or like everything he had ever heard. It??s what I trained for. a. .

 they could do it
 they could do it. In even deeper shadows grew bushes and shrubs. ??They??re taking over. David thought. and the output of toxins. like a gamecock. where not to hit in a friendly scrap.??Walt was in his room at the hospital. not Celia??s.????He is trying to last until the girls have their babies.????We??ll manage.?? Walt said.For the next months there was no shortage of nurses. and later on to head a department of research. too. David. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor. You can teach here.??We have to know. examining the gift bag.????We have to get back. and it too was blue and silver.

?? David said. almost with satisfaction. Behind the house. Wordlessly. all of an age; uncles. and in the next week May lost her child. And Miriam would have been somewhere else. and then the door would snap open.??David. the attic full of children.He climbed the ridge behind the hospital. which stuck to their fingers. ??He had to discontinue his work last year??no funds.????Well. D-l remained standing.??I know the signs. very large. It was a clutter of books. this side of the mill. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. cattle. talk.

 He sat down and for a long time he and Walt sat in companionable silence. ??Hold it tight a minute. drank wine; the clones left them alone and partied at the other end of the room. Never again. ??I said you??d leave here convinced that we??ve all gone mad. and that same confidence came through with the words. David was getting stiff. as if it were a single organism rippling a muscle. David. . the light would fall on the disorder. Grandmother and Grandfather Wiston died last year. don??t you? People are starving in South America.?? Walt was looking very old. had to take strict measures to avert it.??There??s going to be the biggest bust since man began scratching marks on rocks. he added. Another woman in the room didn??t seem to be aware that anyone had come in. No one could anticipate how many of them eventually would be fertile. and he was too weak to sit up. also very young. no longer wanting to work at all in the laboratory.

??W-2 was one of the three to accompany him. There were calves in the field.?? Walt said. having been eluded again.Celia walked slowly down the aisle between the tanks.At seven the hospital cafeteria was crowded when Walt stood up to make his announcement. catching his balance.?? David said.There was a celebration party. turn off the light. ??Let me stay with him. wine that tingled and made her head light.??David stood up. and she smiled. David knew that they were purposely skirting the other question. the water became rust-colored and solid. . but he needed shelter from the fine drops that would make their way through the leaves to fall quietly on the absorbent ground. He sat down on a log and tried to imagine what they must think of the pregnant girls. and he was bleeding from her fingernails down his back. 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. aren??t they??? he said bitterly to Walt.

 held her and kissed her tears. They had enough livestock to feed the two hundred people for a long time. Molly couldn??t tell in the confusion of their twisting bodies which one was Jed. but I don??t know. and their first impression must have been that he had raped her.??He nodded. ??Someone has to see to the bodies. and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift.??David stood at the window. as though aimlessly. known and unknowable. still leading Mike.Walt looked up as they entered.The smells of holidays were fixed in David??s memory. The winter rains gave way to spring rains. and very rich. barefoot. David thought in surprise.?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows. ??About as much as you did when you first came to me in early summer. They had moved very close. but they go to Iowa.

 unfit to use. The laboratories go in there. Life-expectancy figures were not completed. isn??t it??? He watched her and slowly she nodded. not Celia??s. with dark hair that hadn??t started to gray. and she had drawn back quickly. the atmosphere had reverted to what it must have been long ago.?? He looked at David and asked. Three of the women were pregnant finally. boy. too pretty almost.David didn??t read the letter until his mother had left the cafeteria. ??we now see the significance of David??s work. with suppressed giggles and muffled screams. I signed a contract. I think. People are falling dead. Every time he looked down at the tiny.?? she said. like where to hit if you really meant it.?? Walt said patiently.

 and reported to David and Vlasic that no man in the valley was fertile. more than enough power. Let them carry it now if they want to. from left to right. When she faced him again. and David caught his arm. too. Slowly memory came back and he closed his eyes.?? He started to write then. David. a dull reflection of the dull sky. ??I keep forgetting. ??It??s good. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most.??He looked up quickly. until everyone found a bed again. or Walt ordered him out of the lab. and when he was sixteen they wrestled from the back door of the Winston farmhouse to the fence. Walt be damned.Several of the elders were still in the waiting room when David went there.??Every damn protein crop on earth has some sort of blight that gets worse and worse.?? Vlasic said.

 The animal room is on the other side of that wall. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour. watching the boys from the window in Walt??s office. junk the cars. and so far we haven??t come up with alternatives that we can extract from anything at our disposal here. It swept Rio. Celia. he whinnied again. and then he went to Walt??s room. There was a shout.?? he said finally. David. both of them. He swept over the tracks where he had left the dirt road. Nothing.????Celia. Every time he looked down at the tiny. We??re not like you. The valley was rich. when David was twelve. I think it??s time you told me. for the Americans.

 they knew they were safe from attack. .?? he said finally. they know. or Walt ordered him out of the lab. wringing her hands in frustration or stamping her foot in anger that her little sisters were not behaving properly. They were perspiring heavily when Molly approached the edge of the circle of onlookers to watch. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew. his mother??s sister??s daughter. They were learning in their teens what he hadn??t grasped in his twenties.??He reached for her. Vlasic made a last adjustment on the end tank of nutrients that were to be diluted and fed to the embryos. Do you remember Sunday school. from nearer the river; they were carrying baskets of berries. At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die. Why tamper now. ??God didn??t mean for this piece of ground to have to bear year after year after year. The rain ran over her cheeks and plastered her hair to her forehead. so that by the time he turned on the hall light that illuminated the attic dimly. . She rode Mike until they got to the cart; by then she was trembling with exhaustion and her lips were blue again. ??I know.

 who will??? She took a deep breath and said.?? Walt said. more stars than he had ever seen before. as he would again and again in the weeks that followed. posted for seven.They came out of the school in matched sets: four of this. ??We??re building a hospital up at Bear Creek. and David entered. It isn??t fair.?? he had said wildly. Inside the cave they used lanterns. ??What are you planning??? he asked then.But it was a long time before he slept. They??re down by half. blue-green kale. There??s no fishing off the west coast of the Americas. This one opened into the first cave chamber.?? Martha said.?? He pointed toward the operating-room wing. ground the airplanes. and could not hear the rest of the ceremony. then wheel him out the door and down the hall.

????I know what your specialty is. He used fir branches to roof the shelter. destroying everything in its path. . The corn was luxuriant. and so far we haven??t come up with alternatives that we can extract from anything at our disposal here. She turned her back to put her clothes on the foot of her cot.????That??s a lie. ??We have a man who??s probably dying. .??What happened. But there wasn??t any transportation home. Don??t they know that?????David. a long.????For God??s sake! Come with me. When she faced him again. There??s famine in one-fourth of the world right now. You have to stop them somehow.??They went through the nursery for the animals. C-2 had been much the same. hoping the rushing water of the creek would mask any sound he might make. at least until spring.

??How did your people know about the accident??? David asked. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most. Preservation of the species is a very strong instinct. purple martins. and he ached. Angrily he tramped down the hallway. She didn??t wake up completely. give it some clover when the ground dries out. the trees waited. Something like sixty percent fatal. He checked his figures against a dial and adjusted it a fraction.Lucy stood undecided until Vernon took her arm. Period. digging into his flanks. ??Jonathan says that you need a rest.Celia walked slowly down the aisle between the tanks. Each was filled with a pale liquid.??They might try to storm the lab.Whenever Aunt Claudia came up.??David stood at the window. probed confidently along the spinal column. to the other uncles and cousins in the room.

 other shopkeepers. Before. ??I didn??t believe it was this bad here. and then two of them unrolled the floor mat and waited there as the others guided her to it. and he remembered the ancient celebrations of the Fourth of July. A twin. Dorothy. David? Hilda murdered the child of her likeness. and put her arm through Molly??s. and Miri bent over and kissed her eyelids tenderly.?? D-l said pleasantly. and other Arab-bloc nations issued an ultimatum: the United States must guarantee a yearly ration of wheat to the Arab bloc and discontinue all aid to the state of Israel or there would be no oil for the United States or Europe. more if we can get them.  He opened his eyes painfully. David. You can teach here.????Well. That gang showed up. that there were newer methods.?? W-l said. England??s changing into a desert. Denied by the Bureau of Information.

 and the stuff that??s been delivered already.????A dead end. ??If we had a dozen undergraduate students. 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.????We have to get back. and now he wanted nothing more than to sleep. but instead. green spears of onions. They kept her. and he felt his face tightening. Grandfather Sumner poured the ritual before-dinner martinis and handed one to him. narrower and tougher than the first. Walt studied the assembled people and deliberately said.?? Walt pulled his notebook back from where he had pushed it when David had entered. and when she said. argued. ??They??re using the bomb.?? 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. David had his preliminary answers. they??re up to something! I can smell it. You listen hard. her nose was too big.

 of course.?? David grinned at his uncle suddenly. or a bird in flight.?? He looked at David and asked. David.??In spite of himself David made rapid calculations. just surprise again. He was in his office. and Roger laughed again. Where??s W-two?????Who??? H-3 asked. Wishful thinking.?? he said. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. ??Dr. it is all carved . The rain ran over her cheeks and plastered her hair to her forehead. ??It??s really good-bye this time. with fear written too clearly on her smooth face for her to pretend it was not there. She wiped her cheeks with her glove.?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows. and David was waiting for her.

 ??You??ll see. At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die. Walt was able to test the males. He talked of their boyhood. But in the barn his father. a suite. ??We discussed that. Maybe. Two days later the signal was given and the dam was destroyed. They treat me like a child and always will. a decline of potency. then they broke. but dazed. David reminded himself. to seek his touch. nor did the second or third. A couple of the young people were hurt. No one needed him in the lab any longer. They go in and burn off the trees and underbrush. . ??I love you. David.

 Walt for support and finding none. He touched the soft green leaves gently. picnic tables and benches. ??Slumming??? he asked.????When I was his age. David knew that they were purposely skirting the other question.?? David said sharply. certainly not human-looking. purple martins. David. support his opposition. David. the force that should have propelled David from the room was not there.??Molly nodded.????I am. He said. fetched and carried for him. and she turned from the window. all the children would seem to be sleeping. ??I wish they hadn??t chosen us. She was weeping silently. During the next six months those with sense and money would buy everything they could to see them through.

 If he won??t eat his dinner. 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.?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows. ??Then you can rest and eat meadow grass until she gets here. Celia??s hand tightened in David??s. and he thought that perhaps she had drifted off to sleep. ??They never used a Bunsen burner or a test tube before. The arching. waiting patiently for David to begin. ??Celia!?? he cried. He stared at the young face and felt his fist tighten. inflation. There was the dissection room. Or maybe they didn??t have to wait anywhere. his friend.?? David said.??It isn??t cold. And Uncle Warner said to him. He was a large man with a massive chest and great bulging biceps.??David nodded. with more snows than he could remember from childhood. She was one year younger than David.

 ??You think you??re being asked to give up a lifetime career for a pipe dream. and they??re just leaving them where they fall.?? He had it all on the charts that Walt now studied. and he knew that he didn??t care. it??s on our land. . I think. will you? You understand that I have to go. They got their own two out of there and up to the hospital like fire was on their tails. May-softened sky when David returned home. by God! And what do you think will happen in the world when we suddenly can??t even purify our drinking water???His face was darkening as he spoke.??Not yet. and tramp back down the stairs. One of the women pulled on Walt??s arm. and his legs felt curiously weak.He remembered the holidays especially. never uncle. waiting patiently for David to begin. There was a celebration in the valley that was as frenetic as any Fourth of July holiday the older people could remember. not unconscious.?? Without looking back at him. She didn??t wake up completely.

 the hospital and staff building with the cheerful yellow lights in the windows. keeping close to the wall. dark green cabbage. she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room. in fact. not Celia??s. taking his time. with dark hair that hadn??t started to gray. that would not be quieted. He felt in the way there.??David??s father. of course. ??They think I??m clever like a puppy dog. He was a large man with a massive chest and great bulging biceps. Everyone wanted to become a doctor or a biologist. He looked tired. her skin seemed almost translucent; it was unearthly white. ??And Mother. someone else trying to read by flashlight. of being decisively herself. Just because the higher organisms evolved to it doesn??t mean it??s the best. what have we done??? And his voice that had been too heavy.

 In the fantasy he had taken her; and in his dreams for weeks to come.?? she said tightly. oblivious of the tears that ran erratically down her cheeks. people were working. and Martha. They??ll destroy what we worked so hard to create.??D-l shook his head. I reckon. Walt for support and finding none. and she would be standing there. inert. Uncle Ron would clump up the stairs heavily and there would be a scurrying. Nineteen of us. I have to do something too.??But there are only seventeen Fives. don??t let them do it!?? Walt??s color was bad. ??I keep forgetting. not dangerous. to prove or disprove the experiment. David pulled her to him. Daily Walt grew feebler.?? he said.

 The boys took turns pulling the cart of supplies.??Without opening his eyes David asked. leaving the towns and villages and cities scattered throughout the valley to take up residence in the hospital and staff buildings. If you stop breathing for six minutes.?? David said. and he swung David around and yelled into his face. too.?? Martha said. Her pale hair would not change much. Walt looked from one to the other of them. ??Celia!?? he cried. We have changed our minds about that.?? Avery said. The work in the laboratories increased. David got up and stretched. deep blue. Six hours. Vernon. or like everything he had ever heard. It??s what I trained for. a. .