When Attar walked into his lab it was chaos. Guards were everywhere, shouting and arguing. Ulysses was still in his cage, thank God but he looked like he was going to have a heart attack at any moment. "Quiet! QUIET!" Attar took a deep breath once all was quiet and turned to one of the guards he had left in charge. "What is going on here?"
"Sir, just after you left these apes barged in here demanding the human, saying he needed to be taken in for some tests but you left us specific orders that he was not to be taken anywhere." Attar nodded.
"Thank you." He turned to one of the other guards, "what do you have to say in defense of yourself?" The ape he turned to snapped to attention and fairly spit out his words.
"We had orders from Dr. Boulle, your boss, to take the human and run a CAT scan and take x-rays, sir." Attar's brow wrinkled at this. Boulle knew he had already scheduled those tests and that he would be the first to get the results. Why send in guards to take the human? It didn't make any sense!
Thank you. Despite your orders you cannot take Ulysses anywhere. I am under orders from General Thade himself that this human does not leave my care. I will call Dr. Boulle directly and discuss this matter with him immediately." Dismissing the apes Attar turned to Ulysses. He was curled up in the corner of his cage as far away from the commotion as he could get. His eyes were wide, if a little unfocused because of the drugs he had taken earlier, and his breathing was rapid. Worried that he might hyperventilate Attar hurried over and unlocked the cage. Ulysses just stared at him for a moment, a look of utter weariness passing over his face before he slowly crawled over to him. Gently Attar swung him up in his arms and talked soothingly to him, "Shhh now, no one is going to hurt you. This has been a very hard day for you hasn't it? Well, don't worry, I won't go anywhere for the rest of the day, ok?" Attar watched in amazement as Ulysses nodded his head. Did the human understand what he had said? Was he nodding in response to his words? "I bet you're really tired too, aren't you?" Another nod. Attar tried to not tense up in excitement but it was so hard! He was responding to him! No one in the history of human science had ever gotten this kind of sentient response in a human being! "Well, I'll just put back into your cage to get some sleep, would you like that?" Another silent nod. He actually understood! This was a breakthrough and a way to prove that his human was too unique to just 'disappear.'
Thade glanced warily around the small diner before looking at the little chimp seated in front of him. God he hated reporters. Always poking their noses in where they weren't wanted. Bunch of liberal, prying snoops. This is for Attar though. He reminded himself. He could deal with reporters for Attar's sake. Alright Mr. Gradou I-"
"Pease call me Pericles."
"Alright then, Preicles, here's the deal. The human who crashed landed just a day or two ago is in danger of 'disappearing' due to his threat level.
"Threat level? Disappearing? Can you explain that?" The chimp had his notebook out, pen poised, head cocked to the side so as not to miss a word.
"We don't know where he came from, or any of his technology. If he was a test pilot for another country, that would be different but none of his technology matches any of the other countries. Plus he was tracked as far as Pluto before disappearing outside our tracking ranges. It is not possible for any country on earth to launch something as sophisticated as that, have it circle the solar system and maybe beyond, without us knowing about it. So the question is, where did he come from? The higher-ups don't like questions like that, especially in regards to such high technology. So he might just 'disappear' so we can question him, dissect him, whatever we want to get answeres." Thade pointed a finger at Pericles. "That's where you come in. If it looks like that, the public needs to know about this human. Then the government can't just hide him away. Humans are too rare and no matter that his technology is so advanced, he's still just a human." Pericles scribbled madly trying to get everything down. When he was finished he looked up with a frown.
"Why are you telling me this now? I could go the press with what I have here and blow this whole thing wide open? Why do you trust me to wait?" It was a good question. One Thade didn't really have an answer for.
"If you try to do that, I'll kill you." Well, threats of violence always did work well. "The government is not without resources in the press. Plus, this thing is going to get a whole lot bigger I think. There is something special about that human. Not just his ship but him personally. He's a smart one but there's more than that." Thade shook his head. "It's hard to describe...but I think he's going to shake up this country, in a big way."
Attar paced impatiently. He had just talked to Dr. Boulle, who claimed he hadn't sent those guards. If he hadn't who had? What did they want? It was a good thing Thade was looking into a reporter, because it looked like they were going to need one. Attar jumped in surprise when the door slammed open but sighed with relief when Thade walked through. "Than goodness Thade, I think we have a problem." Thade ignored him and walked over to Ulysses cage.
"How's the little guy doing?" Attar beamed. Despite all his worries he was full to bursting with excitement over his human's ability to understand Attar.
"Wonderful! I thin there is more to this human than meets the eye." Thade looked at him curiously. "When I was talking to him earlier, he responded to my questions. No words just nodded." Attar held up a hand to for stall anything Thade had to say. "I asked him several questions to make sure that it wasn't a fluke. Just simple yes or no questions but he understood everyone of them Thade. I think it's just a matter of time before he starts talking."
"The sooner the better. I talked to a guy and he's willing to help us out. Of course, if this human can talk, there is no way that he could 'disappear.' Thade looked grim but also a little hopeful. He understood what a breakthrough it would be if this human could talk and ration like an ape. He would be the missing link. Both turned to look at the sleeping human and wondered what was in store for all of them.