Battle For The Planet Of The Apes

by David Gerrold

  “Caesar, I must ask a favor. This armory has been my home for many, many years.”

  Caesar misunderstood. He put his hand on Mandemus’ shoulder. “You may live in it until the end of your days, old fellow. You have earned it.”

  “No, no!” insisted the wizened orangutan. “I don’t want to live in it! I want to be free! Now that the danger is over, I want to see this accursed storehouse and everything in it destroyed! Blown up!”

  “So do I,” said Caesar. “But we mustn’t. We can’t. The greatest danger of all is that the danger is never over. Mandemus, you must stay here and continue to be our conscience. If we are to be free, we must be responsible. Help us be responsible.”

  Mandemus sighed, “You will never understand, Caesar, will you? As long as there are weapons here, there will always be danger.”

  Caesar looked back at him. “No, you don’t understand. As long as there are weapons anywhere, there will be danger. This armory must stay here, always ready, always waiting.”

  “Waiting,” muttered Mandemus. “If a weapon is made, it will be used. Caesar,” he said, “I do not think we have won the war. The weapons have.” And with that, he turned and disappeared back among the cases and crates of death.

  Waiting. Like a distant bomb, with “Alpha-Omega” painted on its sides. Waiting. Like the woman, no longer mad, sitting, staring. Her hand on a console. On a button. Waiting.

  EPILOGUE

  Many years later, many centuries after the fact, a lawgiver stood on a hillside and taught a class.

  “We still wait, my children. The weapons still wait. The danger still exists. But each new generation is a renewal, a renewal of the promise that we can survive together. We must. Or none of us will survive at all."

  He closed his book softly. “The promise is yours to keep. Yours to pass on to your children for them to keep.” He looked over his class and smiled. “We have not done badly so far."

  The rapt faces of ape and human children stared back at him. Chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas, blacks, Orientals, and Caucasians. All together . . .

  Table of Contents

  CONTENTS

  BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES

  PROLOGUE

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  EPILOGUE