Burke slowed to a walk and took a deep draw from his water bottle. It was no use running up the hills - he'd just tire out, or get a cramp in his calves, or throw up... sometimes going slow was the faster way, but boy, was he feeling the pressure to hurry up!

The prefect had even offered him a horse, but being a city kid, Burke wouldn't have known how to steer it in the right direction, provided he'd managed to stay up for more than five seconds. Since humans had no business riding horses in this world anyway, he suspected the prefect was just amusing himself at his expense. The bastard had been in a sardonically good mood, which was amazing, considering the HLF was holding one of his relatives hostage. Though his mood might have had more to do with the conditions he had set on Burke.

"Tell me, boy," the chimp had grinned, "do you love your master as befits a human?"

Burke had stopped himself from making a snide remark in the last moment, realizing it was probably a trick question. So he just shrugged. "I like him well enough," he said noncommittally.

The prefect laughed. "Do you. But I guess you like your friend a little better, hm?" His eyes glinted when Burke didn't answer. He leaned slightly forward.

"Now listen to me well, human - I want you to go to your friends in the blasted zone... yes, we know they're hiding out there... and tell them that they'll get you and your comrades back in exchange for Lora. If they don't agree that this is a terrific deal they're getting, I'll start executing the prisoners one by one, starting with your friend."

Although Burke was sure that he'd kept a pokerface, the prefect's satisfaction at what he saw was palpable. "You have two days to get her back. I'll even let you ride a horse to be there in time."

"I've never sat on a horse!" Burke had protested. "And it's not enough time if I have to run on foot! Don't you want to get your niece back?"

"Of course I do," the prefect said indifferently, "who wouldn't want to welcome back a relative who's also a member of a terrorist organisation? It makes for wonderful dinner conversations. But if you don't manage to return in time, I'll hold an important public demonstration for my humans, and that'll also be damn gratifying."

Burke shook his head, remembering the other "public demonstrations" he had come across on his way to the "Forbidden Zone." People being dragged out of their huts, some of them carted away in caged carriages - with a pang he remembered their own journey to the ape capital... And these people were probably family members of the rebels, or suspected of supporting them in some way. Or perhaps Aken had just ordered random arrests, to spread terror. From the looks on people's faces, the bastard was succeeding big time.

Controls had also increased, not only in frequency, but also in intensity. People had to show their district's brand all the time now, and the apes made generous use of that pretense to assault them. Burke had run into patrols several times, and despite having papers from the prefect's office itself, had been handled roughly and on one occasion, forced to strip naked, because the officer had insisted on looking for a brand. Burke felt heat climbing up from his throat as he remembered it. That was the thing that unnerved him the most, the constant manhandling by the apes, the unconscious assumption that they could touch him wherever and whenever they wanted. It was as if they had no concept of personal space, at least not where humans were concerned.

He shook his head to clear his mind - he couldn't risk taking a wrong turn because he got lost in his dark thoughts. He should be close to the Forbidden Zone now - and he'd love to know why they were called that - Galen had said there would be signs on the side of the road, and had drawn a quick sketch of the ape letters, since Burke couldn't read their script. His hand had trembled a bit; he was still shaken by the prefect's decision not to send Alan, but him, mostly because Galen couldn't figure out the prefect's motive - to Aken, one human should have been as good as the next.

Burke smiled grimly. Mellow, civilized Galen had no clue how bastards like Aken ticked. If you told them you preferred one thing, they'd force the other on you just to see you squirm. Galen had chosen Alan because he was the better negotiator, so naturally, Aken forced him to make do with the worse alternative, just to throw a wrench into the works. Not for the first time, Burke wondered how badly the prefect wanted them to fail, even though it meant his niece could die, too. Either he didn't think Gres was capable of murdering the girl, or he didn't care if he did.

Not for the first time, Burke was grateful that he didn't have a family anymore.

He fell into a slow jog again, one that he could keep up for hours, eating the miles away. He had run some ultramarathons in his former life (it already began to feel unreal to him, all those memories... they seemed to have happened to another man), and although he hadn't had a chance to keep up his training in all those past months, his body still remembered how to pace itself.

He only faltered for a moment when the sign loomed up before him on the hill top.

A black trefoil on yellow ground.

Virdon knew he was taking a gamble - well, that was the understatement of the year! - but after the guards had dragged Pete out of his cell, he didn't dare to hold still any longer. After some indeterminately long, heart-stopping moments, Galen had enlightened him to his friend's new role as chief negotiator, but Virdon still wasn't over the shock of believing that the apes had taken Burke away to execute him. His heart still started to race at the thought. To lose the only man who shared his memory of home, his culture and understanding... to face this hostile, bizarre world alone...

He took a deep breath. No, he couldn't sit this one out.

The doors had small openings near the floor, to feed the prisoners. He would be heard by the other prisoners, and probably also by Mika the warden, but it was his only means of communication; his neighbour most probably couldn't even read. Virdon lay down on his belly and put his face to the hatch. "Hello! Neighbour! Are you awake?"

After a long moment, a hoarse whisper reached his ear. "Now I am! What's bugging you?"

"You really have to ask?"

"Well, not much I can do about that, so why don't you let me sleep?"

"Do you want to sleep until they take you out for your execution?"

"Well, what do you think you're gonna do? Plan our escape, with all those apes listening in to our conversation?"

The man had a point, Virdon admitted to himself; still, he couldn't just lay down and do nothing! Maybe they could establish a way to talk about their plan that the apes couldn't readily decipher. That, of course, presumed that his fellow human over there was smart enough to communicate in code, too... "What's your name, anyway?"

"Boone. Yours?"

"Alan. Look, Boone, I know you're enjoying the service of this lovely establishment, and so am I, but..."

"Gres will get us out of here, man, don't worry."

Virdon closed his eyes and willed himself to stay calm. So much for talking in code. "Well... I haven't known him as long as you, but it seems to be quite difficult to negotiate with this prefect here..."

"Gres knows how to handle the old stone face, and he has planned every step in advance." The man's voice was steady and relaxed; he fully believed in his leader.

Virdon wished he could share the man's utter faith. What he had seen of Gres hadn't instilled that desperate loyalty in him, but maybe he just hadn't been desperate enough before. He tried again. "Your loyalty to him is commendable, but it's always good to have a fallback plan. Leaders appreciate proactive problem-solving in their followers..." His thoughts involuntarily returned to Burke. Well, he had never needed to encourage that particular subordinate to show initiative...

"Trust me, Alan, we don't need no fallback plan," Boone's hoarse, confident whisper took him out of his musings. "Gres knows what he's doing, and he's told us the prefect would try to play us off against each other - even said some of us might get taken hostage. But he's got it all planned out. He's dragging ol' Aken around by the nose for years now." Boone chuckled. "Gres told us he'll take care of us, an' that's what he does. He'll take us to victory, no matter what the cost."

"No matter what it'll cost him, or you?" Virdon couldn't help but ask.

But this time there came no reply. Boone had gone back to sleep, secure in the faith in his leader.

After some more futile attempts to lure him back to his hatch, Virdon gave up and returned to his cot, too - the cold of the stone tiles had seeped into his body in the meantime, and his fellow prisoner had proven to be more than useless, so there was no point. If he wanted to get out of here (and Galen - how in the world was he to quickly get a still lame ape away from this murderous prefect?), he'd have to find a solution by himself.

Virdon stared up into the darkness above his bunk, drawing a blank.