office he raged. ??We keep them here at all times.

 Walt studied the assembled people and deliberately said
 Walt studied the assembled people and deliberately said. Suddenly David stiffened. He went on in one direction. he corrected: his perceptions of her had been different.??Is he still planning to be a biologist? He should go to med school and join Walt in his practice.?? D-l said.????We talked about that too. ??You??ll be all right. always trying harder than the others to endure. David. her look almost quizzical. A2. The Miriam sisters were inventive and artistic. then shrugged. He didn??t look again at David after dismissing him with one glance.?? she said very slowly. you know that old part where we should have put in a new floor last year.

 He flung his coat off and hurried to her. creamy smoke of bayberry candles. They??re adding them as fast as they can.??Lucy stood up. David thought. ??You think you??re being asked to give up a lifetime career for a pipe dream. He never realized his legs could ache so much. China??s tests.??C1-2 didn??t change his expression. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most. There were riots. Here a stag head.?? David said. No one protested.Walt looked David over and shrugged. The boys were clearing another field. and only when he caught her and held her tight and hard did he realize that he was weeping.

The hospital construction was progressing faster than seemed possible. and promiscuity was the norm. The music grew louder and more and more dancers spun around. and China resumed its long-dormant trusteeship over the Indochina peninsula. ??The party will continue. and the government. and he was bleeding from her fingernails down his back. and their offspring by sexual reproduction. He gave them a surprise test and stalked about the room as they worried over the answers. He gave them a surprise test and stalked about the room as they worried over the answers. The ridges were hazy and had no sharp edges anywhere. and she would be standing there. who??s dead. deep blue so clear that in daylight it would blend into the sky perfectly. we trained in tropical farming and we??re going to start classes down there. She never got any of our mail. over and over and over again.

 In time we will erect statues to you. then showered and went to the cave entrance. nine weeks younger than the others.??They must be working on this line.??Selnick says we should offer to buy his equipment. heaving sigh. Japan and China signed a mutual aid treaty. ??Change it! Make it one year. when David was twelve.??Lucy stood up. Some of the blooms are already showing. He sat at his window until it was dawn. their chins. The pennant was the color of the midsummer sky. Internal injuries.??I have to go get her. potency dropped until the fifth generation of sexually reproduced offspring.

 or anywhere else. David realized. Ninety-four clones. who whinnied softly at him now and again.??How did your people know about the accident??? David asked. a decline of potency. He??s dying.?? Walt rubbed his eyes hard. She was one year younger than David. There were calves in the field.????You spoil him. aware that his back was being clawed. Clones! Not quite human. David pulled them off. He had thought of that. Six hours. But what he remembered most vividly was the smell of gunpowder that they all carried at the Fourth of July gathering.

 We??re having shortages no one ever dreamed of.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. you are aware of the other implications of your work. I signed a contract. When they finished the cave tour he was still nodding.?? Walt said after a moment.?? David said quietly. for not pointing out what both already knew??that there was no way of knowing how long he would have to wait for Celia. but no one spoke. Her eyes were very large.?? He pointed toward the operating-room wing.?? Walt rubbed his eyes. It didn't matter. ??Where is she?????Miami. She sat wrapped in his plaid shirt and watched him as he opened a can of stew and heated it.????You should rest now that there are others who can take the load off you. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer.

 and when the world goes into a tailspin we??ll be alive and when it starves we??ll be eating. If the people also became sterile. Celia??s mother was more beautiful than the girl. Another ceremony would take place at dockside. ??It??s Clarence. but requiring concentration and endurance. Don??t they know that?????David. ??You want to destroy everything. Her cheeks were very red from the cold and the exertion of the climb; her eyes were the exact blue of the scarf she wore. He had been aware of them from the start. not wanting to sink to his knees in the treacherous mud here in the lowlands. of the recession he feared might reduce his profits. If Four didn??t make it.For the next months there was no shortage of nurses. her voice came from behind him. David. Before.

 his lips were pale. but trees concealed it from the upper floor of the hospital. ??Custodians of the soil. insurance brokers and bankers and millers. and later on to head a department of research. One of the girls you call Celia has conceived. He pushed a file cabinet an inch or so.As David grew older. We??re afraid our supplies of chemicals will run out.Her eyes were open. The bearers of life. One of them was barefoot.??David blinked. but under his breath.?? The weakness in his legs seemed to be climbing; his hands began to tremble. sometimes mother.By the third day the water had started to invade the cornfield.

 They all shunned the elders.??In spite of himself David made rapid calculations. ??Have you told the two boys yet?????I told them all.  The apples were turning red on the trees when Walt became too ill to leave his room. less adaptable to hot weather or dry spells. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. He was sleeping more now. They do cling to their own kind. oblivious of the tears that ran erratically down her cheeks. ??Thanks.??I have to sleep. We??re afraid our supplies of chemicals will run out. ??I love you. hit harder. velvet blue-black at night with blazing stars that modern man had never seen. He was only five feet nine. Two years older than they.

 Then she was still again. Somehow he had been made to feel like an interloper; his question sounded like idle chatter. to cry out. except for a few ne??er-do-wells.????I didn??t get any letters.??They might organize. I can stay on the back roads with Mike. and next year we??ll stop them altogether. and only when he caught her and held her tight and hard did he realize that he was weeping. or there??s a change. ??Comes a time when the earth needs a rest. ??It??s a bit spooky to walk into a crowd that??s all you. to hurry from the sterile office and the smooth unreadable face with the sharp eyes that seemed to know what he was feeling.?? David said quietly.??David.?? he said. They know we??re watching for them.

 He found himself outside the office that W-l used. David had his preliminary answers. Let the damn embryos do their thing without him. ??But. David. Robert. and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed. And he found that he was climbing the slope to the antique forest that his grandfather had taken him to once. and she moved to the window also. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. turn around and eat now.?? He started with alarm. wine that tingled and made her head light.?? he said.??Are you all right???She nodded. I have to do something too. with windows ten feet above the ground.

 I think you know it. It was a long time before his twitching muscles relaxed enough for him to lie quietly. He trusted Sarah??s judgment.??There was a long silence then. She was very thin. two girls. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them. ??Don??t worry about it. about the necessity of keeping records. England??s changing into a desert. As soon as they stepped through the doorway. and sterility. His library was better than most public libraries. To the people down there. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow. Celia??s aunt. what do you know about it? The first generation of cloned mice showed no deviation.

 No one had time to go get them. Chlorine. David???He tightened his arm about her shoulders. just like it??s been my friend all my life. When it rained. Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly. I??ll come up for you at six thirty. too. but Semple and Frerrer are still at it. David. all part of the same river that flowed through the fertile valley. ??Celia!??She stopped and raised her head. I??m telling you what the goddamn government doesn??t dare admit yet. 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. ??No one else knew. if you had time??? David nodded reluctantly.??David didn??t know whether he was sorry or glad that he had told Walt.

 ??Look. we can??t let you do that. ??We have to get back to the cave.??The meeting was being held in the cafeteria. ??You know how we are getting our meat. Later. responsive to any change in the wind; the entire field moved at once. The boys were clearing another field. She was trembling slightly.?? Walt didn??t protest. He turned toward the door. was watching the smoke curl from his pipe.?? he said dreamily.David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of water roared down the valley. and finally he returned to his own bed and fell asleep. There were people he hadn??t known when they were that young. They were each and every one Celia.

 Deep in one of the smaller passages flowed a river that was black and soundless. He remembered the day. They??re down by half. trimmed of all excess with only the essentials needed to carry on the fight remaining. not looking up. David gave that up. always trying harder than the others to endure. but with the fourth the viability decreased sharply. The valley is fertile. Walt. of a strength unsuspected in her frail body.?? he said. higher than a man??s head. and alive in his memory was the day he had waited there for Celia. As soon as we??re ready we begin getting them out. then up again. with his nice brown hair ruffled.

 It was raining.Three Celias came into view. not believing it.?? Walt said. For a moment he could see nothing but a glare; then he made out the features of a young girl. . and the output of toxins. picking out familiar faces. ??And the methods. She made a notation.W-l sat quietly. She smiled faintly when he covered her legs with another shirt. ??This needs stitches.David couldn??t think of the name immediately. and the best students. we can??t let you do that. you get in my bed.

 ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer. And we??re not worrying about money right now. her skin seemed almost translucent; it was unearthly white. without preliminary. A figure stumbled up the knob haltingly.?? W-l said patiently. Her fingers were in his hair. They would revere them. and strangely sympathetic. that you are not to work now. It??s going to break wide open. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. David???He tightened his arm about her shoulders. the atmosphere had reverted to what it must have been long ago. Walt looked from one to the other of them.In Walt??s office he raged. ??We keep them here at all times.