Chapter 1
"How about…a weekend in…the Bahamas?" Peter Burke asked between breaths as he and his two companions jogged down a grassy hill. He wiped the sweat dripping into his eyes from his curly brown hair with the back of one hand. "Tall cool drinks…tall hot women…now that's my idea…of a good time."
The chimpanzee Galen peered at his tall, lean friend with a look of utter confusion. The other man, Alan Virdon, just shook his blond head in amusement. He was used to Burke's endless patter during their long hikes, and today, for some reason, the topic seemed to be vacation spots. "Tropical drinks with…little umbrellas, Galen," Burke elaborated for his simian friend, holding up his thumb and forefinger spread slightly apart. "You'd like 'em."
Galen's look of puzzlement only deepened, as he looked to Virdon and back to Burke again. He opened and closed his mouth several times before finally inquiring, "Why would I want an umbrella in my drink?" But looking at the broad grin on the dark-haired man's face, Galen already knew that the answer would probably not be terribly enlightening.
"The umbrella is just …a decoration, Galen. …But the drinks…now they'll…" Burke stopped abruptly as he jerked his head around to the sound of hoof beats. Several mounted gorillas were silhouetted against the afternoon sun on the hilltop they had just left. Galen and Virdon also turned at the noise. As if an unheard starter's gun had gone off, the three began sprinting the rest of the way down the hill. The grass would offer them no cover, but a stand of trees waited at the bottom of the hill. If they could reach the trees first, their pursuers would not be able to follow on horseback.
"Break!" Virdon yelled as the hoof beats grew louder, and swerved quickly to the left. Galen peeled off to the right. Burke, a running back in college, but on his best burst of speed, head down, as if he were trying to reach the goal line for the winning touchdown. Of the six apes, four continued following Burke.
When the large dark shape flew past him, Burke looked up and skidded to a halt. One of the gorillas was blocking his path to the trees. Glancing to the left and right, Burke saw the soldiers pursuing Virdon and Galen pull up at the edge of the trees, unable to coax their horsed into the tangled underbrush. Looking back, he saw two others where coming up behind him, a net stretched between them. As if avoiding being tackled by burly linebackers, he turned and began to run parallel to the trees, hoping to be able to cross into the tree line in time. He heard another set of hoof beats and looked up to see the fourth rider riding angling toward him, cutting off his only remaining escape route.
Burke cursed and changed direction again. He was now heading away from the trees, and knew he would not be able to continue this cat-and-mouse game for long. He sensed the gorillas bearing down on him. A heavy net was thrown over his head. As his feet tangled in the edges, he crashed to the ground with a jarring thud.
Pumping with adrenaline, Burke scrambled to his feet and tried to pull off the net. The four gorillas dismounted and converged on him. He knew he was only going to get one more chance at escape. As the net fell to the ground, Burke charged the nearest soldier, hoping to knock him down and keep going. On foot, the gorillas would never be able to keep up with a quick human.
Burke felt the hairy bulk go down, but a large hand reached out from behind and grabbed a handful of the back of his shirt. Before he could break free, another gorilla descended on him and delivered a double-handed blow to the side of his head. As the world lurched crazily and began to go black, he knew he was their prisoner.
Virdon watched anxiously from his hiding place under a fallen tree. Only one rider had continued after him as he ran for cover in the trees, and the horse had balked at plunging into the tangle of vines and branches. While the rider fought to get his mount under control, the blond astronaut had wriggled himself under a partially rotten log, which he hoped would shield him from view. The gorilla circled his mount just outside the tree line, but seemed unwilling to dismount to continue pursuit.
The other four pursuers where closing in on the dark-haired man who was desperately trying to outrun them. "Come on, Pete," Virdon whispered under his breath, then grimaced as Burke went down under a pile of apes. He wanted to call out to his friend, but his own capture would not help the situation.
"Tie him up!" the lieutenant barked at one of the others. "You two," he gestured with a sweep of his massive hand, "ride to the village and tell them that Virdon and Galen got away. Tell them to have the local police look for them. Move!" As the two gorillas rode away, the lieutenant grabbed a handful of the prone astronaut's brown hair. "This one we take to Central City."
He hefted Burke's limp form over the front of his horse's saddle, then swung up onto the mount behind his prisoner. "Let's go!"
Alan's heart sank as he watched the soldiers ride away. After a few minutes, he slowly climbed out from under the tree. He peered around, both to make sure the gorillas where really gone, and to try to discern Galen's hiding place.
"Galen!" he called in hushed tones. "It's all clear, you can come out now." He turned as Galen hopped out of a hollow tree stump and hurried over to Alan, his face a mask of worry.
"Oh, Alan, what are we going to do? They are taking Pete straight to Urko."
Burke awoke slowly from a dream of being in a G-force simulator at Elgin Air Force Base. In the dream, he was being spun around at about 2 or 3 G's, but for some reason, he was having difficulty breathing, as if the centrifugal force was much stronger. He felt a stitch of pain in his side from his labored gasping. 'Jesus, Pete! It's only a couple of G's. Some astronaut you'll be,' he berated himself. He tried to manipulate the controls, but his numb hands wouldn't obey, and he couldn't seem to focus on the instrument panel. They were going to wash him out of the program for sure if he couldn't stand the gravitational forces that would accompany blast off of a space rocket. Just as the simulation ended, and he was going to stagger out of the cockpit to explain himself, he woke up.
The pain in his side remained; something was digging into it. His hands were numb, because they were tightly bound with rope, behind his back. His feet were likewise bound, and his head hurt like the hangover from a three-day tequila binge. And something smelled really bad—he hoped it wasn't him.
He cautiously opened his eyes and found himself staring at a large booted foot in a stirrup. The smell came from the sweating horse he was bound to, and a furtive glance above his head revealed the packed dirt and sparse grass of a road.
"…On our way to Central City," he tuned in as a voice said from somewhere close by. He turned his head carefully to discover that the voice and the booted food both belonged to the gorilla riding the horse he was tied to. "We have an important prisoner to deliver to General Urko. Ride ahead and deliver this message to the High Counsel."
As Burke's captor spurred his horse into motion, the astronaut's mind raced madly to think of a plan to get out of this situation. General Urko, the leader of the gorilla military force, had been pursuing Burke, Virdon, and Galen for the last five months with a single-minded determination to wipe the two astronauts and the renegade chimpanzee off the face of the planet. Burke's stay in Central City was likely to be short and bloody, ending with a bullet in his head.
As the horse accelerated into a full gallop, the jostling caused by the animal's large muscles, combined with the pounding in Burke's skull and the feeling of vertigo from watching the ground rush by above his head, made his stomach churn. He closed his eyes wearily and concentrated on not throwing up. Once he was off this horse, he would be able to think clearly again about escape.
"See how explicit it is, how detailed?" Wanda waved over the book she was holding up for Zaius's inspection. She turned a page for him to observe.
"Yes, yes," the orangutan nodded his graying head. A knock at the door interrupted him. "Come in."
"Zaius!" Urko cried as he burst into the room. "Have you heard the news?"
"Burke has been captured," Zaius answered.
"Yes, just as I told you they would be." He put his helmet down on Zaius's desk.
"And what about the other two?"
"They are going to come here and try to rescue Burke, and will fall right into our trap," he replied confidently. "We're waiting for them."
"Let us hope so. This capture of Burke could not have come at a more opportune time. We have an experiment." He glanced at Wanda.
"Experiments?" Urko asked, shaking his head as disbelief flashed in his eyes. "Why must we always make a simple problem so complicated? It is not necessary to experiment. Zaius, all our troubles stem from the two astronauts and Galen. Once they are destroyed, our problems are over. The planet can return to normal."
Zaius tapped his fingers together, trying to be patient with Urko. The gorilla commander often suffered from a lack of foresight. "Can you guarantee that there will be no more Burkes or Virdons in the future? Can you guarantee that next time there will not be five, or ten, instead of two humans landing here? Perhaps in different parts of our land?"
Frustrated, Urko sat down to argue. "No more than you can guarantee that there will ever be any others."
"The prudent ape is prepared for the worst," Zaius replied forcefully. "Therefore, it is extremely important for us to determine once and for all why these two humans are different from the ones who lived here now." He turned to Wanda, who had retreated from the argument with her precious book in her hands, for support.
"I can almost promise I'll get the answers," she spoke up, moving forward.
Urko waved a massive hand in her direction, his brow furrowing in annoyance that Zaius seemed to have an ally in his plans. "Who is that?" he asked the orangutan.
"That is Wanda." Zaius moved to the female chimpanzee's side. "Wanda." He motioned for her to move forward and join the conversation.
"Wanda?" Urko snorted. Now he knew that Zaius was hatching a plan to keep the astronaut alive, allowing the possibility that the dangerous ideas that infested the renegade Galen could spread to others.
"One of our most brilliant young scientists. She's come up with a remarkable find. Most valuable."
"This book," the female tapped at a worn and battered tome in her hand. "This book was written in 1986 and it was recently found in one of those time capsules, so popular around that period."
"What has that got to do with Burke?" Urko asked, exasperated.
"I'm coming to that. This book is a book on brainwashing."
"Brain…washing?" Urko squinted in confusion.
"The psychologic method of washing out of the human brain old ideas and replacing them with new ones," she explained slowly, as if to a child. "And that's what we are going to do with Burke!"
"Ah, yes. I seem to remember hearing something vaguely about that. Brainwashing," the gorilla rolled the word around in his mouth. "Isn't that where you take the brain out of the skull and wash it with cool water?"
Wanda's brow furrowed. "No, no, no. You don't take the brain out of the skull."
"You don't take the br—?" Urko began, his hands curling into fists. "How can you wash the brain if you don't take it out of the skull?" he demanded.
"Yes, yes," Zaius held up his hands in a placating gesture. "I have looked over the book, and Wanda has explained the rest. She has the backing of the council, and will interrogate Burke according to this new procedure."
"No!" Urko protested, rising dangerously from his seat. "No! All interrogation must be done under my supervision. That is the law."
"You may supervise. But Wanda is to control the experiment." Zaius stared into the gorilla's angry face, and a small battle of wills was fought and won.
"Ahh!" Urko looked away first and began to pace in front of the large stone desk. "Why must we go to all this trouble? Just let my surgeons perform the usual brain operation on the humans!"
Wanda's horrified look spoke volumes. "Are you talking about the hole in the skull and the removal of the front bump?"
"Yes, that's right, exactly."
"But—" she began, but was cut off by the gorilla.
"Then the patient will be docile and cooperative. He will tell us whatever we want and answer all our questions."
"If he doesn't die—" Zaius interrupted.
"Or become a vegetable." Wanda finished. The surgery Urko was suggested had no scientific value. They would learn nothing new about the strange humans if he had his way.
Urko shook his fists in frustration at the other apes' inability to see the simplicity of his solution. "At any rate, Burke will be no more trouble to us."
"What you suggest is our last resort," Zaius finally conceded. "In the meantime, Wanda will proceed." He ignored Urko's growl of disapproval. "And since this process is new to us, there is to be no public discussion. Only the three of us, and your most trusted guards," he stared pointedly at Urko, "will know about it."
When the four gorillas stopped for the night, Burke began to realize just how dire his situation was. They had ridden late into the growing darkness, with a large, full moon rising around sunset. With clear skies and the moon to guide them, the gorillas pushed on toward Central City. Only when both horses and riders were near to exhaustion did they stop for a few hours and make camp.
Instead of the loose security that Burke and Virdon experienced the first time they were captured by the apes after their arrival, the gorillas were taking no chances tonight that he might escape. On their way to see the High Council the first time, the two astronauts had been bound at the wrists and ankles and left under a tree to sleep. Virdon had managed to cut his ropes on a sharp rock, but was discovered before they could turn it to their advantage.
Now, however, Burke found himself restrained in a kneeling position, his hands bound behind his back, and a rope around his neck that was tied to his ankles on the other end. If he tried to stand or move his legs in any way, he would strangle himself. A guard sat alertly about ten feet away, a loaded and cocked rifle on his lap. Burke surreptitiously wriggled his hands to see if he could loosen them enough to slip one free, but he feared that too much movement would draw suspicion from the guard. Eventually he realized that the ropes were just too tight and gave up…for now.
Earlier, they had loosened his hands so that he could eat some stale bread and drink some water. The entire time, the guard had kept the rifle trained on him, ready to fire at his first wrong move. "What you been using this stuff for, boot soles?" he tapped the hard bread with his fingers. Nevertheless, he chewed and swallowed with a grimace, both at the taste and the difficulty caused by the rope. The tepid water he had to wash it down tasted like the inside of some gym shoes he had left in his locker too long. All in all, a wonderful culinary experience. "You sure know how to treat a guest," he muttered when they refastened his hands.
For probably the first time in his life, the wisecracking astronaut had nothing more to say. The gorillas were obviously under strict orders from someone to deliver him alive; there were no words to persuade any of the guards to let him go. Unfortunately, gorillas floated in the shallow end of the simian gene pool when it came to intellectual ability. They followed orders without much independent thinking. He had dealt with enough soldiers to know that any comments he ventured would either go right over their heads or get him a backhand across the face.
He hunkered down as much as he could to get some slack to ease the constriction around his neck. Sleeping upright was never something he was very good at, except at zero G, but he had a bad feeling that he needed to catch it while he could. He dozed on and off for the next couple of hours, waking himself occasionally when his head drooped forward and the rope cut into his trachea.
As a predawn glow stained the eastern horizon, the gorillas decided they were ready to move again. Burke's ankles were unbound, and he was jerked roughly to his feet. "Hey, they haven't even sounded reveille yet!" His legs, numb and stiff from hours of kneeling, refused to follow his commands; he was dragged to the nearest horse and hoisted over the saddle. The tether around his neck was tied to the saddle horn. The rider swung into the saddle behind him and spurred the horse into a gallop. Burke swallowed hard and tried to ignore the protests of his sore muscles to this new insult.
In the early morning hours, the quiet of the forest was disturbed by the passage of running footfalls. Virdon splashed noisily through a stream that crossed his path, while the chimpanzee Galen gingerly stepped across the water on a fallen log. He looked distastefully down at the water, one foot dipping into it briefly as he jumped for the shore. "Ahh!" he yelped in surprise, and shook the water from his shoe once he was safely on solid ground again.
Unnoticing of his companion's distress, the blond man sprinted ahead, his jaw set in a determined grimace. As he turned to climb a small rise away from the stream, he became aware that Galen was no longer behind him. In fact, the chimpanzee was a few dozen yards back, sitting on the ground, holding his side with one hand, and panting heavily. Virdon doubled back.
As he approached the chimpanzee, Galen looked up and shook his head. "Oh Alan, I can't. I can't!" he moaned, his breath rasping with every syllable.
Virdon sat down on the grass next to his friend, his head bobbing from side to side scanning for any sign of trouble. He was also panting from the exertion of traveling a long distance at high speed. He simply said, "You've got to."
Galen shook his head again, swallowing hard. "Central City is nineteen hours away. Can you run all that distance?" He looked at his companion, an expression of weariness mingled with anguish on his simian visage.
"Galen, by now Pete must be in Urko's hands." They both knew the implications behind the statement.
"We will be, too, if we keep running blindly. They'll be expecting us. They'll be setting traps."
"I know that," the astronaut shrugged. "We avoid them."
"Stay off the main roads?" Galen said incredulously. He heaved a great sigh of consternation. "It'll take us two days to get there."
"Look, we go the shortest, fastest way, whatever that is." Virdon looked up at the sun. It was still early in the morning, and they were both already exhausted from traveling late into the night. Despite his growing dread and sense of urgency, the blond man knew that neither of them were going to make it to Central City on foot in time to…he let the rest of the thought go unfinished. If he and Galen were captured in their headlong rush to save Pete, then they would all be doomed.
Galen was studiously examining the dirt beneath his feet, obviously unwilling to offer any more protests. He, too, was worried about what might happen to Pete before they were able to reach him, possibly more so because he knew exactly what kinds of brutality Urko was capable of where humans were concerned.
"All right," Virdon began gently, giving Galen's shoulder a brotherly squeeze, "we'll try to find some transportation other than our feet. You ready to move out?" He jerked his head in the direction they were heading.
Galen sighed and nodded. With a grunt, he levered himself back to his feet and began to jog along behind his human friend.
By midmorning, the patrol of gorillas has neared their destination with their prisoner. Burke craned his head to see when they entered Central City, but they never did. The hills that the gorillas rode through were craggy and steep, and their pace slowed as they picked their way around sharp rocks. Finally, they reined in at the entrance to a cave, and the gorillas all dismounted. Two of them retrieved Burke from the lieutenant's horse, and, with vise-like grips on his arms, led him inside.
Burke shook his head to clear it so that he could carefully observe his surroundings. He wasn't sure how deep into the cavern they planned to take him, but he wanted to be sure to be able to find his way out in case he managed to escape.
A series of winding passages led to a large, metal-bound wooden door, which the lead gorilla pulled open. The roughly hewn room inside was spartanly furnished with a chair and a stool, but the feature that caught Burke's immediate attention was the set of bars delineating a small cell against the back wall. He tried to dig in his heels, wrench himself out of the grasp of his captors, but the strength of two gorillas was too much to overcome. After a third guard unlocked the door to the cage, the others shoved him inside. The door slammed home with an ominous clang.
"Back against the bars if you want the ropes off," one of the gorillas commanded. Burke gingerly pushed his bound wrists through the narrow gap between the bars and waited for the ropes to be removed.
"Gee, thanks," he muttered as he turned around, rubbing his chaffed wrists to restore the circulation to his hands. But the guards were already on their way out the outer door. He heard a key rattle in the lock. "Well, what's your hurry?" he commented to thin air.
Surveying the tiny cell didn't take long—three stone walls and a barred door, barely enough room to lie down. 'Definitely not the luxury accommodations,' he thought wryly. Even though he knew it was late morning outside, the room, dimly lit only by three torches ensconced on the walls, was filled with gloomy shadows that flickered and danced. Overcome by a wave of fatigue, Burke slid down one of the cell walls and rested his head on arms across his knees.