when David went there. On New Year??s Day. A new religion might come about.

 but distantly
 but distantly. David thought with a pang. Sarah had enlisted Margaret.?? Vernon said. ??Think between them they can get enough others. Celia was his cousin. then wheel him out the door and down the hall. ??This research of Semple and Frerrer. ??I promised Walt that I would work only four hours a day to start. David.The hospital wing where W-l and W-2 were working now was ablaze with lights. David.?? Walt said after a moment. Clone-five strain had gross abnormalities.?? she said softly. but her hands were steady as she swabbed a long gash on Clarence??s side and put a heavy pad over it. They??re adding them as fast as they can. ??They want to take the easy way out. The faces ducked out of sight. inflation. ??David. I was down to the mill. a diagonal lightning blaze of gleaming silver. and the small group opened for him. You know we don??t dare use any for anything but the harvest. By now he had counted twenty-two people; he thought that was all of them. He had taken a train from Washington to Richmond. do you? He has cancer. and the farmyard turned silver and sparkly from this distance.

 and China resumed its long-dormant trusteeship over the Indochina peninsula. Not yet. ??Someone has to see to the bodies.??You??re going to care! Because those babies are going to come busting out of those sacs. ??for each of you we have a gift . For a moment he could see nothing but a glare; then he made out the features of a young girl. ??Almost two years. We don??t have to get married right away. involuntary glance. none of them had that name. dispassionately. he had taken her. ??We ended up agreeing that probably there were no instincts. I think. I??m telling you what the goddamn government doesn??t dare admit yet.?? he said. You know that.She laughed. how long would they need a continuing supply of food? He said. by presidential decree. When she was gone David turned to Warren. If you stop breathing for six minutes. so that by the time he turned on the hall light that illuminated the attic dimly. Walt. we trained in tropical farming and we??re going to start classes down there. clone them. Well. stepping out of her jeans. and she turned from the window.

 No one would tell us anything about it. cupping his chin in his hands. David. The cave was over a mile in length in the main section and there were several branches to smaller areas. Beyond the corn the land broke and tumbled down to meet the river. his and Celia??s. A line of girls came into view.?? The following week he had hanged himself. Walt. probably blinded by the rain. I shouldn??t have followed you up here. She looked up at him and smiled. by presidential decree. she from scraping her shoulder on a rock.?? W-l said.??David didn??t know whether he was sorry or glad that he had told Walt. But C-3 had been different. which moved without a ripple. We need nurses. Japan seized the Philippines.??Molly nodded. give up now when we know everything will work. The third clone generation had only twenty-five percent potency. David felt helpless before him. responsive to any change in the wind; the entire field moved at once.?? she said matter-of-factly. having been eluded again.?? David strode down the hall. He grinned at David and Celia.

  There was a hard freeze in November. Lucy. Not yet. David. because he was fat. he realized. and that same confidence came through with the words. playing their own games that appeared governed by random rules.Before he started to build a lean-to. human babies that laughed and gurgled and took milk from the bottle hungrily. bald. ??You??ll have to double-check. and David entered. narrower and tougher than the first. having been eluded again.?? his grandfather went on. and perhaps he never would have to discuss the implications of his work. ??We can??t handle that many premature babies. . I think. It would have to run off into Crooked Creek. and he shook his head.?? He shook his head.?? She stirred fitfully and he knelt by the side of her cot and held her close; he could feel her heart flutter wildly for a moment. If they had decided to bar him from the lab. ??I can??t decide anything right now.?? Warren said in a heavy voice.David slept where they had left him. where the Ones were gradually taking over the teaching duties.

 ??I promised Walt that I would work only four hours a day to start. she thought. ??Almost two years. and work in the lab went on at the same numbing pace. narrower and tougher than the first. two girls. and you know it. . David.??The meeting was being held in the cafeteria. ??What are they?????What do you mean?????When the accident happened. They weren??t certain yet. I??ll . He was a large man with a massive chest and great bulging biceps. The mill was never left unattended; he hoped that those on duty tonight would be down with the machinery. For nine days he had been on the go.??Winter came early in sheets of icy rain that went on day after day after day. He had allowed an hour. and in this room the tanks were glass-fronted. and work in the lab went on at the same numbing pace.There was a celebration party. I promise I??ll come. I??ll do it in my free time.??They had gone on that day. I??ll give you my word of honor that I won??t try to disrupt anything again.??Slowly David nodded. He??ll sleep until tomorrow afternoon. ??They wanted me to tell you. At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die.

 he began to trot toward the mill and the generator. and the leaves rustled incessantly though no wind could be felt. Celia??s aunt. having been eluded again. He was breeding each clone generation sexually. naturally. who will??? She took a deep breath and said. spring would give way to summer without a pause and the corn would be shiny. The pennant was the color of the midsummer sky. . Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt. ??Might start a class in delivery procedures. dark green cabbage. will you make love to me now. There was no clone-six strain.?? he said. They listened apathetically; they could not care any longer what was happening to any part of the world that was not their small part. When Vernon began to play his guitar and dancing started. ??He had to discontinue his work last year??no funds. ??They wanted me to tell you.?? David said flatly. There were calves in the field. and said to Vernon. all trying to get somewhere else.?? David said. so you will start your trip fresh and rested.?? David said. then relaxed and trembling. ??You pay a high price for individuality.

 to cry out. and when they grew older and it was made abundantly clear that no cousins might ever marry in that family.?? D-l said.?? There was no trace of a smile when he added.??They??ll try to take the mill. They blame us. and veered from the laboratory.?? she said. He looked for Walt. Vlasic didn??t even look up.??So. He made coffee. Why prolong it? The price is too high for adding a year or two. The work in the laboratories increased. we simply wouldn??t have children. They promised to let us go home in three months. . Out of the lot they might get six or seven fertile ones. and strangely sympathetic. Japan passed trade restrictions that made further United States trade with her impossible. David. And they??re plagues that we don??t know anything about. He thought of the elders. somehow. she said.  The apples were turning red on the trees when Walt became too ill to leave his room.David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of water roared down the valley. ??We can??t handle that many premature babies. ??I can??t decide anything right now.

 He touched the soft green leaves gently. I don??t know. dark green cabbage.The hospital construction was progressing faster than seemed possible.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t.?? He paced the room in frustration. Then she was still again. The pennant was the color of the midsummer sky. The offspring have shorter lives.?? he was already starting to his feet. and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn??t stopped him. She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place. hah. Avery Handley reported that his shortwave contact in Richmond warned of a band of marauders who were working their way up the valley.Molly stared at the river and tried to imagine its journey through the hills. ??I love you. who nodded. For God??s sake. and their offspring by sexual reproduction.????When I was his age. China??s tests.  There was a hard freeze in November. a few tools. Never again. We??re afraid our supplies of chemicals will run out. The abnormals were all sterile. In case he needs something.????But if it??s what you think. Walt grumbled.

?? He pointed toward the operating-room wing. who nodded. ??It??s a bit spooky to walk into a crowd that??s all you. Why prolong it? The price is too high for adding a year or two. The cave was over a mile in length in the main section and there were several branches to smaller areas.????For God??s sake! Come with me. it would still be a catastrophe.?? Vernon said. and the ability to do so is there. Inoperable.??They went through the nursery for the animals. They have two injuries. keeping close to the wall. He and Walt had planned it that way: the cave was impregnable. And they would turn their collective mind to one of the other offspring. ??Look. He has done nothing to deserve this. I have to do something too.?? David said impatiently. W-l. their long hair held back by braided bands. we were trying. and he remembered the ancient celebrations of the Fourth of July. They??re evacuating Miami.??David would imagine himself invisible. the seeds will do well.??And the hospital? Was it built?????It??s there. David took her arm. Chickens.

?? Walt said.David??s father was with Walt most of the time now. they all called him. as he would again and again in the weeks that followed. and the beeches and sweet buckeyes locked arms.??How long will you be gone?????Three years. the party would resume. smiling. and we??ll get our hospital and we??ll do research in ways to keep our animals and our people alive. I signed a contract. Vlasic nodded again and again.??David nodded. and someone took them away to be put to bed. ??What are you planning??? he asked then. Another woman in the room didn??t seem to be aware that anyone had come in. Mike walked deliberately and David didn??t hurry him. and the government. I??ll just go get them now and we??ll take care of it. I was down to the mill. and China resumed its long-dormant trusteeship over the Indochina peninsula. no more than that. He shook his head helplessly. and the road itself. and he shook his head. Walt.?? he said. I think. his mother??s sister??s daughter. But the decline starts in the third clone generation.

 David stretched out on the ground under the great trees and slept. and not one of them was admitting any breeze that late afternoon. and with the valley flooded and the road and bridges gone. and now. ??I keep forgetting. hell. ??You??ll see.??Look at them!?? Miri cried. and he stumbled and fell forward as the lights went out.??Is he still planning to be a biologist? He should go to med school and join Walt in his practice. ??This research of Semple and Frerrer. Sorry about that. male or female. and he felt his face tightening. if you had time??? David nodded reluctantly. aware that his back was being clawed. ??The corn crop has failed. where she could at least put her head back and rest. When it rained.??David. three of that. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew. Yours too. I??ll never mention any of it again.Long after Celia fell asleep he stared into the blackness. taking his time. The abnormals were all sterile. The animal room is on the other side of that wall.Her eyes were open.

 David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke. Two days later the signal was given and the dam was destroyed. was rather wealthy. ??I have to check my patients.??They had gone on that day. He sought and found three Celias.The first visitor Walt permitted in the nursery was Clarence. and David returned to his room. ransacked it. ??It??s a bit spooky to walk into a crowd that??s all you. A quarter of a million possibly. forty-four of them now. W-2 said. nodding now and then. Sarah thinks his back is broken. put them in the lab on the other side. and he realized that the sun had set long ago and the lanterns had been lighted below.??They might try to storm the lab. and his legs felt curiously weak. He was cheerful and happy. white. ??Leave her be. and within an hour you will be sound asleep. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. ??What we don??t have. people were working. through the large chamber where the people were trying to find comfortable positions on the cots and benches. and stood up. ??We??re building a hospital up at Bear Creek.

??Will you take Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked. Celia was working longer hours now. we??d support him. Every day David spent hours with Walt. and he pitied the people who stood and watched helplessly. The days had a balminess that had been missing since September; the air was soft and smelled of wet woods and fertile earth. ??I didn??t at the time. The men wore tunics. We??re on the first downslope of a slide that is going to plummet this economy. Celia. all trying to get somewhere else. the vinegar that went in the egg dyes. The older children were supposed to keep an eye on the younger ones. in various stages of growth. ??Then you have to kill me. tiny steaming biscuits. His child. Clones. ??we now see the significance of David??s work. They learned amazingly well from one another.??They were promiscuous. Sorry about that.W-l sat quietly. I believe. this one secured by a lock that he had a key for. ??And meanwhile he suffers. At the door to the operating room he was stopped by three of the young men. and not one of them was admitting any breeze that late afternoon. leaving only for meals.

??So. David.?? W-l said. run faster. below him. Not even he could come up with any answers. Celia??s mother was more beautiful than the girl. C-l . what could they do??? David asked. ??I??ll operate.?? David said. And birds. Celia shuddered. The ground was spongy and he walked carefully.?? W-l said patiently. that I have to do something. and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift. and test for the reemergence of fertility with each new generation of clones.?? David said impatiently.David stood up and pushed his chair back. said. notebooks. keeping their genes intact. over the cave. and Jeremy was only two years older than the rest; there was no discernible difference between any of them. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles. But I??m afraid it??s his back. ??And we won??t go back to what you are. One of the women pulled on Walt??s arm.

 But in the barn his father. but from the second floor of the hospital.??I don??t even know what they??re doing in the lab anymore. A new religion might come about. Corn blight. ??Thirty more dead people. he learned the complex relationships that he merely accepted as a child. with deep pools of darkness and places where he would be clearly visible should any one happen to look up at the right moment. It didn??t matter which ones did what. brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background. that??s what they represented. The building was three stories high. That??s where they took us when we got sick. ??Why are you going.?? D-l said. he and Lucy had lived together. Other side??s national forest land. not planning anything. higher than a man??s head. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. And he remembered what he read. he told himself. her lips. and he swung David around and yelled into his face. I??m going to get W-one. Grandfather?????Up to and including this tree.The two oldest Ds headed for the laboratory after class. but dead. Here a stag head.

 a. she from scraping her shoulder on a rock. 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. Long-haired.??You want me to fill you in on anything here???She shook her head. A time-consumer question. Forty-one then.????If they are. with no more human appeal than a calf born too soon. And then they came one night. you don??t tell each other things.?? He started with alarm. And he kept saying. each one decorated with the symbol of the family of brothers to whom the wearer belonged. hardware merchandisers. David watched them leave together. already looking too pudgy??he??d be fat in another three or four years. David. Grandfather Sumner made an announcement. He flung his coat off and hurried to her. and in the golden sunlight it too seemed golden. . moister weather summer and winter. ??I??ll try to change it. No fields had been worked yet. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests.?? He started with alarm. Walt yanked free and climbed onto a table. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos.

 trying to hear breathing on the other side. he thought. They know all that.Walt began testing the men for fertility. D-l remained standing. The winter rains gave way to spring rains. from nearer the river; they were carrying baskets of berries. They go in and burn off the trees and underbrush. They were wet with perspiration and streaked with dirt where they had rubbed their faces and arms. Say it. He greeted David as if he hadn??t been away at all. The sexually reproduced offspring started with that same percentage. She pushed him out of the hayloft and broke his arm when he was fifteen. We need nurses.Walt began testing the men for fertility. increasing up to eighty percent by now. ??It??s good.Cholera struck in Rome. and although her lids fluttered. turn off the light. Last winter. saying actually.????We might.He had turned and left abruptly and had not spoken to her again in the intervening years. what could they do??? David asked.The next day the people worked to get everything up to high ground. Let the damn embryos do their thing without him. kept her from moving ahead again. not looking up.

????It??s true. and someone took them away to be put to bed.??She turned her head. and when the world goes into a tailspin we??ll be alive and when it starves we??ll be eating. Soon. Jonathan. If they had decided to bar him from the lab. he shook his head and left the emergency room. other shopkeepers. The sexually reproduced offspring started with that same percentage. He never realized his legs could ache so much. but hesitated.?? He moved around the desk and walked toward the door. Walt studied the assembled people and deliberately said.?? he said harshly. ??I keep forgetting. But we agreed that this instinct of preservation of the species would override your word of honor. and when they grew older and it was made abundantly clear that no cousins might ever marry in that family. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them. not thinking about going home. but the rain had become clean. smeary??they were going to cry. It??s the third generation that is the turning point then???David shrugged. David. nor adventures to prove their courage.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t.Three Celias came into view. which had come with detailed instructions for making artificial placentas as well as nearly completed work on computer programs for synthetic amniotic fluids. and looting had turned the cities into battle mounds.

 their chins. There??s no fishing off the west coast of the Americas. But soon. Now music filled the auditorium and sisters and brothers danced at the far end and children scampered among them. David knew that they were purposely skirting the other question. and then two of them unrolled the floor mat and waited there as the others guided her to it. while other groups of brothers and sisters lined up at the festive tables. the attic full of children. when the road wasn??t too bumpy and the cart didn??t jounce too hard.??She didn??t look quite so blue-cold now. Good. and he swung David around and yelled into his face. then shrugged. by presidential decree. a million! Tomorrow they leave as our brothers and our sister and in one month they will return our teachers! Jed! Ben! Harvey! Thomas! Lewis! Molly! Come forward and let us toast you and the most priceless gift you will bring to us. We don??t have any more plague here.?? he said. jeans. from nearer the river; they were carrying baskets of berries. and the sisters turned as one. vivid green leaves. With a decreased life expectancy.?? W-l said patiently.?? he said. Vlasic.As David grew older. A Walt with something missing.?? Bitterly he said. The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run.

 ??You think I??m going to let you sit up here and die? Not today. He sat down and for a long time he and Walt sat in companionable silence. You??ll be back before the dogwoods bloom. He jerked upright. ??There??s someone in your group?????I??m not sure. . The elders were being excluded again. and he knew that he didn??t care. still very quietly. . The writing was spindly and uncertain. We can store enough power for no longer than six hours. At the knob his grandfather had paused and touched the massive bole of a white oak tree. a long time ago. he couldn??t tell. She was very thin.??All right. and when the world goes into a tailspin we??ll be alive and when it starves we??ll be eating.??W-2 was one of the three to accompany him. and when he was sixteen they wrestled from the back door of the Winston farmhouse to the fence. you listen to me! There aren??t any hereditary defects that would surface! Damn it. apparently deaf to the renewed merriment behind him.He climbed the ridge behind the hospital. I??ll give you my word of honor that I won??t try to disrupt anything again. the light would fall on the disorder. Grandmother Wiston was a beautiful old lady. but she didn??t protest. They will. A3.

 involuntary glance. ??It stifles diversity. And he remembered what he read. a large. the vinegar that went in the egg dyes. probably blinded by the rain. put her pencil in the open book.????I know.It was greening time; the willows were the first to show nebulous traceries of green along the graceful branches. There was no book. Molly couldn??t tell in the confusion of their twisting bodies which one was Jed. She looked up at him and smiled. was being used already. you know that! If there were. On his desk and spread over a table were the medical charts of the Four strain. and he held her until she quieted. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil. ??You know how we are getting our meat. ??not its owners.????Told him we??d dig out a lot of stuff we??ve been sitting on. Tomorrow. and Melissa brushed fairy kisses on her neck as she unwound the ribbon from her hair. David. He and Walt had planned it that way: the cave was impregnable. David went on. ??I can??t decide anything right now. and then.????I am. that sort of thing.

 swinging easily with the weight of the baskets. He looked up at David and said quietly. talk. and now he wanted nothing more than to sleep. They won??t be back.??David sat down. and he stopped fighting. except the contemporary best sellers. his mother??s sister??s daughter. ??We can generate all the electricity we can use.??The Wistons were farmers. and the farmyard turned silver and sparkly from this distance. There were riots. a quick. There was a film of sweat on her face and neck.?? she said. three years ago. He hadn??t seen her for weeks. every muscle seemed to ache at once. are you going to pull yourself together? You just giving up??? He didn??t wait for a reply. Why prolong it? The price is too high for adding a year or two. God help us all if anyone ever lays an ax to it. Lucy had fussed over him. He could feel her tears as they fell onto his cheek.??David. who whinnied softly at him now and again.??There??s more drought and more flooding than there??s ever been. too many people. No sign of Celia.

 kept her from moving ahead again. They learned amazingly well from one another. Zelda had a miscarriage the following week. David??s father owned a large department store that catered to the upper-middle-class clientele of the valley. smeary??they were going to cry. her voice came from behind him.?? he said. I promise I??ll come.?? Walt went on.??For now. I??ll talk to Semple; I??ve met him a few times. and looting had turned the cities into battle mounds.Long after Celia fell asleep he stared into the blackness. They could clone up to four hundred animals at a time. that??s what! And we??re getting ready for it! I??m getting ready for it! We??ve got the land and we??ve got the men to farm it. When David had gone to talk to Selnick about the equipment. and he was getting angrier and angrier. seeds. He knew he didn??t want to enter because D-l or D-2 would be there working.The next day the people worked to get everything up to high ground. his hands clenching. Sarah thinks his back is broken. as if to catch any stray bit of sunlight that penetrated the high canopy. all slept there on cots. where she could at least put her head back and rest.??They might organize. we will have our own babies developed the same way. your family!??Molly felt her cheeks burn with pleasure as she made her way through the crowd. he reminded himself harshly.

??I can. then close the door. Was Walt afraid a matriarchy of some sort would develop? It could. you and me. After that we prepare the nursery for a hell of a lot of preemies. it was well hidden. ??You giving up your practice to go into research??? he asked Walt. better than they had in the early days. and they looked the way spring calves always had looked: thin legs. ??Have you got around that??? He wanted to end this conversation. I think it??s time you told me.??Me too. They would be all right when they had the babies. and left once more. a suite. worse than the outbreak of 1917-1918. ??They left Clarence. Under the susurrous trees. but there was a feeling. and she was tanned to a permanent old-leather color. growing. sweet-potato sticks glazed with honey. Walt for support and finding none. No one protested. too dead. hoping the rushing water of the creek would mask any sound he might make. fighting right down the line. held her and kissed her tears. to the coast.

 And Walt nodded thoughtfully. Two more girls were pregnant; one of them was a Five. .??Two days later she left. and Miri caressed her back and rubbed her shoulders. The scenario was the same. waiting for her to release his arm. One of the girls you call Celia has conceived. and they aren??t trying. C-l . Okay. Walt be damned. picnic tables and benches. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. from nearer the river; they were carrying baskets of berries.It had been a mistake. and within an hour you will be sound asleep. trimmed of all excess with only the essentials needed to carry on the fight remaining. and he could hear them running up the stairs.Several of the elders were still in the waiting room when David went there. ??Why change the plan and tell them now. No one had time to go get them. And the estate was in cash. were two years younger than the Fours. ??Higher organisms must reproduce sexually or die out. ??And the methods. The insect had settled on a leaf. but probably they kept his ankles warm. Within the tanks.

 The white oak tree that was his friend was the same. Let them carry it now if they want to. Information we all need. And they would turn their collective mind to one of the other offspring. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke. The fetuses were developing.David and Celia left the meeting early. Never again. We have to bring them out and treat them like preemies.?? he said drily.??Better take off the coat now. elders. That was a mile from the farm.Celia started to work in the laboratory one week after her arrival at the farm. he should be tired. They all met his gaze without flinching. He talked of their boyhood. you know.?? W-l said. Galveston.?? David said. if he died. In response to his questions his mother admitted that no one had heard from her. David.??With much laughter the travelers were gathered up by their brothers and sisters. ??Look. And he remembered what he read. I was in Colombia for a while. damn it.

 then walked away. Just walked away and left him. Nineteen of us. He stopped once to look at a maple seedling sheltered among the pines. he seemed to imply. and the stuff that??s been delivered already. Uncle Clarence dipped his biscuits in his gravy. Eleven able-bodied men.?? David glanced at Clarence. a dull reflection of the dull sky. all of us???He thought. Some abnormalities were present.??You??ll be a great man when you publish. Senile or crazy. turn off the light. taking his time. He sat at his window until it was dawn. But C-3 had been different. David. ??A hospital??? He looked at his uncle Walt. ??What can I do?????It??s his back. and by far the prettiest of all his cousins. ??Grandfather Wiston brought me up here. her ribs seemed to be straining against her skin. W-l sent for David. then with her bare hand. Not ten years from now. Or maybe they didn??t have to wait anywhere. He was breeding each clone generation sexually.

 He should turn back. . No fields had been worked yet.?? David grinned at his uncle suddenly. feeling hot suddenly. and now he wanted nothing more than to sleep. ??has twenty-five percent potency. I signed a contract. . he learned the complex relationships that he merely accepted as a child.?? David grinned at his uncle suddenly. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor. A3. but hesitated. ??I??ll operate.??David made no motion but continued to stare at the sullen sky. and still more harshly he said. She was so thin and so pale. and finally found himself in his room. ??You were right about them. the force that should have propelled David from the room was not there. And no one has done any real research in tropical farming methods. no more than that. The days had a balminess that had been missing since September; the air was soft and smelled of wet woods and fertile earth.??Not yet. ??You??ll see. and two of that number terminally ill. leaving the other free to test the windows. Four died in the first hour.

 The little Miriam sisters were quiet now. I??ll . In every room except the one where the human clones were being grown. She was very pale. and none of the nonessentials.??I don??t even know what they??re doing in the lab anymore. ??I keep forgetting. the seeds will do well. Every time he looked down at the tiny. because as children they had been as close as brother and sister. hereditary defects. you do read the newspapers.??Who are those people down there?????Squatters. heaving roots of the trees were clothed in velvet emerald plants.??Me too. And he remembered what he read. and slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed.David approached the mill cautiously. and that same confidence came through with the words. it was like an apparition. playing their own games that appeared governed by random rules. of giving.?? A dozen men volunteered to stand guard at the mill. just once. They tore the clothes off each other. The rain is washing away the radioactivity.Several of the elders were still in the waiting room when David went there. On New Year??s Day. A new religion might come about.