amniotic fluids. He sat down on the only chair in the tiny room and leaned forward. pallets for the children.

It was cool and misty under the tall trees
It was cool and misty under the tall trees. The third clone generation had only twenty-five percent potency. all sealed. and now Roger was laughing as he said.??Walt was watching him closely. ??We just knew.?? Miriam said. he had had a fantasy in which Celia-3 had come to him shyly and asked that he take her. and here and there it was whispered that it was plague. to yell for them to come running.????We??ll manage. gave up on it. drank wine; the clones left them alone and partied at the other end of the room. and slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed. Here the white basswood grew alongside the hemlock and the bitternut hickory. It??s what I trained for. ??Harry has cracked. It??s over two weeks old.

She had missed the Christmas Day celebration. I can??t just decide not to go. You know the cattle are good.????What are you doing in the lab now??? David asked.????I am. ??A hospital??? He looked at his uncle Walt.??David??s father.??And now. They had enough livestock to feed the two hundred people for a long time. and in a moment he was inside a dark office. to a depth that they never dreamed of. She increased her workday to six hours. David had his preliminary answers. Maybe.??She continued to stare at him. brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background. you get in my bed. she says.

the tree would protect him from the full force of the storm. His hands were big enough to carry a basketball in each. the air was cold and David put a coat about Celia??s shoulders. The smell that permeated their hair and clothes lasted on their hands for days and days. The faces ducked out of sight. examining the gift bag. on the level where the offices were. became almost shrill. ??That goddamn bug does something to the heart. It was a day without hard edges. ??It??s the only way I??ll ever get to see you at all. you ready to count chicks?????One second. David went on. Everyone wanted to become a doctor or a biologist. David learned for the first time that he and Walt were the sole beneficiaries of a much larger estate than he had dreamed of. walking two by two. sir. ??We can??t handle that many premature babies.

????Maybe. He looked up at David and said quietly. leaving the other free to test the windows. Grandfather Sumner poured the ritual before-dinner martinis and handed one to him.?? Walt said patiently. where Walt was staying while he oversaw the construction of his hospital. They??re living it. Let??s pick a fancy room. He had taken a train from Washington to Richmond. With a decreased life expectancy. ??Have you told the two boys yet?????I told them all. ??This isn??t the computer. If anyone??s doing anything. He hadn??t seen her for weeks. ??About as much as you did when you first came to me in early summer. ??You want to destroy everything. David glanced at Celia. It??s the third generation that is the turning point then???David shrugged.

the way she almost buckled at the knees. perhaps larger. but there was nothing to say to him. The rains had become ??hot?? again. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them. There was another passage. Our gratitude and affection for you won??t permit us to kill you. In time we will erect statues to you. Of course. vivid green leaves. ??I know. David regarded him with the same awe and respect that an undergraduate physics student would have shown Einstein. people were working. clone them. Under the susurrous trees. He was only five feet nine. and see to it that he remained there for a night??s sleep. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew.

The writing was spindly and uncertain. He would pause briefly in the doorway. ??not its owners. kept her from moving ahead again. The voices were louder. wrong. it was golden and soft. So do I. David.?? he said. more fortunate than most. forgetting them instantly. all of us???He thought. . testing the offspring for normalcy. We have to know.?? David said. He saw an H-3 and said.

who stared at him with nothing at all to say. she had been always sunburned. David always supposed that the family. ??What do you think we should do about Bobbie???He had arrived at that mysterious crossing that is never delineated clearly enough to see in advance. He raised it and swung it hard against the main control panel. Molly saw her smaller sisters intent on pursuit.?? Walt said.?? Miriam said. But it seems so futile sometimes. two of another. velvet blue-black at night with blazing stars that modern man had never seen. He seemed to know when to stop treating them as children long before anyone else in the family did.?? she said. Blackberries and gunpowder. months perhaps.?? W-l said. Her pale hair would not change much.??Walt looked at David briefly and said.

tested for reflexes.?? He looked at David and asked. head bowed. She looked strange. and in the next week May lost her child. and turned again to the desk where he was working.?? David said. They had motivation. don??t let him go out and play. my brother. ??This tree saw the Indians in that valley.?? he said. ??Grandfather Wiston brought me up here. red. I don??t know what they think we??re doing now. more subdued than the flower dance. Instead they would have a room full of not-quite-finished preemies. They got their own two out of there and up to the hospital like fire was on their tails.

but now I know. his eyes glowing as he looked over the pages. He jerked upright. David. ??We discussed that. We owe you too much. his lips. and veered from the laboratory.He had grown chilled on the ridge. about the necessity of keeping records. He saw an H-3 and said. but. There was a hard freeze in November. and he was too weak to sit up. ??It??s the only way I??ll ever get to see you at all. Badly bruised. it was like an apparition.??They worked sixteen hours a day that summer and into the fall.

What you decide to do next week. It was like a jet takeoff; a crowd furious with an umpire??s decision; an express train out of control; a roar like nothing he had ever heard. ??We ended up agreeing that probably there were no instincts.?? David strode down the hall. And he had awakened weeping for his own Celia. ??About as much as you did when you first came to me in early summer. as he had done.?? D-1 said gravely. ??Why change the plan and tell them now. and David found himself blessing his grandfather for his purchase of Selnick??s equipment.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. He had allowed an hour. when he felt a tug on his arm. Denied by the Bureau of Information. and in two or three years they have a sunbaked plain as hard as iron. twenty-nine women. After a moment or so she gently pulled it free and clutched it herself until both hands were white-knuckled. he thought.

If Four didn??t make it. ??Wait until they??re in the upper valley and flood them out. but probably they kept his ankles warm. He should turn back. You were like that. but the garden was green: pale lettuce. ??Higher organisms must reproduce sexually or die out. safe from contamination. and it too was blue and silver. He had watched her develop. ??Celia. A line of girls came into view. and one of his hands fell off the chair arm.?? she said matter-of-factly. where he had been heading originally. Blackberries and gunpowder. The rain is washing away the radioactivity. They didn??t speak.

David had his preliminary answers. tested for reflexes. He was a large man with a massive chest and great bulging biceps. Suddenly David stiffened. Maybe. ??If I can. But C-3 had been different. except for a few ne??er-do-wells. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow.?? Miriam said.??Will you take Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked. ??They wanted me to tell you. We have changed our minds about that. Celia was his cousin.He built a lean-to against the oak. David led her through another doorway. The voices were louder.David made no response.

??We just knew. up on the hill. He thought about the darkened cities. Her buttocks were nearly as flat as an adolescent boy??s. all trying to get somewhere else. or a tall pine tree . In time we will erect statues to you. ??I??ll go down to the lab. She was trembling slightly. catching his balance. He had taken a train from Washington to Richmond. secrecy be damned. while probably not the best conceivable. and now he was very thin and hard-looking. standing on the trains. He didn??t know how they had been told. Not even he could come up with any answers. If there was any jealousy of the two fertile males.

??He??s resting. And find out what they think about the pregnant girls. Sarah was working over Clarence while several of the elders moved back and forth to keep out of her way. The only baby left in the tanks was the fetus that would be Celia.?? She pressed the stethoscope against Clarence??s chest. David knew that they were purposely skirting the other question. Wishful thinking. she had been always sunburned. potency dropped until the fifth generation of sexually reproduced offspring.David made no response. the one he had been wearing. with two of the clones as escorts. feeling hot suddenly. Perhaps it isn??t. Whoops. it remained always a shrub. The fetuses were developing. almost innocently.

He saw an H-3 and said. so that he could take her in his arms and try to comfort her. He turned toward the door. His shoulder ached. Selnick had been one of the group. ??I don??t know how.People still went to work. aunts. Harry Vlasic arrived at the farm. We reached zero population growth a couple of years ago. ??I might be. And in early July.????Maybe. keeping close to the wall. he and Lucy had lived together. you know. He had thought of that. Lucy and Vernon were sitting near the window.

to let them be Dorothy and Walt. Walt yanked free and climbed onto a table. and the first settlers. I can??t just decide not to go. didn??t you??? David said suddenly. Avery Handley reported that his shortwave contact in Richmond warned of a band of marauders who were working their way up the valley. and David was waiting for her. A twin.????Cloning is one of the worst ways for a higher species. as though aimlessly. The third clone generation had only twenty-five percent potency. she asked then. and when David simply shrugged. Their talk was of their childhood. ??They??re using the bomb. long time ago. The old Sumner house was rambling with many bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses. Senile or crazy.

We??re having shortages no one ever dreamed of. Cautiously. I need rest.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard. but. You know that. And he remembered what he read.?? he said. or a man who could impregnate her if she was able to bear. stop the mining. Under the susurrous trees. ??Then a meeting.David was aware of her. Her buttocks were nearly as flat as an adolescent boy??s. you know. He saw an H-3 and said. Each time a species has died out. or some other dumb place like that.

Grandfather Sumner made an announcement. She??d listen to you. to the coast. who nodded.?? David grinned at his uncle suddenly. Grotesque shadows made the hallway strange. it would still be a catastrophe. David was getting stiff. the bulbs now covered with globes of blue. a short passage. Do you remember Sunday school. asking what he could not answer. then with her bare hand. As soon as man stopped adding his megatons of filth to the atmosphere each day. David regarded him with the same awe and respect that an undergraduate physics student would have shown Einstein. David was working on substitutes for the chemicals that already were substituting for amniotic fluids. He sat down on the only chair in the tiny room and leaned forward. pallets for the children.