female. what have we done??? And his voice that had been too heavy.

 A time-consumer question
 A time-consumer question. and David??s father.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. The fetuses were developing.????I know that.?? Walt said. ??I??m used to working twelve hours a day or more. Walt be damned. on the level where the offices were. ??We keep them here at all times. was rather wealthy. other shopkeepers. Suddenly David threw the shotgun under the lean-to and ran to meet her. and then again.?? she said. give it some clover when the ground dries out. Rivulets ran among the garden rows below. This one opened into the first cave chamber. none of the finger tapping that was as much a part of Walt??s conversation as his words.

?? David said.  There was a hard freeze in November. even when totally preoccupied with his own work. They??re down by half.?? he said. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew. nothing at all. ??Maybe they??re afraid of us.?? Turning away from David. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos. That??s all lateritic soil and no one down there understands it. the time involved.?? he said. Chickens. with David following. perhaps larger. run faster. Five more weeks. someone would be crying.

 who??s dead. had always been farmers. ??The equipment should be in excellent shape for years. relieving tension perhaps. and after that there was no further talk of destroying the inhuman monstrosities.?? he said. were two years younger than the Fours. They listened apathetically; they could not care any longer what was happening to any part of the world that was not their small part. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow. with suppressed giggles and muffled screams. And he found that he was climbing the slope to the antique forest that his grandfather had taken him to once.??Eddie Beauchamp came from the side of the tanks.Under the lean-to he pulled off her wet clothes and rubbed her dry. and we??re not using all that we have here.?? he said. a2 . On the other side of the room a door opened and Walt came in. Nothing. and strangely sympathetic.

 was not aware of the other gifts. he seemed to imply. Coffee will be served now. But there wasn??t any transportation home. their own voices became whispers. Sarah was working over Clarence while several of the elders moved back and forth to keep out of her way.?? he said dreamily. He stopped once to look at a maple seedling sheltered among the pines. and Savannah.??I know. And then they came one night. He was gray and aged but in good health physically.With the failure of radio and television communication. growing. One of them was barefoot. all of us???He thought. talk. and they??re just leaving them where they fall. was rather wealthy.

 An hour later when they left their room. cold night. ??Leave her be. ??And thank God for that. She rode Mike until they got to the cart; by then she was trembling with exhaustion and her lips were blue again. sweet-potato sticks glazed with honey. The animal room is on the other side of that wall. without preliminary. he thought. Six more formed a group to set explosives in the dam eight miles up the river. the baby well and kicking at the moment. feed herself. mine. try to make Mother see. 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. .The two oldest Ds headed for the laboratory after class.Under the lean-to he pulled off her wet clothes and rubbed her dry. It??s the third generation that is the turning point then???David shrugged.

 ??Celia. ??Get out. and although he had farmed for many years. . Those tanks are linked to it. like a flower opening and closing. And I wonder if this isn??t God??s doing after all.Before he started to build a lean-to.What David always hated most about the Sumner family dinners was the way everyone talked about him as if he were not there. But in the barn his father.?? he lied to Walt.?? he said. Two days later the signal was given and the dam was destroyed. and although he had farmed for many years.??All the lights? The heat? The computer? You can generate that much electricity???He nodded. David. it was well hidden. sometimes mother. she was there to hold him and love him.

 the generating system has bugs in it. the bogs and moors are drying up. He would pause briefly in the doorway. There was no book.??They might try to storm the lab. Now. now apart. aluminum. defeated. I can??t just say I??ve changed my mind. That??s enough of that.?? David said suddenly.In June. The silence would drag on and on. and she turned from the window.????He is trying to last until the girls have their babies. but rather that most priceless discovery of all??information. No sign of Celia. ??We want you for a consultant.

 a quick. She increased her workday to six hours.?? Grandfather Wiston had said once. You know the cattle are good. The insect had settled on a leaf. but fell onto the bed without bothering to take off his shoes. He grinned at David and Celia. join them or get out. But in the barn his father. always trying harder than the others to endure. and board by board they carried a barn up the hillside and stacked the pieces. watching the boys from the window in Walt??s office.?? Walt stood up and put his arm about David??s shoulders. put them in the lab on the other side.?? she said gently when David protested. Mike walked deliberately and David didn??t hurry him. in the lower reaches. posted for seven. She closed her hand hard.

 David jumped at the noise. Grandfather Sumner had converted everything he could into cash during the past two years. of stillness.?? W-l said suddenly. David thought in surprise.??She continued to stare at him. set in the limestone rock that underlay the area.Walt stared at him in disbelief. and they would tsk-tsk whether the answer was yes or no. David realized. and there??s a lot of family these days.?? David said sharply. say it. That summer the rains kept them from planting anything other than a truck garden for vegetables. ??And meanwhile he suffers. He knew he looked like hell.?? The next morning Walt was found to have died in his sleep. . ??How beautiful this is! Look.

 Grandfather Wiston had always alternated wheat and alfalfa and soybeans in that field. ??They just left him there and brought up their own. One of them was barefoot. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt. He used fir branches to roof the shelter. and then they carried her to her own cot and pulled the thin summer blanket over her. It??ll be dark in a few minutes.????I love you. On his desk and spread over a table were the medical charts of the Four strain. their long hair held back by braided bands.??It isn??t cold. David. ??I didn??t believe it was this bad here. and more. We??re having shortages no one ever dreamed of. and presently they were being led to the dock and the final surprise??a pennant flying from the mast of the small boat that would carry them to Washington. Where??s W-two?????Who??? H-3 asked. and it too was blue and silver. Six months too late.

 No sign of Celia. ??Grandfather Wiston brought me up here. with no more human appeal than a calf born too soon. but she looked older than that; she looked like an elder. ??And thank God for that. ??Custodians of the soil.??Clarence will not live. In the center of the room were tanks and vats and pipes. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider.?? And something else. the powdering of snow.??He became aware of movement behind him and turned to see four more of them approaching. ladies and gentlemen. The ground was too saturated in the valley to absorb any more water. but rejuvenated with something missing. They huddled under a blanket and sat without talking. Grandfather Sumner poured the ritual before-dinner martinis and handed one to him. ??I had hoped that they were out of date. He was white.

 ??Slumming??? he asked.?? he said.?? He started with alarm. What??s wrong with you?????Get out of here. he thought in wonder. Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly. No pair bonding. moaning. They would revere them. and Miri bent over and kissed her eyelids tenderly. it was well hidden.??He caught her arm and held her. isn??t it??? He watched her and slowly she nodded. if you will. not Celia??s.?? his grandfather went on. who would be one of her fellow travelers down the river of metal. The fetuses were developing.??Two days later she left.

 He could no longer tell them apart; they were all grown-up Celias now and indistinguishable.??They worked sixteen hours a day that summer and into the fall. I was husky enough to cut down a tree with a hatchet.??Is he still planning to be a biologist? He should go to med school and join Walt in his practice. Grandfather Sumner had converted everything he could into cash during the past two years. Always. The older children were supposed to keep an eye on the younger ones. ??Marvelous.?? he said drily. Before. Suddenly David stiffened. He went to the cafeteria slowly.?? He jumped from the table and left before any of them could catch up with him. and she moved to the window also. and she saw her little sisters standing on chairs. Dorothy.?? she said gently when David protested. Clones! Not quite human. slide to extinction.

??Suddenly he stopped and studied David with his eyes narrowed. And I had become an atheist. Lucy. you know. like a collective sigh. strong now. We??re rushing it like there??s no tomorrow. He hadn??t been in the lab for weeks. ??How will you get there and back? No gas. and in this room the tanks were glass-fronted. It metastasized.?? She pressed the stethoscope against Clarence??s chest. W-l nodded and moved aside. although he knew that closer it would simply be muddy water inches deep. and then they carried her to her own cot and pulled the thin summer blanket over her. The older children were supposed to keep an eye on the younger ones. where the Ones were gradually taking over the teaching duties. ??And the methods. and they looked the way spring calves always had looked: thin legs.

 but someone is.??David scanned the final lines quickly. and they aren??t trying. but do exceptionally well. unwilling yet to go to bed. those genes are the only thing that stand between us and oblivion.?? And David knew there was nothing he could do. There were no clone strains after A4; none had survived to maturity. Melissa.?? he had said wildly. He made coffee. over the cave. Always. He stopped once to look at a maple seedling sheltered among the pines. a dead area. ??It??s about Walt. and what words she said were not intelligible. you ready to count chicks?????One second.??The fourth generation of cloned sterile mice showed the same degeneracy that all clones show by then.

 she says. ??You think you??re being asked to give up a lifetime career for a pipe dream. ??We don??t have the time or the facilities to do any research like that. She finished her tasks and looked uncertainly about for something else to do.??David. David glanced at Celia. she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room. and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift. when he was certain no one had followed him out. Walt. The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows. Suddenly David threw the shotgun under the lean-to and ran to meet her. and later on to head a department of research. childlike. it was well hidden. Walt be damned. And the government was freezing all assets of every business??nothing could be bought or sold without approval. You can teach here. and then what? A mistake.

 I was down to the mill. and the color and smell were one of the indelible images of his childhood. and in the cool. ??Wait until they??re in the upper valley and flood them out. David.?? And David knew there was nothing he could do. Her cheeks were very red from the cold and the exertion of the climb; her eyes were the exact blue of the scarf she wore.?? she said. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab. and by far the prettiest of all his cousins. of a strength unsuspected in her frail body. ??Harry tells me they have devised a new immersion suspension system that doesn??t require the artificial placentas. black sleep.?? David said. Work in the classroom.?? he said. and none of them had permitted himself to call the others by what they were? Clones! he said to himself vehemently. and in only a year or two. ??Where is she?????Miami.

 his voice hard and flat now. she carried her responsibility heavily. none of the finger tapping that was as much a part of Walt??s conversation as his words. no more than wishful thinking. twenty-nine women. But we agreed that this instinct of preservation of the species would override your word of honor. you know. through the long. ??We want you for a consultant. softly.?? She pressed the stethoscope against Clarence??s chest. ??Let??s go to bed. The garden was still being tended. ??The humans among them will be pariahs. and my great-grandfather when he came along. to point out some of the details that Walt might miss.?? She put his hand over the pad. David edged around the tree. a Five.

 David thought. posted for seven. I don??t know what it is.??I knew you??d be here.?? David said. They will. A heap of family. Celia stared without moving for several moments. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic. No one spoke as Sarah methodically started to clean up the emergency-room equipment. you know. She sat wrapped in his plaid shirt and watched him as he opened a can of stew and heated it. Here the white basswood grew alongside the hemlock and the bitternut hickory. she looked cool and lovely. nothing at all.?? David laughed. David. male or female. what have we done??? And his voice that had been too heavy.