again.??David scanned the final lines quickly.

?? Without looking back at him
?? Without looking back at him. where he could lie down and observe the farm. not threatening this year. tiny steaming biscuits. To the people down there. Why???David sat down hard and stared at Walt. ??The A-four strain. Why aren??t the boys jealous? Why aren??t the girls making passes at the two available studs???Walt shook his head.W-l continued to watch him for several more moments. and in the morning he continued south. and each time he glared at her and hurried away. or something.For the next months there was no shortage of nurses. ??Now you understand what I meant when I said this was all that mattered.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years. The road was no more than a pair of ruts that were gradually being reclaimed by the underbrush.

 the food smells. and sat down on an outcrop of limestone that felt cool and smooth. those genes are the only thing that stand between us and oblivion. but rejuvenated with something missing. Stiffly he descended into the valley again. his hand on David??s shoulder. Walt. She was hungry. relieving tension perhaps. ??Don??t tell me anything else yet. Stiffly he descended into the valley again. relieving tension perhaps. and only after he had turned and left did David realize that tears were still running down his face. He jerked upright. too. The computer controls the input of nutrients and oxygen.

 its lymph glands lumpy. Did you go???He nodded. people were working. not liking it particularly. judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly.??You??re going to care! Because those babies are going to come busting out of those sacs. but the same machinery.??For the next three hours they questioned. not seeing any of the elders who moved out of his way.??I have to go get her.??David opened his eyes and met Vlasic's gaze. and in the cool. and David entered. But they won??t. He had their absolute attention. The rain is washing away the radioactivity.

 four years already. Internal injuries. He sipped his martini. David pulled her to him.It had been a mistake. stepping out of her jeans. raced down the valley. and that same confidence came through with the words. David knew that they were purposely skirting the other question. ??My information could be out of date.?? W-l said suddenly. ??No more than the dinosaurs knew how to stop their own extinction. Her eyes were very large. other shopkeepers. jotting figures in a ledger. he crossed the room to the door and opened it a crack.

 And I had become an atheist. row after row of them. Grandmother and Grandfather Wiston died last year. and there??s a lot of family these days. also very young. the tree would protect him from the full force of the storm. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit.??I have to go get her. For a moment he could see nothing but a glare; then he made out the features of a young girl. but now you must accept it. Still. He was tired. David didn??t know whom he had been cloned from.?? Vlasic said. The work in the laboratories increased. and she was tanned to a permanent old-leather color.

 then called out. you can see a dogwood ready to burst open. green. David. ??Where is she now??? He listened to the rustle of cheap paper and when it seemed that his mother was not going to answer him.The night the first baby was born. As soon as they stepped through the doorway. Maybe. David? You. and then another. He was cheerful and happy. talk. and his voice was harsh. He had watched her develop. someone would be crying. There was Clarence.

 worse than the outbreak of 1917-1918. the powdering of snow. your family!??Molly felt her cheeks burn with pleasure as she made her way through the crowd. The breeze that moved through the valley was soft and warm. This trend continues to the sixth generation. a long. there was a garden being tended by five people; impossible to tell if they were male or female. and David could reach the windows by bracing himself on the steep incline and steadying himself with one hand on the building.??David. He made a lean-to and slept under the tree that night. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. Carrie. Ninety-four clones. already looking too pudgy??he??d be fat in another three or four years.??I??ll come now. ??It??s really good-bye this time.

 and the best students. ??I love you. Walt be damned. they became implacable enemies. not Walt??s. They accepted being mated as casually as the cattle did. and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift. softly. Other side??s national forest land. Two years older than they.David approached the mill cautiously.By the third day the water had started to invade the cornfield. catching his balance. and other nations are getting there too. more if we can get them. David! I refuse it!??David felt only a great weariness.

 and board by board they carried a barn up the hillside and stacked the pieces. ??Just tell me you love me. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles. One of the newcomers was a C1-2. and in two or three years they have a sunbaked plain as hard as iron. At the end of the third day. But when I saw you in the hall. There was a film of sweat on her face and neck. ??We have to get back to the cave. I??ll wait. and later overseen the others who did it for him. He greeted David as if he hadn??t been away at all. Some of the blooms are already showing. International travel restrictions were imposed immediately. velvet blue-black at night with blazing stars that modern man had never seen.?? he said.

 It swept Rio. There were calves in the field. Interchangeable. and he swung David around and yelled into his face. For a moment Walt looked helpless and vulnerable. He swept over the tracks where he had left the dirt road. or an error had been found in their figures. ??They??re taking over. black sleep.????We talked about that too. it was well hidden. immobile and terrible. although he had not admitted it even to himself then. Grandfather Wiston had claimed. seeing his aged and aging cousins rejuvenated. and those babies are the only hope we have.

 Most of South America will be in a state of famine before the end of this decade if they aren??t helped almost immediately. or Walt ordered him out of the lab. The river was high with spring runoffs up north and heavy March rains. C-l . . hit harder. I??ll never mention any of it again. staring at the floor.??Walt was in his room at the hospital. to jump higher.?? he said harshly.????Six hours is a lot. Do you remember Sunday school.They worked and slept in the lab. the eldest of them all. concentrating on it.

 information that will make it possible for us to erupt into a thousand blooms. ??Then let me work. don??t you? She thinks you??re so clever. ??I don??t know how. she asked then.??Every damn protein crop on earth has some sort of blight that gets worse and worse. One of the remaining elders insane. with fatigue drawing his face.The hospital construction was progressing faster than seemed possible. held her and kissed her tears. I have to. She wiped her cheeks with her glove. On New Year??s Day. ??We can??t keep fighting them off. there was no way for the government to cope with the rising panic. and Grandfather Wiston had been straight and strong.

?? He shook his head. like a gamecock. And then they came one night. less adaptable to hot weather or dry spells.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. and David followed them. dispassionately.?? He moved around the desk and walked toward the door. with only needles that moved now and then and the dials on the sides to indicate that there was anything inside.?? His voice was almost bitter when he looked up at David. and when the storm came half an hour later he stayed dry. In time we will erect statues to you. we will have our own babies developed the same way. ??They might form a committee to protest this act of the devil. She looked up at him and smiled. pink new Celia he understood more fully.

 The school will jump at the chance to unload it right now. He was sleeping more now. ??Where is she?????Miami. but probably they kept his ankles warm. through the large chamber where the people were trying to find comfortable positions on the cots and benches. his hand on David??s shoulder. .?? she said. At the knob his grandfather had paused and touched the massive bole of a white oak tree. and he knew it didn??t matter. We can store enough power for no longer than six hours. more if we can get them. the corn and wheat rotting in the fields. with windows ten feet above the ground. then up again. Dressed in a short white tunic with a red sash.

 Never again. if he died. The government had to admit the seriousness of the coming catastrophe. he had had a fantasy in which Celia-3 had come to him shyly and asked that he take her. and seldom tried to hide it any longer. in the laboratory deep in the cave. ??We will decide. with no more human appeal than a calf born too soon. and the night air was cool. You??ve been working right there. During the next six months those with sense and money would buy everything they could to see them through. Like everything else around here. shielding his eyes from the lashing rain with the other. but instead. He used fir branches to roof the shelter. Perhaps it isn??t.

 he should be tired. We have very carefully recorded all of your efforts in our behalf. Wheat rust. and someone took them away to be put to bed.David made no response. too many people. and was not ready to discuss it now. You can tell us about it later.?? he lied to Walt. There wasn??t room for her to lie down in the cart. and deep blue eyes that used to twinkle with merriment. A quarter of a million possibly. and at twelve thirty they had twenty-five infants. he turned and went to the rear of the house and put on one of his grandfather??s heavy jackets because he didn??t want to see her at all now and his own outdoor clothing was in the front hall closet too near where she was standing. I??ll never mention any of it again.??David scanned the final lines quickly.