by Alan Nayes
The smaller man, her boss, looked up and smiled, waving her over. Dr. Reddic was built like a gymnast—compact and muscular—with thinning gray hair that gave him a Nelsen Mandela look. He hailed from the same country, South Africa, and his numerous publications placed him near the top of his field of expertise, a veritable Stephen Hawking of primatology.
Bonds held out his hand. “So we meet again, Dr. Hollister.”
Shelby shook it briefly. “Mr. Bonds.”
“Max.”
“Max, so what brings you to Los Angeles? Last I read, NASA and Dr. Astor were in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, studying the UCO.”
“We were and still are. Some of the samples are in Virginia, too. In fact, Dr. Astor and Jean Simpkins will be arriving here tomorrow.”
“SETI’s coming to the Center?”
“To see Goliath.”
“Of course.”
Reddic indicated what held the men’s interest—the juvenile partial skeleton. “Hi, Shelby, I hope you don’t mind me taking the liberty of showing Mr. Bonds the skeletal remains. He wanted to see firsthand the bones found so near the unidentified container housing our ‘celebrity’ resident. NASA is still unconvinced they are directly linked.”
Shelby gazed at the young primate skull and the tiny circular hole above the right orbit. Was she murdered? “They are linked, one hundred percent,” she declared.
Bonds and Reddic exchanged looks. “How can you be so sure?” the NASA man asked.
“Goliath’s DNA,” Shelby said. “The results arrived this morning. That juvenile female skull you are looking at is Goliath’s daughter.”
Reddic closed the conference room door so they could have some privacy. The chairman appeared genuinely intrigued, Bonds a little uneasy, Shelby decided. Why would the fact that Goliath was related to the female juvenile and the mate of the adult female of the huge prehistoric ulna she had in her possession make him or NASA nervous? No doubt once the press got hold of this “ancestral tidbit,” it would paint Goliath in a whole new light. Giant ape was a family man. What would they discover when the remainder of the adult female skeleton—the juvenile’s mother—was dug from the ice? A disturbing thought entered Shelby’s mind—had she been murdered, too? Would they find a well circumscribed hole above her orbit as well?
“Why is NASA suddenly so interested in the prehistoric remains found outside the UCO?” she asked, eschewing quizzing her boss a moment.
Bonds shifted in his chair, staring a moment at the large monitor. No feed currently but Shelby knew Reddic, with a push of a remote, could instantly bring up the interior of the primate holding cell—and Goliath.
Bonds started slowly, “NASA has a lot riding on this story. Beauty and the Beast…” He chuckled.
Shelby rolled her eyes at the allusion to the recent headlines. Hell, the entire story had become a cliché magnet—King Kong, Damsel in Distress, Yeti, Sasquatch, Abominable Snowman, and, leading the pack, Beauty and the Beast. A photo of her standing in front of the huge primate attempting to keep Goliath from being shot and in return nearly being crushed to death by the monster’s right hand had spread virally within hours of the capture at the Copper River tunnel head. “He’s just an ape,” she commented.
Bonds’ smile faded. “But he was found in an object that was without a doubt manufactured in another world, light years away, thousands of years ago, when you and I were still playing with fire and climbing trees. Now imagine we have an actual ET, an extraterrestrial, ‘detained’ here. Think what it would do for the space program. Funding would skyrocket, we could be on Mars within a decade…” He paused a moment. “Did you know in the last week since Goliath’s capture, SETI has seen their coffers grow one hundredfold? And that’s just from the private sectors. The public wants Goliath to be from another world.”
Shelby ignored Reddic’s piecing gray eyes. “The public wants the truth,” she said.
Bonds started to speak but Shelby continued. “Goliath’s species evolved on earth, his mate and child evolved on earth—the DNA doesn’t lie.”
Unfazed, the NASA man said, “The UCO is composed of atoms and electrons in combinations we have never seen before. The density is, well…unearthly. Completely new alien elements. The gel matrix appears to behave like a living organ, or did behave—each component is like an organic self-replicating nanocomputer with enough energy to light a city the size of New York for five days. And that’s just one tiny, tiny component. And its mass is disappearing!” He shook his head in apparent frustration. “Our physicists, even the incomparable Dr. Astor and his researchers, have been unable to quantify exactly what kind of energy it is.”
“Except it can disintegrate a plane,” she said. Or split a glacier.
Bonds frowned. “Or bring down a chopper. If Goliath is alien and harbors that type of energy…”
“It sounds like NASA wants him to be alien.” Shelby shot Reddic a stare. “Damn, Donald, is that why the sedation has not been tapered? Goliath acts like he’s living in a fogbank. The Center has never kept a newly acquired resident under sedation so long. It’s not healthy.”
The chairman and Bonds shared a look. Reddic started, “The military and NASA suggested it. Thought it would be prudent for the time being—”
“Goliath did not bring down that helicopter,” Shelby blurted out.
Bonds asked, “Then what did? The video footage suggests otherwise,” he added.
Shelby stood. “Screw the videos. He’s just a big strong primate.” Gesturing with her arms, “From here…Earth! Jesus.” She pushed her hair off her forehead in frustration. “Incredible!”
Reddic flipped on the flat-screen. Goliath sat unmoving against the faux trunk, exactly where Shelby had last seen him. He appeared to be staring directly at the in-cell camera mounted high in one corner. A huge hairy mannequin.
Silence filled the conference room, until Reddic said, “A CT scan of Goliath’s head is scheduled for Friday morning at the Los Angeles Animal Institute.”
Shelby bit off cursing. “Why? That’s just excessive radiation he doesn’t need. Get him off the diazepam and he’ll be more alert.”
Bonds fielded the question. “We believe Goliath brought down that Fish and Game chopper with his mind. Something is going on inside that big monkey’s head. And the military is going to find out what.”
Shelby nearly laughed out load. “And you guys took us to the moon?”
Reddic reminded Shelby, “Goliath is not ours. He’s on loan to the Center.”
She shot back. “I know that.”
Bonds stood. “Good. It’s settled. Dr. Astor will be here to help supervise.”
“I don’t believe we’re having this conversation.” She stared at the monitor once more and stalked from the room. “He’s just an ape.”
Shelby sat behind her desk still frustrated. A CT scan—what did they expect to find? A robot or cyborg brain? “Shit,” she mumbled, shaking her head. She reached for the envelope. Reading the return address, she said, “So what do you have to say about all this, Mr. Ahmen?”
She ripped it open and read.
This time she did laugh out loud—until she lifted out the handwritten check. She read the amount.
“The man is nuts.” She reached for the phone, tapping out an extension. “Donald, you alone? Good. I’ll be right down.”
CHAPTER 18
The world gave birth to primates, and primates ruled what had given them birth. They always would.
Rasheed Ahmen believed this as intensely as he believed the end result of any endeavor is what mattered—not the path taken to get there. This mantra was what made this Syrian immigrant so fabulously wealthy. Over half a billion in assets at last count, a twelve-thousand-square-foot mansion on a private island surrounded by the emerald waters of the beautiful British Columbia Strait of Georgia, and his most prized asset—his House of Primates.
Initially it was pornography when he’d first arrived in Cana
da over two decades ago as an angry and disenfranchised nineteen-year-old. Smarts, education, and an indefatigable work ethic—some nights he would literally drive the escorts to their late-night trysts himself—were the tools used to achieve results. And a strong arm when required. Then he hired drivers, more girls, the Internet sex explosion became a way of life, and he was raking in over a hundred thousand a week. But he smelled the law enforcement crackdown and adroitly he branched into more legit moneymaking avenues—real estate, investment banking, venture capital. The arm twisting moved to the back room, but occasionally when necessary he would call in favors to obtain results. He loathed failure and rarely failed.
Ahmen dialed down the artificial lighting, mimicking a setting sun. The view over the staged diorama never ceased to amaze him. The remarkably preserved lowland silverback gorilla posed on all fours beside a baby and his mate surrounded by a rainforest and shallow swamp. It was so real, Ahmen could have taken his rifle and shot the family of apes again. He sipped his wine with supreme satisfaction—he hired only the best taxidermists and artists. His House of Primates collection would be the envy of any natural history museum in the world. At over twenty thousand square feet, two floors, and three wings, he could walk through thirty countries in less than an hour. His specimens ranged from the common to extremely rare—blue-eyed black lemur, silky sifaka, indri from Madagascar, galogos, colobus, three more species of gorillas, languars, spider monkeys, gibbons, Sumatran orangutans, twenty-four more endangered species—and every mount staged to natural perfection. He heard the construction going on in the south wing—the Arctic Ice Age exhibit.
The door opened from down the entranceway. Somewhat chagrined at the interruption, he accepted the intrusion when he saw it was Cezini. The woman wore the traditional Syrian dress called a thob—black sateen and long sleeves, cinched at her tiny waist with a red belt. He was glad to see her not wearing the veil, or asbeh. In fact, he preferred western clothing. Cezini was a twenty-six-year-old princess—literally—and beautiful enough to belong to a pharaoh. In a bikini, her figure would arouse the dying; fully naked, raise the dead.
He offered her a sip of his chardonnay. “Well, don’t keep me in suspense. What did you think?”
Her exquisite face gazed around the various dioramas. “They never move.”
He laughed. “Of course not. They are preserved. Stuffed.”
She passed the wine glass back. “Rasheed, why do you have this fetish with monkeys?”
He squelched his first response, stupid woman. “Because they are so like us. Better than us.”
“And you truly believe this.”
“Fervently. Since I was a small boy visiting the zoo in Damascus.”
“Then have a zoo. You have the means.”
“Ha. And have to feed all these. Perhaps you would like to clean up after them.”
“Don’t be vulgar,” she remarked, coyly nudging his shoulder. They wandered deeper into the House along a winding path, Ahmen pointing out various exhibits. Cezini listened to him, then said, “The video was impressive. She is crazy, I think.”
Ahmen decided Cezini had a point. He must have watched the huge primate’s capture a hundred times since receiving a hacked entire version, not just what was presented on the news. “Dr. Shelby Hollister has the proverbial balls. To stand in front of a monster beast like that. Truly remarkable.”
“Is that why they call them the Beauty and the Beast?”
“That is based on a traditional fairytale written long ago. But she is a beauty.”
Cezini turned up her nose. “And that thing is really a beast. So frightening.”
“No, darling. That is where you are wrong. Goliath is as beautiful a specimen as nature has ever produced.”
“He is not alien then?”
Ahmen chuckled. “No, on that point I must agree with Dr. Hollister. Goliath did not come from outer space.”
“And what about her, the beauty? You wish to include her in your primate collection?”
“You sound jealous.”
“No, not of her. She is only a dumb conceited American. But it would make for an interesting scene.” In a seductive tone, adding, “The Hollister woman, the giant ape, both preserved, and nude…she could be feeding him a papaya or a handful of grapes perhaps…perfectly preserved.”
Ahmen grinned lasciviously. “A female Homo sapiens, in here. Stuffed. That has never been done.” He thought a long moment. “Beauty and the Beast.” Abruptly his expression hardened. Grabbing Cezini’s arm roughly, he hissed, “Do not ever suggest such foolishness again. Never.”
The woman’s eyes flashed fear. “I only thought—”
“Don’t think.” He gazed back at the partially constructed wing. “But I will have the beast. Goliath belongs here in my House.”
Shelby watched the crew finish applying the last seal to the two-inch-thick polycarbonate glass plate. Once completed, the temporary wood panel would be removed, allowing Shelby a clear view of Goliath, and, more important from an acclimation perspective, the giant primate would have a clear close-up view of humans. Safely. The glass could withstand a fifty-caliber bullet without shattering. These laminates were no nylon net that could be ripped apart.
She’d had it positioned just off to the side and behind the water pool. The space between the side wall and cement boulders provided enough room for Goliath to stand in direct contact to the transparent partition. A speaker allowed verbal communication into the holding cell.
While the new ten-acre Arctic exhibit was being planned—final location pending, possibly Los Angeles, possibly Virginia—Shelby had ordered a second panel be added to the cell enclosure—this one open with iron bars. Primates thrived on contact. I am crazy. But she hoped one day to actually touch Goliath and he touch a human. Yet he was so big and strong, she doubted this would ever happen. Anything to demonstrate he wasn’t the ferocious monster roaring at that helicopter was worth a try though. An alien, damn, she scoffed. Still, an involuntary shudder passed through her, recalling that giant right hand bearing down on her shoulder, just before the ketamine kicked in. Well, the bars would allow him to experience human scent anyway.
She sensed her cell phone vibrate. A text from John. She read, and smiling, texted back. See you tonight.
John was attending a conference in San Diego on glacier tracking and planned to drive up to visit. Wanted to see her and Goliath. At least he’d mentioned her first, she thought with an amused smile. She found herself looking forward to it. Where he was going to stay hadn’t been discussed but she already planned on offering her place. Hell, what were guest bedrooms for anyway?
She moved aside as Reddic dropped by to check out the craftsmanship. He gently rapped the glass surface. “Strong. When’s the wood panel going to be removed?”
“This afternoon.”
“You going to be here?”
She grinned. “What do you think?”
He smiled. “I imagine him on the other side listening to us.”
Her smile faded. “Not with the amount of sedation he’s receiving.”
Reddic nodded a few times. “I understand you’re upset about the CT scan but the Center had no say in the matter.”
“Where’s Bonds?”
“Back to the Hilton. He and Dr. Astor will be by tomorrow.”
“And SETI?”
“Yes, I suspect everyone with a hand in the pie so to speak will be watching closely.” Shelby could feel him watching her. “Shelby, I’m concerned you might be getting too personally involved. True, this is a once in a lifetime experience, but I don’t want you getting…ah…what’s the word?”
Shelby couldn’t resist a small grin. “God, Donald, I hope you weren’t going to say hurt. I’m a scientist. A researcher. Goliath is a subject. Not a boyfriend.”
Reddic visibly relaxed. “I know, I know. But they can take him from here at any time.”
“I’m aware of the situation.”
>
“And still no decision on the Arctic project. Wow, would that be a coup if we nailed it here.”
“Goliath is in the best hands here. The Center will get the contract. These people aren’t stupid.” Except when it comes to alien apes.
They began a slow walk back to the offices. Changing subjects, Reddic commented, “The vet assistants tell me he’s eating all the fruit now. Even the drugged ones.”
This news had taken Shelby by surprise, too. “True. And the vets and I have agreed on the optimum dose of sedation to be added to his water. His hydration pattern has been fairly consistent. He awakens and drinks around five a.m. and then again around eleven at night. So we’ve been adding the diazepam at four a.m. and ten p.m. so he gets the highest concentrations.”
“Brilliant. Oh, how did the conference go earlier?”
“Good.” Meetings with the press were occurring daily now and had been opened to the public as well. “The Center auditorium was packed. People can’t get enough of this story.” She jokingly added, “And please don’t say it.”
Reddic shook his head. “Beauty and the Beast? I won’t.” He laughed. “But seriously, funding and public donations just keep going up. Including that nice small amount from your friend.”
Shelby stopped in mid-step. “Rasheed Ahmen is not a friend. We’ve never exchanged words.”
“Anyone who sends a no-strings-attached, not a name-a-wing-after-me check must be considered a friend. A cool hundred grand for the Center of Primatology is not to be taken lightly.”
“It wasn’t a donation, Donald.”
“Then what the hell was it?”
“A down payment.”
“What?”
“Yeah. I believe Rasheed Ahmen would like to buy Goliath.”
Shelby checked the time. Almost five in the afternoon. She wanted to get home and clean up before John arrived. She set the young primate skull back on the counter. Every time she examined it something new revealed itself. Most recently the cranium and how the double crests exactly mimicked the adult’s. A veritable chip off the old block. Now that the DNA results proved this young female had been Goliath’s offspring, she found herself gazing at it less as a research subject and more as how a babysitter or teacher might observe a child under her care. Foolish, she chided herself. These are only bones, nothing more. Yet she couldn’t rid herself of the fact that twenty-eight thousand years ago they weren’t only bones. They were sentient living, breathing individuals. A family of three. Her mind roved to the missing member. Goliath’s mate remained buried in Little Okpilak Glacier.
