The Clone by Theodore L. Thomas & Kate Wilhelm

Author:Theodore L. Thomas & Kate Wilhelm [Thomas, Theodore L. & Wilhelm, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci Fi & Fantasy
Publisher: Berkley Medallion
Published: 1965-12-07T00:00:00+00:00

In a shed at the northeast corner of the stockyards, near the corner of Pershing and Halstead, there was a large drain in the center of the concrete floor. This was about five miles from the collector box in which the clone had been born. A tendril of clone tissue spurted up from that drain.

The shed adjoined a pen. In the pen was a herd of beef cattle, placid Herefords, sleek and fat from a summer’s grazing.

The tendril struck the ceiling, thick with grime and rich with dusted manure. The clone quickly began to spread, and when it had covered the ceiling, it dropped a streamer to the floor, two feet from the nearest Hereford. The animal looked at the swaying strand incuriously, then turned its head away.

The clone spread out on the floor, finding nutrients there, until it finally came into contact with the left rear hoof of the animal. The hoof was mostly keratin, a scleroprotein containing a fair amount of nitrogen; the clone swiftly engulfed it. The animal felt no sensation until so much of its leg had been converted that its hindquarter began to sag. It shifted its position restlessly, but could not find support for its left hind leg. When it tried to walk away, its hindquarters collapsed. It struggled to regain its balance, but could not. It sat, its forelegs stiff, but since it felt no sensation at all, it did not panic; it submitted to the gentle restraint. In another minute, only its forequarters remained, and they were slowly settling into a spreading mud puddle. The head hung limp and fell to the mat of pulsing tissue beneath it. Then the clone began expanding.

It reached the hooves of nearby cattle and began converting four animals at once. One of these tried to walk away when the clone was halfway up a front leg. The animal started to fall, but recovered. It dropped its head and peered at the mat of tissue beneath it. It was a nervous animal; it became uneasy and made another effort to move away. This time the restraint made it panic, and it lunged, drawing the clone out to an inch-thick strand before the tension of the clone tissue dragged it to an abrupt halt. The steer thrashed around, bawling madly; the rest of the herd in the pen began milling and snorting. Several animals on the outside of the restless herd turned and ran along the inside of the fence that confined them. They ran right through the original mat of tissue that had dropped from the ceiling. They fell when the clone caught their feet. The bawling this time set herds in nearby pens in motion.

There were other drains throughout the stockyards; the clone came out of them too. Uneasiness among the animals spread slowly, but with increasing intensity. The sheep barns and pens were a shambles. The animals bleated and tried to leap the fences. They climbed on each others’ backs in an effort to get out.

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