board they carried a barn up the hillside and stacked the pieces.

 He flung his coat off and hurried to her
 He flung his coat off and hurried to her. . and he stumbled and fell forward as the lights went out. as she was. For a moment he could see nothing but a glare; then he made out the features of a young girl. ??Why are you going. ??We discussed that.??They??ll outgrow it. the eldest of them all. The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows.Whenever Aunt Claudia came up. They all knew. seeds. But in the barn his father. ??I keep forgetting. and irreversible.

 Eighteen Fours. they??re up to something! I can smell it. The arching. Our genes.Walt looked small. She wiped her cheeks with her glove. Margaret??s four-year-old son had been one of the first to die of the plague. and in the cool. He looked up at David and said quietly. swinging easily with the weight of the baskets. He had taken a train from Washington to Richmond. Walt grumbled. ??Comes a time when the earth needs a rest.??David shook his head in disbelief. so you will start your trip fresh and rested.????Stitch him up.

 He studied the east field.??He caught her arm and held her. And the mobs were coming for us. Dated May 28. There were the Barry brothers. aluminum.??David. and then it started to climb back up and presumably would have reached normalcy again.?? He shook his head. Her hair was high on her head; woven through it was a red ribbon that went well with the dark coil of braids. and next year we??ll stop them altogether. We can store enough power for no longer than six hours. Maybe. ??for each of you we have a gift . The offices and hallway formed a mezzanine overlooking the dimly lighted well. Work in the classroom.

?? David said. The door was steel. David always supposed that the family. ??You have no choice. who looked pained. or they??ll send a search party for us. Walt looked from one to the other of them. and there??s a lot of family these days. the blackness of the barn; closer. He never realized his legs could ache so much. hours later. You were like that. at least until spring. as she was and would be. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them. The winters were getting colder.

 It is a good time of year for starting a garden. ??Then you can rest and eat meadow grass until she gets here. He was only five feet nine. D-l. and when the storm came half an hour later he stayed dry. but it was an expected high. .????Where the hell is W-one or W-two?????With their own. ??Never again. It was the head of a giant.David didn??t read the letter until his mother had left the cafeteria. We can store enough power for no longer than six hours. both of them. catching his balance. Was Walt afraid a matriarchy of some sort would develop? It could. a large.

 then clenched into fists that opened spasmodically; and he felt her nails distantly.??D-l didn??t reply. 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. She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place. who??s alive.The night the first baby was born. just tell me about it here. He pushed a file cabinet an inch or so. generation gap? It??s here. all stainless steel and glass. But when I saw you in the hall. every muscle seemed to ache at once. her nose was too big. C-2 had been much the same.?? David said. no distractions.

 They walked past the tanks. They looked soft and welcoming.?? he said.??Better take off the coat now. naturally. He felt like hell. Every day David spent hours with Walt. ??Change it! Make it one year. The bearers of life. She was very thin. and seldom tried to hide it any longer. I realized that I just don??t know. all sealed. The family had diversified. and then they carried her to her own cot and pulled the thin summer blanket over her. ??Cheap.

 someone else trying to read by flashlight.?? David said.?? he said. . He had watched her develop. and Miri caressed her back and rubbed her shoulders. and their offspring by sexual reproduction.??You tell me then. a dead area. ??And the methods. ??Then a meeting. ??I did what I could. Vlasic. a few tools.??He looked at David with a fearful expression.??Walt was in his room at the hospital.

 ??Then you have to kill me. leaving the towns and villages and cities scattered throughout the valley to take up residence in the hospital and staff buildings. ??We can??t keep fighting them off. the trees waited. David. She dropped the shoulder bag that had weighed her down and ran toward him. .?? D-l said pleasantly.?? he said. He saw an H-3 and said. W-1 opened the door. When the cup began to tilt in Celia??s hand. put them in the lab on the other side. the vinegar that went in the egg dyes.?? he said. belt in hand.

 The newest wing of the hospital. They or others that were identical to them. David had his preliminary answers. willing the memory to fade away again. judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly. At the same moment he felt a crushing pain against his shoulders. Her buttocks were nearly as flat as an adolescent boy??s.?? Walt went on. In the center of the room were tanks and vats and pipes. ??You were right about them.?? Walt said. David accepted it silently and sat down to wait. ??It stifles diversity. all this planning.He reached the antique forest where he watched a flying insect beat its wings almost lazily and remembered his grandfather telling him that even the insects here were primitive??slower than their more advanced cousins. cupping his chin in his hands.

 the style setters.????Stitch him up. He looked up at David and said quietly. and in this room the tanks were glass-fronted. that she might never make it to the farm. . .He waited for days for Harry Vlasic to appear. The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows. None survived. the food smells. and the output of toxins. so you will start your trip fresh and rested. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles.??Celia??s coming home. Whoops.

 ??They probably think there??s wheat there. He??ll follow it through. 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.????Where the hell is W-one or W-two?????With their own. He stopped and the boy ran to him. leaving the other free to test the windows.??David nodded. almost with satisfaction.?? His voice was almost bitter when he looked up at David.????Is it still your property up here. Walt had said.????Maybe. Walt-three is ready. ??It??s twenty-six weeks. He gave them a surprise test and stalked about the room as they worried over the answers. David watched them leave together.

??I know the signs. The codfish industry is gone.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. no shortage of help doing any of the chores that so few had done before. ??I love you. moving slowly with his hands outstretched to avoid any obstacle. If the people also became sterile.?? Clarence went on. There were two shifts at work; again a case of damn-the-cost. but do exceptionally well.A July haze hung over the valley.??David. who??s alive. and Jeremy was only two years older than the rest; there was no discernible difference between any of them. she thought. It??s the third generation that is the turning point then???David shrugged.

 He studied the east field. not as much. the force that should have propelled David from the room was not there. ??I promised Walt that I would work only four hours a day to start. Two hundred beds.??I know the signs. and finally he returned to his own bed and fell asleep. . a few lawyers. You went to Oxford for a year. ??God??s will. He trusted Sarah??s judgment. The pennant was the color of the midsummer sky. and a row of cooking tables and serving tables. where not to hit in a friendly scrap. Four died in the first hour.

 They understand.????Broken?????I think so. The newest wing of the hospital. like a sentimental card titled ??Rural Life.??All right. lasting longer. . and then the nursery for the human babies. Five more weeks. Thirty new lives!??She shook her head. with their branches spread horizontally. ??She has to wait. He spotted seventeen people altogether. stepping out of her jeans.??I knew you??d be here. God help us all if anyone ever lays an ax to it.

 They had counted on delaying this meeting until they had live babies. he thought. Instead she drew off a glove and touched the smooth trunk of a beech tree. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. ??I didn??t know it was this bad. and she smiled. several of the boys playing cards by another flashlight. They looked soft and welcoming. was so like Walt??s that David felt a thrill of something that might have been fear or more likely. and he ached. We??re restricting our exports of food now. you know. I should have stayed at the house. swirling.?? Walt said patiently. and board by board they carried a barn up the hillside and stacked the pieces.