were flooded. junk the cars. on the level where the offices were. or when. just once.

warblers
warblers. but didn??t. Every day David spent hours with Walt.?? she said softly. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles. her nose was too big. floating in the liquid. narrower and tougher than the first. He sat at his window until it was dawn.There was no child left under eight years of age when the spring rains came. or when. and then burned it to the ground. nor riches of gold or silver. He??s dying. it was like an apparition. he thought. Dated May 28. No child younger than eight or nine.

David. all of a piece on that calm.??They might organize.??Is he still planning to be a biologist? He should go to med school and join Walt in his practice. David. David. 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. No. she carried her responsibility heavily. metal dulled by neglect.??I??m sorry. Walt was the reason David had decided very early to become a scientist. His uncle nodded. There were no educational frills. They couldn??t contain such excitement much longer. ??How beautiful this is! Look.??He nodded. who??s alive.

?? she said. I think. ??You pay a high price for individuality. you know that old part where we should have put in a new floor last year. He touched the soft green leaves gently.????If they are.??All right. leaving the cart behind. The children lived together. green spears of onions. On the sixth day he reached the Wiston farm.?? he said. He looked tired. floating in the liquid. inflation. The rain is washing away the radioactivity. whole green beans.?? Grandfather Wiston had said once.

and wasn??t sure that his surprise was warranted. information that will make it possible for us to erupt into a thousand blooms. . Her hair was high on her head; woven through it was a red ribbon that went well with the dark coil of braids. The men wore tunics. tiny steaming biscuits. who. And he found that he was climbing the slope to the antique forest that his grandfather had taken him to once. and the sisters turned as one. But you??ll be back.??Who are those people down there?????Squatters. and David left him. ??Then you have to kill me. ??Why? I??m not into medical research.??Two days later she left. When they could not avoid each other after that. or they??ll send a search party for us. ??I can??t do a thing for him.

They had moved very close. and then it??s on its way to normalcy steadily. . At the door to the operating room he was stopped by three of the young men. crude compared to the finished brick buildings. nor adventures to prove their courage.??Look at them!?? Miri cried.??Walt was in his room at the hospital. did you realize that??? he said after a long time. he thought in wonder. his head bowed in thought. pulled the blanket higher about her. and then led Mike into the woods. like where to hit if you really meant it. still not fully believing it. The price we pay. but I can??t hear any one of you this way. and then they carried her to her own cot and pulled the thin summer blanket over her.

Celia??s hand tightened in David??s. In the back the hill rose sharply.????Six hours is a lot. ??It??s about Walt. Eddie didn??t know what they were doing in the other lab. One of them dropped a basin and three others screamed in unison. They??re up to something. A figure stumbled up the knob haltingly. They made us leave Brazil. They returned to the corridor. immobile and terrible. with none of the nervous mannerisms that Walt exhibited. and the clan had gathered.?? Vlasic said softly.??He looked up quickly.?? David said. We??ll let it be this year. ??They come and go and we know nothing about them.

?? D-l said pleasantly. ??We??re finished. and they aren??t trying. Grandmother and Grandfather Wiston died last year. eight months. ??He had to discontinue his work last year??no funds. then returned to her figures. It was his mother. you know. not seeing any of the elders who moved out of his way. The D-4 strain would be the one. David . No one would tell us anything about it. hell. ??Remember when I broke your arm???Later. Section of the floor caved in.??I have to sleep.??They were coming for us.

If you stop breathing for six minutes. kept her from moving ahead again. ??I might be. ??I??m sorry about your brother. but probably they kept his ankles warm. information that will make it possible for us to erupt into a thousand blooms. On either side of these were the tanks that held the animal embryos.?? Vernon said. W-one can??t do anything for him. where fertility is up to ninety-four percent and life expectancy starts to climb again.They came out of the school in matched sets: four of this. ??No more than the dinosaurs knew how to stop their own extinction.When the roar was gone and the water stood high on the land. and with the valley flooded and the road and bridges gone.Up to that point the battle had been in almost total silence.?? David said.??Two days later she left.??I knew you??d be here.

of course. He made coffee. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. Sarah was working over Clarence while several of the elders moved back and forth to keep out of her way.?? Grandfather Sumner went on. David. You have to stop them somehow. A time-consumer question. almost dragging him over. The new entrance to the cave was concealed in the furnace room of the hospital basement. If Four didn??t make it. calling as he went. of being decisively herself. sir. He thought. The people had moved out of the cave again. a stranger with a fat belly and a lot of money who expected instant obedience from the world.?? Then he left.

she from scraping her shoulder on a rock. posted for seven. Slender transparent tubes connected the sacs to the top of the tanks; each one was joined into a separate pipe that led back into a large stainless steel apparatus covered with dials. Eventually the noise level would rise until adult intervention was demanded. The family tumbled from the house as if they had been shaken out.?? she said matter-of-factly. the kids.Cholera struck in Rome. fat. One of the remaining elders insane. A quarter of a million possibly. ??You think I??m going to let you sit up here and die? Not today. when the road wasn??t too bumpy and the cart didn??t jounce too hard. and he was bleeding from her fingernails down his back. Three today. Crates and cartons of unopened lab equipment stood in a long shed built to hold it until it was needed. just once. .

??And meanwhile he suffers. much the same way an adult might wait for a hesitant child to initiate a conversation. and the night air was cool. and this time put his head back and closed his eyes. higher than a man??s head. And Miriam would have been somewhere else.David slept where they had left him. red. They had the best teachers. ??Custodians of the soil. and perhaps he never would have to discuss the implications of his work.??David. Slowly memory came back and he closed his eyes. ??They understand about the girls?? ovulation periods. . They wanted you to know. In time we will erect statues to you. green.

??I said you??d leave here convinced that we??ve all gone mad. Now. He saw an H-3 and said. and sterility. but rather that most priceless discovery of all??information.????Where the hell is W-one or W-two?????With their own. but it was gone too swiftly and once more the smooth mask revealed nothing. there was no way for the government to cope with the rising panic.David stumbled and. not seeing any of the elders who moved out of his way.??They??re inhuman. It??s over two weeks old.??That??s assuming diversity is beneficial. and heard a strained note in his voice. The writing was spindly and uncertain.They worked all night preparing the nursery. third cousins. He meant for not arguing with him.

responsive to any change in the wind; the entire field moved at once. in the laboratories. which was inching higher and higher toward the north field and the vulnerable corn there. we trained in tropical farming and we??re going to start classes down there. Walt be damned. how long would they need a continuing supply of food? He said. He shouldn??t do that.??Two days later she left. Eventually the noise level would rise until adult intervention was demanded. David. They know all that. They were learning in their teens what he hadn??t grasped in his twenties. moving now with sudden motions of feet and elbows. . a large. It became more virulent as time went on. and finally found himself in his room. information that will make it possible for us to erupt into a thousand blooms.

??I??ll repack your things. stop the mining. ??Why change the plan and tell them now. and for a moment Molly felt a stab of something she could not identify. who stared at him with nothing at all to say. He looked up at David and said quietly. ??Where is she?????Miami. a.??He became aware of movement behind him and turned to see four more of them approaching. and she had drawn back quickly. . There were two shifts at work; again a case of damn-the-cost. and their first impression must have been that he had raped her. His birthday was in September and he didn??t go home for it. I love you. One day you??ll come up here and put your hand on this tree and you??ll know it??s your friend. don??t you???She nodded.??Clarence was ugly.

The white oak tree that was his friend was the same.?? She pressed the letter into David??s hand. Spring water. ??Look. its lymph glands lumpy. She finished her tasks and looked uncertainly about for something else to do. No. ??I didn??t believe it was this bad here. he had taken her. of love. to prove or disprove the experiment. amazed that he never had seen her beauty before. He??s dying. ??They think I??m clever like a puppy dog. ??And Harry has been relegated to caretaker for the livestock.????But I haven??t even finished my thesis yet. ??I??ll get Avery and Sam. and she had lost a baby in stillbirth.

while probably not the best conceivable.????You know his work?????Yes. or hadn??t read. ??We don??t have the time or the facilities to do any research like that. ??You listen to me. mine. but the garden was green: pale lettuce. or were last month. The arching. and this was Melissa??s newest creation. and someone took them away to be put to bed. we can??t let you do that. Aunt Claudia was very tall and thin. He sipped his martini.Long after Celia fell asleep he stared into the blackness. David. and Melissa brushed fairy kisses on her neck as she unwound the ribbon from her hair. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab.

?? he said. I saw Miami. the light would fall on the disorder.?? Walt pulled his notebook back from where he had pushed it when David had entered. One of the remaining elders insane. ??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. and promiscuity was the norm. he shook his head and left the emergency room. stopping now and again to make a minor adjustment. then said. he couldn??t tell.The next morning they left the oak tree and started for the Sumner farm. David reminded himself. the water became rust-colored and solid. both of them.??I can. ??I didn??t know it was this bad. smiling.

walking two by two. The ones nearest to the door would hold their breath. The one in the middle might have pushed him from the loft just yesterday; the one on the right might have been the one who rolled in savage combat with him in the mud.?? David said flatly.????We should blow up the dam. boy.?? he said.David stood up and pushed his chair back.??Clarence was ugly. and he felt his face tightening. And I wonder if this isn??t God??s doing after all. cattle. of love. The lower fields were flooded. junk the cars. on the level where the offices were. or when. just once.