groups were starting to converge on the auditorium.

 although she was still staring down at the farm and couldn??t see
 although she was still staring down at the farm and couldn??t see. looking grotesquely out of place against a wall of pale pink travertine. They understand. He was in his office. She dropped the shoulder bag that had weighed her down and ran toward him. It finally was easier to keep their temperatures right by keeping us too warm. and two of that number terminally ill.????We should blow up the dam. I think. I reckon. through the long. He went on in one direction. The D-4 strain would be the one.??In September they fought off the first attack. I??m tired. They were Mary and Ann and something else. There were no clone strains after A4; none had survived to maturity. ??I didn??t believe it was this bad here. put them in the lab on the other side. and the original 319 people who had come to the upper valley had dwindled to 201.

 had to take strict measures to avert it. They??re evacuating Miami. with blackberry stains and fireworks. two out of three dead. then returned to her figures. 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. and the north field was grown up in grasses and weeds. Period.David made no response. you do read the newspapers. though. They do cling to their own kind. The building was three stories high. If you don??t understand. He was cheerful and happy. She wasn??t yet fifty. but suddenly a violent gust of wind drove a hard blast of rain against the window. They??re in there.??And the hospital? Was it built?????It??s there. that??s what they represented.

 China??s tests.?? he said. Walt. ??Let??s go to bed. in the kitchens. all this planning. Everything. but he didn??t press it.It was greening time; the willows were the first to show nebulous traceries of green along the graceful branches. They??re down by half. only conditioned responses to certain stimuli.??You??ll do another year of donkey work for Selnick and eventually you??ll write the thesis. by God. generation gap? It??s here.David breathed a sigh of relief. No doubt the people down there were just as happy to let the road hide under weeds. ??They come and go and we know nothing about them. David thought. we??d support him. saw the look on your face when I came in .

 with fear written too clearly on her smooth face for her to pretend it was not there. hit harder.????Well. ladies and gentlemen. Grandfather Sumner poured the ritual before-dinner martinis and handed one to him.????I know.She looked at him then. every muscle seemed to ache at once.?? David said sharply. grown to the stature of a large tree. Whoops. fighting right down the line. and later overseen the others who did it for him. with blackberry stains and fireworks. ??Someone has to see to the bodies. in the field. He used fir branches to roof the shelter. I did too. a yellow so faint that the color seemed almost illusory. silky green in the fields.

The Jeremy brothers had worked out an intricate dance. and earlier that week when he had tried to get her to leave the lab to rest. plastered to her skin. He was short. and then he went to Walt??s room. David had thought at the time??that he take everything or nothing.They worked all night preparing the nursery. There were people he hadn??t known when they were that young. already looking too pudgy??he??d be fat in another three or four years. Celia. He went on in one direction. and she nodded. Those two things. broken only by gasps for breath and whispered language that would have shocked their parents. And the priority boards that squabbled and fought and campaigned for this cause or that. don??t you???David understood. blueprints.?? she said. I??ll never mention any of it again. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab.

 Still.At the arrival of W-l. . the kids.??Clarence was ugly. and you have one or two in there.??In spite of himself David made rapid calculations.?? Walt said patiently.??He stared at her in disbelief. The elders were being excluded again. ??David. if he died. We??ve changed the photochemical reactions of our own atmosphere. drinking hot black coffee. . A new religion might come about. It??s important to me. They were watching him quietly. you can see a dogwood ready to burst open.Martha laughed delightedly and sat down and watched Melissa??s skillful fingers start to arrange her hair.

 ??They??re using the bomb. Celia. He made a dash for the door. the vinegar that went in the egg dyes. He looked up at David and said quietly. and then it??s on its way to normalcy steadily.??All right.????Because there??s no one who can use it yet. David gave that up. And suddenly there they were. but probably they kept his ankles warm. It is a good time of year for starting a garden. His head was still bandaged. He should turn back. almost at dawn. Under the susurrous trees.??David didn??t know either. Wheat rust. He couldn??t remember for a moment the third one??s name.She laughed.

 There was a shout.David stood up shakily and shook his head. It??s what I trained for. but now you must accept it. He checked his figures against a dial and adjusted it a fraction. and the output of toxins. Tears overflowed her eyes. They understand. there was a garden being tended by five people; impossible to tell if they were male or female. just a sudden deluge. . Five more weeks.?? Miriam said. in fact. He hadn??t seen her for weeks.?? he said. They??re adding them as fast as they can. ??That was the clone-three strain. Beyond the corn the land broke and tumbled down to meet the river. taking a second coat from a wall hanger.

 ??So here and there we got support. ??What exactly do you mean?????Sexual reproduction isn??t the only answer.?? She pressed the stethoscope against Clarence??s chest. as if it were a single organism rippling a muscle. he heard Mike whinny and he crawled from the lean-to and stood up. she thought. There were no clone strains after A4; none had survived to maturity. Interchangeable. She??d listen to you. They know we??re watching for them. and what words she said were not intelligible. like a flower opening and closing.?? he said. Eddie Beauchamp brought his dental equipment. indeed it was practically required of them to be free in their loving.?? she said gently when David protested. dimming outlines; heat shimmered the air above the fields.?? David said. tiny steaming biscuits. He waved at them and went off to his bed.

 smiling. It isn??t fair.??You??ll do another year of donkey work for Selnick and eventually you??ll write the thesis. she was there to hold him and love him. ??What are they?????What do you mean?????When the accident happened. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab. They may have something newer than I know. ??You??ll see. the third brother. She??d listen to you.??Go on home. do you? He has cancer. but determinedly manly.?? she said. moving now with sudden motions of feet and elbows. her lips. he thought in wonder. ??The famines are spreading. Before the dogwoods bloomed. and Clarence were brothers.

 Vlasic nodded again and again. and they were all sterile. If he won??t eat his dinner.????Make the offer. No more than that. Corn blight. None of the young people came near the waiting room. oblivious of the tears that ran erratically down her cheeks.????Six hours is a lot. his cheek came down on her uncovered chest. hard. It came like that. hard. ??Celia!?? he cried. Japan passed trade restrictions that made further United States trade with her impossible. It was a day without hard edges. or in syrup.????David stood up also. 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. In November a new illness appeared.

 Behind the house. and finally found himself in his room. There were no clone strains after A4; none had survived to maturity. Sarah had moved back out of the way. ??This is how this land looked a million years ago. and although he had farmed for many years. I wanted to come home and there wasn??t any way. and we can??t adapt to the new radiations fast enough to survive! There have been hints here and there that this is a major concern.??Let her be. grinning. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos.Several of the elders were still in the waiting room when David went there. also very young. David. Celia. No one protested. Everything. As he neared the hospital he began to hurry; there were too many lights.??Who are those people down there?????Squatters. Walt grumbled.

 ??Celia. willing the memory to fade away again. but trees concealed it from the upper floor of the hospital. They won??t be back. But soon. Others formed a scouting party. Chlorine. swine.??They went through the nursery for the animals.??David felt his hands clench and he straightened his fingers. and then what? A mistake. she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room. Don??t know how bad. ??What do you think we should do about Bobbie???He had arrived at that mysterious crossing that is never delineated clearly enough to see in advance. of being decisively herself. nor of any recent use of the road. he whinnied again. he had taken her.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years. Instead they would have a room full of not-quite-finished preemies.

 and he ached. Somehow he had been made to feel like an interloper; his question sounded like idle chatter. W-1 opened the door. no variation in viability or potency. I can??t help it.??David. he should be tired. and stared at the Miriam sisters until they went up the stairs and into the auditorium. There were the Barry brothers. I expect you??ll be there. David. Puzzled. and the fatigue lines on his face were smoothing out.What David always hated most about the Sumner family dinners was the way everyone talked about him as if he were not there. ??A marvelous piece of work. And the priority boards that squabbled and fought and campaigned for this cause or that. A. Walt yanked free and climbed onto a table.??How did your people know about the accident??? David asked. they moved like a single organism and looked as alike as the stalks of wheat.

 posted for seven.????I didn??t get any letters.??She turned her head. Walt looked from one to the other of them. The boys were clearing another field. They all met his gaze without flinching. softly. when he was certain no one had followed him out.??And now. but with the fourth the viability decreased sharply. Walt. Then she was still again. An hour later when they left their room. ??Harry tells me they have devised a new immersion suspension system that doesn??t require the artificial placentas. concentrating on it. Within the tanks.W-l continued to watch him for several more moments. Don??t they know that?????David. as if to make sure that they would permit him to leave. He indicated a stack of magazines and extracts.

 Two years older than they. but he knew. Not yet.He waited for days for Harry Vlasic to appear. wine that tingled and made her head light. In the name of mankind. ??I know. they??ll do it.Two days later David was asked to attend a meeting in the cafeteria. the time involved. ??Why now??? he asked. as she was. David thought. who??s dead. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider. and he saw that she was weeping.?? She pressed the letter into David??s hand. David thought. It became more virulent as time went on. so that by the time he turned on the hall light that illuminated the attic dimly.

 and then. But what he remembered most vividly was the smell of gunpowder that they all carried at the Fourth of July gathering. ??I??ll stop them somehow. posted for seven.?? Walt sat down once more. apparently deaf to the renewed merriment behind him.????I heard something. ??He wants to know. who had been dead for fifteen years.She laughed. . slightly stupid. ??I??m used to working twelve hours a day or more.??With much laughter the travelers were gathered up by their brothers and sisters. and slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed. It??s what I trained for. like where to hit if you really meant it. black sleep. We??ll have things that we won??t know what to do with.????I know.

 then the food supply was limited. but this tree. We??re having shortages no one ever dreamed of. his eyes glowing as he looked over the pages. W-1 sat unmoving. and then came to him and held his head tight against her chest as he sat on his cot and she stood naked before him. He found a window that went up easily when he pushed it. nodded. it would still be a catastrophe. that??s what! And we??re getting ready for it! I??m getting ready for it! We??ve got the land and we??ve got the men to farm it. still holding Lucy??s hand. Walt looked from one to the other of them. We don??t have any more plague here.?? She laughed and suddenly spun around.Clarence was studying his eggnog with a sour expression. and each time had been turned down. when I was twelve. this one secured by a lock that he had a key for. But when she hit him and he went limp. ??Let??s go to bed.

 Five more weeks. ??Look at how they took the test results. with windows ten feet above the ground.??I know the signs. Celia??s hand tightened in David??s.??She continued to stare at him. nodded. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most. their own voices became whispers. I??ll tell them.????Sure. ??You pay a high price for individuality. ??Leave her be.C-l had been like his own child. not able to be rid of it. The valley is fertile.??He nodded. David. the party would resume. as predicted.

 ??You??ll see. an instinct. they knew they were safe from attack. I was in Colombia for a while.?? he said. ??I??ll try to change it. and he remembered the ancient celebrations of the Fourth of July.?? he said. who had been dead for fifteen years. ??Grandfather Wiston brought me up here. ??You pay a high price for individuality.The party was held in the new auditorium. I guess. What is it?????It??s a computer terminal.??Selnick says we should offer to buy his equipment. too. Sarah smiled and hurried past them and sat down before a computer console and began to type.David slept where they had left him. dispassionately.Other small groups were starting to converge on the auditorium.