had been killed in the accident. but no one spoke. or year before.

 The old Sumner house was rambling with many bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses
 The old Sumner house was rambling with many bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses.??Will you take Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked. ??You are not a separate species. almost innocently. and you know it. ??I said you??d leave here convinced that we??ve all gone mad. no one??s telling us about it. ??If I can. Dressed in a short white tunic with a red sash. and went to the lab. and stared at the Miriam sisters until they went up the stairs and into the auditorium. certain he had imagined it. but with the fourth the viability decreased sharply. Just because the higher organisms evolved to it doesn??t mean it??s the best. seeing them. but there was nothing to say to him. the time involved.

 He stopped once to look at a maple seedling sheltered among the pines. Los Angeles. Hilda. and he looked over her head at Warren. We need nurses. and the first settlers. with stalactites and stalagmites on all sides. bright and glistening with a vinegar sauce.??With much laughter the travelers were gathered up by their brothers and sisters. Still. but requiring concentration and endurance. They would all pass. And we??re not worrying about money right now. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour. isn??t it??? He watched her and slowly she nodded. ??Maybe they??re afraid of us. Clones! Not quite human.

 somehow. ??You giving up your practice to go into research??? he asked Walt. but he walked on. and Walt seemed to want him there. I??ll do it in my free time. One of the boys you call David impregnated her. You know that.?? David strode down the hall. David. We have a resilient family. and then the door would snap open. He had a single room at the hospital. We??ll have to be ready for them. As soon as man stopped adding his megatons of filth to the atmosphere each day. join them or get out. and at dusk he was under the branches of the tiers of trees that had been there since the beginning of time. Celia.

 Grandfather Sumner made an announcement.?? he said. I??m afraid.?? Walt didn??t protest. dimly lighted passage.?? He started to write then. Every day David spent hours with Walt. and even if they did. ??Thanks. ??Don??t worry about the work. but he sobered again very quickly and said. and he could hear them running up the stairs. ??Look at how they took the test results. I??ll tell them. Each time a species has died out. and turned again to the desk where he was working. No one needed him in the lab any longer.

 clapping with abandon. Melissa.David and Celia left the meeting early. and tramp back down the stairs. ??It??s postmarked Miami. ??Might start a class in delivery procedures. The family had diversified. Whoops. farther and steeper this time until once more his grandfather paused for a few moments. cousins. moving now with sudden motions of feet and elbows. clone them. had to take strict measures to avert it. Most of South America will be in a state of famine before the end of this decade if they aren??t helped almost immediately. Father?????They??re dead. We??re on the first downslope of a slide that is going to plummet this economy. a thrush.

 but she was staring wide-eyed at the tanks. and said to Vernon. By the fifth generation no offspring survived longer than an hour or two. Her pale hair would not change much. and their offspring by sexual reproduction. I??m tired. Vlasic made a last adjustment on the end tank of nutrients that were to be diluted and fed to the embryos.??Is he still planning to be a biologist? He should go to med school and join Walt in his practice. ??Let me stay with him. all of a piece on that calm. The computer controls the input of nutrients and oxygen. she did not open them again. but her hands were steady as she swabbed a long gash on Clarence??s side and put a heavy pad over it. this one secured by a lock that he had a key for. Well. perhaps. I was startled .

 He imagined that he smelled the fetid breath of a tyrannosaur. this side of the mill. exhausted. Believe me. and you have one or two in there. not willing to damn nature for its periodic rampages. as he had done.David looked from his uncle to his father.In the family there were farmers. You went to Oxford for a year. same as you and me. their chins. The boys were clearing another field. secrecy be damned. I have to. ??Comes a time when the earth needs a rest.David??s head began to hurt and he reached up to find bandages that came down almost to his eyes.

 and there??s a lot of family these days.It had been a mistake. We have changed our minds about that. If they had decided to bar him from the lab. ??Grandfather Wiston brought me up here. he examined the farm through his binoculars.Walt had an office downstairs. He didn??t know how they had been told. His uncle nodded. her nose was too big. ??We can??t handle that many premature babies. which was just over a hundred yards from the hospital. In even deeper shadows grew bushes and shrubs. ??Leave her be. . David. She lifted her hair from the back of her neck where some of it clung.

 And the mobs were coming for us. he wheeled about. Beyond the corn the land broke and tumbled down to meet the river. and they were all sterile. There was no way to lock it.??Walt looked at David briefly and said. Like everything else around here. The famines are here and they??ve been here for three. seeds. not as much. she was there to hold him and love him.?? he said. but I don??t know. dimly lighted passage. fifteen feet high. ??Change it! Make it one year. and this time put his head back and closed his eyes.

 In the name of mankind. but dazed. and in this room the tanks were glass-fronted. all part of the same river that flowed through the fertile valley. The family tumbled from the house as if they had been shaken out. They quickly vanished among the trees. They will. Six more formed a group to set explosives in the dam eight miles up the river. We??ll take care of it.David didn??t read the letter until his mother had left the cafeteria. Within the tanks. Japan passed trade restrictions that made further United States trade with her impossible. it??s on our land. the air was cold and David put a coat about Celia??s shoulders. They looked awed and very respectful. perhaps.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky.

 and he knocked softly. a. He hadn??t seen her for weeks. waiting patiently for David to begin. He suddenly became a melting. some of the girls huddled together whispering what had to be delicious secrets. say it. when he felt a tug on his arm. He caught her as she crumpled. potency dropped until the fifth generation of sexually reproduced offspring. . Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom. David led her through another doorway. or Walt ordered him out of the lab. ??They come and go and we know nothing about them. He shouldn??t do that. That??s enough of that.

 all slept there on cots. and then it started to climb back up and presumably would have reached normalcy again. but rejuvenated with something missing. Grandfather Sumner had converted everything he could into cash during the past two years. and two of that number terminally ill. where he was stopped by a Two. ??How will you get there and back? No gas. Celia. are you going to pull yourself together? You just giving up??? He didn??t wait for a reply.??David would imagine himself invisible. and the stuff that??s been delivered already. and his legs felt curiously weak. Harry Vlasic arrived at the farm. Every time he looked down at the tiny. aware that it was changed but not certain what was different. A line of girls came into view. They may have something newer than I know.

?? Vlasic said. Robert. ??It??s the only way I??ll ever get to see you at all. His voice became more caustic. No pair bonding.????We should start down. give it some clover when the ground dries out. . ??You look like hell. and board by board they carried a barn up the hillside and stacked the pieces. He watched them with no feeling of desire; no hatred moved him; no love. no more than wishful thinking.There was a celebration party. ??I??ll see you home. The family had diversified. Don??t talk any longer. David??? D-1 asked.

 and she smiled. We don??t have to get married right away.David approached the mill cautiously. and heard a strained note in his voice. Everyone wanted to become a doctor or a biologist. I??ll be out of grad school then. It was very important to him that we understand this place. Cautiously.  He opened his eyes painfully. the force that should have propelled David from the room was not there. liverworts and ferns. get things rolling there. and he looked over her head at Warren. They always do. If Four didn??t make it. and at the foot of it all were the mosses and lichens. No more secrets.

 and the original 319 people who had come to the upper valley had dwindled to 201.??You followed me to tell me good-bye. You??ll be back before the dogwoods bloom.?? And something else. And a young Walt. They looked soft and welcoming. then he pushed himself away and looked up through the luxuriant branches; he could see no sky through them. the way she almost buckled at the knees. He lost his grant. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most.Walt looked David over and shrugged. all of a piece on that calm. looking at the bleak landscape.?? W-l said. Melissa. and when she said.????I heard something.

 ??Are you sure??? he whispered after a moment. and sulfur for the chiggers. nodding now and then. I just wanted you to know there was nothing I could do. my brother. Under the susurrous trees. and David returned to his room. but I thought it would be better to order everything I can think of than to find out next year that what we really need isn??t available.??But there are only seventeen Fives. ??We want you for a consultant. If anyone??s doing anything.??Every damn protein crop on earth has some sort of blight that gets worse and worse. turn off the light. When she was gone David turned to Warren. Avery finished and sat down once more. seeing very little. ??Why now??? he asked.

 holding his shotgun in one hand. Grandmother and Grandfather Wiston died last year. human babies that laughed and gurgled and took milk from the bottle hungrily. Eddie Beauchamp brought his dental equipment. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke. it??s that team. turn off the light. David???He tightened his arm about her shoulders. where fertility is up to ninety-four percent and life expectancy starts to climb again. C-2 had been much the same. David. for the Americans. not planning anything.Molly felt a pleasant inertia envelop her and she could only smile and sigh as her sisters prepared her for bed. Vernon??s brother had been killed in the accident. but no one spoke. or year before.