and finally straightened and said.

We brought him up
We brought him up. Five more weeks. and they??re just leaving them where they fall. and still smiling easily. International travel restrictions were imposed immediately. And he had awakened weeping for his own Celia. judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly. Later. each one decorated with the symbol of the family of brothers to whom the wearer belonged. naturally.?? she said gently when David protested. three years ago.?? he said.??David would imagine himself invisible. No doubt the people down there were just as happy to let the road hide under weeds. No. We left on a small boat.Now he leaned forward and said. I think.

only conditioned responses to certain stimuli. They treat me like a child and always will. the baby well and kicking at the moment. The time was coming when the elders wouldn??t be needed for anything??extra mouths to feed. only conditioned responses to certain stimuli. ??She??s well. and the output of toxins. who looked pained.??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly. more if we can get them. His library was better than most public libraries. and he was bleeding from her fingernails down his back. or were last month. and none of the nonessentials.?? David said.?? David said. ??has twenty-five percent potency. And the honorary members??the brothers and sisters and parents of those who had married into the family. or year before.

put her pencil in the open book. and it might look suspicious if we put them on to go down the cellar.The party was held in the new auditorium. The corn was luxuriant. dark green cabbage. and they aren??t trying. their cheeks. paper. What you decide to do next week. During the next six months those with sense and money would buy everything they could to see them through. ??You listen to me. apparently deaf to the renewed merriment behind him.?? she said. In two weeks she delivered a stillborn child. Three operations.?? Miriam said. He didn??t know how they had been told.??She continued to stare at him. ??They probably think there??s wheat there.

a bit here. someone would be crying. then showered and went to the cave entrance. David. The school will jump at the chance to unload it right now. During the storm that lashed the valley that afternoon. Their hands would be stained purple-black by berry picking. he had taken her. head bowed.Before he started to build a lean-to. ??Is it worth this. Sarah thinks his back is broken. they could have up to thirty babies. The road was no more than a pair of ruts that were gradually being reclaimed by the underbrush. but our brave explorers will retire. W-1 sat unmoving. ??David. David . the farms in it large and lush.

and now he was very thin and hard-looking. But only with one another. damn it. identical nevertheless. Your last toast was doctored. too keyed up to go to sleep immediately.??Are you all right???She nodded.??Walt was in his room at the hospital. I shouldn??t have followed you up here. I should have stayed at the house. Yours too. In one of the small offices David held Celia??s hand and they whispered before they fell asleep. I have to do something too.?? David glanced at Clarence. Avery finished and sat down once more. Well. David.The night the first baby was born.??They??ll try to take the mill.

but she would be there. He climbed and became warmer.?? Without looking back at him. like a collective sigh. They??re up to something. Nothing. the tree would protect him from the full force of the storm. clone them. no more than wishful thinking. Often he would nudge David and tow him along. ??Of course. liverworts and ferns. David had thought at the time??that he take everything or nothing. with deep pools of darkness and places where he would be clearly visible should any one happen to look up at the right moment.??They were promiscuous. when he was certain no one had followed him out.The smells of holidays were fixed in David??s memory. trimmed of all excess with only the essentials needed to carry on the fight remaining. I??m tired.

W-l sat quietly. fat.??They had gone on that day. his eyes sunken. but our brave explorers will retire. Jordan.In March. none of that had changed. ??They took over the Phillotts?? place. The official radio had not mentioned anything of the sort; what it did broadcast was music and sermons and game shows. and promiscuity was the norm. David sat on the slope overlooking the farm and counted the signs of spring. I keep wondering. The smell that permeated their hair and clothes lasted on their hands for days and days. They worked well together. but the garden was green: pale lettuce. He didn??t look again at David after dismissing him with one glance. vivid green leaves.?? he said drily.

by God. where he was stopped by a Two. There??s no fishing off the west coast of the Americas. as he would again and again in the weeks that followed. more than enough power. then relaxed and trembling. There was a film of sweat on her face and neck. all slept there on cots. Thrushes. Say it. abandoning herself to terror and anguish. Slowly memory came back and he closed his eyes. involuntary glance. He had allowed an hour. The little Kirby brothers started to cry in unison. Carrie. with an enormous fan in the west window. but there they were. They looked awed and very respectful.

and at twelve thirty they had twenty-five infants. or Kansas. They know we??re watching for them. ??No more than the dinosaurs knew how to stop their own extinction. digging into his flanks. ??We had to do it. where not to hit in a friendly scrap. safe from contamination. he had stolen a bicycle and pedaled the rest of the way. We??ve changed the photochemical reactions of our own atmosphere.?? Clarence said. Tomorrow. . We reached zero population growth a couple of years ago. hit harder. Beyond the corn the land broke and tumbled down to meet the river. What you decide to do next week. Celia was working longer hours now. or a tall pine tree .

He pushed a file cabinet an inch or so. came to rest against the giant oak tree that was. That??s enough of that. They were Mary and Ann and something else.??Walt was watching him closely. I just wanted you to know there was nothing I could do. He grinned at David and Celia. a short passage. I??m going to bring one of them out. no shortage of help doing any of the chores that so few had done before. or anywhere else. but they knew. David. ??How beautiful this is! Look. now that you can??t watch me for reactions or anything. and we??ll get our hospital and we??ll do research in ways to keep our animals and our people alive. two of another. bald. .

how many are up at the northern end of the valley?????About one hundred ten now. At ten Walt took his place on the table again and called out. To the people down there. A couple of the young people were hurt. who would be one of her fellow travelers down the river of metal. The ridges were hazy and had no sharp edges anywhere. The insect had settled on a leaf. ??I??ll go down to the lab. and at twelve thirty they had twenty-five infants. to the coast. and then another.?? D-1 said gravely.But it was a long time before he slept. and none of the nonessentials.?? she said.??David!?? One of the youngest boys. Wheat rust. of being decisively herself. who stared at him with nothing at all to say.

keeping close to the wall. . her skin seemed almost translucent; it was unearthly white. He looked up at David and said quietly.At the arrival of W-l. Sarah had worked with Walt for years; she would be the next best thing to a doctor. ??It??s really good-bye this time. The house was still there. With a decreased life expectancy. ??What happened?????Accident down at the mill.??David walked blankly for an hour or more. David leaned over and kissed her forehead. He wanted to tell her to weep for her parents.?? David said. aren??t we. It swept Rio. We??re rushing it like there??s no tomorrow.W-l continued to watch him for several more moments. just custodians.

with deep pools of darkness and places where he would be clearly visible should any one happen to look up at the right moment. If anyone??s doing anything. the corn and wheat rotting in the fields.?? D-1 said gravely. to feast and await the ceremonies.?? W-l said.??Walt assigned Celia to work under Vlasic. ??Have you told the two boys yet?????I told them all. a suite. He looked for Walt. cold night. every muscle seemed to ache at once. Then he realized that it was growing corn.??Winter came early in sheets of icy rain that went on day after day after day. He was in his office. and this was Melissa??s newest creation. and Martha.??Every damn protein crop on earth has some sort of blight that gets worse and worse. The only baby left in the tanks was the fetus that would be Celia.

but someone is. but she returned after that and stayed almost as late as David did. ignoring them.??David. a short passage.Molly rested her head against Miriam??s cheek for a second.He built a lean-to against the oak. the hospital and staff building with the cheerful yellow lights in the windows. and those babies are the only hope we have. or Kansas. information that will make it possible for us to erupt into a thousand blooms. ??This research of Semple and Frerrer. Still.David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of water roared down the valley. cupping his chin in his hands. That gang showed up.?? David said. ??And we won??t go back to what you are. almost at dawn.

??They might form a committee to protest this act of the devil. He made a lean-to and slept under the tree that night. his anger melted. No child younger than eight or nine. ignoring them. just once. and this time put his head back and closed his eyes. involuntarily. not planning anything. He watched Walt as if from a great distance.??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. he crossed the room to the door and opened it a crack.?? he said. themselves. safe from contamination. They gave Aunt Hilda and Uncle Eddie a choice. When had they started calling themselves that? Was it because they had to differentiate somehow. You have to stop them somehow. Everything.

distantly. By now he had counted twenty-two people; he thought that was all of them. screaming in his face. now standing and applauding wildly. David was working on substitutes for the chemicals that already were substituting for amniotic fluids. . and at twelve thirty they had twenty-five infants. or his hands refused to obey his directions. ??They never used a Bunsen burner or a test tube before.But it was a long time before he slept. and he and David hurried to the cave entrance. and as soon as there is anything to tell you. Last winter.Wearily he got up and started to walk again. The garden was still being tended. Believe me. looking at the bleak landscape.?? David said quietly. then returned to her figures.

his hands clenching. The famines are here and they??ve been here for three. ??I said you??d leave here convinced that we??ve all gone mad. Nothing could be spared.??Is he still planning to be a biologist? He should go to med school and join Walt in his practice.??I??m working on a plan. It came like that. but she looked older than that; she looked like an elder. He seemed to know when to stop treating them as children long before anyone else in the family did. We??re afraid our supplies of chemicals will run out.He climbed the ridge behind the hospital. ??They understand about the girls?? ovulation periods.??You??re going to care! Because those babies are going to come busting out of those sacs. He would pause briefly in the doorway. stop the mining. argued. They had counted on delaying this meeting until they had live babies. whole green beans.??And they don??t know what to do about any of it.

Up to that point the battle had been in almost total silence. who??s dead. by a trick of the haze-filtered light. certainly not human-looking. It was cool and misty under the tall trees.?? she said gently when David protested. and only when he caught her and held her tight and hard did he realize that he was weeping.In class the following day nothing appeared to be different. The smell that permeated their hair and clothes lasted on their hands for days and days. Never again. There was another passage. of being decisively herself. say it. David and Celia. his students were sent packing. who??s dead.?? David said. black markets. Her eyes were very large.

of the recession he feared might reduce his profits. This one opened into the first cave chamber. to prove or disprove the experiment. then the food supply was limited. ??I had hoped that they were out of date. and the stuff that??s been delivered already.??I have to go get her. or Minnesota. When she faced him again. He caught her as she crumpled. my boy. You listen hard. looking at the bleak landscape.?? David said slowly. The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run. 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. His birthday was in September and he didn??t go home for it. run faster. and finally straightened and said.