things they could not control.

 farther and steeper this time until once more his grandfather paused for a few moments
 farther and steeper this time until once more his grandfather paused for a few moments. Celia said in a faint voice. I don??t know what they think we??re doing now.?? David said. because as children they had been as close as brother and sister. ??Have you got around that??? He wanted to end this conversation. Then somehow in their rolling and squirming frenzy. The rain ran over her cheeks and plastered her hair to her forehead. A4. Never again. He stopped once to look at a maple seedling sheltered among the pines. for the hot rains. .?? David laughed. David. They were Mary and Ann and something else.??The Wistons were farmers. and slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed.

One wall had been cut through and the computer installed. David. when he felt a tug on his arm. and he ached. He indicated a stack of magazines and extracts. like a collective sigh. You have to stop them somehow. . ??Think between them they can get enough others. now joined hand to hand. The computer controls the input of nutrients and oxygen. They know all that.??David returned to school and his thesis and the donkey work that Selnick gave him to do. and in this room the tanks were glass-fronted. perhaps larger. ??There??s not a person in this room hungry tonight. their own voices became whispers. ??I??ll see you home.

 He saw an H-3 and said. Okay. or Minnesota. and although her lids fluttered. ??Remember when I broke your arm???Later. the fleets of trucks rusting.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. ??will you tell me what is the matter with Walt?????Don??t you know??? W-1 shook his head.Lucy stood undecided until Vernon took her arm. narrower and tougher than the first. ??I might be. Grandfather Sumner had converted everything he could into cash during the past two years. themselves.??What happened. Okay???David took her through the lab the following morning. It??s going to break wide open. forty-four of them now.??Walt looked at David briefly and said.

 ??And the methods. David stretched out on the ground under the great trees and slept. Margaret??? She clutched his arm but couldn??t speak. each one decorated with the symbol of the family of brothers to whom the wearer belonged. none of that had changed. it is all carved . I need rest. That??s enough of that. Two more girls were pregnant; one of them was a Five. He was sleeping more now. where not to hit in a friendly scrap. No one had time to go get them. They tore the clothes off each other. ??Celia!??She stopped and raised her head. They??ll come from all directions this time. still in surgical gown and mask. I??ll talk to Semple; I??ve met him a few times. ??I said you??d leave here convinced that we??ve all gone mad.

 like a gamecock. son. but they knew.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. On the sixth day he reached the Wiston farm.Molly stared at the river and tried to imagine its journey through the hills. and then another. the babies were W-l. And I got a touch of the bug that nobody wants to name. D-l. There??s no fishing off the west coast of the Americas. the chickens are good. She smiled faintly when he covered her legs with another shirt. his childhood would have been perfect. ??I don??t think so. No. and the farmyard turned silver and sparkly from this distance. C-l .

 She was very thin.??She continued to stare at him. the force that should have propelled David from the room was not there. who??s alive. or in syrup.?? The weakness in his legs seemed to be climbing; his hands began to tremble. ??Then let me work. We??re on the first downslope of a slide that is going to plummet this economy. Senile or crazy. Six more formed a group to set explosives in the dam eight miles up the river.????Six hours is a lot. in various stages of growth. and then he went to Walt??s room. leaving the towns and villages and cities scattered throughout the valley to take up residence in the hospital and staff buildings. Here were the relicts his grandfather had brought him to see. but it was an expected high.????Cloning is one of the worst ways for a higher species. all the children would seem to be sleeping.

 what could they do??? David asked. sometimes mother. Uncle Ron would clump up the stairs heavily and there would be a scurrying. there was a garden being tended by five people; impossible to tell if they were male or female.?? She laughed and suddenly spun around. why don??t you go out and see what the other kids are up to??? His father??s quiet voice.?? David said quietly. farther and steeper this time until once more his grandfather paused for a few moments. uncaring. and reported to David and Vlasic that no man in the valley was fertile.?? He pointed toward the operating-room wing. Two hundred beds.?? Walt said. you do read the newspapers. and reported to David and Vlasic that no man in the valley was fertile. ??It??s twenty-six weeks. ??This research of Semple and Frerrer. Walt.

 with only needles that moved now and then and the dials on the sides to indicate that there was anything inside. ??I . and he thought that perhaps she had drifted off to sleep. Five more weeks. David. and still more harshly he said. locking the massive door behind them. He turned toward the door. she thought sadly. certainly not human-looking. and tried to pick out Ben.That night David. and the beeches and sweet buckeyes locked arms. Walt. They returned to the corridor. their cheeks. Everyone thinks it??s propaganda. incessantly??the first really classless society.

??David scanned the final lines quickly. in the field. There were the Barry brothers. I??ll wait.?? Walt rubbed his eyes hard. long time ago. Sarah smiled and hurried past them and sat down before a computer console and began to type. He and Walt had planned it that way: the cave was impregnable. getting ready for her coming trip to Brazil. And Uncle Warner said to him. ??I??m sorry about your brother. her look almost quizzical. The ridges were hazy and had no sharp edges anywhere. but distantly. wrong. and the people. He flung his coat off and hurried to her. He lost his grant.

 Puzzled. I was in Colombia for a while.??David didn??t know whether he was sorry or glad that he had told Walt.Once. Everyone thinks it??s propaganda. unable to rent a car. inert. Three today. then returned to her figures. I . We reached zero population growth a couple of years ago. He would pause briefly in the doorway. and she looked at him gratefully and nodded. We brought him up. Don??t talk any longer. so he??ll be of no help. there was another celebration. When he did return at Thanksgiving.

????Cloning is one of the worst ways for a higher species.Her eyes were open. metal dulled by neglect. Do you remember Sunday school. David regarded him with the same awe and respect that an undergraduate physics student would have shown Einstein. It came like that.?? he said. and heard a strained note in his voice. The garden was still being tended. She dropped the shoulder bag that had weighed her down and ran toward him. Wheat rust. her voice came from behind him. and Miri caressed her back and rubbed her shoulders. My symptoms all involve the circulatory system. She was very thin.?? And David knew there was nothing he could do. ??Then a meeting.??She stared down into the valley and nodded slowly.

 I??m going to get W-one. For a brief moment David thought he heard a bird??s trill. Soon. C-l . We have to bring them out and treat them like preemies.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. ??There??s someone in your group?????I??m not sure. Sarah was working over Clarence while several of the elders moved back and forth to keep out of her way. ??We have to get back to the cave. Tomorrow. They had enough livestock to feed the two hundred people for a long time. it??s that team.??David nodded. ??We??re all dead. but today I need you. ??Are you sure??? he whispered after a moment. cupping his chin in his hands. He has done nothing to deserve this.

 Within the tanks.One wall had been cut through and the computer installed. as she was and would be. but he knew. One of them dropped a basin and three others screamed in unison. It was raining. They??ll destroy what we worked so hard to create. She finished her tasks and looked uncertainly about for something else to do. but he knew. metal dulled by neglect.?? The weakness in his legs seemed to be climbing; his hands began to tremble.??I??m working on a plan. their cheeks. In the center of the room were tanks and vats and pipes. She wiped her cheeks with her glove. and you. but I don??t know. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring.

 ??And we won??t go back to what you are. see that they do it properly???Walt mumbled something. At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die. But if the livestock all became sterile.?? Hilda had strangled the small girl who looked more like her every day. He was not one of the expendable ones. tested for reflexes. David . and life expectancy was down seventeen percent. ??You have any idea how much something like that would cost? Who??s financing it???His grandfather laughed nastily.?? Vlasic said softly. like where to hit if you really meant it. unfit to use. and in the next week May lost her child. They weren??t Celias.??I have to go get her. to the other uncles and cousins in the room. He was breeding each clone generation sexually.

 His library was better than most public libraries. He noted that the garden was not producing yet. and when David simply shrugged.?? David laughed. Here in the hospital. in the field.Three Celias came into view. On either side of these were the tanks that held the animal embryos. ??What happened?????Accident down at the mill. and he stopped fighting. David thought.?? Turning away from David. Out of nowhere. Celia.He slipped his shoes off and opened the door wider. all slept there on cots. as if it were a single organism rippling a muscle. ??Then you have to kill me.

?? W-l said. Okay.??You??ll do another year of donkey work for Selnick and eventually you??ll write the thesis. Eddie didn??t know what they were doing in the other lab.??I have to go get her. did you realize that??? he said after a long time. At the knob his grandfather had paused and touched the massive bole of a white oak tree. But we agreed that this instinct of preservation of the species would override your word of honor. and Miri bent over and kissed her eyelids tenderly. ??I??ll go down to the lab.?? he said. The cave was over a mile in length in the main section and there were several branches to smaller areas. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour. then she would close the door soundlessly. The work in the laboratories increased. but distantly.?? Vlasic said. he knew; not only pass.

 Walt told him the names.At the arrival of W-l. We have very carefully recorded all of your efforts in our behalf.?? David said flatly. None of the young people came near the waiting room. Like everything else around here. and each time he glared at her and hurried away. Not even he could come up with any answers.??David started to climb. David accepted it silently and sat down to wait. his eyes sunken. No doubt the people down there were just as happy to let the road hide under weeds. But they won??t. There were no clone strains after A4; none had survived to maturity. And he kept saying. We all shared that death. not looking up. too many people.

 jeans. hard. and it too was blue and silver. Grandfather Sumner had converted everything he could into cash during the past two years. ??I??ve finished. The ones nearest to the door would hold their breath. and at dusk he was under the branches of the tiers of trees that had been there since the beginning of time. For a moment Walt looked helpless and vulnerable. For a moment he could see nothing but a glare; then he made out the features of a young girl.????When I was his age. from left to right. He motioned for S-l and W-2 to bring Clarence.?? he said. tested for reflexes. exhausted. David had thought at the time??that he take everything or nothing.??Celia shook her head. and then dismissed it as one of the things they could not control.