Chapter 9

The carriage pulled into the hospital courtyard, which was filled with humans and apes going about their daily business. Humans were tending the small garden, or caring for the horses tethered to one of the trees. Chimpanzees, primarily, dressed in blue smocks, were helping patients to get exercise. Most of the patients were apes, although a couple of humans also wore slings or walked with crutches around the dirt area. All was quiet and unremarkable. That was about to change.

A human, also unremarkable, drove the horse that pulled the carriage partway around the courtyard to the entrance to the hospital, then reined the animal to a stop. The profile of one chimpanzee was visible through the window on the side of the carriage. From inside, a female voice commanded, "Open my door! Human! Come and help this ape!" A blond haired human slowly looked up from his toils, and caught the female's imperious gesture for him to approach. He set his hoe against a tree, looked around to see if anyone else was willing to answer the ape's command, then reluctantly sidled to the back of the carriage and opened the door. Like the apes who were caring for patients, he also wore the blue smock that marked him as a servant at the hospital.

Once the door was open, the female glided out of the carriage, and waved the human toward the other ape still waiting inside. The chimpanzee had a bandage wrapped around his head, a large bloodied patch on the front of it, and blood trickling down the right side of his face. A slight whimper escaped him when the human pulled him up and draped the hairy arm across his own shoulders. Together, they stumbled in the wake of the female, who was already approaching the hospital door. A gorilla in a guard uniform, carrying a gun, stepped into her path and put out a hand to stop her.

"I can't allow anyone in. Lieutenant's orders," he explained.

The female looked at him like he had two heads. "But I'm not just anyone," she told him haughtily. "I'm council member Yalu's wife."

"But only the Lieutenant —," the guard began.

"Then get him," Ann dismissed him with a wave of her hand.

The gorilla looked her up and down for a moment, considering her status and his own, then turned to go into the hospital to find his lieutenant. Ann looked back at Galen, leaning heavily on Virdon, both immersed in their roles, and then followed the gorilla inside, gesturing for her two compatriots to come along. They got as far as the spacious lobby, occupied by a chimpanzee administrator behind a desk, who rose as they entered. The lieutenant met them there.

"I'm sorry, the hospital is closed," he told Councilmember Yalu's wife, politely, but firmly.

"Well, how can that be? I have a badly wounded ape here!" she replied, exasperated. She indicated Galen, who whimpered in pain and pawed at the human supporting him.

"Leave him," the lieutenant suggested, after taking in the blood soaked bandages on the chimp's head. "Someone will take care of him."

"Are you a doctor?" Ann countered quickly.

The gorilla was obviously confused by her change of tactics. "No," he pointed to the silver V marking the front of his uniform, "no, I'm a lieutenant."

"Well why am I talking to you? I need a doctor!" the female was becoming quite troublesome. "What doctors are available?"

The gorilla was losing his patience. "I don't know," he told her curtly.

Ann decided she needed to play the sympathy card. "Lieutenant, I was on my way to see a friend who is ill, when I came upon this badly wounded ape, here." She turned toward Galen again, who was milking his role for all it was worth. "Apparently the victim of some accident. I went out of my way to bring him here, to this hospital, at great personal inconvenience!"

"I'm sorry—" the gorilla began, the sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"In that case…let us proceed!" Ann interrupted, and started pushing past the guards.

But the lieutenant wasn't fooled. He grabbed her by the arm and gently pushed her. "Back," was his terse command.

Ann was undaunted. "While we're arguing, this unfortunate victim could die!"

'Oh boy,' Alan thought, 'she's really laying it on thick. But then again, gorillas are not known for subtlety.' Galen was hamming it up, too, as he put his hand up to his head and let out a pathetic whimper.

"Do you want that on your record?" Ann asked the gorilla, the implicit threat also not very subtle.

That the gorilla understood. "No, No—" he began, but never finished, as Ann finally pushed past, and beckoned Alan to follow.

"Come, human!" Alan and Galen walked past the very confused looking guards, who were still trying to figure out how the female outwitted them.

Ann was continuing into the corridor, to the door at the end of the hallway, where she could see light shining through the window in the door. She pushed open the door, despite the resistance the of large body on the other side, and heard a surprised grunt. The door was pulled opened the rest of the way, revealing another guard with a gun. She quickly surveyed the room, taking in the site of the dark-haired human strapped to a gurney, a second gorilla with a gun standing over him, and the chimpanzee doctor starting to come toward her. She knew this was the right place.

"Ah, Doctor," she moved into the room, ignoring the two gorillas. Virdon and Galen trailed in behind her. "I am Ann, the wife of Councilor Yalu." She bowed to Malthus, who returned the courtesy. The gorillas, however, were not ignoring the newcomers. They both converged on Alan and Galen, and while they weren't overtly threatening, they were definitely suspicious. Alan edged them closer to Ann, while one of the gorillas reclosed the door.

"I'm Dr. Malthus," the blue-smocked chimp introduced himself. "But you shouldn't be here," he reproached her, indicating the human subject waiting for surgery.

But Ann pressed on. "I want you to take care of this wounded ape," she waved a hand in Galen's direction, "right away." Galen whimpered again, and clutched at the human supporting him.

"I have an important surgery in about ten minutes."

Ann turned to look at the other human in the room. The dark-haired man's wrists were bound together, and he was strapped to a wheeled gurney. His eyes, however, were open and clear, and pleading wordlessly for help. Her heart went out to him.

She turned back to the doctor, allowing her indignation to show. "Do you mean a human patient is more important to you than an ape?"

"Urko's orders," Malthus replied, clearly unhappy about the situation.

Ann approached the human, as if to get a better look. "Well, he must be a very special human!" She stopped near the head of the gurney and looked at Malthus. "Looks ordinary to me." She turned surreptitiously to the tray of instruments on the table behind her and picked up two cutting blades, sliding them up her sleeve. "It's as if nothing were really wrong with him." The human looked up into her eyes, and she saw the intelligence, and the knowledge of the danger he was in.

"Not yet—" Malthus began.

"Then I insist you find a bed," she gave Malthus a look that could wither fruit on the vine, and moved back over toward Galen and Virdon, "and capable medical care for this poor ape." She turned her back to Malthus and the gorillas, and handed Galen and the human the instruments she had taken, the movements hidden from the others by her body.

Malthus seemed to finally realize he was not going to be rid of this pretentious female until he gave her what she wanted. "Very well. I'll see what I can do." One of the gorilla guards opened the door for him as he left, and closed it behind him.

"Oh, and you!" Ann addressed the soldier by the door. "Tell Chief Urko I wish to see him right away." The gorilla shifted nervously, and shuffled toward the other one by the cart, as if to confer about what to do. If one of them left to go get Urko, that would leave only one to deal with the prisoner and this other strange human orderly. Gorillas never liked when they were outnumbered by humans. Ann took a chance to goad them, "Are you frightened of an elderly female and a wounded ape? Do you believe that an armed police gorilla is no match for a mere human?" She waved in Alan's direction.

The gorillas grunted at each other, and puffed up their chests. Surely the human on the gurney, even though he was supposedly dangerous, wasn't in a position to try anything. One of the gorillas started toward the door to go summon Urko. Anything to get this argumentative female to be quiet!

When one gorilla turned his back on Virdon to open the door, the other one standing over Burke was looking everywhere but at his charge. Pete reached up with his bound hands and grabbed the barrel of the gun that the soldier was now letting dangle far too loosely in his hands. Galen sprang away from Alan and grabbed the soldier from behind while Pete wrestled with the gun. Free to move now, Virdon grabbed the other gorilla from behind, bringing a very sharp scalpel to his shaggy throat.

As soon as the fugitives sprang into action, Ann threw her hands above her head and started running in circles, shouting in distress. She was loud, confusing, and complete ineffectual in helping the two gorillas as they were subdued. Galen applauded his mother's performance; if she acted shocked and afraid, no one would try to link her as an accomplice to what was about to happen. When she was sure that Alan and Galen had the guards in the room taken care of, she ran out into the corridor and started screaming for help, drawing the other two soldiers into the fray, while providing no useful information to them about the situation.

Alan pushed the gurney with Pete still strapped down through the opposite door, which led into some sort of recovery area. There were about a half dozen beds containing various apes, all with some part of them bandaged. Through this ward, they knew from Ann's information, was another exit that bypassed the main lobby where they had entered. Alan slipped the scalpel into Pete's bound hands, trusting that he could cut the leather thongs and free himself, and turned to help Galen shift a bed with an unconscious gorilla in it to block the door from the operating room from opening. Before they could get the bed in place, the other two gorillas pushed their way into the room. The patients in the recovery area helped add to the confusion that definitely favored the fugitives. They were able to pummel the soldiers with crutches, throw them into equipment, and Alan even used one poor patient's counterweight to smash one gorilla in the face, as the patient screamed in pain. Before long, both gorillas were unconscious on the floor, one half-sprawled onto of some hapless chimp's bed. The female chimp orderly who had been tending the patients cowered in the corner, her hands covering her head.

Meanwhile, Pete had freed himself, and was looking around, shaking his head as if trying to clear it. Galen and Virdon pushed the heavy bed more securely against the door. Hopefully, now it would keep anyone else out long enough for them to get away.

And just in time. They could hear banging on the other side of the door, and Urko's voice shouting "Open that door! Break it down!" What sounded like the butts of rifles started pounding on the door. "Get some of your gorillas and cut them off at the other corridor!" they heard Urko shout. "Hurry"

'Yep, time to go!' Alan thought. He lifted the end of the gurney with Pete still on it and pushed it out into the hallway, the staccato sound of pounding following them. They ran down the corridor until they reached the doorway to the outside. Alan pushed the gurney against the wall and steadied it while Galen helped Pete get shakily to his feet. The dark-haired man's knees buckled beneath him, and Alan grabbed his other arm. Between them, they half-dragged him toward the door while he struggled to get his feet to cooperate with walking. Just before they got to the exit, Alan jerked his head to the side, indicating they should duck into an alcove where supplies were kept. He put his finger to his lips to signal that his friends that they should stay there, and stay quiet.

Urko finally burst into the recovery room, just as his soldiers were pushing their way in the door on the opposite side of the room. The scene was a disaster area—medical supplies strewn everywhere, patients moaning in pain, some of them half falling out of their beds. The nurse had gotten up from where she was cowering and was starting to try to comfort some of the more anguished apes. One of the gorillas who had gone around the corridor turned to his general. "Urko, they have escaped from the hospital."

Just then, Urko heard the sound of hoofbeats, and a human voice calling "Hyah! Hyah!" He rushed to the window and pulled aside the covering, in time to see a horse-drawn carriage careen down the road away from the hospital. He turned back to his soldiers. "Follow them!" he ordered.

The group of gorillas loped down the hallway that led to the lobby, and out into the courtyard, causing humans and apes alike to scatter in their wake. Urko could see the carriage through the fence, being chased on foot by a couple of apes who must have seen the human fugitives steal it. He was in such a hurry, he failed to notice the blond head that poked out of a side doorway in the corridor, to watch the gorillas retreat.

Urko turned to his troops. "Mount up!" he ordered, and led the charge over to his own white horse. Soon, a half dozen gorillas on horses were milling around the courtyard before galloping out into the road and after the carriage.

Meanwhile, just inside the hospital corridor, Alan turned back toward the alcove with a beckoning wave of his hand. Galen and Pete came shuffling out, Galen still supporting Pete. Alan grabbed his other arm to lend his strength.

"I don't know how you two ever made it in here, but—" Pete's gratitude was palpable as he let the thought trail off.

"We're not outta this yet," Alan replied, looking around to make sure all the gorilla soldiers had left with Urko, before the three friends made a dash for the door.

The courtyard was still in such chaos from the exit of the soldiers, no one really noticed a human in a blue smock and a chimpanzee with a bloody bandage around his head carrying a second human who could barely walk. The three friends cut through the courtyard, and went around the fence surrounding it until the found Ann waiting for them. Galen grabbed his mother's hand and gave it a quick reassuring squeeze, then jerked his head to indicate that they should go.


The walk back to Ann and Yalu's house showed quickly how bad Pete's condition was. For a few minutes he would be fine, needing minimal support from Alan, and then suddenly, his legs would buckle, and Alan would have to practically carry him. They stuck to the woods and bushes as much as possible, but when they had to walk through crowded streets, Ann and Galen, after removing his bloodied bandage, walked arm in arm like any mother and son taking a stroll, with their two servants attending behind them. The fact that one servant had to sling his arm over the shoulders of the other for support didn't really draw any attention. After all, to the average ape, human servants were like furniture. As long they didn't do anything that humans shouldn't do, they faded into the background, below notice.

When they finally got to the house unchallenged, Galen wasn't sure who was closer to collapse, Pete from the exertion of his escape, or he and Alan from relief. They came in the back gate, through the garden, and just as they were about to go into the house, Pete actually did collapse. Alan was able to muscle him up onto his shoulder; Pete's lanky frame was so gaunt from his treatment at Wanda's hands, Alan was shocked how easy he was to lift and carry the rest of the way. Yalu was waiting for them, and bolted the door behind them. Ann pulled her husband aside as Galen led the way into his old bedroom. She quickly explained to her husband what had transpired, so they could present a united front and consistent story when they were inevitably visited by Urko or his troops.

Alan gently laid Pete down on the narrow bed. The younger astronaut grabbed at Alan's shirt, and started protesting, "No, no, don't." Galen rushed to Alan's side and helped to subdue the obviously confused man.

"Pete! Pete!" Alan put his hands on both sides of Burke's bruised face, gently, to try to force him to focus. "It's me, Alan. You're safe now, but you've got to keep quiet for a while. This is bound to be the first place that Urko looks for us." Some of that seemed to penetrate the fog, and Burke stopped thrashing.

"Galen," Alan hated to ask, but it was their lives at stake. "Will your father give us away? Will he turn us in?"

"Oh, no, no. At this point, it would be as damaging to him to be found with fugitives in his home as it would be for us to be found. He'll do his best to get rid of anyone who comes looking for us."

Ann came pushing into the room, carrying a bowl of water and some cloths. "I thought you might like to get him cleaned up, poor thing." She looked down at Burke, her eyes moist with empathy for the human's condition. "But you had best stay hidden in here for now. I can hear horses coming, and I'm sure it's Urko. Galen, if he cries out—" At the sound of Ann's voice, Pete rolled up on his side facing the wall, and was making a low whimpering noise deep in his throat.

"I know, Mother. Virdon and I will keep him still," Galen reassured her. Now if someone would just reassure him. "Please, be careful. Both of you."

Alan dipped the cloth in the water, and for now, just laid it on Burke's hot, sweaty forehead. He would examine his injuries more closely later, when the immediate danger had passed.


Urko wasted no time accusing Ann of conspiring with the fugitives. He has practically bowled Yalu over when the older chimp unbolted the door at the insistent pounding, and obviously wanted to start tossing the place immediately to look for the humans. But after his last search of Yalu's house, he dare not suggest it without the Council's backing.

"And I assure you it wasn't Galen," Ann insisted to Urko. "After all, a mother should know her own son." She nodded at her husband for support.

"And I was told that it was Galen," Urko pounded his fist on the table.

"You are being insolent!"

"Not at all!" Urko was getting very tired of this…female. Why was it always females getting in the way of what had to be done? "I'm doing my job." He tried a different tact, "Let me as you a question. If it wasn't Galen, how do you account that ape's actions?"

Ann eyes narrowed, her tone frosty and clipped. "It wasn't. And I don't. I was horrified by his actions and ran into the corridor and called for help. You saw me."

Urko shook his head, "I'm afraid that doesn't prove—"

Ann cut him off with a chop of her hand. "Use your head, Chief Urko. If I have any brains, would I ruin my husband's career," she put a hand on Yalu's shoulder, as he began stroking his beard with pride, "and risk disgrace by helping mere humans?" Urko was opening his mouth to interrupt, but Ann didn't give him the opportunity. "Of course not!" She turned away from him in disgust.

Yalu spoke up now. "May I take it that this matter is now closed, Chief Urko?"

Urko rolled his eyes. "Well—"

"If you disbelieve my wife," Yalu snapped, "I insist you arrest both of us immediately." It was a risky bluff, but Yalu had to get rid of Urko once and for all. "Arrest or total innocence. One or the other."

"I am not going to arrest you, Councilor Yalu," Urko shook his finger at the two chimpanzees, "or your wife." He was not going to be tricked into moving against a council member without iron-clad proof. It would be the end of his career. "But—"

"No buts!" Now Yalu's voice had taken on that cold tone that meant he was also deadly serious. "Produce proof or shut up."

Urko shook his fists impotently, growling low in his throat. He knew he was trapped. "All right." He picked his helmet up from the table and shoved it under his arm. As he was heading for the door, he heard Ann's voice behind change tone completely him.

"Now that it's all settled, won't you have something to drink Chief Urko?" He turned back to see Ann and Yalu both smiling triumphantly.

Urko yanked open the door and slammed it solidly behind him.

Once he was gone, Ann and Yalu exchanged a look of pure relief, grasping each other's hands with joy. Yalu got up from the table and went to the door, securing the bolt to make sure Urko could not return unannounced.

As he turned back toward his wife, a door on the other side of the room opened, and Galen poked his head out, looking around before coming all the way into the room. "Oh! You were magnificent!" He bounded over to his mother, kissing her and holding her hand in an embrace. As she patted at him, Galen turned to Yalu. "Both of you. Father."

Yalu cleared his throat to hide his embarrassment. "I couldn't very well let them find you here." He suddenly found something very interesting on the floor to study.

Galen wasn't going to let his father escape praise that easily. "Urko didn't even ask to search the house. He assumes we're long gone." He couldn't keep the ear to ear grin from his face.

The father gave his son a doubtful look. "Perhaps." But Yalu's gruffness was not convincing. "In any event, I was defending your mother."

Ann went to her husband's side, and knuckled him affectionately. "And very well, too!"

Galen came up behind his Yalu, as well. "Father, you helped us." His tone carried a note of mirth in it. "Now admit it. And allow me to be grateful."

"You're my son." Yalu searched his son's face, and seemed pleased with what he saw there. Then he turned away again, and paced to the other side of the room. "I don't pretend to understand the friendship between you and those humans, but I do understand friendship. And I understand principles." When he turned back to face his son again, Galen saw pride in Yalu's moistened eyes, and felt his heart swell with love for his father that had been damped down the last few years. "Sometimes I am a little slow. Without your mother, I might never have realized the son that we have."

Ann interrupted her husband. "I had more contact with Galen and his friend than you had."

Yalu nodded his thanks to his wife. "It's heartwarming to know that our son is not only loving and intelligent, but also principled." High praise coming from an ape like his father, Galen knew. "I'm proud of you." All the distance of the last year, all the harsh words and hard feelings, melted away in the warmth of this father's words. Galen approached his father, gave him a loving pat on the chest. Suddenly, Yalu engulfed Galen in a tight embrace, and Galen wrapped his arms about his father in return, patting him on the back even as tears leaked onto his father's shoulder.