Tony Verdeschi lay on his bed in the cramped second floor room he shared with his brother Guido. He was in the apartment owned by his family, the San Lorenzo quarter, Napoli. It was summer, and the room was blazing hot as the late afternoon sun shown through the open window. He felt the sweat beading on his forehead, and as he caught a whiff of the wonderful smells coming up from his mothers kitchen, he smiled with anticipation and memory.
"Ah, madre in cucina. Cosa stai cucinando adesso?"
Then his brother Guido was standing over him, laughing . "Nulla per te, faccia brute. Guardate i vostri vestiti, quello che un animale! Mamma sta per ucciderti!
Tony was about to give his brother an anatomically impossible suggestion, when he noticed Guido was a chimpanzee.. A chimp..how funny was that..chimps..apes…..apes!
He woke up with a start and was immediately aware of a dull throb in his shoulder, and a relentless jackhammer in his head. He looked around and found himself in a primitive dispensary of some sort. He tried to feel his wounded shoulder, but found himself bound tightly to the table he was laying on. He also noticed his clothes were missing, replaced by some repulsive smelling burlap garment that itched like crazy. There was an i.v. needle in his arm, connected by a rubber tube to a bottle of clear liquid.
"Dr. Zira, your patient is awake." Tony was startled to hear these words coming from a chimpanzee suddenly standing next to him.
"Thank you, Lucius." responded another Chimpanzee in a female voice, standing over him. Next to her was a third male chimpanzee.
"You.. you speak English." said Tony with some amazement.
"English?" Zira looked to the one named Lucius, who merely shrugged.
"Why are you holding me here. Where is my uniform?" demanded Tony. For some reason, Tony found himself more angry over losing his uniform than being kidnapped and shot.
"Keep your voice down, please." ordered the female. "You're among friends." she said with a smile and a tone that was meant to be reassuring. Tony was not reassured.
"Yeah, I'll bet. I've seen how friendly your kind is to humans." Tony seethed with anger now, remembering the primitive humans being cut down, and seeing his own man Blaine, killed.
"Please. I want to help you if I can, but you must remain quiet."
"What is this place?" persisted Tony. "What the hell's going on ?"
"You're in the main veterinary infirmary in Ape City. My name is Dr. Zira, and this is my nephew Lucius and my husband Dr. Cornelius."
Veterinary? Doctor? husband? Tony tried to keep his mind from reeling.
"You've been unconscious for several hours, You had a nasty bump on your head, maybe a minor concussion. A bullet grazed you and you dislocated your shoulder, but Dr. Galen and I took care of all that. How do you feel?" asked Zira.
"Could I please have some water?" asked Tony.
"Of course. Lucius, untie him" ordered Zira.
Lucius immediately loosened the leather restraints, and Tony sat up slowly.
"I'm sorry about your clothes, but we had to get rid of them before we moved you from the gorilla holding cell to the infirmary. The fewer apes who know about you, the better." said Lucius.
"Gorillas" said Tony "Yes, that's how I ended up here. I ran into some of them when they were out for a day in the country."
The chimpanzee named Cornelius handed Tony a ceramic cup. The water was cool and delicious. He gulped it, slaking his powerful thirst. The jackhammer in his head eased somewhat. "Thanks" he said, handing back the cup. He must have been dehydrated, he thought to himself.
"What is your name?" asked Zira.
"Tony Verdeschi is my name."
"You have two names. Just like Taylor" commented Cornelius.
"Yes, of course I do. Who is Taylor?" said Tony.
"He is the only other human we ever knew who could speak. He was from beyond the Forbidden Zone, like yourself." said Zira.
"I don't know what your talking about. I never heard of Taylor or the Forbidden Zone." said Tony irritably . "I and all of my friends are from Moonbase Alpha."
"Where is moonbasealpha?" asked Zira, saying it as one word.
"Moonbase Alpha is a station on the moon. The big ball of light you might have noticed in your night sky recently."
"That's just not possible." said Cornelius dismissively.
Before Tony could answer, the door to the infirmary opened and in came Dr. Zaius and General Urko.
"Dr. Zira, why is this human not fettered?" asked Dr. Zaius immediately.
"Dr. Zaius, as you can see he is not violent, and is in fact fully capable of speech, just as Taylor was." said Zira, with a pointed look towards General Urko. By custom, gorillas were expected to avoid areas of chimpanzee dominance, just as chimpanzees were well advised to steer clear of military barracks.
"Taylor was capable of speech, but he was far from non-violent. I have yet to see the human who fits that description! Bring this one to my office, so we can get this over with". ordered Zaius. Presently, Tony was ushered down several hallways in the complex until they finally reached a private office in an annex. Zaius and Urko sat down behind a large desk, while Tony was seated opposite them, with Zira and Cornelius standing nearby. Tony took a moment to appraise his surroundings. As far as he could see, this ape culture was a curious mixture of stone age dwellings and some iron age tools, with some Greek revival architecture mixed in for good measure. Yet they had sufficiently advanced medical technology to recognize and treat a concussion and give him an intravenous solution. Had they inherited what technology they had from humans, or developed it themselves? Were these apes even native to earth? Tony doubted he would be able to get these answers from his erstwhile interrogators.
"What are you called." asked Zaius harshly.
Tony knew this was not the time or place to vent his anger about what had occurred. He knew he was powerless, unarmed, and cut off from any hope of immediate rescue. Sure, Alpha would be looking for him, but how long would it take to find him? And if Koenig decided to send a response team, who knew how these apes would react? He opted for the diplomatic approach.
"As I've already told your physician, my name is Tony Verdeschi. Verdeschi is my family name, so please call me Tony for the purposes of this interview." Tony came across as utterly cultivated and in complete control of himself, as if he were the one directing the interview rather than being tied like a hog. "Dr. Zira, I do want to thank you for seeing to my wounds." he said graciously, causing Zira to blush, he noted with satisfaction.
Urko and Zaius were both momentarily taken aback at Tony's precise, polite inflections. An Oxford education came in handy in the strangest places, Tony mused to himself.
"Tony, you and your friends killed a dozen gorillas earlier today. Under ape law, we are perfectly within our rights to have to you summarily executed." said Zaius. Urko nodded vigorously at this. Indeed, he had to restrain himself from carrying out the sentence then and there.
"Without a trial? Surely a civilized society would not condemn a man without a fair hearing." responded Tony coolly.
"You answered your own question, human! As a man, you have no rights under ape law." thundered Urko. "You butcher apes in the performance of their duty, yet you dare to imply we are uncivilized?"
"General Urko, please. " said Zaius. "The general is quite correct. You would do well to consider your position and give us the information we need."
"What is it you want to know?" asked Tony.
"I want you to tell us all about the human tribe that lives beyond the Forbidden Zone. How many of you are there? How large is your army? And why did you choose to come here?" demanded Zaius.
"I am from Moonbase Alpha, which is a .. 'colony' of humans on the moon. The moon is that bright ball of light that recently appeared in your night sky. I don't know anything about tribes or a Forbidden Zone"
"Human, do not try my patience with lies! Your friend Taylor sat in that very same chair not five years ago, and told a similar outlandish story." scoffed Zaius.
"Dr. Zaius, this is a waste of time. Obviously, the spies from their tribe are all trained to give a similar cover story." said Urko
"I'm afraid I don't know any Taylor. As for my story being untrue, can you deny that my presence here coincides with the sudden re appearance of the moon in your sky?" said Tony reasonably.
"What do you mean, 'reappearance?'" asked Cornelius.
"He means nothing by it, Dr. Cornelius! Do not encourage him in his deceit!" said Zaius with a sudden vehemence.
Tony could see that the orangutan started when he said the word 're-appeared'. Could he possibly have knowledge of the moon before Breakaway that the other apes did not? Tony decided to press his advantage. He addressed Zaius directly and formally.
"Dr. Zaius, we landed in this area merely to conduct a survey. We had no idea that a society of intelligent apes existed at all. When we came upon your party of gorilla's and saw them massacring a group of humans, we reacted as any human would, in defense of our own kind."
"And do you typically conduct peaceful 'surveys' armed with deadly weapons?" sneered Urko.
"Its standard procedure when going into unknown situations." Tony's patience was beginning to fray. He considered telling them about their attempt to stop their slaughter of humans using only a stun setting, but dismissed it. He knew they would not believe him. He decided to try a slightly different approach.
"My people will be looking for me. Under the circumstances, they will probably consider your holding me as an unfriendly act. One of my men, Lincoln Blaine was killed by your gorillas. Now, our commander may be willing to overlook that as an accident. But if you wish to avoid any further bloodshed, I'd advise you to release me immediately and let me contact my people." His tone was still polite, but with an edge of warning. If Maya and the others made it back to the Eagle, Koenig was probably already on his way down here with a response team. Under no circumstance did he want to be locked in an ape prison when and if they attacked this "ape city".
"Human, you are in no position to issue threats!" said Urko, coming out of his seat.
"General Urko, you saw what those lightening guns did to your ape cavalry. If this man is telling the truth.." said Zira.
"Nonsense! Their lightening guns are impressive, but we were able to drive them off." said Urko.
"You said there were only three humans on foot with these weapons, Urko. You managed to kill one of them for a loss of twelve mounted soldiers. Those figures don't add up to a military victory!" pointed out Cornelius.
Tony looked over to Cornelius and found himself admiring the chimpanzees in this group. He wondered if all the chimpanzee's in this ape society were like them. They seemed the most amenable to reason, and not possessing any hatred of humans. Urko the gorilla general scared him. He looked as if he could reach out and break Tony in half with little effort. Zaius the orangutan came off to him as a cranky, close minded schoolmaster. For some reason, he vaguely reminded Tony of Moe Howard of the Three Stooges.
"If I were you, I'd listen to Dr. Cornelius. The hand held weapons we used against your gorillas are far from the only weapons we have at our disposal. We could swoop down on this city and reduce it to a smoldering rubble in a matter of minutes." said Tony.
"Dr. Zaius, I see little point to continuing this interview. Clearly, he is not going to give us any information of value. Hand him over to me. I will see that he is executed, and the body hung up at the edge of the Forbidden Zone as a warning to others of his kind. Then we can begin to plan the military campaign to wipe out his tribe." said Urko.
"Dr. Zaius, if I may?" interjected Cornelius. Zaius waved his assent.
"Tony, you said your people come from this moon. How is it you and other humans came to live there?" asked Cornelius.
Tony drew a deep breath. He knew this would not be easy. For the next fifteen minutes, he carefully explained to his ape captors the story of the Earth he knew, an Earth where humans dominated the globe and the great apes were merely animals on the endangered species list. He spoke of its civilization, the heights of its technology, and how the nations of the world had pooled their resources to build Moonbase Alpha to be an outpost of learning, as well as a solution to the nagging problem of atomic waste. He told of the accident that had hurled the moon into the depths of outer space, and the Alphans struggle for survival over the past six years. (Explaining how six years had passed for them, while two thousand had passed on Earth taxed his rhetorical skills.) He was careful to lay extra emphasis on the points that most impressed Cornelius and the other chimpanzees. He knew that this was a gamble, because from what little he had seen so far, the real power in this ape hierarchy lay with the orangutans. But he didn't think Cornelius and Zira would have been invited to this meeting if they did not have some kind of influence. His instincts were telling him that if he had any chance at all of persuading these apes to act reasonably, it lay with the chimpanzees.
As he spoke, he gauged the reactions of his captors as best he could. In the gorilla general, he saw nothing but scorn and hostility. The chimpanzees listened with a mixture of awe and disbelief. Dr. Zaius was a different matter. Tony's experiences in the past six years had taught him to recognize fear hiding behind a mask of calm rectitude, and in Dr. Zaius, he saw that fear increase with every word he spoke.
"And now you and your people mean to settle here on Earth?" asked Zira.
"Yes. This is, after all, our home." said Tony, with some testiness.
"Dr. Zaius, even in his outrageous lies, he reveals the truth." said Urko. "A human tribe, whose existence we have long feared, living beyond the Forbidden Zone has obviously decided to launch a war of aggression against us, and these humans are an advance party. The sooner we kill this stinking human and attack those who sent him , the better"
Tony's temper finally got the better him. "You bloody baboon! Kill me and you'll likely sign your own death warrant! " he yelled at Urko.
Urko jumped to his feet with a roar, thumping his chest, murder in his eyes. He would not suffer a human to speak to him thus!
"General Urko, control yourself!" ordered Zaius, placing himself between Urko and Tony. "Zira, Lucius: take this human back to the holding area in the infirmary at once!" Lucius and Zira quickly ushered Tony out.
"General Urko, I remind you of the president's order remanding custody of that human to me. As minister of science, I strictly enjoin you or any gorilla from entering Dr, Zira's lab until further notice"
"I will obey your injunction Dr. Zaius, but I will be posting guards around the lab to make sure the human does not escape. And I remind you, Dr. Zaius, of Article 18 of ape prophecy. I intend to call a meeting of the general assembly for an open vote, as is my right!" Urko then turned on his heels and stormed out, slamming the door behind him, shaking it on its frame.
Dr. Zaius went back to his desk, sat down heavily and turned to Cornelius. "Now I want to hear what you have to say. "
Cornelius measured his words carefully before speaking. As a loyal ape, he naturally wanted to do everything he could in the best interest of ape society. But he also remembered Dr. Zaius' broken promises about his own archeological research into the true history of Man, and his later trial on a charge of "scientific heresy." Even though Zaius had had his and Zira's sentences commuted, Cornelius still did not trust the orangutan.
"When I first heard Taylor's story about traveling through space, I thought he was insane. Now, five years later, we have another intelligent human with a similar story, and weapons which we cannot understand. And the appearance of this 'moon'. I cannot help but wonder if you know more about this than you've revealed."
"I told you five years ago Cornelius; I have always known about Man. And nothing, not Taylor, not this Tony, have altered my opinion at all!" said Zaius.
"Then what the human Tony said about the moon is true." Cornelius phrased this as a statement, and an accusation.
Zaius got up, went over to the door to his office and locked it, then pulled a chair up close to Cornelius. "What I am about to reveal to you, you must promise never to divulge, without my prior consent." admonished Zaius in a hushed voice.
"You have my oath on it, Dr. Zaius." said Cornelius.
"The Secret Scrolls, known only to the Chief Defenders of the Faith, speak of the moon, a great light in the night sky, which was put there by the Creator from the beginning of time." said Zaius with great solemnity. "Ancient man used it to keep time, to light their way at night. The moon caused the great waters to rise and fall, kept the Earth in balance. Then Man, at the height of his achievements, in his folly drove the moon away from the earth, out into the distant heavens. It was this event that finally caused God to turn his back on Man. From this point on, Man then suffered one cataclysm after another, caught in a divine downward spiral, until finally, the ape was raised up to take his rightful place as master of this planet."
Cornelius sat for a moment to consider this incredible revelation before speaking. "And now, through some inexplicable chain of events, this moon is back. But the secret scrolls of the Lawgiver say nothing about a settlement of humans on the moon, do they?"
Zaius shook his head.
"And ape prophecy is silent about its return. Then how could this human know about what is in the Secret Scrolls unless his story were true? And how does Taylor fit into all this"
"That, I confess, I have no answer for. But do you see the danger we are confronted with?"
"I'm not sure I do, Dr. Zaius." said Cornelius.
"You surprise me. Cornelius. I would have thought it would be obvious to an ape of your intelligence. Whether he comes from the Forbidden Zone or the moon makes little difference. The return of intelligent man is a disaster for Ape Civilization! If news of it becomes widespread, Urko will invoke Article 18 of Ape prophecy before the general assembly. He will start a war which will result, at best, in gorilla domination for a thousand years, or at worst the defeat of apes at the hands of these humans!"
"Dr. Zaius, I think you have too little faith in ape wisdom. And if I may say so without incurring another charge of heresy, this was also true of your predecessors and perhaps the Lawgiver himself."
At Zaius shocked reaction, Cornelius held up his hand. "I admit, there may have been some justification for the Lawgiver's injunctions of secrecy in the first generation of intelligent apes. I tend to have my doubts, but it is at least a point about which apes of good will can disagree. But this shroud of ignorance you have maintained over all of ape society for twelve hundred years has only helped to create the very situation which you now dread. Two choices, both of them bad!"
"What's done is done, Cornelius, I could not change it even if I wanted to. What I need now is a course of action that will preserve Ape civilization." pleaded Zaius.
"Dr. Zaius, why not recommend to the president that we release the human, with a message offering peace and friendship to his leaders? A show of good will on our part might avert any hostile reaction from them. That would at least buy us some time to prepare the public to learn the truth about humans."
"Impossible. He is too valuable as a hostage in case the humans decide to mount an attack." said Zaius.
"His presence here, under arrest and threat of execution at the hands of the gorillas, is almost certain to bring about an attack." retorted Cornelius.
Zaius scowled at his chimpamzee collegue. He hated being in this position, of having no viable course of action. He knew he would have to make a report to the president soon, and he also knew that the president could not postpone a calling of the general assembly indefinitely. If Urko invoked Article 18, and it looked like it might pass, Honorius would get behind it just to avoid being discredited and possibly maintain some semblance or orangutan dominance. He would expect all members of the orangutan caucus to do the same. Zaius felt like he was driving a team of horses pulling a heavy load, going full tilt down a steep grade. Pull back on the reigns, and the team might crash. But not pulling back would almost certainly be just as bad.
