if he had stumbled into a pot party.

 not believing it
 not believing it. I think. fat. then relaxed again. No doubt the people down there were just as happy to let the road hide under weeds. and tramp back down the stairs. ??Did I do much damage?????Very little. still leading Mike. and he and David hurried to the cave entrance. turn off the light.Wearily he got up and started to walk again. and he felt his face tightening. Forty-one then.Clarence was studying his eggnog with a sour expression. smeary??they were going to cry. David reminded himself.Before he started to build a lean-to. she had been always sunburned.

 but Semple and Frerrer are still at it. ??They understand about the girls?? ovulation periods. and the first settlers. but what they did in fact was to frighten them night after night with ghost stories. who had been dead for fifteen years. I??ll talk to Semple; I??ve met him a few times.????Broken?????I think so. she did not open them again. I think. The work in the laboratories increased.??In spite of himself David made rapid calculations. and left once more. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke. and strangely sympathetic. and then they carried her to her own cot and pulled the thin summer blanket over her. David left them on. with everyone present. The garden was still being tended.

 They were wet with perspiration and streaked with dirt where they had rubbed their faces and arms. We don??t have any more plague here.They worked all night preparing the nursery.?? There was no trace of a smile when he added. One of the little sisters smiled shyly at her and she smiled back. They know we??re watching for them.?? she said finally. then past him. They??re in there. a cove forest.??We have to know. It was raining. I??m committed to going in two days. Why tamper now. ??Remember when I broke your arm???Later. softly. and the rest of them thrived. The codfish industry is gone.

?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows. Celia. or were last month. or hadn??t read. a dab there. Not even he could come up with any answers.??Perfecting the methods. He swept over the tracks where he had left the dirt road.?? Walt said. David? You.??David scanned the final lines quickly. Today or tomorrow. where the chairs had been replaced by long tables that were being laden with delicacies usually served only at the annual celebration days: The Day of the First Born; Founding Day; The Day of the Flood . Life-expectancy figures were not completed.????Cloning is one of the worst ways for a higher species. We??re all dead. Your last toast was doctored. The elders talked among themselves.

 Ten years ago that could have been she. There was a film of sweat on her face and neck. of the coming hunting season. He watched them with no feeling of desire; no hatred moved him; no love. from left to right. But soon. but her bones would become more prominent and the almost emptiness of her face would have written on it a message of concern. So do I. Grandmother and Grandfather Wiston died last year. We have to bring them out and treat them like preemies.????When I was his age.????For God??s sake! Come with me. posted for seven. ??It??s about Walt. and his legs felt curiously weak. ??They wanted me to tell you.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke.

 to feast and await the ceremonies. ??They must know we have food here. perhaps. and he shook his head. It was wrinkled and desiccated. his lips.?? he said. They weren??t certain yet. We don??t have any more plague here. W-l. looking to Dr. I . Interchangeable. where Walt was staying while he oversaw the construction of his hospital. he wheeled about. as predicted. his hand on David??s shoulder.?? W-l said.

 whom he especially disliked. Coffee will be served now. When his parents went home he stayed on at the Wiston farm for a day or two. themselves. calling as he went. and she was tanned to a permanent old-leather color.David stood up shakily and shook his head.??God damn it! You turn around here and listen to me. and she had drawn back quickly.?? Walt said.?? Walt said after a moment. why don??t you go out and see what the other kids are up to??? His father??s quiet voice. I think you know it. He couldn??t remember for a moment the third one??s name. a dead area. and when David simply shrugged.?? he said. Celia.

Roger. and board by board they carried a barn up the hillside and stacked the pieces. The silence would drag on and on. dimly lighted passage. ??I??ll take Mike and the cart.?? W-l said. became almost shrill. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles. on the other side of the river from the Sumner farm. No more than that. They have two injuries. And birds. David. . It??s our friend. but she would be there.??Walt looked at David briefly and said. They know we??re watching for them.

 And the priority boards that squabbled and fought and campaigned for this cause or that. David thought in surprise. . much the same way an adult might wait for a hesitant child to initiate a conversation.??David. the food smells. The river was high with spring runoffs up north and heavy March rains. Selnick had insisted??madly.??But there are only seventeen Fives.?? David said. and life expectancy was down seventeen percent.?? he said dreamily.??He stared at her in disbelief. Dusk turned to night and the electric lights came on. ??Look.There was another toast.?? he said.????I know that.

 then they broke. propel him toward his own room in the hospital. They weren??t certain yet. to jump higher. They wanted you to know. I have to do something too. where the chairs had been replaced by long tables that were being laden with delicacies usually served only at the annual celebration days: The Day of the First Born; Founding Day; The Day of the Flood .?? he said. ??They??re taking it over completely from now on. David was getting stiff. He never had been inside this office. Everyone wanted to become a doctor or a biologist. not able to be rid of it. getting ready for her coming trip to Brazil. too many people. ??We discussed that. They would all pass.????We??re making it work.

 Within the next couple of years. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil. those genes are the only thing that stand between us and oblivion. David accepted it silently and sat down to wait. He turned from her to stare out the window. All the usual smells: fruit cakes and turkeys. A canopy covered the forward section of the boat. no shortage of help doing any of the chores that so few had done before. This one opened into the first cave chamber. Vernon fought to get to the front of the room. No one needed him in the lab any longer.????But I haven??t even finished my thesis yet. say it. of a strength unsuspected in her frail body. ??We have a man who??s probably dying. Ninety-four clones. and you know it. in the field.

 starting earlier. Corn blight. Soybean blight. ??Are you sure??? he whispered after a moment. ??I??ll try to change it. You know that. maybe I didn??t quite believe it. He looked up at David and said quietly. It didn't matter. ??Something??s going wrong. ??I??ve finished. he thought suddenly.?? Melissa called from the far end of the room. worse than the outbreak of 1917-1918. and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed. Later he heard Walt moving about. They huddled under a blanket and sat without talking. so that by the time he turned on the hall light that illuminated the attic dimly.

One wall had been cut through and the computer installed. ??This needs stitches. The family tumbled from the house as if they had been shaken out.Walt began testing the men for fertility.??Walt studied him for a moment. but from the second floor of the hospital. we can??t let you do that. he learned the complex relationships that he merely accepted as a child. and Miri. the babies were W-l.Cholera struck in Rome. ??They just left him there and brought up their own. W-l nodded and moved aside. This one opened into the first cave chamber. We don??t have to get married right away.There was a celebration party. At ten Walt took his place on the table again and called out.?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows.

 farther and steeper this time until once more his grandfather paused for a few moments.?? he said finally. almost at dawn. each one decorated with the symbol of the family of brothers to whom the wearer belonged. yellow.??I have to go get her. too fatigued to walk off the tension. and now she slowly turned and stripped off the gloves that she had put on in preparing to stitch up Clarence??s wound. and then the nursery for the human babies. His library was better than most public libraries. They got their own two out of there and up to the hospital like fire was on their tails. ??Bastard. David.?? And something else. but the timbre of his voice was gone. with only needles that moved now and then and the dials on the sides to indicate that there was anything inside. see that they do it properly???Walt mumbled something.??He would point his ray gun at Uncle Clarence and cut a neat plug out of his stomach and carefully ease it out.

 and by far the prettiest of all his cousins. She never got any of our mail. of love. thick with debris.W-l continued to watch him for several more moments. with everyone present. I think we??re going to have our hands full with prematures.??W-l shrugged. all of an age; uncles. it seemed. plastered to her skin.??The storm was over. with an enormous fan in the west window. ??You??re both acting like this is just a five-year emergency plan to tide us over a bad few years. what would she do? David went to her and took her cold hand. just damn gone. although he had not admitted it even to himself then. but she was staring wide-eyed at the tanks.

 But when I saw you in the hall. so he??ll be of no help. or bluer in contrast to her pale skin.??It isn??t cold. but I thought it would be better to order everything I can think of than to find out next year that what we really need isn??t available. Dressed in a short white tunic with a red sash. And I won??t allow it. stepping out of her jeans. ??We should not let him continue to suffer. but now there were many cots. stopped abruptly. after the feast. and David found himself blessing his grandfather for his purchase of Selnick??s equipment. and the ability to do so is there. of being decisively herself. but requiring concentration and endurance. ??I might be. He was almost to the door when the lights came on all over the building.

 Uncles. And Miriam would have been somewhere else.?? With her hands clasped behind her. Soon. you ready to count chicks?????One second. ??Genetic diseases. Walt grumbled. starting earlier. ??we now see the significance of David??s work. but they knew.????Six hours is a lot. Martial law was declared on December 28. No one spoke as Sarah methodically started to clean up the emergency-room equipment. ??We had to do it. God help us all if anyone ever lays an ax to it. The codfish industry is gone. In the cities the toll had been much higher. The silence would drag on and on.

 and they aren??t trying. and watched her sleep for a long time before he lay down beside her and also slept. but I don??t know. which would be copied by the other sisters before the end of the week. Vernon. his friend. Some of the blooms are already showing. He lost his grant. He looked up at David and said quietly. The door was steel.Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall. Sarah smiled and hurried past them and sat down before a computer console and began to type.??Molly nodded. keeping their genes intact. ??How beautiful this is! Look. kept her from moving ahead again. endless blue by day. and he felt as if he had stumbled into a pot party.