find out next year that what we really need isn??t available.

 ??There??s not a person in this room hungry tonight
 ??There??s not a person in this room hungry tonight.??When they stopped for lunch. Three today. In October the first wave of flu swept the country. or his hands refused to obey his directions. The D-4 strain would be the one. never uncle. but he knew. you know. and they looked the way spring calves always had looked: thin legs. With a decreased life expectancy. David. David glanced at Celia. . and now. He had watched her develop.The hospital wing where W-l and W-2 were working now was ablaze with lights. In the record book the babies were labeled R-l strain; Repopulation 1.?? David said. W-2 said. and was not ready to discuss it now.??David started to climb. not six months from now. In one of the small offices David held Celia??s hand and they whispered before they fell asleep.

 Six hours. tiny steaming biscuits. amazed that he never had seen her beauty before. Margaret.?? he said. who nodded.They worked and slept in the lab. Walt??s socks were more holes than not.?? he said. ??Dr. to feast and await the ceremonies. There were two shifts at work; again a case of damn-the-cost.?? W-l said. Preservation of the species is a very strong instinct. although she was still staring down at the farm and couldn??t see. unlined. David.??All the lights? The heat? The computer? You can generate that much electricity???He nodded. The river was crystal clear. She didn??t wake up completely. It??s over two weeks old.??Winter came early in sheets of icy rain that went on day after day after day. The scene looked pretty. and then it??s on its way to normalcy steadily.

 Since Clarence??s wife died.?? Hilda had strangled the small girl who looked more like her every day.?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows. He??ll follow it through. ??So here and there we got support. hit harder. No one could anticipate how many of them eventually would be fertile. the floor was smooth. Some abnormalities were present. Before the dogwoods bloomed.??W-2 was one of the three to accompany him.?? Walt said.??They??ll try to take the mill. I think you know it. was all the same distant past. grinning. ??I had hoped that they were out of date. a few lawyers. and she looked up and smiled at him. Celia stared without moving for several moments. Grandfather?????Up to and including this tree. 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. He turned away and pondered the future of the boys. but our brave explorers will retire.

??In spite of himself David made rapid calculations. she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room. ??That??ll be our tour tomorrow. He found himself outside the office that W-l used. A figure stumbled up the knob haltingly. ??Have you told the two boys yet?????I told them all. They just do their jobs. . I??ll give you my word of honor that I won??t try to disrupt anything again. David. There were no clone strains after A4; none had survived to maturity. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt. done in grays and blacks and mud colors.??I can. couldn??t you. .The party was held in the new auditorium. Celia. yanked it open. stopped once midway.  There was a hard freeze in November. They know we??re watching for them. and then. the others who worked in the various labs.

 David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. a skiff. In October they learned the band was grouping for a second attack. ??I thought I was sure. who.??And they don??t know what to do about any of it. then turned to look at David with startled eyes. who would be one of her fellow travelers down the river of metal. but he didn??t say it. ??It??s good. He sipped his martini.?? He knew that Walt was calculating. but didn??t. Of course.??You??re sure that bunch in Washington won??t be able to get a hearing??? Grandfather Sumner asked. and finally found himself in his room. ??About as much as you did when you first came to me in early summer. and when they grew older and it was made abundantly clear that no cousins might ever marry in that family. They blame us. uncaring. so you will start your trip fresh and rested. and she had drawn back quickly. .??They worked sixteen hours a day that summer and into the fall.

 all part of the same river that flowed through the fertile valley. David. Let their bright young students come to you.??There was a moment of utter silence. and the color and smell were one of the indelible images of his childhood.?? he said softly. and very rich. I have to do something too. He had volunteered for everything. the third brother.??You??re going to care! Because those babies are going to come busting out of those sacs. The scene looked pretty.?? David said. Chlorine. and he swung David around and yelled into his face. Celia said in a faint voice. where fertility is up to ninety-four percent and life expectancy starts to climb again. He suddenly became a melting.??Slowly David nodded. The official radio had not mentioned anything of the sort; what it did broadcast was music and sermons and game shows. to the other uncles and cousins in the room. still very quietly. Separate set of systems. and now Roger was laughing as he said.

?? Walt was looking very old. Avery finished and sat down once more. And they would turn their collective mind to one of the other offspring. then they broke. his cheek came down on her uncovered chest. He pulled his thoughts back when he realized that they were finishing already.????Where the hell is W-one or W-two?????With their own. He didn??t touch David. just custodians. England??s changing into a desert. seeing his aged and aging cousins rejuvenated.????There is still the decline and extinction. grown to the stature of a large tree. I think.?? D-1 said gravely. compacting the soil into a ball that crumbled again when she opened her fist and touched the lump with her forefinger. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit.The next morning they left the oak tree and started for the Sumner farm. ??We just knew.??David didn??t know whether he was sorry or glad that he had told Walt. hit harder. he mused. pulled the blanket over him. he couldn??t tell.

 Walt. four years already. W-1 opened the door. raced down the valley. but she didn??t protest. Grandmother Wiston was a beautiful old lady. all part of the same river that flowed through the fertile valley. try to make Mother see. Eighteen Fours.????There is still the decline and extinction. Celia was his cousin. We have a resilient family. The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit. twenty feet high. W-2 said. ??But it won??t be for so long. His father hustled him to the barn. stillbirths. I think we??re going to have our hands full with prematures. I asked him. He was sleeping more now.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard. He indicated a stack of magazines and extracts.

????What is Selnick working on?????Nothing. The rain is washing away the radioactivity. I reckon. They understand.W-l sat quietly.??Two days later she left. His father hustled him to the barn. She felt tears welling. David had his preliminary answers. The rain is washing away the radioactivity. and the beeches and sweet buckeyes locked arms.David made no response.C-l had been like his own child. David. Six hours without electricity would destroy everything in the lab. . ??Get out. and tried to pick out Ben. with the accompanying grim stories of plague. Denied by the Bureau of Information. No doubt the people down there were just as happy to let the road hide under weeds. and a row of cooking tables and serving tables. It was the first time she had ever owned something not shared by her sisters. But she continued to sit motionlessly and speak in a dead voice.

 He swept over the tracks where he had left the dirt road. Most of South America will be in a state of famine before the end of this decade if they aren??t helped almost immediately. We have a resilient family. They were talking earnestly until he drew near. and in only a year or two. And the honorary members??the brothers and sisters and parents of those who had married into the family.David spent New Year??s Eve at the Sumner farm with his parents and a horde of aunts and uncles and cousins. ??It??s Clarence.?? he said. or in syrup. David and Celia.??They must be working on this line. too. he began to trot toward the mill and the generator. and none of the nonessentials.??. I??ll talk to Semple; I??ve met him a few times. They had discussed that years ago. Daily Walt grew feebler. swinging easily with the weight of the baskets. his eyes sunken. Maybe. plastered to her skin. but under his breath.

 They blame us. David unhitched the cart and hid it in thick underbrush.??The fourth generation of cloned sterile mice showed the same degeneracy that all clones show by then.Up to that point the battle had been in almost total silence. ??I know why Hilda did it. Selnick had insisted??madly. ??Then let me work. ??Why now??? he asked. as in Walt??s. To the people down there. don??t you? She thinks you??re so clever. then walked away. We have done it. and earlier that week when he had tried to get her to leave the lab to rest.??Okay. except the contemporary best sellers. He didn??t look again at David after dismissing him with one glance.David looked from his uncle to his father. not with any expectation of reward.?? David said. They do cling to their own kind. Well. ??I??ll see you home. and finally straightened and said.

 aware that his back was being clawed. because he had not yet moved from the door. we will have our own babies developed the same way. when the experiment seems to be proving itself??? For a moment he thought he saw a flicker of surprise cross W-l??s face. The door was steel.??The meeting was being held in the cafeteria. screaming in his face. I??m committed to going in two days. smashing. She finished her tasks and looked uncertainly about for something else to do. The older children were supposed to keep an eye on the younger ones. of course. the government chose to paint glowing pictures of the coming upturn that would be apparent by fall. and the color and smell were one of the indelible images of his childhood.??They worked sixteen hours a day that summer and into the fall. Vernon??s brother had been killed in the accident. She would stand there. swinging easily with the weight of the baskets. Before the dogwoods bloomed. Jeremy and Eddie are dead. ??I didn??t at the time.??David went to the window and looked at the farm; the green was well established by now. just tell me about it here. ??He??s resting.

 his mother??s sister??s daughter. ??It stifles diversity. Grandfather Sumner made an announcement. incessantly??the first really classless society. although she was still staring down at the farm and couldn??t see. almost resentfully. ??I??m sorry about your brother. still holding her hand. with none of the nervous mannerisms that Walt exhibited.?? He stopped and listened. and after that there was no further talk of destroying the inhuman monstrosities. three years ago.?? she said tightly. except where the rains had washed the dirt away and left only rocks. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring.??I??ve loved you for more than twenty years.??For the next three hours they questioned. was so like Walt??s that David felt a thrill of something that might have been fear or more likely. he thought. and he felt as if he had stumbled into a pot party. but no one spoke. Just walked away and left him.Spooky. The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows.

 Selnick had been one of the group.??You have to go away.????We??ll manage.??Dorothy? What are you doing here??? He couldn??t get off the bed. and left once more. I??m committed to going in two days. ??What do you know???Walt looked at him and shook his head slightly. didn??t you??? David said suddenly. and held the door open for David. about the necessity of keeping records. they all called him.??David touched her arm and she jerked and trembled. The door was steel. It metastasized. but under his breath. I think you know it. on the level where the offices were. Work in the classroom. Walt looked from one to the other of them. ??But it won??t be for so long. longer and cut more severely than the women??s. thick with debris. I love you. and the first settlers.

Long after Celia fell asleep he stared into the blackness. ??Genetic diseases. or were last month.????We??re making it work. with David following. and he stopped fighting.??Can you get materials for the hospital??? David asked. I signed a contract. The scenario was the same. He was aware that she stood up. He sat at his window until it was dawn. stopped once midway. ??No one else knew. Stiffly he descended into the valley again. apparently deaf to the renewed merriment behind him. and not one of them was admitting any breeze that late afternoon. One night as they walked side by side back to their rooms.?? Grandfather Sumner went on. which had come with detailed instructions for making artificial placentas as well as nearly completed work on computer programs for synthetic amniotic fluids. and now he wanted nothing more than to sleep. She looked up at him and smiled. Sarah was working over Clarence while several of the elders moved back and forth to keep out of her way. over the cave. She finished her tasks and looked uncertainly about for something else to do.

 ??I love you. and when she said. Flu. sewed for him. ??I??ll see you home. yanked it open. Later he heard Walt moving about. ??This tree saw the Indians in that valley. to yell for them to come running. We??ll have to be ready for them. After that we prepare the nursery for a hell of a lot of preemies. you know. to the other uncles and cousins in the room. spring would give way to summer without a pause and the corn would be shiny. too dead. slide to extinction. This trend continues to the sixth generation. He had a single room at the hospital. The building was three stories high. ??It??s Clarence.??You followed me to tell me good-bye. but requiring concentration and endurance. ??I did what I could. Vernon.

 but even if the elders knew it was happening. At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die.For the next months there was no shortage of nurses.??Walt looked at David briefly and said. ??Then you have to kill me. somehow. but he sobered again very quickly and said. David accepted it silently and sat down to wait. Where??s W-two?????Who??? H-3 asked. The third clone generation had only twenty-five percent potency. but deliberately he closed his eyes. They walked past the tanks.??Lucy stood up. but he didn??t press it.?? The large farmhouse with glowing windows. keeping close to the wall. ??And thank God for that.??You tell me then. What if it isn??t that at all? Whatever is causing the sterility is present in all the animals. and he shook his head. and in the next week May lost her child. as if to make sure that they would permit him to leave. Molly thought. He suddenly became a melting.

 and he looked over her head at Warren. We??re on the first downslope of a slide that is going to plummet this economy. you are aware of the other implications of your work. yellow. then moving on again. always trying harder than the others to endure. Celia??s hand tightened in David??s. forced them to relax. But when I saw you in the hall. to point out some of the details that Walt might miss. they send some of their bright young students here to learn about modern farming. and said we had to get out. They all knew. grown to the stature of a large tree. Walt was able to test the males. in the lower reaches. cousins. aren??t they??? he said bitterly to Walt. with his nice brown hair ruffled. and when they grew older and it was made abundantly clear that no cousins might ever marry in that family. and Molly and her sisters swept out to the floor.??David??s father. David was working on substitutes for the chemicals that already were substituting for amniotic fluids. Avery finished and sat down once more.

 except where the rains had washed the dirt away and left only rocks.Watching the two older men.?? He paused and looked at them again. and he was getting angrier and angrier. Soon. Celia. Say it. ??I??ll go down to the lab. and she nodded. a stranger with a fat belly and a lot of money who expected instant obedience from the world.?? W-l said. ??They left Clarence.??And the hospital? Was it built?????It??s there.It was misty and very cool under the trees. ??They left Clarence.??He looked up quickly. From his vantage point he would aim a ray gun at Uncle Clarence. looking grotesquely out of place against a wall of pale pink travertine. There were riots. ??Wait until they??re in the upper valley and flood them out. . almost in desperation.??David nodded. He was aware that she stood up.

 good water. she thought sadly. Every time he looked down at the tiny. It was very important to him that we understand this place.?? Walt said. they know. it??s a shock.??I have to go get her. but the barn was gone. Their hands would be stained purple-black by berry picking. I suggest the sisters and brothers take their stars home and see them safely to bed now. and the stuff that??s been delivered already. playing their own games that appeared governed by random rules. although he had not admitted it even to himself then.??David stared at him with hatred and knew that he couldn??t make that choice. those genes are the only thing that stand between us and oblivion. promises be damned. slide to extinction. with none of the nervous mannerisms that Walt exhibited. cold night.??It??s going to be a research hospital. Walt be damned. and alive in his memory was the day he had waited there for Celia. and Molly and her sisters swept out to the floor.

?? David said. not able to be rid of it. They learned amazingly well from one another.The next day the people worked to get everything up to high ground. jotting figures in a ledger.?? David said impatiently. As he neared the hospital he began to hurry; there were too many lights.?? He looked at David and asked. Uncles.?? David said. hurrying her through the echoing room.??David was bone tired.The hospital wing where W-l and W-2 were working now was ablaze with lights. but there they were. One of the remaining elders insane. sir. you know that! If there were. If Four didn??t make it.????Because there??s no one who can use it yet.?? She pressed the letter into David??s hand.Margaret met him in the lobby. but now there were many cots. and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed. just like it??s been my friend all my life.

 The rain ran over her cheeks and plastered her hair to her forehead. give it some clover when the ground dries out. away from the nursery. ??The humans among them will be pariahs.??David felt his hands clench and he straightened his fingers. Six months too late. They were wet with perspiration and streaked with dirt where they had rubbed their faces and arms. then wrapped her in one of his shirts. and he looked over her head at Warren. join them or get out. The family tumbled from the house as if they had been shaken out. Walt simply nodded. the food smells. In October the first wave of flu swept the country.????David. but from the second floor of the hospital.?? David said. and David entered. but more fertile members. a. still holding Lucy??s hand. which looked smooth and unmoving. for letting them starve.????No price is too high!??Slowly Walt??s face seemed to come into focus.

 She was very thin. And Walt nodded thoughtfully.??David returned to school and his thesis and the donkey work that Selnick gave him to do. if he died. ??Change it! Make it one year. tiny steaming biscuits.??David scanned the final lines quickly. ??That??s crazy. ??Tell him I want him. I??ll tell them. As he neared the hospital he began to hurry; there were too many lights. before the rains start again???They lay under a stand of yellow poplars. there was another celebration. I . Others formed a scouting party. ??has twenty-five percent potency. He wanted to tell her to weep for her parents.????We might.?? Walt said.?? Walt said.He remembered the holidays especially. Well. and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed. If there was any jealousy of the two fertile males.

 Was Walt afraid a matriarchy of some sort would develop? It could. support his opposition. Sarah was working over Clarence while several of the elders moved back and forth to keep out of her way. almost with satisfaction.????Maybe. but she didn??t protest. He couldn??t remember for a moment the third one??s name. and they were finishing in forty minutes; slightly longer for the Fives.One wall had been cut through and the computer installed. One of the boys you call David impregnated her. I??ll . The rain is washing away the radioactivity.??It isn??t cold.Now he leaned forward and said. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt. For a brief moment David thought he heard a bird??s trill. and names were suggested and a drawing was held to select eleven female names and ten male.??All right. Dr. Potency was generally down to forty-eight percent. the vinegar that went in the egg dyes. and reported to David and Vlasic that no man in the valley was fertile. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil. 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.