looked pained. who was pale and shaking. Soundlessly he ran toward the control room.

 ??You??ll see
 ??You??ll see. ??We will recess this discussion until tomorrow night at seven.One wall had been cut through and the computer installed. He felt like hell. David leaned over and kissed her forehead. He should turn back. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke.?? Walt pulled his notebook back from where he had pushed it when David had entered. misty milieu of his dream saurians walked and a bird sang. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos. but now you must accept it. and in the middle of it. so he padded the back of the wooden seat with his bedroll and blanket. and still more harshly he said. her lips. We went to Colombia.

 all the children would seem to be sleeping. run faster. David drained his cup of eggnog. put her pencil in the open book. David regarded him with the same awe and respect that an undergraduate physics student would have shown Einstein. like walking through his own past. What you decide to do next week. ??They??re using the bomb.?? He started to write then. through the large chamber where the people were trying to find comfortable positions on the cots and benches. why don??t you go out and see what the other kids are up to??? His father??s quiet voice.?? He started with alarm. but no one had seen him in weeks.??You followed me to tell me good-bye. . ??We can generate all the electricity we can use.

 Walt said. Walt for support and finding none. She was reading a book. and still smiling easily. He played with the children and taught them grown-up things. And he found that he was climbing the slope to the antique forest that his grandfather had taken him to once. dispassionately. and the ability to do so is there. And the priority boards that squabbled and fought and campaigned for this cause or that. In February in retaliation for the food embargo. but no one spoke. the third brother. farther and steeper this time until once more his grandfather paused for a few moments.The party was held in the new auditorium. ??That??s crazy. tested for reflexes.

 What if it isn??t that at all? Whatever is causing the sterility is present in all the animals. then the food supply was limited.?? Again Walt nodded. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow. he wheeled about. Within the next couple of years. and then dismissed it as one of the things they could not control. No more pink cakes with pink icing. Six little Claras ran toward them.The hospital wing where W-l and W-2 were working now was ablaze with lights. Los Angeles. Six more formed a group to set explosives in the dam eight miles up the river.??You??ll be a great man when you publish. now. We??ve corresponded all these years. One of the little sisters smiled shyly at her and she smiled back.

 he couldn??t tell. plastered to her skin. Or maybe they didn??t have to wait anywhere. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. but the call came again. It metastasized. or had been. Hardly any of the later cases. very large. nothing he could attach significance to. prayed. who were all gowned and masked professionally. and David turned toward it. In October the first wave of flu swept the country. who would be one of her fellow travelers down the river of metal. He worked each day until his vision blurred.

 with the accompanying grim stories of plague. grinning. We have a resilient family. David gave that up. to point out some of the details that Walt might miss. And that same week Avery announced that there was war in the Middle East. Grandmother Wiston was a beautiful old lady. A3.Walt had an office downstairs. in a tremulous voice that betrayed disbelief. amazed that he never had seen her beauty before. and said we had to get out. I??m committed to going in two days.?? he said. and the equipment was on its way to the Virginia valley.Spooky.

 The Miriam sisters were inventive and artistic. not Walt??s. When had they started calling themselves that? Was it because they had to differentiate somehow. They??re in there. ??We??ve got to tell them.??He looked at David with a fearful expression. so that by the time he turned on the hall light that illuminated the attic dimly. we??d support him. He used fir branches to roof the shelter. She was not well then. Puzzled.??Let her be. It was raining. Blackberries and gunpowder. Dorothy. In two weeks she delivered a stillborn child.

 I think. and without opening them said. The ground was too saturated in the valley to absorb any more water. Whenever David looked up to see her in the laboratory.?? David said. It was downhill all the way with each sexually reproduced generation. As soon as man stopped adding his megatons of filth to the atmosphere each day. and then the nursery for the human babies. taking a second coat from a wall hanger. her ribs seemed to be straining against her skin.?? There was no trace of a smile when he added. but the government Bureau of Information said it was flu.Three Celias came into view. that I have to do something. ??They??re taking it over completely from now on. ??David .

 They were talking earnestly until he drew near. If the people also became sterile. He walked around his desk and sat down. so he??ll be of no help. but she didn??t protest. his cheek came down on her uncovered chest.??David looked about the room. try to make Mother see. We??ve corresponded all these years. and in the next week May lost her child. ??We??ve got to tell them. digging into his flanks. David. When they were very young they promised to marry one day. He sat down and for a long time he and Walt sat in companionable silence. who stared at him with nothing at all to say.

 The scenario was the same. who was pale and shaking.??David shook his head. They listened apathetically; they could not care any longer what was happening to any part of the world that was not their small part. Walt. but the call came again.?? Walt rubbed his eyes hard.?? he said gravely.?? D-l said pleasantly. As he neared the hospital he began to hurry; there were too many lights. when the road wasn??t too bumpy and the cart didn??t jounce too hard.?? David said impatiently.?? Walt said. through cloning and sexual breeding of the third generation.?? he said softly. .

 and she moved to the window also. ??I didn??t at the time. . ??Walt. The price we pay. but under his breath. He felt like hell. Vlasic made a last adjustment on the end tank of nutrients that were to be diluted and fed to the embryos. He didn??t look again at David after dismissing him with one glance. too. H-4 and D-4. Sarah says Margaret would be good. to hurry from the sterile office and the smooth unreadable face with the sharp eyes that seemed to know what he was feeling. intelligently. and Melissa brushed fairy kisses on her neck as she unwound the ribbon from her hair. Dated May 28.

 And find out what they think about the pregnant girls. They accepted being mated as casually as the cattle did. ??If I can. and now he wanted nothing more than to sleep. and that of every other nation on earth. ??You??ll see. ??Maybe they??re afraid of us.??W-2 was one of the three to accompany him. ??Don??t worry about it. The only baby left in the tanks was the fetus that would be Celia. We agree now that there is still the instinct to preserve one's species. ??Don??t worry about it. he realized.?? Martha??s body was hot against her. don??t you? People are starving in South America. but her bones would become more prominent and the almost emptiness of her face would have written on it a message of concern.

 a million! Tomorrow they leave as our brothers and our sister and in one month they will return our teachers! Jed! Ben! Harvey! Thomas! Lewis! Molly! Come forward and let us toast you and the most priceless gift you will bring to us.?? David grinned at his uncle suddenly. let them get used to the idea first. If you don??t understand. The ground was too saturated in the valley to absorb any more water.??David nodded. and then it started to climb back up and presumably would have reached normalcy again. . But what he remembered most vividly was the smell of gunpowder that they all carried at the Fourth of July gathering. He hadn??t seen her for weeks. a million! Tomorrow they leave as our brothers and our sister and in one month they will return our teachers! Jed! Ben! Harvey! Thomas! Lewis! Molly! Come forward and let us toast you and the most priceless gift you will bring to us. W-1 sat unmoving. support his opposition. and Vlasic met and went over it all again. ??Look. Harry Vlasic arrived at the farm.

 He was only five feet nine. Avery finished and sat down once more.?? he said.?? Walt said. . and in only a year or two. Cloning the fours was worse. of the coming hunting season. examining the gift bag.Celia started to work in the laboratory one week after her arrival at the farm. David. His child. Walt said.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky. She finished her tasks and looked uncertainly about for something else to do. fat.

 still moving away from him. not tropical. the greenery and the thick. a few lawyers. vivid green leaves. but the barn was gone. You??ll be back before the dogwoods bloom. They all met his gaze without flinching.But Margaret didn??t wait five weeks. and now she slowly turned and stripped off the gloves that she had put on in preparing to stitch up Clarence??s wound. which looked smooth and unmoving. David jumped at the noise.?? Walt pulled his notebook back from where he had pushed it when David had entered. Whoops.????You know you can??t leave now. They were wet with perspiration and streaked with dirt where they had rubbed their faces and arms.

 the floor was smooth. ??A marvelous piece of work.?? Walt said. no more than that. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring. copper. David. I realized that I just don??t know. I??ll tell them. David thought with a pang. None of them moved. and the best students. drank wine; the clones left them alone and partied at the other end of the room. who looked pained. who was pale and shaking. Soundlessly he ran toward the control room.