happen to look up at the right moment.

 not Celia??s
 not Celia??s.?? The next morning Walt was found to have died in his sleep. David? They took me every week. then wrapped her in one of his shirts. It was cool and misty under the tall trees. The men wore tunics. and he was protected from the wind. underground passage from the hospital. then with her bare hand. Perhaps it isn??t. She was very thin.?? David said quietly. David. then relaxed again. leaving only for meals. crude compared to the finished brick buildings. Celia??s. waiting patiently for David to begin. which would be copied by the other sisters before the end of the week. Wheat rust. half a dozen. ??I??ll see you home. of being decisively herself. not dangerous. that vibrated in his bones. you are aware of the other implications of your work.

 It would have to run off into Crooked Creek. He knew he looked like hell. spontaneous abortions. They have two injuries. not Walt??s. ??They just left him there and brought up their own. Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly. Practically no one. Everything. Her fingers were in his hair. Grandfather Sumner died in November. and below them the saplings grew. The ground floor was filled with machinery. so he??ll be of no help. ??I??ll stop them somehow. I can??t just say I??ve changed my mind. like a sentimental card titled ??Rural Life. You know the rumors? They??re just not breeding well. but determinedly manly. swinging easily with the weight of the baskets. and Martha. Sorry about that. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit. and they??re getting worse. before the rains start again???They lay under a stand of yellow poplars. do you? He has cancer.

 Well. too.?? He shook his head. but rejuvenated with something missing. Walt grumbled. it??s on our land. for not pointing out what both already knew??that there was no way of knowing how long he would have to wait for Celia. Everything. He went to the cafeteria slowly. They had counted on delaying this meeting until they had live babies. Margaret was near term. when the experiment seems to be proving itself??? For a moment he thought he saw a flicker of surprise cross W-l??s face. almost innocently. They made us leave Brazil. And I got a touch of the bug that nobody wants to name. who will??? She took a deep breath and said. and on to extinction. all of them laughing at her unsteady walk.??David!?? One of the youngest boys. ??Comes a time when the earth needs a rest. We??re rushing it like there??s no tomorrow.?? he said. He had always thought of him as a fairly large man. 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. His library was better than most public libraries. ??I have to sleep.

 Mike walked deliberately and David didn??t hurry him. Melissa. that I have to do something.?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows. It would have to run off into Crooked Creek. those genes are the only thing that stand between us and oblivion. There was the dissection room. D-l stood up and offered David a chair at the front of the room. ??They might form a committee to protest this act of the devil.  The redbuds were hazy blurs of pink against the clear. And suddenly there they were. of course. and they??re getting worse. No more than that. ??I??ll stop them somehow. And in early July. I think. They gave Aunt Hilda and Uncle Eddie a choice. Cheap.??We have to know. I was husky enough to cut down a tree with a hatchet.?? Walt closed his eyes for a moment.??They went through the nursery for the animals. Eventually the noise level would rise until adult intervention was demanded. They would all pass.That night David.

 and the color and smell were one of the indelible images of his childhood. Wheat rust.At seven the hospital cafeteria was crowded when Walt stood up to make his announcement. but now you must accept it.?? he said. ??Of course. Then he realized that it was growing corn. If he won??t eat his dinner. ??The A-four strain. He was gray and aged but in good health physically. ??I can??t do a thing for him. David.?? She stirred fitfully and he knelt by the side of her cot and held her close; he could feel her heart flutter wildly for a moment. who had been dead for fifteen years. unlined. he realized.??He reached for her. we were trying. and Molly and her sisters swept out to the floor. a skiff. Lucy had fussed over him. like a gamecock. and promiscuity was the norm. ??Why? I??m not into medical research. At the end of this passage was the animal experiment room. childlike.

 down the slope of the knob.?? David said. Before he joined the other two boys who left first. As soon as they stepped through the doorway. First he had Avery Handley run down his log of diminishing shortwave contacts. He was breeding each clone generation sexually. long time ago. broken only by gasps for breath and whispered language that would have shocked their parents. turn off the light. The river was crystal clear.?? Walt said after a moment.??David nodded. David slipped away.?? his grandfather went on. 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. but the timbre of his voice was gone. It??ll be dark in a few minutes. where he had been heading originally. It was a long time before his twitching muscles relaxed enough for him to lie quietly. the trees waited. Blackberries and gunpowder. David??s father brought all that he could from his department store. she was there to hold him and love him. Selnick had been one of the group.Lucy stood undecided until Vernon took her arm.??You??re sure that bunch in Washington won??t be able to get a hearing??? Grandfather Sumner asked.

?? Walt said. and then burned it to the ground. When David fell into bed exhausted after fourteen or sixteen hours. a dull reflection of the dull sky.?? he said. his eyes glowing as he looked over the pages. For a moment Walt looked helpless and vulnerable. he thought suddenly. Life-expectancy figures were not completed. a short passage.?? he said. farther and steeper this time until once more his grandfather paused for a few moments. and only after he had turned and left did David realize that tears were still running down his face. sweet-potato sticks glazed with honey. and Miri caressed her back and rubbed her shoulders. willing the memory to fade away again. or in syrup. He was only five feet nine.?? Vlasic said softly.The smells of holidays were fixed in David??s memory. Three operations.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard. They encircled him. but. but hesitated. brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background.

 smiling.??That??s assuming diversity is beneficial. waiting for her to release his arm. although he knew that closer it would simply be muddy water inches deep. and now each needed someone to cling to. and then he went to Walt??s room. Three of the women were pregnant finally. Here were the relicts his grandfather had brought him to see. Her fingers were in his hair. but dazed. the fleets of trucks rusting. ??You want to destroy everything. he thought suddenly.??David.??The meeting was being held in the cafeteria. The bearers of life. hurrying her through the echoing room.She looked at him then. but dead. we trained in tropical farming and we??re going to start classes down there. don??t you? People are starving in South America. He sat down on a log and tried to imagine what they must think of the pregnant girls. did you realize that??? he said after a long time. what would she do? David went to her and took her cold hand.?? he said. fat.

 Section of the floor caved in. I believe. He never had been inside this office. a cove forest.??Suddenly he stopped and studied David with his eyes narrowed. They??re in there. smiling slightly. One of the little sisters smiled shyly at her and she smiled back. and in the golden sunlight it too seemed golden. leaving the cart behind. But there wasn??t any transportation home. I can??t just say I??ve changed my mind. I wanted to come home and there wasn??t any way. then wrapped her in one of his shirts.They came out of the school in matched sets: four of this. no variation in viability or potency. They have two injuries. but they knew. a dull reflection of the dull sky. Something remembers and heals itself. aren??t we. But what he remembered most vividly was the smell of gunpowder that they all carried at the Fourth of July gathering. but distantly. The lower fields were flooded. and a new softness was in the air. ??That??s crazy.

????He won??t be left alone. then close the door.??David opened his eyes and met Vlasic's gaze. keeping their genes intact. turn off the light. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab. maybe I didn??t quite believe it. ??Someone must be working on it. Walt simply nodded. all sealed. David. ??Damn it. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour. I should have stayed at the house. He found a window that went up easily when he pushed it. You can teach here. By the fifth generation no offspring survived longer than an hour or two. The road was no more than a pair of ruts that were gradually being reclaimed by the underbrush. That??s where they took us when we got sick. let them get used to the idea first. drinking hot black coffee. I don??t know. he corrected: his perceptions of her had been different. moaning. David??s father brought all that he could from his department store. who was pale and shaking.

 Margaret??s four-year-old son had been one of the first to die of the plague. but it was an expected high. I know Vlasic stopped last year. the third brother. disease. They would all pass. to point out some of the details that Walt might miss.??Selnick says we should offer to buy his equipment. he wheeled about.????I love you. ??What happened?????Accident down at the mill. They had moved very close. ??You??ll have to double-check. Clones! Not quite human. and the government. But I??m afraid it??s his back. With a decreased life expectancy. plastered to her skin. deep blue so clear that in daylight it would blend into the sky perfectly. He had thought of that. was the master of ceremonies. I. whom he especially disliked. He stopped and the boy ran to him. We??ll have to be ready for them.?? he said softly.

 more if we can get them. but it would be a meager harvest. too fatigued to walk off the tension. They always do. saw the look on your face when I came in . The government had to admit the seriousness of the coming catastrophe.??Celia reached down and moved the matted leaves and muck from the surface of the earth and straightened with her hand full of black dirt. Five more weeks. the water became rust-colored and solid. No more than that. He didn??t know how they had been told. Long-haired. fat.?? He started with alarm. Another woman in the room didn??t seem to be aware that anyone had come in. inert. . and he felt his face tightening. She wiped her cheeks with her glove. in the laboratory deep in the cave. ??Thanks. They were learning in their teens what he hadn??t grasped in his twenties. . perhaps larger. But only with one another. He talked of their boyhood.

 There were no clone strains after A4; none had survived to maturity. Sarah had moved back out of the way. ??You look like hell. he thought.David stood up shakily and shook his head. The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run. I??m telling you what the goddamn government doesn??t dare admit yet.Lucy stood undecided until Vernon took her arm.????Told him we??d dig out a lot of stuff we??ve been sitting on. In even deeper shadows grew bushes and shrubs. There were calves in the field. Preservation of the species is a very strong instinct. mine. done in grays and blacks and mud colors. God help us all if anyone ever lays an ax to it. he had stolen a bicycle and pedaled the rest of the way.?? Then he glanced back at David. which would be copied by the other sisters before the end of the week. I. and she nodded. I??m afraid. and at dusk he was under the branches of the tiers of trees that had been there since the beginning of time. in the field. ??I??ll see you home. who would be one of her fellow travelers down the river of metal. to Washington.

 Jeremy Streit brought his hardware merchandise in four truckloads. stop the mining.??David scanned the final lines quickly. but what they did in fact was to frighten them night after night with ghost stories. his lips. ??Celia!??She stopped and raised her head. ??What are they?????What do you mean?????When the accident happened.Two days later David was asked to attend a meeting in the cafeteria. if you will. The offspring have shorter lives.??Turn off the factories. grown to the stature of a large tree. they??ll do it. .????If they are. they??ll do it. give it some clover when the ground dries out. sir.In June. ??We??ve got to tell them. But what he remembered most vividly was the smell of gunpowder that they all carried at the Fourth of July gathering. stillbirths. then wrapped her in one of his shirts. but he knew. tiny steaming biscuits. smiling.

 He could feel her tears as they fell onto his cheek.????For God??s sake! Come with me. ??This is how this land looked a million years ago. paper. We have a resilient family. I can??t help it. Her cheeks were very red from the cold and the exertion of the climb; her eyes were the exact blue of the scarf she wore. and now he was very thin and hard-looking. each one decorated with the symbol of the family of brothers to whom the wearer belonged. Why aren??t the boys jealous? Why aren??t the girls making passes at the two available studs???Walt shook his head. when he was certain no one had followed him out. I can stay on the back roads with Mike. It finally was easier to keep their temperatures right by keeping us too warm. Wordlessly. Living memories.??I??m too bored doing nothing. ??I??m giving the land. and later on to head a department of research. but the government Bureau of Information said it was flu. Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom.????But if it??s what you think. but dead. and that same confidence came through with the words. responsive to any change in the wind; the entire field moved at once. Her eyes were very large. I thought it was propaganda.

 over and over and over again.????For God??s sake! Come with me. he said the best test for fertility was pregnancy. on the other side of the river from the Sumner farm. She wasn??t yet fifty. all slept there on cots. amazed that he never had seen her beauty before. The valley is fertile. ??What are they?????What do you mean?????When the accident happened. smiling. I asked him.?? Walt said. A long time later W-1 entered and said to no one in particular. so few among so many.?? she said softly. David thought with a pang. a Five.?? David said quietly. England??s changing into a desert. And they would turn their collective mind to one of the other offspring. nor did the second or third.In the family there were farmers. We all shared that death. Nothing. What if it isn??t that at all? Whatever is causing the sterility is present in all the animals. that??s what they represented.

 screaming in his face. his mind on the work in the lab. and as soon as there is anything to tell you. There was a shout. ??Hold it tight a minute. No one believed any of the reports.?? Miriam said. with their fields of rice. fighting right down the line. . That??ll be morning.?? Walt stood up and put his arm about David??s shoulders. ??Change it! Make it one year. At the end of the third day.David stood up and pushed his chair back. ??Stop this! I??m going to answer any questions. we trained in tropical farming and we??re going to start classes down there.??He laughed. he thought suddenly. you know that old part where we should have put in a new floor last year.?? Miriam said. A wall of water. ??Celia. and when they grew older and it was made abundantly clear that no cousins might ever marry in that family. still holding her hand. They huddled under a blanket and sat without talking.

 They huddled under a blanket and sat without talking. he shook his head and left the emergency room. she says. when the experiment seems to be proving itself??? For a moment he thought he saw a flicker of surprise cross W-l??s face. They were wet with perspiration and streaked with dirt where they had rubbed their faces and arms. and he realized that the sun had set long ago and the lanterns had been lighted below. a. W-2 said.??David walked blankly for an hour or more. were sacs. He stopped by his house only long enough to change his clothes and get rid of his boxes of college mementos before he drove out to the Sumner farm. the third brother.????There is still the decline and extinction. don??t we???They walked through the empty hospital. ??We should not let him continue to suffer. then walked away.?? W-l said. I??m afraid. The winter rains gave way to spring rains. plastered to her skin. but fell onto the bed without bothering to take off his shoes. deep blue so clear that in daylight it would blend into the sky perfectly. and then again. Walt had said. Monoculture! Bah! They??ll save sixty percent of the wheat. gave up on it.

 He trusted Sarah??s judgment.The next morning they left the oak tree and started for the Sumner farm. don??t let him go out and play. and you know it. You??re going to be pretty sore for a while. The work in the laboratories increased. Wheat rust. and David could reach the windows by bracing himself on the steep incline and steadying himself with one hand on the building. Jordan. He turned from her to stare out the window. Unable to endure it any longer. The ground was spongy and he walked carefully. ??I thought I was sure. . We??re afraid our supplies of chemicals will run out.??Let her be.????Is it still your property up here. Walt??s socks were more holes than not. Celia.?? Walt said. hats off. nor adventures to prove their courage. don??t we???They walked through the empty hospital. He played with the children and taught them grown-up things. and he was bleeding from her fingernails down his back. but dead.

 He had a single room at the hospital. She made a notation. and each time had been turned down. But there wasn??t any transportation home.?? He paced the room in frustration. David. a quick. he said the best test for fertility was pregnancy. She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place. although the day was already hot. ??The equipment should be in excellent shape for years. Three operations. and then it??s on its way to normalcy steadily.  David studied the fetal pig he was getting ready to dissect.?? he was already starting to his feet.??I have to go get her. fetched and carried for him. David sat on the slope overlooking the farm and counted the signs of spring. Internal injuries.??David ran down the hall toward the emergency room. Soundlessly he ran toward the control room. while you??re driving.In March. It??s the third generation that is the turning point then???David shrugged. and knew that childhood had ended.??And now.

 or Minnesota. A canopy covered the forward section of the boat. who would be one of her fellow travelers down the river of metal. But still. but the same machinery. They vanished into the barn and he looked up over the farm. but now you must accept it. it is all carved . twisting about.He slipped his shoes off and opened the door wider.????We knew they would one day.?? Walt rubbed his eyes hard. 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. but more fertile members. ??You??ll be all right. ??Now you understand what I meant when I said this was all that mattered. ??They probably think there??s wheat there. The door was steel.In March. run faster.?? Walt didn??t protest. ??Have you told the two boys yet?????I told them all. will you? You understand that I have to go. slide to extinction.??By the end of summer two of the Four-strain girls were pregnant.

He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years. The sexually reproduced offspring started with that same percentage. and the beeches and sweet buckeyes locked arms.??Will you take Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked. who will??? She took a deep breath and said. she did not open them again. He made a dash for the door.????I know. He had volunteered for everything. did you realize that??? he said after a long time.Two days later David was asked to attend a meeting in the cafeteria.In class the following day nothing appeared to be different. ??Higher organisms must reproduce sexually or die out. it would still be a catastrophe. I think.Walt had an office downstairs.The smells of holidays were fixed in David??s memory. ground the airplanes.????What is Selnick working on?????Nothing.??W-l shrugged. and in two or three years they have a sunbaked plain as hard as iron. a2 . ??Why? I??m not into medical research. meadowlarks.??David scanned the final lines quickly.????What free time?????I??ll find it.

 stepping out of her jeans. two of another. No sign of Celia. Another ceremony would take place at dockside. In the record book the babies were labeled R-l strain; Repopulation 1. and in this room the tanks were glass-fronted. we simply wouldn??t have children. Dorothy. I think. There is a cart loaded with food. pink new Celia he understood more fully. Her pale hair would not change much. and when she said. I promise I??ll come.?? he said dreamily. She looked at him for a moment. The river was crystal clear. There were the Barry brothers.?? W-l said.?? W-l said. She had missed the Christmas Day celebration. which moved without a ripple.?? he said. Clones! Not quite human. and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift. to point out some of the details that Walt might miss.

 copper.????Well. or they??ll send a search party for us. or an error had been found in their figures.David was aware of her.?? W-l said. or buy gasoline if a car had been available. wringing her hands in frustration or stamping her foot in anger that her little sisters were not behaving properly. just damn gone. a suite. Under the susurrous trees. she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room.??David nodded. honey. If you don??t understand. One night as they walked side by side back to their rooms. expecting no answer. tiny steaming biscuits.??David looked about the room. a stair-step succession of Celias.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. lasting longer. and she turned from the window. and none of the nonessentials. In the back the hill rose sharply. then left.

 through the long. ??We will decide.That night David. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab. into the hills on the other side of the valley. although she was still staring down at the farm and couldn??t see. just damn gone. green. involuntarily.????When I was his age. with everyone present.??That??s assuming diversity is beneficial. and his legs felt curiously weak. he knew; not only pass. was all the same distant past. what would she do? David went to her and took her cold hand. Why tamper now. . while other groups of brothers and sisters lined up at the festive tables. David. It??s our friend.Her eyes were open. but since the tests for female fertility required rabbits which they did not have.?? David said. They all met his gaze without flinching. digging into his flanks.

 sewed for him. and when he was sixteen they wrestled from the back door of the Winston farmhouse to the fence. Those two things.????I am. ??Are you sure??? he whispered after a moment.??And now.She smiled.?? He stared at Walt until his uncle shrugged permission. judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly. and looting had turned the cities into battle mounds. if you had time??? David nodded reluctantly. The anchovies are gone. Tears overflowed her eyes.??Grandfather Wiston had taken him to the knob once. The ground was too saturated in the valley to absorb any more water. a few tools. He jerked upright. where down the slopes. ??is a woman who can conceive a child. and the best students. Others formed a scouting party. I don??t know. to seek his touch. but probably they kept his ankles warm. David. with deep pools of darkness and places where he would be clearly visible should any one happen to look up at the right moment.