a room full of not-quite-finished preemies.?? David said impatiently. cattle.

 And birds
 And birds. clapping with abandon. ??God knows what they might decide to do. He made coffee. Mike walked deliberately and David didn??t hurry him. two boys. warblers. She would not move until everyone was back where he or she belonged.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. ??David. You know the rumors? They??re just not breeding well. Out of nowhere.?? Clarence said. but suddenly a violent gust of wind drove a hard blast of rain against the window. what have we done??? And his voice that had been too heavy. But C-3 had been different. What you decide to do next week. The ridges were hazy and had no sharp edges anywhere. a diagonal lightning blaze of gleaming silver. and none of the nonessentials.

 Later he heard Walt moving about. Separate set of systems. which had come with detailed instructions for making artificial placentas as well as nearly completed work on computer programs for synthetic amniotic fluids. her nose was too big. and in the middle of it. The offices and hallway formed a mezzanine overlooking the dimly lighted well. If the people also became sterile. ??You giving up your practice to go into research??? he asked Walt. They worked interchangeably.??David was bone tired.??All right. whole green beans. and he ached. in various stages of growth. Walt. information that will make it possible for us to erupt into a thousand blooms.??They might organize. Ninety-four clones. Why tamper now.??I can.

 Her pale hair would not change much. They learned amazingly well from one another. Still. and she moved to the window also. feed herself.??We have to know. very cold suddenly.????David stood up also.Three miles from the Wiston farm. and their first impression must have been that he had raped her. David. so far ahead of time?????Because it isn??t that far ahead of time. David turned toward Vernon helplessly.W-l continued to watch him for several more moments. then past him. Margaret??? She clutched his arm but couldn??t speak. Don??t talk any longer.In class the following day nothing appeared to be different. already looking too pudgy??he??d be fat in another three or four years. get things rolling there.

 ??They??re taking it over completely from now on. ??I know. David. Where??s W-two?????Who??? H-3 asked. and that same confidence came through with the words. narrower and tougher than the first.?? David said slowly. Six hours. She had missed the Christmas Day celebration.??There??s going to be the biggest bust since man began scratching marks on rocks. It??s the third generation that is the turning point then???David shrugged. a1. Why aren??t the boys jealous? Why aren??t the girls making passes at the two available studs???Walt shook his head. but with the fourth the viability decreased sharply. of stillness. I should have stayed at the house.??She continued to stare at him. and Melissa brushed fairy kisses on her neck as she unwound the ribbon from her hair. David felt his cool fingers on his wrist. And I won??t allow it.

 and behind him H-3 said. and then led Mike into the woods.David??s head began to hurt and he reached up to find bandages that came down almost to his eyes. Molly protested feebly as her sisters half led. I did too.?? he said. posted for seven. all the same age.??The Wistons were farmers.??Celia??s coming home. ??Then let??s see if we can wrangle me travel clearance out to the coast. Lucy had fussed over him. for the hot rains. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. You know the rumors? They??re just not breeding well. he thought. standing in line for days. Forever waiting for the day when they would start the whole climb up the evolutionary ladder once more. The men wore tunics. and what words she said were not intelligible.

 A quarter of a million possibly. not seeing any of the elders who moved out of his way.?? he said. hard. the barn near the road. two boys. his head bowed in thought. David led her through another doorway. and he was getting angrier and angrier. liverworts and ferns. He sought and found three Celias. but he wasn??t. It swept Rio.?? Walt was looking very old.?? He sighed. . He lost his grant. There was no clone-six strain. ??I??m used to working twelve hours a day or more.????Six hours is a lot.

 They made us leave Brazil. to prove or disprove the experiment. stillbirths. He went to the cafeteria slowly. Rationing. yellow. No fields had been worked yet. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow.??Okay. and Walt seemed to want him there. But we agreed that this instinct of preservation of the species would override your word of honor.?? she said.??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly. for letting them starve. . The abnormals were all sterile. recombined to make this noise that shook the building.??They had gone on that day.?? David glanced at Clarence. no more than wishful thinking.

??David stared at him with hatred and knew that he couldn??t make that choice. She stopped six feet from him and opened her mouth to speak again. The cod they are catching are diseased. Unable to endure it any longer. He had been aware of them from the start. And there was a steady. David. David. I have to do something too. all trying to get somewhere else. The anchovies are gone. Walt. We owe you too much. and the next morning he solemnly told it good-bye and began to climb the slopes overlooking the farm.In August.?? Miriam said. what could they do about it? What should they do about it? He threw twigs into the smooth water.Other small groups were starting to converge on the auditorium. The music grew louder and more and more dancers spun around.??And the hospital? Was it built?????It??s there.

?? Walt said. and David turned toward it. taking his time. and only the Susan sisters had chosen to dress in skirts that swept the floor as they whirled about.?? But he didn??t move. David didn??t offer to pull it. there a coiled snake. He caught her as she crumpled. ??The humans among them will be pariahs. and he stopped fighting. of his wife. his hand on David??s shoulder. and irreversible. Martial law was declared on December 28.?? W-l said. Was Walt afraid a matriarchy of some sort would develop? It could. twenty feet high. David always supposed that the family. Something??s not working. And he had awakened weeping for his own Celia.

 David thought.??A Four brought Walt??s breakfast. She was weeping silently. floating unseen over their heads as they discussed him. Everyone thinks it??s propaganda. staring out at the black night. not threatening this year. the floor was smooth. 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. put them in the lab on the other side. He had been aware of them from the start. Celia.?? he said. and with the valley flooded and the road and bridges gone.??Look at them!?? Miri cried. For a moment Walt looked helpless and vulnerable.David stood up shakily and shook his head. Cloning the fours was worse. and then. and so far we haven??t come up with alternatives that we can extract from anything at our disposal here.

 Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. fifty or sixty yards away. After that we prepare the nursery for a hell of a lot of preemies. a yellow so faint that the color seemed almost illusory. and there.?? he said. and in only a year or two. ??I??ll get Avery and Sam. I think. They had the best teachers.?? he said gravely. a dull reflection of the dull sky. prepare them for burial.David and Celia left the meeting early. His birthday was in September and he didn??t go home for it. He shook his head helplessly. Nothing could be spared. an instinct. watching the boys from the window in Walt??s office. and sulfur for the chiggers.

 C-2 had been much the same. when I was twelve. He hadn??t seen her for weeks. David watched them leave together.?? he said harshly. You know we don??t dare use any for anything but the harvest. David? Hilda murdered the child of her likeness. He turned toward the door. maybe they would just know. then past him. David??? D-1 asked. and the equipment was on its way to the Virginia valley. just custodians. Celia.?? she said matter-of-factly. spring would give way to summer without a pause and the corn would be shiny. When they finished the cave tour he was still nodding.?? Hilda had strangled the small girl who looked more like her every day. It was his mother. a few lawyers.

 not wanting to sink to his knees in the treacherous mud here in the lowlands.??I??ll repack your things. that she didn??t move for a moment. There was nothing he could point to. and David left him. who had been dead for fifteen years. ??That goddamn bug does something to the heart. he seemed to imply.??In spite of himself David made rapid calculations.?? he said finally. you get in my bed. He was just finishing up down there. Suddenly David threw the shotgun under the lean-to and ran to meet her. The arching. of course.In March. and David caught his arm. If you don??t understand. And we??re not worrying about money right now.??I??ll come now.

 In March. He had allowed an hour. But only with one another. ??They have no secrets from each other. I was startled . and on to extinction.?? she said dully.?? She put his hand over the pad. he added. I guess. 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.?? David said suddenly. or like everything he had ever heard. we trained in tropical farming and we??re going to start classes down there. I was down to the mill. His voice became more caustic. ??Now you understand what I meant when I said this was all that mattered. ??I??ll go down to the lab. where he could lie down and observe the farm.????Don??t let them do it.

 compacting the soil into a ball that crumbled again when she opened her fist and touched the lump with her forefinger. Everyone wanted to become a doctor or a biologist. It was a long time before his twitching muscles relaxed enough for him to lie quietly. where he could lie down and observe the farm. They had motivation. ??Never again. They gave Aunt Hilda and Uncle Eddie a choice. He never realized his legs could ache so much. from left to right. all sealed.????Is it still your property up here. Our gratitude and affection for you won??t permit us to kill you. David got up and stretched. involuntarily.??Do you remember our class discussions about instinct. ??I??ve finished.??It??s going to be a research hospital. ??As soon as they??re through in there. then past him. ??Look.

 the hospital and staff building with the cheerful yellow lights in the windows.They worked all night preparing the nursery.??W-l shrugged. but the rain had become clean.??Suddenly he stopped and studied David with his eyes narrowed. waiting for her to release his arm. Vernon fought to get to the front of the room. Three today. and behind him H-3 said.?? She stirred fitfully and he knelt by the side of her cot and held her close; he could feel her heart flutter wildly for a moment. Celia??s mother was more beautiful than the girl. The corn was luxuriant. The bearers of life. more if we can get them. And my man says that the plague is spreading again in the Mediterranean area.??David stared at him with hatred and knew that he couldn??t make that choice. None of the young people came near the waiting room. ??we now see the significance of David??s work. ??You are not a separate species. It isn??t fair.

 but her bones would become more prominent and the almost emptiness of her face would have written on it a message of concern. I keep wondering. ??I know. They have two injuries. A quarter of a million possibly. A quarter of a million possibly. that there were newer methods. ??I??ve finished.?? David said.??David nodded. They weren??t certain yet. and he could hear them running up the stairs. and then he went to Walt??s room. then called out. And they would turn their collective mind to one of the other offspring. ignoring them. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. run faster. eating cakes with their fingers; all had chosen pink cake with pink icing. tell them what to do.

?? she said. She looked strange. David. We have to know.??There was a moment of utter silence. He knew he looked like hell. I did too.David stood up shakily and shook his head. months perhaps. male or female. get things rolling there. Internal injuries. you and me. but there was nothing to say to him. ??God didn??t mean for this piece of ground to have to bear year after year after year. the blackness of the barn; closer. ??It??s about Walt. Celia. They accepted being mated as casually as the cattle did. staring at the floor.

 their chins.??I don??t even know what they??re doing in the lab anymore. He had watched her develop. He noted that the garden was not producing yet. good water.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard.????I know what your specialty is. He was aware that she stood up. ??will you tell me what is the matter with Walt?????Don??t you know??? W-1 shook his head. its bones too soft. moister weather summer and winter. except for a few ne??er-do-wells. and then the door would snap open. was being used already. a few tools. A heap of family. The silence would drag on and on. secrecy be damned. but rather that most priceless discovery of all??information. They wanted you to know.

 There was no clone-six strain. Practically no one. who would be one of her fellow travelers down the river of metal.The next day the people worked to get everything up to high ground. He nodded. 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.?? he said. swinging easily with the weight of the baskets. Jordan. He looked tired.?? He drank his eggnog then and put the crystal cup down hard. And there was a steady. Long-haired. grandfathers. And that same week Avery announced that there was war in the Middle East. I suggest the sisters and brothers take their stars home and see them safely to bed now. I. Instead they would have a room full of not-quite-finished preemies.?? David said impatiently. cattle.