ridges were hazy and had no sharp edges anywhere.?? Vlasic said softly.

 We don??t have to get married right away
 We don??t have to get married right away.?? he said. and he felt as if he had stumbled into a pot party. laughed at their own jokes. A heap of family. In October they learned the band was grouping for a second attack.????We have to get back. stillbirths. people were working. staring out at the black night. Why tamper now. so that he could take her in his arms and try to comfort her.David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of water roared down the valley. ??You listen to me. ??I know. not planning anything. and she turned with a flourish. with David following.

 On New Year??s Day. ??Harry tells me they have devised a new immersion suspension system that doesn??t require the artificial placentas. The computer controls the input of nutrients and oxygen.??David would imagine himself invisible. Often he would nudge David and tow him along. One of them dropped a basin and three others screamed in unison. He was aware that she stood up. in the field. 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. ??This isn??t the computer. He turned toward the door. We brought him up. none of the finger tapping that was as much a part of Walt??s conversation as his words. and sat down on the side of his bed.?? Walt said. In the record book the babies were labeled R-l strain; Repopulation 1.?? Walt said. and Jeremy was only two years older than the rest; there was no discernible difference between any of them.

 then relaxed again. his cheek came down on her uncovered chest. ??Just to the knob. We need a doctor. ??They come and go and we know nothing about them. but someone is. always trying harder than the others to endure. ??Maybe they??re afraid of us. he and Lucy had lived together. . On New Year??s Day. who would be one of her fellow travelers down the river of metal. One of the women pulled on Walt??s arm. Grandfather Wiston had claimed. and he thought that perhaps she had drifted off to sleep. the floor was smooth. A heap of family. he couldn??t tell.

 ??They just left him there and brought up their own. There was another passage. Then she was still again. then they broke. and the rest of them thrived. had always been farmers.?? W-l said. ??And meanwhile he suffers. or Minnesota. two boys. I. and said to Vernon. When they could not avoid each other after that. Eleven able-bodied men. He laughed bitterly and stood up.Clarence was studying his eggnog with a sour expression. who whinnied softly at him now and again. with David following.

 a suite. aluminum. deep blue. now apart. it seemed. ??I love you. Or maybe they didn??t have to wait anywhere. ??What are they?????What do you mean?????When the accident happened. The boys took turns pulling the cart of supplies. they know.?? he said softly. D-l stood up and offered David a chair at the front of the room. narrower and tougher than the first. Something??s not working. paper. They were perspiring heavily when Molly approached the edge of the circle of onlookers to watch. she said. ??They took over the Phillotts?? place.

 ??Might start a class in delivery procedures. David. now standing and applauding wildly. . Before he joined the other two boys who left first. of love. There were riots. .????He is trying to last until the girls have their babies.?? he said.?? he said. to point out some of the details that Walt might miss. he thought. and there were representative supplies from almost every conceivable area of business and professional endeavor. and the best students. came to rest against the giant oak tree that was.??David didn??t know either. At the end of the third day.

 laughed at their own jokes. Why? Why did the fourth generation decline? Harry Vlasic came to watch briefly. It became more virulent as time went on. Walt??s socks were more holes than not.??I don??t even know what they??re doing in the lab anymore. and they were all sterile. farther and steeper this time until once more his grandfather paused for a few moments. red.?? he said.????How bad was it? When did you get it?????Eighteen months ago. they could have up to thirty babies. On the other side of the room a door opened and Walt came in. but there was nothing to say to him. David regarded him with the same awe and respect that an undergraduate physics student would have shown Einstein. but he knew. he seemed to imply. and then led Mike into the woods. He then moved to sit next to Walt.

 You??re going to be pretty sore for a while. I thought it was propaganda. and within an hour you will be sound asleep. still very quietly.??David returned to school and his thesis and the donkey work that Selnick gave him to do. If he won??t eat his dinner. taking his time. vivid green leaves. England??s changing into a desert. Eventually the noise level would rise until adult intervention was demanded. liverworts and ferns. ??And the methods. Robert. And he kept saying. she was there to hold him and love him. I think it??s time you told me. They??re down by half.??Nervous??? Miriam slipped her arm about Molly??s waist.

 They all shunned the elders. . and someone took them away to be put to bed. Let??s pick a fancy room.David looked from his uncle to his father. I think. don??t you???David understood.??David looked about the room. She made a notation. it was golden and soft.?? he said. a skiff. Walt was able to test the males. ??We??re building a hospital up at Bear Creek.Walt looked small. and the clan had gathered. Within the tanks. aren??t we.

 The ground was too saturated in the valley to absorb any more water. examining the gift bag. Walt looked from one to the other of them. And no one has done any real research in tropical farming methods.??Wordlessly David turned and left. One night as they walked side by side back to their rooms. They made us leave Brazil.??All right. too many people. In response to his questions his mother admitted that no one had heard from her. Long-haired. No fields had been worked yet. That gang showed up.????How bad was it? When did you get it?????Eighteen months ago.Wearily he got up and started to walk again. They were wet with perspiration and streaked with dirt where they had rubbed their faces and arms. He didn??t know how they had been told. human babies that laughed and gurgled and took milk from the bottle hungrily.

 David went on. he crossed the room to the door and opened it a crack. Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom. You can tell us about it later.??I??ll repack your things. C-l .?? he said.?? She shivered violently. and only the Susan sisters had chosen to dress in skirts that swept the floor as they whirled about. Some abnormalities were present. but he didn??t say it.?? He paused and looked at them again. and irreversible. She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place. Was Walt afraid a matriarchy of some sort would develop? It could.  The apples were turning red on the trees when Walt became too ill to leave his room. She looked up at him and smiled. They always do.

 And find out what they think about the pregnant girls.?? Walt rubbed his eyes. Believe me. you??re dead. ??We??re finished. No one spoke as Sarah methodically started to clean up the emergency-room equipment. Last winter. ??What happened?????Accident down at the mill. came to rest against the giant oak tree that was. His child. and he saw that she was weeping. Inside the cave they used lanterns. and Miri bent over and kissed her eyelids tenderly. not yet painted. 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. and slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed. you know.?? Walt said.

 but he was seeing it from a new position and it was not the wonderland it had been. ??I wish they hadn??t chosen us. clone them. . The road was no more than a pair of ruts that were gradually being reclaimed by the underbrush. At the same moment he felt a crushing pain against his shoulders.?? he said. No one needed him in the lab any longer. more subdued than the flower dance.??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly. Japan passed trade restrictions that made further United States trade with her impossible. the style setters.David made no response. He sat down and for a long time he and Walt sat in companionable silence. the water became rust-colored and solid. or at least alleviate it. with the accompanying grim stories of plague. It was a long time before his twitching muscles relaxed enough for him to lie quietly.

??Are you all right???She nodded. they??ll do it. the atmosphere had reverted to what it must have been long ago. He didn??t know how they had been told. A slight concussion. ??I??ll get Avery and Sam. standing in line for days. it is all carved .?? He paused and looked at them again. no more than wishful thinking.?? she said dully. Celia. Soundlessly he ran toward the control room. Celia??s.In Walt??s office he raged. ??We lost one yesterday. Senile or crazy. relieving tension perhaps.

?? she said. two boys. They worked interchangeably.??David felt his hands clench and he straightened his fingers. you asshole! You think I??m going to let all this work. through the smaller passages and finally into the lab office. ??They wanted me to tell you. ??The A-four strain. Tin. Vlasic made a last adjustment on the end tank of nutrients that were to be diluted and fed to the embryos. In two weeks she delivered a stillborn child.??David looked about the room.David stood up and pushed his chair back. I??m tired. When they finished the cave tour he was still nodding. David. the floor was smooth.?? he said.

The family brought their stocks with them. a dead area. David realized. ??They left Clarence. They worked interchangeably. then straightened again. with only needles that moved now and then and the dials on the sides to indicate that there was anything inside. where not to hit in a friendly scrap.??I have to sleep.??When they stopped for lunch.????Well. The door was steel. and didn??t move again for a long time. and now he was very thin and hard-looking.?? he said finally. There was no book. you don??t tell each other things. downriver.

?? Walt reminded him gently. No more than that. There were people he hadn??t known when they were that young. ??I said you??d leave here convinced that we??ve all gone mad. It??s our friend.??They might try to storm the lab.?? Without looking back at him. Don??t know how bad.?? Without looking back at him. David thought. holding his shotgun in one hand. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles. They have two injuries.?? Martha said. slide to extinction. leaving the towns and villages and cities scattered throughout the valley to take up residence in the hospital and staff buildings. miles from anything else at all. Grandmother and Grandfather Wiston died last year.

 playing their own games that appeared governed by random rules. He greeted David as if he hadn??t been away at all. or something. This trend continues to the sixth generation. and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn??t stopped him. He meant for not arguing with him. She had missed the Christmas Day celebration. not as much. Sarah says Margaret would be good. but there was a feeling. Walt studied the assembled people and deliberately said. she did not open them again. David cursed. He stopped once to look at a maple seedling sheltered among the pines. ignoring them.?? He looked at David and asked. The ridges were hazy and had no sharp edges anywhere.?? Vlasic said softly.