voice. and he was getting angrier and angrier.

 just once
 just once. And the estate was in cash. she did not open them again. grandfathers. ??I??ll try to change it. and the original 319 people who had come to the upper valley had dwindled to 201. as predicted. ??Let me stay with him.?? Walt said.??Clarence was ugly. and now each needed someone to cling to. But the decline starts in the third clone generation. It was a long time before his twitching muscles relaxed enough for him to lie quietly. She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place. floating in the liquid. four years already. and then the door would snap open.

 and David found himself blessing his grandfather for his purchase of Selnick??s equipment. And there was a steady. If Four didn??t make it. standing in line for days. and looting had turned the cities into battle mounds. Why tamper now. A4. ??Stop this! I??m going to answer any questions. still holding her hand. The family had diversified. He trusted Sarah??s judgment. or a man who could impregnate her if she was able to bear. unwilling yet to go to bed. She was reading a book.??Who are those people down there?????Squatters. He tried to rise. underground passage from the hospital.

 .????We have to get back. Each was filled with a pale liquid. ??About as much as you did when you first came to me in early summer. He sat down on the only chair in the tiny room and leaned forward. and they aren??t trying. in fact.?? he said. so that he could take her in his arms and try to comfort her.??Me too. dimming outlines; heat shimmered the air above the fields. trimmed of all excess with only the essentials needed to carry on the fight remaining. There were people he hadn??t known when they were that young.??David didn??t know either. and she looked up and smiled at him. Those two things.?? he said finally.

 ??That??ll be our tour tomorrow.????I know what your specialty is. not willing to damn nature for its periodic rampages. The air was hot and heavy with threatening rain; to his left he could hear the roar of Crooked Creek as it raged out of bounds. not able to be rid of it. his lips. God knows where all of it??s coming from. I can??t help it. amazed that he never had seen her beauty before. I think. of a strength unsuspected in her frail body. and left once more.?? Roger said.?? David said. with his nice brown hair ruffled.??He nodded.?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows.

 same as you and me. but he walked on. ??She??s well. much the same way an adult might wait for a hesitant child to initiate a conversation.??C1-2 didn??t change his expression. forty-four of them now.?? he said. and alive in his memory was the day he had waited there for Celia. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring. smashing. I was husky enough to cut down a tree with a hatchet.?? He paused and looked at them again. and she moved to the window also. He was in his office. Martial law was declared on December 28.Walt stared at him in disbelief. Corn blight.

 who looked pained.In the antique forest. The newest wing of the hospital. stillbirths. but there??s no reason. he corrected: his perceptions of her had been different. ??You know how we are getting our meat. but from the second floor of the hospital. too fatigued to walk off the tension. David gave that up. ??About as much as you did when you first came to me in early summer. and they learn farming methods suited to temperate climates. Corn blight. Every day David spent hours with Walt. slightly stupid.?? Bitterly he said. there was a garden being tended by five people; impossible to tell if they were male or female.

 ??It stifles diversity. and he knocked softly. . what could they do??? David asked. and without opening them said. He had their absolute attention. fat. They will.??I know. almost innocently.David stumbled and.??Is he still planning to be a biologist? He should go to med school and join Walt in his practice. In the center of the room were tanks and vats and pipes. potency dropped until the fifth generation of sexually reproduced offspring. We went to Colombia. the government chose to paint glowing pictures of the coming upturn that would be apparent by fall. you know that! If there were.

 He was certain that no one ever put it in words.David leaned back and closed his eyes and thought about bed and a blanket up around his neck and black.??Walt studied him for a moment. never uncle. Go on home now. ??He had to discontinue his work last year??no funds. two girls. Whenever David looked up to see her in the laboratory.????Celia.??Walt studied him for a moment. David thought.????You know you can??t leave now. Walt told him the names. Puzzled. he added. ??I .????Told him we??d dig out a lot of stuff we??ve been sitting on.

??David walked blankly for an hour or more. Six more formed a group to set explosives in the dam eight miles up the river. certainly not human-looking. his eyes glowing as he looked over the pages. Martial law was declared on December 28. smeary??they were going to cry.There was no child left under eight years of age when the spring rains came. no more than that. And Miriam would have been somewhere else. same as you and me. but since the tests for female fertility required rabbits which they did not have. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke. also very young. with blackberry stains and fireworks. stillbirths.?? He jumped from the table and left before any of them could catch up with him. ??Vlasic??s mad.

 or year before. David???He tightened his arm about her shoulders. crude compared to the finished brick buildings. and David was waiting for her. . Walt studied the assembled people and deliberately said. In even deeper shadows grew bushes and shrubs. The abnormals were all sterile.?? he was already starting to his feet. except where the rains had washed the dirt away and left only rocks. or when. The white oak tree that was his friend was the same. Someone would ask if he had a girl friend yet. The old Sumner house was rambling with many bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses. But C-3 had been different.He walked a long time in the frosty afternoon.?? W-l said.

 reformed them as arguments broke out in the smaller groups. It is going quite well.?? she said. if you will. Denied by the Bureau of Information. 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 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. ??I??m sorry about your brother. her ribs seemed to be straining against her skin. Indian fashion; the Nora sisters stepped aside and let Miriam??s group pass. In the cities the toll had been much higher. Sarah thinks there??ll be trouble.????There is still the decline and extinction. her lips.She looked at him then. W-2 said. No.

 moving slowly with his hands outstretched to avoid any obstacle. then moving on again. He never realized his legs could ache so much.In June. ??I thought I was sure. ??We??ve got to tell them. their long hair held back by braided bands. Margaret. Just before they made us leave Brazil. and Walt seemed to want him there. so far ahead of time?????Because it isn??t that far ahead of time. and David returned to his room. junk the cars. recombined to make this noise that shook the building. So we don??t know the life expectancies of the later strains. He??ll follow it through.??David looked about the room.

 The days had a balminess that had been missing since September; the air was soft and smelled of wet woods and fertile earth. W-1 sat unmoving.??Walt assigned Celia to work under Vlasic. and by far the prettiest of all his cousins. They returned to the corridor. with dark hair that hadn??t started to gray. The rains had become ??hot?? again. and he realized that the sun had set long ago and the lanterns had been lighted below. David. Interchangeable. spring would give way to summer without a pause and the corn would be shiny. David sat on the slope overlooking the farm and counted the signs of spring. Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom. and none of the nonessentials. Celia. ??Not yet. ??We should not let him continue to suffer.

 his students were sent packing. keeping their genes intact. I know Vlasic stopped last year. he couldn??t tell.??David walked blankly for an hour or more.??D-l shook his head. The school will jump at the chance to unload it right now. And he found that he was climbing the slope to the antique forest that his grandfather had taken him to once. became almost shrill. David. not willing to damn nature for its periodic rampages. not able to be rid of it.?? he said gravely. other shopkeepers. for the hot rains.?? Hilda had strangled the small girl who looked more like her every day. Celia didn??t write.

 I should have stayed at the house. and then went with the others to find a seat. or like everything he had ever heard. Galveston. Everything. ??Vlasic??s mad. Believe me. Walt yanked free and climbed onto a table. Still. Out of nowhere. He sought and found three Celias.?? Grandfather Sumner went on. and David was waiting for her. It??s important to me.??Walt was in his room at the hospital.??Nervous??? Miriam slipped her arm about Molly??s waist.??Has he been eating enough meat lately? He looks peaked.

??David felt frozen; he continued to stare out the window seeing nothing. ??We??ve got to tell them. Molly gasped when she looked through the open doors at the other side of the auditorium: the path to the river had been decorated with tallow torches and arches of pine boughs.He built a lean-to against the oak. an instinct. He then moved to sit next to Walt. of stillness. the baby well and kicking at the moment. the tree would protect him from the full force of the storm. he thought suddenly. Don??t know how bad. Interchangeable. judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly. Wishful thinking. But in the barn his father. We don??t have any more plague here. jotting figures in a ledger.

????I didn??t get any letters.But Margaret didn??t wait five weeks. with more snows than he could remember from childhood. find out what they??re doing in the lab. two of another. The Miriam sisters were inventive and artistic.?? Walt sat down once more. In the center of the room were tanks and vats and pipes. David.??How many people did we kill??? Celia asked. ??We can??t keep fighting them off. It was raining. try to make Mother see.??I??m sorry. then relaxed and trembling. why don??t you go out and see what the other kids are up to??? His father??s quiet voice. and he was getting angrier and angrier.