Aboro stood looking at him for a few seconds, his pistol in his hand. “Inside,” he ordered.
Not far away, General Urko and his troopers watched as Burke entered the building and the door closed behind him. Urko moved his head slightly and made a small gesture. The gorilla troopers had been briefed and understood what their leader meant. They left their place of concealment and scattered to take positions around Aboro’s headquarters.
Inside, Aboro was still tense. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. “Where is my aide, Daku?” he asked.
Burke shrugged. “He delivered your message and left,” he said.
Aboro nodded. He did not need Daku any more that night. Indeed, it might be well not to need Daku any more, ever . . . That was a thought Aboro would have to pursue later. “He told you the price?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Burke in a sullen voice. “He said I would be well paid, after.”
“Have no worries on that account,” said Aboro. “Let’s make the arrangement now, if it worries you. Fifty kilos of gold and safe passage to another village. You can mingle with other humans until the search is over. And, after this, there will be a search, I can promise you. The murder of Urko will not be lightly passed over.”
Urko stood just outside the building, listening at an open, curtained window. He was invisible to the individuals inside, but everything they said was dearly audible to him. He stiffened at the mention of his name. It seemed that Burke had been telling the truth. Urko resisted the impulse to burst into the building and arrest Aboro then and there. There was more he wanted to hear.
Virdon, Galen, and Janor were slowly making their way through the sleepy town, trying to reach a small stand of trees where they could take refuge. When they reached their position, Virdon gave signals to the other two. They fanned out according to his plan.
Urko’s first trooper was positioned behind a slender tree near Aboro’s headquarter’s. While he waited, he thought that he heard a sound from nearby. He turned in that direction, his rifle unslung and held at the ready. Virdon slipped closer, behind the wary ape, and quickly dropped the leather loop on the pole over the gorilla’s head. With a strong yank, Virdon pulled gorilla backward into the brush.
Behind Aboro’s building, the second trooper waited in his position. He heard the sound of the first gorilla being dragged away and reacted. He turned and saw Virdon wrestling the unconscious gorilla out of sight. The second trooper started in that direction stealthily; he reached the area and stopped. He looked about cautiously, his rifle raised. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a soft whistle behind him. He spun around. There stood Galen with a sheepish expression on his face. Before the trooper could do anything, Janor stepped out from behind a tree to the rear of the trooper, dropped his loop over the gorilla’s head and yanked him back, slamming the gorilla’s head into the tree trunk and knocking him unconscious.
“When do you want the job done?” asked Burke.
“Tonight,” said Aboro. “You will be hiding . . .” The prefect turned to indicate the green-curtained alcove. Burke nodded. “In there,” said the prefect. “When I raise my glass in a toast and say, ‘A toast to General Urko,’ that will be your signal to enter and fire.”
At this point, Urko could stand it no longer. He had heard quite enough to convince himself that Burke was telling the truth. He slammed the door open and, pistol in hand, burst in.
“Urko!” cried Aboro in a strangled voice.
“I didn’t want to believe it,” said Urko. “But it’s true, isn’t it, Aboro?”
“Urko,” said Aboro, stricken almost dumb with panic, “I can explain.”
“Can you now?” said Urko.
Virdon, Galen, and Janor were sneaking up on the last of Urko’s three guards, moving silently like commandos. Virdon dropped the loop over their quarry’s head and quickly subdued the ape. Motioning Galen and Janor out of sight, Virdon raced noiselessly to the door of Aboro’s building. Then, pausing to gather his energy and his resolve, he, too, slammed the door open and stormed in, a pistol extended in his own hand.
“Drop your gun, Urko!” shouted Virdon.
There was a pause; then Urko’s pistol clattered to the floor. The ape general half-turned to see what this interruption meant. His eyes narrowed as he recognized his adversary. “Virdon!” he exclaimed.
Virdon ignored the ape, and turned to Burke. “We’ve been tracking you all over the countryside!” he said. “How’d you wind up here, with him?”
“It wasn’t my idea, buddy,” said Burke, obviously relieved to see that his friends had been able to improvise his rescue. “I would have been plenty satisfied to go along with our original plan. But this hairy Napoleon had to mess things up, like usual.”
“Well, tell me all about it later,” said Virdon. “Let’s get out of here.”
Burke sidled past his friend, moving cautiously by the chagrined Urko. Virdon covered the other man’s escape; then he, too, edged out of Aboro’s place and slammed the door behind him. Burke and Virdon raced through the sheltering darkness toward the clearing where Galen and Janor waited for them.
“I’m glad to see you Pete!” said Galen, his voice choked with emotion.
“I’m glad to see me, too, old buddy!” said Burke, laughing.
“You’re something else,” said Virdon.
“The next time,” said Burke, shuddering a little, “you can be something else. I’ll let you play the starring role, and I’ll stay in the audience.” All together, they moved out quickly, disappearing into the deeper night beyond the village of Hathor.
The next morning saw Urko leading his guards, recovered but aching, and the rest of his entourage away from the District Headquarters area. All the apes were mounted on fresh horses, including, in the middle of the armed pack of guards, Aboro and Daku, their hands bound behind their backs. Their expressions were hopeless. Urko turned to survey his former friend. “You could have had a great future, Aboro,” said Urko, shaking his head. Then it occurred to Urko that “a great future” was what the former prefect’s murder plan was intended to insure. Once again Urko turned and glared wordlessly at the traitor. The parade passed a small crowd of humans, for whom this was the greatest entertainment in some time. In the midst of this crowd, and therefore unnoticed, stood Virdon, Burke, Janor, and Galen. They watched the procession move away from them.
“So much for the ‘Lord of the Apes,’ ” murmured Burke.
“Thank you, Virdon,” said Janor softly. The burly farmer turned from the blond astronaut to Burke. “And you, too, Pete. And Galen. I owe you much more than my life.”
Galen stared at the diminishing spectacle of Urko’s party, as it rode further away. “The Supreme Council will have to bring Augustus back as Prefect,” he said. “And this time he’ll be able to appoint an honest police chief.”
Janor nodded, then turned back to Virdon. “I didn’t want to believe your way would work,” he said. “There was such a hurt inside me. I thought the only way it could be healed was to inflict hurt.”
“We understand,” said Virdon.
Burke shouldered his pack, filled with fresh supplies. He handed another pack to Galen. “Well,” said Burke, “I guess we’d better be moving on.”
Galen spoke; he sounded disappointed. “Oh, do we have to?” he asked. “I was looking forward to staying on for a while.”
“Believe me,” said Burke, “we’ve got to go.”
“Give me one good reason,” said Galen.
“Go-rillas!” said Burke, gesturing with one hand.
Galen looked in the indicated direction, only to see two of the town’s gorilla troopers heading their way, nonchalantly, more or less on patrol, but clearly without any notion of apprehending the fugitive trio.
“Better not ask for trouble,” said Janor.
Galen looked at Burke. “Humans are always so convincing,” he said. “They really shouldn’t be, you know. That’s what we are taught.” Galen smiled and followed Virdon an
d Burke as they headed in the opposite direction from the gorillas. They turned once to wave at Janor. Then, shouldering their packs in preparation for a long day’s march, Virdon, Burke, and Galen turned their faces westward.
THE
GLADIATORS
based on the teleplay
by Art Wallace
FIVE
There were many villages along their route, and sometimes Virdon, Burke, and Galen were able to stop their fugitive running for a few days and rest at the home of a sympathetic human. The sight of two humans traveling with a friendly chimpanzee, though, was often enough to force the trio to make a quick exit from the premises of a suspicious human. There were more than enough people around who might try to earn extra food or privileges by turning in the astronauts and their chimpanzee companion to the local police authorities. Still, Virdon, Burke, and Galen managed to plot their course westward with a minimum of trouble.
The summer was coming to an end. Already the leaves on the trees had turned from green to a variety of colors. The air was taking on a crispness at night that was refreshing after a tiring day’s journey, but that same coolness promised only the inevitable slide into deep winter. The three travelers wanted to be well west and south by the time the first snow fell. In their situation, constant exposure to the cruel winter could be as deadly as a bullet from a gorilla’s rifle.
One morning, not far from a small village called Kaymak, the three friends found themselves pushing through a large area of dense underbrush. The work of crossing the tangled jungle had made them weary, although it was still early in the day. Virdon, leading the others, almost stumbled as his foot became caught in a mass of tough roots. He managed to recover his balance, but he paused and looked around. Behind him, Burke leaned against one of the gnarled trees that grew in the area and Galen sat down on a boulder, panting from near exhaustion. Virdon muttered something, but his words were inaudible to the others. He took out an animal-skin water container which he carried slung over one shoulder, untied the mouth of the bag, and drank long and deeply.
“Let me have some, too,” said Burke, coming up to take the improvised canteen.
“Sure.” said Virdon. “This place here is really something. It’ll take us all day just to get across that clearing.” The blond man pointed. Burke, still drinking, nodded. He finished and gave the canteen to Galen.
“This is where they must be.”
There was a large wall map of the western part of the North American continent, constructed of several sheets of dark, parchmentlike paper. The details of the map were only roughly sketched in, and there were vast areas of the country that were left entirely blank. In one particular area, near the west coast, there was a cluster of five villages. A leather-gloved hand hovered above that place on the map and with an angry blow struck it.
The hand remained on the map for a few seconds, as though to pin down its elusive quarry. Then General Urko spoke again, reading from a report, “ ‘reported at Radec and Slonk and possibly sighted at two more hamlets in the vicinity. Two humans calling themselves “astronauts.” ’ ” Urko crumpled the report and threw it across his office. Near him stood another uniformed gorilla, Urko’s current top lieutenant, an ape named Jason. “And that renegade chimpanzee, Galen, has been seen with them,” said Urko. “That proves it. They’re heading for the sea.” Once more he indicated the cluster of five villages, each about twenty miles from the next.
“Are you sure, Urko?” asked Jason.
Urko turned to face his aide. His expression was the same mask of hatred he wore whenever he thought about the three escapees who so constantly eluded his grasp. He scowled at Jason. “I’m sure of nothing!” he said, with great intensity. “These reports are next to useless. They come in days, weeks late. They are prepared by country apes who don’t even know what they’re looking for or what they’re seeing. My patrols let those three slip through their fingers time after time. I’m sure of nothing except that they are a dangerous threat to our security and they must be caught. I must study the settlements in that area.” He turned to the map once again, and Jason looked over his shoulder.
“General Urko,” said the aide, “are these villages primarily human settlements?”
“In this area, yes,” said Urko. “There is very little manufacturing or trading done here. The majority of the population is human. Tenant farmers. Each village has a garrison of gorilla guards and an incompetent prefect.”
Jason smiled behind Urko’s back but dared to say nothing. He waited for Urko to devise his plan of action.
“I want you to go out there, Jason,” said Urko at last. “I want you to alert every prefect. Give each of them full descriptions. The three of them will show up sooner or later. Tell the prefects that all strangers—all strangers—are to be arrested on sight; this office is to be notified. No travelers are to be allowed to leave any area until they have been checked out by me or by one of my representatives. Do you understand?”
“We’ll find them!” said Jason, with the kind of enthusiasm a junior officer forces into his voice when he feels just the opposite about an order.
“Finding them has not been the problem in the past,” said Urko, with the greatest scorn and malice. “Disposing of them after I’ve found them has given me a great deal of trouble. I want to end that. Take troops from the main garrison, collect those three criminals, and bring them back here to Central City, unless they try to escape. Of course, even Dr. Zaius has granted that prisoners attempting to escape should be shot.”
“Yes, sir,” said Jason. He turned to leave, believing that his briefing was over. He crossed the chamber to the door, but before he could open it, Urko’s voice stopped him.
“Jason,” said the general.
Jason turned to face Urko, puzzled, wondering what he had done wrong. “Yes, sir?” he asked.
“I expect them to try to escape. Have I made myself understood?”
Jason smiled. This was the Urko he had grown to know and fear. He was glad that the general’s wrath was directed away from himself and at the three unfortunate fugitives. “I understand, sir. Their treacherous corpses will lie where they fall, until the weasels and the buzzards take care of them.”
“Fine, fine,” said Urko, his mind already moving on to other matters. “Now, get out of here and get going.” He looked at another report and dismissed Jason with a wave of the hand. Jason turned to the door again and left.
As Jason checked his supplies and mounted his horse, giving orders for his gorilla troopers to do the same, Virdon, Burke, and Galen came to a reststop in a wooded area many miles away.
“We don’t need a rest yet, Pete,” said Virdon, although there was not the slightest trace of reproach in his voice.
“I’m leading this excursion at the moment,” said Burke. “And even if Iron Man Virdon doesn’t need a rest, maybe some of the rest of us do.”
Virdon only nodded. Actually, he was glad for the stop, too. He was only more concerned for their safety. He knew only too well how precarious their position was. He would have been happy if they could have traveled without resting at all, without stopping to look for food or water, without sleeping. He sighed.
“It’s getting cooler,” said Galen.
“It’s getting on to winter,” said Burke. He looked at the trees around him. “It looks to me like autumn is almost over.”
“It’s going to be a hard winter,” said Galen.
Burke pulled the thin, homespun shirt closer to his slender body. “We’re going to have to find something warmer,” he said. “Like Miami Beach, for instance.”
Galen didn’t understand Burke’s reference, but that didn’t make much difference to the chimpanzee. He had come to learn that he wasn’t expected to understand about half of Burke’s references. He let this one pass in silence. Then he changed the subject slightly. “I think this will be an exceptionally hard winter,” he said.
“How can you tell?” asked Burke.
“The hair o
n my face,” said the chimpanzee. “It’s growing in thick. That always means that the winter is going to be heavy and cold.”
Burke laughed. “Do you really think that the hair on your face can predict what the winter is going to be like?”
Galen looked offended. “Of course,” he said.
“That’s nonsense.”
Galen seemed about to become angry, but he controlled himself. “How do you know that autumn’s almost over?” he asked.
“Just look,” said Burke. “Look at the trees.”
“If the trees can predict the seasons, my hair can do the same,” said Galen huffily.
“The leaves on the trees aren’t saying a word about what kind of autumn we’re having,” said Burke.
“But you use them as a sign, because it’s the same every year,” said Galen. “And the same is true of my hair. It’s right, year after year.”
“Alan,” said Burke, “will you explain to this genius why he’s sounding like a total idiot?”
There was no reply from Virdon. Both Burke and Galen looked in silent appeal to the blond astronaut, but he seemed completely lost in thought. He stared past his friends, unconsciously fingering the smooth metal disk that he wore on a thong about his neck.
“Oh, oh,” said Burke, recognizing the signs. “He’s back home again.”
“Uh,” said Galen, respecting Virdon’s loneliness, knowing that Virdon occasionally slipped into long, melancholy reveries concerning the wife and children he had lost by hurling through time into this fearful future. Burke and Galen left Virdon to his thoughts. Burke sat down and began whittling a stick. Galen started looking for something edible among the trees and bushes of the area. After about twenty minutes of silence, Galen returned, carrying a number of strange looking pieces of fruit in his arms. They were round and lumpy, about the size of a small grapefruit, pink in color, with a peel like a banana that split along three seams. He put some of the fruit down near Burke. “It’s good,” said the chimpanzee. “I was lucky to find it.”
Planet of the Apes 04 - Lord of the Apes Page 9
