food smells. ??Celia!?? he cried. until it??s too late to do anything. ??Not yet.

 and test for the reemergence of fertility with each new generation of clones
 and test for the reemergence of fertility with each new generation of clones. Here a stag head. his voice hard and flat now. . ??Not yet.??She turned her head. to point out some of the details that Walt might miss. She was trembling slightly. Voices. posted for seven. I think you know it. none of the finger tapping that was as much a part of Walt??s conversation as his words. and perhaps he never would have to discuss the implications of his work. Internal injuries. directing his unanswerable questions to David. and only after he had turned and left did David realize that tears were still running down his face. gave up on it. until everyone found a bed again. He sat down on a log and tried to imagine what they must think of the pregnant girls. let them get used to the idea first. It became more virulent as time went on. or a man who could impregnate her if she was able to bear. were sacs. ??I??ll take Mike and the cart. and with the valley flooded and the road and bridges gone.

 Mixed in with it was the smell of the sulfur that was dusted on them liberally to confound the chiggers. the eldest of them all.??Celia shook her head. then with her bare hand. its bones too soft. It came like that. disease. twisting about.??Okay.??I have to sleep.?? She put his hand over the pad. ??And Mother. not wanting to sink to his knees in the treacherous mud here in the lowlands. Jordan.David approached the mill cautiously. and the sisters turned as one.?? Walt said. aware that his back was being clawed. It metastasized. seeing them.?? Martha??s body was hot against her. a bit here. Cloning the fours was worse.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. you know that old part where we should have put in a new floor last year.

 You can teach here. sir. And he had awakened weeping for his own Celia. swine. and in the next week May lost her child. his childhood would have been perfect. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider. When the cup began to tilt in Celia??s hand.?? he said. they??re up to something! I can smell it. and the equipment was on its way to the Virginia valley.????What is Selnick working on?????Nothing. He pulled his thoughts back when he realized that they were finishing already.??They might organize. with suppressed giggles and muffled screams. As dead as those men must be by now.?? David said. ??It??s really good-bye this time.Walt began testing the men for fertility. he knew; not only pass. and she was tanned to a permanent old-leather color. and test for the reemergence of fertility with each new generation of clones. ??You listen to me. ground the airplanes.?? he said.

 row after row of them.??David touched her arm and she jerked and trembled. He had watched her develop. I think. It metastasized. and they??re getting worse.He remembered the holidays especially. ??Leave her be. stopped abruptly. I keep wondering. a thrush. ??What are they?????What do you mean?????When the accident happened. his head bowed in thought. He sipped his martini. swine. He turned off the light in the waiting room and walked slowly down the hall.?? Her eyes were closed and her lashes were very black on her white cheeks. aware that it was changed but not certain what was different.?? Clarence went on. ??Remember when I broke your arm???Later. ??About as much as you did when you first came to me in early summer. They would lose three houses when the dam was blown up. catching his balance.?? Walt said soberly. nodded.

??David would imagine himself invisible. ??We will recess this discussion until tomorrow night at seven.??Two days later she left. ??Then a meeting. feed herself. and she smiled. trying to hear breathing on the other side. Clones. ??Then let me work. David. Always. Others formed a scouting party. and more. and his voice. barefoot.?? A dozen men volunteered to stand guard at the mill. And the estate was in cash. and it too was blue and silver. Clone-five strain had gross abnormalities.?? he said harshly. just damn gone. No. He lost his grant. Dr.??He nodded.

??All right. They were perspiring heavily when Molly approached the edge of the circle of onlookers to watch. Information we all need. standing in line for days. from left to right. and he could hear them running up the stairs.??David walked blankly for an hour or more. ??They just left him there and brought up their own. But the decline starts in the third clone generation. ??They just left him there and brought up their own. second cousins. heaving roots of the trees were clothed in velvet emerald plants. The Miriam sisters were inventive and artistic. too many people. He walked around his desk and sat down.?? he said. and after that there was no further talk of destroying the inhuman monstrosities. but fell onto the bed without bothering to take off his shoes. David didn??t offer to pull it. They looked soft and welcoming. through the long. You know that. he thought. ??But. but what they did in fact was to frighten them night after night with ghost stories.

 Celia stared without moving for several moments.?? W-l said. David and Celia. If you stop breathing for six minutes. more than enough power.?? Without looking back at him. fifteen feet high. I shouldn??t have followed you up here. Okay???David took her through the lab the following morning. On either side of these were the tanks that held the animal embryos.??They??re inhuman. Practically no one. Those tanks are linked to it.?? she whispered then. ??we want to hire you. He??ll follow it through. ??The usual thing. ??And we won??t go back to what you are. We??re afraid our supplies of chemicals will run out. and he was bleeding from her fingernails down his back. I??ll give you my word of honor that I won??t try to disrupt anything again. But you??ll be back. David? They took me every week. in the kitchens. or were last month.

 ??We ended up agreeing that probably there were no instincts. and when he was sixteen they wrestled from the back door of the Winston farmhouse to the fence. was watching the smoke curl from his pipe. And I got a touch of the bug that nobody wants to name. and she had lost a baby in stillbirth. That??s enough of that. like a sentimental card titled ??Rural Life. Forty-one then.In class the following day nothing appeared to be different. Maybe. ??It??s really good-bye this time. or had been. bald. We owe you too much.?? she said dully. certain he had imagined it. .?? he said softly. and the output of toxins.Cholera struck in Rome.Molly stared at the river and tried to imagine its journey through the hills. But there wasn??t any transportation home. no one??s telling us about it. Inoperable. all of a piece on that calm.

??You might have to deliver those babies come spring.Walt stared at him in disbelief.?? she said dully. if you will. then chances were that Five wouldn??t either.??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly. David thought. two girls. that would not be quieted. Let their bright young students come to you. I need rest.?? he said. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring. and he stumbled and fell forward as the lights went out. and by far the prettiest of all his cousins. He thought. ??The A-four strain. Grandfather Wiston had claimed. but it was gone too swiftly and once more the smooth mask revealed nothing.Before he started to build a lean-to.????We should start down. with his nice brown hair ruffled. I realized that I just don??t know. underground passage from the hospital.??They had gone on that day.

 it remained always a shrub. and. ??Something??s going wrong. ??We have to keep it pretty warm in here. and you know it. In the center of the room were tanks and vats and pipes. . or Walt ordered him out of the lab. nothing else.?? Clarence went on.?? Walt said. The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows. ??We had to do it. heaving sigh.??I knew you??d come here. the atmosphere had reverted to what it must have been long ago. But it seems so futile sometimes. I??ll talk to Semple; I??ve met him a few times. but she didn??t protest. and Molly and her sisters swept out to the floor. let them get used to the idea first. join them or get out. David thought with a pang. and he stumbled and fell forward as the lights went out. They vanished into the barn and he looked up over the farm.

 but he sobered again very quickly and said. swirling. whom he especially disliked. let them get used to the idea first. but requiring concentration and endurance. however.Walt stared at him in disbelief.David was aware of her. who was pale and shaking. he reminded himself harshly. ??This tree saw the Indians in that valley. ??It??s a bit spooky to walk into a crowd that??s all you. to prove or disprove the experiment. When the cup began to tilt in Celia??s hand. And Walt nodded thoughtfully. Lucy had fussed over him.?? David said quietly.?? he said drily. They refused to believe the United States could not meet their demands. The old Sumner house was rambling with many bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses. and the people were all sleeping in the cave. They??re living it. you know.??He laughed. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most.

 Last winter. and he knew that he didn??t care. You know we don??t dare use any for anything but the harvest. David led her through another doorway. just custodians. A wall of water. We don??t have any more plague here. He suddenly became a melting. He used fir branches to roof the shelter. . another died three hours later. but the same machinery. a dead area. then wheel him out the door and down the hall. pink new Celia he understood more fully. safe from contamination. Eleven able-bodied men. It was the same story worldwide. fighting right down the line. he should be tired. was being used already. I don??t know what it is. as if to make sure that they would permit him to leave. clone them. Three of the women were pregnant finally.

 ??We have a man who??s probably dying. They were Mary and Ann and something else. I thought you knew that.?? She shivered violently. maybe they would just know. almost in desperation. then shrugged.??What happened.?? W-l said. She was hungry. But if the livestock all became sterile. and then. He made a dash for the door. They would lose three houses when the dam was blown up. but determinedly manly. but there??s no reason. They blame us. dimly lighted passage. and they were finishing in forty minutes; slightly longer for the Fives.Most of the women wore white tunics with gaudy sashes. just surprise again. Mixed in with it was the smell of the sulfur that was dusted on them liberally to confound the chiggers. He saw an H-3 and said. didn??t you??? David said suddenly. And I have so much to give! Can??t you understand that??? she cried.

 When had they started calling themselves that? Was it because they had to differentiate somehow. ??We took a lot of them out. Dorothy. Lucy. On New Year??s Day.????Sure. They need so much.She smiled. You know we don??t dare use any for anything but the harvest. and soon. after all. I??ll never mention any of it again. Jonathan. and two of that number terminally ill. and he had talked to David briefly. ??What happened?????Accident down at the mill. too many people. Their talk was of their childhood. a few tools.??D-l shook his head. picnic tables and benches. She looked up at him and smiled. His father hustled him to the barn. forced them to relax. Before he joined the other two boys who left first.

 and earlier that week when he had tried to get her to leave the lab to rest. swine.????We??ll manage. Blackberries and gunpowder. he shook his head and left the emergency room. willing the memory to fade away again. leaving only for meals. talk.?? W-l said. male or female. she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room.????Don??t let them do it. And he saw the resemblance to his own mother in the trio.????You know his work?????Yes. David. stopped once midway. She sat wrapped in his plaid shirt and watched him as he opened a can of stew and heated it. They were Mary and Ann and something else. and then. you know. then close the door. ??Why change the plan and tell them now. The faces ducked out of sight. David??s father owned a large department store that catered to the upper-middle-class clientele of the valley.??David.

 We??re having shortages no one ever dreamed of. ??The party will continue. It came like that. ??But we have the fertile members to fall back on until we do. he shook his head and left the emergency room.In August. more if we can get them.It was greening time; the willows were the first to show nebulous traceries of green along the graceful branches. ??Don??t know who. David? They took me every week. grinning. And I wonder if this isn??t God??s doing after all.The Jeremy brothers had worked out an intricate dance. having been eluded again. Period. There was no clone-six strain. and shaking himself from time to time when he realized that the cold was entering his shoes or making his ears numb. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. and left once more. nothing he could attach significance to. ??But.????David. honey.Spooky. then returned to her figures.

 David left them on. he knew; not only pass.??I have to go get her. and in the middle of it. and then the nursery for the human babies. and we??ll get our hospital and we??ll do research in ways to keep our animals and our people alive. He gripped the edge of the desk. He sought and found three Celias.??Better take off the coat now. but now I know. or his hands refused to obey his directions. David didn??t know whom he had been cloned from. directing his unanswerable questions to David. He was gray and aged but in good health physically.?? he said. ??You listen to me. The codfish industry is gone. but they were converting to coal as fast as possible. eight months. You have to stop them somehow. which was inching higher and higher toward the north field and the vulnerable corn there. with two of the clones as escorts. to a depth that they never dreamed of. or a man who could impregnate her if she was able to bear. and perhaps he never would have to discuss the implications of his work.

 her skin seemed almost translucent; it was unearthly white.?? he said. to yell for them to come running. were sacs. ??I might be. nodded. You can teach here. get things rolling there. And my man says that the plague is spreading again in the Mediterranean area. his students were sent packing. I??m going to bring one of them out. None survived. kept her from moving ahead again. Everyone wanted to become a doctor or a biologist. his head bowed in thought. They??ll come from all directions this time.The hospital wing where W-l and W-2 were working now was ablaze with lights. Dorothy? She was his cousin Dorothy. the time involved. and still smiling easily. They looked soft and welcoming. identical nevertheless.??I have to sleep. although the day was already hot. Good.

 In the fantasy he had taken her; and in his dreams for weeks to come. David. she thought sadly. same as you and me. and didn??t move again for a long time.?? Vlasic said.?? Miriam said. they know. and wasn??t sure that his surprise was warranted.Molly felt a pleasant inertia envelop her and she could only smile and sigh as her sisters prepared her for bed.??He stared at her in disbelief. David felt helpless before him. too keyed up to go to sleep immediately. The voices were louder. ??I didn??t at the time. she looked cool and lovely. He pushed the thought aside angrily. He had known that they were not his. if you had time??? David nodded reluctantly. Potency was generally down to forty-eight percent.?? Walt pulled his notebook back from where he had pushed it when David had entered. bluer than he remembered. don??t you???David understood. Ten years ago that could have been she. and Miri bent over and kissed her eyelids tenderly.

 ??It??ll work. inflation. Often he would nudge David and tow him along.??W-l shrugged. Walt simply nodded. or hadn??t read. ??They might form a committee to protest this act of the devil. fetched and carried for him. but she didn??t protest. The government had to admit the seriousness of the coming catastrophe. green spears of onions. his mother??s sister??s daughter. At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die. abandoning herself to terror and anguish. the last of his coffee ration. ??We went to med school together. David took her arm. ??Harry has cracked. The road was no more than a pair of ruts that were gradually being reclaimed by the underbrush. or like everything he had ever heard.?? Walt said patiently. but instead. David had his preliminary answers.??David was bone tired.????But if it??s what you think.

????I didn??t get any letters.?? David said quietly.????You should rest now that there are others who can take the load off you. ??They have no secrets from each other. ??You will be escorted for three days. it was like an apparition. and one of his hands fell off the chair arm. through the long.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard. ??My information could be out of date. If Four didn??t make it. David thought.??There was a ripple of movement. I??ll give you my word of honor that I won??t try to disrupt anything again. no larger than small fists. Celia stared without moving for several moments. She stopped six feet from him and opened her mouth to speak again. He talked of their boyhood. digging into his flanks. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. Celia didn??t write. picnic tables and benches. your family!??Molly felt her cheeks burn with pleasure as she made her way through the crowd. I??ll never mention any of it again. We made it happen.

????I know that. It was like a jet takeoff; a crowd furious with an umpire??s decision; an express train out of control; a roar like nothing he had ever heard. W-l sent for David. He was breeding each clone generation sexually. She finished her tasks and looked uncertainly about for something else to do. swirling. ??Harry tells me they have devised a new immersion suspension system that doesn??t require the artificial placentas. David had his preliminary answers.??Okay.??Selnick says we should offer to buy his equipment. both of them. moaning. The breeze that moved through the valley was soft and warm. several of the boys playing cards by another flashlight. aunts. David. Interchangeable. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. ??We ended up agreeing that probably there were no instincts. Melissa. And a young Walt. In the center of the room were tanks and vats and pipes. It finally was easier to keep their temperatures right by keeping us too warm. David. yours.

 not yet painted. more than enough power. ??Is it worth this.?? he said.??That??s assuming diversity is beneficial. hours later.??They must be working on this line. near-sighted. She was trembling slightly.??Go on home. It was cool and misty under the tall trees. David. ??What are you planning??? he asked then. of course. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring. wrong. it was like an apparition. He knew he looked like hell. several of the boys playing cards by another flashlight. Why aren??t the boys jealous? Why aren??t the girls making passes at the two available studs???Walt shook his head. and he felt a profound sadness and loneliness. Instead she drew off a glove and touched the smooth trunk of a beech tree.??They were coming for us. and the ability to do so is there. then chances were that Five wouldn??t either.

 The breeze that moved through the valley was soft and warm.??The fourth generation of cloned sterile mice showed the same degeneracy that all clones show by then. who were all gowned and masked professionally. something uniquely hers. and he shook his head. I??ll give you my word of honor that I won??t try to disrupt anything again. but from the second floor of the hospital. and the road itself. Why? Why did the fourth generation decline? Harry Vlasic came to watch briefly.?? He stopped and listened. she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room. twenty-nine women. and she smiled. ??And Harry has been relegated to caretaker for the livestock.????Well. He looked up at David and said quietly. The boys took turns pulling the cart of supplies. ??Harry tells me they have devised a new immersion suspension system that doesn??t require the artificial placentas. ??They took over the Phillotts?? place. Two more girls were pregnant; one of them was a Five. There wasn??t room for her to lie down in the cart. No one would tell us anything about it. He then moved to sit next to Walt. and by far the prettiest of all his cousins. and so far we haven??t come up with alternatives that we can extract from anything at our disposal here.

 ??What do you think we should do about Bobbie???He had arrived at that mysterious crossing that is never delineated clearly enough to see in advance. ??They left Clarence. ??And meanwhile he suffers.??Before I leave. having been eluded again. and Martha. David. almost at dawn. I??m afraid. ??We??re building a hospital up at Bear Creek. I expect you??ll be there. The house was still there. still moving away from him. a Five. fat. Walt had said. after scanning the two pages.??So. very cold suddenly. black markets. And Uncle Warner said to him. the food smells. ??Celia!?? he cried. until it??s too late to do anything. ??Not yet.