Planet of the Apes 03 - Journey into Terror

by George Alec Effinger

  Urko cut his answer off with a sharp gesture. “Where are they?” he said, his voice quiet but hard in tone.

  “You know,” said Virdon wistfully, “after being on this Earth for I don’t know how many millions of years, this situation always goes on exactly like this. You ask me. I deny everything. You get mad. I get tortured. Either you get the information, or you don’t. Or you get it and don’t believe it. You’d think there would be something new, here. You’d think someone would solve the dilemma after all this time.”

  Urko stared at Virdon, saying nothing. An idea was forming. Something new. Just what Virdon wanted. Something new.

  The city looked just as it had for the last two thousand years. Oh, every few months, some worn-out facade crumbled a bit more, tumbling down a crashing weight of stone and brick to the sidewalks and streets below. But these minor tragedies meant nothing. The city itself did not change. It was a skeleton, and its dead bones would remain throughout eternity as a grim reminder.

  Burke and Galen walked the streets of the city silently. It was difficult to believe that this place had been such a vibrant, exciting center of human life. Its present condition seemed more like a stage setting rather than real life. But the overpowering drama and sweep, the vast scale of the disaster, at last convinced Burke. He shook his head. “A needle in a haystack,” he said.

  Galen glanced at his companion, puzzled. “Hm?” he asked. No matter how long they kept together, the humans always managed to drop in phrases from their past, idioms which Galen could not puzzle out.

  “Nothing, nothing,” said Burke apologetically. “It was just an old expression. It means something like—” He broke off suddenly seeing movement among the low hills of rubble about them.

  A human scavenger came out of a building, evidently unaware of Galen and Burke’s presence. The man walked innocently into the street, then stopped and froze in his tracks, staring at the astronaut and the chimpanzee in stunned surprise.

  “Wait,” cried Burke. This might be the opportunity they were seeking, to find clues to Virdon’s disappearance. “We’re looking for someone—”

  The human suddenly turned and darted into the nearby ruins, disappearing from sight; he left Burke and Galen standing there helplessly. “My own people,” said Burke disconsolately. “Human beings. If you can call them that.”

  “Have they changed so much from the old times?” asked Galen innocently.

  Burke stared at him for a moment. “I don’t want to answer that,” he said. He looked around him, at the ruined buildings, at the timid, rarely spotted human denizens of the forbidden city. “In a haystack,” he said helplessly.

  The center of the gorilla garrison in the city had been taken over by Urko, Zaius, and their small entourage. The Captain, who had always been in charge, felt a little disgruntled about the brusque way Urko had demanded and received every attention from the soldiers. After all, the Captain told himself, didn’t this go against everything that Urko had written himself, concerning military conduct? But the one thing that the Captain was sure of was that he couldn’t very well say anything.

  Urko was planning a massive search of all the ruins in the extensive city, a search on a scale never before heard-of. The Captain had his doubts, and the Sergeant was exasperated—he knew who would have to do all of the leg-work—but neither gorilla said anything.

  Urko gestured, and the two subordinate officers left the office. Urko and Zaius were alone, eating a meal. At least, Urko was eating. Zaius’ food was untouched on the plate in front of him. He was deep in thought. Urko never noticed. Urko always ate with great appetite.

  The meal progressed a little while longer, until Urko, too, had a thought. He jumped to his feet and shouted. “Captain!” he called. The Captain came into the small office from the hallway outside.

  “Yes, sir,” he said.

  “Bring the prisoner back when I’ve finished eating.”

  “Yes, sir.” The Captain turned and moved back to the hallway through the cloth hanging.

  Urko gave no further thought to his plan. He went back to finishing his meal as quickly and efficiently as possible, taking not the least pleasure in doing it. In fact, if Urko could find a way of eliminating meals altogether, it would please him to save the time. Zaius watched him, thoughtfully.

  “Look, Dr. Zaius,” said Urko, “why don’t you eat? You complained just a while before that you were hungry and tired. You need to eat. We’ll be going to work soon. I’m starved.”

  Zaius waved away all of Urko’s suggestions. “Are you planning to beat the prisoner again?” he asked quietly.

  Urko never slowed the progression of food from his plate to his mouth. The idea of beating Virdon didn’t strike him as unpleasant. “If necessary,” he said simply, and quickly, in order to spoon in some more food before he was reauired to say more.

  “You’ll kill him.”

  “If necessary.”

  Zaius pushed his chair back from the table and sighed. Urko’s methods were unarguable. He had no authority over Urko. Urko had no authority over Zaius. Technically, the President and Chief Minister of the Supreme Council could direct the actions of Urko and his men—but he could just try it some time! “If you kill him,” said Zaius, “it would be too bad.”

  Urko paused, a spoonful of his food held between plate and lips. “You’re mourning for a human?” he asked, in horror.

  “No,” said Zaius cryptically, “I mourn for Urko.”

  Urko put his utensils down and listened to what Zaius was saying.

  “I mourn for you and the strong influence you have—you had—built up in the Supreme Council.”

  Urko laughed. He stood from his place at the table and began pacing the room, slapping a glove into his palm. “I’m not worried,” he said. “My influence will go on growing stronger.”

  “Whenever you begin pacing like that,” said Zaius, “it shows that you are nervous. You should know yourself better. But, anyway, your influence, such as it is, cannot be increased by killing humans. We’re not concerned merely with the death of this prisoner. We must be more farsighted than that. We must consider the reactions to our deeds. We must make permanently sure that his dangerous ideas do not infect the domesticated humans. To this end, I believe we—”

  Urko made a loud, raucous laugh. He had found nothing funny in what Zaius was saying, but the laugh served its purpose. It silenced Zaius for the moment. “I will make certain,” said Urko, in his overriding manner. “Ideas die with the man.”

  Zaius shook his head doubtfully. “I sometimes wonder,” he said. “If you kill a man, his followers make a martyr out of him. Then the problem is many times worse. In any case, eliminating Virdon is useless, if his companions are free to spread the poison. Urko, your prisoner—alive—is the surest way of capturing the other two.”

  Urko was about to explode, but he controlled his anger. He stared at Zaius for a beat. “Why do I always have to take military advice from you?” he asked.

  “Because sometimes your eyes are blind to your best interests,” said Zaius simply.

  “Or are they blind to your best interests?”

  Zaius shrugged. “They could be the same thing.”

  “And now I see that the wise Zaius has his own plan for getting the information from the prisoner.”

  “I have been thinking about it,” said Zaius quietly.

  “And so have I. We will not kill the prisoner. We will do something else, instead.”

  “I am glad of that,” said Zaius. “You are using your mind.”

  Urko paid no attention. A grim smile formed on his lips. “We will try . . . something new.”

  In the city streets, Galen and Burke continued to move up a street, still searching for any sign of Virdon. The people they met at rare intervals, without exception, refused to speak to them.

  Their position was almost hopeless, and they knew it. But they would not stop.

  In Urko’s commandeered headquarters, Urko and Zaius
were present as the Captain entered with the blonde woman who was captured along with Virdon. Arn was plainly terrified. She did not expect to live much longer.

  The Captain threw her roughly into the room. She fell against the table, hurting one of her legs, but she did not cry out. Zaius went across the room to help her up.

  “She was Tomar’s woman,” said the Captain scornfully. “He was a rebel. He isn’t a rebel any longer. He is dead.” Arn winced, but she wouldn’t let these apes have the benefit of seeing her cry.

  “All right,” said Zaius, “Urko, if you have some kind of new technique, let’s get on with it. So far, all I’ve seen are examples of the old technique, and I know those sickeningly well.”

  Urko stared at Arn judiciously. “When you capture a rebel it’s probably better to kill his whole family,” he said blandly. “Those around him are usually infected.”

  Arn was amazed by the ferocity of Urko’s words. “Please,” she begged, weeping, “I didn’t mean to do anything wrong—”

  The Captain of the gorilla guards caught up on Urko’s technique. They would be rough on the woman for a while. He went over and forced Arn to stand upright. “Quiet!” he said.

  “In this case,” said Zaius, “it’s as well you didn’t kill her. She will serve a better purpose.”

  Arn had no idea of the conflict that the two ape leaders were engaged in. “What are you going to do with me?” The Captain took her roughly by the arm again.

  “Come along,” said the Captain viciously.

  After Arn had been disposed of according to the agreement reached between Zaius and Urko, the Captain and his guards silently stalked through the same streets where they had last seen the boy, Kraik.

  Kraik was hidden behind the rubble pile, scared now as he realized that someone was moving nearer to him on the street. He listened hard for another moment, then turned and ran off in the opposite direction.

  As the poor boy turned to run, he careened right into the arms of a waiting gorilla who’d been stationed there some time earlier by the Captain. The gorilla grinned and picked up Kraik. The boy struggled, kicking and thrashing and swearing, but he was helplessly caught.

  “Let me go!” screamed the boy. “I haven’t done anything! Let me go!”

  The Captain and two other gorillas rushed up toward the boy and his captor. The Captain stopped when he faced the still-screaming Kraik.

  “Stop fighting,” said the Captain in his oiliest tones. “You’re in luck. As I see it, you have the chance to earn more food than you’ve ever seen before.”

  Kraik stopped his struggling, dangling helplessly in the gorilla guard’s grasp at arm’s length. “What do I have to do?” he asked doubtfully.

  “It’s very simple,” said the Captain. “Just keep asking the right questions of the right people and tell us the answers.”

  “Are you sure that’s all?” asked Kraik.

  The Captain only shrugged.

  The city’s streets were silent, as always. They had been silent for thousands of years. They had been silent for a longer time than they had been filled with human racket. Therefore, according to some scale; the natural state of the city was silence. Human population had been an infestation, quickly and totally suppressed, although a few scavenging vermin still lived within the city’s boundaries.

  Burke and Galen moved through the oddly shadowed squares and open places among the fallen-down buildings, among huge mounds and piles of rubble. They studied a building across the street from their present position. Galen carried a couple of flat rocks in his huge shaggy hands.

  Across the street from the fugitives was a large, solid-looking building, evidently built with a mind toward natural (or unnatural) disasters. It had weathered them all, and stood alone on the street as a tribute to the foresightedness of human scientists, a quality that was as rare as any other goodness in the human race. It was the Headquarters of the Scientific Institute, the main co-ordinating building of which the Institute the three fugitives discovered was only a subsidiary. Now it looked as though the Headquarters had been taken over by the gorillas. A uniformed guard stood outside. There was the flag with the three interlinked circles above the door. There was no sense in approaching the building from the front. Galen and Burke shrugged helplessly, but they said nothing. They moved away.

  A few yards down the street, behind a protecting pile of debris, Burke spoke in low tones to his chimpanzee comrade. “As soon as I get into position,” he said. Burke looked back in the direction of the Headquarters building. He was tense, worried, and helpless with his lack of information. But he hadn’t yet given up. He was only waiting for an opportunity.

  The opportunity came, as Burke expected that it would. As the gorilla guard looked the other way, Burke darted from behind the rubble pile, dashed across the street and pressed himself tightly against the corner of the Headquarters building. He was shielded from view by the large rectangular blocks that edged the corner.

  Galen watched Burke’s charge. He relaxed a little when he saw that Burke had managed to reach his goal unseen. Galen now used the two rocks to create a diversion down the street. The first rock landed in a pile of rubble, muffled somewhat by the loose dirt there. Nevertheless, the guard looked up suspiciously.

  “Who’s there?” cried the gorilla.

  Galen tossed the second rock, and it hit the edge of a mound, making other large stones rattle and clatter down to the street level. The guard came out from his post to check on the noise. Now Galen ducked down, took a couple of rocks, and made clip-clopping noises. To the guard, it sounded as though a horse were riding away. The guard, thoroughly confused, stepped into the street. There was, of course, no horse. Galen clip-clopped less loudly, until he made the sound fade away altogether.

  The gorilla guard was very puzzled at the disappearance of a horse that had never appeared, but, in his simple-minded way, shrugged the mystery off.

  Burke, still hidden around the corner of the building, watched the scene tensely.

  Once again, Galen, hidden behind the pile of rubble, started making the clip-clopping sound, very loudly.

  The gorilla was determined to discover the source of the hoofbeats; he strode toward the pile of rubble. Just as he reached it, Burke darted out, around the corner, and made a diving tackle of the guard. The gorilla tumbled onto the pile of rubble. Galen jumped up and grabbed the rifle dropped by the gorilla, as Burke lifted the gorilla’s legs, dumping the now-unconscious guard behind the rubble.

  Burke twisted a piece of rope around the gorilla’s wrists and knelt on the ape’s chest, while Galen held the rifle on him. Slowly, the gorilla regained consciousness. His head hurt, of course, but he couldn’t rub it, not with his hands tied. He looked around him warily, and was frightened to see two of the three enemies of the state they had been chasing the day before. The gorilla was more worried about what Urko would say, then about what this man and this renegade chimpanzee would do to him.

  “All right,” said Burke in a forceful whisper, “I’m not even going to give you the proverbial three chances. I want the truth, and I want it now. Where’s Virdon?”

  The gorilla shook his head and said nothing. Galen gestured for Burke to let him do the questioning. Burke assented.

  “A man,” said the young chimpanzee. “You’ll remember. You were hunting the three of us. We separated. You caught a man. He was captured yesterday.”

  “Yes,” said the gorilla, suddenly brightly. “He was brought in!”

  Burke nodded toward Galen, who only shrugged modestly. “Now, what I’d like to know, and I remind you that your hands are tied up and that I’ve got your own rifle trained on you. Did they take Virdon into that building across the street? If so, which floor did they take him to? Which room?”

  The gorilla studied the building for a few seconds, a frown on his face. He thought hard. “He’s not there,” he said at last.

  Burke moved forward with a strand of strong metal wire. He put the wire around
the ape’s throat, garroting him a little. He tightened the wire, choking the ape slightly.

  “You know,” said Galen calmly, “my friend here has a passion for the truth.”

  “A human!”

  Burke tightened the wire even more. The gorilla tried to loosen it with his bound hands, but couldn’t.

  “The truth!” cried Galen.

  The gorilla was looking very frightened by now. “He was taken away this morning. I don’t know where.”

  Burke was furious. He didn’t want to have his plans frustrated so easily. “You’re lying!”

  The gorilla didn’t know anything else to do in order to convince them. Mere words had had no effect. There was nothing else to say. “The prisoner rooms are empty. You can see for yourself.”

  Galen put down the end of the rifle, sadly and a little hopelessly. “He’s telling the truth,” he said. “He believes that he’d be killed if he lied. No gorilla would be that smart, to lie anyway.”

  “What?” asked the gorilla, sensing a slur on his race.

  “Nothing,” said Galen.

  Burke removed the garrot from around the ape’s neck, but he left the gorilla’s hands tied. “It’s worse than a needle in a haystack. We’re looking for a needle somewhere in a whole city, on a whole planet!”

  Galen and Burke fell into a solemn thoughtfulness. After several possible suggestions occurred and were dismissed, Galen said, “They might actually have taken him back to Central City, instead of questioning him here.”

  Burke shook his head. “Yes,” he said, “and they might not. Okay, we follow orders, Galen. We go with the top priority. Alan said that it was more important to go on than any of us being found . . .”

  The Headquarters that were being used by the gorilla guards in the city resembled an old, medieval castle. Virdon’s thought was that it had been a museum at one time, perhaps later converted into the main branch of the Scientific Institute. He would have given a lot to know the history of the world between the time he and Burke—and poor, dead, Jonesy—had blasted off and the time the apes came into power. What had mankind done? What advances had been made? That was what the machine in the Institute had been about to tell them . . .