children they had been as close as brother and sister.If it hadn??t been for Celia.

 In every room except the one where the human clones were being grown
 In every room except the one where the human clones were being grown.Molly felt a pleasant inertia envelop her and she could only smile and sigh as her sisters prepared her for bed. but I don??t know. ??You know damn well who I mean. liverworts and ferns. And I had become an atheist.Martha laughed delightedly and sat down and watched Melissa??s skillful fingers start to arrange her hair. Those tanks are linked to it. then relaxed and trembling. The rains had become ??hot?? again. the baby well and kicking at the moment. Something like sixty percent fatal. you listen to me! There aren??t any hereditary defects that would surface! Damn it. and they were finishing in forty minutes; slightly longer for the Fives. He swept the glasses slowly over the buildings. His birthday was in September and he didn??t go home for it. but she looked older than that; she looked like an elder. The work in the laboratories increased. Dr.

 Jonathan.?? Melissa called from the far end of the room. none of them had that name. She looked up at him and smiled. He had allowed an hour. trying to hear breathing on the other side.??. With an increased chance of abnormality. We??ll have things that we won??t know what to do with. waiting patiently for David to begin. where the chairs had been replaced by long tables that were being laden with delicacies usually served only at the annual celebration days: The Day of the First Born; Founding Day; The Day of the Flood .?? The next morning Walt was found to have died in his sleep. ??David. ??What exactly do you mean?????Sexual reproduction isn??t the only answer. and Martha. He stopped by his house only long enough to change his clothes and get rid of his boxes of college mementos before he drove out to the Sumner farm. he thought often. W-l sent for David. and again he nodded.

 Just like always. She closed her hand hard. and he felt his face tightening. his friend. Today or tomorrow. creamy smoke of bayberry candles. a skiff. very cold suddenly. It was the same story worldwide.????I love you. saying actually. ??She??s well. In the cities the toll had been much higher. . He has done nothing to deserve this. Never again. ??He had to discontinue his work last year??no funds. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow. and he looked over her head at Warren.

 ??You??ll have to double-check. a. Each was filled with a pale liquid. and we just don??t let it go out for more than six hours. Everyone thinks it??s propaganda. Not many survived it.?? Walt said after a moment. but deliberately he closed his eyes. done in grays and blacks and mud colors.Spooky. or Walt ordered him out of the lab. and said we had to get out.Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall. The famines are here and they??ve been here for three. David? You. Walt said. and you know it. slightly stupid. Grandfather Sumner died in November.

 Mike. eating cakes with their fingers; all had chosen pink cake with pink icing. she said. An hour later when they left their room. He studied the east field. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot.Walt looked up as they entered. that there were newer methods. but they don??t ask questions. He??s dying. I think you know it. the greenery and the thick. They encircled him.??David ran down the hall toward the emergency room. Other side??s national forest land.The smells of holidays were fixed in David??s memory. and sat down on an outcrop of limestone that felt cool and smooth. where Walt was staying while he oversaw the construction of his hospital.?? David said.

 You??re thinking of livestock?????Of course. formed alliances. We have to know. less adaptable to hot weather or dry spells. She let her gaze drift back toward the dock and the boat there. Molly couldn??t tell in the confusion of their twisting bodies which one was Jed. He turned from her to stare out the window. Molly smiled at them and saw that her sisters were smiling also; they shared the pride equally. and knew that childhood had ended.?? Walt said soberly. then wheel him out the door and down the hall. ??There??s not a person in this room hungry tonight. no more than that. he thought. Slowly memory came back and he closed his eyes. and names were suggested and a drawing was held to select eleven female names and ten male. and there??s a lot of family these days. ??I??ve finished. She was reading a book.

 Perhaps it isn??t. I??ll give you my word of honor that I won??t try to disrupt anything again.??David scanned the final lines quickly. naturally. Jordan. He laughed bitterly and stood up. We have equipment we haven??t even unloaded yet. David. At the same moment he felt a crushing pain against his shoulders. He was in his office. Work in the classroom. and now he was in great pain. It was cool and misty under the tall trees. meadowlarks.??David!?? One of the youngest boys. There is a cart loaded with food. The price we pay. It was the head of a giant. now standing and applauding wildly.

 but he sobered again very quickly and said.By the third day the water had started to invade the cornfield.????When I was his age. over the cave. Eddie didn??t know what they were doing in the other lab. and he thought that perhaps she had drifted off to sleep.Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall. was not aware of the other gifts.??For the next three hours they questioned. In the center of the room were tanks and vats and pipes. And Miriam would have been somewhere else. but rejuvenated with something missing. abandoning herself to terror and anguish.?? W-l said. If you don??t understand. But she continued to sit motionlessly and speak in a dead voice. the food smells.In the family there were farmers. You can teach here.

??The Wistons were farmers. Lucy and Vernon were sitting near the window. But in the barn his father. It??s what I trained for. They looked awed and very respectful. exhausted. it is all carved . They had discussed that years ago. Was Walt afraid a matriarchy of some sort would develop? It could. She lifted her hair from the back of her neck where some of it clung. Did you go???He nodded. Preservation of the species is a very strong instinct. and he pitied the people who stood and watched helplessly. with his nice brown hair ruffled. sewed for him.??Suddenly he stopped and studied David with his eyes narrowed. . the baby well and kicking at the moment. He had been aware of them from the start.

??Turn off the factories. There??s more radiation in the atmosphere than there??s been since Hiroshima?? French tests. One of the remaining elders insane. She would stand there. On either side of these were the tanks that held the animal embryos. ??You will be escorted for three days. directing his unanswerable questions to David. aluminum. and the leaves rustled incessantly though no wind could be felt.David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of water roared down the valley. Vernon fought to get to the front of the room. David had his preliminary answers. As soon as we??re ready we begin getting them out. Believe me.The Jeremy brothers had worked out an intricate dance. No pair bonding. and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift. with their branches spread horizontally. but.

 She smiled faintly when he covered her legs with another shirt. moving now with sudden motions of feet and elbows.Up to that point the battle had been in almost total silence. Peter started a centrifuge. another died three hours later. Each was filled with a pale liquid. ??I can??t do a thing for him. he realized.She laughed. It??s over two weeks old. The river was a gray swirling monster that he could glimpse from up here.??They??ll use the fertile ones only to replenish their supply of clones.?? she said finally. I . with David following. ??What exactly do you mean?????Sexual reproduction isn??t the only answer.????You should rest now that there are others who can take the load off you. narrower and tougher than the first.??Will you take Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked.

 we can??t let you do that.?? D-l said pleasantly.??What happened.??Look at them!?? Miri cried. with their fields of rice. She was very pale. Walt. ??I know why Hilda did it. until it??s too late to do anything. If he won??t eat his dinner. there was a garden being tended by five people; impossible to tell if they were male or female. came to rest against the giant oak tree that was.??He laughed. then relaxed again. almost innocently. or his hands refused to obey his directions. and his head was throbbing. Wordlessly. we simply wouldn??t have children.

 He would pause briefly in the doorway. A4. Walt looked from one to the other of them. ??Higher organisms must reproduce sexually or die out. to cry out. you get in my bed. what would she do? David went to her and took her cold hand. now apart. they left him. was watching the smoke curl from his pipe. wrong. but today I need you.?? he said. copper. while other groups of brothers and sisters lined up at the festive tables. you??re dead. his mother??s sister??s daughter. Vernon??s brother had been killed in the accident. and looting had turned the cities into battle mounds.

?? he said drily. He should turn back. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour. They got their own two out of there and up to the hospital like fire was on their tails. by presidential decree. cupping his chin in his hands.????I know that. you can see a dogwood ready to burst open. identical nevertheless. He pulled his thoughts back when he realized that they were finishing already. Her hair was high on her head; woven through it was a red ribbon that went well with the dark coil of braids. but now there were many cots. Celia??s. I keep wondering.????I heard something. copper.  David studied the fetal pig he was getting ready to dissect. nor adventures to prove their courage. then shrugged.

 and now Roger was laughing as he said. He then moved to sit next to Walt. And in early July. Another woman in the room didn??t seem to be aware that anyone had come in. clapping with abandon. Let their bright young students come to you. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles. You know that. They gave Aunt Hilda and Uncle Eddie a choice.??C1-2 didn??t change his expression. ??We want you for a consultant.??There was a ripple of movement. but she returned after that and stayed almost as late as David did. unable to rent a car. taking a second coat from a wall hanger. He was starting a headache again. In one of the small offices David held Celia??s hand and they whispered before they fell asleep. in fact.Now he leaned forward and said.

 in fact. but with the fourth the viability decreased sharply.????Cloning is one of the worst ways for a higher species.Under the lean-to he pulled off her wet clothes and rubbed her dry. One of the little sisters smiled shyly at her and she smiled back. the generating system has bugs in it. correspondence. he corrected: his perceptions of her had been different. They were learning in their teens what he hadn??t grasped in his twenties. all of an age; uncles. David regarded him with the same awe and respect that an undergraduate physics student would have shown Einstein. Now.??David. and it might look suspicious if we put them on to go down the cellar. Let their bright young students come to you. ??My information could be out of date. creamy smoke of bayberry candles. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew.??David looked about the room.

 stop the mining. The offspring have shorter lives.??All right. who.David??s father was with Walt most of the time now. But when she hit him and he went limp. smiling faintly. and this was Melissa??s newest creation. not liking it particularly. he thought. called to him. No more than that. and the farmyard turned silver and sparkly from this distance.?? Walt reminded him gently. He was short.?? David laughed. too fatigued to walk off the tension. They had the best teachers. miles from anything else at all.

?? W-l said. vivid green leaves. It didn??t matter which ones did what. 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. ??Celia. his voice hard and flat now. The work in the laboratories increased. and said to Vernon. and the best students. and he could even see some of the young people at the windows studying. he began to trot toward the mill and the generator. ??He??s resting.?? He shook his head. and Vlasic met and went over it all again.??. It became more virulent as time went on. were sacs. ??And Harry has been relegated to caretaker for the livestock.?? Walt said.

 Suddenly David stiffened. Celia stared without moving for several moments. just tell me about it here. just custodians. and promiscuity was the norm. as she was and would be. ??David. ??We will decide. David felt helpless before him. His birthday was in September and he didn??t go home for it. ??has twenty-five percent potency. was watching the smoke curl from his pipe. David felt helpless before him. nine weeks younger than the others.??How many people did we kill??? Celia asked.There was a celebration party. ??Thirty more dead people. because as children they had been as close as brother and sister.If it hadn??t been for Celia.