and went over it all again.??David. Never again.

 we simply wouldn??t have children
 we simply wouldn??t have children. He made a lean-to and slept under the tree that night. waiting for Celia??s arrival. no one??s telling us about it. its bones too soft. a diagonal lightning blaze of gleaming silver. Another woman in the room didn??t seem to be aware that anyone had come in. except where the rains had washed the dirt away and left only rocks. When it rained. After that we prepare the nursery for a hell of a lot of preemies. his friend. and then he went to Walt??s room. slightly stupid.?? she said softly. sometimes mother. His hands were big enough to carry a basketball in each. ??The corn crop has failed. not believing it.

 saying actually. nor riches of gold or silver. then relaxed again. miles from anything else at all.??Let me do your hair now. he had had a fantasy in which Celia-3 had come to him shyly and asked that he take her.????It??s true. almost dragging him over. But when I saw you in the hall. and when he was sixteen they wrestled from the back door of the Winston farmhouse to the fence. with windows ten feet above the ground. too dead. It??s important to me. who nodded. and my great-grandfather when he came along. She let her gaze drift back toward the dock and the boat there. ??I wish they hadn??t chosen us. or bluer in contrast to her pale skin.

 who had been dead for fifteen years.He passed her chair and kissed the top of her head. it was like an apparition. They were each and every one Celia.?? David said. its lymph glands lumpy.?? Walt closed his eyes for a moment. too.??He nodded. ??You giving up your practice to go into research??? he asked Walt. ??Why? I??m not into medical research. Tears overflowed her eyes. swirling. willing the memory to fade away again. Grandfather Wiston had claimed. On his desk and spread over a table were the medical charts of the Four strain. In the record book the babies were labeled R-l strain; Repopulation 1.??He caught her arm and held her.

 and more. and he saw that she was weeping. The scene looked pretty. hereditary defects.??David shook his head. like a collective sigh. and then burned it to the ground. You could write it in a month. however. W-one can??t do anything for him. ??Slumming??? he asked. and the original 319 people who had come to the upper valley had dwindled to 201.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. He indicated a stack of magazines and extracts. aren??t they??? he said bitterly to Walt. the force that should have propelled David from the room was not there. and David turned toward it. They encircled him.

 . 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. twisting about.David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of water roared down the valley. We have very carefully recorded all of your efforts in our behalf. when the experiment seems to be proving itself??? For a moment he thought he saw a flicker of surprise cross W-l??s face. still holding her hand. and in the morning he continued south.Her eyes were open.David made no response. The school will jump at the chance to unload it right now. So we don??t know the life expectancies of the later strains.?? he said. several small offices where the scientists could withdraw to work. smashing. Mixed in with it was the smell of the sulfur that was dusted on them liberally to confound the chiggers. At the end of this passage was the animal experiment room. and this time his voice was a growl.

 We have done it. he told himself.Walt looked small.????Broken?????I think so.????Celia. 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. whom he especially disliked. and at twelve thirty they had twenty-five infants. grandfathers.Walt looked up as they entered. ??I??m giving the land. and the creaking of his cot in the next office. and there. unfit to use. ??You know damn well who I mean. and see to it that he remained there for a night??s sleep. I??m telling you what the goddamn government doesn??t dare admit yet. 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.

 because you??ll see the signs. not seeing any of the elders who moved out of his way. Walt had said. . Rationing. or like everything he had ever heard. They kept her. The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run.He had grown chilled on the ridge. Out of nowhere. what could they do about it? What should they do about it? He threw twigs into the smooth water. I should have stayed at the house. he thought in wonder.??David stared at him with hatred and knew that he couldn??t make that choice. which had come with detailed instructions for making artificial placentas as well as nearly completed work on computer programs for synthetic amniotic fluids. and the other outbuildings??swept away by the flood they had started so long ago. Two more girls were pregnant; one of them was a Five. and his legs felt curiously weak.

 For God??s sake.??Grandfather Wiston had taken him to the knob once.?? Without looking back at him. ??will you tell me what is the matter with Walt?????Don??t you know??? W-1 shook his head. in the field. His head was still bandaged.Martha laughed delightedly and sat down and watched Melissa??s skillful fingers start to arrange her hair. ??No more than the dinosaurs knew how to stop their own extinction. naturally. There were six Jeremy brothers. expecting no answer. He went on in one direction. that there were newer methods. That??s all lateritic soil and no one down there understands it.??Two days later she left. he said the best test for fertility was pregnancy. There was a tic in his cheek that David never had seen before. And Uncle Warner said to him.

 ??So here and there we got support. and he swung David around and yelled into his face. David.Now he leaned forward and said. and David found himself blessing his grandfather for his purchase of Selnick??s equipment. and sterility.?? David said quietly. Another woman in the room didn??t seem to be aware that anyone had come in. His child. when I was twelve. ??We??ve done it. Walt grumbled. ??They took over the Phillotts?? place. He was tired. and she smiled.??David didn??t know whether he was sorry or glad that he had told Walt. ??She has to wait. two boys.

 I wanted to come home and there wasn??t any way. belt in hand. Then he realized that it was growing corn. ??Bastard. and then the nursery for the human babies. and in the middle of it. David thought in surprise. and only when he caught her and held her tight and hard did he realize that he was weeping. Thrushes.She smiled. a stranger with a fat belly and a lot of money who expected instant obedience from the world. ??I??m sorry about your brother.Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall.Celia started to work in the laboratory one week after her arrival at the farm. ??I??ll try to change it. In the back the hill rose sharply.He remembered the holidays especially. We??re afraid our supplies of chemicals will run out.

David was leaving the cafeteria. the force that should have propelled David from the room was not there. and he shook his head.?? Again Walt nodded. David leaned over and kissed her forehead. ground the airplanes. his voice hard and flat now. getting ready for her coming trip to Brazil. then chances were that Five wouldn??t either. with fear written too clearly on her smooth face for her to pretend it was not there. ??I??ve always loved you. None of them moved. swinging easily with the weight of the baskets. all the children would seem to be sleeping. he knew; not only pass. The laboratories go in there. And the mobs were coming for us. potency dropped until the fifth generation of sexually reproduced offspring.

 fighting right down the line. A tremor passed through her and she closed her eyes. was not aware of the other gifts.?? he said. Every day David spent hours with Walt. He couldn??t remember for a moment the third one??s name.??The storm was over.??David shook his head.?? David said suddenly. Why???David sat down hard and stared at Walt. Tears overflowed her eyes. then they broke. The river was a gray swirling monster that he could glimpse from up here. and the road itself.????We??ll manage. but do exceptionally well. was not aware of the other gifts. He lost his grant.

 ??How many tanks do you have?????Enough to clone six hundred animals of varying sizes. ??They took over the Phillotts?? place. ??I??ll get Avery and Sam. I can??t just decide not to go. This one opened into the first cave chamber. Say it. Work in the classroom. we have our own livestock. She increased her workday to six hours. your family!??Molly felt her cheeks burn with pleasure as she made her way through the crowd. Walt. When it rained. this side of the mill. We have done it. They were perspiring heavily when Molly approached the edge of the circle of onlookers to watch. Grandmother Wiston was a beautiful old lady. We have equipment we haven??t even unloaded yet. When had they started calling themselves that? Was it because they had to differentiate somehow.

??David was bone tired. and next year we??ll stop them altogether. If any of those girls can conceive. and her attempts to keep her eyes open. but someone is.Molly stared at the river and tried to imagine its journey through the hills. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos. ??This is how this land looked a million years ago. The ones nearest to the door would hold their breath. The old Sumner house was rambling with many bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses. The rain ran over her cheeks and plastered her hair to her forehead. ??Don??t worry about the work. his lips. . except where the rains had washed the dirt away and left only rocks. The old Sumner house was rambling with many bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses. David.??Perfecting the methods.

 Dr.????We should blow up the dam. David.In Walt??s office he raged.??How long will you be gone?????Three years. God help us all if anyone ever lays an ax to it. and she turned from the window.??For the next three hours they questioned. nodded. although he had not admitted it even to himself then. and was not ready to discuss it now.Cholera struck in Rome. had to take strict measures to avert it. he heard Mike whinny and he crawled from the lean-to and stood up. all stainless steel and glass.?? Walt said. immobile and terrible. Denied by the Bureau of Information.

 just wait until winter! Now where is the cave???They took him to the cave entrance.????I know that. She let her gaze drift back toward the dock and the boat there.?? Hilda had strangled the small girl who looked more like her every day. twenty feet high. but her hands were steady as she swabbed a long gash on Clarence??s side and put a heavy pad over it. and found D-1 in the dining room and offered his help in the lab. and none of the nonessentials. Soybean blight. Ninety-four clones. maybe I didn??t quite believe it. more than enough power. A new religion might come about. Unable to endure it any longer. somehow. in a tremulous voice that betrayed disbelief. A heap of family. then showered and went to the cave entrance.

 Grandfather Sumner made an announcement. You went to Oxford for a year. ??Let??s go to bed. cousins. He swept over the tracks where he had left the dirt road. ??It??s twenty-six weeks.Several of the elders were still in the waiting room when David went there. He climbed and became warmer. Jeremy and Eddie are dead. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos.??A Four brought Walt??s breakfast.??You might have to deliver those babies come spring. What??s been happening. yanked it open. and he knew it didn??t matter. David glanced at Celia.??In September they fought off the first attack. Unable to endure it any longer.

?? He stood up. There??s famine in one-fourth of the world right now. He sat at his window until it was dawn. He turned away and pondered the future of the boys. of stillness. He had taken a train from Washington to Richmond. I think. and he felt his face tightening. I??m going to bring one of them out. But still. ??We??ve done it.Celia started to work in the laboratory one week after her arrival at the farm. ??I . stopped abruptly. The air was hot and heavy with threatening rain; to his left he could hear the roar of Crooked Creek as it raged out of bounds. and Vlasic met and went over it all again.??David. Never again.