Exiled from Earth e-1

by Ben Bova

  Lou felt anger rising up inside him. “Just like that, huh? Somebody’s messing up the computer and I get blamed. What happens now, do you shoot me?”

  “No, nothing so dramatic,” Marcus answered. In a voice that sounded genuinely concerned, he said, “You know, I really think you’re more worried about that gorilla than about your own skin.”

  “Yeah. I’m a gorilla freak.”

  Shaking his head like a patient father, Marcus said, “All right, play it tough if you want. But listen to this, and get it straight. We’re going to overthrow the world government. Never mind who ‘we’ consists of. There are some very important people in our group. We’re playing for the highest stakes there are, and we don’t intend to let you or anyone else stand in our way.”

  “Is that why you’ve got Kori making bombs?”

  “Of course. Did you ever hear of a government that allowed itself to be pushed out of power without a fight? We’re developing three weapons here on this island: nuclear bombs, the cortical suppressor, and genetic engineering.”

  Lou said, “So you can blow up your enemies, turn the survivors into morons, and then—after you’ve taken over—you can control everyone’s children.”

  “That’s not one hundred percent right, but it’s pretty close.”

  “It doesn’t sound like a very happy world that you’re aiming to set up.”

  “Oh no? And what kind of a world do we have now? The government’s letting the cities fester worse and worse, more and more barbarians being born and pushing out into the civilized parts of the world. How long do you think it’ll be before we see something like a plague of rats sweeping across the whole world? Two-legged rats, from New York and Rio and Tokyo and Calcutta and Rome…every big city in the world!”

  “And your answer is to bomb them out or turn them into zombies.”

  “If we have to,” Marcus said, in the same tone he would use to offer a drink. “The bombs are really for fighting the government troops. Once we’ve taken over, we’ll have other means of handling the barbarians—including the suppressors.”

  Lou shook his head.

  “I wish I could get through to you,” Marcus insisted. “What’s this government done for you? Put you in exile, you and all your friends. When we take over, you can go back to living normal, useful lives.”

  “Useful to whom?”

  With great earnestness, Marcus said, “Listen to reason, will you? You and the other scientists will be among the top people in the new society. Your children will get the best genetic care that you yourselves can provide.”

  “Until somebody decides he doesn’t like what we’re doing, or what we’re thinking,” Lou answered. “This government’s slapped us in exile— your friends might not be so lenient.”

  Marcus sank back in his chair, as if baffled. “I don’t have the time to argue with you. We’re going ahead, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us. If you don’t stop tinkering with our biochemistry project, you’re going to get hurt.”

  “No I’m not,” Lou flashed back. “You need me to make the genetic engineering a success, remember? And that’s where the real jackpot is. Because you might be able to surprise the government and knock it off, you might be able to take over the whole world … but without genetic engineering, you’ll never be able to control the world. I’m beginning to see how your minds work, and I know why genetic engineering is so important to you. You want to control everybody, don’t you? Make your own children supermen, and everybody else’s their slaves. Right?”

  Marcus shook his head. “Not exactly. You make it sound …”

  “Rotten. Filthy and rotten. And that’s what it is. But you need it, and that means you need me. I’m the key man, you told me so yourself.”

  “There are others--”

  “Then why’d you yank me out of exile? Because it’d take anybody else at least a year to catch up to where I am. I understand the whole genetic engineering problem, and there’s plenty of it tucked away in my head, not in any computer banks or notebooks. So don’t try to threaten me, unless you want to wait a year or more for the ability to control the next generation of children.”

  Marcus leaned back in his chair with a more-in-sorrow-than-anger look on his bland face. Shaking his head wearily, he said, “You still don’t realize what you’re up against, do you? Why do you think we went to the trouble of finding that blonde girl friend of yours and bringing her here? We don’t have to threaten you. If you’re worried about what we’re going to do to your precious gorilla, try to imagine what could happen to the girl. Things could get very unpleasant for her. Very unpleasant.”

  Lou gripped the arms of his chair hard enough to make his hands hurt. He was fighting an instinct to spring at Marcus and smash his bland, evil face.

  “Just try to control yourself and do as you’re told,” Marcus went on. “If you can behave, everything will be fine for you. But if you keep working against me … the girl will suffer for it.”

  “If you hurt her I’ll kill you.” Lou was almost surprised to hear himself say it, to hear the cold flat metallic ring of his own voice.

  Marcus’ expression didn’t change. “Christopher, we shouldn’t be threatening each other. Just do your work and neither you nor anyone else will get hurt. That’s all we’re asking from you. As for the gorilla, it’ll probably be happier at its natural intelligence level that it is now.”

  The greatest excuse in the world, Lou thought. They’ll be happier doing what I want them to do instead of what they themselves want to do.

  Without saying another word, Lou got up and started for the door.

  “Wait a minute,” Marcus called. “You haven’t said …”

  Lou turned. “You’ve got all the answers you need. There’s no way for me to stop you.”

  Trembling with rage, he left the office, walked past the guard lounging outside the door, went out of the house, ignored the car still parked in front with its driver, and walked back toward the dormitory.

  As he passed the lab complex, Kori came running up to him.

  “Lou, I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

  Lou didn’t answer.

  “I’ve figured it out!” Kori whispered excitedly as he pulled up beside Lou. “How to get the government troops here. And quickly! Inside a few days!”

  Lou shook his head. “It’ll be too late.”

  16

  Kori grabbed his arm and stopped him. “No, I’m serious. We can do it!”

  Lou said, “In a few days they’ll have ruined Big George, maybe killed him. And if we try to stop them, they’ll take it out on Bonnie.”

  “What?”

  “That’s what Marcus just told me. If he doesn’t like the way we behave, Bonnie’ll suffer for it.”

  “But he can’t…”

  “Yes he can. And he will. I bet he’d even enjoy it.”

  Kori’s face turned as red as the setting sun. “That pudding-faced pipsqueak. I’ll…”

  Now Lou took Kori’s arm. “Hold on. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

  He felt Kori’s surge of anger fade away, saw his face return to normal, except for a sullen smoldering in his eyes.

  “What do we do now?” Kori asked.

  “I don’t know,” said Lou. “What was your scheme all about? How can you signal for government troops?”

  “Oh that— With the navigation satellites.”

  “Navigation satellites? How…”

  “They have sensors on them to detect nuclear explosions.”

  “They what?”

  Kori started walking toward the dorm again, and Lou trudged along beside him. “It’s a holdover from the old days, before the world government disarmed all the nations,” Kori explained. “All the navigation satellites have a special array of sensors to watch out for nuclear explosions. If anybody sets off a bomb on the Earth’s surface, in the atmosphere, or even in space, the government is alerted instantly Inside of a few hours, there’s an inspecti
on team at the site of the explosion to find out what’s going on. An aitried inspection team With troops ready to follow at an instant’s notice.”

  “But nobody’s set off a bomb for…”

  “I know, but the government still has the teams, and they even hold practice drills. I was an advisor to a group of new recruits two years ago.”

  Lou chuckled. “I guess once a government agency gets a job to do they keep on doing it, whether it’s needed or not.”

  “Don’t complain,” Ron said “Now then, the bombs I’ve been making are stored in caves at the far end of the island. If one of them went off, and a satellite spotted the blast, there would be an inspection team here in a matter of hours.”

  “Can you set them off?”

  “Them?” Kori laughed “One will be enough. If they all go off they’ll wipe out this entire island. Do you know how much destructive force even a single kiloton contains?”

  When they got to the dormitory, Lou sent Kori up to get Bonnie. He didn’t want to talk inside of any building. Too easy to plant electronic bugs indoors. As he stood by the dormitory entrance, Lou got the feeling he was being watched. Nerves, he told himself. But he knew that if he were in Marcus’ place, he’d have guards out watching the troublemakers. And we’re going to make enough trouble to slide this island into the sea, if we have to, Lou thought unsmilingly.

  They ate a quick dinner in the cafeteria and then walked out to the beach. Walking ankle-deep through the warm-lapping waves with the surf booming on the reef a kilometer out, they talked over their plans as the dying red sun stretched their shadows fantastically before them.

  “I’ll need at least two days to round up the proper equipment,” Kori was saying.

  “Make it one day,” Lou answered over the roar of the surf. “Big George doesn’t have two days to spare.”

  Kori glanced at Bonnie, then looked at Lou. “We want to do this right. If we rush, something might…”

  “One day,” Lou said flatly.

  Shrugging, Kori agreed “All right. One day.”

  “Where can we plant the bomb without setting off all the others?” Bonnie asked.

  “That’s why I wanted the extra day,” Kori said, “to find the best location. Probably the best thing to do is to bury it in the beach sand across the island from the storage caves. That ought to be safe enough.”

  “Will it make a big enough explosion for a satellite to see if you bury it?” Lou asked.

  Kori laughed. “Have no fear. A few feet of sand isn’t going to smother one of my toys.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll need two things,” Kori said, more seriously “A car to carry equipment and everything, and a diversion so I can get into the storage caves and do what I must do without being stopped by the guards.”

  “What about the guards at the caves?” Lou asked.

  “There’s usually only one. I think I can handle him easily enough.”

  “You’re sure?”

  Kori drew himself up to full height. He towered several inches over Lou, but he still looked spindly. “My friend, I was a national fencing champion five years ago. I still keep in good shape. Besides that, I’m sneaky. I’ll ask the guard to help me carry some equipment and then hit him when his hands are full and his back turned.”

  Laughing, Bonnie said, “My hero.”

  “Never mind,” Lou said “Heroics are exactly what we don’t need. We need good, sneaky, practical action that works. I don’t want to win any moral victory, we’ll all end up dead that way.”

  Kori nodded.

  “Okay,” Lou continued, “so you need a car and a diversion. We’ll figure that out, shouldn’t be too tough a problem. But the big question is, how do we protect Bonnie?”

  “She’s got to disappear,” Kori said.

  “Great How do we do it?”

  Silence.

  They walked slowly under the purpling sky. A surge of sea curled around their ankles, then ebbed away. A lone gull glided low over the waves, calling sadly as if looking for long-vanished friends.

  Finally Bonnie said, “Big George! I could stay in his compound for a day or so. There are plenty of trees and bushes to hide in and the guards never go in there.”

  “With the gorilla?” It was too dark to see Kori’s face, but his voice sounded aghast.

  “We’re friends,” Bonnie said. “We’ve known each other since George was born.”

  “He wouldn’t hurt her,” Lou agreed. “Or anybody else, for that matter. Trouble is, he’d want you to play with him. You wouldn’t be able to stay hidden. He’d give you away.”

  “No, not if I explained it to him.”

  Kori shook his head. “I know you think a lot of that animal, and his intelligence has been boosted. But I wouldn’t plan to stay inside that fence with him for ten minutes, let alone twelve hours or more.”

  “Oh, you’ve seen too many movies,” Bonnie said. “George wouldn’t hurt anybody.”

  They went on talking, planning, arguing until- it was completely dark. The stars filled the night and the shimmering band of the Milky Way arched across the sky, bright and beckoning.

  “Look up there!” Kori said.

  In the darkness they could see his shadowy outline pointing skyward. Looking up, Lou saw one star moving silently, purposefully through the heavens, as if it had detached itself from its normal position to carry out some mission.

  “Is that one of the satellites?” Bonnie’s voice floated through the dark against the basso background of the surf.

  Kori glanced at his luminescent wristwatch. “Yes. And right on schedule.”

  “Thank God,” said Lou.

  Lou didn’t sleep much that night, and the next day at the computer building he hardly paid any attention to his work. He went through the motions, but his mind was racing, thinking about all that had to be done that night. Get the car for Kori, get Bonnie into hiding, create a diversion that will draw off the guards long enough for Kori to work unnoticed.

  Toward the end of the afternoon, Lou couldn’t stay cooped up in the control room any longer. He stepped outside and took a deep breath of warm, salt-smelling air.

  Then the quiet afternoon was shattered by the tortured scream of an animal. A scream of rage and pain and fear.

  “George!”

  17

  Lou ran to the gorilla’s compound He got there in time to see two of the biochemists carrying a third through the gate. Big George was nowhere in sight. A half-dozen guards were clustered around the gate and more were arriving on the run, guns drawn.

  “What happened?” Lou shouted.

  They ignored him. A pair of guards took the unconscious biochemist from his co-workers. His face was bloody and one arm was hanging at a weird angle.

  Lou grabbed one of the sweating biochemists.

  “What happened? What did you do?”

  The little Oriental looked up at Lou with fear and anger in his eyes. In a nasal, heavily-accented English he said, “Ape got frightened by injections. Anesthetic wore off Restraints not strong enough. Ape broke loose, knocked down Dr Kusawa, ran back into trees.”

  “Injections?” Lou demanded “The suppressors?”

  The biochemist nodded, pulled his arm out of Lou’s grasp and tottered away, following the guards who were carrying his boss.

  Lou went to the gate.

  One of the guards started shaking his head and motioning Lou away. “No. Danger. Keep away.”

  “Let me in there. He won’t hurt me. He’s scared and hurt.”

  The guards were clustered around the gate, which was now firmly locked. Most of them were peering into the trees and brush. Big George was not in sight The other guards were watching Lou.

  “Danger,” said the one guard to Lou “Go away.”

  Slowly, reluctantly, Lou walked away.

  At dinner that night, Kori shook his head “That makes everything different. Bonnie can’t stay in there with him now.”

  “Sure I can,”
Bonnie said “George will be all right by now, and the guards will never dream of searching his compound. It’s a better hiding place than ever, now.”

  “No,” said Lou “There’s no way of telling what those injections did to him. It’s too risky.”

  They sat at their table in the cafeteria, leaning forward in a tight little huddle, ignoring their cooling dinner trays, oblivious of the fact that many eyes were watching them in the busy, noisy cafeteria.

  Bonnie insisted that George was all right. “Let’s go down to his compound and talk to him. Then we’ll see for sure,” she suggested.

  Lou nodded agreement. Kori simply looked worried.

  They walked down to the gorilla’s compound, but stayed away from the gate where the guards stood watch. They moved up onto the slope of the hill to a spot close to the trees inside the compound.

  “Georgy,” Lou called out softly “Georgy, it’s me. Uncle Lou.”

  A snuffling grunt, and from the shadows in among the trees a pair of baleful eyes suddenly gleamed out at them. Despite himself, Lou shuddered. Those eyes were glaring like a jungle beast’s.

  He forced his voice to stay calm “Georgy, it’s all right. It’s me, Uncle Lou. And Bonnie is here, too. And another friend.”

  A growl.

  Lou turned to Kori “Maybe it’s a good idea for you to go away, Anton. George must be scared out of his wits of strangers right now.”

  “He doesn’t sound scared.”

  “He is.”

  Stubbornly, Kori said, “But I want to see the gorilla’s reactions for myself. I don’t want you two make any mistakes about this.”

  “Shove it!” Lou snapped, keeping his voice down to avoid frightening Big George. “You think you’re the only one with brains? I’m not going to let Bonnie take any chances.”

  “Stop arguing,” Bonnie said. To Kori she added, “He won’t come out as long as you’re here.”

  Kori left, muttering to himself. After another ten minutes of coaxing and soothing, Big George lumbered out of the trees and up to the fence.

  “George,” Lou said, gripping the fine wire mesh of the fence. “Are you okay?”