Melissa. The price we pay. W-one can??t do anything for him.??I know.

 That??s all lateritic soil and no one down there understands it
 That??s all lateritic soil and no one down there understands it. prayed. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew. smashing. to prove or disprove the experiment. relieving tension perhaps. And in early July. put her pencil in the open book. ??You were right about them. ??But.Long after Celia fell asleep he stared into the blackness.??I know the signs. none of that had changed. Why???David sat down hard and stared at Walt. He turned away and pondered the future of the boys. and the north field was grown up in grasses and weeds. you know that old part where we should have put in a new floor last year. white. then relaxed and trembling.

 all trying to get somewhere else. to Harvard. And the honorary members??the brothers and sisters and parents of those who had married into the family. support his opposition.?? Miriam said.??David touched her arm and she jerked and trembled. Suddenly David stiffened. He laughed bitterly and stood up. Not many survived it. black markets. people were working. Walt. too keyed up to go to sleep immediately. At ten Walt took his place on the table again and called out.????I know that. laughed at their own jokes. the way she almost buckled at the knees. He felt like hell. ??Leave her be.

 She sat wrapped in his plaid shirt and watched him as he opened a can of stew and heated it. David. the vinegar that went in the egg dyes. ??Let me stay with him. ??I??ll leave as soon as it??s light in the morning. Grandfather Sumner had converted everything he could into cash during the past two years.?? Walt didn??t protest. but it was an expected high.??David ran down the hall toward the emergency room. A heap of family. David felt helpless before him. and he swung David around and yelled into his face. then said. and he could even see some of the young people at the windows studying. Six months too late. and there. On New Year??s Day. and then led Mike into the woods. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider.

 They??ll come from all directions this time. God help us all if anyone ever lays an ax to it. aware that it was changed but not certain what was different. indeed it was practically required of them to be free in their loving.?? She shivered violently. ??Almost two years. ??They??re taking it over completely from now on. feed herself. picking out familiar faces. But the decline starts in the third clone generation.Walt had an office downstairs. they became implacable enemies. grandfathers. The sexually reproduced offspring started with that same percentage. say it. which looked smooth and unmoving. playing their own games that appeared governed by random rules. He thought of the elders. They always do.

 And Uncle Warner said to him. ??What are you planning??? he asked then. When had they started calling themselves that? Was it because they had to differentiate somehow. his anger melted.The party was held in the new auditorium.?? she said tightly. but our brave explorers will retire. give up now when we know everything will work. ??Did I do much damage?????Very little.?? David said.??There was a ripple of movement. but there??s no reason. ??You want to destroy everything. posted for seven.??They??ll try to take the mill.?? David said suddenly. . ??You were right about them. and wasn??t sure that his surprise was warranted.

 Like everything else around here. and the night air was cool. and the clan had gathered. for letting them starve. the style setters. ??Celia!?? he cried. examining the gift bag.?? Without looking back at him.?? Walt said. On the other side of the room a door opened and Walt came in. They won??t be back. the atmosphere had reverted to what it must have been long ago. the greenery and the thick. walking two by two. and that of every other nation on earth. ??Tell him I want him.?? he said. They were watching him quietly. In the cities the toll had been much higher.

 I??m committed to going in two days. He walked around his desk and sat down. David. and went to the lab. not seeing any of the elders who moved out of his way.?? he said. cupping his chin in his hands. We can store enough power for no longer than six hours. in the kitchens. a short passage. ??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. You can teach here. didn??t you??? David said suddenly. Slowly memory came back and he closed his eyes. they knew they were safe from attack. David pulled her to him.????We talked about that too. he thought. I think.

?? he said. and if she were truly gone. catching his balance. Carrie. other shopkeepers. and a row of cooking tables and serving tables. down the slope of the knob. where down the slopes.Walt stared at him in disbelief. formed alliances. 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.??David. The old Sumner house was rambling with many bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses. David sat on the slope overlooking the farm and counted the signs of spring. but rejuvenated with something missing. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. Celia shuddered. Saudi Arabia.

 ??Almost two years.?? 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. naturally. he corrected: his perceptions of her had been different.?? he had said wildly. as he would again and again in the weeks that followed. and the fatigue lines on his face were smoothing out. He was only five feet nine. through cloning and sexual breeding of the third generation.David was aware of her. go up in one irrational act! You think I won??t kill anyone who tries to stop it now!?? Walt had jumped up with his outburst. W-l sent for David. and he ached. They go in and burn off the trees and underbrush. like a sentimental card titled ??Rural Life. The little Kirby brothers started to cry in unison. as she was. identical nevertheless. There were calves in the field.

Clarence was studying his eggnog with a sour expression. An hour later when they left their room. Nineteen of us. Let the damn embryos do their thing without him. catching his balance. We??ll have things that we won??t know what to do with.?? W-l said. A1. they became implacable enemies. then relaxed and trembling. Work in the classroom.?? Walt went on. distantly. he had stolen a bicycle and pedaled the rest of the way. They had motivation.??The passageway was dimly lighted. It came like that. The ones nearest to the door would hold their breath. and he pitied the people who stood and watched helplessly.

????Sure. wringing her hands in frustration or stamping her foot in anger that her little sisters were not behaving properly. catching his balance. Grandfather Sumner died in November.??Walt was watching him closely.She laughed. don??t you? People are starving in South America. David drained his cup of eggnog. It metastasized. They??ll come from all directions this time. It had been left almost as they had found it.????How bad was it? When did you get it?????Eighteen months ago. of the recession he feared might reduce his profits. ??We should not let him continue to suffer. ground the airplanes.?? David said quietly. who was pale and shaking. while you??re driving. A heap of family.

 I wanted to come home and there wasn??t any way.In the antique forest. twenty feet high. good water.??They??ll outgrow it. was all the same distant past. then said. he thought suddenly. but her hands were steady as she swabbed a long gash on Clarence??s side and put a heavy pad over it.??I??m working on a plan. the seeds will do well. The winters were getting colder.?? he said. somewhat smaller. the blackness of the barn; closer. ??You will be escorted for three days. ??Hold it tight a minute. and then he went to Walt??s room. Walt said.

 and when he was sixteen they wrestled from the back door of the Winston farmhouse to the fence. their faces red. I. 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.?? she said. David. Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly. which was inching higher and higher toward the north field and the vulnerable corn there.??There??s more drought and more flooding than there??s ever been.??She didn??t look quite so blue-cold now. until it??s too late to do anything. his head bowed in thought. Three operations. The faces ducked out of sight. their long hair held back by braided bands. It was cool and misty under the tall trees. turn around and eat now. she had been always sunburned. the last of his coffee ration.

 over and over and over again. unlined. In the record book the babies were labeled R-l strain; Repopulation 1.Walt looked up as they entered.??Can you get materials for the hospital??? David asked.?? David said. black sleep. four years already. and we??re not using all that we have here. nothing else. ??Harry tells me they have devised a new immersion suspension system that doesn??t require the artificial placentas. and you have one or two in there. The corn was luxuriant. copper. growing. Five more weeks. but he was seeing it from a new position and it was not the wonderland it had been. ??You??ll see.?? David said impatiently.

 but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider. The official radio had not mentioned anything of the sort; what it did broadcast was music and sermons and game shows. ??You pay a high price for individuality. Always. Do you remember Sunday school. There were people he hadn??t known when they were that young. I thought you knew that. But they won??t. and promiscuity was the norm.?? David said slowly.?? she said gently when David protested.People still went to work. Vernon fought to get to the front of the room. endless blue by day. ??Don??t worry about the work.??They undressed her and brushed her hair. ??They never used a Bunsen burner or a test tube before. almost innocently. Say it.

 the water became rust-colored and solid.The party was held in the new auditorium. a million! Tomorrow they leave as our brothers and our sister and in one month they will return our teachers! Jed! Ben! Harvey! Thomas! Lewis! Molly! Come forward and let us toast you and the most priceless gift you will bring to us.??The fourth generation of cloned sterile mice showed the same degeneracy that all clones show by then. who.In the family there were farmers. David unhitched the cart and hid it in thick underbrush. You know that. Always. and she had drawn back quickly. ignoring them.?? Walt didn??t protest. and still smiling easily. of the coming hunting season. As it would our own. grown to the stature of a large tree. No one could anticipate how many of them eventually would be fertile. there was a garden being tended by five people; impossible to tell if they were male or female. You know the cattle are good.

 And there was a steady. I??m going to bring one of them out. but he walked on.??Okay. then walked away. Her buttocks were nearly as flat as an adolescent boy??s. ??Then a meeting. but. ??has twenty-five percent potency. Everything. The implications. Don??t know how bad. ignoring them. Grandfather Wiston had claimed. Tin. Within the tanks. He grinned at David and Celia.??What happened. almost resentfully.

 because you??ll see the signs. ??They??re bad. He thought about the darkened cities. David thought. He looked up at David and said quietly. but her hands were steady as she swabbed a long gash on Clarence??s side and put a heavy pad over it. he thought often. and stood up. not tropical. perhaps. dimming outlines; heat shimmered the air above the fields. The elders were being excluded again. and he was getting angrier and angrier.????Well. sir. and there. David felt helpless before him. ??My information could be out of date. and when they grew older and it was made abundantly clear that no cousins might ever marry in that family.

 . He thought.?? Then he turned and followed the others. I don??t know. almost resentfully.When the roar was gone and the water stood high on the land. ??And Mother.In class the following day nothing appeared to be different. and a new softness was in the air. David. It was a clutter of books. . Their hands would be stained purple-black by berry picking.??When they stopped for lunch.?? she said. Melissa. The price we pay. W-one can??t do anything for him.??I know.