The cry came muffled by the trees and the sound of the sea. Burke and Virdon reacted immediately, recognizing the ape girl’s voice. Her scream echoed in the still air. “Fauna!” cried Burke. He bolted toward the sound. Zon jerked around, raising his rifle and taking aim at the dark-haired man. Sestus jumped in and knocked the Dragoon leader’s rifle away.
“No,” said Sestus. Zon glared at the chimpanzee in helpless rage.
Fauna still clung precariously to the roots that had broken her fall. She struggled vainly to climb back up the sheer face of the cliff. Burke was running rapidly toward her, shouting encouragement.
As the seconds passed, though, Fauna’s hands cramped and weakened; she lost her grip on the roots and fell. She landed in the turbulent water below; her fall had been eased by her catching the roots. She was not killed by the fall; Burke looked over the edge of the cliff and saw her thrashing, panic-stricken, in the white foam below. He knew that while death had spared her momentarily, it would claim Fauna very soon. Without a moment’s hesitation, without thinking about what might happen to him, Burke made a long, clean dive into the roaring, raging waves below. There might have been invisible rocks below the breaking surf; he might have dashed himself to instant death, but he never considered that possibility. All he knew was that Fauna had been swept under by a wave, and she had not surfaced again.
Perdix, Virdon, Galen, and the rest of the Dragoons came down toward the edge of the cliffs, watching Burke as he swam laboriously toward the spot where Fauna had gone under.
Burke reached her limp body, grabbed her, and began pulling her toward the shore. Fighting the heavy sea, the astronaut was near exhaustion himself; only his determination kept him swimming with his burden. He struggled toward a sandy beach, just away from the cliff where Fauna fell. Seeing where Burke was heading, the group above him on the cliff top hurried down a trail to the beach.
Burke carried Fauna in his arms out of the water. He stumbled in the sand, wearily trudging up the beach as the others drew near. Burke lowered Fauna slowly and carefully down on the sand. Then he, too, fell back in utter fatigue. Sestus came forward. Virdon took a blanket he had grabbed from a horse’s saddlebag and covered Fauna with it. She began to recover consciousness and moaned slightly. The sound made Burke sit up and smile. “It’s all right, Fauna,” he said gently. “It’s all right now.”
“Pago?” asked Fauna in a weak, distant voice. “Pago . . . is that you?”
“Yes, Fauna.”
She shivered, relieved and happy that he had come back to her, after all. She reached out and touched his face. There was an instant of contact with his human flesh; she pulled her hand back as though it had been burned. “No—no—” she cried, confused and horrified. “You’re not Pago. You’re . . .” she could barely bring herself to say it, “human.” She uttered the word as if she were spitting out poison.
Burke thought of the Biblical story he had told her. “It was a . . . deception born of desperate need, Fauna,” he said imploringly. “It was not meant to harm.”
But the combined shock of the near-fatal accident and the revelation of Burke’s true identity were more than Fauna could take. She almost went into hysteria at the thought of being so close to a human. Shocked, revolted, she recoiled from him in abject terror. “Get away from me,” she shrieked. “Get away!”
Burke was shaken. He retreated from her, not wanting to upset her further. Sestus stepped in to try and placate her. “Fauna,” he said, “it’s your uncle, it’s Sestus. I’m here. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“He’s human!” murmured Fauna. “Human!”
“But he isn’t going to hurt you,” said Sestus.
“Get him away, get him away,” said Fauna angrily. “He tricked me, like the others tricked my father! They’re treacherous, just as you said, Uncle Sestus. Like animals. They must be treated like animals . . .” She broke down into sobs, her body trembling violently.
“Fauna, listen to me,” said Sestus pityingly. “The human saved your life, do you hear? It was not I who saved you from the ocean. It was the human.”
“No,” said Fauna, shaking her head, “I don’t believe it.”
“It’s true, Fauna!” said Sestus, taking hold of the young female ape’s shoulders. “I saw him! He risked his own life to save you!”
“I hate him! A human killed my father. Killed him!”
Virdon knelt beside Fauna and tried to speak with her. “Fauna, it’s Alar,” he said, as gently as he could. She did not respond. “Fauna. I don’t know who killed your father. But even if it was a human, that doesn’t mean all humans are bad. Just as all apes are not good.”
“That’s a lie!” said Fauna, snarling. “I hate humans!”
“Fauna,” said Sestus, unable to keep his secret any longer, “this Alar speaks the truth. It was not a human who caused your father’s death.”
“Shut up, Sestus!” said Zon in a warning tone.
Perdix looked suddenly interested. “What are you saying, Sestus?” he asked.
Sestus turned back to Fauna; the aging chimpanzee was almost in tears, too. His voice was full of pain. “I . . . hated and feared humans, just as you do now. We all did. But your father . . . he was different. He didn’t fear the humans. He trusted them. He believed in them.” Sestus had to pause while he collected himself. “That night,” he said falteringly, “I was with Zon . . .”
“No, Sestus!” shouted Zon.
Sestus ignored him. “We warned your father not to trust them as you are warning me now. But he was stubborn. Zon became angry. There was a fight. Zon hit your father. Lucian fell and struck his head on a rock. Zon said we were both responsible for his death.” Sestus was overcome with anguish. “Fauna, I couldn’t bring myself to tell you the truth. So I made an agreement with Zon; we would blame it on the humans. Then Zon used this he as an excuse to drive off and kill humans. But I can’t go on living like this any more. Not when I see how wrong I was in thinking they are all bad. This is a lie that we must not let continue. I have acted worse than any human.” He held Fauna tightly to him as the ape girl slowly accepted and absorbed the meaning of his words.
Zon’s frenzy was growing during Sestus’ speech. “Sestus is a coward,” he said, trying to regain his swaggering dominance over the other apes. “What difference does it make who killed Lucian? The humans are our enemies. We must drive them from our land. We must rid ourselves of their evil!”
During this speech, the Dragoons, one by one, removed their masks and dropped them to the ground. With looks of scorn and pity for Zon they slowly rode away.
“Kill them!” screamed Zon. “Kill the humans!” He noticed that the Dragoons had left him behind. “Listen to me! Listen to me!” All the Dragoons were gone.
There was a long silence. Everyone left on the narrow beach was lost in his own thoughts. Perdix stepped forward and put a hand on Zon’s shoulder. “Let’s go,” he said.
Perdix gestured with his rifle. Zon cast a long look to the others who had remained, then moved away, followed by Perdix, his captor. Night was closing in on them all.
The next morning began bright and clear. It was a new day, a clean and fresh morning. Virdon, Burke, and Galen prepared to venture on. Burke helped Galen with his backpack. Sestus had his arm around Fauna. “You’re welcome to stay, of course,” said the chimpanzee.
“No, thanks,” said Virdon. “We have to move on.”
Burke stepped up close to Fauna. He spoke to her gently. “Fauna,” he said warmly, “I hope that you forgive me for deceiving you.”
She was sheepish and uncertain. “I just can’t understand,” she said, her expression becoming even more confused. “How could I have thought that I loved . . . a human?”
Burke smiled, understanding her feelings. He managed to overcome his own inner feelings about Fauna’s ugliness. He kissed her lightly, gently on the cheek. She was startled at the touch of his lips, her hand coming up to touch the spot.
Not lo
ng afterward, Burke, Virdon, and Galen were marching away from the house toward the crest of the hill. Fauna, her head tilted, her ears listening to the sound of the travelers’ fading footsteps, waved gently to a man she could not see. Her eyes were bright and wet with tears.
She could not sort out the feelings inside her that had caused those tears. That was a question she would try to answer on many dark nights through many long years.
Table of Contents
Back Cover
Preview
Books
Titlepage
Copyright
Dedication
THE SURGEON
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
THE DECEPTION
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
Planet of the Apes 02 - Escape to Tomorrow Page 17
