Planet of the Apes 03 - Journey into Terror

by George Alec Effinger

  “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.”

  “Where is it?” asked the gorilla.

  “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-sized 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 time 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.

  For the moment, Arn didn’t trust herself to speak. She nodded. Kraik looked around distrustfully. He was on unfamiliar ground, outside of the city.

  “Tomar’s brother—what was his name?” asked Virdon.

  “Durlin,” said Arn.

  Virdon nodded to Burke and Galen, who immediately headed for the farm as Virdon, Arn, and Kraik watched them for a moment. Kraik looked around uncomfortably. “It’s so quiet,” he said.

  “Peaceful,” said Arn.

  “You do feel all right coming back here?” asked Virdon.

  Arn nodded. “Yes. It’s different, now,” she said. “I can’t explain. Maybe because Kraik’s with me, maybe because I’m not alone, inside myself.”

  “Why don’t you stay with us?” asked Kraik, looking up at Virdon.

  Virdon hesitated. He made no reply.

  “He can’t,” said Arn.

  “Why?” asked Kraik.

  Arn shrugged, resigned to the situation.

  Virdon looked at them both. “You’ll like it here,” he said. “You, too, Kraik. You’ll get plenty to eat.”

  “Every day?” asked Kraik, unbelieving.

  Virdon grinned. “If you behave yourself.” He glanced off in the direction of the farmhouse. Burke and Galen stepped into view with Durlin, the farmer, and were evidently hitting it off all right. Burke signalled “okay” back to Virdon.

  Arn, Kraik, and Virdon saw Burke’s signal. The blond astronaut held out his right hand to Kraik and they shook. “There are two times to shake hands,” said Virdon. “When strangers meet, and when friends say goodbye.”

  Virdon put his arm around both Arn and Kraik. “God bless you both,” he said emotionally.

  Arn took Kraik’s hand and led him off toward the farm, leaving Virdon alone, watching. Burke and Galen moved away from Durlin, coming back toward Virdon. Durlin took a step to go with them but stopped. At that moment, Arn and Kraik moved into the scene. Burke and Galen smiled at the two and continued walking. Durlin embraced Arn, while Kraik stood by, still slightly uncomfortable.

  Galen and Burke joined Virdon by the bridge. They watched until Arn, Kraik, and Durlin had walked out of sight. Virdon was deeply preoccupied. Burke tapped him gently on the shoulder to pull him from his reverie. Virdon nodded, and the three friends prepared to move off. Burke glanced at the rifle he carried, and shrugged ruefully. “Love to keep this,” he said.

  “Any ape that sees you with a gun, though—!” said Galen.

  “Yeah,” said Burke. “Instead of shooting at a target, I’d be one!” He chucked the rifle into the stream. Virdon paused for a final look at the farm. He showed satisfaction at Arn’s safety, tinged with a small regret. He shrugged then, and gestured to the others that they all start off. They had a long way to travel.

  THE

  HORSE

  RACE

  based on the teleplay

  by David P. Lewis and Booker Bradshaw

  FIVE

  Galen, Burke, and Virdon had no destination in mind. They rarely did. Sometimes in their travels they made friends who suggested others who might be hospitable. But more often, the three fugitives took their chances with luck and fate, keeping their eye open to danger and taking no unnecessary risks.

  But, sometimes, even caution was little defense against what the forces of destiny planned for them.

&
nbsp; The road from Durlin’s farm ran along pleasant, shady hills, through fresh fields and quiet forests. The skies varied from deep blue to black and stormy. The terrain changed from the soft floor of the woods to the stony, painful footing of a rocky hillside. But these things were details that the two humans and the chimpanzee gladly accepted as part of their burden. They were predictable and natural. It was only the actions and thoughts of human beings and apes that could not be relied upon.

  Along a country road, dusty with the brown layer that spoke of too little rain in recent weeks, ran a ditch, shallow and choked with dead yellow weeds. The ditch was a drainage channel, but it had been a long while since any water had run off the road and collected there.

  The road was being used on this particular afternoon. The sun beat down, almost directly overhead. The air was still and stifling. But none of those gathered along the side of the road seemed to notice, although the individuals, all apes, wore heavy leather garments over their thick, shaggy coats of hair. Two horses, one ridden by a gorilla and the other ridden by a chimpanzee, were racing along the road. The horses and their riders were decorated with colors; these were, in the case of the horses, ribbons woven through the manes of the beasts. Their jockeys wore matching sashes that crossed their bodies from shoulder to waist. The riders were not armed, and they crouched over the necks of the horses in familiar racing fashion.

  A wooden platform had been constructed the day before to accommodate the simian spectators of the race. Behind it stood a country garrison of gorilla patrol guards. The viewing stand had been put together hastily by these guards of General Urko’s army, and the unimaginative gorillas had not decorated it in any way. There were no seats. The platform was flat, raised, with a railing built around it to keep the spectators from falling. In the front, at the best place to view the race, stood Urko himself, along with the local prefect, a chimpanzee. They both squinted against the sun, trying to get a better view of the race. Just in front of them on the road was the finish line. Urko seemed very confident, and joked and boasted with the prefect and with the other gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans who had been invited to join him. Beside Urko, the prefect stood quite a bit more nervously. He did not share Urko’s confidence and easy manner; in fact, the prefect was enormously anxious. The uniformed gorillas behind Urko were enjoying the respite from their military duties. One of these, named Zandar, was speaking in confidential tones to a chimpanzee; the chimpanzee pointed down the road, where the racing horses were raising clouds of dust. Zandar stopped speaking, checked his money pouch, and turned his attention to the race.