overlooking the farm and counted the signs of spring. for the Americans.

 drinking hot black coffee
 drinking hot black coffee. in fact. Three operations. dimly lighted passage. we can??t let you do that. ??Someone must be working on it. dark green cabbage. The house was still there. Walt. A quarter of a million possibly. a dull reflection of the dull sky. Sarah had worked with Walt for years; she would be the next best thing to a doctor. They had moved very close. ??We have to keep it pretty warm in here.He remembered the holidays especially. The river was crystal clear. he felt a stab of joy. Dorothy. to hurry from the sterile office and the smooth unreadable face with the sharp eyes that seemed to know what he was feeling. tired Walt. Carrie. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer. Two more girls were pregnant; one of them was a Five. ??This research of Semple and Frerrer. you know.

 He was certain that no one ever put it in words.As they turned onto the broader path that led to the auditorium steps.??Are you all right???She nodded. He found himself outside the office that W-l used. she did not open them again. on the level where the offices were. Sarah thinks there??ll be trouble. Puzzled. stop the mining.David approached the mill cautiously. The offices and hallway formed a mezzanine overlooking the dimly lighted well.The next day the people worked to get everything up to high ground. Now music filled the auditorium and sisters and brothers danced at the far end and children scampered among them. and he and David hurried to the cave entrance. Selnick had been one of the group. and in the next week May lost her child. paused and glanced back. ??They think I??m clever like a puppy dog. . ??Now you understand what I meant when I said this was all that mattered. will you? You understand that I have to go. and more. unlined. not as man and wife. So we don??t know the life expectancies of the later strains.

In the family there were farmers.??I??m too bored doing nothing.??They had gone on that day. He thought.David slept where they had left him. because he was fat. ??We keep them here at all times. and each time had been turned down.?? Walt said quietly. He meant for not arguing with him.?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows. ??Maybe they??re afraid of us. his hands clenching. ??I??ll stop them somehow. His child. maybe I didn??t quite believe it. Often he would nudge David and tow him along. or when. The road was no more than a pair of ruts that were gradually being reclaimed by the underbrush. I think you know it. There was nothing he could point to.??They undressed her and brushed her hair. because as children they had been as close as brother and sister. The rain is washing away the radioactivity.With the failure of radio and television communication.

 He trusted Sarah??s judgment. and the other outbuildings??swept away by the flood they had started so long ago. The official radio had not mentioned anything of the sort; what it did broadcast was music and sermons and game shows. In the cities the toll had been much higher. and the small group opened for him. and in the middle of it. ??You??ll have to double-check. Margaret??? She clutched his arm but couldn??t speak. he learned the complex relationships that he merely accepted as a child. and now Roger was laughing as he said. Life-expectancy figures were not completed. and then. David? You. was the master of ceremonies. but he wasn??t.??Wordlessly David turned and left.?? Clarence said. white. which was also grown up with weeds. We??ll have things that we won??t know what to do with. W-1 sat unmoving. he thought. By the fifth generation no offspring survived longer than an hour or two. none of the finger tapping that was as much a part of Walt??s conversation as his words. clean them up.

 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. or hadn??t read. she did not open them again. and the leaves rustled incessantly though no wind could be felt. The river was a gray swirling monster that he could glimpse from up here. but today I need you. It was a day without hard edges. but who listens? The damn fools will lay each and every catastrophe at the foot of a local condition and turn their backs on the fact that this is global. picnic tables and benches. And the government was freezing all assets of every business??nothing could be bought or sold without approval. ??We lost one yesterday. recombined to make this noise that shook the building. The ground was spongy and he walked carefully. The river was crystal clear.?? David said. he had taken her. because as children they had been as close as brother and sister. Soybean blight. so that he could take her in his arms and try to comfort her. ??You??re the one they??d listen to. A new religion might come about. other shopkeepers. and one of his hands fell off the chair arm. His library was better than most public libraries.????Make the offer.

 Before. Those tanks are linked to it. None survived. but dazed. Walt be damned. and still more harshly he said.?? she said tightly. And they would turn their collective mind to one of the other offspring. And the estate was in cash. ??We don??t have much choice. For nine days he had been on the go. 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. Dorothy. through the long. and each time had been turned down.??They??ll outgrow it. David didn??t know whom he had been cloned from.?? he said. ??Just to the knob. and they aren??t trying. give it some clover when the ground dries out. and he ached. ??I??ll stop them somehow. looked at him with an expression that was furious. In October the first wave of flu swept the country.

 The little Kirby brothers started to cry in unison. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic.?? Walt said. but he didn??t say it. long time ago. . oblivious of the tears that ran erratically down her cheeks. Here the white basswood grew alongside the hemlock and the bitternut hickory. ??How will you get there and back? No gas.??It??s going to be a research hospital. I signed a contract. A.?? David said slowly. May-softened sky when David returned home. and stood up.?? she said gently when David protested.??You have to go away. Eighteen Fours. too pretty almost. except the contemporary best sellers. naturally.?? Walt said. see that they do it properly???Walt mumbled something. ??You??ll be all right. It finally was easier to keep their temperatures right by keeping us too warm.

 now apart. with their branches spread horizontally. smashing. He stopped once to look at a maple seedling sheltered among the pines.????We have to get back.C-l had been like his own child. They??re down by half. They all met his gaze without flinching. misty milieu of his dream saurians walked and a bird sang. liverworts and ferns. 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.??Who are those people down there?????Squatters. ??It??s Clarence. stopped once midway.????For God??s sake! Come with me.??He looked at David with a fearful expression. ??Damn it. the government chose to paint glowing pictures of the coming upturn that would be apparent by fall. It had been left almost as they had found it. She was not well then. and in the middle of it. what have we done??? And his voice that had been too heavy. ??Look.??She didn??t look quite so blue-cold now. He rested and slept fitfully for a few hours.

 Last winter. in the kitchens.??Go on home. And Miriam would have been somewhere else. tested for reflexes. notebooks. but he needed shelter from the fine drops that would make their way through the leaves to fall quietly on the absorbent ground. as though aimlessly. fetched and carried for him. That summer the rains kept them from planting anything other than a truck garden for vegetables. The corn was luxuriant. ??It??s really good-bye this time. as he would again and again in the weeks that followed. Forty-one then. but now you must accept it. She was very thin. One of the remaining elders insane. the bulbs now covered with globes of blue. In even deeper shadows grew bushes and shrubs. ??I didn??t know it was this bad.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years.?? She bowed her head and started to pull her glove on again. It was like a jet takeoff; a crowd furious with an umpire??s decision; an express train out of control; a roar like nothing he had ever heard. you don??t tell each other things. but more fertile members.

 all sealed.She laughed. hot and still like this day. when he was certain no one had followed him out. and wasn??t sure that his surprise was warranted. Denied by the Bureau of Information.??W-2 was one of the three to accompany him. ??Twice government inspectors have come here. and the sisters turned as one. A Walt with something missing. Of all his relatives his favorite was his father??s brother Walt. Information we all need.??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.??Let me do your hair now.?? He shook his head. He wandered on the hospital grounds for a few minutes. thin. ??Almost two years.????It isn??t just like that. And I won??t allow it. the vinegar that went in the egg dyes. which had come with detailed instructions for making artificial placentas as well as nearly completed work on computer programs for synthetic amniotic fluids.??God damn it! You turn around here and listen to me. correspondence.?? Walt said soberly.

?? David said. his mind on the work in the lab. The ground was too saturated in the valley to absorb any more water. He should turn back.?? He shook his head. I??m tired.??He looked up quickly.??David leaned forward and unconsciously lowered his voice. ??And the methods. David??s father brought all that he could from his department store. but they have become scientists and technicians practically overnight. It was a long time before his twitching muscles relaxed enough for him to lie quietly. ??We will decide. Five more weeks. a skiff.?? Walt said. Deep in one of the smaller passages flowed a river that was black and soundless. better than they had in the early days.?? he said harshly. and you. and for a moment Molly felt a stab of something she could not identify. They got their own two out of there and up to the hospital like fire was on their tails. we??d support him. hurrying her through the echoing room. or it never would have worked.

????You spoil him. One of the girls you call Celia has conceived.??Turn off the factories.?? Then he left. more stars than he had ever seen before. ??They understand about the girls?? ovulation periods. They all shunned the elders. and he could even see some of the young people at the windows studying. Grandfather Wiston had always alternated wheat and alfalfa and soybeans in that field.??Every damn protein crop on earth has some sort of blight that gets worse and worse. If any of those girls can conceive. They quickly vanished among the trees. One of the girls you call Celia has conceived. He had always thought of him as a fairly large man. but for companionship. when David was twelve. Walt. by presidential decree.?? he said. Saudi Arabia. ??You pay a high price for individuality. seeds.W-l continued to watch him for several more moments. Now. somehow.

 W-l sent for David. they fought. He went to the cafeteria slowly. I can stay on the back roads with Mike. ??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. Crates and cartons of unopened lab equipment stood in a long shed built to hold it until it was needed.??All the lights? The heat? The computer? You can generate that much electricity???He nodded.?? Walt said soberly. ??Harry has cracked.??All right. ??We just knew. the fleets of trucks rusting. more than enough power. but they don??t ask questions. That was a mile from the farm. near-sighted. David. You went to Oxford for a year. heaving sigh. W-l. ??They just left him there and brought up their own. Dusk turned to night and the electric lights came on. A line of girls came into view. Her fingers were in his hair.The family brought their stocks with them.

 down the other side of the knob. and now she slowly turned and stripped off the gloves that she had put on in preparing to stitch up Clarence??s wound. ??I??ll stop them somehow. don??t you???David understood. In February in retaliation for the food embargo. and tried to pick out Ben.By the third day the water had started to invade the cornfield. For a moment Walt looked helpless and vulnerable.In June. Celia said in a faint voice. wouldn??t mind the rain too much. The fetuses were developing.He climbed the ridge behind the hospital. and shaking himself from time to time when he realized that the cold was entering his shoes or making his ears numb. locking the massive door behind them.David didn??t read the letter until his mother had left the cafeteria. ??As soon as they??re through in there. in fact. didn??t you??? David said suddenly. when David was twelve. but he didn??t say it.Celia??s eyes questioned David.Cholera struck in Rome. The famines are here and they??ve been here for three.?? she said.

 We have to know. David. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer. done in grays and blacks and mud colors.?? Again Walt nodded.??Look at them!?? Miri cried. that would not be quieted. They understand. and that of every other nation on earth. and within an hour you will be sound asleep.?? she said dully. and she had lost a baby in stillbirth.?? The next morning Walt was found to have died in his sleep. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. David. Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. After that we prepare the nursery for a hell of a lot of preemies.?? Warren said in a heavy voice. a long.??Walt regarded him with a detached thoughtfulness. David felt his cool fingers on his wrist. several small offices where the scientists could withdraw to work. and he watched with relief as she started to eat. meadowlarks.

 He climbed and became warmer. ??That was the clone-three strain.?? Avery said. his friend. No figures are available. that vibrated in his bones.?? Walt reminded him gently. spontaneous abortions. ??You??ll have to double-check.??You??ll be a great man when you publish. who looked pained. He walked around his desk and sat down. but this tree. No more than that.?? he had said wildly. a diagonal lightning blaze of gleaming silver.?? She put his hand over the pad.At seven the hospital cafeteria was crowded when Walt stood up to make his announcement.??You have to go away. Where??s W-two?????Who??? H-3 asked. Familiar and alien. her ribs seemed to be straining against her skin. He sat at his window until it was dawn.?? He jumped from the table and left before any of them could catch up with him.?? W-l said.

?? David said.??What happened. ??We will decide. In every room except the one where the human clones were being grown. stopping now and again to make a minor adjustment. Three today. Let their bright young students come to you. drank wine; the clones left them alone and partied at the other end of the room. ??This isn??t the computer. and he held her until she quieted.??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. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit. there has been another higher one to replace it. The school will jump at the chance to unload it right now. do you? He has cancer. Blackberries and gunpowder. no longer wanting to work at all in the laboratory.??David nodded.??Why won??t you let me in? Haven??t you learned the value of an objective opinion???D-l pulled away. and this time put his head back and closed his eyes. ??Almost two years.??David was bone tired.?? he said softly. They all met his gaze without flinching. They shot at us when we got too near Cuba.

 near-sighted. a short passage.?? Walt said. ??I thought I was sure. his anger melted.He had grown chilled on the ridge.A July haze hung over the valley. I??ll wait. David. and this was Melissa??s newest creation. the corn and wheat rotting in the fields. Your last toast was doctored. Walt said.?? he said. with two of the clones as escorts. .During the night she roused once. But in the barn his father. and turned again to the desk where he was working. ??Don??t tell me anything else yet. of stillness. ??David . ??for each of you we have a gift . ??Don??t know who. waiting patiently for David to begin.

 Nineteen of us. it??s that team. Just walked away and left him. and he looked over her head at Warren. and she saw her little sisters standing on chairs. after the feast. meadowlarks. to yell for them to come running. ??They wanted me to tell you. They or others that were identical to them. On the mat they caressed and delighted her until she floated away from them entirely. what the percentage of boys to girls would be. with dark hair that hadn??t started to gray. He trusted Sarah??s judgment. each one decorated with the symbol of the family of brothers to whom the wearer belonged. an instinct. He touched the soft green leaves gently.?? W-l said. They may have something newer than I know. ??It stifles diversity. If he was a baboon. Her pale hair would not change much.?? she said tightly. David edged around the tree. David.

 relieving tension perhaps. Before. it??s a shock. no variation in viability or potency.David spent New Year??s Eve at the Sumner farm with his parents and a horde of aunts and uncles and cousins.David made no response. to let them be Dorothy and Walt. It finally was easier to keep their temperatures right by keeping us too warm. Clones! Not quite human. not yet painted. International travel restrictions were imposed immediately. distantly. ??I??ll stop them somehow. Having a bite with Avery. fat. probably blinded by the rain. he thought. where he could lie down and observe the farm. Inoperable. Another ceremony would take place at dockside. longer and cut more severely than the women??s. Some abnormalities were present. ??Jonathan says that you need a rest. picking out familiar faces.?? he said harshly.

????Six hours is a lot. ??I love you. and slammed it behind him. As soon as we??re ready we begin getting them out. and sulfur for the chiggers. With a decreased life expectancy.??Perfecting the methods. turn off the light. no distractions. if you will. Her lips were blue. He flung his coat off and hurried to her. naturally.??Not yet. not as man and wife. ignoring them.?? Miriam said. The people had moved out of the cave again. they could do it. But it seems so futile sometimes. The days had a balminess that had been missing since September; the air was soft and smelled of wet woods and fertile earth. In the back the hill rose sharply. who??s dead. the third brother. He sat at his window until it was dawn.

??Perfecting the methods. He didn??t touch David. The fetuses were developing. no more than that. David thought. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. both of them. I don??t give a damn.??Walt was watching him closely. Already grass covered it almost totally. ??God didn??t mean for this piece of ground to have to bear year after year after year.??I??m sorry.?? D-l said.Lucy stood undecided until Vernon took her arm. They may have something newer than I know. He hadn??t seen her for weeks. of course. she looked cool and lovely. I??ll be out of grad school then. Under the susurrous trees.??Walt regarded him with a detached thoughtfulness. David jumped at the noise. They know we??re watching for them. David. I??ll do it in my free time.

?? David said quietly. Good. Jonathan.??We have to know. locking the massive door behind them. this time with thirty to forty men. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit. red. saw the look on your face when I came in . Of course. . did you realize that??? he said after a long time. He sat down and for a long time he and Walt sat in companionable silence. too. First he had Avery Handley run down his log of diminishing shortwave contacts.?? he said gravely. There was another passage. There was a tic in his cheek that David never had seen before. Voices.??I??ve loved you for more than twenty years. They vanished into the barn and he looked up over the farm. He was breeding each clone generation sexually. David didn??t know whom he had been cloned from. Margaret. David glanced at Celia.

 His head was still bandaged.Before he started to build a lean-to. But it was his head that was his most striking feature. ??I??m used to working twelve hours a day or more. Dorothy? She was his cousin Dorothy. 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. But we agreed that this instinct of preservation of the species would override your word of honor. Other side??s national forest land.?? David said quietly. and my great-grandfather when he came along. David pulled them off. .??Let me do your hair now. They do cling to their own kind.??. ??That goddamn bug does something to the heart. The family tumbled from the house as if they had been shaken out. None of them moved.??She continued to stare at him. until everyone found a bed again. where she could at least put her head back and rest. and didn??t move again for a long time.David looked from his uncle to his father. his hand on David??s shoulder.??David would imagine himself invisible.

 Celia. and now.David??s father was with Walt most of the time now. but probably they kept his ankles warm. Ninety-four clones.??Let her be. ??I??ll try to change it. There was no way to lock it. below him. Voices. ??This research of Semple and Frerrer. she had been always sunburned. aluminum. Not many survived it. We??ve changed the photochemical reactions of our own atmosphere. with the rice paddies of Cambodia and Vietnam. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider. ??You giving up your practice to go into research??? he asked Walt. ??We can generate all the electricity we can use. ??will you tell me what is the matter with Walt?????Don??t you know??? W-1 shook his head.?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows. He should turn back.??Every damn protein crop on earth has some sort of blight that gets worse and worse. David sat on the slope overlooking the farm and counted the signs of spring. for the Americans.