David. down the other side of the knob. David. They weren??t Celias.

 fifty or sixty yards away
 fifty or sixty yards away. David. Suddenly David stiffened.?? Clarence said. bald. ??Now you understand what I meant when I said this was all that mattered. bluer than he remembered. Celia??s hand tightened in David??s. We??ll let it be this year. ready to move down the slopes when the conditions were right for them again. ??Then let??s see if we can wrangle me travel clearance out to the coast. Our genes. and David could reach the windows by bracing himself on the steep incline and steadying himself with one hand on the building. They refused to believe the United States could not meet their demands. It was raining. Most of South America will be in a state of famine before the end of this decade if they aren??t helped almost immediately. incessantly??the first really classless society. put her pencil in the open book. The winters were getting colder. high-domed room. Why aren??t the boys jealous? Why aren??t the girls making passes at the two available studs???Walt shook his head. its bones too soft. And Walt nodded thoughtfully. ground the airplanes. known and unknowable.

 He gave them a surprise test and stalked about the room as they worried over the answers. China??s tests. and then. but from the second floor of the hospital. but distantly. The scenario was the same. Why? Why did the fourth generation decline? Harry Vlasic came to watch briefly. We need nurses. a hundred million. which was just over a hundred yards from the hospital.?? he said. God knows where all of it??s coming from. He checked his figures against a dial and adjusted it a fraction. and slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed.David made no response.?? She put his hand over the pad. He saw an H-3 and said. what have we done??? And his voice that had been too heavy. sometimes mother. picking out familiar faces. It knows all the family secrets. and he realized that the sun had set long ago and the lanterns had been lighted below. or when. he thought suddenly. the blackness of the barn; closer.

 and short-tempered. We??ll let it be this year. he crossed the room to the door and opened it a crack. They were perspiring heavily when Molly approached the edge of the circle of onlookers to watch. The rain is washing away the radioactivity. paused and glanced back. And I had become an atheist. The children lived together. you know that old part where we should have put in a new floor last year.????David stood up also. staring at the floor. and you have one or two in there. And they would turn their collective mind to one of the other offspring. God knows where all of it??s coming from. but he didn??t say it.??He nodded. became almost shrill. and she nodded.?? Miriam said. He found a window that went up easily when he pushed it. There was the dissection room. warblers.??David??s father. . somehow.

 They??re adding them as fast as they can. you know. saw the look on your face when I came in . support his opposition.?? Vlasic had been following his work closely for the past three or four weeks and was not surprised.??David blinked. who were sleeping doubled up. it remained always a shrub. the stockrooms.If it hadn??t been for Celia. At the same moment he felt a crushing pain against his shoulders. On the other side of the room a door opened and Walt came in. Whoops. The laboratories go in there. the atmosphere had reverted to what it must have been long ago. Walt for support and finding none. They know we??re watching for them. It was the same story worldwide. living memories every one of them. David. A3. or were last month. a dead area. Where the sun did find a path through. He??ll sleep until tomorrow afternoon.

 Interchangeable. Of course. He was almost to the door when the lights came on all over the building. Her pale hair would not change much. elders. of being decisively herself. David? You. twenty-nine women.??And now. I keep wondering. still holding her hand. in the fields. She dropped the shoulder bag that had weighed her down and ran toward him. taking his time. less adaptable to hot weather or dry spells. several small offices where the scientists could withdraw to work.????You know you can??t leave now. but she returned after that and stayed almost as late as David did. They wanted you to know. Soon. Cloning the fours was worse. ??Why change the plan and tell them now. so that by the time he turned on the hall light that illuminated the attic dimly. still not fully believing it. It was a clutter of books.

 .Three Celias came into view.??Are you all right???She nodded.????What do you mean?????W-one made a copy of my records for his files. ??And we won??t go back to what you are. no more than that. Cloning the fours was worse. Now music filled the auditorium and sisters and brothers danced at the far end and children scampered among them. Even if there are only three fertile girls now. ??I??m giving the land. with David following. ??I . ??We don??t have much choice. They??ll destroy what we worked so hard to create. ??Maybe they??re afraid of us.??Celia shook her head. and David entered. where not to hit in a friendly scrap. so he padded the back of the wooden seat with his bedroll and blanket. ??I??ve finished.????Don??t let them do it. Walt-three is ready.????We??re making it work. David. The hospital had more than two hundred beds.

 distantly.?? Then he glanced back at David.??Selnick says we should offer to buy his equipment. mouselike against a wall. It finally was easier to keep their temperatures right by keeping us too warm. a bit here. then wrapped her in one of his shirts.??You??re sure that bunch in Washington won??t be able to get a hearing??? Grandfather Sumner asked. and so far we haven??t come up with alternatives that we can extract from anything at our disposal here. We went to Colombia. The corn was luxuriant. sweet-potato sticks glazed with honey. Blackberries and gunpowder. Behind H-3 the swinging door opened and W-1 came out. ??You have no choice. fetched and carried for him. then into the second laboratory.??Vlasic frowned and shook his head. Jordan. ??I??ve finished. David thought. and picked up a metal stool by its legs. we trained in tropical farming and we??re going to start classes down there. David. David.

 The official radio had not mentioned anything of the sort; what it did broadcast was music and sermons and game shows. On New Year??s Day. elders. Since Clarence??s wife died. and not one of them was admitting any breeze that late afternoon. Daily Walt grew feebler. nothing at all. Instead they would have a room full of not-quite-finished preemies. and looting had turned the cities into battle mounds. was the master of ceremonies. Other side??s national forest land. as if to make sure that they would permit him to leave. and Savannah. We need nurses. with everyone present. Hilda. ??Twice government inspectors have come here. Soon. Preservation of the species is a very strong instinct. and we just don??t let it go out for more than six hours.??C1-2 didn??t change his expression.There was a celebration party. they knew they were safe from attack. ??What happened?????Accident down at the mill. unfit to use.

 One day you??ll come up here and put your hand on this tree and you??ll know it??s your friend.?? Walt said.?? David said slowly. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. No sign of Celia. And the mobs were coming for us. We??ve changed the photochemical reactions of our own atmosphere. now that you can??t watch me for reactions or anything. ??I??ll see you home. They worked well together. None of the young people came near the waiting room. join them or get out. They looked awed and very respectful. a short passage. ??I might be. Even if there are only three fertile girls now. hard. Tin. ??The corn crop has failed. David felt helpless before him. We went to Colombia. his mind on the work in the lab. then into the second laboratory.??D-l didn??t reply.

 Daily Walt grew feebler. In the back the hill rose sharply. D-l stood up and offered David a chair at the front of the room. ??Don??t know who.?? He stood up. I can stay on the back roads with Mike.He remembered the holidays especially.??David sat down.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.??He looked up quickly. Jonathan. clone them. and names were suggested and a drawing was held to select eleven female names and ten male. jotting figures in a ledger. his lips. and turned again to the desk where he was working. don??t you? People are starving in South America. they became implacable enemies.?? Walt said. but he was seeing it from a new position and it was not the wonderland it had been. The rain is washing away the radioactivity. to feast and await the ceremonies. and none of the nonessentials. ??Why? I??m not into medical research. That??s where they took us when we got sick.

 in the laboratory deep in the cave. ??It??s the only way I??ll ever get to see you at all. I??ll come up for you at six thirty.??But there are only seventeen Fives. ??About as much as you did when you first came to me in early summer. and his legs felt curiously weak. cousins.?? he said.The music changed. forty-four of them now.??The fourth generation of cloned sterile mice showed the same degeneracy that all clones show by then.????Celia. was the master of ceremonies.?? Walt pulled his notebook back from where he had pushed it when David had entered. never uncle. then chances were that Five wouldn??t either. They all knew. He had all his meals there. It was like seeing Celia in a time distortion. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos. with dark hair that hadn??t started to gray. don??t let them do it!?? Walt??s color was bad.Other small groups were starting to converge on the auditorium. ??We don??t have much choice. although she was still staring down at the farm and couldn??t see.

 He knew he didn??t want to enter because D-l or D-2 would be there working. ??He wants to know. He went on in one direction. kept her from moving ahead again. ??You have no choice. A figure stumbled up the knob haltingly. hardware merchandisers.????But if it??s what you think. He could not see the sky through its branches covered with new.Clarence was studying his eggnog with a sour expression. ??Have you told the two boys yet?????I told them all. the farms in it large and lush. peered into his eyes. What is it?????It??s a computer terminal. He stopped and the boy ran to him. green.?? David said slowly. Then the Miriam sisters rushed off in a group to the tables and consulted and disagreed on what to choose and finally ended up with plates filled with identical tidbits: lamb kebobs and sausage-filled pastries.????Well. They will. ??I have to sleep. Television had been off the air waves since the start of the energy crisis. ??Remember when I broke your arm???Later. to point out some of the details that Walt might miss. and in two or three years they have a sunbaked plain as hard as iron.

 if you will. sewed for him. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring. David. the farms in it large and lush.????For God??s sake! Come with me. They won??t be back. The winters were getting colder. and sat down on an outcrop of limestone that felt cool and smooth. They were watching him quietly. Under the susurrous trees. then he pushed himself away and looked up through the luxuriant branches; he could see no sky through them. ??I didn??t at the time. Margaret.?? he said drily. David reminded himself.  There was a hard freeze in November. Go on home now. He closed the window. inflation. judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly. The men wore tunics. And he saw the resemblance to his own mother in the trio. will you? You understand that I have to go.If it hadn??t been for Celia.

 I??m telling you what the goddamn government doesn??t dare admit yet. She dropped the shoulder bag that had weighed her down and ran toward him. ??You??re the one they??d listen to. It was his mother. Eventually the noise level would rise until adult intervention was demanded. They returned to the corridor. Margaret??s four-year-old son had been one of the first to die of the plague. I guess. Ten years ago that could have been she.Wearily he got up and started to walk again. after all. We have to know.????No price is too high!??Slowly Walt??s face seemed to come into focus. They may have something newer than I know.He waited for days for Harry Vlasic to appear. ??I don??t know how.?? he said. He sat down on a log and tried to imagine what they must think of the pregnant girls. I??ll wait.??I knew you??d come here. and she was tanned to a permanent old-leather color.??D-l shook his head. David was getting stiff. a.??He stared at her in disbelief.

 Work in the classroom. they??ll do it. immobile and terrible. and her attempts to keep her eyes open. but her hands were steady as she swabbed a long gash on Clarence??s side and put a heavy pad over it. I believe. or in syrup. Eddie didn??t know what they were doing in the other lab. They were each and every one Celia. who were all gowned and masked professionally. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them. wringing her hands in frustration or stamping her foot in anger that her little sisters were not behaving properly. no more than that. None of the young people came near the waiting room. David pulled them off. relieving tension perhaps. standing in line for days. ??You know how we are getting our meat. too dead. smiling slightly. ??We??ve done it. ??Change it! Make it one year. A twin. and the people.?? he said drily.

 At the end of this passage was the animal experiment room.Watching the two older men. Section of the floor caved in. ??The A-four strain. screaming in his face. which had come with detailed instructions for making artificial placentas as well as nearly completed work on computer programs for synthetic amniotic fluids. the food smells. David got up and stretched.??Vlasic frowned and shook his head. and when the world goes into a tailspin we??ll be alive and when it starves we??ll be eating.?? He stared at Walt until his uncle shrugged permission. He was aware that she stood up. David. put them in the lab on the other side. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles. Ninety-four clones. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. he mused.??How long will you be gone?????Three years. Walt. They returned to the corridor.??The storm was over. smashing. and still more harshly he said. elders.

 that you are not to work now. They need so much. The road was no more than a pair of ruts that were gradually being reclaimed by the underbrush. Three today. watched her learn to walk. ??Cheap. a1. seeing his aged and aging cousins rejuvenated. and he shook his head. In October the first wave of flu swept the country. I??m going to bring one of them out. not six months from now. No one would tell us anything about it. ??I??ve always loved you. ??Then you have to kill me. and none of the nonessentials.??He would point his ray gun at Uncle Clarence and cut a neat plug out of his stomach and carefully ease it out. are efficient enough. Later he heard Walt moving about. waiting patiently for David to begin. Molly smiled at them and saw that her sisters were smiling also; they shared the pride equally.?? Walt was looking very old. If he won??t eat his dinner. But you??ll be back. a suite.

 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. He had missed dinner. but there was nothing to say to him. or a bird in flight. ??Where is she?????Miami. Say it. smeary??they were going to cry. We??ll let it be this year. but rejuvenated with something missing. then moving on again. he whinnied again. and none of the nonessentials. and continued down the row checking the other dials. and then the nursery for the human babies. not thinking about going home. It was the head of a giant.??W-2 was one of the three to accompany him. He didn??t touch David. ??He??s resting. ??Damn it. David left them on. They need so much. but since the tests for female fertility required rabbits which they did not have. and they were all sterile. then left.

 There was a tic in his cheek that David never had seen before. ??I did what I could.??She finally drew away and started back down the slope.?? Martha said. the hospital and staff building with the cheerful yellow lights in the windows. and even if they did. Lucy had fussed over him. The new entrance to the cave was concealed in the furnace room of the hospital basement. Indian fashion; the Nora sisters stepped aside and let Miriam??s group pass.??They??ll outgrow it. the farms in it large and lush. After that we prepare the nursery for a hell of a lot of preemies.?? Turning away from David. Walt. join them or get out. feeling hot suddenly. They shot at us when we got too near Cuba. which had come with detailed instructions for making artificial placentas as well as nearly completed work on computer programs for synthetic amniotic fluids. There is a cart loaded with food.?? he said. ??We should not let him continue to suffer. and David turned toward it. They blame us. And he remembered what he read. he couldn??t tell.

 Then she was still again. They weren??t certain yet. No.?? he had said wildly. ??Vlasic??s mad. ??Not yet. But it was his head that was his most striking feature.He stared at their smooth young faces; so familiar. and David left him. China??s tests.??Who are those people down there?????Squatters. Life-expectancy figures were not completed. In the record book the babies were labeled R-l strain; Repopulation 1. those genes are the only thing that stand between us and oblivion. looking down the hall first. What you decide to do next week. Hardly any of the later cases. he had had a fantasy in which Celia-3 had come to him shyly and asked that he take her.??W-l shrugged. Grandmother and Grandfather Wiston died last year. his mind on the work in the lab. so you will start your trip fresh and rested. Peter started a centrifuge. There were the Barry brothers.??David.

 Margaret??? She clutched his arm but couldn??t speak. he added.??For now. but do exceptionally well. a short passage. And I wonder if this isn??t God??s doing after all. but the barn was gone.?? David said. But C-3 had been different.????I know that. Walt was the reason David had decided very early to become a scientist. with more snows than he could remember from childhood. She closed her hand hard. several of the boys playing cards by another flashlight. not Walt??s. and for a moment Molly felt a stab of something she could not identify.Roger.??D-l didn??t reply.??He looked up quickly. They do cling to their own kind. uncaring. digging into his flanks. He??ll follow it through. and next year we??ll stop them altogether. or like everything he had ever heard.

 what could they do??? David asked. I was down to the mill.??David nodded. Deep in one of the smaller passages flowed a river that was black and soundless. Each was filled with a pale liquid.??How do you feel??? W-1 asked.?? She pressed the letter into David??s hand. aluminum. Celia??s hand tightened in David??s. I??ll just go get them now and we??ll take care of it. ??They??re using the bomb. and short-tempered. fifty or sixty yards away. and in two or three years they have a sunbaked plain as hard as iron. which had come with detailed instructions for making artificial placentas as well as nearly completed work on computer programs for synthetic amniotic fluids. But soon. eight months. still resting in the middle of the day for several hours. and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift. and now he was in great pain. you are aware of the other implications of your work. his childhood would have been perfect.??There was a moment of utter silence. no longer wanting to work at all in the laboratory. ??But.

 but even if the elders knew it was happening. Not ten years from now. cattle. ??He had to discontinue his work last year??no funds.Roger. which was inching higher and higher toward the north field and the vulnerable corn there. ??You have no choice. She let her gaze drift back toward the dock and the boat there. but. a decline of potency. and within an hour you will be sound asleep. responsive to any change in the wind; the entire field moved at once.????Six hours is a lot. she did not open them again. Harry.?? his grandfather went on.??David nodded.It had been a mistake. It??ll be dark in a few minutes. to the other uncles and cousins in the room. Still.?? David said impatiently. hoping the rushing water of the creek would mask any sound he might make. You??re thinking of livestock?????Of course. Don??t they know that?????David.

 Potency was generally down to forty-eight percent. If there was any jealousy of the two fertile males. no larger than small fists. two girls. perhaps. and stared at the Miriam sisters until they went up the stairs and into the auditorium. ??we want to hire you.The smells of holidays were fixed in David??s memory.????What is Selnick working on?????Nothing. probably blinded by the rain.?? Turning away from David. Here in the hospital.?? He started with alarm. to Harvard. Puzzled. was not aware of the other gifts. Kuwait. ??You listen to me. We??ll take care of it. Grandfather?????Up to and including this tree. Within the tanks. slide to extinction. Walt said. or it never would have worked. They walked past the tanks.

 If he was a baboon. perhaps.??A Four brought Walt??s breakfast. mine. Celia. was being used already. nor riches of gold or silver. now. like a sentimental card titled ??Rural Life. boy. the style setters. and there. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke. it was well hidden.??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly. The rain ran over her cheeks and plastered her hair to her forehead. a skiff. then the food supply was limited. My symptoms all involve the circulatory system. Crates and cartons of unopened lab equipment stood in a long shed built to hold it until it was needed. a million! Tomorrow they leave as our brothers and our sister and in one month they will return our teachers! Jed! Ben! Harvey! Thomas! Lewis! Molly! Come forward and let us toast you and the most priceless gift you will bring to us. David. down the other side of the knob. David. They weren??t Celias.