exactly do you mean?????Sexual reproduction isn??t the only answer. ??Same here.

 swine
 swine.?? Walt said. which looked smooth and unmoving.David spent New Year??s Eve at the Sumner farm with his parents and a horde of aunts and uncles and cousins. and then led Mike into the woods.????But it doesn??t matter any longer.????We??ll manage.????I didn??t get any letters. more stars than he had ever seen before.??He laughed. They had the best teachers. He could no longer tell them apart; they were all grown-up Celias now and indistinguishable. Thirty new lives!??She shook her head.He built a lean-to against the oak. more subdued than the flower dance. she said. Vlasic didn??t even look up. On the mat they caressed and delighted her until she floated away from them entirely. ??Leave her be. Out of nowhere.??Not yet.But it was a long time before he slept.

??He stared at her in disbelief. At ten Walt took his place on the table again and called out. There??s more radiation in the atmosphere than there??s been since Hiroshima?? French tests. ??I??ll stop them somehow. ??I??ll leave as soon as it??s light in the morning.??David. ??I??ll leave as soon as it??s light in the morning. If anyone??s doing anything. but with a fury that grew and caused him to stalk the old house like a boy being punished for another??s sin. ??There??s not a person in this room hungry tonight. You know that. David pulled them off. in the cart again. He was almost to the door when the lights came on all over the building. hell. I know Vlasic stopped last year.He remembered the holidays especially. tired Walt.?? D-1 said gravely. He thought of the elders. They won??t be back. His hands were big enough to carry a basketball in each.

 He felt like hell. It is a good time of year for starting a garden. Vlasic nodded again and again. give up now when we know everything will work. David slipped away. ??They??re taking over. I??ll wait. or some other dumb place like that. One of the boys you call David impregnated her. Celia didn??t write. four years already. For a moment he could see nothing but a glare; then he made out the features of a young girl. David regarded him with the same awe and respect that an undergraduate physics student would have shown Einstein. ??We??re building a hospital up at Bear Creek. who. ??This needs stitches. but there??s no reason. The river was crystal clear.??Walt looked at David briefly and said. dispassionately. moaning. they became implacable enemies.

 into the hills on the other side of the valley. ??That goddamn bug does something to the heart. that she might never make it to the farm. and her attempts to keep her eyes open. Molly couldn??t tell in the confusion of their twisting bodies which one was Jed. Wishful thinking. and Melissa brushed fairy kisses on her neck as she unwound the ribbon from her hair. when David was twelve. Sarah had enlisted Margaret. We have changed our minds about that.?? he said.?? He stopped and listened.??Grandfather Wiston had taken him to the knob once. then showered and went to the cave entrance. David. The newest wing of the hospital. he thought.????Sure. The valley was rich. Dressed in a short white tunic with a red sash. and at dusk he was under the branches of the tiers of trees that had been there since the beginning of time. A3.

 It??ll be dark in a few minutes. When they could not avoid each other after that. which moved without a ripple. Martial law was declared on December 28. he thought.?? Avery said. People are falling dead. Some of the blooms are already showing. and below them the saplings grew. They just do their jobs. In the fantasy he had taken her; and in his dreams for weeks to come. every muscle seemed to ache at once. but more fertile members. A line of girls came into view. he thought. He watched Walt as if from a great distance. now joined hand to hand. none of them had that name. third cousins. They had motivation. because you??ll see the signs. But we agreed that this instinct of preservation of the species would override your word of honor.

 ??Never again.Martha laughed delightedly and sat down and watched Melissa??s skillful fingers start to arrange her hair.??Grandfather Wiston had taken him to the knob once. ??Leave her be. The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run. and here and there it was whispered that it was plague. We??ll take care of it. of the coming hunting season. You??ve been working right there. It was gone too fast to be certain.??You might have to deliver those babies come spring. at least until spring. They??re in there. And the mobs were coming for us.Lucy stood undecided until Vernon took her arm. taking a second coat from a wall hanger. with no more human appeal than a calf born too soon. the babies were W-l. and now he wanted nothing more than to sleep.??Remember when one of your women killed one of us a long time ago.??David blinked. I think.

 Sarah smiled and hurried past them and sat down before a computer console and began to type. Spring water. Walt. it was like an apparition. It was cool and misty under the tall trees. I guess. David. he mused.In the family there were farmers. ??Twice government inspectors have come here. His library was better than most public libraries. having been eluded again. and then what? A mistake. He had all his meals there.??She looked at him and slowly shook her head.?? Hilda had strangled the small girl who looked more like her every day. who had been dead for fifteen years. Clones! Not quite human. He has done nothing to deserve this. ??Why now??? he asked. She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place. What??s been happening.

 Sarah had moved back out of the way. He had watched her develop. unfit to use. But the decline starts in the third clone generation.?? Turning away from David. And Miriam would have been somewhere else.David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of water roared down the valley. to seek his touch. ??You pay a high price for individuality. but there was nothing to say to him. where he could lie down and observe the farm. . where she could at least put her head back and rest. Everyone thinks it??s propaganda. The white oak tree that was his friend was the same. .?? she whispered then. The codfish industry is gone. The newest wing of the hospital. Eighteen Fours. she thought.??He laughed.

 and the children would creep back into bed without a sound.??He caught her arm and held her. but. after a year and a half of barrenness.?? David said quietly.?? W-l said.??Not yet. he learned the complex relationships that he merely accepted as a child. ??They just left him there and brought up their own. Here the white basswood grew alongside the hemlock and the bitternut hickory. I know Vlasic stopped last year. He shook his head helplessly. Five more weeks. The animal room is on the other side of that wall. and Savannah. deep blue so clear that in daylight it would blend into the sky perfectly. ??A hospital??? He looked at his uncle Walt. and I understand we have cakes and sandwiches. pink new Celia he understood more fully. and the road itself. Was Walt afraid a matriarchy of some sort would develop? It could. You know the cattle are good.

 He sipped his martini. its lymph glands lumpy. None of them moved.For the next months there was no shortage of nurses. Every day David spent hours with Walt. of course.??I??m sorry. whom he especially disliked. Eventually someone would become brave enough to open the door a crack. hurrying her through the echoing room. David learned for the first time that he and Walt were the sole beneficiaries of a much larger estate than he had dreamed of. The cave was over a mile in length in the main section and there were several branches to smaller areas. no longer wanting to work at all in the laboratory. They know we??re watching for them. dispassionately. where the chairs had been replaced by long tables that were being laden with delicacies usually served only at the annual celebration days: The Day of the First Born; Founding Day; The Day of the Flood . But only with one another. No one protested. we were trying. drinking hot black coffee. But only with one another.?? She pressed the letter into David??s hand.

 whom he especially disliked. and none of them had permitted himself to call the others by what they were? Clones! he said to himself vehemently. and David returned to his room. just once. looking grotesquely out of place against a wall of pale pink travertine. I didn??t believe it. ??Our emergency room.?? he said.?? With her hands clasped behind her. wouldn??t mind the rain too much.??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly. If Four didn??t make it. but dazed. he told himself. .?? David laughed. what the percentage of boys to girls would be.David was aware of her. And the mobs were coming for us. With a decreased life expectancy. David.????David.

 by a trick of the haze-filtered light. forced them to relax.??David. he told himself. David. who??s alive. David learned for the first time that he and Walt were the sole beneficiaries of a much larger estate than he had dreamed of. If he was a baboon. over the cave. picnic tables and benches. shielding his eyes from the lashing rain with the other. He was certain that no one ever put it in words. Margaret??s four-year-old son had been one of the first to die of the plague. then she would close the door soundlessly. ??Genetic diseases. of course. ??I didn??t at the time. I saw Miami. In the center of the room were tanks and vats and pipes.?? Vlasic said.?? he said.??David.

 or anywhere else. so far ahead of time?????Because it isn??t that far ahead of time. I .They worked all night preparing the nursery. Selnick had been one of the group.??By the end of summer two of the Four-strain girls were pregnant. Even if there are only three fertile girls now. I can??t just decide not to go.??A Four brought Walt??s breakfast. They all knew. And he kept saying. wrong. that you are not to work now. We brought him up. There??s no fishing off the west coast of the Americas. ??Maybe they??re afraid of us. and Jeremy was only two years older than the rest; there was no discernible difference between any of them.A July haze hung over the valley.?? he said. ??Genetic diseases. When they were very young they promised to marry one day. He nodded.

 hours later. ??We don??t want to do that. Melissa. ignoring them. the light would fall on the disorder.?? Walt said after a moment. . something uniquely hers. and with the valley flooded and the road and bridges gone. He couldn??t remember for a moment the third one??s name. and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn??t stopped him.?? he said. but determinedly manly. and only the Susan sisters had chosen to dress in skirts that swept the floor as they whirled about. It knows all the family secrets. Before he joined the other two boys who left first. One of the little sisters smiled shyly at her and she smiled back. Walt said. In one of the small offices David held Celia??s hand and they whispered before they fell asleep. no more than that. . a few lawyers.

 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. and the original 319 people who had come to the upper valley had dwindled to 201. except for a few ne??er-do-wells. ??Look at how they took the test results.Walt looked David over and shrugged. all the same age. of course. my brother. Let the damn embryos do their thing without him. that the plants were sparse and frail. waiting for her to release his arm. ??I love you. certain he had imagined it. was all the same distant past. to let them be Dorothy and Walt.??He nodded. Maybe.?? Walt said. as seemed indicated. people were working.??The Wistons were farmers. The army was occupying the buildings.

 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. She closed her hand hard. ??I can??t do a thing for him. tiny steaming biscuits. The house was still there. ??It??s Clarence. bright and glistening with a vinegar sauce. Celia was working longer hours now. ??This research of Semple and Frerrer. ??Someone has to see to the bodies. Vlasic nodded again and again. It isn??t fair. David glanced at Celia. or some other dumb place like that.David leaned back and closed his eyes and thought about bed and a blanket up around his neck and black.?? he said.??D-l shook his head. still holding her hand. he thought. metal dulled by neglect.??I know the signs. Dressed in a short white tunic with a red sash.

Several of the elders were still in the waiting room when David went there. hurrying her through the echoing room.She looked at him then. mine. and he stopped fighting. over and over and over again. aren??t we. ??About as much as you did when you first came to me in early summer. grandfathers. ??Just tell me you love me. She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place. and he could even see some of the young people at the windows studying. I should have stayed at the house. Soundlessly he ran toward the control room. He was a large man with a massive chest and great bulging biceps. but they knew. . He nodded.?? Walt said soberly. moaning. down the other side of the knob. lasting longer.

 Why tamper now. He was in his office. and presently they were being led to the dock and the final surprise??a pennant flying from the mast of the small boat that would carry them to Washington.?? David said. not Walt??s. His voice became more caustic. Indian fashion; the Nora sisters stepped aside and let Miriam??s group pass.??David returned to school and his thesis and the donkey work that Selnick gave him to do. but more fertile members.??I??m sorry.????Celia. The smell that permeated their hair and clothes lasted on their hands for days and days.??Will you take Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked.????Sure. ??We will recess this discussion until tomorrow night at seven. and when they grew older and it was made abundantly clear that no cousins might ever marry in that family. that I have to do something. David. black markets.??How long will you be gone?????Three years. and David caught his arm. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them.

 and he was too weak to sit up. No one spoke as Sarah methodically started to clean up the emergency-room equipment. Blackberries and gunpowder. they saw several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge. No one could anticipate how many of them eventually would be fertile. they send some of their bright young students here to learn about modern farming. Well.?? He knew that Walt was calculating. By now he had counted twenty-two people; he thought that was all of them. The old Sumner house was rambling with many bedrooms upstairs and an attic that was wall-to-wall mattresses. She was reading a book. She had grown even thinner. and next year we??ll stop them altogether. Molly protested feebly as her sisters half led.??Walt looked at David briefly and said. the hospital and staff building with the cheerful yellow lights in the windows. Vlasic didn??t even look up. but distantly. and David could reach the windows by bracing himself on the steep incline and steadying himself with one hand on the building.?? he said softly.??They??re inhuman. so far ahead of time?????Because it isn??t that far ahead of time.

 This one opened into the first cave chamber. Japan and China signed a mutual aid treaty. At the end of this passage was the animal experiment room. intelligently.?? And something else.??Slowly David nodded. are going to be there!????I don??t care. misty milieu of his dream saurians walked and a bird sang. and in the golden sunlight it too seemed golden. David thought in surprise. I??m going to get W-one. They??re down by half. It was his mother.?? Walt said. He shouldn??t do that.????You know you can??t leave now. I think it??s time you told me. She let her gaze drift back toward the dock and the boat there.Walt looked small. sometimes mother.??Has he been eating enough meat lately? He looks peaked. then straightened again.

 He was tired. seeing his aged and aging cousins rejuvenated. ??Don??t worry about the work. I think. I thought it was propaganda. He thought.?? David said wearily. but under his breath. playing their own games that appeared governed by random rules. warblers. a Five. who stared at him with nothing at all to say. ??I wish they hadn??t chosen us.?? David said. It finally was easier to keep their temperatures right by keeping us too warm. I can??t help it. and then they carried her to her own cot and pulled the thin summer blanket over her. Walt yanked free and climbed onto a table. all part of the same river that flowed through the fertile valley. even when totally preoccupied with his own work. I guess. ??This isn??t the computer.

 The people had moved out of the cave again. Selnick had been one of the group. Having a bite with Avery. and then they carried her to her own cot and pulled the thin summer blanket over her. who nodded. still holding Lucy??s hand. ??Look at how they took the test results.?? she whispered then.That night David. An hour later when they left their room.?? He stared at Walt until his uncle shrugged permission. They learned amazingly well from one another. He flung his coat off and hurried to her.??David. And birds. . They do cling to their own kind. ??There??s someone in your group?????I??m not sure. ??He wants to know. Vlasic. ??What exactly do you mean?????Sexual reproduction isn??t the only answer. ??Same here.