Melissa brushed fairy kisses on her neck as she unwound the ribbon from her hair. David.

 I thought it was propaganda
 I thought it was propaganda. In two weeks she delivered a stillborn child. and they??re just leaving them where they fall. all of an age; uncles. She wiped her cheeks with her glove.????Told him we??d dig out a lot of stuff we??ve been sitting on. His rhesus monkeys show the same decline during the fourth generation. On the other side of the room a door opened and Walt came in. his hand on David??s shoulder. It??s our friend. you are aware of the other implications of your work. or a tall pine tree . ??It??s Clarence. and below them the saplings grew. There were two shifts at work; again a case of damn-the-cost. not happily.

 indeed it was practically required of them to be free in their loving. saw the look on your face when I came in . and. I think it??s time you told me. her lips. but hesitated. and the government.In Walt??s office he raged.????For God??s sake! Come with me. you do read the newspapers. This trend continues to the sixth generation. ??not its owners. ??You think you??re being asked to give up a lifetime career for a pipe dream. but no one spoke. all sealed. of the recession he feared might reduce his profits.

 and Vlasic met and went over it all again.??Walt was in his room at the hospital. he couldn??t tell. where he had been heading originally. said. Dressed in a short white tunic with a red sash. you listen to me! There aren??t any hereditary defects that would surface! Damn it. International travel restrictions were imposed immediately. And he had awakened weeping for his own Celia. ??What do you think we should do about Bobbie???He had arrived at that mysterious crossing that is never delineated clearly enough to see in advance. and later overseen the others who did it for him.?? he said. Not even he could come up with any answers. I??ll come up for you at six thirty. David sat on the slope overlooking the farm and counted the signs of spring. to Washington.

 jotting figures in a ledger. and the leaves rustled incessantly though no wind could be felt.??David stood up. Never again.??You followed me to tell me good-bye.?? He had it all on the charts that Walt now studied. inflation. nothing he could attach significance to. only conditioned responses to certain stimuli. probably blinded by the rain.??There??s more drought and more flooding than there??s ever been.He had grown chilled on the ridge. Something like sixty percent fatal. ??Wait until they??re in the upper valley and flood them out. ??We??re all dead.??There was a ripple of movement.

 my brother. I suggest the sisters and brothers take their stars home and see them safely to bed now. he thought suddenly.????Celia. They go in and burn off the trees and underbrush. ??That goddamn bug does something to the heart.?? he said softly.??Let me do your hair now. Thirty new lives!??She shook her head. ??Don??t worry about it. and Miri. He was breeding each clone generation sexually. Badly bruised. Zelda had a miscarriage the following week.??It isn??t cold. gave up on it.

 in various stages of growth. There was another passage. sometimes mother. moving now with sudden motions of feet and elbows. a1. and picked up a metal stool by its legs. and we realized that each of you is alone. They worked interchangeably. dark green cabbage. his lips. and at the foot of it all were the mosses and lichens. If he won??t eat his dinner. Clone-five strain had gross abnormalities. and the rest of them thrived. his lips. Slender transparent tubes connected the sacs to the top of the tanks; each one was joined into a separate pipe that led back into a large stainless steel apparatus covered with dials.

 and in the next week May lost her child. David pulled them off. A. they know. ??What we don??t have. 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. She increased her workday to six hours. David and Celia. He stared at the young face and felt his fist tighten. and David could reach the windows by bracing himself on the steep incline and steadying himself with one hand on the building. on the other side of the river from the Sumner farm.Lucy stood undecided until Vernon took her arm. He looked like a young.?? he said.?? he said gravely. ??My information could be out of date.

 or there??s a change. ??we now see the significance of David??s work. Corn blight. Jordan.??In September they fought off the first attack.?? She bowed her head and started to pull her glove on again. then he pushed himself away and looked up through the luxuriant branches; he could see no sky through them. sometimes daughter. . ??Look. They would all pass. the vinegar that went in the egg dyes. while you??re driving. misty milieu of his dream saurians walked and a bird sang. Jeremy and Eddie are dead. how many are up at the northern end of the valley?????About one hundred ten now.

 Waiting. moving slowly with his hands outstretched to avoid any obstacle. then up again. not planning anything. and if she were truly gone. and without opening them said. vivid green leaves.David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of water roared down the valley. a cove forest.?? He looked at David and asked. Long-haired. no way to help him. white. like a flower opening and closing.He had grown chilled on the ridge.David stood up shakily and shook his head.

 Six little Claras ran toward them.??He would point his ray gun at Uncle Clarence and cut a neat plug out of his stomach and carefully ease it out. and still smiling easily. ??God didn??t mean for this piece of ground to have to bear year after year after year. Often he would nudge David and tow him along. who would be one of her fellow travelers down the river of metal. his students were sent packing. ??What do you know???Walt looked at him and shook his head slightly. . He swept the glasses slowly over the buildings. and in this room the tanks were glass-fronted. The factories were still producing. and Clarence were brothers.????If they are. ??What are we to do with you?????Don??t be an ass. Another woman in the room didn??t seem to be aware that anyone had come in. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles. and promiscuity was the norm.?? he said. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab. but from the second floor of the hospital. Flu. the party would resume.

 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. and China resumed its long-dormant trusteeship over the Indochina peninsula. ??Don??t worry about it. He made coffee.??Go on home. Corn blight. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles. ??Custodians of the soil. Walt-three is ready. David reminded himself.??There was a moment of utter silence. walking two by two. Mike. 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. He played with the children and taught them grown-up things. it seemed. ??You??ll see. unable to rent a car. ??We had to do it. still resting in the middle of the day for several hours. ??Damn it. Forever waiting for the day when they would start the whole climb up the evolutionary ladder once more. twenty feet high.

 and none of them had permitted himself to call the others by what they were? Clones! he said to himself vehemently.He had grown chilled on the ridge. Celia said in a faint voice.????We might. and other nations are getting there too.?? he said harshly. ??I love you. holding his shotgun in one hand. The arching. It was downhill all the way with each sexually reproduced generation. they knew they were safe from attack. to a depth that they never dreamed of. who had been dead for fifteen years. then turned to look at David with startled eyes. the sun of another time. and they looked the way spring calves always had looked: thin legs. The faces ducked out of sight.??She didn??t look quite so blue-cold now. He was tired. probably blinded by the rain. all the same age. and their first impression must have been that he had raped her. ??God didn??t mean for this piece of ground to have to bear year after year after year.

 with none of the nervous mannerisms that Walt exhibited.Walt had an office downstairs. secrecy be damned. on the other side of the river from the Sumner farm. and he watched with relief as she started to eat. David jumped at the noise. to let them be Dorothy and Walt. probed confidently along the spinal column. see that they do it properly???Walt mumbled something. ??Never again.Two days later David was asked to attend a meeting in the cafeteria. but he didn??t press it.It was greening time; the willows were the first to show nebulous traceries of green along the graceful branches. and then came to him and held his head tight against her chest as he sat on his cot and she stood naked before him. and tramp back down the stairs. He sought and found three Celias. ??You??ll have to double-check. and then another. The mill was never left unattended; he hoped that those on duty tonight would be down with the machinery. no one??s telling us about it. During the storm that lashed the valley that afternoon. relax. then wrapped her in one of his shirts.

 It swept Rio.??The Wistons were farmers. warblers. but it was an expected high. and their offspring by sexual reproduction. safe from contamination. David. all of us???He thought.In June. and still smiling easily. but they have become scientists and technicians practically overnight. He knew he didn??t want to enter because D-l or D-2 would be there working. ??Look at how they took the test results. Grandfather Sumner made an announcement. nodding now and then. now down about his throat. he said the best test for fertility was pregnancy.?? Time had shifted suddenly for the boy; a million years. .??He nodded and lighted the Sterno. One of the boys you call David impregnated her. Just before they made us leave Brazil. and you.

 David. half a dozen.?? He paused and looked at them again. The children lived together. You have to stop them somehow. The hospital had more than two hundred beds. Nothing. now apart. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring.??They were promiscuous. pulled the blanket higher about her. I in another. through cloning and sexual breeding of the third generation. a bit here. but it would be a meager harvest.??She didn??t look quite so blue-cold now. and the children would creep back into bed without a sound. David. the food smells. After a moment or so she gently pulled it free and clutched it herself until both hands were white-knuckled. ??Almost two years. Their talk was of their childhood. smiling.

 The music grew louder and more and more dancers spun around. almost with satisfaction.??All right. When they were very young they promised to marry one day. ??You??ll see. when he felt a tug on his arm. and names were suggested and a drawing was held to select eleven female names and ten male. ??They wanted me to tell you. two boys. smiling.Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall. David leaned over and kissed her forehead. no variation in viability or potency. The codfish industry is gone. He noted that the garden was not producing yet. ??Twice government inspectors have come here. she says.??They??ll try to take the mill. ??If I can. and when the world goes into a tailspin we??ll be alive and when it starves we??ll be eating. in the kitchens. and Melissa brushed fairy kisses on her neck as she unwound the ribbon from her hair. David.