Beyond that, the unknown.
CHAPTER 13
THAT WHICH IS LEFT BEHIND
The chamber was like a king’s court. Metal walls and columns rose majestically into infinity, disappearing into the abyss of upper levels that were too far up and too dark to see. The floor was polished marble, smooth and veined with silver.
The bots continued in procession down the center of the room, between rows of columns and toward a raised dais replete with a modern throne bathed in a warm bright light. Pulling him to the foot of the steps, the robot holding him let go. Small compartments on the automatons’ lower torsos began to cycle open. Taylor struggled to his feet, expecting a fight. As they lined themselves up on either side of the approach to the throne, the machine carrying his rifle tossed it at his feet.
He scooped it up, but before he could cock it the last two bots joined the formation before the throne. Tiny struts emerged at the bottom of each machine, and with a repetitious sequence of thuds they all lowered to the floor. Their lights went out and their humming ceased. After a moment, he went to the nearest bot and rapped his rifle on its metal shell. The resulting sound echoed softly.
Nothing.
They were all dead. Taylor was alone with echoes.
Tentatively, he climbed the steps to the dais and approached the throne. It was…
…small.
At first he thought it was a matter of perspective. As he came nearer, however, it became clear that it had been crafted for someone about four feet in height. Its design was more technical than ornate, and reminded him of a high-backed version of the command chair on that science fiction television show his ex-wife used to watch. Sure enough, its armrests contained a variety of knobs and switches which Taylor could only assume connected the seat’s occupant with the inner workings of the gleaming city.
“Hello?” Taylor’s voice reverberated far above.
“Over here,” a small voice reflected, and he jumped with surprise. It was that of a woman or a child, higher pitched than a man’s and full of wonder. It came from a ten-foot-tall window behind the throne. There, silhouetted against the deep blue night, was a boy.
“Beautiful, is it not?” The boy indicated the faintly luminous sky.
Taylor approached the child with caution, not sure what to expect. Clad in a gray-white padded jumpsuit, his hands clasped behind his back, the boy made no moves, and instead continued to stare out the window.
It was the window Taylor had seen from the bridge.
“My name is Messias,” the child said. “What is yours?”
Shouldering his rifle, Taylor moved to stand next to him. It was only then that the astronaut got a look at the boy’s face. His forehead was pronounced, his mouth a muzzle—not unlike a chimpanzee. His hair was a dark swept-back mane, framing his face like those of the apes Taylor had encountered in this mad future. The child’s nose, cheeks, and eyes, however, were very human. This “Messias” was unlike any child Taylor had ever seen, human or ape.
Instead, he was both.
Taylor stared.
“You can talk, can you not?” Messias asked. “I heard you say hello. You are not like the other humans, are you?”
“No.” Taylor blinked. “Yeah, I can talk. My name is Taylor.”
“Taylor.” Messias smiled. “I am happy you are here.”
No contractions, Taylor noticed. Everything is “I am” and “you are.”
Taylor looked him over again. “Are you—?”
“I am a hybrid. Part human, part ape. All my people are.” He hung his head and corrected himself. “Were. Ever since the attacks, I have been lonely.”
Attacks? Taylor glanced around the chamber again, then crouched down before Messias. “You’re all alone here?”
“It is just me and the sentinels,” Messias said. “The entire population of the city was killed in the last attack. The sentinels have searched the complex for survivors and have been unable to find anyone.” Without preamble, Messias’s mood shifted as he suddenly smiled. “But they found you!”
“I was… in the neighborhood,” Taylor frowned. “What about these attacks?”
“The things that live out there.” The boy stabbed at the desert night. “Hideous creatures. Savage. They came for us. The sentinels keep them at bay, but they still attack. They still…” A tear threatened to escape Messias’s eye. Instead, the hybrid child hugged Taylor, hard. Incredulous, the astronaut took a moment before he returned the embrace.
There must be other survivors in here, and he just hasn’t found them, he rationalized. Have to be.
Messias wouldn’t let go.
“Alright, alright.” He patted the boy’s back. His mind was full of questions. Is this what Zaius meant by mutants? Are the humans and the apes out there different stages of primitive throwbacks, and this is what inherited the world?
Is this what evolution wants?
Taylor shook his head. Philosophy would have to wait. There were more immediate factors at play. Whatever the things were that had attacked the city and killed the boy’s people—whether they were apes or something else—there had to be a way to stop them. He looked past Messias, to the dormant robot army.
All this technology, he determined, there has to be a way. He would find it. If he could find a way to protect the city and get Nova back, they could live a decent life here. Start civilization over.
“It’s going to be alright.”
* * *
“You know, my dear,” Cornelius said between puffs on his pipe, “the trouble with intellectuals is that we have responsibilities and no power.”
Following the meeting of the Citizens’ Council, the two chimpanzee scientists had returned home. As Zira owned the nicer apartment, Cornelius had moved in. Most of his belongings were still in his old place, waiting to be crated up and brought over, but he didn’t want to deal with any of that right now—all he wanted to do was put his feet up and rest with a good pipe full of tea leaves.
Zira was preparing for a small get-together of friends—a modest celebration of their nuptials. Despite everything that was happening, they needed the semblance of a normal life. The loss of Lucius had taught them to treasure every moment.
“I think I’ll make chocolate icing,” she said. “Do you like chocolate?”
“What, dear?” Cornelius’s mind was still on politics.
“No, you don’t,” Zira said, “but I do.”
He continued as if she hadn’t spoken.
“If we had power in our hands, we’d be worse than them.”
“I don’t agree,” Zira argued as she rummaged for a mixing bowl. “Gorillas are cruel because they’re stupid… all bone and no brains.”
“Zira…” He peered around nervously. “I wish you wouldn’t talk like that. Somebody is liable to hear you.” As if on cue, a human woman stepped out of the pantry, causing him to jump. She had long raven hair, a tattered loincloth, and big doe eyes.
“Nova!” Zira exclaimed. “What are you doing here?” Then her eyes went wide as a blond-haired man in strange clothes slipped from the curtain behind Nova. His attire was similar to what Nova’s companion had been wearing when he first came to the Animal Research Complex.
“Taylor?” Zira said.
“No, not Taylor,” the man replied.
This is it, the astronaut resigned himself. I’m talking to apes. I’ve literally lost my mind.
“My name’s Brent,” he added.
“You talked!” The ape with the pipe sounded suspicious. “That’s impossible.”
The female spoke. “In a whole lifetime devoted to the scientific study of humans, I’ve only found one other like you who could talk.”
“Taylor,” Brent said. At his words, the chimpanzees grew excited.
“Is he alive?” the male asked. “Have you seen him?”
“Where?” the female—Zira—demanded. “Where? Tell us.”
“Where?” Brent echoed. “Where? I don’t know where. I’m trying to find him. The l
onger I stay, the less I care.”
“Oh, now, we loved Taylor,” the male protested. “He was a fine—a unique specimen. Why, if it had not been for Zira here, he… he would still be here, a stuffed specimen in the great hall of the Zaius Museum—with his two friends.”
“With his two friends?” A sinking feeling gripped Brent. When they didn’t answer, he knew what had occurred. “Well,” he continued, “I don’t plan to stay around here quite that long.” He wanted out, and he wanted out now.
“Look,” he said, fighting panic, “can you get me some food, some… some water, a map… a map, so at least I’ll have some idea where I’m heading?”
As he spoke, Zira stared at the bullet wound on his arm, and moved toward a cabinet.
“You’ll want that taken care of, too!” she declared.
“I’ll get the map.” The male moved toward another cabinet, rifled through some documents, and pulled one out. “Now, if you will look up here, ah, yes, toward the north. This was the last place that we saw Taylor.”
Zira applied the ointment, and Brent recoiled from the sting.
“What is that damn stuff?”
“You wouldn’t know if I told you.” The chimpanzee dismissed him. “Just relax. Among other things, I’m a trained vet.”
It took a moment for the implication to sink in.
“Oh, great.” Deciding not to go down that road, he turned his attention back to Zira’s mate. “Go on, go on.”
“Taylor was riding with Nova here,” the male said, pointing, “between the lake and the sea. Yes… they were heading deep into the territory we call—”
“Yes, I know. The Forbidden Zone.”
“Who told you that?”
“Your glorious leader back there,” Brent mocked.
Before either of the chimps could respond, there was a knock at the door. Zira and her husband gestured quickly, and both Brent and Nova scrambled for cover in the kitchen.
“Quick!” she said. “Cornelius, open the door.”
Sounding nervous, he trotted to the foyer. “Put the things away!”
“Open it!” Zira commanded.
* * *
For all intents and purposes, Ursus was now Simia’s supreme commander. Unless the general actually dissolved the government, however, he still needed to look good in their eyes.
First, he would need a military victory or two to cement his new position. Zaius gambled that it was too soon for Ursus to make any such move.
Ursus was indeed a pious ape, although this had not always been true. Zaius had known him for decades, and had seen the change come over him. In his rebellious and ambitious youth, Ursus had held no qualms about the taking of an ape’s life.
Blasphemous.
Then had come an incident with his former commander, General Aleron. After that, Ursus had gone into the Forbidden Zone for many days and nights. When he emerged, he was… changed.
Ursus took up the scrolls, devoting much of his time to studies. It had served him well, and his example helped spread the teachings of the Lawgiver among all of the gorillas. His change had been so complete that some accused him of being an imposter, but Zaius knew better. Ursus had been lost in the butchery of war and found solace in God, the Lawgiver, and the Unknown Ape—it was as simple as that.
This made him dangerous, as well. With Sabian at his side and the president relinquishing his power for the duration, Ursus had both religion and force at his fingertips. Zaius knew he must tread lightly, and his charges, Cornelius and Zira, would need to do likewise.
He rapped loudly at their door. Immediately he heard a commotion inside, and frowned. After a moment, the door swung open.
“Dr. Zaius, how nice,” a flustered Cornelius said. “We were just about to have something to eat.”
“Not until I talk some sense into your headstrong wife,” Zaius growled. “Where is she?”
Zira emerged from the kitchen. “Good day, Dr. Zaius.” She was holding a bandage cloth to the side of her face.
“Has there been an accident?” Zaius asked. When she hesitated, he suspected he knew the answer, but let her respond.
“Cornelius hit me for my bad behavior at the meeting,” she mewed.
Zaius hadn’t known the chimp archeologist could be so volatile. Cornelius had minored in psychology at the academy, and he thought the young ape would have been more aware of himself than to give in to fits of anger.
For his own part, Cornelius was agape.
Did he really expect his wife to keep quiet about it? Zaius thought. Is it possible for Zira to keep quiet about anything?
“I don’t blame him,” he said. Another pause, then she replied.
“I don’t resent it,” she offered, “but his nails need clipping.”
“Enough of this nonsense,” Zaius said firmly. They have to see reason. “Are you so blind—you two psychologists—that you’re unaware that we’re on the verge of a grave crisis? You heard the Ursus speech.”
“Militaristic tripe!” Zira spat.
“Zira!” Cornelius admonished.
“Perhaps,” Zaius conceded. “But now he has the incident he requires to go on a rampage of conquest.”
“But that is appalling!” Zira cried. “To remain silent while this bully Ursus is permitted to… to destroy everything in his path is no longer possible.”
She persists in being infuriating, Zaius reflected. “As Minister of Science,” he said, “it’s my duty to find out whether some other form of life exists.”
Cornelius’s interest was piqued. “Where are you going?”
“Into the Forbidden Zone,” Zaius said, “with Ursus.”
“Another manhunt, Doctor?” Zira shot.
Zaius glared at her. “Someone or something has outwitted the intelligence of the gorillas.”
Zira, however, was relentless. “That shouldn’t be difficult,” she added.
“Shh, Zira.” Cornelius tried in vain to get her under control.
“We apes have learned to live in innocence,” Zaius said. “Let no one, be it man or some other creature, dare to contaminate that innocence.”
Zira scoffed.
“Why is innocence so evil?” Zaius demanded.
“Ignorance is!” she replied.
“There’s a time for truth.”
“And the time is always now,” Zira said. “Are you asking me to surrender my principles?”
Cornelius sat quietly, wise enough to let his wife say her piece. She clearly wasn’t going to give up. Zaius appealed to them both.
“I am asking you to be the guardians of the higher principles of science during my absence. I am asking for a truce with your personal convictions, in an hour of public danger.”
“And you shall have it, Dr. Zaius,” Cornelius pledged before Zira could reply, “or I shall hit her again.”
“Let us have no violence, Cornelius.” While Zaius could understand the occasional heated moment, he would not condone such repeated behavior. Even in Zira’s case, he mused. “Now,” he reminded them as he headed toward the door, “I’m relying on you both.”
“We are counting on you, too, Doctor,” Zira countered.
Zaius stopped in the doorway. The stakes were high, and he was astonished at how quickly he had come to consider the two of them friends. The apostates were now the only ones he could trust. The irony was not lost on him.
“If I should fail to return from the unknown, the whole future of our civilization may be yours to preserve or destroy,” he said quietly, “so think well before you act.”
“Goodbye, Dr. Zaius, and good luck.” Cornelius closed the door behind him.
Zaius stepped out into the street and paused to take in the sun. The sky was blue, the trees green. The lake shimmered with the midday sun, and the birds sang.
There would be no more work for him today. In an hour’s time Aurelios would arrive at his dwelling with the wagon that would take him to the provinces. There, he would spend a couple of days with his
family before heading off with Ursus and the army into the unknown.
How could anyone have a problem on a day like this? he pondered. With a heavy sigh, he made his way home.
* * *
“Let me finish this up and get you out of here!”
“Yeah, get me out of here, please!” Brent concurred. With a flourish, Zira bandaged the man’s wounded arm. They had been lucky that Zaius was too preoccupied to be suspicious. Now they had to rush the two humans out before the doctor thought twice about what he had just witnessed, and came back asking questions.
“I’ve seen the delicate, humane way they treat humans here,” Brent added. “I don’t much care for it.”
“Have you a horse?” Zira inquired.
“Yeah, out in the scrub.”
“I’d better get you another set of clothes—the kind fit for humans like yourself.” She stopped and looked him over. Brent was a little clean-cut, but at least he hadn’t shaved his beard like Taylor had. “You’ll pass.” A glint caught her eye—Brent wore metal tags around his neck. That simply would not do. “Get rid of this!”
Then Zira noticed that Nova wore similar jewelry. She rattled them in disgust.
“And this, too!”
“If you are caught by the gorillas,” Cornelius said, “you must remember one thing.”
“What’s that?” the human—Brent—asked.
“Never to speak.”
Brent scoffed. “What the hell would I have to say to a gorilla?”
“But you don’t understand—only apes can speak.” Cornelius was earnest. “Not her, and not you. If they catch you speaking, they will dissect you, and they will kill you.” He paused for effect. “In that order.”
“Cornelius is right—be very careful,” Zira agreed. “And get out of these things you’re wearing as soon as you can.”
Brent frowned. “Thanks,” he said, but it didn’t sound sincere.
“Thank us by finding Taylor,” Zira suggested.
“Yeah,” Brent replied. “If he’s still alive.”
CHAPTER 14
THE ISOLATIONIST TRANSMOGRIFIED
Taylor lived. Better than that, he had showered. He’d had running hot water—and soap—for the first time in two thousand years. And he had slept the night in an actual bed. It was better than anything else this future had given him.
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