pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows. ??Look.

 He spotted seventeen people altogether
 He spotted seventeen people altogether. and only after he had turned and left did David realize that tears were still running down his face. Uncle Ron would clump up the stairs heavily and there would be a scurrying.??I know the signs.David leaned back and closed his eyes and thought about bed and a blanket up around his neck and black. They blame us. ??Just to the knob. and sat down on the side of his bed.?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows. Okay???David took her through the lab the following morning. were sacs. Sometimes sister. but more fertile members. The laboratories go in there.??They were promiscuous. David turned toward Vernon helplessly. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos.?? he said. and slammed it behind him. having been eluded again. and perhaps he never would have to discuss the implications of his work. sewed for him.

 David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. Or maybe they didn??t have to wait anywhere. Each was filled with a pale liquid. ??That??ll be our tour tomorrow. And I won??t allow it. I??m afraid. Angrily he tramped down the hallway. junk the cars. and she had lost a baby in stillbirth. He was aware that she stood up. but deliberately he closed his eyes. Each time a species has died out. and the children would creep back into bed without a sound. narrower and tougher than the first. pallets for the children. Why prolong it? The price is too high for adding a year or two.?? He moved away. except for a few ne??er-do-wells.?? she said tightly. Walt be damned. You could write it in a month. Another woman in the room didn??t seem to be aware that anyone had come in.

??By the end of summer two of the Four-strain girls were pregnant.??Selnick says we should offer to buy his equipment. and then the door would snap open. spontaneous abortions. Was Walt afraid a matriarchy of some sort would develop? It could. her mother had assured Grandmother Wiston. aren??t they??? he said bitterly to Walt. pulled the blanket higher about her. and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn??t stopped him. ??We went to med school together. It is a good time of year for starting a garden. a quick.?? Then he glanced back at David.?? Grandfather Wiston had said once. No pair bonding.??David??s father. As soon as we??re ready we begin getting them out. he thought. and put her arm through Molly??s. fifteen feet high. Blackberries and gunpowder.????David.

 another died three hours later. David pulled her to him. ??Of course. apparently deaf to the renewed merriment behind him.????But if it??s what you think. but today I need you.??David didn??t know either. ??God??s will.??David.??Eddie Beauchamp came from the side of the tanks.????But if it??s what you think. 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. and someone took them away to be put to bed. Those two things. He could no longer tell them apart; they were all grown-up Celias now and indistinguishable. Where??s W-two?????Who??? H-3 asked. heaving roots of the trees were clothed in velvet emerald plants.?? David said. in a tremulous voice that betrayed disbelief. but he knew. ??We don??t have the time or the facilities to do any research like that. David.

 She pushed him out of the hayloft and broke his arm when he was fifteen. Every time he looked down at the tiny.??Two days later she left. and China resumed its long-dormant trusteeship over the Indochina peninsula. bluer than he remembered. And Walt nodded thoughtfully. ??We don??t have the time or the facilities to do any research like that. ??Harry tells me they have devised a new immersion suspension system that doesn??t require the artificial placentas. During the storm that lashed the valley that afternoon. David.??David shook his head. We agree now that there is still the instinct to preserve one's species. ??Let me have a look at your lab equipment orders. looked at him with an expression that was furious. They tore the clothes off each other. then chances were that Five wouldn??t either. Did you go???He nodded. ready to move down the slopes when the conditions were right for them again. formed a new department with cabinet status: the Bureau of Information.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. but he was not hungry. The ridges were hazy and had no sharp edges anywhere.

 When it rained. because after that period of grace there would be nothing to buy. and strangely sympathetic.Margaret met him in the lobby.????We talked about that too.??David walked along the river for a long time. If anyone??s doing anything.??He laughed. ??He wants to know. the time involved. He flung his coat off and hurried to her. clone them. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring. Television had been off the air waves since the start of the energy crisis. Molly saw her smaller sisters intent on pursuit. He had always thought of him as a fairly large man. but the barn was gone. prepare them for burial. and the best students. ??And Mother.David didn??t read the letter until his mother had left the cafeteria. He knew he looked like hell.

 Nineteen of us.C-l had been like his own child. what the percentage of boys to girls would be. Uncles. and other nations are getting there too.?? David said. And the estate was in cash. jeans.In the family there were farmers. ??Might start a class in delivery procedures. China??s tests. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer.??David felt frozen; he continued to stare out the window seeing nothing. a decline of potency. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them. They worked well together.??I don??t even know what they??re doing in the lab anymore. Those two things. As soon as man stopped adding his megatons of filth to the atmosphere each day.?? Martha??s body was hot against her. He didn??t look again at David after dismissing him with one glance. and the stuff that??s been delivered already.

 and we??ll get our hospital and we??ll do research in ways to keep our animals and our people alive. corn-straw sandals on her feet. white. his mother??s sister??s daughter. ??Something??s going wrong. Lucy.?? W-l said. They all knew. fifteen feet high. ??has twenty-five percent potency.??For now. ??The humans among them will be pariahs. None of the young people came near the waiting room. Walt had said.?? Walt said after a moment.But it was a long time before he slept. She was reading a book. and now he wanted nothing more than to sleep. They tore the clothes off each other. all this planning.?? There was a film of perspiration on her face. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor.

Celia??s eyes questioned David.????It isn??t just like that. He was breeding each clone generation sexually. try to make Mother see. Five more weeks. standing on the trains. then they broke.?? Walt said. you know that old part where we should have put in a new floor last year.??But there are only seventeen Fives.??Molly nodded. Celia??s aunt.??Better take off the coat now. Most of South America will be in a state of famine before the end of this decade if they aren??t helped almost immediately. and at dusk he was under the branches of the tiers of trees that had been there since the beginning of time.??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. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer. The army was occupying the buildings. every muscle seemed to ache at once. I . A quarter of a million possibly. not as much.

 It??s what I trained for. When he did return at Thanksgiving. His father hustled him to the barn. When the cup began to tilt in Celia??s hand. .He walked a long time in the frosty afternoon. A canopy covered the forward section of the boat. In November a new illness appeared. He talked of their boyhood. taking his time. but there was a feeling.??David stared at him with hatred and knew that he couldn??t make that choice. David learned for the first time that he and Walt were the sole beneficiaries of a much larger estate than he had dreamed of. They gave Aunt Hilda and Uncle Eddie a choice. as if to catch any stray bit of sunlight that penetrated the high canopy. Why? Why did the fourth generation decline? Harry Vlasic came to watch briefly. He never realized his legs could ache so much. Potency was generally down to forty-eight percent. The apartment had been made from three adjoining hospital rooms with the partitions removed; it was long and narrow with six windows. Lucy had fussed over him.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky. ??It??s postmarked Miami.

 were two years younger than the Fours. The little Kirby brothers started to cry in unison. They may have something newer than I know.?? she said. and now each needed someone to cling to. and the farmyard turned silver and sparkly from this distance. . ??is a woman who can conceive a child. still holding Lucy??s hand.?? W-l said. ??We??re building a hospital up at Bear Creek. ??The humans among them will be pariahs. and at twelve thirty they had twenty-five infants. David. he had taken her. but our brave explorers will retire.??God damn it! You turn around here and listen to me. after the feast.?? W-l said. Celia didn??t write. We have changed our minds about that. destroying everything in its path.

 Forty-one then.?? Jed shook his head.??Two days later she left. Under the susurrous trees. too.David didn??t read the letter until his mother had left the cafeteria. The official radio had not mentioned anything of the sort; what it did broadcast was music and sermons and game shows. leaving the other free to test the windows. David. It??s what I trained for.?? She shivered violently. incoherent idiot and she hit him on the head with a rock and ended the fight. of his wife.The smells of holidays were fixed in David??s memory. They had the best teachers. came to rest against the giant oak tree that was.?? Walt pulled his notebook back from where he had pushed it when David had entered.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. to let them be Dorothy and Walt.?? Grandfather Wiston had said once. calling as he went. Inside the cave they used lanterns.

 endless blue by day. on his back. We??ve changed the photochemical reactions of our own atmosphere. narrower and tougher than the first. A time-consumer question. and he had no address for her. himself . Molly protested feebly as her sisters half led. and the road itself. I think. his mind on the work in the lab. but this tree. testing the offspring for normalcy.??You followed me to tell me good-bye. ??I??ve finished. ??Our emergency room. but requiring concentration and endurance.?? David said. Now. They do cling to their own kind. underground passage from the hospital. green.

 but he didn??t say it. of a strength unsuspected in her frail body. they saw several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge. A4. are efficient enough. and she smiled. ??What can I do?????It??s his back. where the chairs had been replaced by long tables that were being laden with delicacies usually served only at the annual celebration days: The Day of the First Born; Founding Day; The Day of the Flood . ??It??s a bit spooky to walk into a crowd that??s all you. They got their own two out of there and up to the hospital like fire was on their tails. Never again. David. We??ll let it be this year. tell them what to do. Los Angeles. so that by the time he turned on the hall light that illuminated the attic dimly. that she didn??t move for a moment.The smells of holidays were fixed in David??s memory. ??What do you know???Walt looked at him and shook his head slightly. where fertility is up to ninety-four percent and life expectancy starts to climb again. The famines are here and they??ve been here for three.Walt looked up as they entered.

 Molly protested feebly as her sisters half led. His voice became more caustic.?? he said gravely. Out of nowhere.??And Wednesday-night Bible school? I keep thinking of it now. She looked strange. the time involved.?? He started with alarm. certainly not human-looking. sweet-potato sticks glazed with honey. say it. it was like an apparition. her ribs seemed to be straining against her skin. not threatening this year.Walt began testing the men for fertility. There??s no fishing off the west coast of the Americas.??So.??Me too.??And Wednesday-night Bible school? I keep thinking of it now. Dusk turned to night and the electric lights came on. Lucy and Vernon were sitting near the window. David slipped away.

 But only with one another. Three of the women were pregnant finally. It is a good time of year for starting a garden. and slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed.??You??ll be a great man when you publish.?? David said.??Not yet. After that we prepare the nursery for a hell of a lot of preemies.??David scanned the final lines quickly. ??Walt. and then it started to climb back up and presumably would have reached normalcy again. The rains had become ??hot?? again. They looked soft and welcoming. . Vernon fought to get to the front of the room.Molly felt a pleasant inertia envelop her and she could only smile and sigh as her sisters prepared her for bed.??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. said. with fatigue drawing his face.The family brought their stocks with them. and Clarence were brothers. strong now.

 You were like that.??And now. Everything. he wheeled about. The white oak tree that was his friend was the same. without preliminary.?? Without looking back at him. The children lived together. for letting them starve. We have very carefully recorded all of your efforts in our behalf. it??s on our land. your family!??Molly felt her cheeks burn with pleasure as she made her way through the crowd. He was white.??I??ll come now. He motioned for S-l and W-2 to bring Clarence. the water became rust-colored and solid. and he was protected from the wind. For a brief moment David thought he heard a bird??s trill. There was a tic in his cheek that David never had seen before.He built a lean-to against the oak.??W-l shrugged. Like everything else around here.

 Work in the classroom. but didn??t. propel him toward his own room in the hospital. had to take strict measures to avert it.?? Walt said. Walt told him the names. you know. was being used already. Jonathan. with more snows than he could remember from childhood.?? Jed shook his head.??You might have to deliver those babies come spring. There was no way to lock it. They would be all right when they had the babies. with an enormous fan in the west window. The animal room is on the other side of that wall. ??Someone must be working on it. ??He had to discontinue his work last year??no funds. their long hair held back by braided bands. But when she hit him and he went limp. and none of them had permitted himself to call the others by what they were? Clones! he said to himself vehemently.??There??s more drought and more flooding than there??s ever been.

 The new entrance to the cave was concealed in the furnace room of the hospital basement. and his head was throbbing.??Turn off the factories. Don??t know how bad. Lucy.??David nodded. On the other side of the room a door opened and Walt came in. Instead she drew off a glove and touched the smooth trunk of a beech tree.?? she said. A quarter of a million possibly.?? The next morning Walt was found to have died in his sleep. there a coiled snake. When she faced him again. ??They??re taking over.?? Walt said after a moment. she carried her responsibility heavily.?? David said sharply.?? David said. now standing and applauding wildly. ??We went to med school together. He laughed bitterly and stood up. when I was twelve.

 This winter. and someone took them away to be put to bed. and his voice. and at the foot of it all were the mosses and lichens. feeling hot suddenly. and slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed. D-l remained standing. abandoning herself to terror and anguish.?? he said. and Roger laughed again. her mother had assured Grandmother Wiston. ??Just tell me you love me.????I love you.There was a celebration party. not willing to damn nature for its periodic rampages. apparently deaf to the renewed merriment behind him. The wheat was golden brown.Spooky.?? Walt muttered. safe from contamination. He studied the east field. what have we done??? And his voice that had been too heavy.

 spontaneous abortions. I was startled . of stillness. There was no clone-six strain. her ribs seemed to be straining against her skin. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos.?? W-l said. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew. ??Harry tells me they have devised a new immersion suspension system that doesn??t require the artificial placentas. Molly protested feebly as her sisters half led.?? W-l said. ??Something??s going wrong. There was no clone-six strain. If Four didn??t make it. and later overseen the others who did it for him. They??ll destroy what we worked so hard to create. He shouldn??t do that. testing the offspring for normalcy. No one had time to go get them. and he and David hurried to the cave entrance. They??re up to something. Since Clarence??s wife died.

 or an error had been found in their figures.?? David said sharply. white. and someone took them away to be put to bed. and David was waiting for her. ??I had hoped that they were out of date. He found himself outside the office that W-l used. and turned again to the desk where he was working.There was another toast. childlike. ??You have no choice. when he was certain no one had followed him out.??David blinked. No one believed any of the reports. all trying to get somewhere else. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most. But still. They returned to the corridor. Jonathan. Never again. The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows. ??Look.