by Titan Books
“What would you like to hear?” he asked lamely.
“Anything you tell me,” she said.
Virdon recognized the dangerous terrain on which he walked with Arn. He moved away, so that he was not close enough to touch her. She watched for a moment, and then resigned herself to a less personal inquiry—if only for the moment. “Was there really a machine that talks?” she asked.
The conversation had moved back onto safe ground. “Sure,” said Virdon. “And a machine that heats, and a machine that cools, and a machine that flies—like—” He had moved in the direction of the spot where he had left the model. He looked and stopped abruptly. The place where the plane had rested was empty.
Virdon glanced in the direction Kraik had gone, and the man shook his head. “I’ll be right back,” he murmured. Arn watched him curiously. Virdon left in the direction Kraik had followed.
Kraik sat alone in an alcove. He was resting on the pallet he used for a bed, examining the model airplane. He heard someone coming toward him, and quickly tried to hide the model. It was too late. It was Virdon.
“Why did you take it?” asked the astronaut.
“I didn’t take anything,” said Kraik.
“Listen to me,” said Virdon, trying to control his voice. “We’ve got to have some rules about how we behave— you, me, Arn. Rule one, I guess, is we trust each other. All right?”
Kraik wouldn’t look Virdon directly in the eyes. “Maybe,” he muttered.
“We don’t lie,” said Virdon, “we don’t take things without permission…” He waited a moment for some kind of response from Kraik. There was a pause.
“I’m tired,” said Kraik. “I want to sleep.”
Virdon continued, more sternly than before. “Give me the model, please,” he said.
“I won’t!” cried Kraik.
Virdon extended his hand. “You don’t take anything unless you’re given permission.”
Kraik deliberately ignored this. Virdon reached behind the boy and was about to take the airplane from where it was concealed. Before he could get it, however, Kraik grabbed the airplane and made a dash to get away. Virdon caught the boy, and held him firmly by the shoulders. He swung Kraik around so that the boy had to face Virdon. Kraik tried to pull away, to look away.
“Give me the airplane, Kraik,” said Virdon calmly. “Let me go!” cried the boy.
“Hand it to me.”
“You made it for me,” said Kraik. “It’s mine!”
“It is not yours and it never will be unless you behave.”
In a sudden fury, Kraik slammed the airplane to the floor where it broke into several pieces.
“There’s your stupid airplane,” said the boy, sobbing. “I don’t want it!”
Virdon sighed and stretched his tense shoulders. “All right,” he said finally, “you’ve made sure you won’t get it.”
“I hate you!” shouted Kraik. “I hate you!”
He ran from the room. Virdon looked after him, hurting terribly inside. He bent over silently to pick up the pieces of the shattered plane.
Several minutes later, outside, in the courtyard below the window through which Virdon had tried to make his escape, there was a strange scene. A sergeant, evidently doing sentry duty, marched his post in straight, military lines. But he saw something that made him stop, bewildered. A gorilla guard holding Kraik by the arm entered the courtyard and approached the sergeant. The guard saluted and presented Kraik, who tried to twist out of the ape’s grasp.
“Here,” said the guard disgustedly. “This creature wanted to see you. I can’t imagine why you would want to see him, but as he was wandering about the restricted area, I thought it best to bring him to you. He says you promised him a reward.”
“He did!” cried Kraik. “Let go!”
The sergeant bent down and gave Kraik an evil grin. “Well,” he said to the boy, “What do you have to tell me?”
Kraik was silent, hesitant, frightened.
The sergeant grew angry. “Don’t waste my time, human!” he shouted. “Do you know where the outlaw ape and human are?”
There was a long moment’s silence. Kraik’s ambivalence led him first one way, then another. Finally, he nodded affirmatively.
4
It was day, and the sunlight streamed through the high windows into the castle room. Arn and Virdon sat by the fire. Kraik entered and glanced toward them sadly; almost, almost he went to them, but he changed his mind and crossed instead toward his sleeping alcove.
Arn looked up and saw the boy. She stood up.
Kraik went into his alcove and went to his bed. He stopped short as he saw the model airplane, patched together again, on the bed. He picked it up gently and looked at it. Arn came in, and stood watching him for a moment. “He was very upset,” she said softly.
Kraik turned around and looked at her, ready to cry.
“The ‘airplane’,” said Arn. “He was making it for you.”
Kraik looked at her, at the airplane, and suddenly he could hold back his tears no longer. He was no more a self-sufficient, tough street urchin; now he was just a frightened little boy. He threw his arms around her, sobbing; “I… I told the gorilla,” he said, choking.
* * *
Urko, the Captain, the Sergeant, and a squad of gorilla guards cautiously moved in around the scientific institute building. Urko expertly deployed the others so that there was no way anyone inside the building could possibly escape.
“You,” called Urko, “see that no one gets out the back. You go with him. Sergeant, post troopers on both sides of the door.”
Urko’s orders were followed. Satisfied, the general signaled the others to follow him.
Urko, the Captain, and the other gorillas all came rushing into the institute’s main room, where Burke and Galen had labored earlier. But Urko was furious to see that there was no one there. He did not notice that a section of wall that had hid the machine had been built up again, recently. The machine itself was nowhere in sight.
* * *
Back in the castle prison, Kraik looked at Virdon, although he did so from a sheepish, downcast posture. Evidence of recent tears, in the form of grimy tracks down his cheeks, marked the boy’s face. Arn stood nearby.
“No, Kraik,” said Virdon, “I don’t hate you.”
“I’m sorry,” said the boy quietly.
“What will happen to your friends now?” asked Arn.
“They’ve been long gone from that building,” said Virdon.
“Would they take the talking machine with them?” asked Kraik.
That thought suddenly worried Virdon. “No,” he said, “but if my friends got it working, it could tell me where they are.”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Arn. “You can’t go to them.”
“The apes might find that message,” said Virdon urgently. “I’ve got to get out of here!”
Kraik spoke up confidently. “I know a way out!” he said.
Virdon looked suddenly toward the ceiling, as though to get a divine explanation from that direction. “Why didn’t you say so before?” he asked.
“I kind of liked it here,” said Kraik. “I had enough to eat, and the gorillas said they’d give me lots more if I helped them.”
“All right, Kraik,” said Virdon. “I can’t promise you food, but will you help me?”
Kraik nodded.
* * *
Two gorillas had been left behind to patrol the courtyard. There was a knock from inside the castle door. One gorilla covered the second, as the latter unlocked the door. Kraik emerged from the castle. He said something to the gorilla but Virdon, who was watching stealthily, could not make out the boy’s words. The gorilla nodded, and Kraik sauntered through the courtyard and beyond the wall. He was carrying a pack.
Beyond the wall, Kraik saw another gorilla guard outside. Kraik signalled the gorilla, and the guard moved to join the boy. “Did you get it?” asked Kraik.
The ape, confused, said, “
Get what?”
“The gun.”
“What are you talking about?” asked the bewildered gorilla.
“I told the Sergeant,” said Kraik. “Virdon had a gun. I threw it out of the window.”
“I’ll show you,” said Kraik.
He led the gorilla guard close to the wall under the window in the courtyard. The two patrol gorillas were ordered to watch the outside door. Alone with the third gorilla, Kraik indicated the shrubbery beneath the wall. He began his search. “It’s here somewhere,” he said. The guard joined him in looking for the fictitious gun.
From the window above, Virdon leaned out carefully, looking down. The guard was bending down, searching the ground. Kraik, too, was still looking.
Virdon climbed silently to the window ledge, then jumped, landing squarely on the guard. The gorilla went down with a grunt, stunned. A quick blow from Virdon’s fist, and the guard was out of action. Kraik watched, delighted and impressed. Arn crawled out to hang down from the window by her fingers. Virdon reached up toward her, stretching his arms up, not quite able to reach her. “All right,” he said, “drop.”
She let go and fell. He caught her, and put her on her feet as Kraik gestured for Virdon and Arn to follow him.
Kraik led the way to a large shrub. He pulled away some foliage and debris to reveal a grate which covered a man-made drain. Virdon lifted the grate and all three people climbed down.
* * *
Back at Urko’s headquarters, Zaius sat watching a furious gorilla general. “Was there anything at all in this place?” asked Zaius.
“Nothing,” said Urko. “Not Galen. Not Burke.”
“Are you sure?”
Urko, turned around, raging: “Of course I’m sure!” he shouted. “They were gone! If they’d ever been there.”
“Just in the event Virdon should escape,” said Zaius, “they would leave something behind. Something that would tell him where to go. Take me there.”
* * *
Kraik, Arn, and Virdon emerged and entered the main room of the scientific institute. It was deserted. The three looked around cautiously.
“Where are they?” asked Kraik worriedly.
Virdon glanced around. “I don’t know. It’s possible that they—” He broke off as he noticed the temporary wall Galen and Burke had built to hide the machine. He crossed to it. The others followed.
“What?” asked Arn.
“They’ve hidden the machine,” said Virdon. “Come on, help me with this wall.” He started pulling the bits and chunks of masonry away.
* * *
Outside, Urko, Zaius, the Captain, the Sergeant, and a squad of gorillas were on their horses, moving through the streets at a quick pace.
* * *
After a few minutes of study, Virdon had the projected image of the Scientist on the wall, as before. “In the years to come,” said the long-dead human scientist, “whoever finds our Institute—”
The wall hiding the machine had been partly torn away, exposing the machine, to which had been attached the improvised battery. Arn and Kraik watched the image with awe and near shock, while Virdon stood by the machine, watching anxiously.
The Scientist’s voice continued. “We, the Scientists, greet you. The destruction of our world as we know it is imminent—”
Outside, there was the sound of approaching hoofbeats.
“—but our civilization’s great advances must not vanish.”
Virdon reacted to the hoofbeats now. He hit a control and turned off the machine.
Outside the scientific institute, Urko, Zaius, the Captain, and the other gorillas pulled their mounts to a halt in front of the building. They dismounted quickly and rushed inside.
Virdon, Arn, and Kraik were nowhere in sight. Urko and Zaius glanced around the room. Behind a pile of fallen masonry, Arn, Virdon, and Kraik huddled in the shadows, unseen by the apes.
“What are we looking for?” asked the Captain.
Zaius thought for a moment. “I don’t know,” he said. “Probably something you’ve never… seen… before…” His voice trailed off as he noticed something that piqued his curiosity. Quickly he hurried toward the broken, improvised wall, behind which the machine was exposed. He glanced at Urko. “You said there was nothing here,” said Zaius.
Urko was startled. “It wasn’t here before,” he said. Zaius glanced at him with ill-disguised contempt. He approached the machine, studied it, probed it. Urko joined him. “What does it do?” asked the gorilla general.
Zaius ignored him. “One of these must be a control.” He played with the buttons for a moment, then pushed one.
The Scientist’s voice started up again. “We have therefore deposited the sum of all our scientific knowledge in a number of vaults—”
The Scientist continued to speak while the gorillas and the orangutan reacted with fear and dismay.
“What is it?” cried Urko.
“Witchcraft!” whispered the Captain.
“It’s evil!” said the Sergeant.
Zaius, alone, was anxious to hear. “Quiet!” he shouted. “All of you! Quiet!”
“—which are located in various cities throughout the world,” said the Scientist. Urko and Zaius watched, still awed and interested. “In this city, the vault is embedded in concrete in the lower level of the midtown railway station, at the gateway to track four.”
From his hiding place, Virdon listened carefully.
The Scientist had one last wish for his listeners. “We bid you good fortune,” he said, “you who find and use our knowledge.”
The image faded, the sound ceased. The recording-was finished. Zaius snapped off the machine.
“What is a railway station?” asked Urko.
“I’ve seen pictures of them,” said Zaius. “We passed such a place when we rode in. A long, narrow building.” Zaius and Urko led the way, as they all gathered quickly to move to the door and exit. The apes came out of the building, mounted their horses as speedily as possible, and rapidly rode back up the street.
A short time later, Virdon, Arn, and Kraik came back out into the main room. Virdon was miserable as he shook his head.
“I know the place,” said Kraik quickly, “and I know a faster way to get there. The apes will have to ride through the city streets. They can’t make very fast time, going around the trash heaps and things.”
“How?” asked Virdon.
“I can go through places where buildings have fallen into the streets and no horses can pass,” said Kraik.
Meanwhile, Urko, Zaius, and the gorilla squad rode up a street; they had to rein their horses to a stop as they saw the street ahead was impassable. Cursing, they wheeled their horses around and galloped off in a different direction.
* * *
At one end of the railway station a kind of cement door had been pried open. Inside the vault, Burke and Galen found themselves in a concrete storeroom. Several small campfires had been set from time to lime in the concrete vaults, and some of the seemingly endless reels of computer tapes that were stored on shelves had been unwound—some even tried as fuel for the fires. Galen examined some of the labels on the tapes, while Burke checked the huge computer dominating the underground vault to see if it could still possibly work.
“Could man ever have known this much, and done so little with it?” asked Galen. There was no reply from Burke.
* * *
Urko, Zaius, and the other gorillas galloped up another street, and found themselves obstructed once more.
* * *
Burke and Galen checked the computer and the endless reels of tape, oblivious to the converging forces around them. Finally, after a short search, Virdon, Arn, and Kraik stumbled into the vault.
“Alan!” cried Burke. “What happened to you? We thought you were dead.” The dark-haired man noticed Arn and Kraik. “Who—?”
Virdon cut his friend off. “No time!” he said. “We can’t stay here. Urko and Zaius are on their way.”
“
This place is a gold mine,” said Burke.
“It’ll be a cemetery if we don’t get moving. Now!”
Burke and Galen saw the urgency in Virdon’s face; then they turned and moved quickly to the door. Burke took with him the rifle he had been carrying. The four humans and the chimpanzee hurried up the street to the sewer opening. They climbed down it as quickly as possible and pulled the lid closed after them. For a time the street was still and deserted; then Urko, Zaius, and the others thundered into the street, past the sewer.
* * *
Inside the vault, Zaius and Urko were more stunned than they had been by the recorded image of the ancient scientist. Zaius moved among the objects, shaking his head. “Knowledge,” he said. “Death. Destruction. In the history of our world, their world, one has been the same as the other.” He turned to the gorillas, commanding. “Destroy everything in here,” he said. “Burn this place to the ground.”
The gorillas took a step to follow the order, but were halted by Urko. “Wait,” commanded the general. “What is here would give us great power. The knowledge would be safe with us. We’re not like humans.”
Zaius laughed without humor. “What a reversal of our roles, Urko. Would we really be better off, or safer? Remember, once the knowledge here is set free, it will spread out of control.”
“I will be in control,” said Urko fiercely.
“You are now. You have weapons,” said Zaius. “You have troops. But, suppose one of your officers here learns the secrets in there. He’ll have the power to destroy you, to destroy the world. Would you risk that?”
There was a silent moment. Then: “Burn it!” shouted Urko. The gorillas hurried to comply. Urko turned to Zaius, as both were about to leave. “Virdon is no use to us anymore,” he said. “I am going back to the castle and kill him.”
* * *
There was a pleasant bridge over a babbling stream in the country some distance from the city. Virdon, Arn, and Kraik, along with Burke and Galen, crossed the bridge. Burke still carried his rifle. On the other side, they all paused. Virdon looked quizzically at Arn. “Is that the farm?” he asked.
Arn looked off in the distance, to a pleasant, quiet farm. A few animals grazed, but no humans were visible.