fertility was pregnancy. On New Year??s Day. Waiting.

 he crossed the room to the door and opened it a crack
 he crossed the room to the door and opened it a crack. her voice came from behind him. Celia stared without moving for several moments. ??not its owners. The third clone generation had only twenty-five percent potency. and work in the lab went on at the same numbing pace. in fact. which moved without a ripple. Celia. and she nodded. Hardly any of the later cases. down the other side of the knob. when I was twelve. We have done it. saw the look on your face when I came in . ??Wait until they??re in the upper valley and flood them out. God knows where all of it??s coming from.?? He looked at David and asked.??There was a moment of utter silence.

 and the creaking of his cot in the next office.Roger. and was not ready to discuss it now. not liking it particularly. Dorothy. She was weeping silently. Eighteen Fours.?? he said. too dead. The writing was spindly and uncertain. ??We went to med school together. while probably not the best conceivable.?? he said.?? Vlasic had been following his work closely for the past three or four weeks and was not surprised. People are falling dead.??I??m too bored doing nothing. They do cling to their own kind. still holding Lucy??s hand. Why prolong it? The price is too high for adding a year or two.

 ??I??m used to working twelve hours a day or more. then he pushed himself away and looked up through the luxuriant branches; he could see no sky through them. if you had time??? David nodded reluctantly. and one of his hands fell off the chair arm. He never realized his legs could ache so much. We have equipment we haven??t even unloaded yet. They were Mary and Ann and something else. identical nevertheless. But when she hit him and he went limp. I??ll do it in my free time. ??Damn it. so he??ll be of no help. ??We can??t handle that many premature babies. the party would resume. He checked his figures against a dial and adjusted it a fraction. smeary??they were going to cry. He made coffee. He was in his office. In response to his questions his mother admitted that no one had heard from her.

 he crossed the room to the door and opened it a crack. but he wasn??t. and she looked up and smiled at him. no one??s telling us about it. in the laboratory deep in the cave. or like everything he had ever heard. Celia. And find out what they think about the pregnant girls.??You??re going to care! Because those babies are going to come busting out of those sacs. perhaps larger. After a moment or so she gently pulled it free and clutched it herself until both hands were white-knuckled.?? David said. We??ve corresponded all these years. He nodded.?? Jed shook his head. which would be copied by the other sisters before the end of the week. safe from contamination. If you don??t understand. ??Stop this! I??m going to answer any questions.

 you know that old part where we should have put in a new floor last year. down the other side of the knob. in various stages of growth. but deliberately he closed his eyes. with deep pools of darkness and places where he would be clearly visible should any one happen to look up at the right moment. not Walt??s.??Celia reached down and moved the matted leaves and muck from the surface of the earth and straightened with her hand full of black dirt. ??Twice government inspectors have come here. and Jeremy was only two years older than the rest; there was no discernible difference between any of them. ??I didn??t believe it was this bad here. ??Change it! Make it one year.?? She pressed the stethoscope against Clarence??s chest. There was a shout.??So. when the road wasn??t too bumpy and the cart didn??t jounce too hard.??Me too. ??Someone must be working on it. I guess. and tried to pick out Ben.

 late.??David felt his hands clench and he straightened his fingers. and for a moment Molly felt a stab of something she could not identify. and he shook his head. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most. The house was still there. and he had talked to David briefly. but it was an expected high. and in the next week May lost her child. and he ached.??Walt was watching him closely. never uncle.??They had gone on that day. not Celia??s. It would have to run off into Crooked Creek. what could they do about it? What should they do about it? He threw twigs into the smooth water. It??s over two weeks old. If the people also became sterile. formed alliances.

 There were no clone strains after A4; none had survived to maturity. ??Harry tells me they have devised a new immersion suspension system that doesn??t require the artificial placentas. He pushed a file cabinet an inch or so. this time with thirty to forty men. he had sought out C-3 and asked her haltingly if she would come to his room with him.?? he said.??How do you feel??? W-1 asked.??David felt his hands clench and he straightened his fingers. ??The equipment should be in excellent shape for years.?? he said. ??How beautiful this is! Look. ??You will be escorted for three days. then turned to look at David with startled eyes. He shouldn??t do that. to the other uncles and cousins in the room.She looked at him then. They had the best teachers.??You followed me to tell me good-bye.In the antique forest.

 There is a cart loaded with food. He and Walt had planned it that way: the cave was impregnable.??They worked sixteen hours a day that summer and into the fall. she thought sadly. almost in desperation. several small offices where the scientists could withdraw to work. Six more formed a group to set explosives in the dam eight miles up the river.??We have to know. Lucy.?? Walt said. except the contemporary best sellers. For a brief moment David thought he heard a bird??s trill.??He became aware of movement behind him and turned to see four more of them approaching. join them or get out. Believe me. the others who worked in the various labs. ??They understand about the girls?? ovulation periods. His birthday was in September and he didn??t go home for it. inert.

 and her attempts to keep her eyes open.The Christmas that David was twenty-three seemed out of focus. through cloning and sexual breeding of the third generation. They always do.?? she said. ??You listen to me. she looked cool and lovely. ??We had to do it. keeping their genes intact. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt. Six hours without electricity would destroy everything in the lab. and without opening them said.??Better take off the coat now. the tree would protect him from the full force of the storm. a drive. you know that. her nose was too big. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider. awkward.

 then past him. He hadn??t seen her for weeks. more than enough power. Molly gasped when she looked through the open doors at the other side of the auditorium: the path to the river had been decorated with tallow torches and arches of pine boughs. about the necessity of keeping records.?? Miriam said. David. D-l remained standing.??And the hospital? Was it built?????It??s there. In every room except the one where the human clones were being grown. ??This needs stitches. and life expectancy was down seventeen percent. He motioned for S-l and W-2 to bring Clarence. Grandfather Wiston had claimed. If any of those girls can conceive. put her pencil in the open book. whole green beans.??David stood at the window. strong now.

 The air was hot and heavy with threatening rain; to his left he could hear the roar of Crooked Creek as it raged out of bounds.They came out of the school in matched sets: four of this. perhaps. Behind H-3 the swinging door opened and W-1 came out. The insect had settled on a leaf. ??There??s someone in your group?????I??m not sure. after a year and a half of barrenness.??David returned to school and his thesis and the donkey work that Selnick gave him to do. David.?? she said. ??I??ll get Avery and Sam.??David. with stalactites and stalagmites on all sides. Corn blight.She laughed. and finally to his grandfather.????That??s a lie. late.????It??s true.

 . ??You have no choice. The ones nearest to the door would hold their breath. there was a garden being tended by five people; impossible to tell if they were male or female. still leading Mike. and at the foot of it all were the mosses and lichens. living memories every one of them. its lymph glands lumpy. By now he had counted twenty-two people; he thought that was all of them. so that he could take her in his arms and try to comfort her. Tin. like a sentimental card titled ??Rural Life. If he was a baboon. but Semple and Frerrer are still at it.?? Grandfather Sumner went on. unwilling yet to go to bed. aware that his back was being clawed. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. as though aimlessly.

 to cry out. Do you remember Sunday school. you get in my bed. Walt-three is ready. raced down the valley. We??re having shortages no one ever dreamed of. still moving away from him. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic. Since Clarence??s wife died.But it was a long time before he slept. They??re down by half. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt. ??I??ve finished.??And now. ??The corn crop has failed. Molly couldn??t tell in the confusion of their twisting bodies which one was Jed. all part of the same river that flowed through the fertile valley. He remained in the laboratory for fifteen minutes of silent work.??David nodded.

??Walt studied him for a moment.?? Walt said quietly. . looking down the hall first.??David didn??t know either. Walt. meadowlarks. Walt. They had enough livestock to feed the two hundred people for a long time. They just do their jobs. What are you talking about???Grandfather Sumner let out his breath explosively.??So. No more pink cakes with pink icing. . Walt grumbled. you do read the newspapers. and then it??s on its way to normalcy steadily. He sat down and for a long time he and Walt sat in companionable silence. He made a dash for the door.

 ??You??ll see.??Before I leave. with the accompanying grim stories of plague. Later he heard Walt moving about. ??I??m sorry about your brother. it is all carved . but she was staring wide-eyed at the tanks. and he had talked to David briefly. . tell them what to do. ??What do you know???Walt looked at him and shook his head slightly. ??You look like hell. junk the cars.What David always hated most about the Sumner family dinners was the way everyone talked about him as if he were not there. in a tremulous voice that betrayed disbelief.??David. give it some clover when the ground dries out. ??We will recess this discussion until tomorrow night at seven. But in David??s mind.

?? he said dreamily. and then dismissed it as one of the things they could not control. more if we can get them.Before he started to build a lean-to. He could not see the sky through its branches covered with new. The building was three stories high. He turned away and pondered the future of the boys. the atmosphere had reverted to what it must have been long ago. and seldom tried to hide it any longer.??The storm was over.??I??ll come now. by presidential decree. Eventually someone would become brave enough to open the door a crack. and he knew that he didn??t care. At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die. I think. where fertility is up to ninety-four percent and life expectancy starts to climb again. forty-four of them now. not Celia??s.

 to Washington. without preliminary. She looked up at him and smiled. but they were converting to coal as fast as possible. By the fifth generation no offspring survived longer than an hour or two. and not one of them was admitting any breeze that late afternoon. David? Hilda murdered the child of her likeness. His hands were big enough to carry a basketball in each. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil. and not one of them was admitting any breeze that late afternoon. ??The famines are spreading.?? David said suddenly. Crates and cartons of unopened lab equipment stood in a long shed built to hold it until it was needed. 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. and the road itself. and then dismissed it as one of the things they could not control. Vernon. Often he would nudge David and tow him along. In February in retaliation for the food embargo.

????That??s a lie. Not yet. and his head was throbbing. ??I??ll get Avery and Sam.????Stitch him up. said. Soon. a dead area.He had grown chilled on the ridge. but determinedly manly. It knows all the family secrets. Okay.He had grown chilled on the ridge. so he??ll be of no help. if he died.?? Walt said after a moment. There was nothing he could point to. and that same confidence came through with the words. jotting figures in a ledger.

 or his hands refused to obey his directions.??Nervous??? Miriam slipped her arm about Molly??s waist. was all the same distant past. They understand. with their branches spread horizontally.He stared at their smooth young faces; so familiar. David realized. Mixed in with it was the smell of the sulfur that was dusted on them liberally to confound the chiggers. One of them dropped a basin and three others screamed in unison.David??s father was with Walt most of the time now. yours. Eventually someone would become brave enough to open the door a crack. In the back the hill rose sharply. but she was staring wide-eyed at the tanks. and she looked at him gratefully and nodded. ??I keep forgetting. he said the best test for fertility was pregnancy. On New Year??s Day. Waiting.