“I doubt we will be in office then,” the president said.
“Really, sir, I am serious.”
“So am I, Victor. I have an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, and to preserve and protect the people and nation. I don’t see how these apes are much of a threat to that oath—or, for that matter, what I am supposed to do about a theoretical threat to the earth that doesn’t mature for almost two thousand years.”
Hasslein continued to pace. He said nothing.
“Come now,” the president said. “Victor, what the devil do you expect me to do about it? What can we do about it?”
“Mister President, can apes talk now?”
“Eh? Of course not, Victor.”
“After thousands—millions—of years of evolution, they can’t talk and don’t appear to be able to learn,” Hasslein said. “Had you asked me before those three appeared in that capsule, I would have said it was absolutely impossible for apes to learn to talk at any time within the foreseeable future. That it would be at least hundreds of thousands of years before they learn.”
“Yet we have two who can.”
“Precisely!” Hasslein smacked his left fist into his open right hand. “Because these two apes are genetically different! Yet, I expect, they can interbreed with other apes. They can transmit that distinguishing characteristic, the ability to learn speech, to their progeny. If that gene is distributed among apes, then all apes will eventually have the ability to speak.”
“Oh, come now, Victor, that’s a paradox! You’re saying that they come from the future to our present; they interbreed with other apes; and by interbreeding with them, they create their own future! That if they didn’t come here to be their own great-great grandparents, they couldn’t exist at all! You don’t really believe that, do you?”
“Yes, sir, I’m afraid that’s precisely what I believe.”
“Impossible! Rubbish!”
“No, sir.” Hasslein’s eyes blazed as he glared at the president. “I can prove it. What you think of as a paradox, as a violation of the laws of causality, only appears that way because you have a very distorted view of causality to begin with. Now, let me show you.” He took a sheaf of papers from his pocket and laid them on the table. “Look here—”
“Oh, no,” the president protested. “Victor, I never got past college algebra! You take those equations and put them back in your pocket.”
“But I can’t prove it to you without them.”
“We’ll assume you prove it, all right? But what do you want me to do?” He looked at the pale blazing eyes. “No! You really think we can alter the course of the future?”
“Yes, sir. Their future is not necessarily our future. Even though it is just as real. I can—”
“I heard you on the Big News show. Not that I understood you. So you want me to alter what you believe may be the future by slaughtering two innocents. Three, now that one of them’s pregnant.” The president nodded grimly to himself. “It’s an old tradition with kings, isn’t it? Herod tried it. He wasn’t successful, either. Christ survived.”
“Herod lacked the facilities we have,” Hasslein said grimly. “And we have only two apes to deal with.”
“Victor, have you any idea how unpopular such a thing would be?” the president demanded. “I’d go down in history as another Herod. No, thank you. I’ve a good record, and I don’t need that on it.”
“You are putting your sentiments for these apes ahead of your duty to the people.”
The president half stood, his mouth a grim, tight line of anger. “I do not need you to remind me of my duties to the people, Doctor Hasslein!”
“I beg your pardon,” Hasslein said formally.
“You beg it, but you aren’t sorry,” the president said. He sighed and sat down again. This interview wasn’t going well at all. “Victor, I’ve seen the chimpanzees on television, I’ve met them briefly—they seem very charming, very harmless, and very popular with the voters. You speak of my duties to the people. One of those duties is to carry out the popular will, and I think being courteous to those chimpanzees is very much what the people want.”
“Not all of them,” Hasslein said. “The Gallup poll shows a lot of undecided. Especially when they’re asked about Colonel Taylor—”
“Yes. But the fact remains, they’ve done nothing to us, and have made no threats. In God’s name, Victor, how would we justify anything like that?”
“It would look like a tragic accident,” Hasslein said. “The CIA could arrange it.”
“They could, eh? How do you know?”
“Well, sir, I assumed—”
“You can keep your assumptions to yourself, Dr. Hasslein. No. We will have no tragic accidents.”
“My God, Mister President, do you want them and their progeny to dominate the world?”
The president smiled again. He went to his big chair behind the desk and sat his eyes not focused but staring idly outside at the White House lawn. One of his children was playing out there. “Not just yet, certainly,” he said. “And not at the next election, either. But if their progeny turn out to be as pleasant as they are, maybe they’ll make a better job than we have. We haven’t done all that well, Victor.”
“They destroyed the earth!”
The president shrugged. “Are you sure that was our earth she saw destroyed?”
“Are you sure it wasn’t, Mister President?”
“Of course not.”
“And it is a reasonable assumption. They believed it was the earth. It certainly sounded like it. These animals are native to Earth. They therefore came from our earth—”
“Oh, spare me the long-winded logical arguments, Victor. You may be right…”
“The earth, Mister President. All of it. Leave out the fact that these apes have conquered our earth in their time; that humanity consists of sniveling wretches unable even to pronounce their own names. Perhaps something could have been done about that. But not with the earth destroyed!”
“Victor, if that is the future, nothing we do will change it.”
“Insufficient understanding again, Mister President. All futures may be equally real, but only one will happen.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand how something can be real if it doesn’t happen-—oh, never mind. I don’t want you to explain it again. You truly believe that by deliberate, present day action we can change the future for the better.”
“Yes. I do.”
“All right. But do you believe we should? Have we got the right to do that, Victor?”
“I don’t know.”
The president looked up, shocked. It was the first time he had ever seen his science advisor in a state of uncertainty. The man’s wild stare was gone, and there were suspicious glints at the corners of his eyes, as if he were about to cry.
Hasslein’s voice was unsteady as he continued. “You can’t know how I’ve wrestled with that problem, Mister President. I just don’t know what the right thing is. Out of all the futures, all real, which one has God chosen for man’s final destiny? And if we destroy those apes, are we defying God’s will or carrying it out? Are we His instruments or His enemies?”
The president got up from his desk and went to put a hand on Hasslein’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t worry too much about thwarting God’s will, Victor.”
“I can’t believe in fatalism—”
“Nor I, Victor. I only meant He’s big enough to get His way if He sets His mind to it, without much regard for what you or I want. Maybe you’d better ask Him what to do. I do. Quite often, in this job.”
Hasslein shook his head. “I don’t know how.”
“Then I do feel sorry for you. But you do know that killing two innocent beings is immoral. You can’t condone that kind of assassination—”
“You have,” Hasslein protested. “We had that Soviet marshal killed—”
“God help us. Yes. He was an evil man, full of plans for war. I had no choice.” The President no
ticed Hasslein’s triumphant look, and felt disgust. “Yes. I authorized murder of an evil and dangerous man, Dr. Hasslein. But I wouldn’t have approved killing him as a baby because he might become an evil man. Or having his remote ancestors killed to prevent his ever being born. That’s just what you’re proposing to do with those chimpanzees, and I won’t have it. They haven’t done anything to us.”
“Nothing proven,” Hasslein said. “The fact remains, they have appeared in Colonel Taylor’s capsule. The very act of their coming here makes it impossible for Colonel Taylor to return. Don’t forget that, Mister President. They may have killed Colonel Taylor for his ship. Did you ever think of that?”
The president sat abruptly. “No. I didn’t.”
“Suppose that’s the way it happened?” Hasslein asked.
“Then we would have to rethink our position,” the president said. “Taylor was one of my officers. I sent him. What makes you think these chimpanzees know any more than they’ve told us?”
“They didn’t tell us about the end of the world,” Hasslein reminded him. “Not until I got one of them drunk.”
“Plying a pregnant girl with champagne,” the president said. He almost smiled. “I ought to be ashamed of you.”
“It got more information than anything else we’ve done,” Hasslein snapped. “And there have been other discrepancies. I think those chimpanzees are lying to us. About many things. I think proper interrogation would disclose what they were lying about.”
“And you don’t think the Commission is competent?” the president asked.
“No, sir. How could it be? And its procedures are those of Anglo Saxon justice. I submit to you, sir, this is a matter of national security, and those apes have no rights under the Constitution of the United States.”
“I suppose not,” the president said. “I take it, then, you want your own interrogation—?”
“Yes, sir. I want to borrow some people from the National Security Agency, and I want to transfer this matter to the National Security Council instead of that farcical Commission.”
The president nodded. He lifted a telephone from his desk and spoke briefly into the instrument, then turned to Hasslein again. “All right. I’ve asked General Brody to set things up with NSA for you. As to the Commission, you will give all information NSA digs up for you to the commissioners. I will not remove this matter from their jurisdiction until and unless I think there is a real threat to the national security. You keep me informed, and until you find me something really convincing, the Commission stays on the job. Agreed?”
“Yes, sir,” Hasslein said. “Thank you.”
“You needn’t,” the President said. “I don’t like any of this. But you’ve effectively reminded me of my duty. Very well, Victor. Keep me informed.”
“Yes, sir.” Hasslein left, a twisted smile on his face.
The president watched the door close behind his science advisor, and sighed again. There were times when he wondered if all the fight he’d had to get to this office had been worth it; if he wouldn’t be happier back in Congress. He’d always liked politics, but the Oval Office was a pretty big job for an Iowa farm boy.
It would be pretty big for anybody, he thought. And the man who had wanted it, the man I defeated to get it—God, no. “Mary Lynn, who do we have next?”
“Secretary of the Interior, sir.”
“Very good. Send him in.”
14
Admiral Jardin looked with disgust at the document. He read it carefully, then again, before looking at Dr. Hasslein. “I don’t like it,” Snapper Jardin said.
“You are not asked to like it,” Hasslein told him. “It is a valid order from the Presidential Commission of Inquiry, and countersigned by General Brody for the president. I take it you are not satisfied, Admiral. Would you prefer to call General Brody yourself?”
“No. All right, I’ll deliver the chimpanzees to your National Security Agency interrogation team. I don’t seem to have much choice. But I will be damned if I’m going to cook up a press release about the apes needing rest and privacy and seclusion. I won’t cover for your damned wrecking crew, Hasslein. Leave the Navy out of your bloody intrigues.”
“All we are trying to do is to find what happened to Colonel Taylor, Admiral. Surely you want to cooperate in that?” Jardin frowned.
“Yeah. But I don’t think you’re going about it the right way. OK, what do you want for facilities?”
“Perhaps an empty hospital wing at Camp Pendleton?” Hasslein suggested. “Somewhere on a guarded post, and since one of the apes is pregnant, medical facilities wouldn’t be a bad idea. After all, Admiral, we don’t want to harm these animals. We only want to be sure they’ve told us everything we need to know.”
“I suppose. I still think my people could have handled the job. OK, you’ll get your hospital. We have a whole clinic not being used right now. It was part of the reception center for the Viet Nam POWs coming home. Ought to have everything you need. We have tape recording setups and projection screens for debriefings of our troops—”
“Excellent,” Hasslein purred. “And you need not bother to arrange transportation. I’ll take care of that. You just alert the guards at Camp Pendleton that we’ll be there before noon tomorrow.” He reached across the desk to take the documents.
Admiral Jardin smoothly held them out of Hasslein’s reach. “I’ll keep this, if you don’t mind.”
Hasslein frowned. “Why?”
Jardin slammed his open palm against the desk. “Because I still don’t like any part of this, and if I didn’t have it in writing from the president I wouldn’t do it. I’ll keep these orders, Hasslein. I may need them some day.”
“Nonsense,” Hasslein said. He shrugged. “But if that’s the way you feel about it, there’s nothing I can do. Just be sure to have that interrogation suite ready for me, Admiral.” Hasslein smiled again, but there was no warmth in the look, and Admiral Jardin did not want to meet the scientist’s gaze.
* * *
“You still have not explained what they will do with us, Lewis,” Cornelius said. He watched the rolling brown hills of Orange County flicker past as the big limousine drove south on the San Diego freeway. Many of the hills were covered with imitation adobe houses, all crowded together inside small walled communities, while around them were empty brown hills again. “I gather we have no choice about coming with you.”
“I’m afraid you don’t,” Lewis said. He sat with Stevie; the two were facing the chimpanzees in the rear of the limousine. A glass partition separated the four from a Marine officer and his driver up front. Two Marine staff cars filled with armed men trailed behind them. “And I don’t know what to advise you. A number of the commissioners weren’t satisfied with your answers, so it wasn’t too difficult to get them to agree to a more, ah, professional, interrogation. I got the impression that if the Commission hadn’t agreed, this would happen anyway, so I went along with it…”
“Lewis!” Stevie said.
He shrugged. “As I told you, it wouldn’t have made any difference, darling. They’d have been subjected to interrogation anyway. At least this way the Presidential Commission has authority in the matter. They can’t do anything without consulting us. If we let it get out of the Commission’s hands…”
“But who’s behind all this?” Stephanie asked.
Lewis shook his head. “I don’t know. I suspect Hasslein.”
“Dr. Hasslein was very kind to me,” Zira said. “I wouldn’t think he’d do anything to hurt us.”
“Don’t bet on it,” Lewis said. He looked helplessly at the apes. “You understand, as a member of the Presidential Commission, I can’t advise you to lie or withhold information. But as your physician and friend—be careful.”
“These men are experts,” Stevie said. “They can make you say things you don’t mean, or—”
“Why would they do that?” Cornelius asked.
“I don’t know,” Stevie said. “But be carefu
l, please.”
“And be polite,” Lewis warned.
Cornelius laughed. “You did hear that, did you not, Zira?”
“I heard. Lewis, have they—who are these men? How can they do this to us?”
“We did more to Colonel Taylor,” Cornelius reminded her. “They have as much right to treat us as animals as we did to treat their pilots…”
“But we didn’t know,” Zira protested.
“I wouldn’t mention Colonel Taylor at all, unless they ask,” Lewis warned. “And then I think you’d best stick to your original story—here we are.”
The car turned off the freeway and down a side road. It drove past the huge dome-shape of the San Onofre nuclear power plant, and Lewis and Stevie had to explain that to the apes.
“Atomic power?” Cornelius said wonderingly. “Would that have anything to do with atom bomb?”
“Not really,” Lewis said. “Same principles, but entirely different application. Atom bombs explode. This can’t.”
“But all these things really are human inventions,” Cornelius said. “I had always suspected so.”
The camp gates were just ahead. The car stopped and two Marine sentries peered inside, then waved them through with a salute. The car drove past barracks and administrative offices, and through the main part of the Marine camp. Then it climbed into more barren hills, until all the other buildings were lost from sight. The two staff cars followed.
They rounded another low hill and saw a complex of single-story wooden buildings with green roofs. The whole area had an abandoned look despite a number of cars parked in front of the central building. Two Marines stood guard out front, and they saw several others go into another building to their left.
Admiral Jardin came out to greet them. “Welcome to Camp Pendleton,” he said. “You should be comfortable here. We’ve arranged for our guests and the necessary scientific people to stay in the central wing here. Other personnel as needed will stay over there. We have everything you’ll need, I think.”
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