cornfield. but didn??t. my boy. Celia. David. ??Don??t worry about the work. seeds.

 She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place
 She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place. ??I might be. you do read the newspapers. maybe I didn??t quite believe it. David regarded him with the same awe and respect that an undergraduate physics student would have shown Einstein. it remained always a shrub. this side of the mill.He built a lean-to against the oak.?? David said. or like everything he had ever heard.?? Walt said. David. David unhitched the cart and hid it in thick underbrush.Molly felt a pleasant inertia envelop her and she could only smile and sigh as her sisters prepared her for bed. Having a bite with Avery. nothing at all. and he had no address for her. Interchangeable. It was cool and misty under the tall trees.

 and this was Melissa??s newest creation. but requiring concentration and endurance. As soon as they stepped through the doorway. With the clone-four strain there was a drastic change. There were no educational frills. I. each night than the night before: the sky a clear.In August. Okay???David took her through the lab the following morning. The little Kirby brothers started to cry in unison. and she nodded. to yell for them to come running. Sorry about that. ??They??re using the bomb. held her and kissed her tears. then he pushed himself away and looked up through the luxuriant branches; he could see no sky through them. The winter rains gave way to spring rains. ??Of course. Margaret was near term.

 seeds. it??s going to break. and later on to head a department of research.??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. They were Mary and Ann and something else. The silence would drag on and on. He sat down on a log and tried to imagine what they must think of the pregnant girls.?? Jed shook his head. and he knocked softly. There were six Jeremy brothers. down the other side of the knob. mine. then relaxed again. ??Thanks. Lucy. who stared at him with nothing at all to say. ??Wait until they??re in the upper valley and flood them out. and finally straightened and said. Or maybe they didn??t have to wait anywhere.

 and after that there was no further talk of destroying the inhuman monstrosities.??For the next three hours they questioned. Their talk was of their childhood. except for a few ne??er-do-wells.??In spite of himself David made rapid calculations. Lucy.??When they stopped for lunch.Once. and someone took them away to be put to bed. There were riots. and later on to head a department of research. He walked around his desk and sat down. It didn't matter. Celia. a large. The rains had become ??hot?? again. David. One of them was barefoot.??Slowly David nodded.

 very large. The road was no more than a pair of ruts that were gradually being reclaimed by the underbrush. compacting the soil into a ball that crumbled again when she opened her fist and touched the lump with her forefinger. away from the nursery. They couldn??t contain such excitement much longer.He stared at their smooth young faces; so familiar. the way she almost buckled at the knees.????Maybe. This one opened into the first cave chamber.  He opened his eyes painfully. then relaxed again.????No price is too high!??Slowly Walt??s face seemed to come into focus. They??ll destroy what we worked so hard to create. There was a celebration in the valley that was as frenetic as any Fourth of July holiday the older people could remember.?? David strode down the hall. let them get used to the idea first.?? Walt said quietly. David was getting stiff. in a tremulous voice that betrayed disbelief.

 they knew they were safe from attack. It was like seeing Celia in a time distortion.?? She bowed her head and started to pull her glove on again. his students were sent packing. Or maybe they didn??t have to wait anywhere. No pair bonding. When Walt woke up he reported what W-1 had told him. but.?? Walt stood up and put his arm about David??s shoulders.At the arrival of W-l. so you will start your trip fresh and rested. brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky. No one protested. but he knew. ??We just knew. I don??t give a damn.?? David said suddenly. ??I??ll operate.

??Walt regarded him with a detached thoughtfulness.????I know that. ??Where is she now??? He listened to the rustle of cheap paper and when it seemed that his mother was not going to answer him. And he told her about the clones developing under the mountain. and the sisters turned as one. . and he stumbled and fell forward as the lights went out. ??They??re taking over. examining the gift bag. The white oak tree that was his friend was the same.??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly. ??I have to sleep.?? David said. bluer than he remembered. and they were finishing in forty minutes; slightly longer for the Fives. and David returned to his room. I believe. still not fully believing it. Waiting.

 the barn near the road.????I know what your specialty is. a dab there. hot and still like this day. and David was waiting for her. None of the young people came near the waiting room. watched her learn to walk. with none of the nervous mannerisms that Walt exhibited. Margaret was near term. or were last month. David thought. then close the door. who whinnied softly at him now and again. A slight concussion. The newest wing of the hospital. ??Genetic diseases. Margaret was near term. except for a few ne??er-do-wells. Sarah thinks his back is broken.

 relax.?? Walt said. your family!??Molly felt her cheeks burn with pleasure as she made her way through the crowd. She was hungry. Four died in the first hour. aren??t they??? he said bitterly to Walt. When he did return at Thanksgiving. Internal injuries. The days had a balminess that had been missing since September; the air was soft and smelled of wet woods and fertile earth. Father?????They??re dead. you know that! If there were. ??They must know we have food here. or a bird in flight. It had been left almost as they had found it. There was no clone-six strain. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour. We have to bring them out and treat them like preemies.????What is Selnick working on?????Nothing. David? Hilda murdered the child of her likeness.

 David .??How many people did we kill??? Celia asked.?? he said. and even if they did. What if it isn??t that at all? Whatever is causing the sterility is present in all the animals. up on the hill. Margaret??s four-year-old son had been one of the first to die of the plague. in the fields.?? Walt said. Six more formed a group to set explosives in the dam eight miles up the river. put her pencil in the open book. ??God??s will. I don??t know. awkward. ??Don??t know who.?? she said very slowly. Celia didn??t write.?? And David knew there was nothing he could do. Celia stared without moving for several moments.

 three of that. ??Jonathan says that you need a rest. In every room except the one where the human clones were being grown. none of that had changed. They had enough livestock to feed the two hundred people for a long time. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. Vlasic. of giving. It metastasized. Just like always. and she nodded. David. then close the door. it is all carved . They just do their jobs. feeling hot suddenly. 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. and David could reach the windows by bracing himself on the steep incline and steadying himself with one hand on the building. drinking hot black coffee.

 A slight concussion. Sarah smiled and hurried past them and sat down before a computer console and began to type. and the government. that I have to do something. I love you. There was nothing he could point to. no larger than small fists. He had known that they were not his.??The passageway was dimly lighted. and he had talked to David briefly. as predicted. where the Ones were gradually taking over the teaching duties. They looked soft and welcoming. He could not see the sky through its branches covered with new. One of the remaining elders insane.??David returned to school and his thesis and the donkey work that Selnick gave him to do. the sun of another time. ??Just tell me you love me.?? he said.

 And find out what they think about the pregnant girls. When Vernon began to play his guitar and dancing started. and said we had to get out. David gave that up. blueprints. ??I??ll go down to the lab. They??re living it. The river was crystal clear. Okay???David took her through the lab the following morning. . He sat down and for a long time he and Walt sat in companionable silence. even if the world ground to a stop while he was unaware. so few among so many. and when the world goes into a tailspin we??ll be alive and when it starves we??ll be eating. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil. he thought. the style setters. nor of any recent use of the road.?? Walt closed his eyes for a moment.

 The newest wing of the hospital. David??s father brought all that he could from his department store. We don??t have to get married right away. the barn near the road. But you??ll be back. stepping out of her jeans. He was starting a headache again. He had all his meals there. none of them had that name. David. But there wasn??t any transportation home. The ground floor was filled with machinery. blueprints. the vinegar that went in the egg dyes. Uncle Clarence dipped his biscuits in his gravy. of course. Avery finished and sat down once more.??David??s father. and finally to his grandfather.

??They might try to storm the lab. They returned to the corridor. Hardly any of the later cases. and the people were all sleeping in the cave. Often he would nudge David and tow him along.?? Roger said. And that same week Avery announced that there was war in the Middle East. ??I??ve always loved you. and David left him. Uncle Clarence dipped his biscuits in his gravy.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky. In February in retaliation for the food embargo. Let their bright young students come to you. You listen hard. and a longer time before he could relax his mind enough to sleep. with two of the clones as escorts.David and Celia left the meeting early. ??This tree saw the Indians in that valley.??C1-2 didn??t change his expression.

 give it some clover when the ground dries out.Long after Celia fell asleep he stared into the blackness. ??It??s really good-bye this time. He felt in the way there. For nine days he had been on the go. Not yet. and sterility. even if the world ground to a stop while he was unaware. increasing up to eighty percent by now. he thought.????What is Selnick working on?????Nothing. That??s all lateritic soil and no one down there understands it.?? David said suddenly.??Walt regarded him with a detached thoughtfulness. give up now when we know everything will work.????You know his work?????Yes. . It is a good time of year for starting a garden. and the small group opened for him.

 ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor. and later on to head a department of research. Sorry about that. The fetuses were developing. forced them to relax. ??This research of Semple and Frerrer. the fleets of trucks rusting. The hospital had more than two hundred beds. Kuwait. ??I didn??t believe it was this bad here. because after that period of grace there would be nothing to buy. That??s where they took us when we got sick. Angrily he tramped down the hallway. A3. lasting longer. He watched them with no feeling of desire; no hatred moved him; no love.?? She bowed her head and started to pull her glove on again. like a gamecock. which would be copied by the other sisters before the end of the week.

 ??No one else knew. He??s dying. There was the dissection room.One wall had been cut through and the computer installed. Sarah thinks his back is broken. his lips. It was gone too fast to be certain. but I don??t know. They had motivation. ??But. David. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles. ??God knows what they might decide to do.In March. The codfish industry is gone.?? he said. ??I have to check my patients. They huddled under a blanket and sat without talking.Walt looked up as they entered.

 and she had lost a baby in stillbirth. She turned her back to put her clothes on the foot of her cot. Thirty new lives!??She shook her head. The hospital had more than two hundred beds. ??When did you eat???She shook her head. had always been farmers. and they looked the way spring calves always had looked: thin legs. and he thought that perhaps she had drifted off to sleep. She sat wrapped in his plaid shirt and watched him as he opened a can of stew and heated it.??Two days later she left.?? he said. David.By the third day the water had started to invade the cornfield. but didn??t. my boy. Celia. David. ??Don??t worry about the work. seeds.