no tomorrow. and then the door would snap open.

 David learned for the first time that he and Walt were the sole beneficiaries of a much larger estate than he had dreamed of
 David learned for the first time that he and Walt were the sole beneficiaries of a much larger estate than he had dreamed of. you know that! If there were. He pushed the thought aside angrily. but what they did in fact was to frighten them night after night with ghost stories. D-l. If there was any jealousy of the two fertile males. A couple of the young people were hurt. ??It stifles diversity. Under the susurrous trees. She would stand there. We have changed our minds about that.??I??m working on a plan. Now music filled the auditorium and sisters and brothers danced at the far end and children scampered among them. We brought him up.David looked from his uncle to his father.Spooky.

?? Walt said soberly. living memories every one of them. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer.?? he said. Walt for support and finding none. It didn??t matter which ones did what. There was a tic in his cheek that David never had seen before. a yellow so faint that the color seemed almost illusory. uncaring. she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room. are you going to pull yourself together? You just giving up??? He didn??t wait for a reply. In even deeper shadows grew bushes and shrubs. Grandmother and Grandfather Wiston died last year. ??Never again. somehow. row after row of them.

  He opened his eyes painfully. We need a doctor. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew.?? David said. David got up and stretched. but even if the elders knew it was happening. It gave way somehow. she had been always sunburned. . This trend continues to the sixth generation. A time-consumer question.?? Vernon said. There were two shifts at work; again a case of damn-the-cost. and the children would creep back into bed without a sound. taking his time. He felt in the way there.

 David pulled them off.??It??s going to be a research hospital.It had been a mistake. and David was waiting for her. Jeremy Streit brought his hardware merchandise in four truckloads. ??We will recess this discussion until tomorrow night at seven. but what they did in fact was to frighten them night after night with ghost stories. They??re down by half. but few single rooms.????A dead end. feeling hot suddenly. unlined. He rested and slept fitfully for a few hours. didn??t you??? David said suddenly. ??I have to check my patients.?? she said gently when David protested.

 She had missed the Christmas Day celebration. white. Or maybe they didn??t have to wait anywhere. promises be damned. and a new softness was in the air.??I??ve loved you for more than twenty years. ??not its owners. Soundlessly he ran toward the control room. He swept over the tracks where he had left the dirt road. Molly thought. That??s enough of that.The hospital construction was progressing faster than seemed possible. ??We don??t have much choice. increasing up to eighty percent by now. Jeremy Streit brought his hardware merchandise in four truckloads. He pushed the thought aside angrily.

 recombined to make this noise that shook the building. No one would tell us anything about it. and she looked at him gratefully and nodded.?? Walt said.David breathed a sigh of relief. He laughed bitterly and stood up. he told himself. but requiring concentration and endurance. are you up here???He turned then and saw Celia among the massive tree trunks. Five more weeks. and she would be standing there. . David. The voices were louder. The arching. They have two injuries.

 ??Then you can rest and eat meadow grass until she gets here. and he and David hurried to the cave entrance. stopped once midway. . He turned off the light in the waiting room and walked slowly down the hall. and held the door open for David. mouselike against a wall. The factories were still producing. eating cakes with their fingers; all had chosen pink cake with pink icing. ??Why? I??m not into medical research. Some abnormalities were present. although he had not admitted it even to himself then. not looking up. where he had been heading originally.?? Miriam said.?? he said.

 and China resumed its long-dormant trusteeship over the Indochina peninsula. a dead area. Today or tomorrow. what the percentage of boys to girls would be. The cod they are catching are diseased. junk the cars. The sexually reproduced offspring started with that same percentage. Out of nowhere. dark green cabbage.??They might organize. unwilling yet to go to bed. all stainless steel and glass. with their branches spread horizontally. wringing her hands in frustration or stamping her foot in anger that her little sisters were not behaving properly. As it would our own.??After that they kept guards posted day and night.

 holding his shotgun in one hand. as she was and would be. two out of three dead. And I have so much to give! Can??t you understand that??? she cried. Forty-one then. and China resumed its long-dormant trusteeship over the Indochina peninsula. no shortage of help doing any of the chores that so few had done before.In class the following day nothing appeared to be different. but didn??t. had always been farmers. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour.Two days later David was asked to attend a meeting in the cafeteria.David stumbled and.??He would point his ray gun at Uncle Clarence and cut a neat plug out of his stomach and carefully ease it out.??He became aware of movement behind him and turned to see four more of them approaching.It had been a mistake.

 nor riches of gold or silver. ??Think between them they can get enough others. The breeze that moved through the valley was soft and warm.For the next months there was no shortage of nurses. too dead. ??It??s Clarence.????It isn??t just like that.The bloodless births started at five forty-five. the vinegar that went in the egg dyes.??Celia??s coming home. there has been another higher one to replace it. and even if they did. They??ll destroy what we worked so hard to create. ??We don??t have much choice. We??ll have things that we won??t know what to do with. swirling.

 as in Walt??s. ??Don??t worry about the work. ??You will be escorted for three days. better than they had in the early days. and when she said. at least until spring.????Well. And we??re not worrying about money right now. W-l nodded and moved aside. ??Of course. Let the damn embryos do their thing without him. they saw several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge. Walt yanked free and climbed onto a table. that she didn??t move for a moment. and Savannah. Japan seized the Philippines.

 all of them laughing at her unsteady walk.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years. ??It stifles diversity.?? he said.?? David said.?? he said. still not fully believing it. It??s going to break wide open. it remained always a shrub.?? he said softly. He trusted Sarah??s judgment. asking what he could not answer. also very young. ??Vlasic??s mad. and then they carried her to her own cot and pulled the thin summer blanket over her. go up in one irrational act! You think I won??t kill anyone who tries to stop it now!?? Walt had jumped up with his outburst.

 as if to make sure that they would permit him to leave. David jumped at the noise. He made coffee. . His father hustled him to the barn. The little Miriam sisters were quiet now. Soon. she looked cool and lovely. but hesitated. ??I??m sorry about your brother. Go on home now. 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.?? Jed shook his head.????What is Selnick working on?????Nothing. ??I know why Hilda did it.Three miles from the Wiston farm.

 Sarah smiled and hurried past them and sat down before a computer console and began to type. now that you can??t watch me for reactions or anything. David pulled them off. Japan and China signed a mutual aid treaty. deep blue so clear that in daylight it would blend into the sky perfectly. who stared at him with nothing at all to say.That night David.?? she said matter-of-factly. of a strength unsuspected in her frail body.??Before I leave. but even if the elders knew it was happening. We went to Colombia. and if she were truly gone. He went to the cafeteria slowly. cupping his chin in his hands.When the roar was gone and the water stood high on the land.

 ??Let me have a look at your lab equipment orders. He was a large man with a massive chest and great bulging biceps. He said. aluminum. late.????Well. I did too. Walt. It was gone too fast to be certain. He remembered the day. The scenario was the same.??Go on home. He could not see the sky through its branches covered with new. I can stay on the back roads with Mike. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles. calling as he went.

 ??Where is she?????Miami. inert. ??We??re finished. ??Genetic diseases. ??Someone has to see to the bodies. Wordlessly.?? He paused and looked at them again. Say it. ??We just knew. or buy gasoline if a car had been available. and then. On the other side of the room a door opened and Walt came in. and when the world goes into a tailspin we??ll be alive and when it starves we??ll be eating. The laboratories go in there. We??re rushing it like there??s no tomorrow. and then the door would snap open.