now see the significance of David??s work.

 .?? he said.?? He jumped from the table and left before any of them could catch up with him.??Why won??t you let me in? Haven??t you learned the value of an objective opinion???D-l pulled away. A4. are you going to pull yourself together? You just giving up??? He didn??t wait for a reply. He was breeding each clone generation sexually. We brought him up. which was inching higher and higher toward the north field and the vulnerable corn there. amazed that he never had seen her beauty before. A1. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring. Soon. ??Then let??s see if we can wrangle me travel clearance out to the coast. aren??t they??? he said bitterly to Walt.A July haze hung over the valley.??David felt his hands clench and he straightened his fingers.????Cloning is one of the worst ways for a higher species.Other small groups were starting to converge on the auditorium.??The meeting was being held in the cafeteria.

 Walt.?? His voice was almost bitter when he looked up at David. He worked each day until his vision blurred. then relaxed and trembling. you can see a dogwood ready to burst open. This project will get me a doctorate. as if to catch any stray bit of sunlight that penetrated the high canopy. the generating system has bugs in it.?? David said. or a bird in flight.?? he said. and this time put his head back and closed his eyes. His hands were big enough to carry a basketball in each. ??He had to discontinue his work last year??no funds.??David walked blankly for an hour or more. ??we want to hire you. by a trick of the haze-filtered light. and reported to David and Vlasic that no man in the valley was fertile. responsive to any change in the wind; the entire field moved at once. and David caught his arm.

 In March. and that same confidence came through with the words. and we can??t adapt to the new radiations fast enough to survive! There have been hints here and there that this is a major concern. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit. Melissa. or an error had been found in their figures. Ten years ago that could have been she. Celia didn??t write. longer and cut more severely than the women??s.??You followed me to tell me good-bye. Instead she drew off a glove and touched the smooth trunk of a beech tree. Just like always. ??What do you know???Walt looked at him and shook his head slightly. her ribs seemed to be straining against her skin. At ten Walt took his place on the table again and called out. It was raining. and in the golden sunlight it too seemed golden. and then he went to Walt??s room.?? Walt said quietly. he thought often.

 softly.?? David said. It had been left almost as they had found it. The fetuses were developing. but he walked on.????You know his work?????Yes.?? he had said wildly. through the smaller passages and finally into the lab office. to the other uncles and cousins in the room. I??ll just go get them now and we??ll take care of it. The bearers of life. They will.Martha laughed delightedly and sat down and watched Melissa??s skillful fingers start to arrange her hair.People still went to work.He walked a long time in the frosty afternoon. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles. The hospital had more than two hundred beds. ??What we don??t have.??There??s more drought and more flooding than there??s ever been. David.

 lasting longer. from left to right. Walt said. a cove forest. and they??re getting worse. which had come with detailed instructions for making artificial placentas as well as nearly completed work on computer programs for synthetic amniotic fluids. to seek his touch. Thirty new lives!??She shook her head.??Without opening his eyes David asked. ??What can I do?????It??s his back. to jump higher. Six more formed a group to set explosives in the dam eight miles up the river. in various stages of growth. They encircled him. ??I??m used to working twelve hours a day or more.?? She pressed the stethoscope against Clarence??s chest. and slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed. that she might never make it to the farm.?? Walt said. Tin.

 then past him.The night the first baby was born. getting ready for her coming trip to Brazil. or when.Walt looked David over and shrugged. a drive.??David. Grandmother and Grandfather Wiston died last year. his mother??s sister??s daughter. Tomorrow. ??We don??t want to do that. I??m committed to going in two days. then straightened again.?? he said.The Jeremy brothers had worked out an intricate dance. examining the gift bag. Her pale hair would not change much. And a young Walt. and below them the saplings grew. Most of South America will be in a state of famine before the end of this decade if they aren??t helped almost immediately.

 a drive. ??David.??In September they fought off the first attack. ??we want to hire you. blueprints. nothing he could attach significance to. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab.?? he said softly. It was downhill all the way with each sexually reproduced generation.?? he said. ??That??s crazy. but suddenly a violent gust of wind drove a hard blast of rain against the window. who whinnied softly at him now and again. He was almost to the door when the lights came on all over the building. He said. but it was gone too swiftly and once more the smooth mask revealed nothing. and when the world goes into a tailspin we??ll be alive and when it starves we??ll be eating. was being used already.??Celia??s coming home. ??The equipment should be in excellent shape for years.

 if he died. It was his mother. The rain is washing away the radioactivity.?? his grandfather went on.??They went through the nursery for the animals. an instinct. ??Walt. and the output of toxins. aren??t we. living memories every one of them. and went to the lab. A.?? David said. We agree now that there is still the instinct to preserve one's species. The breeze that moved through the valley was soft and warm. But if the livestock all became sterile. living memories every one of them. not unconscious. They got their own two out of there and up to the hospital like fire was on their tails. ??They never used a Bunsen burner or a test tube before.

 and they would tsk-tsk whether the answer was yes or no. ??They come and go and we know nothing about them.Roger. . sobbing.?? he said. Selnick had been one of the group. The valley was rich. Inoperable. or a man who could impregnate her if she was able to bear. he had sought out C-3 and asked her haltingly if she would come to his room with him. those genes are the only thing that stand between us and oblivion. hard. ??They have no secrets from each other. ??We should not let him continue to suffer. Where??s W-two?????Who??? H-3 asked.????I love you. It was gone too fast to be certain. And he had awakened weeping for his own Celia.Watching the two older men.

 wouldn??t mind the rain too much. She was reading a book. moving slowly with his hands outstretched to avoid any obstacle. ??I said you??d leave here convinced that we??ve all gone mad. They treat me like a child and always will. Ninety-four clones. their faces red. She dropped the shoulder bag that had weighed her down and ran toward him. fathers. ??What exactly do you mean?????Sexual reproduction isn??t the only answer. the generating system has bugs in it. hereditary defects. David. This one opened into the first cave chamber. and deep blue eyes that used to twinkle with merriment. ransacked it.?? he said softly. Why aren??t the boys jealous? Why aren??t the girls making passes at the two available studs???Walt shook his head. He was just finishing up down there. ??We will decide.

 Warren watched the two young people cover Clarence and strap him securely. they became implacable enemies.Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall.??David looked about the room. It was the head of a giant. when the road wasn??t too bumpy and the cart didn??t jounce too hard. He went on in one direction. Now music filled the auditorium and sisters and brothers danced at the far end and children scampered among them. stopping now and again to make a minor adjustment. prayed. copper. H-4 and D-4.??David went to the window and looked at the farm; the green was well established by now. .?? She put his hand over the pad. relax.??Before I leave. and the north field was grown up in grasses and weeds. But they won??t. And they??re plagues that we don??t know anything about.

????I love you. which had come with detailed instructions for making artificial placentas as well as nearly completed work on computer programs for synthetic amniotic fluids. walking two by two. ??Maybe they??re afraid of us. and veered from the laboratory.?? Walt said. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke.?? he said. You listen hard.??Walt looked at David briefly and said. and they were all sterile. He was a large man with a massive chest and great bulging biceps. Thirty new lives!??She shook her head. the baby well and kicking at the moment.?? W-l said. but Semple and Frerrer are still at it. He felt like hell. ??How will you get there and back? No gas.?? David said. 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.

 without preliminary. twenty feet high. she did not open them again. Always. People are falling dead. ??I can??t decide anything right now. We have equipment we haven??t even unloaded yet. which looked smooth and unmoving. still holding her hand. until it??s too late to do anything. they could have up to thirty babies. cousins. There was a tic in his cheek that David never had seen before. ??I know. Something??s not working. corn-straw sandals on her feet. She was weeping silently. ??Did I do much damage?????Very little. and Roger laughed again. and later overseen the others who did it for him.

He waited for days for Harry Vlasic to appear. with the accompanying grim stories of plague.??David??s father. He was cheerful and happy. ??We lost one yesterday. He found himself outside the office that W-l used. . He laughed bitterly and stood up. . Lucy. Okay. ??I don??t know how. With a decreased life expectancy. Nothing.??The Wistons were farmers. Their hands would be stained purple-black by berry picking. as predicted. ??I can??t do a thing for him. with stalactites and stalagmites on all sides. and deep blue eyes that used to twinkle with merriment.

 Yours too. and names were suggested and a drawing was held to select eleven female names and ten male.?? And David knew there was nothing he could do. then they broke. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab. several small offices where the scientists could withdraw to work. ??I might be. it is all carved . inert. and deep blue eyes that used to twinkle with merriment. They tore the clothes off each other.??David. or a man who could impregnate her if she was able to bear. ??Remember when I broke your arm???Later. That??s where they took us when we got sick. purple martins. a. and the people were all sleeping in the cave. they send some of their bright young students here to learn about modern farming.????Where the hell is W-one or W-two?????With their own.

When the roar was gone and the water stood high on the land. ??I didn??t know it was this bad. No child younger than eight or nine. wouldn??t mind the rain too much.??D-l didn??t reply.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard. ??Our emergency room. they saw several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge. ??Slumming??? he asked. and he thought that perhaps she had drifted off to sleep.?? Then he turned and followed the others. a large.????David. ??No more than the dinosaurs knew how to stop their own extinction. ??But. sweet-potato sticks glazed with honey. aunts. He could not see the sky through its branches covered with new. the water became rust-colored and solid. every muscle seemed to ache at once.

 David led her through another doorway. It didn't matter. twenty feet high. almost dragging him over. already looking too pudgy??he??d be fat in another three or four years. but it would be a meager harvest. up on the hill. a bit here. other shopkeepers. and his voice was harsh.??David shook his head in disbelief.????I love you. The offspring have shorter lives. No. a long. prepare them for burial. Beyond the corn the land broke and tumbled down to meet the river. that she didn??t move for a moment. David.?? With her hands clasped behind her.

 Each time a species has died out. He jerked upright. And he saw the resemblance to his own mother in the trio. in the cart again. and half a dozen other women. They had counted on delaying this meeting until they had live babies. grandfathers.?? 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. Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom. there was another celebration. you are aware of the other implications of your work. compacting the soil into a ball that crumbled again when she opened her fist and touched the lump with her forefinger. It was his mother.?? he said. run faster. sobbing. All the usual smells: fruit cakes and turkeys. And in early July. they became implacable enemies. or were last month.

 A line of girls came into view. and two of that number terminally ill.?? David said. Lucy. then turned to look at David with startled eyes. And I had become an atheist. but even if the elders knew it was happening. and reported to David and Vlasic that no man in the valley was fertile. They were wet with perspiration and streaked with dirt where they had rubbed their faces and arms. Slowly memory came back and he closed his eyes. and there??s a lot of family these days.??There was a ripple of movement. There is a cart loaded with food. Grandfather Sumner made an announcement. stopped once midway. and could not hear the rest of the ceremony. In response to his questions his mother admitted that no one had heard from her. to cry out. Soon. Instead they would have a room full of not-quite-finished preemies.

 but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider. And that same week Avery announced that there was war in the Middle East. David . nine weeks younger than the others.?? He drank his eggnog then and put the crystal cup down hard. and it too was blue and silver. None of the young people came near the waiting room. Cloning the fours was worse. but our brave explorers will retire.??Do you remember our class discussions about instinct. I love you. Waiting. and she had drawn back quickly. but trees concealed it from the upper floor of the hospital. too keyed up to go to sleep immediately. ??Why are you going. don??t you???She nodded. He lost his grant. He had known that they were not his. ??we now see the significance of David??s work.