by Rich Handley
Cornelius loathed the trip in the auto-gyro, but Zira was enchanted by the entire experience. From the sense of weightlessness to the view of the ground below, it exhilarated her exactly as much as it nauseated her husband, and she reveled in it like a dream. As a child, she dreamt of flying like a bird, and now, here she was.
Milo pressed Zira for information while they made their way back to the alpha site. “How many gorillas are in this army? Where are they now? Did you and your husband escape?” Most of these questions were met with puzzled looks and some amusement, but little information that helped Milo understand. Meanwhile, Zira peppered Milo with questions in return: “Who created this flying machine we’re in? How do you drive it?”
Milo craned his head over his shoulder. “Have you never seen flying machines before? What about solar trucks, or electricity itself?”
Zira didn’t understand the questions, not really. She’d seen electricity during thunderstorms, of course, but everyone had. And what was a solar truck? Nonsense. She asked after Taylor, and again, the word rang a bell in Milo’s mind. Again, however, he couldn’t place why.
The auto-gyro made its way to the alpha site, now a location of bustling activity. From the air, Zira could see dozens of chimpanzees running to and fro amidst the recovered capsule, and dizzying amounts of confusing machinery. There were wagons moving on their own without horses to pull them, and there were impossibly long black vines neatly running between metal boxes and connecting all sorts of things to each other. Central to the proceedings was another gigantic iron spear tip, which looked very much like the thing Milo had just blown up.
The wheels touched down, and Lieutenant Soror ran up to help unload what he expected was another collection of component parts from the other capsule. Instead, he was greeted by Cornelius, searching for a place to be sick, and Zira holding him, apologizing for her husband.
“I’ll explain in a minute,” said Milo to his lieutenant, who dutifully held back questions about the stranger. “From what I learned from these two, there is a gorilla army out there in the desert, blindly marching this way. We need to establish a perimeter and post sentries right now, and we have to get out of here at first light tomorrow!”
Soror glanced at Milo’s chimpanzee passengers, starting to straighten up after Cornelius’ moment of weakness.
“I think they might be escaped slaves,” Milo whispered to Soror. “They claim to live around here, but they don’t understand much. They told me about the gorilla army to the southwest, and that’s about all I can get from them. If there’s a gorilla army, you can assume they’re hunting for chimps.” Milo was grim.
“Conserve power; pack up in the dark. Let’s use what we have stored to get a jump on the sunrise tomorrow,” Milo suggested, then turned to his new guests. “Go with my friend, Lieutenant Soror, and he’ll get you something to eat and drink after that flight. I’ll join you in a little while.”
Cornelius and Zira were led off by the lieutenant, trying in vain to take in everything that was going on. There was so much activity out here in the Forbidden Zone by a secret group of chimpanzees about whom Cornelius knew nothing.
It didn’t make sense.
* * *
After an hour, Milo had fit the final piece of the technological jigsaw puzzle together. He’d replaced the last part in the capsule’s last dead control panel and wired the last bits of it as best he could. It was time to flip the switch and see if he could get anything out of the ship’s electrical systems before the whole expedition packed up and headed home at morning’s light.
The chimpanzee held his breath before twitching his finger. God had answered one prayer, he thought. It would be too much to ask for another so soon. But when Milo flipped the switch, the power came on.
“I said ‘Let there be light.’ And it was good,” said Milo under his breath, smiling.
Panel after panel lit up, displaying images and numbers and colors that meant little to the chimpanzee. But it was all working. For the next few hours, Milo struggled to understand all he could about the technology before him. He read the consoles and flipped switches and buttons, looking for information each time he did something. There were labels and display screens and sequences marked clearly. Before long, Milo managed to engage the computerized operating system, which had a helpful interface.
From then on, the computer made it easy. The propulsion systems, auto-pilot, and launch procedures were all spelled out for Milo on touch screens. There was so much to take in, but he prodded and poked and asked and learned until he could fit no more in his weary brain. There would be time to study this magical ancient invention from the sky when they all got home.
If they got home. There were gorillas out there, God only knew how far away.
Milo’s eye was suddenly caught by something on the far wall of the inner capsule chamber. It was a set of human clothes, shiny and bulky and topped with a glass helmet. They’d found examples of it in both capsules mounted on the walls, and Milo had decided to leave them where they were after they’d been dried out. This particular set of human clothes had a detail on it that startled him, because he’d seen it before and it hadn’t registered until now.
Over the top of the chest area, on the left side, was a label that read “Taylor.” That’s why the name rang a bell! He’d seen the shiny suit before, one that belonged to Taylor. Those chimpanzees outside said they knew him.
Milo felt dizzy as he considered the idea of an ancient human walking around today.
* * *
Cornelius and Zira were brought aboard the capsule, but they recognized nothing inside it, beyond the familiar name on the shiny human suit.
“Yes, Taylor was a friend of ours,” said Cornelius, “a human beast who could read and write and speak and reason just like any ape.”
Zira continued excitedly, “He said he came to our city from the sky, in a flying machine, just like yours, just like this one. Where is he? Do you know?”
Milo was amazed. “You mean there are humans—living humans—and you’ve actually seen them? With your own eyes?” Milo asked quickly.
“Whose eyes would I be using?” said Zira. “I’ve seen lots of humans. I work with them. It’s only interesting to meet ones who could read and talk. Don’t you listen?”
Milo turned to answer, but was interrupted by the sound of distant gunfire, short rifle bursts at first, then the ratatat of machine guns.
* * *
Soror had shot first. That’s what had started the eventual slaughter.
Krute and his squad had heard sounds coming from the camp long before they had seen it in the dark. A forward gorilla scout determined that a group of chimpanzees was out here in the Forbidden Zone, doing some sort of scientific work only the Lawgiver could understand, and he came back to report that to Krute, who then decided to approach the camp and find out if they had supplies, fresh fruit, or water they could spare for their loyal army.
Krute walked up with his rifle team at ease, weapons strapped to their backs, shouting greetings and pleasantries to the chimpanzee sentries at the camp’s perimeter in the pre-dawn light.
They were met with a hailstorm of bullets. Two gorillas died before the group could dive for cover in the rocky terrain.
It made no sense. Ape never killed ape. What kind of monsters were these chimpanzees to open fire on their brothers in the army?
Krute ordered his gorillas to take out their machine guns and attack, and to show no mercy to these chimpanzees, now that he knew the criminal behavior of which they were capable.
The single-shot rifles that Soror and his chimpanzees carried were no match for automatic machine guns in the hands of gorillas. Krute’s squad was past the perimeter very quickly, killing Soror and his rifle squad within a matter of minutes. From there, they rushed over the crest of the rock formation to enter the camp proper.
Inside the capsule, Milo could see, through the large porthole windows at the front, the armed gorillas over-running th
e camp, shooting in all directions. He shut the hatch quickly, and it slid down with a loud pneumatic “shhhh.” This sealed them inside, perhaps safe for now, but ultimately trapped. The outer hull could likely take a bullet without damage, but he didn’t know about the porthole windows. Milo had feared this since the moment they had set foot on this continent.
“What’s happening?” shouted Zira. Her husband was trying to calm her down and failing.
“The gorillas are here. They’re killing everyone. I’ve got to do something!” Milo shouted, glancing around for ideas. “If I could get to one of the supply trucks, I could bring back enough explosives to destroy this capsule as well…”
Cornelius grabbed Milo by the arm. “Your plan is to destroy the thing we’re hiding in? Are you mad?”
“I can’t let them have it, Cornelius,” Milo shouted. “I have to destroy it if it’s going to fall into their hands. An explosion could…” Milo stopped in his tracks. “The booster rockets. The system said they were still charged. That ought to make a hell of a bang.”
Milo hurried to the control console and began flipping switches. The sounds of gunfire died around them. That was a bad sign. It suggested there was no one left to shoot at out there. Through the porthole windows, gorillas could be seen running toward the capsule. Now they were at the hull, banging on the outer shell and shouting commands.
“May God forgive me if there are any chimpanzees left alive out there,” Milo said as he ran through the launch sequence to power up the booster rockets. In a moment, the final button blinked green and Milo pressed it down.
A deafening WHOOSH filled the cabin, and a powerful red light flooded the portholes. The entire capsule began to shake and rumble like a huge earthquake as the floor tilted slowly to the left for a few moments and then jolted violently, pushing everyone aboard into the back wall of the cabin, as though a great weight pressed down on them.
This rumbling and pushing lasted for about five minutes but finally let up, and the trio of chimpanzees tried to get their footing and see what had happened.
The view out the porthole window was a mind-numbing shock. The capsule was in the air, hurtling at unimaginable speed away from the surface of the Earth, up, up into space. Already, the Forbidden Zone was curving away from them far below, and the stars… there were suddenly so many of them in the sky.
Cornelius and Zira held onto each other against the rear wall. Milo simply stared out the window in disbelief.
The capsule had gone into its full launch sequence—that was the only explanation. Milo hadn’t meant for that to happen, but it had. He tried to call the computer up and correct the mistake, but to no avail. Each button he pushed and switch he flipped served only to frustrate him. The capsule continued to climb higher and higher. Soon there would be no way to return home. Shortly, they would leave the atmosphere and suffocate in airless space. Perhaps they would starve before the air ran out.
At least he kept the object from the sky out of the hands of the gorillas. That was what he had been tasked to do, so his mission hadn’t really been a failure.
Milo settled down on the floor to await his fate. He had stopped listening to the pleading and shouting of Cornelius and Zira. Perhaps they’d stopped shouting; Milo was beyond caring. Ten minutes later, when he saw the blinding light through the porthole, Milo took it as a sign he was dying. He got up to look out the window and saw something too horrible to consider. Zira and Cornelius joined him at the window. Far below, the Earth itself began to split open. Huge, continent-wide cracks began to form, lava poured out in mile-high geysers, and the oceans began to boil. It was the end of the world, and Milo, Cornelius, and Zira were the only witnesses.
It was impossible to comprehend the scale of so much dying. The destruction continued until they could no longer watch, or even process what they were seeing.
Milo was the first to speak. His voice was eerily soft. “Those maniac gorillas actually did it. Somehow, they blew it all up, damn them.”
Cornelius and Zira said nothing, but they agreed with Milo. It had to be the gorillas, somehow. Their violence and thirst for war had found a way to destroy the world.
Milo had always feared the gorillas, for he knew what they were capable of.
But none in that capsule could have known that the world actually died at the hands of a man named Taylor, deep down in a manmade cavern below the planet’s surface, detonating a manmade weapon called the Alpha-Omega Bomb.
The gorillas may have been brutes and bullies, the stuff of Milo’s nightmares and Zira’s secret fears, but they were never evil enough to destroy the world.
Only man was capable of that.
* * *
In Dayton Ward’s “Message in a Bottle,” television astronauts Virdon and Burke return with their chimp ally, Galen, to chase down a mystery that may, once and for all, lead them to an escape from their ordeal on the planet of the apes…
* * *
MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
by
DAYTON WARD
Flanked by four subordinates, Urko charged into what passed for the small village’s center as fast as his horse could carry him. A single human male dashed out of his path and only narrowly avoided being trampled. Urko barely noticed the man as he pulled on his horse’s reins, bringing the steed to a halt before a large, well-appointed abode. The rest of his advance party mimicked his movements before they all dismounted their horses, and Urko handed the reins of his own mount to his lieutenant, Robar.
“Take the troopers and search the village. Report back to me once you’ve completed your sweep.”
The lieutenant nodded. “Yes, Urko.”
A flag hanging from a pole near the dwelling’s front door identified the home as a prefect’s residence, and a heavy wooden door swung open to reveal an older, stoop-shouldered chimpanzee. Urko noted the green tunic identifying the ape as a prefect.
“What’s the meaning of all this commotion?” asked the chimp. He gestured to Urko. “Who are you, and why have you come to my village?”
“I am Urko, chief of security, and I come with the authority of the High Council. I don’t need your permission to be here, Prefect Gaulke.”
“You do until such time as the Council relieves me of my position.” Gaulke drew himself to his full height. He was still shorter than Urko and possessed far less mass, but there was an air about him which belied his slight stature. “Now, shall we stand here in the hot sun engaged in useless debates, or would you rather tell me what brings you to Nivek and how I might be of assistance?”
Opting to set aside what admittedly was a petty argument, Urko instead said, “We’re searching for three fugitives. Two humans and a chimpanzee.”
Gaulke’s brow furrowed. “Humans with an ape, you say? That is most peculiar.”
“These humans are different,” said Urko. “They’re smarter, and possess far more spirit than the humans you are familiar with. You may have seen or heard of them helping your villagers in various ways, as they have unusual knowledge and skills.”
Nodding, Gaulke replied, “I’ve heard rumors about such humans, though I myself have never seen them.” He shrugged. “Besides, all humans look alike to me. However, a young chimpanzee calling himself Maurice did come to the village more than a week ago, and I believe he had two human servants with him, but they’re not here any longer. So far as I know, they left here yesterday, or was it the day before?” He frowned, shaking his head. “I’m not sure.”
Urko grunted in irritation. How many times had he come so close to apprehending his quarry, only to have them slip away? The information which had brought him to the village of Nivek was the first sighting of the fugitives in months. The astronauts and Galen had become quite proficient at eluding his police patrols and finding allies among the provinces and villages scattered across the territory, but they could not escape notice forever.
“Do you know which direction they were heading?”
“East, I believe,” replied Gau
lke. “They seemed most interested in the Paola Wasteland.”
Retrieving a map from one of his horse’s saddlebags, Urko followed the prefect into the residence. There, he spread the canvas map across the large table in the home’s dining area. For a brief moment, he pondered the series of charcoal markings peppering the map’s surface. Each symbol harbored a chapter in a story that already had gone on for far too long for his taste. How long had he been marking the map in this manner? Had he really lost track of the weeks or months? With that thought clouding his mind and fueling his mounting annoyance, he shifted his gaze to the very first symbol he had placed on the map, which indicated the origin point for his current worries.
The crashed spaceship. The astronauts, Virdon and Burke.
Even thinking their very names made Urko growl in annoyance. His current mission of tracking the fugitive astronauts and their renegade chimpanzee ally, Galen, had taken him far from Central City, far from his wife and son, and ever farther into the undeveloped and largely uninhabited regions south and east of the larger, populated areas. As days and weeks had stretched into months, there had been more than one evening spent writing in his journal, its pages illuminated by the light of a campfire, when Urko contemplated returning to the city and devising a new plan to pursue his prey.
Then, some tantalizing morsel of new information would present itself, stoking his determination to continue the chase, such as what had drawn him here to Nivek. The village was one Urko had never visited, located as it was on the fringes of explored territory and the area over which he was charged as chief of security.
He pointed to the map, and the mark he had made the previous evening to indicate Nivek’s location. “Show me where they went.”
Studying the map for a moment, Gaulke traced a line from the village to the east, toward an area that was not even labeled.
“The Paola Wasteland lies here, beyond the forest and mountains,” said Gaulke. “Perhaps a day if you ride fast. Little is known about it. For generations, we were warned to avoid that area, but whoever made up those stories died long ago. A few of the apes living in Nivek have ventured there.”
