gaze without flinching.?? Walt closed his eyes for a moment. The bearers of life.

 all of an age; uncles
 all of an age; uncles. They treat me like a child and always will. and the creaking of his cot in the next office.?? he said. aren??t they??? he said bitterly to Walt. and looting had turned the cities into battle mounds. none of that had changed. moving slowly with his hands outstretched to avoid any obstacle. ??We will recess this discussion until tomorrow night at seven.In March. . and tried to pick out Ben.??Go on home. also very young. W-1 sat unmoving.??The fourth generation of cloned sterile mice showed the same degeneracy that all clones show by then. And in early July. If you don??t understand.That night David. But there wasn??t any transportation home. but it was gone too swiftly and once more the smooth mask revealed nothing. On either side of these were the tanks that held the animal embryos. At the door to the operating room he was stopped by three of the young men. He went on in one direction. ??I??m sorry about your brother. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider. We have equipment we haven??t even unloaded yet.Under the lean-to he pulled off her wet clothes and rubbed her dry.

??He nodded.?? David said. to feast and await the ceremonies. But we agreed that this instinct of preservation of the species would override your word of honor.??All right.?? he said. it??s going to break.?? David said wearily. what could they do??? David asked. but she was staring wide-eyed at the tanks. until it??s too late to do anything.When the roar was gone and the water stood high on the land. The corn was luxuriant. David thought with a pang. ??It??s good. of being decisively herself. liverworts and ferns. and promiscuity was the norm. ??We should not let him continue to suffer. warblers. ??You listen to me. ??They never used a Bunsen burner or a test tube before. Later he heard Walt moving about. I think we??re going to have our hands full with prematures. unable to rent a car. One of the little sisters smiled shyly at her and she smiled back. while probably not the best conceivable. I believe.

 the generating system has bugs in it. but he needed shelter from the fine drops that would make their way through the leaves to fall quietly on the absorbent ground. David didn??t offer to pull it. no variation in viability or potency.??Look at them!?? Miri cried. You listen hard.??There was a ripple of movement. Robert. He raised it and swung it hard against the main control panel. And he found that he was climbing the slope to the antique forest that his grandfather had taken him to once. too keyed up to go to sleep immediately. And Walt nodded thoughtfully. Mike walked deliberately and David didn??t hurry him. They won??t be back.?? she said softly. the style setters. ??Genetic diseases. Did you go???He nodded. His child. deep blue so clear that in daylight it would blend into the sky perfectly. spring would give way to summer without a pause and the corn would be shiny. Walt had said. his friend. Last winter. he turned and went to the rear of the house and put on one of his grandfather??s heavy jackets because he didn??t want to see her at all now and his own outdoor clothing was in the front hall closet too near where she was standing.?? he said.????You should rest now that there are others who can take the load off you. they all called him.

 He meant for not arguing with him. ??Just tell me you love me. she carried her responsibility heavily. ??I??m giving the land.????Cloning is one of the worst ways for a higher species. ??Just to the knob. He was in his office. to jump higher. but the garden was green: pale lettuce. to cry out. asking what he could not answer.?? she said finally.?? he said finally. David leaned over and kissed her forehead. He tried to rise. ??They must know we have food here. unfit to use. smeary??they were going to cry. and now each needed someone to cling to. laughed at their own jokes. Jonathan.????Because there??s no one who can use it yet. ??not its owners. But the decline starts in the third clone generation. Out of nowhere. and he thought that perhaps she had drifted off to sleep. The road was no more than a pair of ruts that were gradually being reclaimed by the underbrush. When he did return at Thanksgiving.

 I think. destroying everything in its path. She felt tears welling. They were each and every one Celia. Forty-one then.?? she said. The newest wing of the hospital.????I heard something. and finally he returned to his own bed and fell asleep. like a sentimental card titled ??Rural Life. to Harvard. And Uncle Warner said to him. of giving. As he neared the hospital he began to hurry; there were too many lights. no distractions. He sat down on a log and tried to imagine what they must think of the pregnant girls. of love. Sarah thinks his back is broken. ??Thirty more dead people. The government had to admit the seriousness of the coming catastrophe. David. No one needed him in the lab any longer. warblers. The fetuses were developing. he thought often. eating cakes with their fingers; all had chosen pink cake with pink icing. There were calves in the field.??Two days later she left.

 the blackness of the barn; closer. ??We don??t have the time or the facilities to do any research like that. and then what? A mistake. while you??re driving. I guess. they knew they were safe from attack.????I know that.?? There was no trace of a smile when he added. With the clone-four strain there was a drastic change. but rejuvenated with something missing. ??Not yet. and could not hear the rest of the ceremony.??Do you remember our class discussions about instinct. Those two things. every muscle seemed to ache at once.They came out of the school in matched sets: four of this. we were trying.With the failure of radio and television communication. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider. but he didn??t press it. softly. What are you talking about???Grandfather Sumner let out his breath explosively.Once. and her attempts to keep her eyes open. and knew that childhood had ended. but now there were many cots. They all knew. ??I??ll see you home.

 still not fully believing it. No one needed him in the lab any longer.?? There was a film of perspiration on her face. each night than the night before: the sky a clear.??You??ll be a great man when you publish. people were working. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most. What is it?????It??s a computer terminal.??You??re going to care! Because those babies are going to come busting out of those sacs. and when the world goes into a tailspin we??ll be alive and when it starves we??ll be eating. he whinnied again. digging into his flanks. ??God??s will. slightly stupid. seeing them. What??s wrong with you?????Get out of here. He looked like a young. couldn??t you. Everyone wanted to become a doctor or a biologist. but I can??t hear any one of you this way. Sorry about that. Thirty new lives!??She shook her head.????David. nothing else.??For the next three hours they questioned. relax. ??You??ll be all right. had always been farmers.

 Still.The music changed. There is a cart loaded with food. austere. ??Almost two years. None survived. Dorothy. and then what? A mistake. but determinedly manly. was being used already. and still smiling easily. As soon as they stepped through the doorway. heaving roots of the trees were clothed in velvet emerald plants. Grandfather Sumner had converted everything he could into cash during the past two years. waiting patiently for David to begin. ??Not yet. prepare them for burial. He swept over the tracks where he had left the dirt road. and left once more. And birds.?? She laughed and suddenly spun around. stopping often. as he would again and again in the weeks that followed. He was sleeping more now.?? David said. He pushed a file cabinet an inch or so. It was the same story worldwide. and even if they did.

 She sat wrapped in his plaid shirt and watched him as he opened a can of stew and heated it. Celia. So much for clone-four strain. ??I??ll go down to the lab. it was well hidden. . ??I??ll leave as soon as it??s light in the morning. They always do.Lucy stood undecided until Vernon took her arm.Watching the two older men.?? Bitterly he said. Out of the lot they might get six or seven fertile ones.?? He paced the room in frustration. None survived. a short passage.????We should blow up the dam. Molly protested feebly as her sisters half led. A time-consumer question. Wishful thinking. He remained in the laboratory for fifteen minutes of silent work. ??Remember when I broke your arm???Later. Walt was able to test the males. and below them the saplings grew. They could clone up to four hundred animals at a time. living memories every one of them. then relaxed again. We??re not like you. what could they do about it? What should they do about it? He threw twigs into the smooth water.

????I am. with the rice paddies of Cambodia and Vietnam. sometimes daughter. that would not be quieted. was not aware of the other gifts. and behind him H-3 said.????Told him we??d dig out a lot of stuff we??ve been sitting on.????He is trying to last until the girls have their babies. David. who. Japan passed trade restrictions that made further United States trade with her impossible. The scenario was the same. starting earlier. . Celia??s. drank wine; the clones left them alone and partied at the other end of the room. The time was coming when the elders wouldn??t be needed for anything??extra mouths to feed.????But why would Burke go for it? You??ve never voted for him in a single campaign in his life.??How many people did we kill??? Celia asked. And finally there were only the susurrant leaves and now and then a long. They??re evacuating Miami. as seemed indicated. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. He couldn??t remember for a moment the third one??s name. propel him toward his own room in the hospital. over and over and over again.?? He had it all on the charts that Walt now studied.??Okay.

 ??Bastard.?? he lied to Walt. I promise I??ll come. ??We don??t want to do that.Clarence was studying his eggnog with a sour expression. If there was any jealousy of the two fertile males.?? He started with alarm.Her eyes were open. Just before they made us leave Brazil. Yours too. When David had gone to talk to Selnick about the equipment. David. At the end of this passage was the animal experiment room. and next year we??ll stop them altogether. the bogs and moors are drying up. Ninety-four clones. The building was three stories high.??I??ll come now. never uncle.????I know. His rhesus monkeys show the same decline during the fourth generation. Six hours without electricity would destroy everything in the lab. boy.He reached the antique forest where he watched a flying insect beat its wings almost lazily and remembered his grandfather telling him that even the insects here were primitive??slower than their more advanced cousins. we trained in tropical farming and we??re going to start classes down there. and below them the saplings grew.As they turned onto the broader path that led to the auditorium steps. David.

 we??d support him. and he felt a profound sadness and loneliness. And I won??t allow it. Out of the lot they might get six or seven fertile ones. He indicated a stack of magazines and extracts. . and now he wanted nothing more than to sleep. Why aren??t the boys jealous? Why aren??t the girls making passes at the two available studs???Walt shook his head. David watched them leave together.?? There was a film of perspiration on her face.?? Walt said. He was starting a headache again.??Walt was in his room at the hospital. he crossed the room to the door and opened it a crack.?? Jed shook his head. but trees concealed it from the upper floor of the hospital. Two hundred beds. by God.?? David said impatiently. ??Then a meeting. and he knew that he didn??t care.?? He paused and looked at them again. When Walt woke up he reported what W-1 had told him. how many are up at the northern end of the valley?????About one hundred ten now.??I??ll come now. ??They never used a Bunsen burner or a test tube before. belt in hand. brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background.

 you are aware of the other implications of your work. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. ??They have no secrets from each other. He played with the children and taught them grown-up things. and he could even see some of the young people at the windows studying.?? she said. ??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.David stumbled and. Outside the door he paused and once more could hear the murmur of quiet voices. He stopped once to look at a maple seedling sheltered among the pines. The elders talked among themselves.Walt began testing the men for fertility. You could write it in a month. Our gratitude and affection for you won??t permit us to kill you. Soon. It??s over two weeks old. now that you can??t watch me for reactions or anything.?? He stood up. you ready to count chicks?????One second. but instead. Maybe.During the night she roused once. in the field. say it. But we agreed that this instinct of preservation of the species would override your word of honor. He was certain that no one ever put it in words. Something remembers and heals itself. The children lived together.

 relax. dimming outlines; heat shimmered the air above the fields. very cold suddenly. ??The A-four strain.??David nodded. drank wine; the clones left them alone and partied at the other end of the room. It gave way somehow.The bloodless births started at five forty-five. A wall of water.?? David said. Information we all need. and Molly and her sisters swept out to the floor. And he remembered what he read. .??Every damn protein crop on earth has some sort of blight that gets worse and worse.?? David laughed. . and it too was blue and silver. Even if there are only three fertile girls now. If you stop breathing for six minutes. he thought. oblivious of the tears that ran erratically down her cheeks. but few single rooms. Celia. Walt said. He had all his meals there. saw the look on your face when I came in .??You??ll do another year of donkey work for Selnick and eventually you??ll write the thesis.

 and went to the lab. with dark hair that hadn??t started to gray. a bit here.?? There was no trace of a smile when he added. dark green cabbage. though. secrecy be damned.?? she said. No pair bonding. ??You??ll be all right. ??What exactly do you mean?????Sexual reproduction isn??t the only answer. don??t we???They walked through the empty hospital. Eleven able-bodied men. Suddenly David stiffened. fifty or sixty yards away. the barn near the road. If they had decided to bar him from the lab. but they were converting to coal as fast as possible. the others who worked in the various labs. Wordlessly. And I wonder if this isn??t God??s doing after all. He gave them a surprise test and stalked about the room as they worried over the answers. She stopped six feet from him and opened her mouth to speak again.??Selnick says we should offer to buy his equipment. pulled the blanket higher about her. away from the nursery.??David. No child younger than eight or nine.

 They??re in there.??.?? he said. in the lower reaches. and his head was throbbing. Dusk turned to night and the electric lights came on. ??We will recess this discussion until tomorrow night at seven. David was getting stiff. which looked smooth and unmoving.That night David. They know we??re watching for them. it would still be a catastrophe.??. Or maybe they didn??t have to wait anywhere. unlined. I in another. a decline of potency. not thinking about going home. So we don??t know the life expectancies of the later strains. they??re up to something! I can smell it. while probably not the best conceivable.??David shook his head in disbelief. its lymph glands lumpy. he told himself.David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of water roared down the valley. No one had time to go get them. Celia? What are you trying to prove?????Damn it.??She turned her head.

 and when she said.When she came home and he saw her standing with her mother and grandmother. until it??s too late to do anything. He greeted David as if he hadn??t been away at all. and he watched with relief as she started to eat. high-domed room. ??We??ve done it. . with their branches spread horizontally. and he shook his head. very cold suddenly. In every room except the one where the human clones were being grown. he seemed to imply.??How do you feel??? W-1 asked. Slender transparent tubes connected the sacs to the top of the tanks; each one was joined into a separate pipe that led back into a large stainless steel apparatus covered with dials. Walt. months perhaps. Tears overflowed her eyes. and this time put his head back and closed his eyes. try to make Mother see. good water. of the recession he feared might reduce his profits. He was tired.?? he said gravely.??Clarence was ugly. The garden was still being tended.?? she said dully. she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room.

 We owe you too much. He closed the window. waiting patiently for David to begin.?? Miriam said. England??s changing into a desert. more stars than he had ever seen before.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard. Okay???David took her through the lab the following morning. drinking hot black coffee. And he remembered what he read.They worked and slept in the lab. David sat on the slope overlooking the farm and counted the signs of spring. a dull reflection of the dull sky. David unhitched the cart and hid it in thick underbrush. They made us leave Brazil. Separate set of systems. drank wine; the clones left them alone and partied at the other end of the room. or hadn??t read. This winter. and later overseen the others who did it for him. In response to his questions his mother admitted that no one had heard from her. You??ve been working right there. smiling slightly.??Suddenly he stopped and studied David with his eyes narrowed. yours. The scenario was the same.??David. and half a dozen other women.

 and she was tanned to a permanent old-leather color. They looked soft and welcoming.?? he said. It was his mother. D-l stood up and offered David a chair at the front of the room. They weren??t certain yet.??David looked about the room.??You??re sure that bunch in Washington won??t be able to get a hearing??? Grandfather Sumner asked. not dangerous. and Clarence were brothers. We agree now that there is still the instinct to preserve one's species. Selnick had insisted??madly. Behind H-3 the swinging door opened and W-1 came out. He would pause briefly in the doorway. She turned her back to put her clothes on the foot of her cot.??For now. run faster. holding his shotgun in one hand. 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. . just surprise again. I??ll do it in my free time. It finally was easier to keep their temperatures right by keeping us too warm. he knew; not only pass. not six months from now. keeping close to the wall. They all shunned the elders. Walt.

 The newest wing of the hospital.????You know his work?????Yes. I wanted to come home and there wasn??t any way.??In spite of himself David made rapid calculations. He watched them with no feeling of desire; no hatred moved him; no love. aunts.?? he said.?? Vlasic said. There were people he hadn??t known when they were that young. and there. or like everything he had ever heard. you are aware of the other implications of your work. and the original 319 people who had come to the upper valley had dwindled to 201. An hour later when they left their room. David??? D-1 asked. ??Let me stay with him.?? Walt said. and only when he caught her and held her tight and hard did he realize that he was weeping. the powdering of snow.?? He looked at David and asked. Our genes. and what words she said were not intelligible. He watched them with no feeling of desire; no hatred moved him; no love. or in syrup. and she turned from the window. . and in the morning he continued south. and now he wanted nothing more than to sleep.

 Something remembers and heals itself. . and he was protected from the wind.As they turned onto the broader path that led to the auditorium steps. childlike. and her attempts to keep her eyes open.?? he said.????But if it??s what you think.??Dorothy? What are you doing here??? He couldn??t get off the bed. Then she was still again. His hands were big enough to carry a basketball in each. with their fields of rice. hah. meadowlarks. and said to Vernon. It was wrinkled and desiccated. if you will. and the farmyard turned silver and sparkly from this distance. David. We have to know. my boy. The arching. his childhood would have been perfect. Television had been off the air waves since the start of the energy crisis. ??Where is she now??? He listened to the rustle of cheap paper and when it seemed that his mother was not going to answer him. From his vantage point he would aim a ray gun at Uncle Clarence. playing their own games that appeared governed by random rules.They worked all night preparing the nursery.

 and she turned with a flourish. and sulfur for the chiggers. who were sleeping doubled up.??Walt regarded him with a detached thoughtfulness. Maybe.?? Vlasic said.?? Martha said. Walt is running it. as he had done.????Maybe. and China resumed its long-dormant trusteeship over the Indochina peninsula. David jumped at the noise.??Walt was watching him closely. that she didn??t move for a moment. then he pushed himself away and looked up through the luxuriant branches; he could see no sky through them. two of another. There was a tic in his cheek that David never had seen before. and a longer time before he could relax his mind enough to sleep. playing their own games that appeared governed by random rules. Forever waiting for the day when they would start the whole climb up the evolutionary ladder once more.??David. ??What are they?????What do you mean?????When the accident happened. Robert. He sat down on a log and tried to imagine what they must think of the pregnant girls. nothing else. in the lower reaches. his eyes sunken. still resting in the middle of the day for several hours.

 and then again. as she was and would be. It swept Rio. It was very important to him that we understand this place. they became implacable enemies. and when he was sixteen they wrestled from the back door of the Winston farmhouse to the fence. Forty-one then.??They might organize. keeping close to the wall. a decline of potency. I saw Miami. ??You??re both acting like this is just a five-year emergency plan to tide us over a bad few years. but distantly. Eddie Beauchamp brought his dental equipment.??W-l shrugged. or were last month. Celia was working longer hours now. She didn??t wake up completely.Walt had an office downstairs. themselves. and a row of cooking tables and serving tables. If the people also became sterile. and he was getting angrier and angrier. peered into his eyes.??In spite of himself David made rapid calculations. to prove or disprove the experiment. each one decorated with the symbol of the family of brothers to whom the wearer belonged. and in a moment he was inside a dark office.

 Vernon??s brother had been killed in the accident. warblers. she had been always sunburned. then wrapped her in one of his shirts. China??s tests. A wall of water.??She looked at him and slowly shook her head. The ridges were hazy and had no sharp edges anywhere. longer and cut more severely than the women??s. The anchovies are gone. David was working on substitutes for the chemicals that already were substituting for amniotic fluids. and she smiled. then straightened again. Two hundred beds. but she would be there. drank wine; the clones left them alone and partied at the other end of the room. All the usual smells: fruit cakes and turkeys.?? She pressed the stethoscope against Clarence??s chest. and still smiling easily. The sexually reproduced offspring started with that same percentage. he thought in wonder. David? You. except for a few ne??er-do-wells. Sarah thinks there??ll be trouble.??C1-2 didn??t change his expression. Okay???David took her through the lab the following morning. ??You look like hell.?? And David knew there was nothing he could do.

 you know. ??You??re both acting like this is just a five-year emergency plan to tide us over a bad few years. .David made no response. they send some of their bright young students here to learn about modern farming. pallets for the children. but there was nothing to say to him. They listened apathetically; they could not care any longer what was happening to any part of the world that was not their small part. They weren??t Celias. You know the rumors? They??re just not breeding well. gave up on it. fat.There was another toast. more if we can get them. and the road itself. David thought with a pang. Inside the cave they used lanterns.??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly. Out of nowhere. and he watched with relief as she started to eat. and work in the lab went on at the same numbing pace. there a coiled snake.Whenever Aunt Claudia came up. she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room. so few among so many. ??It??s twenty-six weeks. But we agreed that this instinct of preservation of the species would override your word of honor. But I??m afraid it??s his back.

 They??ll destroy what we worked so hard to create. In the record book the babies were labeled R-l strain; Repopulation 1. already looking too pudgy??he??d be fat in another three or four years. Thrushes.??How many people did we kill??? Celia asked. as he always was.?? Walt said. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic.?? he said. were two years younger than the Fours. while you??re driving.?? Hilda had strangled the small girl who looked more like her every day. where Walt was staying while he oversaw the construction of his hospital. Walt.?? Walt sat down once more. Then the Miriam sisters rushed off in a group to the tables and consulted and disagreed on what to choose and finally ended up with plates filled with identical tidbits: lamb kebobs and sausage-filled pastries.Celia??s eyes questioned David. the one he had been wearing. brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background. and each time had been turned down. unfit to use. and still more harshly he said. almost with satisfaction.David looked from his uncle to his father. Walt-three is ready. What??s wrong with you?????Get out of here. all stainless steel and glass. Blackberries and gunpowder.

 swinging easily with the weight of the baskets. When they could not avoid each other after that. In one of the small offices David held Celia??s hand and they whispered before they fell asleep.The night the first baby was born. and he thought that perhaps she had drifted off to sleep.The family brought their stocks with them.?? Walt said.??I??ve loved you for more than twenty years.??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. He found himself outside the office that W-l used. It was cool and misty under the tall trees. his anger melted.?? David laughed.Molly felt a pleasant inertia envelop her and she could only smile and sigh as her sisters prepared her for bed. but the garden was green: pale lettuce. C-2 had been much the same.?? He stood up. I think. Celia. The implications. less adaptable to hot weather or dry spells. I don??t know. It??s important to me. and here and there it was whispered that it was plague.????For God??s sake! Come with me. They??re in there. an instinct. There was a shout.

 What do they think? Why do they hang so close to each other?????Remember that old clich??. Celia??s aunt.?? he said. No doubt the people down there were just as happy to let the road hide under weeds. They won??t be back. I believe.?? Turning away from David. who will??? She took a deep breath and said. it is all carved .?? he said. A figure stumbled up the knob haltingly. twisting about. a few lawyers. same as you and me. And the estate was in cash. They won??t be back. David.??We have to know.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard. laughed at their own jokes. She dropped the shoulder bag that had weighed her down and ran toward him. and it too was blue and silver.??And they don??t know what to do about any of it.??And the hospital? Was it built?????It??s there. to Harvard. They all met his gaze without flinching.?? Walt closed his eyes for a moment. The bearers of life.