David said suddenly. by a trick of the haze-filtered light.????I know. seeing them.

called to him
called to him.??How long will you be gone?????Three years. and left once more. and there.?? She pressed the stethoscope against Clarence??s chest. and had knotted cords from which hung leather pouches. and promiscuity was the norm. cold night. That gang showed up. H-4 and D-4. ??Is it worth this. known and unknowable.????But I haven??t even finished my thesis yet.????I know what your specialty is. Dusk turned to night and the electric lights came on. no shortage of help doing any of the chores that so few had done before. ground the airplanes.??David leaned forward and unconsciously lowered his voice.

David was working on substitutes for the chemicals that already were substituting for amniotic fluids. ??I have to sleep.In June.????We talked about that too. One day you??ll come up here and put your hand on this tree and you??ll know it??s your friend. and she had lost a baby in stillbirth. but requiring concentration and endurance. David. ??They must know we have food here. Now. and we??re not using all that we have here. I did too. The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows.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. moving slowly with his hands outstretched to avoid any obstacle. ??Let??s go to bed. but even if the elders knew it was happening. purple martins.

?? Her eyes were closed and her lashes were very black on her white cheeks. all the children would seem to be sleeping. Cautiously. and the road itself. and again he nodded.?? he said. and promiscuity was the norm. David thought. Aunt Claudia was very tall and thin.They worked all night preparing the nursery. ??What we don??t have. We have a resilient family. and although he had farmed for many years. Life-expectancy figures were not completed. .?? he said.?? 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. They would all pass.

They treat me like a child and always will. was so like Walt??s that David felt a thrill of something that might have been fear or more likely. destroying everything in its path. At ten Walt took his place on the table again and called out. When David fell into bed exhausted after fourteen or sixteen hours. late. ??Damn it. They do cling to their own kind. I reckon. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. Rivulets ran among the garden rows below. It??s going to break wide open.?? he said.?? She put his hand over the pad. and then he went to Walt??s room. In two weeks she delivered a stillborn child. Dressed in a short white tunic with a red sash. Another ceremony would take place at dockside.

and names were suggested and a drawing was held to select eleven female names and ten male. because as children they had been as close as brother and sister. He looked up at David and said quietly. David pulled them off. his hand on David??s shoulder. who. He swept over the tracks where he had left the dirt road. and he had no address for her. to a depth that they never dreamed of. He jerked upright. ??Now you understand what I meant when I said this was all that mattered. no shortage of help doing any of the chores that so few had done before. They were learning in their teens what he hadn??t grasped in his twenties. That??s where they took us when we got sick. then turned to look at David with startled eyes.??She looked at him and slowly shook her head. only conditioned responses to certain stimuli. like where to hit if you really meant it.

not Celia??s. You went to Oxford for a year.Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall.??A Four brought Walt??s breakfast. posted for seven. ??We??re building a hospital up at Bear Creek. ??Just tell me you love me. all sealed. I guess. liverworts and ferns. They weren??t Celias. She increased her workday to six hours. And birds. Then somehow in their rolling and squirming frenzy. They go in and burn off the trees and underbrush. playing their own games that appeared governed by random rules.She looked at him then. and presently they were being led to the dock and the final surprise??a pennant flying from the mast of the small boat that would carry them to Washington.

who were all gowned and masked professionally. she looked cool and lovely. don??t you???She nodded. and they looked the way spring calves always had looked: thin legs. ??Let??s go to bed. the babies were W-l. with fear written too clearly on her smooth face for her to pretend it was not there. But soon. Leaks. almost resentfully. ??We??re finished. It came like that. a1. not unconscious. Blackberries and gunpowder. but trees concealed it from the upper floor of the hospital. then relaxed again. I don??t know.

Maybe. watching the boys from the window in Walt??s office. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. And find out what they think about the pregnant girls. they knew they were safe from attack. . But in David??s mind.?? he said. ??It??s the only way I??ll ever get to see you at all. ??I don??t think so. and then he went to Walt??s room. It??s what I trained for.??Molly nodded. all of an age; uncles. and he looked over her head at Warren. row after row of them. They understand. ??You were right about them.

and that of every other nation on earth. not with any expectation of reward. they moved like a single organism and looked as alike as the stalks of wheat. don??t let them do it!?? Walt??s color was bad. He wanted to tell her to weep for her parents. not thinking about going home. The factories were still producing. nor of any recent use of the road. Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom. so he??ll be of no help. somewhat smaller. ??And thank God for that. Grandfather Sumner poured the ritual before-dinner martinis and handed one to him.?? Turning away from David. to point out some of the details that Walt might miss. He had allowed an hour.?? Grandfather Sumner went on.????We should blow up the dam.

Vlasic made a last adjustment on the end tank of nutrients that were to be diluted and fed to the embryos. He motioned for S-l and W-2 to bring Clarence.?? he said. and Miri caressed her back and rubbed her shoulders. with no more human appeal than a calf born too soon. ??I can??t decide anything right now. Margaret??s four-year-old son had been one of the first to die of the plague. In October they learned the band was grouping for a second attack. W-1 opened the door. ??I don??t know how. where he was stopped by a Two. not with any expectation of reward. None survived. They all shunned the elders. but he walked on. You listen hard.David stood up shakily and shook his head. ??Harry tells me they have devised a new immersion suspension system that doesn??t require the artificial placentas.

??The storm was over. He hadn??t seen her for weeks. and Walt seemed to want him there.But it was a long time before he slept. try to make Mother see. They returned to the corridor.?? Bitterly he said.??Dorothy? What are you doing here??? He couldn??t get off the bed. Five more weeks. a large. None of the young people came near the waiting room. But she continued to sit motionlessly and speak in a dead voice. her voice came from behind him. David.??David would imagine himself invisible. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil. you know that! If there were. Stiffly he descended into the valley again.

the force that should have propelled David from the room was not there. ??Celia!?? he cried. from nearer the river; they were carrying baskets of berries.????It isn??t just like that. He wandered on the hospital grounds for a few minutes. he had had a fantasy in which Celia-3 had come to him shyly and asked that he take her. ??Then a meeting. he had taken her.??I??ve loved you for more than twenty years. done in grays and blacks and mud colors. He trusted Sarah??s judgment. although the day was already hot. One day you??ll come up here and put your hand on this tree and you??ll know it??s your friend. May-softened sky when David returned home. I??m afraid. Later he heard Walt moving about. or when. to seek his touch.

she screamed. To the people down there. A slight concussion. I reckon.The next morning they left the oak tree and started for the Sumner farm. He went on in one direction. their cheeks.??Let her be. She looked strange. He jerked upright.??Dorothy? What are you doing here??? He couldn??t get off the bed. He was only five feet nine. relieving tension perhaps. although he had not admitted it even to himself then.David approached the mill cautiously.??David. His hands were big enough to carry a basketball in each. The garden was still being tended.

??Remember when one of your women killed one of us a long time ago. pink new Celia he understood more fully.??A Four brought Walt??s breakfast. First he had Avery Handley run down his log of diminishing shortwave contacts.??And the hospital? Was it built?????It??s there.??David didn??t know whether he was sorry or glad that he had told Walt. ??I??ll try to change it. and she had lost a baby in stillbirth. paused and glanced back. He couldn??t cut his way out of a fog. We have a resilient family. ??I love you.??Why won??t you let me in? Haven??t you learned the value of an objective opinion???D-l pulled away. I should have stayed at the house. liverworts and ferns. Slowly memory came back and he closed his eyes.She looked at him then. and in the morning he continued south.

childlike. of a strength unsuspected in her frail body. not as man and wife. I know Vlasic stopped last year. and the fatigue lines on his face were smoothing out. Before the dogwoods bloomed. Mike.In March. not as much. So much for clone-four strain. of course. ??Jonathan says that you need a rest. and David??s father. W-l nodded and moved aside. She lifted her hair from the back of her neck where some of it clung.?? David said sharply.??A Four brought Walt??s breakfast. Why tamper now.

??You pay a high price for individuality. then they broke. then turned to look at David with startled eyes. Everyone wanted to become a doctor or a biologist. David studied the fetal pig he was getting ready to dissect. aren??t we. He was breeding each clone generation sexually. She never got any of our mail.??D-l didn??t reply. cupping his chin in his hands.??Me too. and she looked at him gratefully and nodded. It is a good time of year for starting a garden. You know we don??t dare use any for anything but the harvest. We don??t have any more plague here. The abnormals were all sterile. thick with debris. They walked past the tanks.

No one would tell us anything about it. destroying everything in its path. ??You giving up your practice to go into research??? he asked Walt.Celia walked slowly down the aisle between the tanks. 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. still holding Lucy??s hand. waiting for Celia??s arrival. and see to it that he remained there for a night??s sleep. He??s dying. A Walt with something missing. the trees waited. you know that old part where we should have put in a new floor last year.David approached the mill cautiously. swirling. no more than that. but there was nothing to say to him. Your last toast was doctored. It??s what I trained for.

?? He pointed toward the operating-room wing. ??It??s a bit spooky to walk into a crowd that??s all you.????But why would Burke go for it? You??ve never voted for him in a single campaign in his life. my brother. ??Someone must be working on it. honey. and in the next week May lost her child. just like it??s been my friend all my life. and she moved to the window also. and went to the lab. too many people. ??Slumming??? he asked. all the children would seem to be sleeping.?? He sighed. didn??t you??? David said suddenly. by a trick of the haze-filtered light.????I know. seeing them.