“Dr. Vamp asked me about you today,” said a young homo-chimp named Third. “He wanted to know if I respect you.”
“And what did you answer?”
“Oh, you know, ‘I speak bad, I am stupid-stupid homo-chimp,’ I said, ‘Leader is strong.’”
I grabbed a banana from Third – I suddenly realized how hungry I was.
“Is the girl pretty?” asked Second.
“None of your business,” I cut him off. “In the forest you’ll find even prettier ones.”
“The conference is starting,” said Barry. “We have to listen in.”
“They are discussing where to put the guests and arrange the banquet,” remarked Gitta.
“Maybe we should go anyway?” Barry inquired.
“I’ll go by myself,” I said, and climbed out the window. I used the grapevine to get up to the roof and then crawled along the roof to the conference rooms. All of our routes have been tried and proven by generations of homo-chimps. We still fall short of humans in intellectual power, but we never forgot how to climb trees, jump, and – most importantly – how to hide our thoughts and actions. The laws of the forest are stronger than the laws of the city, and two hundred years is not long enough for our blood and muscles to have forgotten about the past. I don’t know which one of us was the first to make it undetected to the windows of the conference room, but the homo-chimp who first understood that his mind had advanced to the point where he had to hide from humans what they themselves had created – he was a genius.
People surrounded us with instruments that elicit fear and distrust. People imagined that any flight of thought or flair of emotions would immediately be recorded on their self-recorders and bio-phones. They made a big mistake – they tried to remake us in their image. But nature turned out to be stronger. We understood this once we discovered that by trusting their instruments, people judged us wrongly. This great discovery was made before my appearance into the world.
From that time on, while subjected to instruments and cruel experiments, in which we were forced to eat, sleep, think, work, and procreate under their eyes, under their control – in all this time we have learned stealth. We are not second-rate people, we are a new race: homo-chimps!
I got to the room in which the conference was taking place, right on time. They had just turned to a discussion of my own humble personage. Formula had the floor.
“He’s becoming unbearable,” she spat. “And he is starting to have a bad influence on the other subjects.”
Ahh, I thought, how hard they try to avoid the word “animals.”
“Can you be more specific?” asked Dr. Vamp.
If you select the most positive “subjects” out of the human lot, then undoubtedly Dr. Vamp belongs to their ranks. Perhaps this is because he oversees the infirmary and occasionally takes a stand against the excessively cruel experiments. His job is only to heal, and he has a good touch.
“Today we received a new female,” said Formula.
The sweet image of the girl, pressed in fright against the leg of the giant from park services, once again rose before my eyes.
“I asked John to help me.”
“John does not seem particularly trustworthy to me,” commented Batya, the institute’s director.
“Why, he’s a very developed creature,” said Formula, “and he often helps us. The female was very scared. We probably would have been able to handle her just between the two of us, but then Leader jumped out of the bushes and threw himself at her. I think he wanted to fight over the little thing.”
Formula was close to tears. For God’s sake, I thought, what kind of monster does she take me for?
Then Skripnik, head of the physical plant, unexpectedly came to Formula’s defense.
“He’s becoming a wild beast,” said fat Skripnik. “Yesterday he got into the storage pantry and took half of our supplies. I don’t know how we are going to put on the banquet now.”
I smiled inwardly. Gitta and I had carried out that raid on the pantry with two of our youth. At least at first, we are going to need cans of condensed milk and other tinned goods. But we had to make it look like an act of vandalism, so as not to raise suspicion.
“It’s time to give him to a zoo,” said Formula. “Even if he is a mutant, he’s a regressive one. An ordinary monkey. A danger to the entire experiment.
“What do you think, Doctor?” asked the director.
“I have to refrain from drawing any conclusions,” said the Doctor. “According to my observations, Leader is a healthy individual and carries authority in the tribe.”
“Exactly – in the tribe. But we’re trying to create a society!” exclaimed Formula.
“What do you think?” This time the director turned to the chief of the experimental assessment laboratory, my main enemy, the one we had learned to lead by the nose by driving all real thoughts from our minds and thinking only about food.
“Level of intelligence is below average…” The assessment guru delved into his notes, extracting them from his pockets and laying them out on the table, whereby he mixed up my data with the data on other homo-chimps, eventually confusing things so badly that the director asked him to stop. Then he asked the opinion of the other specialists present. Everyone agreed. I am a troublemaker, I have a bad influence on the youth, and they should get rid of me.
On the one hand, hearing all of this was really gratifying, because it meant that I had successfully deceived everyone. On the other hand, it’s insulting to the sensibilities of any rational being to hear that they want to send you to a zoo.
“To sum things up,” said the director, “we will prepare Leader for departure. This should be done in strict secrecy. We will call the zoo in Sukhumi,2 since they have demand there. I think it will be best to do it today, late at night. Now, on to other matters. When is the flight with our guests due to arrive?
“Five-thirty in the afternoon,” said Skripnik. “The flyer is very large; we’ll park it on the reserve field.”
I knew about this flyer. It would arrive from Australia. The rest of the guests would fly in on smaller flyers. We needed the big one.
Well, that’s it. I could go now. I had found out two very important things.
First of all, there was no time to lose. If we didn’t carry out our plan this evening, then in the middle of the night these treacherous people would smuggle me off to a zoo. Secondly, the flyer we needed would be sitting on the reserve field from five-thirty on. What a stroke of luck! The field is surrounded by forest, so our approach to the flyer will be hidden by foliage.
I dropped back down into the garden.
I glanced at the pond, the playground, and our nice rooms with a touch of sadness. I’ll never see this world again, the world in which I grew up and became conscious of myself and my duty to my race.
Well, what of it? Everything comes to an end, as they say. Even fairytales have an ending.
They were waiting for me in the bedroom.
“We’re all set,” I said. “The flyer lands at five-thirty. It will be parked on the reserve field.”
This news was greeted with cries of joy.
I decided not to say anything about the decision to send me to the zoo. Ill-wishers – and there are several of them even in our small group – would call me an egoist who is only trying to save his own skin.
We watched the guests begin to arrive. Since it was already going on evening, and the jubilee celebration was not to take place until tomorrow, the guests were not yet supposed to meet any homo-chimps. Only that idiot Johnny, of course, sashayed around with the new arrivals, had his picture taken with them, and uttered banalities, which astounded them the way a parrot astounds us with “Polly want a cracker!”
Even before darkness fell, we carried part of our supplies from our forest hiding places closer to the flyer. We had no intention of turning into wild animals once we reached the Big Forest, on the shores of the Congo. We gathered together educational microfilms for th
e kids, recording devices, and all kinds of other equipment and instruments – in short, we were launching the great migration of a small nation. A nation that was tired of serving as another’s guinea pig. A nation that had found its leader in me.
In the evening, they turned on the lights in the garden. The news guests gathered under the apple trees. Skripnik set out appetizers on long tables. Before bedtime a children’s choir came out to sing “A little fir tree grew in the forest.” The guests were charmed.
I checked to see whether all the necessary locks were broken.
It got dark. Everything was ready.
It’s a good thing they didn’t think of leaving someone to guard the big flyer.
I liked the flyer. It was really huge. I had never flown on a flyer like this before, none of us had. But we knew how automatic controls work. We would fly low, and people would only realize what had happened once we were already over Africa.
The moon was waning, so we could move freely, almost without hiding. In this respect, at least, people simply can’t compete with us.
It grew quiet. The only sounds were voices and songs coming from the windows of the hotel and cottages that had been turned over to the guests. All the better, let them make merry. Tomorrow they will be faced with a big disappointment. There won’t be anyone to demonstrate to them.
“Listen,” I asked wise Gitta, “are we going to take Johnny with us, or leave him here?”
“What do you think?”
“I would leave him here as a consolation prize.”
“I agree. Especially since he won’t be happy with us. He is used to comfort, and we are about to give up our comforts.”
Third brought the children. The mothers accompanied their kids, who were sleepy and fussy.
We quickly loaded them into the flyer. How wonderful that people are so self-confident, it didn’t even occur to them to leave a guard, or to lock anything up.
Gitta counted all the homo-chimps.
“Sixty-four ‘subjects’,” she said with a smile. She did a good imitation of Formula.
“All on board?” asked Barry. He was already climbing into the cockpit. He will be my co-pilot.
“Wait!” I said. “We forgot her!”
“Who?” Gitta did not understand.
“The girl they brought in this morning. We can’t leave her here with Johnny!”
“In the forest you’ll find even prettier ones,” Third tried to taunt me with my own words.
I growled at him so ferociously that he quickly disappeared into the flyer, and I have a feeling that he won’t speak again until we get to Africa.
“Don’t do something stupid,” said Gitta. “You’ll arouse the entire institute.”
“No,” I said firmly. “Everyone get settled. I’ll be back in a minute.”
I tore off towards the quarantine room.
Unfortunately, this door was actually locked. I crept up to the window. The window was shockproof, there’s no way I would get in there.
The girl’s beautiful big eyes stared at me from the other side of the window. She understood that I had come for her. She pressed her lips against the glass, as if urging me to come in. Stupid, dear, irrational being.
In two jumps I landed on the roof. It took two minutes to unscrew the ventilator grid. I rushed; I could imagine how nervous the rest of my people must be. Without me, there could be a rebellion – to some degree, only my iron will held the entire group together in obedience.
Finally the grid flies off.
Someone is already coming down the road.
I had to lie down, pressing myself against the roof.
I smelled Johnny. Of all things! I almost laughed. A romantic tryst! A rival in the darkness!
I could hear that idiot knocking on the glass, calling to the girl. I was seized with horrible jealousy. But what should I do? Start a fight with him? A risky idea flew into my head.
“What are you doing prowling around here?!” I asked in a deep bass voice, imitating the director. “Go back to bed immediately! Otherwise I will send you to the zoo!”
My play-acting worked. Johnnie chickened out and took off with rapid footsteps, abandoning the field of battle…
Now I had to work even faster. Someone might hear me. I especially hated the watch-robot, who, it’s true, was usually not deployed until after midnight. We had wanted to break it, but clearly our natural inattention won out – and we forgot.
I squeezed through the ventilator hatch – it was pretty tight.
I hooted softly, calling the girl. She understood. I felt her long tender fingers grab my arm.
I pulled her up and helped her scramble out onto the roof.
She followed behind me trustfully.
What happiness! With every look and movement, she seemed to say: “You are my chosen one.”
“You’ll be speaking in no time,” I thought.
Back at the flyer, panic had set in. I had disappeared, leaving no orders. Gitta was barely restraining the warriors within the flyer. Barry threw himself at me with reproaches. I handed off the lady and quickly moved through to the pilot’s seat.
“Attention!” I said. “Everyone take a seat. Mothers, hold onto your children. We are in a hurry. The forests of Africa await us. Freedom awaits us!”
I threw a final farewell glance at the institute. A few windows were still lit up. The dark mass of the old building, constructed in the style of the twentieth century, rose above the trees.
I ran my hand over the console, turning the automatic system on in my mind’s eye. The dashboard lights lit up.
I punched in the code – I knew how to do this. Direction…. A map of the Northern hemisphere glowed. I located the Congo.3 I moved the indicator arrow to the exact point of our destination. I hit the start button. The flyer began its rapid ascent.
The little ones in the back chirped and squealed.
The institute disappeared into darkness.
The lights on the ground grew dimmer. We flew through sparse clouds. The machine turned, sticking to its designated route.
I looked at the map in front of me. The thin green line – our route – started to grow and bend towards the south. I fell into contemplation.
Suddenly I felt someone’s touch.
I turned. My beloved stood next to me. She wanted to be with me.
I smiled at her.
“We are safe,” I said to Barry, who was in the other seat. “They won’t catch us now.”
“They can still launch a machine from one of the aerodromes along our way.”
“Doubtful,” I said. “They still haven’t even caught on. And when they do catch on, they won’t figure out where we have gone.”
Right at that moment, the contact screen blinked on ominously.
My first impulse was to hide from the video eye of the screen. I ducked.
Barry gasped.
Then I realized that there is no use hiding. Better to confront the danger face to face.
The director of the institute appeared on the screen. Batya looked serious.
“Leader,” he said. “I know you’re there.”
“I am here,” I said, straightening up. “You can kill us, but you can’t stop us.”
“Leader,” Batya said, “maybe you would prefer to continue this conversation without any witnesses? If so, tell Barry to leave.”
“I’m going to stay,” said faithful Barry, “I’m not afraid.”
“The director is right,” I said. “Please step out. You have a loose monkey tongue.”
Barry was offended. He slowly crawled out of his seat, grumbling something under his breath. The girl grew timid and looked at me, then at the director, who did not notice her. He knew that she was not able to understand anything anyway. Unlike many of the others, the director knew us all by face.
I extended my arm – the pilot’s cabin was small – to close the door.
“What do you have to say?” I asked. “What is your ultimatum?”
“Good.” I felt desperately afraid. The whole world was against me – three billion people.
“Leader, it’s been several years now since we realized that our instruments do not give us an objective picture of your condition. We did not immediately understand, nor did we easily understand, that our Experiment had in fact succeeded. It succeeded even beyond what we had expected. Two hundred years of experimental research had inculcated certain fixed behaviors into the experimenters. We became rigid. But when we realized that we had driven you, our younger brothers – to whom we had given reason and consciousness, without asking! – towards a total impasse, we had to hide the fact of our realization…
“How long have you known all this?”
“A long time.”
“Why did you hide it?”
“Because we couldn’t come to any kind of consensus, because we didn’t know how to continue the Experiment, because we had to hand over responsibility to those who had grown up before our eyes… It’s complicated. Maybe someday you and I, Leader, will sit down over a cup of tea and talk about this problem.
It struck me that for the first time in 200 years, someone had addressed a chimpanzee using the formal vy instead of ty.
“I’m sorry,” I said firmly, squeezing the hand of the girl, “but we will not return. The experiments are over.”
“I am certainly not arguing with you,” answered the director. “Although to tell the truth, I am very sorry to part with you. You and I have lived together for twelve years. You were still a boy when I arrived at the institute.”
“I remember,” I said. “But I’m not coming back.”
“Fly, fly, nobody is stopping you. You should know that in the luggage compartment of the flyer there is a good stock of food. You didn’t take very much, and before you leave the flyer, the children will need to be well fed.
“You mean, you knew!” I suddenly understood that this was a real blow. It was a blow to my pride, to my vanity, to my secret…
“Don’t be upset,” said the director. “It doesn’t diminish your accomplishment. You did as much as the whole institute put together. I say this sincerely.”
Red Star Tales Page 42