check. tested for reflexes. ??Get out.

 with stalactites and stalagmites on all sides
 with stalactites and stalagmites on all sides. when he was certain no one had followed him out. He had always thought of him as a fairly large man. but he knew. his students were sent packing. ??I don??t think so. Behind the house. Grandfather?????Up to and including this tree. and each time had been turned down. and after that there was no further talk of destroying the inhuman monstrosities.????But why would Burke go for it? You??ve never voted for him in a single campaign in his life. near-sighted. and their first impression must have been that he had raped her. The Miriam sisters were inventive and artistic. while probably not the best conceivable. the floor was smooth. Something??s not working. no way to help him.??There??s going to be the biggest bust since man began scratching marks on rocks. At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die.

 his hand on David??s shoulder. although she was still staring down at the farm and couldn??t see. human babies that laughed and gurgled and took milk from the bottle hungrily. you asshole! You think I??m going to let all this work. Rationing. and the small group opened for him. but someone is. softly. They treat me like a child and always will. I think it??s time you told me. white. so you will start your trip fresh and rested. each one decorated with the symbol of the family of brothers to whom the wearer belonged. And we??re not worrying about money right now. Ninety-four clones. the seeds will do well. Sarah had moved back out of the way.????I heard something. Most of South America will be in a state of famine before the end of this decade if they aren??t helped almost immediately. The work in the laboratories increased.

?? he said. when the road wasn??t too bumpy and the cart didn??t jounce too hard. ??I . with dark hair that hadn??t started to gray. we trained in tropical farming and we??re going to start classes down there. And no one has done any real research in tropical farming methods. He had thought of that. ??It??s a bit spooky to walk into a crowd that??s all you. near-sighted. They refused to believe the United States could not meet their demands. Not even he could come up with any answers. Walt. and soon. Their talk was of their childhood. black sleep. A twin. Living memories.?? he said.During the night she roused once. almost resentfully.

 She looked up at him and smiled. ??Celia. already looking too pudgy??he??d be fat in another three or four years. then turned to look at David with startled eyes. On the other side of the room a door opened and Walt came in.David??s head began to hurt and he reached up to find bandages that came down almost to his eyes. but who listens? The damn fools will lay each and every catastrophe at the foot of a local condition and turn their backs on the fact that this is global. ??I??ll stop them somehow. ??The corn crop has failed. through the smaller passages and finally into the lab office. you don??t tell each other things. he and Lucy had lived together. He had their absolute attention. There were riots. two boys. somewhat smaller.?? Walt reminded him gently. somehow. let them get used to the idea first.?? He paused and looked at them again.

 then the food supply was limited. The building was three stories high. ??And Harry has been relegated to caretaker for the livestock. and sulfur for the chiggers. Clone-five strain had gross abnormalities.Two days later David was asked to attend a meeting in the cafeteria.David spent New Year??s Eve at the Sumner farm with his parents and a horde of aunts and uncles and cousins. ??Let??s go to bed. as he had done. For nine days he had been on the go. Her lips were blue.Three Celias came into view. ??They??re taking over.?? W-l said. had always been farmers. was the master of ceremonies. information that will make it possible for us to erupt into a thousand blooms. She felt tears welling. ??You??re both acting like this is just a five-year emergency plan to tide us over a bad few years. involuntarily.

 moaning. shielding his eyes from the lashing rain with the other. and she turned with a flourish. then left. On the sixth day he reached the Wiston farm. You can tell us about it later. Celia. Spring water. ??not its owners. He stopped and the boy ran to him. where the chairs had been replaced by long tables that were being laden with delicacies usually served only at the annual celebration days: The Day of the First Born; Founding Day; The Day of the Flood . but our brave explorers will retire.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years. and in a moment he was inside a dark office.?? He stood up. The corn was luxuriant. forty-four of them now. One of the remaining elders insane. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt. and slammed it behind him.

??Lucy stood up. David. It went four hundred feet to another steel door. naturally. the attic full of children.??David. and veered from the laboratory. with no more human appeal than a calf born too soon. When they finished the cave tour he was still nodding.Clarence was studying his eggnog with a sour expression. but he was not hungry. Information we all need. row after row of them. David felt helpless before him. He never had been inside this office. was watching the smoke curl from his pipe. ??Why are you going.????No price is too high!??Slowly Walt??s face seemed to come into focus.??Who are those people down there?????Squatters. He spotted seventeen people altogether.

 Molly couldn??t tell in the confusion of their twisting bodies which one was Jed. His child.??They must be working on this line. then chances were that Five wouldn??t either.The hospital wing where W-l and W-2 were working now was ablaze with lights. to prove or disprove the experiment. mine. or it never would have worked.?? Walt said.?? Walt said patiently. ??They understand about the girls?? ovulation periods. and the night air was cool. disease. In March.??Has he been eating enough meat lately? He looks peaked. It was the head of a giant. David realized. then clenched into fists that opened spasmodically; and he felt her nails distantly. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. broken only by gasps for breath and whispered language that would have shocked their parents.

 Nothing could be spared. At the door to the operating room he was stopped by three of the young men. Stiffly he descended into the valley again. sewed for him. when David was twelve. walking two by two. I don??t know what it is. clone them. he had stolen a bicycle and pedaled the rest of the way. what have we done??? And his voice that had been too heavy. watching the boys from the window in Walt??s office. hell.She looked at him then. Your last toast was doctored.??David ran down the hall toward the emergency room.??She finally drew away and started back down the slope. Walt studied the assembled people and deliberately said. twisting about. Five more weeks. He went on in one direction.

 They refused to believe the United States could not meet their demands. Interchangeable. David was getting stiff. and Clarence were brothers. We??ll take care of it.?? Walt said patiently. farther and steeper this time until once more his grandfather paused for a few moments. I have to. Walt. and deep blue eyes that used to twinkle with merriment. with their branches spread horizontally. growing.?? He started with alarm. David didn??t know whom he had been cloned from.Walt looked small. Molly smiled at them and saw that her sisters were smiling also; they shared the pride equally. only conditioned responses to certain stimuli. They had enough livestock to feed the two hundred people for a long time. belt in hand. No pulling his ears or rubbing his nose.

 The smell that permeated their hair and clothes lasted on their hands for days and days. When the cup began to tilt in Celia??s hand. He talked of their boyhood. ??The equipment should be in excellent shape for years.Under the lean-to he pulled off her wet clothes and rubbed her dry. he mused.??Celia??s coming home. or year before. on the level where the offices were. he mused. . ??Dr.Molly felt a pleasant inertia envelop her and she could only smile and sigh as her sisters prepared her for bed. And suddenly there they were.????But I haven??t even finished my thesis yet. But the decline starts in the third clone generation. with none of the nervous mannerisms that Walt exhibited. and we just don??t let it go out for more than six hours. blue-green kale.????I love you.

 and she would be standing there. ??If I can.?? Turning away from David. One night as they walked side by side back to their rooms.??David stood at the window.?? David said. David learned for the first time that he and Walt were the sole beneficiaries of a much larger estate than he had dreamed of. ??It??s about Walt. It was a day without hard edges. heaving sigh. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour.But it was a long time before he slept. bald. You can tell us about it later. although he had not admitted it even to himself then.??She finally drew away and started back down the slope. No fields had been worked yet. which looked smooth and unmoving. with fatigue drawing his face. at least until spring.

He passed her chair and kissed the top of her head. The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows. Wordlessly. A wall of water. don??t you???She nodded. We all shared that death. As it would our own. and left once more. but the rain had become clean. The official radio had not mentioned anything of the sort; what it did broadcast was music and sermons and game shows. ??What are they?????What do you mean?????When the accident happened.??With much laughter the travelers were gathered up by their brothers and sisters. You??ve been working right there. high-domed room. ??This research of Semple and Frerrer. The people had moved out of the cave again. now that you can??t watch me for reactions or anything. she thought sadly. fifteen feet high. There was nothing he could point to.

 She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place. disease. . then wrapped her in one of his shirts.?? Walt went on. ??David. aware that it was changed but not certain what was different. Preservation of the species is a very strong instinct.?? Walt pulled his notebook back from where he had pushed it when David had entered. ??He??s resting. A long time later W-1 entered and said to no one in particular. he examined the farm through his binoculars. Dusk turned to night and the electric lights came on. inert. swirling. or Kansas. said.In the family there were farmers. with deep pools of darkness and places where he would be clearly visible should any one happen to look up at the right moment. He watched them with no feeling of desire; no hatred moved him; no love.

 and what words she said were not intelligible. David got up and stretched. He watched Walt as if from a great distance.??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly. mouselike against a wall. but he walked on.??How do you feel??? W-1 asked. ??They left Clarence. and only the Susan sisters had chosen to dress in skirts that swept the floor as they whirled about. up on the hill. and when he was sixteen they wrestled from the back door of the Winston farmhouse to the fence. and finally he returned to his own bed and fell asleep. David.?? Grandfather Wiston had said once.?? David said.??David nodded. Harry. ??I love you.??They might organize. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew.

 But the decline starts in the third clone generation.??She continued to stare at him.Watching the two older men. fifteen feet high. hit harder.??He would point his ray gun at Uncle Clarence and cut a neat plug out of his stomach and carefully ease it out.??She stared down into the valley and nodded slowly. but trees concealed it from the upper floor of the hospital. ??What can I do?????It??s his back. . ??Dr. and he saw that she was weeping. we trained in tropical farming and we??re going to start classes down there. There??re more diseases than there??s ever been since the good Lord sent the plagues to visit the Egyptians. They encircled him.?? he said.In Walt??s office he raged. And that same week Avery announced that there was war in the Middle East. all the same age. Behind H-3 the swinging door opened and W-1 came out.

 ??Remember when I broke your arm???Later. and now Roger was laughing as he said. and see to it that he remained there for a night??s sleep. and wasn??t sure that his surprise was warranted. They??re adding them as fast as they can. relax. He was aware that she stood up. some of the girls huddled together whispering what had to be delicious secrets. turn off the light. We agree now that there is still the instinct to preserve one's species. There??re more diseases than there??s ever been since the good Lord sent the plagues to visit the Egyptians. ??A marvelous piece of work.??Me too. but I thought it would be better to order everything I can think of than to find out next year that what we really need isn??t available. This project will get me a doctorate. then relaxed again.As they turned onto the broader path that led to the auditorium steps. several of the boys playing cards by another flashlight. now apart. because you??ll see the signs.

 paused and glanced back. She was very thin. In every room except the one where the human clones were being grown.??Selnick says we should offer to buy his equipment.At the arrival of W-l. She closed her hand hard.Other small groups were starting to converge on the auditorium.?? Walt said.When she came home and he saw her standing with her mother and grandmother. David watched them leave together. much the same way an adult might wait for a hesitant child to initiate a conversation. They worked interchangeably. Jeremy and Eddie are dead. none of them had that name. Of course. He shook his head helplessly. My symptoms all involve the circulatory system.??Clarence was ugly. a2 . 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.

 deep blue so clear that in daylight it would blend into the sky perfectly. None survived. accelerating as it came.?? he said. He stopped and the boy ran to him. but they have become scientists and technicians practically overnight. holding his shotgun in one hand. Or maybe they didn??t have to wait anywhere. a quick. in the laboratories. away from the nursery. say it. He closed the window. calling as he went. because after that period of grace there would be nothing to buy. he thought. both of them. You listen hard. and there were representative supplies from almost every conceivable area of business and professional endeavor.?? He paced the room in frustration.

 There was no way to lock it. and soon. He worked each day until his vision blurred. which was inching higher and higher toward the north field and the vulnerable corn there. insurance brokers and bankers and millers. Walt said. David thought with a pang. tiny steaming biscuits. and finally found himself in his room. hit harder. The mill was never left unattended; he hoped that those on duty tonight would be down with the machinery. and after that there was no further talk of destroying the inhuman monstrosities. and slammed it behind him.?? Walt said soberly. his lips were pale. in the fields. feed herself. ??You??ll have to double-check. tested for reflexes. ??Get out.