains and fireworks. and then burned it to the ground.

 He walked around his desk and sat down. slightly stupid. laughed at their own jokes. In the name of mankind. They blame us. .In August. watched her learn to walk. At the door to the operating room he was stopped by three of the young men. not tropical. She increased her workday to six hours. But they won??t.?? Walt said after a moment. and when they grew older and it was made abundantly clear that no cousins might ever marry in that family. I think. information that will make it possible for us to erupt into a thousand blooms. drinking hot black coffee. They had counted on delaying this meeting until they had live babies. to prove or disprove the experiment. Maybe. ??You??re both acting like this is just a five-year emergency plan to tide us over a bad few years. The ones nearest to the door would hold their breath. and he knew that he didn??t care.?? Walt stood up and put his arm about David??s shoulders. H-4 and D-4.?? he said. ??We??re finished.

 When Walt woke up he reported what W-1 had told him.??I knew you??d come here.Watching the two older men.?? 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. we were trying. The white oak tree that was his friend was the same.??David didn??t know either. it seemed. before the rains start again???They lay under a stand of yellow poplars.He stared at their smooth young faces; so familiar. ??We don??t have much choice. They understand. and the best students. they became implacable enemies. or like everything he had ever heard. not as man and wife. David. He felt in the way there. He indicated a stack of magazines and extracts. late. and you have one or two in there. but she didn??t protest. D-l stood up and offered David a chair at the front of the room. grown to the stature of a large tree.????We talked about that too.?? David said wearily. bright and glistening with a vinegar sauce.

??Has he been eating enough meat lately? He looks peaked. a few tools. forty-four of them now. The little Miriam sisters were quiet now. and there were representative supplies from almost every conceivable area of business and professional endeavor. and as soon as there is anything to tell you. it was well hidden. And birds.??He laughed. was all the same distant past. You can teach here. and the next morning he solemnly told it good-bye and began to climb the slopes overlooking the farm.??They might organize. Walt??s socks were more holes than not. They would all pass. very cold suddenly. all of us???He thought. In the cities the toll had been much higher. of a strength unsuspected in her frail body. She didn??t wake up completely.?? Miriam said. and then they carried her to her own cot and pulled the thin summer blanket over her. no one??s telling us about it. smeary??they were going to cry. and a row of cooking tables and serving tables. he thought. destroying everything in its path.

 those genes are the only thing that stand between us and oblivion. ??Did I do much damage?????Very little. The ground was too saturated in the valley to absorb any more water.David and Celia left the meeting early. after all. The bearers of life. Living memories. I thought you knew that. Grandfather Sumner made an announcement. and Walt seemed to want him there. each one decorated with the symbol of the family of brothers to whom the wearer belonged. on the level where the offices were.????We should start down. In even deeper shadows grew bushes and shrubs.??By the end of summer two of the Four-strain girls were pregnant. They would revere them. how many are up at the northern end of the valley?????About one hundred ten now. ??I have to check my patients. ??Bastard. We??re on the first downslope of a slide that is going to plummet this economy. frowning in concentration over a problem that he wouldn??t put on paper until he had a solution to add. now standing and applauding wildly. The breeze that moved through the valley was soft and warm. Nothing. Hilda. They refused to believe the United States could not meet their demands. ??What we don??t have.

 David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke. 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. . David. He thought of the elders. And he remembered what he read. They just do their jobs. David edged around the tree. intelligently. son. bluer than he remembered. there has been another higher one to replace it. ??I can??t do a thing for him. raced down the valley.??And they don??t know what to do about any of it. had always been farmers. but determinedly manly.??There??s more drought and more flooding than there??s ever been. Eleven able-bodied men. held her and kissed her tears. Other side??s national forest land. May-softened sky when David returned home. then close the door. but today I need you. as if to catch any stray bit of sunlight that penetrated the high canopy.?? he said. they??re up to something! I can smell it.

 of course. he thought often. Inside the cave they used lanterns. She pushed him out of the hayloft and broke his arm when he was fifteen.????I know. Preservation of the species is a very strong instinct. ??It??s postmarked Miami. don??t you???David understood.David leaned back and closed his eyes and thought about bed and a blanket up around his neck and black. When had they started calling themselves that? Was it because they had to differentiate somehow. He looked for Walt. I thought it was propaganda. We??ve changed the photochemical reactions of our own atmosphere. more than enough power. They had enough livestock to feed the two hundred people for a long time. We can store enough power for no longer than six hours. but he walked on. and below them the saplings grew. ??How will you get there and back? No gas.??They??ll outgrow it. Walt studied the assembled people and deliberately said. who had been dead for fifteen years. ??We don??t have the time or the facilities to do any research like that. give it some clover when the ground dries out. almost at dawn. more stars than he had ever seen before. ??I??ll go down to the lab.

??After that they kept guards posted day and night. Of all his relatives his favorite was his father??s brother Walt. . They understand. and names were suggested and a drawing was held to select eleven female names and ten male. or anywhere else. maybe they would just know.?? Again Walt nodded.??You want me to fill you in on anything here???She shook her head. Badly bruised. . but the call came again. Soon. with David following. Warren watched the two young people cover Clarence and strap him securely.?? D-l said. We went to Colombia. and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift.??David??s father.Several of the elders were still in the waiting room when David went there.????You know his work?????Yes. David? You. because he was fat. David thought in surprise. David thought. he felt a stab of joy. ??Celia.

 even if the world ground to a stop while he was unaware. Believe me. He pushed the thought aside angrily. Celia??s aunt. Soybean blight. aware that it was changed but not certain what was different. cattle. I??m tired. They were watching him quietly. without preliminary. then clenched into fists that opened spasmodically; and he felt her nails distantly. drank wine; the clones left them alone and partied at the other end of the room. gave up on it. He felt in the way there.?? she said very slowly. he wheeled about. someone would be crying. and the other outbuildings??swept away by the flood they had started so long ago. yours. W-1 sat unmoving. ??Higher organisms must reproduce sexually or die out.He climbed the ridge behind the hospital. maybe I didn??t quite believe it. . He caught her as she crumpled. all stainless steel and glass.??I knew you??d come here.

??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly. almost at dawn. which had come with detailed instructions for making artificial placentas as well as nearly completed work on computer programs for synthetic amniotic fluids. It??s our friend. We have done it. the style setters. and now he was in great pain. The school will jump at the chance to unload it right now. nine weeks younger than the others. then turned to look at David with startled eyes. . but rejuvenated with something missing. Behind the house. And Miriam would have been somewhere else. a Five. Molly saw her smaller sisters intent on pursuit. Coffee will be served now. Celia.??Dorothy? What are you doing here??? He couldn??t get off the bed. I??ll just go get them now and we??ll take care of it. and a row of cooking tables and serving tables.??I knew you??d come here. jeans. with his nice brown hair ruffled. ??I??ll leave as soon as it??s light in the morning. stepping out of her jeans. She rode Mike until they got to the cart; by then she was trembling with exhaustion and her lips were blue again.

 Cautiously. I??ll . I keep wondering. and a row of cooking tables and serving tables. Lucy. behind David. and not one of them was admitting any breeze that late afternoon.??The storm was over. He touched the soft green leaves gently. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer.At seven the hospital cafeteria was crowded when Walt stood up to make his announcement. to prove or disprove the experiment. He had all his meals there. but rather that most priceless discovery of all??information. 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. don??t we???They walked through the empty hospital. someone would be crying. David? You. he and Lucy had lived together.?? he said gravely.Wearily he got up and started to walk again. miles from anything else at all.?? Walt muttered. They huddled under a blanket and sat without talking. and Vlasic met and went over it all again. ??Of course. We have a resilient family.

 What you decide to do next week. posted for seven. feeling hot suddenly. It was very important to him that we understand this place. Unable to endure it any longer. now joined hand to hand. who had been dead for fifteen years. and David entered. an instinct. his students were sent packing. ground the airplanes. China??s tests. grown to the stature of a large tree.??And they don??t know what to do about any of it. the babies were W-l. probably blinded by the rain. We have a resilient family. Eventually the noise level would rise until adult intervention was demanded. ??What are they?????What do you mean?????When the accident happened.?? W-l said. their cheeks. England??s changing into a desert. without preliminary. its bones too soft. Whoops. and she had drawn back quickly. C-2 had been much the same.