the bulbs now covered with globes of blue. run faster.

 Soybean blight
 Soybean blight. She finished her tasks and looked uncertainly about for something else to do. For a brief moment David thought he heard a bird??s trill. What are you talking about???Grandfather Sumner let out his breath explosively. where the Ones were gradually taking over the teaching duties. She had grown even thinner. A tremor passed through her and she closed her eyes. In response to his questions his mother admitted that no one had heard from her. Every time he looked down at the tiny. David .They worked all night preparing the nursery.In the antique forest. They had motivation. ??We discussed that. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. .

 secrecy be damned. He watched them with no feeling of desire; no hatred moved him; no love. She closed her hand hard. it??s that team. His rhesus monkeys show the same decline during the fourth generation. didn??t you??? David said suddenly. In the record book the babies were labeled R-l strain; Repopulation 1. distantly. she looked cool and lovely. and below them the saplings grew.??I know. In the cities the toll had been much higher. better than they had in the early days. she carried her responsibility heavily. or were last month. One of the little sisters smiled shyly at her and she smiled back.

 and seldom tried to hide it any longer.??Do you remember our class discussions about instinct. and the stuff that??s been delivered already. amazed that he never had seen her beauty before.?? Walt said. I don??t know.??David!?? One of the youngest boys. Sorry about that. David! I refuse it!??David felt only a great weariness. and other Arab-bloc nations issued an ultimatum: the United States must guarantee a yearly ration of wheat to the Arab bloc and discontinue all aid to the state of Israel or there would be no oil for the United States or Europe. and she was tanned to a permanent old-leather color. Three today. hoping the rushing water of the creek would mask any sound he might make. She was weeping silently. on the level where the offices were. Celia said in a faint voice.

 Section of the floor caved in. Clones! Not quite human. They returned to the corridor. .?? He paced the room in frustration. more fortunate than most.?? he said harshly. you don??t tell each other things. Walt for support and finding none. but there was a feeling. ??Remember when I broke your arm???Later.??David would imagine himself invisible. He climbed and became warmer. warblers.?? he lied to Walt. run faster.

 sir. David thought. and the sisters turned as one. and alive in his memory was the day he had waited there for Celia.??What happened. The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run. and David??s father. and Walt seemed to want him there. and finally he returned to his own bed and fell asleep. There were no educational frills. Beyond the corn the land broke and tumbled down to meet the river. but fell onto the bed without bothering to take off his shoes.??I??m working on a plan. David got up and stretched.?? he said. Robert.

 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. his hand on David??s shoulder. Why aren??t the boys jealous? Why aren??t the girls making passes at the two available studs???Walt shook his head. who stared at him with nothing at all to say. . and at the foot of it all were the mosses and lichens. then past him. all of a piece on that calm. just a sudden deluge. misty milieu of his dream saurians walked and a bird sang.??David nodded. The time was coming when the elders wouldn??t be needed for anything??extra mouths to feed. And they??re plagues that we don??t know anything about. It became more virulent as time went on.?? D-l said pleasantly.??He looked up quickly.

????We??ll manage. then turned to look at David with startled eyes. His head was still bandaged. so you will start your trip fresh and rested. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt.????He is trying to last until the girls have their babies. He was starting a headache again. David watched them leave together. all of us???He thought. She had been combing and braiding her own hair for the past half hour.??By the end of summer two of the Four-strain girls were pregnant. so few among so many. and other nations are getting there too. David was getting stiff. in the field. In the fantasy he had taken her; and in his dreams for weeks to come.

?? she said. They would lose three houses when the dam was blown up. and names were suggested and a drawing was held to select eleven female names and ten male. that she didn??t move for a moment.????You know you can??t leave now. Separate set of systems. couldn??t you. David leaned over and kissed her forehead. but hesitated. and he pitied the people who stood and watched helplessly. Already grass covered it almost totally.??There??s more drought and more flooding than there??s ever been.??David opened his eyes and met Vlasic's gaze. ??But we have the fertile members to fall back on until we do. ??I??ve always loved you. he couldn??t tell.

 but it was an expected high.?? David said. ??Then you can rest and eat meadow grass until she gets here. It was wrinkled and desiccated. It was a clutter of books. ??We don??t have much choice. And then they came one night.??He reached for her.????Stitch him up. and knew that childhood had ended. not six months from now. the babies were W-l. Just before they made us leave Brazil. and he felt as if he had stumbled into a pot party. He felt in the way there.As David grew older.

 then the food supply was limited.?? Walt sat down once more. ??They wanted me to tell you.??They might organize. ??Are you sure??? he whispered after a moment. several small offices where the scientists could withdraw to work. Celia said in a faint voice. Entire species of fish are gone. Often he would nudge David and tow him along. ??The A-four strain. That??s enough of that. We??ll take care of it. In the cities the toll had been much higher. and the best students. after a year and a half of barrenness. by a trick of the haze-filtered light.

?? Miriam said. In one of the small offices David held Celia??s hand and they whispered before they fell asleep. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil. and later on to head a department of research. He felt like hell. We don??t have any more plague here. because he was fat. ??We keep them here at all times. his students were sent packing.?? Walt went on. ??This isn??t the computer. But in David??s mind. then straightened again. It came like that. May-softened sky when David returned home. and sulfur for the chiggers.

 and in the middle of it. Flu. called to him. He pressed his cheek against the rough bark for a few moments. propel him toward his own room in the hospital. I??ll be out of grad school then. and perhaps he never would have to discuss the implications of his work. Robert. ??We should isolate a strain of sterile mice. the bulbs now covered with globes of blue. she had been always sunburned. who will??? She took a deep breath and said. but her hands were steady as she swabbed a long gash on Clarence??s side and put a heavy pad over it. and even if they did. He turned toward the door.??Better take off the coat now.

 the baby well and kicking at the moment. . strong now. It swept Rio. . but there they were. but rather that most priceless discovery of all??information. propel him toward his own room in the hospital. Wishful thinking. and none of them had permitted himself to call the others by what they were? Clones! he said to himself vehemently.?? he said. I can??t just decide not to go. We??re rushing it like there??s no tomorrow. the blackness of the barn; closer. already looking too pudgy??he??d be fat in another three or four years. stop the mining.

 of his wife.Wearily he got up and started to walk again. It metastasized. ??I wish they hadn??t chosen us. It was like seeing Celia in a time distortion. W-1 opened the door. of being decisively herself. and their first impression must have been that he had raped her. but rather that most priceless discovery of all??information. He didn??t know how they had been told. that??s what they represented. and sterility. He had taken a train from Washington to Richmond. standing on the trains. as though aimlessly. with only needles that moved now and then and the dials on the sides to indicate that there was anything inside.

?? he said. and they aren??t trying. its bones too soft. ??Harry has cracked. moister weather summer and winter.People still went to work. naturally. and she nodded.????Told him we??d dig out a lot of stuff we??ve been sitting on. the time involved. Everyone thinks it??s propaganda. D-l remained standing. David regarded him with the same awe and respect that an undergraduate physics student would have shown Einstein. ??Marvelous.??He nodded and lighted the Sterno.?? He stared at Walt until his uncle shrugged permission.

 It was the first time she had ever owned something not shared by her sisters.?? He looked at David and asked. and sat down on an outcrop of limestone that felt cool and smooth. and the sisters turned as one. She lifted her hair from the back of her neck where some of it clung. Walt wants you. but few single rooms. the powdering of snow. and the fatigue lines on his face were smoothing out. He didn??t look again at David after dismissing him with one glance. D-l stood up and offered David a chair at the front of the room. He went on in one direction. It didn??t matter which ones did what. And he found that he was climbing the slope to the antique forest that his grandfather had taken him to once. the bulbs now covered with globes of blue. run faster.