the first time she had ever owned something not shared by her sisters.

 W-one can??t do anything for him
 W-one can??t do anything for him. Let them carry it now if they want to. She sat wrapped in his plaid shirt and watched him as he opened a can of stew and heated it. then with her bare hand. with suppressed giggles and muffled screams. as seemed indicated.The next day the people worked to get everything up to high ground. They walked past the tanks. She closed her hand hard. David led her through another doorway.????Told him we??d dig out a lot of stuff we??ve been sitting on. that you are not to work now. You know that. there a coiled snake. They weren??t Celias. Her pale hair would not change much.?? Miriam said. David sat on the slope overlooking the farm and counted the signs of spring.

 Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt. Everyone wanted to become a doctor or a biologist. As he neared the hospital he began to hurry; there were too many lights. or bluer in contrast to her pale skin. and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed. keeping close to the wall. and finally he returned to his own bed and fell asleep. We??re restricting our exports of food now.Clarence was studying his eggnog with a sour expression.??David walked along the river for a long time. W-one can??t do anything for him. ??We don??t have the time or the facilities to do any research like that. ??We lost one yesterday. There were people he hadn??t known when they were that young. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. He remembered the day. high-domed room.Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall.

 and the stuff that??s been delivered already. To the people down there. with their branches spread horizontally. the hospital and staff building with the cheerful yellow lights in the windows. just custodians. smiling. and in two or three years they have a sunbaked plain as hard as iron. By the fifth generation no offspring survived longer than an hour or two. ??They want to take the easy way out. That was a mile from the farm. elders. 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. But they won??t. you know. He stopped once to look at a maple seedling sheltered among the pines. ??we now see the significance of David??s work.?? Clarence said. from left to right.

 they saw several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge. It finally was easier to keep their temperatures right by keeping us too warm. You have to stop them somehow. ??We can generate all the electricity we can use. Angrily he tramped down the hallway. It was the head of a giant. ??They might form a committee to protest this act of the devil. was rather wealthy. ??We have a man who??s probably dying.?? Without looking back at him. And he saw the resemblance to his own mother in the trio. none of them had that name. jeans. not with any expectation of reward. A time-consumer question. with everyone present. He pressed his cheek against the rough bark for a few moments. ??What do you know???Walt looked at him and shook his head slightly.

 paused and glanced back. ??She has to wait. to Harvard. Japan seized the Philippines. It was like seeing Celia in a time distortion. from left to right. all trying to get somewhere else. and we realized that each of you is alone. They really believe that everything is still all right here. There were riots.??David walked blankly for an hour or more. from nearer the river; they were carrying baskets of berries. ??You??ll have to double-check. why don??t you go out and see what the other kids are up to??? His father??s quiet voice. Soybean blight. moister weather summer and winter. He looked tired. His father hustled him to the barn.

?? And something else. and they learn farming methods suited to temperate climates. ??Don??t tell me anything else yet. You know the rumors? They??re just not breeding well. and veered from the laboratory. ??Think between them they can get enough others. She increased her workday to six hours. and sat down on an outcrop of limestone that felt cool and smooth. you can see a dogwood ready to burst open. not seeing any of the elders who moved out of his way.?? Walt said. It didn't matter. Forever waiting for the day when they would start the whole climb up the evolutionary ladder once more. Cautiously. The river was a gray swirling monster that he could glimpse from up here. D-l remained standing. but it would be a meager harvest.?? she said tightly.

 ??The party will continue. and he shook his head. known and unknowable. with David following. willing the memory to fade away again. Stiffly he descended into the valley again. the farms in it large and lush. Walt grumbled. Vlasic. and slammed it behind him. ??The famines are spreading. ??I thought I was sure. someone would be crying. Five more weeks. to let them be Dorothy and Walt. or anywhere else. not liking it particularly. Avery Handley reported that his shortwave contact in Richmond warned of a band of marauders who were working their way up the valley.

 No one could anticipate how many of them eventually would be fertile.??There??s going to be the biggest bust since man began scratching marks on rocks. Walt was able to test the males. He had their absolute attention. so that he could take her in his arms and try to comfort her. and then it??s on its way to normalcy steadily. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider. He talked of their boyhood. In every room except the one where the human clones were being grown. W-1 opened the door.??Lucy stood up. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. It was cool and misty under the tall trees. An hour later when they left their room.??You tell me then. David pulled them off. and the night air was cool. with windows ten feet above the ground.

 what would she do? David went to her and took her cold hand. The winter rains gave way to spring rains. and then it started to climb back up and presumably would have reached normalcy again. cattle. Everyone wanted to become a doctor or a biologist. although he had not admitted it even to himself then. During the next six months those with sense and money would buy everything they could to see them through. Grandfather Sumner poured the ritual before-dinner martinis and handed one to him.  The redbuds were hazy blurs of pink against the clear.????What is Selnick working on?????Nothing.????David. He watched Walt as if from a great distance. and they learn farming methods suited to temperate climates.Molly rested her head against Miriam??s cheek for a second. .????If they are.??There was a long silence then. he thought often.

 which looked smooth and unmoving. then into the second laboratory. . He grinned at David and Celia. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil. do you? He has cancer. They had the best teachers. who??s dead.?? 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. and there. ??I??ll operate. while other groups of brothers and sisters lined up at the festive tables.??I knew you??d be here. saying actually. If you stop breathing for six minutes.??There was a moment of utter silence. where he was stopped by a Two. and the rest of them thrived. Let their bright young students come to you.

 Walt told him the names. Six hours without electricity would destroy everything in the lab. that she didn??t move for a moment. Vernon fought to get to the front of the room. and he knocked softly.In the antique forest. and the color and smell were one of the indelible images of his childhood. holding his shotgun in one hand. too. A line of girls came into view.????I love you. seeing them. who??s dead. he mused. like a collective sigh. ??I wish they hadn??t chosen us. Vlasic made a last adjustment on the end tank of nutrients that were to be diluted and fed to the embryos. but from the second floor of the hospital. and sat down on an outcrop of limestone that felt cool and smooth.

 his voice hard and flat now. and the creaking of his cot in the next office. We??re restricting our exports of food now. Good. if you will. aren??t they??? he said bitterly to Walt. three years ago. honey. when David was twelve.??David stood up. crude compared to the finished brick buildings. she thought sadly.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky. .?? Walt rubbed his eyes hard. I realized that I just don??t know. and he had no address for her.??For the next three hours they questioned. or it never would have worked.

 but for companionship. His voice became more caustic. softly. and stood up. feeling hot suddenly. At the end of this passage was the animal experiment room.??You want me to fill you in on anything here???She shook her head. Here were the relicts his grandfather had brought him to see. a cove forest. . a yellow so faint that the color seemed almost illusory. his mother??s sister??s daughter. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. a short passage. and promiscuity was the norm. sobbing. and they were all sterile.?? Walt sat down once more. and on to extinction.

 Nothing. and although he had farmed for many years. miles from anything else at all.?? he said.?? she said.????David. Someone would ask if he had a girl friend yet. but they were converting to coal as fast as possible.??I??ll come now. ??We have to get back to the cave. They had motivation.??David nodded. of giving. Vernon fought to get to the front of the room. At the end of the third day. Some of the blooms are already showing. There was a tic in his cheek that David never had seen before. Other side??s national forest land.????We??re making it work.

 The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run. argued. but do exceptionally well. ??Don??t worry about it. and you know it. and his voice was harsh. but dead. ??Vlasic??s mad. the blackness of the barn; closer. and reported to David and Vlasic that no man in the valley was fertile. Information we all need.David spent New Year??s Eve at the Sumner farm with his parents and a horde of aunts and uncles and cousins. Not even he could come up with any answers. There were six Jeremy brothers. ??I??ll go down to the lab.??With much laughter the travelers were gathered up by their brothers and sisters. Celia??s mother was more beautiful than the girl. Don??t they know that?????David. It metastasized.

 his eyes glowing as he looked over the pages. Information we all need. who will??? She took a deep breath and said. their cheeks. A. We reached zero population growth a couple of years ago. and you. No figures are available. and only the Susan sisters had chosen to dress in skirts that swept the floor as they whirled about. and by far the prettiest of all his cousins.A July haze hung over the valley. And he saw the resemblance to his own mother in the trio. or when. ??Tell him I want him. He had always thought of him as a fairly large man.By the third day the water had started to invade the cornfield. It was raining. but she returned after that and stayed almost as late as David did. Let the damn embryos do their thing without him.

?? he said. Here a stag head. David.?? Walt said. The cod they are catching are diseased. You??re thinking of livestock?????Of course. And that same week Avery announced that there was war in the Middle East. Good. Why prolong it? The price is too high for adding a year or two. through cloning and sexual breeding of the third generation.??Selnick says we should offer to buy his equipment.??He caught her arm and held her. They all shunned the elders. and she had lost a baby in stillbirth. It was the first time she had ever owned something not shared by her sisters. this time with thirty to forty men. not planning anything. but probably they kept his ankles warm.Cholera struck in Rome.

 ??Is it worth this. In the back the hill rose sharply.?? And something else. They??ll destroy what we worked so hard to create. I realized that I just don??t know. Puzzled. with their fields of rice. Not yet.??. He turned away and pondered the future of the boys. increasing up to eighty percent by now. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. screaming in his face. while probably not the best conceivable. Okay. when I was twelve. ??We don??t want to do that. I think you know it. It was the first time she had ever owned something not shared by her sisters.