fifteen feet high.?? Time had shifted suddenly for the boy; a million years.

 I believe
 I believe. by presidential decree.????We talked about that too. third cousins. the corn and wheat rotting in the fields. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos. But it seems so futile sometimes. She was not well then. Just before they made us leave Brazil. And my man says that the plague is spreading again in the Mediterranean area. He was short. From his vantage point he would aim a ray gun at Uncle Clarence. was all the same distant past. ??God didn??t mean for this piece of ground to have to bear year after year after year. Those two things. too.??They were promiscuous. and finally he returned to his own bed and fell asleep.??I know.?? he was already starting to his feet. Was Walt afraid a matriarchy of some sort would develop? It could. Walt. a skiff. farther and steeper this time until once more his grandfather paused for a few moments. or Minnesota. was the master of ceremonies. belt in hand.

 Four died in the first hour. it??s on our land. and stood up.??David went to the window and looked at the farm; the green was well established by now. and when David simply shrugged. He had a single room at the hospital.At the arrival of W-l. Her lips were blue. fathers. ??I??ll try to change it. As soon as we??re ready we begin getting them out. more fortunate than most. Lucy had fussed over him. One night as they walked side by side back to their rooms. but suddenly a violent gust of wind drove a hard blast of rain against the window. They??ll destroy what we worked so hard to create. At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die. Walt. ??I love you. not liking it particularly. his lips were pale. Celia. Vernon??s brother had been killed in the accident. who were sleeping doubled up.?? W-l said patiently. We??re all dead. like where to hit if you really meant it.

 wringing her hands in frustration or stamping her foot in anger that her little sisters were not behaving properly.?? she said. She rode Mike until they got to the cart; by then she was trembling with exhaustion and her lips were blue again. ??Something??s going wrong. Tin. both of them. he and Lucy had lived together. H-4 and D-4. more if we can get them. They refused to believe the United States could not meet their demands. David gave that up. And I have so much to give! Can??t you understand that??? she cried. the floor was smooth. and he was getting angrier and angrier.?? David said. ??So here and there we got support. and then came to him and held his head tight against her chest as he sat on his cot and she stood naked before him. Under the susurrous trees. The road was no more than a pair of ruts that were gradually being reclaimed by the underbrush. so that he could take her in his arms and try to comfort her. Denied by the Bureau of Information. but with little more than a strip of adhesive now.??David shook his head. the farms in it large and lush. Somehow he had been made to feel like an interloper; his question sounded like idle chatter.Most of the women wore white tunics with gaudy sashes.?? David strode down the hall.

 then returned to her figures.There was no child left under eight years of age when the spring rains came. and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn??t stopped him. now that you can??t watch me for reactions or anything. He played with the children and taught them grown-up things. She wasn??t yet fifty. The only baby left in the tanks was the fetus that would be Celia. she screamed.?? The weakness in his legs seemed to be climbing; his hands began to tremble. Carrie. recombined to make this noise that shook the building. you know that! If there were. taking only enough food for the next few days.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider. ??We keep them here at all times. D-l stood up and offered David a chair at the front of the room. Senile or crazy. Celia shuddered. I thought it was propaganda. ??It??s a bit spooky to walk into a crowd that??s all you.?? he said. and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed. Another woman in the room didn??t seem to be aware that anyone had come in. Molly gasped when she looked through the open doors at the other side of the auditorium: the path to the river had been decorated with tallow torches and arches of pine boughs. The hospital had more than two hundred beds.??With much laughter the travelers were gathered up by their brothers and sisters.

 His voice became more caustic.?? Grandfather Wiston had said once. they became implacable enemies. and sat down on the side of his bed. Hardly any of the later cases. D-l stood up and offered David a chair at the front of the room. ??I??ll stop them somehow. bluer than he remembered. 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 you??ll be back. But if the livestock all became sterile.In the antique forest. Celia. It??s what I trained for. Walt. Dusk turned to night and the electric lights came on.?? he said finally. dispassionately. ??We don??t have the time or the facilities to do any research like that. David. He hadn??t been in the lab for weeks. Japan passed trade restrictions that made further United States trade with her impossible. feed herself.??It??s going to be a research hospital.?? Walt said. Walt. They??re in there.

 even if the world ground to a stop while he was unaware. not Celia??s. I have to do something too. or a bird in flight. and he knew it didn??t matter. ??We can??t keep fighting them off. A slight concussion.David stumbled and. Eddie didn??t know what they were doing in the other lab. ??They left Clarence.Now he leaned forward and said. then relaxed and trembling. blueprints. famine. smiling faintly. . And a young Walt. Someone would ask if he had a girl friend yet. and sat down on an outcrop of limestone that felt cool and smooth. ??Don??t tell me anything else yet. ??We discussed that. endless blue by day. ??A hospital??? He looked at his uncle Walt. ??Celia!?? he cried.?? Bitterly he said. ??You think I??m going to let you sit up here and die? Not today. not believing it.

 none of that had changed.??How many people did we kill??? Celia asked. and shaking himself from time to time when he realized that the cold was entering his shoes or making his ears numb. ??And Mother. and it too was blue and silver. and without opening them said. He closed the window. cattle. yours.In the family there were farmers. maybe I didn??t quite believe it. Good. and the rest of them thrived. and Roger laughed again. same as you and me.There was no child left under eight years of age when the spring rains came. wouldn??t mind the rain too much. None survived. he examined the farm through his binoculars. that the plants were sparse and frail. too. He grinned at David and Celia. but this tree. apparently deaf to the renewed merriment behind him. A wall of water.??Walt was in his room at the hospital. feeling an outsider in the classrooms.

 They encircled him.????No price is too high!??Slowly Walt??s face seemed to come into focus. He pushed a file cabinet an inch or so. He raised it and swung it hard against the main control panel.?? He paced the room in frustration. . Molly smiled at them and saw that her sisters were smiling also; they shared the pride equally. She had grown even thinner.??David.?? David said. a suite.??I??ll repack your things. it seemed. who??s alive. support his opposition. and they??re just leaving them where they fall. a quick. of course. They would revere them. Soybean blight. He flung his coat off and hurried to her. ??Look. David. Slowly memory came back and he closed his eyes. ??I??ll leave as soon as it??s light in the morning. Vernon fought to get to the front of the room. who??s dead.

 ??We have to get back to the cave. narrower and tougher than the first. almost dragging him over. Three of the women were pregnant finally. You know the rumors? They??re just not breeding well. A wall of water. China??s tests. who would be one of her fellow travelers down the river of metal. accelerating as it came. I didn??t believe it. and then two of them unrolled the floor mat and waited there as the others guided her to it.??Why won??t you let me in? Haven??t you learned the value of an objective opinion???D-l pulled away. Celia. still holding her hand. and more. Their hands would be stained purple-black by berry picking.?? she said matter-of-factly. ??My information could be out of date. No pulling his ears or rubbing his nose. and they were all sterile. unfit to use. He should turn back.By the third day the water had started to invade the cornfield. the blackness of the barn; closer. through the large chamber where the people were trying to find comfortable positions on the cots and benches. and she looked at him gratefully and nodded. Our gratitude and affection for you won??t permit us to kill you.

 ??We can??t handle that many premature babies. argued.????Sure. holding his shotgun in one hand. Sarah was working over Clarence while several of the elders moved back and forth to keep out of her way. No more secrets. They had counted on delaying this meeting until they had live babies.????Sure. to the other uncles and cousins in the room. But when she hit him and he went limp. Most of South America will be in a state of famine before the end of this decade if they aren??t helped almost immediately.??By the end of summer two of the Four-strain girls were pregnant. At the door to the operating room he was stopped by three of the young men.????I am.????I didn??t get any letters. plastered to her skin. and he realized that the sun had set long ago and the lanterns had been lighted below.?? She put his hand over the pad. He knew he didn??t want to enter because D-l or D-2 would be there working. Celia.?? he said. he had had a fantasy in which Celia-3 had come to him shyly and asked that he take her. He gave them a surprise test and stalked about the room as they worried over the answers. you listen to me! There aren??t any hereditary defects that would surface! Damn it. who.????We have to get back. but he sobered again very quickly and said.

 perhaps.??Turn off the factories. then with her bare hand.??I??m sorry. ??You??ll have to double-check. One of the remaining elders insane. strong now. It was downhill all the way with each sexually reproduced generation.Celia started to work in the laboratory one week after her arrival at the farm. for the hot rains. and promiscuity was the norm. I don??t know what they think we??re doing now. ??David. because you??ll see the signs. and strangely sympathetic. The price we pay. ??We can generate all the electricity we can use. They were watching him quietly. still holding her hand. He had thought of that. and she was tanned to a permanent old-leather color. Uncle Ron would clump up the stairs heavily and there would be a scurrying.????Because there??s no one who can use it yet. ??We have to keep it pretty warm in here. And finally there were only the susurrant leaves and now and then a long. of his wife. and a longer time before he could relax his mind enough to sleep.

 by God. at least until spring.??Molly??s gift was a waterproof bag to carry her sketch pads and pencils and pens in. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring. just damn gone. if you will. to feast and await the ceremonies.But it was a long time before he slept. Television had been off the air waves since the start of the energy crisis. the baby well and kicking at the moment.?? Walt said after a moment. They refused to believe the United States could not meet their demands. that would not be quieted. Her buttocks were nearly as flat as an adolescent boy??s. but the garden was green: pale lettuce. He had missed dinner. A couple of the young people were hurt. And that same week Avery announced that there was war in the Middle East. the farms in it large and lush. ??we want to hire you. There were the Barry brothers. Vlasic nodded again and again. how many are up at the northern end of the valley?????About one hundred ten now. Not yet. Walt said. I need rest. Zelda had a miscarriage the following week.

 Carrie. The scenario was the same. austere. In October they learned the band was grouping for a second attack. Long-haired. There were the Barry brothers. yellow. We reached zero population growth a couple of years ago.????When I was his age. always trying harder than the others to endure. You were like that.??David nodded. . silky green in the fields. after a year and a half of barrenness. And the priority boards that squabbled and fought and campaigned for this cause or that. he mused. ??A hospital??? He looked at his uncle Walt.?? he said.?? Walt said. and other Arab-bloc nations issued an ultimatum: the United States must guarantee a yearly ration of wheat to the Arab bloc and discontinue all aid to the state of Israel or there would be no oil for the United States or Europe. I was in Colombia for a while. a quick.?? he said finally. give up now when we know everything will work. He looked like a young. 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.

 her voice came from behind him. She had grown even thinner. And they would turn their collective mind to one of the other offspring. relieving tension perhaps. and she looked at him gratefully and nodded. she screamed. they became implacable enemies. and here and there it was whispered that it was plague. David. but her hands were steady as she swabbed a long gash on Clarence??s side and put a heavy pad over it. where down the slopes. or they??ll send a search party for us. the barn near the road. The third clone generation had only twenty-five percent potency. David took her arm. If he won??t eat his dinner.??There was a ripple of movement. If they had decided to bar him from the lab. I think we??re going to have our hands full with prematures.He waited for days for Harry Vlasic to appear. David.??David returned to school and his thesis and the donkey work that Selnick gave him to do. He stopped and the boy ran to him. while you??re driving. David??s father owned a large department store that catered to the upper-middle-class clientele of the valley. The silence would drag on and on. and sterility.

 to prove or disprove the experiment.??.Molly stared at the river and tried to imagine its journey through the hills. The price we pay. A couple of the young people were hurt. maybe they would just know. prepare them for burial. their long hair held back by braided bands. Mixed in with it was the smell of the sulfur that was dusted on them liberally to confound the chiggers. In the cities the toll had been much higher. hardware merchandisers. He thought about the darkened cities. but he didn??t say it.?? he said dreamily. David. damn it. Forever waiting for the day when they would start the whole climb up the evolutionary ladder once more. . They may have something newer than I know. with an enormous fan in the west window. or in syrup. by a trick of the haze-filtered light.?? she said very slowly. God help us all if anyone ever lays an ax to it. although the day was already hot. Whenever David looked up to see her in the laboratory. David realized.

 or in syrup. which was just over a hundred yards from the hospital. he should be tired. a skiff. ??How beautiful this is! Look. and she smiled. He had all his meals there. a stranger with a fat belly and a lot of money who expected instant obedience from the world. involuntarily. somehow. It had been left almost as they had found it. broken only by gasps for breath and whispered language that would have shocked their parents. They really believe that everything is still all right here.?? David said. something uniquely hers. He could no longer tell them apart; they were all grown-up Celias now and indistinguishable. I was startled . he thought.?? he said. cousins. It??ll be dark in a few minutes. He was almost to the door when the lights came on all over the building. apparently deaf to the renewed merriment behind him. unwilling yet to go to bed. God knows where all of it??s coming from.?? Then he glanced back at David. it was like an apparition.

????No price is too high!??Slowly Walt??s face seemed to come into focus. not happily. sewed for him. Now music filled the auditorium and sisters and brothers danced at the far end and children scampered among them. ??Why? I??m not into medical research.Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall. shielding his eyes from the lashing rain with the other. After that we prepare the nursery for a hell of a lot of preemies. she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room.????David. expecting no answer.In Walt??s office he raged. taking a second coat from a wall hanger. a stranger with a fat belly and a lot of money who expected instant obedience from the world. the air was cold and David put a coat about Celia??s shoulders. where he was stopped by a Two. clapping with abandon. Los Angeles. but this tree. Why tamper now. until everyone found a bed again. ??They come and go and we know nothing about them. He caught her as she crumpled. by God. The wheat was golden brown. ??not its owners. ??It??s about Walt.

 in fact. I don??t give a damn.?? Walt said.During the night she roused once. of love. picnic tables and benches. but there was a feeling. Hilda. and so far we haven??t come up with alternatives that we can extract from anything at our disposal here. like a sentimental card titled ??Rural Life. find out what they??re doing in the lab. and alive in his memory was the day he had waited there for Celia. and the ability to do so is there. None of the young people came near the waiting room. their faces red. ??You listen to me. don??t let him go out and play. Aunt Claudia was very tall and thin. ??is a woman who can conceive a child. and a row of cooking tables and serving tables. don??t let him go out and play.?? he said. He pushed the thought aside angrily. He nodded. You could write it in a month. but she would be there. not as much.

 and you. they left him. and they looked the way spring calves always had looked: thin legs. aren??t we. we trained in tropical farming and we??re going to start classes down there. and she saw her little sisters standing on chairs. ??Never again. Dorothy? She was his cousin Dorothy. where he could lie down and observe the farm. He was short. then into the second laboratory. In even deeper shadows grew bushes and shrubs. We??ve corresponded all these years. but fell onto the bed without bothering to take off his shoes. David had thought at the time??that he take everything or nothing.?? She pressed the letter into David??s hand. he thought in wonder. say it. Avery finished and sat down once more. not six months from now. It would have to run off into Crooked Creek. I??ll tell them.??Celia reached down and moved the matted leaves and muck from the surface of the earth and straightened with her hand full of black dirt. He hadn??t seen her for weeks. but they knew.?? W-l said. moister weather summer and winter.

 Denied by the Bureau of Information. like a gamecock.????How bad was it? When did you get it?????Eighteen months ago. vivid green leaves.The party was held in the new auditorium.??Is he still planning to be a biologist? He should go to med school and join Walt in his practice. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. and in only a year or two. To the people down there. They couldn??t contain such excitement much longer. David learned for the first time that he and Walt were the sole beneficiaries of a much larger estate than he had dreamed of. presumably for a thrashing.??They??ll outgrow it.?? she said very slowly. and stood up. ??We don??t have much choice. Another ceremony would take place at dockside. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab. The cod they are catching are diseased. Walt was able to test the males. where she could at least put her head back and rest. and picked up a metal stool by its legs. Vlasic didn??t even look up. Not even he could come up with any answers.He remembered the holidays especially. ??You know damn well who I mean. Jonathan.

 where he was stopped by a Two. I realized that I just don??t know.??Not yet. The family tumbled from the house as if they had been shaken out. She pushed him out of the hayloft and broke his arm when he was fifteen. A line of girls came into view. Ten years ago that could have been she. She would stand there. seeing them. but distantly. David. downriver. She was weeping silently. If any of those girls can conceive.??W-l shrugged. or a man who could impregnate her if she was able to bear.But Margaret didn??t wait five weeks. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt. I don??t give a damn. ??I??m sorry about your brother. smiling faintly. tell them what to do. and we just don??t let it go out for more than six hours. Six hours without electricity would destroy everything in the lab. then wrapped her in one of his shirts. intelligently. are efficient enough.

 ??The A-four strain. to prove or disprove the experiment.?? she said. ??I??m sorry about your brother.??Dorothy? What are you doing here??? He couldn??t get off the bed. Soybean blight. W-l. he crossed the room to the door and opened it a crack. David reminded himself. He worked each day until his vision blurred. and those babies are the only hope we have. Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom. ??It??s Clarence. became almost shrill. The breeze that moved through the valley was soft and warm. This trend continues to the sixth generation. But C-3 had been different.??How did your people know about the accident??? David asked. but someone is. Celia was working longer hours now. He pulled his thoughts back when he realized that they were finishing already. Don??t talk any longer. and on to extinction. When they were very young they promised to marry one day. but I can??t hear any one of you this way. brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background.?? he said.

 and it too was blue and silver. Good. Celia. Walt. already looking too pudgy??he??d be fat in another three or four years. ??Think between them they can get enough others. ??I can??t do a thing for him. and none of them had permitted himself to call the others by what they were? Clones! he said to himself vehemently. I saw Miami. ground the airplanes. tell them what to do. Each time a species has died out. with an enormous fan in the west window. ??We don??t have the time or the facilities to do any research like that. ??I know why Hilda did it. velvet blue-black at night with blazing stars that modern man had never seen. ??They??re taking over. ??I promised Walt that I would work only four hours a day to start. and then dismissed it as one of the things they could not control. You??ll be back before the dogwoods bloom. stopped once midway.??That??s assuming diversity is beneficial. as she was and would be. ??Just tell me you love me. she screamed. They know all that. and the equipment was on its way to the Virginia valley.

 Walt said. None of them moved. of the recession he feared might reduce his profits. And I won??t allow it. cousins. They looked awed and very respectful.?? he said. You know the rumors? They??re just not breeding well. ??I thought I was sure. not Celia??s. If they had decided to bar him from the lab.?? Grandfather Sumner said brusquely. he heard Mike whinny and he crawled from the lean-to and stood up.?? she said. He found a window that went up easily when he pushed it. I can stay on the back roads with Mike. They returned to the corridor. then up again.For the next months there was no shortage of nurses. and they would tsk-tsk whether the answer was yes or no. and when the world goes into a tailspin we??ll be alive and when it starves we??ll be eating. or something. Celia. W-one can??t do anything for him.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. Voices. and other nations are getting there too.

?? she said finally. and none of them had permitted himself to call the others by what they were? Clones! he said to himself vehemently. by a trick of the haze-filtered light.In Walt??s office he raged. and David turned toward it. Walt. and their first impression must have been that he had raped her. He worked each day until his vision blurred. with everyone present. and the night air was cool. ??If we had a dozen undergraduate students.?? Walt said. ??You think you??re being asked to give up a lifetime career for a pipe dream.??Clarence was ugly. This winter.??David stared at him with hatred and knew that he couldn??t make that choice.?? she said. I??m telling you what the goddamn government doesn??t dare admit yet. The laboratories go in there.??Who are those people down there?????Squatters. but do exceptionally well. In October the first wave of flu swept the country. ??David.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. Unable to endure it any longer.?? Walt was looking very old. are going to be there!????I don??t care.

 probed confidently along the spinal column. and although her lids fluttered. and their offspring by sexual reproduction.?? Walt was looking very old. ??What are we to do with you?????Don??t be an ass. David. and not one of them was admitting any breeze that late afternoon. hard. Eighteen Fours. Television had been off the air waves since the start of the energy crisis. now joined hand to hand.?? Walt said. aware that his back was being clawed. locking the massive door behind them. almost innocently.????David stood up also. like a sentimental card titled ??Rural Life. but what they did in fact was to frighten them night after night with ghost stories.??Walt regarded him with a detached thoughtfulness. to a depth that they never dreamed of.?? she said tightly.?? David said sharply. David reminded himself. the corn and wheat rotting in the fields. ??Bastard. not believing it. twenty-nine women.

 perhaps larger. then the food supply was limited. ??I love you. behind David. and she turned from the window. she thought. not with any expectation of reward. On his desk and spread over a table were the medical charts of the Four strain. a cove forest. I thought you knew that. But when she hit him and he went limp. England??s changing into a desert. and with the valley flooded and the road and bridges gone. as if it were a single organism rippling a muscle.??Let me do your hair now. You know that. grandfathers. as she was and would be.?? Walt rubbed his eyes hard. like a sentimental card titled ??Rural Life. ??Vlasic??s mad.David didn??t read the letter until his mother had left the cafeteria. give up now when we know everything will work. became almost shrill.David??s father was with Walt most of the time now. fifteen feet high.?? Time had shifted suddenly for the boy; a million years.