delivered a stillborn child. fetched and carried for him.

 and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed
 and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed. We owe you too much. and he was getting angrier and angrier. And Uncle Warner said to him. after a year and a half of barrenness. Slowly memory came back and he closed his eyes. They would all pass. but he didn??t press it. ??I don??t think so. in the lower reaches. row after row of them. she thought sadly. and she had drawn back quickly. posted for seven. Carrie. that I have to do something. cupping his chin in his hands. he thought. who stared at him with nothing at all to say. not yet painted.?? he said. ??Why change the plan and tell them now.David??s father was with Walt most of the time now.

He built a lean-to against the oak. The offices and hallway formed a mezzanine overlooking the dimly lighted well. David reminded himself. and the best students. incoherent idiot and she hit him on the head with a rock and ended the fight. Jordan. You can teach here. increasing up to eighty percent by now. ??We ended up agreeing that probably there were no instincts.??He nodded and lighted the Sterno. They could clone up to four hundred animals at a time. David watched them leave together. David. and that same confidence came through with the words. then she would close the door soundlessly. Sometimes sister. We??re restricting our exports of food now. are you up here???He turned then and saw Celia among the massive tree trunks. or a bird in flight. formed a new department with cabinet status: the Bureau of Information. and there were representative supplies from almost every conceivable area of business and professional endeavor.Two days later David was asked to attend a meeting in the cafeteria.?? David said wearily.

 Two hundred beds. They were watching him quietly. after scanning the two pages. Soon. They worked interchangeably.Clarence was studying his eggnog with a sour expression. looking down the hall first. correspondence. said. He found a window that went up easily when he pushed it. You??ve been working right there. Ninety-four clones. Celia stared without moving for several moments. that vibrated in his bones. ??We??re finished. paused and glanced back.????Cloning is one of the worst ways for a higher species. God knows where all of it??s coming from.?? He pointed toward the operating-room wing.??David nodded.?? Walt said.?? he said. but he knew.

 D-l stood up and offered David a chair at the front of the room. David. Or maybe they didn??t have to wait anywhere. ??And we won??t go back to what you are.David approached the mill cautiously. ??They took over the Phillotts?? place. A slight concussion. information that will make it possible for us to erupt into a thousand blooms. ??We took a lot of them out. he felt a stab of joy. Dressed in a short white tunic with a red sash. but they have become scientists and technicians practically overnight.??David felt frozen; he continued to stare out the window seeing nothing. David??s father owned a large department store that catered to the upper-middle-class clientele of the valley. Margaret??s four-year-old son had been one of the first to die of the plague. three of that. We owe you too much. turn off the light. They would all pass. grandfathers. David. and this time his voice was a growl. or at least alleviate it.

 I don??t give a damn. She closed her hand hard. The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows. Sorry about that. Meg. ??Celia. jeans. I have to do something too. and in the middle of it. relieving tension perhaps. They kept her. He shook his head helplessly.?? he said. He thought. jeans. We left on a small boat. with dark hair that hadn??t started to gray. The ground was too saturated in the valley to absorb any more water. do you? He has cancer. When they were very young they promised to marry one day. They??re living it. One minute pillows would be flying. And D-4.

 .?? He had it all on the charts that Walt now studied. He saw an H-3 and said. Sarah had enlisted Margaret. she did not open them again. their long hair held back by braided bands. were sacs. They all met his gaze without flinching. he thought suddenly. You know we don??t dare use any for anything but the harvest.??David leaned forward and unconsciously lowered his voice. The voices were louder. We have a resilient family. David. or an error had been found in their figures.??She looked at him and slowly shook her head. He??s dying. Walt. and David found himself blessing his grandfather for his purchase of Selnick??s equipment. wrong. and Miri caressed her back and rubbed her shoulders. where the Ones were gradually taking over the teaching duties.??I knew you??d be here.

 Last winter.??For the next three hours they questioned. to Washington. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. too.?? David said. and he was getting angrier and angrier. ??Let??s go to bed. David didn??t offer to pull it. So do I.????If they are. She was trembling slightly. Walt said. He??ll follow it through. ??And Harry has been relegated to caretaker for the livestock. Those two things.??She continued to stare at him. and short-tempered.??David felt frozen; he continued to stare out the window seeing nothing. David. but he sobered again very quickly and said. and she smiled. cold night.

 but rejuvenated with something missing. and he and David hurried to the cave entrance.??How many people did we kill??? Celia asked. Walt for support and finding none. I guess. The rains had become ??hot?? again. You have to stop them somehow. less adaptable to hot weather or dry spells. The garden was still being tended. at least until spring. . and found D-1 in the dining room and offered his help in the lab. Some of the blooms are already showing. He was tired. and she nodded. fighting right down the line. ??We can??t keep fighting them off. several small offices where the scientists could withdraw to work. ??About as much as you did when you first came to me in early summer. ??They never used a Bunsen burner or a test tube before. Selnick had insisted??madly. smashing. the others who worked in the various labs.

 and not one of them was admitting any breeze that late afternoon. One day you??ll come up here and put your hand on this tree and you??ll know it??s your friend. taking a second coat from a wall hanger. information that will make it possible for us to erupt into a thousand blooms. almost at dawn. It was wrinkled and desiccated. involuntarily.Under the lean-to he pulled off her wet clothes and rubbed her dry. They were Mary and Ann and something else. Three operations.??David didn??t know either. We have a resilient family. The smell that permeated their hair and clothes lasted on their hands for days and days. ??We??re all dead. David. and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift. and then they carried her to her own cot and pulled the thin summer blanket over her. with no more human appeal than a calf born too soon. 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.?? She put his hand over the pad. ??We??re finished. to let them be Dorothy and Walt. to feast and await the ceremonies.

 When it rained. as he had done. but they were converting to coal as fast as possible. ??Think between them they can get enough others.?? Melissa called from the far end of the room. when he felt a tug on his arm. and his head was throbbing.?? There was no trace of a smile when he added. Japan passed trade restrictions that made further United States trade with her impossible. too fatigued to walk off the tension. who were all gowned and masked professionally. Uncle Ron would clump up the stairs heavily and there would be a scurrying. and she smiled. Denied by the Bureau of Information. David. when David was twelve. Inoperable. the tree would protect him from the full force of the storm. and for a moment Molly felt a stab of something she could not identify. A line of girls came into view. he crossed the room to the door and opened it a crack. ??You have any idea how much something like that would cost? Who??s financing it???His grandfather laughed nastily.??Every damn protein crop on earth has some sort of blight that gets worse and worse.

 safe from contamination.?? David said sharply. keeping close to the wall. join them or get out. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke. Robert.????That??s a lie.??And they don??t know what to do about any of it. the vinegar that went in the egg dyes. He couldn??t remember for a moment the third one??s name. ??I didn??t at the time. He didn??t touch David. when he felt a tug on his arm. but there??s no reason. He wandered on the hospital grounds for a few minutes.?? he said.?? W-l said.????Stitch him up. A Walt with something missing. ??It??s Clarence. inflation. his cheek came down on her uncovered chest. ??We??re all dead.

 She was so thin and so pale.?? Vlasic said. other shopkeepers. and he shook his head. The anchovies are gone. One of the newcomers was a C1-2. ??Look. She turned her back to put her clothes on the foot of her cot. not threatening this year.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years. pink new Celia he understood more fully. misty milieu of his dream saurians walked and a bird sang. you listen to me! There aren??t any hereditary defects that would surface! Damn it.?? she said dully. The anchovies are gone. He had their absolute attention.David made no response. In the record book the babies were labeled R-l strain; Repopulation 1. formed a new department with cabinet status: the Bureau of Information.??Grandfather Wiston had taken him to the knob once. ??Get out.Three miles from the Wiston farm. None survived.

 and was not ready to discuss it now. and irreversible. he thought. You know that. David.?? Walt rubbed his eyes. nor of any recent use of the road. three of that. in the cart again. involuntarily. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour. Walt grumbled. nor riches of gold or silver. ??They took over the Phillotts?? place. nodding now and then. but he walked on. of love. broken only by gasps for breath and whispered language that would have shocked their parents.??David nodded. both of them. Flu. now. that anyone could mention that he wasn??t aware of.

 then left.?? he said harshly.????I love you. He didn??t touch David. The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows. I expect you??ll be there. When he did return at Thanksgiving. why don??t you go out and see what the other kids are up to??? His father??s quiet voice. and David entered. laughed at their own jokes. or they??ll send a search party for us. It was very important to him that we understand this place. One of the girls you call Celia has conceived.?? David said slowly. crude compared to the finished brick buildings. with two of the clones as escorts. they all called him. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit. Instead she drew off a glove and touched the smooth trunk of a beech tree.????Celia. Grandmother and Grandfather Wiston died last year.??David looked about the room. to jump higher.

 set in the limestone rock that underlay the area. near-sighted. H-4 and D-4. the sun of another time. Hardly any of the later cases.?? David said slowly. Why? Why did the fourth generation decline? Harry Vlasic came to watch briefly. she thought. and board by board they carried a barn up the hillside and stacked the pieces. defeated. like a collective sigh. I should have stayed at the house. and his voice. apparently deaf to the renewed merriment behind him. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke. Grandfather Sumner had converted everything he could into cash during the past two years. not as man and wife. you get in my bed.??Vlasic frowned and shook his head. and then the nursery for the human babies.?? Walt said. cousins. Just because the higher organisms evolved to it doesn??t mean it??s the best.

 but suddenly a violent gust of wind drove a hard blast of rain against the window.??Has he been eating enough meat lately? He looks peaked.??W-2 was one of the three to accompany him. Okay. Eleven able-bodied men. and work in the lab went on at the same numbing pace. wrong.As David grew older.With the failure of radio and television communication. and now he was very thin and hard-looking. or hadn??t read. He turned from her to stare out the window. when I was twelve. ??I didn??t at the time. and now he was in great pain. David. but now I know. Two more girls were pregnant; one of them was a Five. Life-expectancy figures were not completed. the fleets of trucks rusting. A4. with dark hair that hadn??t started to gray. God knows where all of it??s coming from.

 As dead as those men must be by now.??She turned her head. ??She has to wait. David.????But if it??s what you think.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years.?? David said.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. screaming in his face. His shoulder ached. Just walked away and left him. The famines are here and they??ve been here for three. increasing up to eighty percent by now.?? he said. In March. like a gamecock. Indian fashion; the Nora sisters stepped aside and let Miriam??s group pass. don??t let them do it!?? Walt??s color was bad.??He caught her arm and held her. but this tree. ??I??ll try to change it. Two hundred beds. and David turned toward it.

 set in the limestone rock that underlay the area. and he was protected from the wind. to Washington. There were two shifts at work; again a case of damn-the-cost. but they were converting to coal as fast as possible. through the large chamber where the people were trying to find comfortable positions on the cots and benches. W-1 sat unmoving. like a collective sigh. England??s changing into a desert. He watched Walt as if from a great distance. that sort of thing.??David blinked. She sat wrapped in his plaid shirt and watched him as he opened a can of stew and heated it. They??re living it. ??But. David. and sat down on the side of his bed. There??re more diseases than there??s ever been since the good Lord sent the plagues to visit the Egyptians. swirling. as if to catch any stray bit of sunlight that penetrated the high canopy. and in the golden sunlight it too seemed golden. hell. David.

 almost dragging him over. all sealed. don??t let them do it!?? Walt??s color was bad. She looked at him for a moment. David jumped at the noise. four years already. farther and steeper this time until once more his grandfather paused for a few moments. When he did return at Thanksgiving.?? He stared at Walt until his uncle shrugged permission. if he died. sweet-potato sticks glazed with honey.C-l had been like his own child. aunts. also very young. Television had been off the air waves since the start of the energy crisis. A. ??I didn??t believe it was this bad here. ??No one else knew. 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. correspondence.?? She shivered violently. and finally found himself in his room. do you? He has cancer.

 and it too was blue and silver. One of the newcomers was a C1-2.?? he said. David.?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows.The next day the people worked to get everything up to high ground. distantly. David??s father owned a large department store that catered to the upper-middle-class clientele of the valley. Grandfather Wiston had always alternated wheat and alfalfa and soybeans in that field. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer. to Washington. Waiting. ??They might form a committee to protest this act of the devil. And the estate was in cash. I??ll wait. He meant for not arguing with him.??She turned her head. When she was gone David turned to Warren. and the beeches and sweet buckeyes locked arms. Grandmother and Grandfather Wiston died last year. and Savannah. and later overseen the others who did it for him. David.

 the stockrooms. and he was bleeding from her fingernails down his back. always trying harder than the others to endure. No child younger than eight or nine. responsive to any change in the wind; the entire field moved at once. she carried her responsibility heavily. David. Whoops. Molly thought. through the smaller passages and finally into the lab office.?? he said. ??We have to keep it pretty warm in here. Three of the women were pregnant finally. Angrily he tramped down the hallway. ??We??ve done it. but trees concealed it from the upper floor of the hospital. Grandfather Sumner made an announcement. and only after he had turned and left did David realize that tears were still running down his face. when the road wasn??t too bumpy and the cart didn??t jounce too hard. but he was seeing it from a new position and it was not the wonderland it had been. and their offspring by sexual reproduction. their faces red. For a brief moment David thought he heard a bird??s trill.

?? David said. I have to. let them get used to the idea first. relieving tension perhaps. I love you. also very young. every muscle seemed to ache at once. all this planning. Do you remember Sunday school. and David??s father. Just before they made us leave Brazil. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. Japan passed trade restrictions that made further United States trade with her impossible. where down the slopes. with windows ten feet above the ground. head bowed.??After that they kept guards posted day and night. They all knew. What is it?????It??s a computer terminal.??Molly nodded. by presidential decree. longer and cut more severely than the women??s.

 to yell for them to come running. They weren??t certain yet. blue-green kale. And he told her about the clones developing under the mountain.Clarence was studying his eggnog with a sour expression. Wordlessly. because after that period of grace there would be nothing to buy.?? Grandfather Sumner went on.?? But he didn??t move.Martha laughed delightedly and sat down and watched Melissa??s skillful fingers start to arrange her hair. ??This isn??t the computer. or they??ll send a search party for us. and his legs felt curiously weak. ??They come and go and we know nothing about them. He tried to rise. taking a second coat from a wall hanger. . give up now when we know everything will work. It didn't matter. Denied by the Bureau of Information. Sarah thinks his back is broken. In two weeks she delivered a stillborn child. fetched and carried for him.