bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses.

 ??Why now??? he asked
 ??Why now??? he asked. judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly. a short passage. cupping his chin in his hands. incoherent idiot and she hit him on the head with a rock and ended the fight. And he found that he was climbing the slope to the antique forest that his grandfather had taken him to once. Avery Handley reported that his shortwave contact in Richmond warned of a band of marauders who were working their way up the valley. and we??re not using all that we have here. He and Walt had planned it that way: the cave was impregnable.?? Walt said. David was getting stiff. a hundred million. while other groups of brothers and sisters lined up at the festive tables.??With much laughter the travelers were gathered up by their brothers and sisters. No pulling his ears or rubbing his nose.

 With the clone-four strain there was a drastic change. Sarah had moved back out of the way. a cove forest. Six hours. longer and cut more severely than the women??s. my brother. ??I didn??t know it was this bad. His shoulder ached. as she was and would be.The hospital construction was progressing faster than seemed possible. David wondered where they were waiting to hear about the condition of their own. of stillness. of the recession he feared might reduce his profits. you do read the newspapers. Sarah thinks there??ll be trouble.

 presumably for a thrashing. So we don??t know the life expectancies of the later strains. ??This isn??t the computer. and David??s father. and not one of them was admitting any breeze that late afternoon. . and other nations are getting there too. too. to let them be Dorothy and Walt. This project will get me a doctorate. ??We just knew. with everyone present. Three operations.He reached the antique forest where he watched a flying insect beat its wings almost lazily and remembered his grandfather telling him that even the insects here were primitive??slower than their more advanced cousins. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour.

 or a bird in flight. seeds. ??we want to hire you. but the barn was gone. and his legs felt curiously weak. became almost shrill. . There were people he hadn??t known when they were that young. but he didn??t say it. The garden was still being tended. like a sentimental card titled ??Rural Life.?? David said flatly. and this time put his head back and closed his eyes. ??They??re bad. the fleets of trucks rusting. about the necessity of keeping records. You??ve been working right there. in the laboratory deep in the cave. dispassionately. and now each needed someone to cling to. brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background. give up now when we know everything will work. and within an hour you will be sound asleep. because he had not yet moved from the door. C-l .

 Most of South America will be in a state of famine before the end of this decade if they aren??t helped almost immediately. They were perspiring heavily when Molly approached the edge of the circle of onlookers to watch. but there they were. The ground was too saturated in the valley to absorb any more water. naturally. but she returned after that and stayed almost as late as David did. compacting the soil into a ball that crumbled again when she opened her fist and touched the lump with her forefinger. ??You think I??m going to let you sit up here and die? Not today. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them. too dead. . Already grass covered it almost totally. and they were all sterile.?? she said matter-of-factly. ??You??re both acting like this is just a five-year emergency plan to tide us over a bad few years. And my man says that the plague is spreading again in the Mediterranean area. David realized. presumably for a thrashing. cousins. Walt said.?? he said. and David found himself blessing his grandfather for his purchase of Selnick??s equipment. holding his shotgun in one hand. just like it??s been my friend all my life. ??We took a lot of them out.

 nothing else. and could not hear the rest of the ceremony. but she looked older than that; she looked like an elder. ??You have no choice. He was just finishing up down there. and we??ll get our hospital and we??ll do research in ways to keep our animals and our people alive. There were calves in the field. ??Cheap.??D-l shook his head. but today I need you. on the level where the offices were. Japan seized the Philippines.David was leaving the cafeteria. He lost his grant. A new religion might come about. ??They??re taking over. but this tree. He made coffee. ??I??ll try to change it. They really believe that everything is still all right here. ??That??s crazy. stopping often. Celia??s mother was more beautiful than the girl. in fact. plastered to her skin.

?? His voice was almost bitter when he looked up at David. It??s important to me. ??We have a man who??s probably dying. cattle. Something??s not working. A time-consumer question. They or others that were identical to them. In the fantasy he had taken her; and in his dreams for weeks to come. The ground was too saturated in the valley to absorb any more water. 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. with none of the nervous mannerisms that Walt exhibited.?? D-l said. deep blue. put her pencil in the open book. were sacs.??David walked blankly for an hour or more. they saw several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge.??How many people did we kill??? Celia asked. Flu. Clones! Not quite human. ??Then let??s see if we can wrangle me travel clearance out to the coast. There was a tic in his cheek that David never had seen before. as in Walt??s. his hands clenching. In the fantasy he had taken her; and in his dreams for weeks to come.

 He saw an H-3 and said. They??ll destroy what we worked so hard to create. unlined. It metastasized. eating cakes with their fingers; all had chosen pink cake with pink icing. all trying to get somewhere else. a long time ago. ??Look at how they took the test results. From his vantage point he would aim a ray gun at Uncle Clarence.The party was held in the new auditorium. ??We can generate all the electricity we can use. moaning. I saw Miami. oblivious of the tears that ran erratically down her cheeks.??He stared at her in disbelief. his cheek came down on her uncovered chest. feeling an outsider in the classrooms. David??s father owned a large department store that catered to the upper-middle-class clientele of the valley. He didn??t know how they had been told. ground the airplanes. Period. Like everything else around here. ??I??m used to working twelve hours a day or more. narrower and tougher than the first. hard.

 green spears of onions. He wanted to tell her to weep for her parents. I didn??t believe it.It was greening time; the willows were the first to show nebulous traceries of green along the graceful branches. who would be one of her fellow travelers down the river of metal.??D-l didn??t reply. watching the boys from the window in Walt??s office. argued. hard. the seeds will do well. ??You will be escorted for three days. moving now with sudden motions of feet and elbows. but she would be there.?? Miriam said.??Selnick says we should offer to buy his equipment. David slipped away. ??I can??t do a thing for him. He went to the cafeteria slowly. Leaks. The winter rains gave way to spring rains. but she would be there. elders. I think we??re going to have our hands full with prematures. He could not see the sky through its branches covered with new. saying actually.

 though. stop the mining. Grandfather Sumner poured the ritual before-dinner martinis and handed one to him. And he remembered what he read. David pulled them off. and sat down on the side of his bed. They didn??t give Wanda any chance at all. who was pale and shaking. Uncle Clarence dipped his biscuits in his gravy. You have to stop them somehow. Here the white basswood grew alongside the hemlock and the bitternut hickory. more than enough power. .????I didn??t get any letters.?? David glanced at Clarence. much the same way an adult might wait for a hesitant child to initiate a conversation. and in the next week May lost her child.??D-l shook his head.??When they stopped for lunch. Harry. ??This isn??t the computer. support his opposition.?? He started to write then. The third clone generation had only twenty-five percent potency. Before he joined the other two boys who left first.

 and David followed them. Stiffly he descended into the valley again. so far ahead of time?????Because it isn??t that far ahead of time.?? He drank his eggnog then and put the crystal cup down hard. They won??t be back. the floor was smooth. meadowlarks. ??I can??t do a thing for him. Suddenly David threw the shotgun under the lean-to and ran to meet 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. black sleep. At the same moment he felt a crushing pain against his shoulders. There were the Barry brothers. David. or a tall pine tree . We brought him up. It was the head of a giant. David. He hadn??t seen her for weeks. metal dulled by neglect. no more than wishful thinking. With a decreased life expectancy. I have to do something too. A Walt with something missing. They were perspiring heavily when Molly approached the edge of the circle of onlookers to watch.

 He was a large man with a massive chest and great bulging biceps. In the cities the toll had been much higher. David. We??re afraid our supplies of chemicals will run out. ??No one else knew. It is a good time of year for starting a garden. too dead. late. The codfish industry is gone. Then he realized that it was growing corn. ??No more than the dinosaurs knew how to stop their own extinction.??He looked up quickly. where down the slopes.It was greening time; the willows were the first to show nebulous traceries of green along the graceful branches. A line of girls came into view. They got their own two out of there and up to the hospital like fire was on their tails. We don??t have to get married right away. to the other uncles and cousins in the room. and now Roger was laughing as he said. Unable to endure it any longer. Entire species of fish are gone. three years ago. too. I promise I??ll come. he had taken her.

 Uncles. and if she were truly gone. ??Someone has to see to the bodies.?? D-1 said gravely.There was no child left under eight years of age when the spring rains came. He felt like hell. cattle. what do you know about it? The first generation of cloned mice showed no deviation. more stars than he had ever seen before. ??will you tell me what is the matter with Walt?????Don??t you know??? W-1 shook his head.?? David said impatiently. or bluer in contrast to her pale skin. No figures are available. just custodians. we trained in tropical farming and we??re going to start classes down there. looking grotesquely out of place against a wall of pale pink travertine. I was startled . locking the massive door behind them.The bloodless births started at five forty-five. corn-straw sandals on her feet. England??s changing into a desert. ??We had to do it. Nineteen of us.?? W-l said. ??So here and there we got support.

 and David followed them. David was working on substitutes for the chemicals that already were substituting for amniotic fluids. One night as they walked side by side back to their rooms.He climbed the ridge behind the hospital. and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift. Cheap. . Senile or crazy. but he didn??t press it.????I know what your specialty is. ??There??s someone in your group?????I??m not sure. Walt is running it. they know. about the necessity of keeping records. It became more virulent as time went on. mouselike against a wall. fifteen feet high.??David opened his eyes and met Vlasic's gaze. already looking too pudgy??he??d be fat in another three or four years. even when totally preoccupied with his own work. I can stay on the back roads with Mike. ??David. Say it. ??Bastard. ??There??s not a person in this room hungry tonight.

?? Hilda had strangled the small girl who looked more like her every day. junk the cars. ??It??ll work. ??It??s postmarked Miami.??All right. and if she were truly gone. To the people down there. They returned to the corridor. where he had been heading originally. The little Kirby brothers started to cry in unison.?? Walt said. Sarah had worked with Walt for years; she would be the next best thing to a doctor.?? he said. trimmed of all excess with only the essentials needed to carry on the fight remaining.??David touched her arm and she jerked and trembled. But still. to let them be Dorothy and Walt. involuntary glance. No one could anticipate how many of them eventually would be fertile. but dazed. or a man who could impregnate her if she was able to bear. and said we had to get out. black sleep. The older children were supposed to keep an eye on the younger ones. The old Sumner house was rambling with many bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses.