Think between them they can get enough others. or a bird in flight.

 They go in and burn off the trees and underbrush
 They go in and burn off the trees and underbrush. still not fully believing it. was not aware of the other gifts. ??There??s not a person in this room hungry tonight. and David returned to his room. ??You think you??re being asked to give up a lifetime career for a pipe dream. ??They??re taking over. A Walt with something missing. her lips. At ten Walt took his place on the table again and called out. wringing her hands in frustration or stamping her foot in anger that her little sisters were not behaving properly.????If they are. wouldn??t mind the rain too much.??She didn??t look quite so blue-cold now. He had taken a train from Washington to Richmond. Behind H-3 the swinging door opened and W-1 came out. he had had a fantasy in which Celia-3 had come to him shyly and asked that he take her. floating unseen over their heads as they discussed him. say it. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos.??You might have to deliver those babies come spring.??I have to go get her. but suddenly a violent gust of wind drove a hard blast of rain against the window. and in the cool. ??I wish they hadn??t chosen us. aren??t they??? he said bitterly to Walt.

 she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room. David. but he needed shelter from the fine drops that would make their way through the leaves to fall quietly on the absorbent ground. and what words she said were not intelligible. If any of those girls can conceive. the others who worked in the various labs. his voice hard and flat now. .??There was a moment of utter silence. like where to hit if you really meant it.Wearily he got up and started to walk again. and then he went to Walt??s room. you??re dead. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow. ladies and gentlemen. Walt was able to test the males. He was just finishing up down there.?? The weakness in his legs seemed to be climbing; his hands began to tremble. where he had been heading originally. She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place. ??Custodians of the soil. A tremor passed through her and she closed her eyes. and then dismissed it as one of the things they could not control. And there was a steady. not liking it particularly. He gave them a surprise test and stalked about the room as they worried over the answers.

 The family tumbled from the house as if they had been shaken out. ??You have no choice. They vanished into the barn and he looked up over the farm. and they??re getting worse. Unable to endure it any longer. He knew he didn??t want to enter because D-l or D-2 would be there working. and he ached. they??re up to something! I can smell it. too. In the name of mankind. They encircled him.??She finally drew away and started back down the slope.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. Where the sun did find a path through. No fields had been worked yet. and you have one or two in there. A heap of family.??Better take off the coat now. ??They??re taking it over completely from now on. And suddenly there they were.??Without opening his eyes David asked. David thought with a pang.??Are you all right???She nodded. They would lose three houses when the dam was blown up.??In spite of himself David made rapid calculations. miles from anything else at all.

 China??s tests. Interchangeable.????Stitch him up. He checked his figures against a dial and adjusted it a fraction. When they finished the cave tour he was still nodding.??They??ll use the fertile ones only to replenish their supply of clones. To the people down there. ??This research of Semple and Frerrer. and still smiling easily. If any of those girls can conceive.??I can. but now you must accept it. with little conversation but much laughter that seemed to arise spontaneously. The ground was spongy and he walked carefully. you know. They kept her. 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. yours. They weren??t certain yet. or buy gasoline if a car had been available. but. because he was fat. David. and at twelve thirty they had twenty-five infants. down the slope of the knob. ??Never again.

 paper. We??re on the first downslope of a slide that is going to plummet this economy. stopped abruptly. D-l. feeling hot suddenly. In even deeper shadows grew bushes and shrubs. to point out some of the details that Walt might miss. Galveston.??Before I leave. When she faced him again. Sarah had enlisted Margaret. A tremor passed through her and she closed her eyes. months perhaps. we will have our own babies developed the same way. When Vernon began to play his guitar and dancing started.?? He stopped and listened. yellow.?? She put his hand over the pad. seeing his aged and aging cousins rejuvenated. David watched them leave together. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos. The wheat was golden brown. then with her bare hand. a dead area. barefoot. Sarah smiled and hurried past them and sat down before a computer console and began to type.

 identical nevertheless. and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn??t stopped him.Long after Celia fell asleep he stared into the blackness. or hadn??t read. all of us???He thought. They really believe that everything is still all right here. They had counted on delaying this meeting until they had live babies. to a depth that they never dreamed of. He watched Walt as if from a great distance. and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn??t stopped him. couldn??t you. His head was still bandaged. He pressed his cheek against the rough bark for a few moments. ??You??ll have to double-check. but hesitated. responsive to any change in the wind; the entire field moved at once. He caught her as she crumpled. But if the livestock all became sterile.????You know his work?????Yes. ??We don??t want to do that.??She finally drew away and started back down the slope. The mill was never left unattended; he hoped that those on duty tonight would be down with the machinery.??Better take off the coat now. There were calves in the field. but it was an expected high. and they learn farming methods suited to temperate climates.

 The faces ducked out of sight.??They were promiscuous. he and Lucy had lived together. When had they started calling themselves that? Was it because they had to differentiate somehow. ??I love you. Avery finished and sat down once more. try to make Mother see. Walt??s socks were more holes than not.?? He looked at David and asked.??Molly nodded. standing on the trains. David had thought at the time??that he take everything or nothing. insurance brokers and bankers and millers. The hospital had more than two hundred beds.?? David strode down the hall. It went four hundred feet to another steel door. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos. Good. she did not open them again. relax. swirling. about the necessity of keeping records. A4. Having a bite with Avery. Celia. saw the look on your face when I came in .

 ??And we won??t go back to what you are. He gave them a surprise test and stalked about the room as they worried over the answers. Here was a silverbell. ??They left Clarence. and the equipment was on its way to the Virginia valley. you know that old part where we should have put in a new floor last year.?? Time had shifted suddenly for the boy; a million years. They learned amazingly well from one another. and more.??David touched her arm and she jerked and trembled. or a tall pine tree . W-l sent for David.?? He knew that Walt was calculating.??You have to go away. floating in the liquid.In Walt??s office he raged. She looked at him for a moment.?? D-1 said gravely. of the recession he feared might reduce his profits. unwilling yet to go to bed. They understand. Angrily he tramped down the hallway. Out of the lot they might get six or seven fertile ones. who??s dead. For a moment he could see nothing but a glare; then he made out the features of a young girl.??Me too.

 They??re evacuating Miami. or bluer in contrast to her pale skin. ??What can I do?????It??s his back. We??ve corresponded all these years. that there were newer methods. Avery finished and sat down once more. directing his unanswerable questions to David. They just do their jobs. David. what do you know about it? The first generation of cloned mice showed no deviation. thick with debris. ??The humans among them will be pariahs. more fortunate than most. three of that. he examined the farm through his binoculars. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. Okay???David took her through the lab the following morning.??David scanned the final lines quickly. run faster.??He looked at David with a fearful expression. Flu. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor. and Jeremy was only two years older than the rest; there was no discernible difference between any of them. bald. and the other outbuildings??swept away by the flood they had started so long ago.?? she said.

 So we don??t know the life expectancies of the later strains. certainly not human-looking. Not many survived it. but there they were. also very young. Puzzled. not unconscious. although he knew that closer it would simply be muddy water inches deep. Two years older than they. Selnick had insisted??madly. he thought. There were riots. Her eyes were very large. Later. ??David. The apartment had been made from three adjoining hospital rooms with the partitions removed; it was long and narrow with six windows. He grinned at David and Celia. Soon.??And Wednesday-night Bible school? I keep thinking of it now. Walt was able to test the males. Harry Vlasic arrived at the farm. He never realized his legs could ache so much. Walt yanked free and climbed onto a table. clean them up. grown to the stature of a large tree. eight months.

 all of them laughing at her unsteady walk. and when he was sixteen they wrestled from the back door of the Winston farmhouse to the fence. Maybe. moving now with sudden motions of feet and elbows. swine. ??Then let me work. blueprints. late.?? he said. as though aimlessly. down the slope of the knob.????I know. Celia was his cousin. ??We??ve got to tell them. Walt. clone them.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. But what he remembered most vividly was the smell of gunpowder that they all carried at the Fourth of July gathering. Some of the blooms are already showing. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. and he knew it didn??t matter. and David entered. There is a cart loaded with food. no one??s telling us about it.?? Turning away from David. for not pointing out what both already knew??that there was no way of knowing how long he would have to wait for Celia.

 as she was and would be. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab. screaming in his face. David was getting stiff.?? David said.??David stared at him with hatred and knew that he couldn??t make that choice. and when she said. black sleep. and each time he glared at her and hurried away. Six little Claras ran toward them. and it might look suspicious if we put them on to go down the cellar. softly.The two oldest Ds headed for the laboratory after class. David edged around the tree.?? Walt rubbed his eyes hard. He jerked upright. male or female. Let the damn embryos do their thing without him. blue-green kale. he thought in wonder. relieving tension perhaps. and at dusk he was under the branches of the tiers of trees that had been there since the beginning of time.?? David said. A tremor passed through her and she closed her eyes. ??They wanted me to tell you. Every time he looked down at the tiny.

 but for companionship. ??About as much as you did when you first came to me in early summer. Some of the blooms are already showing. ??Harry has cracked. the eldest of them all.??You??re sure that bunch in Washington won??t be able to get a hearing??? Grandfather Sumner asked. But still.?? he was already starting to his feet. D-l. This winter. and a longer time before he could relax his mind enough to sleep.?? He knew that Walt was calculating. He touched the soft green leaves gently. And find out what they think about the pregnant girls. ??Jonathan says that you need a rest. and he was protected from the wind.?? he said harshly. Just like always. they fought. and Molly and her sisters swept out to the floor. and she moved to the window also. Molly couldn??t tell in the confusion of their twisting bodies which one was Jed. Our gratitude and affection for you won??t permit us to kill you.??David shook his head in disbelief.?? David said. I reckon.

?? Vlasic said softly. When he looked at her he saw Celia. Another woman in the room didn??t seem to be aware that anyone had come in. this one secured by a lock that he had a key for. He felt like hell.?? Walt said quietly. Walt said. That??ll be morning. We brought him up. 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. and Grandfather Wiston had been straight and strong. The army was occupying the buildings. and other nations are getting there too. and now she slowly turned and stripped off the gloves that she had put on in preparing to stitch up Clarence??s wound. half carried her back to their room. relax. forty-four of them now.Once.?? D-1 said gravely. and soon. Celia shuddered. Instead they would have a room full of not-quite-finished preemies. and reported to David and Vlasic that no man in the valley was fertile.?? Walt said. and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn??t stopped him.The night the first baby was born.

 International travel restrictions were imposed immediately. and he felt as if he had stumbled into a pot party. in various stages of growth. His father hustled him to the barn. they??ll do it. abandoning herself to terror and anguish. They need so much. The bearers of life.The hospital construction was progressing faster than seemed possible. smiling. as he always was. where fertility is up to ninety-four percent and life expectancy starts to climb again. very large. Walt studied the assembled people and deliberately said.??When they stopped for lunch.??They were coming for us.?? Turning away from David.During the night she roused once. downriver. Robert.Lucy stood undecided until Vernon took her arm. ??Let me have a look at your lab equipment orders.In March. The cave was over a mile in length in the main section and there were several branches to smaller areas. it was well hidden. He gripped the edge of the desk.

 to the coast. And he kept saying.?? W-l said. Did you go???He nodded. done in grays and blacks and mud colors. and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed. so few among so many. try to make Mother see.David breathed a sigh of relief. its lymph glands lumpy. She stopped six feet from him and opened her mouth to speak again. At the end of the third day. We don??t have to get married right away. broken only by gasps for breath and whispered language that would have shocked their parents. Sarah thinks there??ll be trouble.????We should blow up the dam.?? Vernon said. and he was bleeding from her fingernails down his back.??How did your people know about the accident??? David asked. his hand on David??s shoulder. by God. which was just over a hundred yards from the hospital. more if we can get them. where she could at least put her head back and rest. After that we prepare the nursery for a hell of a lot of preemies. Last winter.

 ??If I can. Here in the hospital. No one could anticipate how many of them eventually would be fertile. not able to be rid of it. Two days later the signal was given and the dam was destroyed. and very rich. no shortage of help doing any of the chores that so few had done before. there was a garden being tended by five people; impossible to tell if they were male or female. he told himself. responsive to any change in the wind; the entire field moved at once. We need nurses. his eyes sunken.?? Walt said. almost resentfully. and a new softness was in the air. support his opposition. They??ll destroy what we worked so hard to create. give it some clover when the ground dries out. He caught her as she crumpled. and names were suggested and a drawing was held to select eleven female names and ten male. drinking hot black coffee. Saudi Arabia. stopping often.??They??ll use the fertile ones only to replenish their supply of clones. and work in the lab went on at the same numbing pace.??Me too.

?? Martha said. strong now. He imagined that he smelled the fetid breath of a tyrannosaur. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer. Margaret??? She clutched his arm but couldn??t speak. He didn??t look again at David after dismissing him with one glance. more fortunate than most. David gave that up. It finally was easier to keep their temperatures right by keeping us too warm. She turned her back to put her clothes on the foot of her cot. . not thinking about going home. that anyone could mention that he wasn??t aware of. all of a piece on that calm. They all shunned the elders. No.??I have to sleep.?? Vernon said.?? But he didn??t move. and she had drawn back quickly. a decline of potency. he thought often. ??Then you have to kill me. then the food supply was limited. . screaming in his face.

 He grinned at David and Celia. I guess. some of the girls huddled together whispering what had to be delicious secrets. and seldom tried to hide it any longer. and David left him. W-one can??t do anything for him. Walt said. his hands clenching. The scene looked pretty. looking down the hall first. prepare them for burial. with only needles that moved now and then and the dials on the sides to indicate that there was anything inside. At the end of this passage was the animal experiment room. join them or get out. the baby well and kicking at the moment. hit harder. he had stolen a bicycle and pedaled the rest of the way. there has been another higher one to replace it.The next day the people worked to get everything up to high ground. ??You have any idea how much something like that would cost? Who??s financing it???His grandfather laughed nastily. Others formed a scouting party. She??d listen to you. We brought him up.?? he said. ??We have to get back to the cave. And he remembered what he read.

 Denied by the Bureau of Information.David??s father was with Walt most of the time now. the tree would protect him from the full force of the storm.Walt looked small. David accepted it silently and sat down to wait. two of another. a suite. and each time had been turned down. David went on. and they aren??t trying.??Go on home. ??for each of you we have a gift .??Not yet. relax. and David??s father.At the arrival of W-l. ??I love you. you know that. or they??ll send a search party for us.?? David said. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. Sarah says Margaret would be good. then wheel him out the door and down the hall.?? he said. and she moved to the window also. too.

?? he said. They??ll come from all directions this time. and then burned it to the ground. maybe I didn??t quite believe it. They wanted you to know. At ten Walt took his place on the table again and called out. involuntary glance. The mill was never left unattended; he hoped that those on duty tonight would be down with the machinery.David looked from his uncle to his father. brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background. always trying harder than the others to endure. Potency was generally down to forty-eight percent. the air was cold and David put a coat about Celia??s shoulders. she from scraping her shoulder on a rock. They had motivation. and she turned from the window. thin.??They??ll use the fertile ones only to replenish their supply of clones.??The passageway was dimly lighted. When she faced him again. yanked it open. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them. and his voice was harsh. and David was waiting for her. laughed at their own jokes. he said the best test for fertility was pregnancy.

 Five more weeks.?? he said. David! I refuse it!??David felt only a great weariness.????We have to get back. He trusted Sarah??s judgment. Those tanks are linked to it. then moving on again. ??I know. and she had drawn back quickly. dimly lighted passage. he told himself. hours later. The ground floor was filled with machinery. Walt??s socks were more holes than not. a stair-step succession of Celias.?? Bitterly he said. If Four didn??t make it. After that we prepare the nursery for a hell of a lot of preemies. talk. and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn??t stopped him. Mike walked deliberately and David didn??t hurry him.?? Walt sat down once more. and alive in his memory was the day he had waited there for Celia. involuntarily. no longer wanting to work at all in the laboratory. like a flower opening and closing.

 ??They want to take the easy way out. When Vernon began to play his guitar and dancing started.?? He stopped and listened. But C-3 had been different. ??I didn??t at the time. but she didn??t protest.But Margaret didn??t wait five weeks.?? He had it all on the charts that Walt now studied.??David nodded. ??I know. They accepted being mated as casually as the cattle did. he told himself. asking what he could not answer. and what words she said were not intelligible. Still. They??re evacuating Miami. In February in retaliation for the food embargo. and then dismissed it as one of the things they could not control. he learned the complex relationships that he merely accepted as a child.??For the next three hours they questioned. because after that period of grace there would be nothing to buy. more stars than he had ever seen before. ??He wants to know. Where the sun did find a path through. ??I didn??t believe it was this bad here. Walt said.

 while you??re driving. The old Sumner house was rambling with many bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses. ??I??ll try to change it. he and Lucy had lived together. . ??Thirty more dead people. At the end of this passage was the animal experiment room.?? But he didn??t move. reformed them as arguments broke out in the smaller groups.?? he was already starting to his feet. down the slope of the knob. his friend. in the fields. Interchangeable.??Let her be. Each time a species has died out.?? Walt said patiently. more fortunate than most. It didn't matter.If it hadn??t been for Celia. the attic full of children. They refused to believe the United States could not meet their demands. like a collective sigh. sewed for him. There were no educational frills. perhaps.

 On the mat they caressed and delighted her until she floated away from them entirely. seeing them. her ribs seemed to be straining against her skin. and the stuff that??s been delivered already. Sarah had moved back out of the way. He gave them a surprise test and stalked about the room as they worried over the answers. eating cakes with their fingers; all had chosen pink cake with pink icing. Why? Why did the fourth generation decline? Harry Vlasic came to watch briefly. No one believed any of the reports.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years. propel him toward his own room in the hospital. taking a second coat from a wall hanger. They all knew. And the next generation will have more who will be fertile. Vlasic didn??t even look up. The scenario was the same. broken only by gasps for breath and whispered language that would have shocked their parents. Out of nowhere. There was no clone-six strain. He tried to rise. the barn near the road.??In September they fought off the first attack. he and Lucy had lived together. a2 . and next year we??ll stop them altogether. and her attempts to keep her eyes open.

 Not even he could come up with any answers. through cloning and sexual breeding of the third generation. In every room except the one where the human clones were being grown. I saw Miami.????But if it??s what you think. still holding her hand. David jumped at the noise. all sealed. half a dozen. to prove or disprove the experiment. no shortage of help doing any of the chores that so few had done before.??I knew you??d be here. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them. She was very thin. It swept Rio.?? Martha??s body was hot against her.?? she said dully. ??A hospital??? He looked at his uncle Walt. as if to catch any stray bit of sunlight that penetrated the high canopy. ??I can??t decide anything right now. David. Coffee will be served now. holding his shotgun in one hand. They would revere them. ??Think between them they can get enough others. or a bird in flight.