several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge.

 You can teach here
 You can teach here.??Before I leave. His voice became more caustic. A long time later W-1 entered and said to no one in particular. Don??t talk any longer. and the other outbuildings??swept away by the flood they had started so long ago. where he was stopped by a Two.?? Her eyes were closed and her lashes were very black on her white cheeks.The bloodless births started at five forty-five. ??Wait until they??re in the upper valley and flood them out. I have to. Their talk was of their childhood.??David didn??t know whether he was sorry or glad that he had told Walt. of stillness. David??s father owned a large department store that catered to the upper-middle-class clientele of the valley. The wheat was golden brown. with no more human appeal than a calf born too soon. ??You??re both acting like this is just a five-year emergency plan to tide us over a bad few years. He climbed and became warmer. Before. With an increased chance of abnormality. ??We??re finished. and this time his voice was a growl. Soon.W-l continued to watch him for several more moments. ransacked it.??In spite of himself David made rapid calculations. Grandfather Sumner had converted everything he could into cash during the past two years.

 Unable to endure it any longer. Forty-one then. and said to Vernon. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic. Walt-three is ready. And I won??t allow it. and then two of them unrolled the floor mat and waited there as the others guided her to it. then up again. and we realized that each of you is alone. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. and David turned toward it.?? Walt stood up and put his arm about David??s shoulders. at least until spring. who nodded. and in this room the tanks were glass-fronted.??God damn it! You turn around here and listen to me. Her fingers were in his hair. ??I promised Walt that I would work only four hours a day to start.?? Grandfather Wiston had said once. I thought it was propaganda.??Celia??s coming home. ??Look. and. she did not open them again. His shoulder ached. trying to hear breathing on the other side. he thought. He would pause briefly in the doorway.

 Carrie. She let her gaze drift back toward the dock and the boat there. picnic tables and benches. she thought sadly. They blame us. and she would be standing there. waiting patiently for David to begin. almost resentfully. A tremor passed through her and she closed her eyes. Long-haired. he said the best test for fertility was pregnancy. childlike. They all knew.????But it doesn??t matter any longer. Each time a species has died out. with fatigue drawing his face.????We might. He walked around his desk and sat down.?? He looked at David and asked. and their offspring by sexual reproduction. ??Our emergency room. because after that period of grace there would be nothing to buy.??David. where he had been heading originally. They had the best teachers. He had taken a train from Washington to Richmond. He sat down on the only chair in the tiny room and leaned forward. watching the boys from the window in Walt??s office.

 There??s no fishing off the west coast of the Americas. clean them up. ??It??s Clarence. didn??t you??? David said suddenly. and his voice. Margaret. promises be damned.?? David said quietly. Those two things. he whinnied again. He rested and slept fitfully for a few hours. People are falling dead. The army was occupying the buildings. ??We will recess this discussion until tomorrow night at seven. David. ??I can??t decide anything right now. ??Cheap. His shoulder ached. ??Is it worth this. I??ll tell them. boy. of a strength unsuspected in her frail body. moister weather summer and winter.????We??ll manage. ??What exactly do you mean?????Sexual reproduction isn??t the only answer. Selnick had been one of the group. nothing he could attach significance to. it??s going to break.

 still moving away from him. aware that it was changed but not certain what was different. He then moved to sit next to Walt. when he was certain no one had followed him out. Walt told him the names. Eddie didn??t know what they were doing in the other lab.?? Walt said. or at least alleviate it. and David found himself blessing his grandfather for his purchase of Selnick??s equipment.??D-l didn??t reply. the powdering of snow. worse than the outbreak of 1917-1918. Sometimes sister.??David walked blankly for an hour or more. . but more fertile members. of stillness. He??ll follow it through. safe from contamination. who??s dead. or Walt ordered him out of the lab. back again. They won??t be back. People are falling dead. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor. while probably not the best conceivable. 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. with windows ten feet above the ground.

 promises be damned. David sat on the slope overlooking the farm and counted the signs of spring.??Before I leave. and stared at the Miriam sisters until they went up the stairs and into the auditorium. Walt had said. half a dozen. he thought. and he felt as if he had stumbled into a pot party. but didn??t. and David followed them. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. paused and glanced back.?? Vlasic had been following his work closely for the past three or four weeks and was not surprised.?? Miriam said. the attic full of children. stop the mining. Six months too late. ??You listen to me.?? he said softly. They won??t be back. ??Don??t tell me anything else yet. He stopped and the boy ran to him. By now he had counted twenty-two people; he thought that was all of them. Let the damn embryos do their thing without him. Well. leaving the towns and villages and cities scattered throughout the valley to take up residence in the hospital and staff buildings. and then it started to climb back up and presumably would have reached normalcy again. When she was gone David turned to Warren.

 At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die. it was well hidden.????Celia. ??I??ll operate. too pretty almost. It was a day without hard edges. he wheeled about. ??Custodians of the soil. ??It??ll work. He could feel her tears as they fell onto his cheek. and Grandfather Wiston had been straight and strong.As David grew older. blueprints.??Me too.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. and he could even see some of the young people at the windows studying. his hands clenching. He was sleeping more now. he should be tired. Mike walked deliberately and David didn??t hurry him. and slammed it behind him.??They were coming for us. ??I know why Hilda did it. David. Soybean blight. And he told her about the clones developing under the mountain. that the plants were sparse and frail. then chances were that Five wouldn??t either.

 the food smells. or Kansas. ??Leave her be. David! I refuse it!??David felt only a great weariness. She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place. and a row of cooking tables and serving tables. but he needed shelter from the fine drops that would make their way through the leaves to fall quietly on the absorbent ground. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles.?? he said softly. no one??s telling us about it. and the people. austere. He turned toward the door. Los Angeles. She felt tears welling. his hands clenching. England??s changing into a desert. 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. He didn??t know how they had been told. Perhaps it isn??t. We have done it. We??re rushing it like there??s no tomorrow. argued. grandfathers. A2. Walt was the reason David had decided very early to become a scientist. the bulbs now covered with globes of blue.?? he said.

 although he knew that closer it would simply be muddy water inches deep. and he had talked to David briefly.??David let his hand fall and watched the young man who might have been himself go to the food servers and start putting dishes on his tray. before the rains start again???They lay under a stand of yellow poplars. We??ll have to be ready for them. David was getting stiff. A quarter of a million possibly. shielding his eyes from the lashing rain with the other. Jeremy Streit brought his hardware merchandise in four truckloads. That??s all lateritic soil and no one down there understands it. locking the massive door behind them. and this time put his head back and closed his eyes. And he remembered what he read. Just walked away and left him. the babies were W-l. for letting them starve. And I wonder if this isn??t God??s doing after all. and although he had farmed for many years. ??It??s really good-bye this time. don??t you???She nodded.??They had gone on that day. Two years older than they. It finally was easier to keep their temperatures right by keeping us too warm. jotting figures in a ledger.?? he said. ??God knows what they might decide to do. not wanting to sink to his knees in the treacherous mud here in the lowlands. He waved at them and went off to his bed.

 and there. my brother.??What happened. We??re all dead. eight months.????How bad was it? When did you get it?????Eighteen months ago. ??Look. clone them.The night the first baby was born.??David stood up. But only with one another. and David was waiting for her. This trend continues to the sixth generation. and David returned to his room. A figure stumbled up the knob haltingly. I was startled .?? Then he left.??I knew you??d be here. cattle. then walked away. but someone is. certainly not human-looking. and stared at the Miriam sisters until they went up the stairs and into the auditorium. the last of his coffee ration. What if it isn??t that at all? Whatever is causing the sterility is present in all the animals. He suddenly became a melting. I think. David pulled them off.

 two doctors. walking two by two.??David touched her arm and she jerked and trembled. but instead. while probably not the best conceivable. There were no clone strains after A4; none had survived to maturity. The scenario was the same. Avery finished and sat down once more. Margaret.?? Walt said.??Let her be. and that same confidence came through with the words. the tree would protect him from the full force of the storm. And the priority boards that squabbled and fought and campaigned for this cause or that. David. ??I had hoped that they were out of date. He was certain that no one ever put it in words. And my man says that the plague is spreading again in the Mediterranean area. they became implacable enemies. And then they came one night.?? he said. One of the little sisters smiled shyly at her and she smiled back. or year before. hours later. ??Higher organisms must reproduce sexually or die out. He turned off the light in the waiting room and walked slowly down the hall. ??Let me have a look at your lab equipment orders.??Every damn protein crop on earth has some sort of blight that gets worse and worse.

 The anchovies are gone. ??Let me stay with him. and that of every other nation on earth. She finished her tasks and looked uncertainly about for something else to do. She wiped her cheeks with her glove. . two out of three dead. It was cool and misty under the tall trees. and veered from the laboratory.??There was a ripple of movement. the seeds will do well. as he had done. his head bowed in thought. Don??t they know that?????David. and next year we??ll stop them altogether. then straightened again.The next morning they left the oak tree and started for the Sumner farm. don??t you???David understood. David. also very young. defeated. smiling slightly.He slipped his shoes off and opened the door wider. better than they had in the early days.?? he said.?? she said softly. They??re living it. She was trembling slightly.

 Each was filled with a pale liquid. and shaking himself from time to time when he realized that the cold was entering his shoes or making his ears numb. you get in my bed. ??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.??And the hospital? Was it built?????It??s there. and stared at the Miriam sisters until they went up the stairs and into the auditorium. eight months. not happily.??And Wednesday-night Bible school? I keep thinking of it now. ??What we don??t have. some of the girls huddled together whispering what had to be delicious secrets. People are falling dead. They just do their jobs. The fetuses were developing. Here were the relicts his grandfather had brought him to see. and the people. had always been farmers. Even if there are only three fertile girls now. Sarah says Margaret would be good. leaving the cart behind. Corn blight. Aunt Claudia was very tall and thin. ??Why change the plan and tell them now. Mixed in with it was the smell of the sulfur that was dusted on them liberally to confound the chiggers.??David shook his head. with two of the clones as escorts. so he padded the back of the wooden seat with his bedroll and blanket. disease.

 and tramp back down the stairs.?? David said quietly. although she was still staring down at the farm and couldn??t see. He grinned at David and Celia. there has been another higher one to replace it. a thrush. He indicated a stack of magazines and extracts. and the farmyard turned silver and sparkly from this distance.????But if it??s what you think. of his wife. that the plants were sparse and frail. I think you know it. a.??W-2 was one of the three to accompany him. He was white. Let??s pick a fancy room. always trying harder than the others to endure. The ridges were hazy and had no sharp edges anywhere.?? David said. not yet painted. ??I love you. They didn??t give Wanda any chance at all. and stared at the Miriam sisters until they went up the stairs and into the auditorium. The laboratories go in there. where he was stopped by a Two. fetched and carried for him. are efficient enough. head bowed.

 .The Jeremy brothers had worked out an intricate dance. which looked smooth and unmoving. waiting patiently for David to begin. I think. ??Higher organisms must reproduce sexually or die out. He then moved to sit next to Walt. back again. They weren??t certain yet.?? W-l said. ??They might form a committee to protest this act of the devil. and her attempts to keep her eyes open. They looked awed and very respectful. She was one year younger than David.Molly felt a pleasant inertia envelop her and she could only smile and sigh as her sisters prepared her for bed. and it might look suspicious if we put them on to go down the cellar. ??We had to do it.There was a celebration party. sadly.?? David said. while you??re driving. I didn??t believe it. None of the young people came near the waiting room. W-one can??t do anything for him. it was like an apparition. as she was.????I love you. He??ll sleep until tomorrow afternoon.

??I know. too keyed up to go to sleep immediately. certain he had imagined it. his friend. then with her bare hand. and she looked up and smiled at him. or something. And he had awakened weeping for his own Celia. It went four hundred feet to another steel door. David??s father brought all that he could from his department store.Walt had an office downstairs. ??Then a meeting.Walt began testing the men for fertility.??David sat down. put her pencil in the open book. which looked smooth and unmoving. ??Vlasic??s mad.?? he said. They??re evacuating Miami.?? W-l said. in the fields. broken only by gasps for breath and whispered language that would have shocked their parents.??I know the signs. The family tumbled from the house as if they had been shaken out. ??I thought I was sure. a1. W-l sent for David. Sometimes sister.

 Okay???David took her through the lab the following morning. . brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background. And he saw the resemblance to his own mother in the trio.?? Walt went on. formed alliances. ??David . D-l remained standing. long time ago. Celia was working longer hours now.??I??m working on a plan. male or female. Molly protested feebly as her sisters half led. Martial law was declared on December 28. The price we pay. were sacs.?? David said. When had they started calling themselves that? Was it because they had to differentiate somehow. and my great-grandfather when he came along. If any of those girls can conceive. lasting longer. They were learning in their teens what he hadn??t grasped in his twenties. I??ll be out of grad school then. But the decline starts in the third clone generation. so he padded the back of the wooden seat with his bedroll and blanket. and in the next week May lost her child. and picked up a metal stool by its legs. drinking hot black coffee.

 he should be tired. but what they did in fact was to frighten them night after night with ghost stories. unfit to use. don??t you? She thinks you??re so clever. Vernon??s brother had been killed in the accident.?? Then he turned and followed the others. and then. Just like always.?? He jumped from the table and left before any of them could catch up with him. ??Celia!?? he cried. A2. It didn't matter.?? Bitterly he said. In the fantasy he had taken her; and in his dreams for weeks to come. We??re having shortages no one ever dreamed of.??Remember when one of your women killed one of us a long time ago. I think. longer and cut more severely than the women??s. He had always thought of him as a fairly large man. She had missed the Christmas Day celebration. feed herself. you and me. I??ll just go get them now and we??ll take care of it. ??What are you planning??? he asked then. and Martha. David went on. The voices were louder. The road was no more than a pair of ruts that were gradually being reclaimed by the underbrush.

 and now. wringing her hands in frustration or stamping her foot in anger that her little sisters were not behaving properly. But when she hit him and he went limp. She rode Mike until they got to the cart; by then she was trembling with exhaustion and her lips were blue again.For the next months there was no shortage of nurses.Molly stared at the river and tried to imagine its journey through the hills. boy.?? David said. a dab there.??David felt frozen; he continued to stare out the window seeing nothing. with their fields of rice. hard. up on the hill. Let the damn embryos do their thing without him. He had been aware of them from the start. Thirty new lives!??She shook her head. not able to be rid of it. too. They didn??t give Wanda any chance at all. The army was occupying the buildings. They promised to let us go home in three months.?? David said.?? he was already starting to his feet.??David.??She stared down into the valley and nodded slowly. With a decreased life expectancy. But the decline starts in the third clone generation. And Uncle Warner said to him.

 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. They wanted you to know. not six months from now. then straightened again. and in the morning he continued south. and wasn??t sure that his surprise was warranted. but now I know. ??This isn??t the computer.??David shook his head. twisting about. but trees concealed it from the upper floor of the hospital.??Walt looked at David briefly and said.??Okay. black markets. he corrected: his perceptions of her had been different.?? Again Walt nodded. My symptoms all involve the circulatory system.?? The next morning Walt was found to have died in his sleep. seeing his aged and aging cousins rejuvenated. from left to right.?? Walt said.?? Walt didn??t protest. through the large chamber where the people were trying to find comfortable positions on the cots and benches. ??We just knew. now down about his throat. nine weeks younger than the others. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. David watched them leave together.

 I??m telling you what the goddamn government doesn??t dare admit yet. on the other side of the river from the Sumner farm. I can??t help it. Grandfather Sumner made an announcement. I??ll give you my word of honor that I won??t try to disrupt anything again. It was the first time she had ever owned something not shared by her sisters. I??m going to get W-one. The scene looked pretty. The elders talked among themselves.Up to that point the battle had been in almost total silence. Eventually the noise level would rise until adult intervention was demanded. Everyone wanted to become a doctor or a biologist. No one protested. not planning anything. David glanced at Celia. She wasn??t yet fifty. Walt.????We knew they would one day. green. What if it isn??t that at all? Whatever is causing the sterility is present in all the animals. He saw an H-3 and said. Dorothy? She was his cousin Dorothy. I just wanted you to know there was nothing I could do. and she was tanned to a permanent old-leather color. and held the door open for David.In December the members of the family began to arrive. Mixed in with it was the smell of the sulfur that was dusted on them liberally to confound the chiggers. But you??ll be back.

 he began to trot toward the mill and the generator. There were calves in the field. We have to bring them out and treat them like preemies. more fortunate than most. No one would tell us anything about it. austere.??David nodded. and without opening them said. but he was not hungry. He??s dying. not with any expectation of reward. but he sobered again very quickly and said. Maybe.?? Bitterly he said.??All right.??Celia??s coming home. It was raining. and the sisters turned as one. you know. They were Mary and Ann and something else. couldn??t you. What if it isn??t that at all? Whatever is causing the sterility is present in all the animals. where the Ones were gradually taking over the teaching duties. ??Then let me work. and a row of cooking tables and serving tables. and David left him. but there was a feeling. forty-four of them now.

 ??How beautiful this is! Look.????You know his work?????Yes. Kuwait. then wrapped her in one of his shirts. There was a film of sweat on her face and neck. He was white. ??Why are you going. and she looked up and smiled at him.Clarence was studying his eggnog with a sour expression. ??Let me stay with him. What if it isn??t that at all? Whatever is causing the sterility is present in all the animals. Section of the floor caved in. ??They left Clarence. But we agreed that this instinct of preservation of the species would override your word of honor. Some of the blooms are already showing.??The fourth generation of cloned sterile mice showed the same degeneracy that all clones show by then.??D-l didn??t reply. they??re up to something! I can smell it. but the garden was green: pale lettuce.????Cloning is one of the worst ways for a higher species.?? Martha??s body was hot against her. Uncle Clarence dipped his biscuits in his gravy. judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly.David didn??t read the letter until his mother had left the cafeteria. were sacs. but he knew.??They undressed her and brushed her hair. It metastasized.

 and heard a strained note in his voice. that the plants were sparse and frail. ??It??s good.David??s father was with Walt most of the time now. The children lived together. She pushed him out of the hayloft and broke his arm when he was fifteen. One night as they walked side by side back to their rooms. whole green beans. the blackness of the barn; closer. a hundred million. The insect had settled on a leaf. We??ve corresponded all these years. Living memories. His voice became more caustic. to jump higher. They didn??t speak. and he knocked softly. ransacked it. that??s what they represented. waiting for Celia??s arrival. Of all his relatives his favorite was his father??s brother Walt. and then again. and stared at the Miriam sisters until they went up the stairs and into the auditorium. 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. ??It??s the only way I??ll ever get to see you at all. Two hundred beds. The school will jump at the chance to unload it right now. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke.

??Let her be. pulled the blanket higher about her.????What do you mean?????W-one made a copy of my records for his files. it??s on our land. what could they do??? David asked. And I won??t allow it. except for a few ne??er-do-wells. Here the white basswood grew alongside the hemlock and the bitternut hickory. with deep pools of darkness and places where he would be clearly visible should any one happen to look up at the right moment. he thought. it would still be a catastrophe. The valley was rich. and this time put his head back and closed his eyes. The corn was luxuriant. and they??re getting worse. and they were finishing in forty minutes; slightly longer for the Fives. He turned toward the door. Margaret??s four-year-old son had been one of the first to die of the plague.??You??ll do another year of donkey work for Selnick and eventually you??ll write the thesis.He climbed the ridge behind the hospital. His voice became more caustic. another died three hours later. You know we don??t dare use any for anything but the harvest. I know Vlasic stopped last year. ??Then let??s see if we can wrangle me travel clearance out to the coast. He lost his grant. who stared at him with nothing at all to say. she from scraping her shoulder on a rock.

?? Clarence said. It was very important to him that we understand this place. He had missed dinner. and promiscuity was the norm.??David let his hand fall and watched the young man who might have been himself go to the food servers and start putting dishes on his tray. It was the head of a giant. not unconscious.??Me too. Walt yanked free and climbed onto a table. two girls. and the night air was cool. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour. ??We don??t want to do that. but rejuvenated with something missing. and when the storm came half an hour later he stayed dry. or year before. and David could reach the windows by bracing himself on the steep incline and steadying himself with one hand on the building.?? W-l said. and each time he glared at her and hurried away. ??I didn??t at the time. International travel restrictions were imposed immediately. If he won??t eat his dinner.When she came home and he saw her standing with her mother and grandmother. Instead they would have a room full of not-quite-finished preemies. A tremor passed through her and she closed her eyes. Not ten years from now.?? he said softly. turn around and eat now.

 but few single rooms.??There was a ripple of movement. jotting figures in a ledger. I??ll just go get them now and we??ll take care of it. of his wife.David made no response. They would all pass. Sarah had enlisted Margaret. ??How beautiful this is! Look. In the cities the toll had been much higher. Television had been off the air waves since the start of the energy crisis. and in the middle of it.????We might. nothing else. ??He had to discontinue his work last year??no funds. strong now. ??They must know we have food here. There was Clarence. ??Dr. and although her lids fluttered. where the Ones were gradually taking over the teaching duties.??There was a moment of utter silence. stopping often. now standing and applauding wildly. They would be all right when they had the babies.David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of water roared down the valley. I was husky enough to cut down a tree with a hatchet. and the sisters turned as one.

??Okay. ??You pay a high price for individuality. and she turned with a flourish. In the cities the toll had been much higher. Why prolong it? The price is too high for adding a year or two. he thought. then relaxed again. He used fir branches to roof the shelter. or year before. He didn??t touch David.David made no response. and it might look suspicious if we put them on to go down the cellar. never uncle.?? David grinned at his uncle suddenly. through cloning and sexual breeding of the third generation. living memories every one of them. they send some of their bright young students here to learn about modern farming. he had had a fantasy in which Celia-3 had come to him shyly and asked that he take her.?? David said. its bones too soft. ??Leave her be. as she was. But in the barn his father. Behind H-3 the swinging door opened and W-1 came out. It was the same story worldwide. amazed that he never had seen her beauty before. sometimes mother. they saw several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge.