According to Galen's instructions, the rebels' headquarters were about thirty miles inside the fallout zone, so there was no thought of dipping in and out quickly before his balls were fried off. Burke had no idea when that nuclear catastrophe that the sign spoke of had happened, or what material had been used, and he figured it was pointless to worry about it. So far, people seemed to live comfortably in the zone's immediate vicinity, and he hadn't seen any bald humans bleeding out of their orifices, or three-headed cows, so either the radiation had already fallen below hazardous levels, or it had never been deadly to begin with, at least in the border areas.
As he jogged deeper into the hills, he wondered how much history he had been missing out on. He could be five hundred years in his planet's future, or five thousand - or fifty thousand. There was no way to tell. Perhaps Galen would know more; the ape seemed to be their resident scholar, always sticking his twitchy nose into that stolen book that he guarded so closely. He'd ask him about it when they were out of this mess.
Which meant he'd better make sure they got out of this mess.
Something buzzed above his head and ricocheted off a tree with a howl. Burke hit the dirt and cursed.
"I'm unarmed!" he yelled into the wilderness. "Don't shoot at me, you fucking asshole!"
Yeah, he was the master negotiator. But damn, he'd practically felt the air moving past his face!
When no further shots were fired, he dared to cautiously lift his head. His gaze fell on two naked feet and wandered up until it reached the freckled face of a boy who couldn't be a day older than ten. The muzzle of his gun pointed right between Burke's eyes.
"I'm unarmed," he repeated for good measure. The boy neither moved nor answered, and Burke came slowly, slowly up to his knees. He raised his hands and worked his face into a smile.
"The prefect got Gres' message. That's the name of your boss, right? Gres. I was sent to bring him the prefect's answer, so, uh, how about you take me to your leader? I always wanted to say that: take me to your leader!" He grinned, but the boy just stared at him with a stony face. Then finally, he took a step back and jerked his head towards the treeline.
The group's HQ was based in an old mine, and Burke was impressed at how well they had managed to camouflage the entrance. Two more guards silently appeared out of the underbrush and took over, and when Burke turned his head while one of them was patting him down, the boy had already vanished like a ghost. Burke fleetingly contemplated what it must be like to ride patrol out here as a chimp. A lot like Vietnam, probably. The prefect's crackdown began to look more like desperation than despotism. He couldn't suppress a slight smile at that.
On the other hand, the rebels' leader was a chimp. Burke chewed on that thought as he followed his guard deeper into the mine. Katlin hadn't looked cowed by Gres, but she had deferred to him automatically, something that rubbed Burke the wrong way. Perhaps obeying an ape was so deeply ingrained in these humans that they did it even while they were fighting for self-determination.
Or perhaps they just worked with what they had, like he and Virdon did. Burke had noticed how he avoided direct eye contact with apes other than Galen or Zana now, like a native human. This world had a way of sneaking up on you and molding you to its demands... They needed to get away from ape civilisation if they wanted to preserve something like dignity. Virdon still thought they could go home again, but Burke would already be content with a little house on the prairie, where no ape would ever find them.
Gres looked up from his desk and waved the guard away as soon as they had entered, then gestured towards a chair. He was alone; Burke realized that he had half expected Katlin to be there, then shook off the thought with slight irritation. She was Gres' lieutenant, she had probably other things to do than playing interior decoration.
And he had more pressing things on his mind now, anyway. Burke sat down without breaking eye contact with the chimp; Gres had something about him that made his skin crawl.
"I must say, I hadn't expected for them to send a human," Gres greeted him with a lopsided smile. "These apes usually don't think humans are capable of handling complex tasks."
Yeah, right. Burke silently agreed with Galen that Gres had rather hoped to get the most valuable member of the group - the ape - for free, and didn't give a fuck about the humans left behind. With Zana at his mercy, he'd be able to pressure Galen into service for his organization, and with Galen's insider knowledge as a former assistant to the Council Eldest - well, the things Gres could do with that, right? The possibilities were endless, and he wouldn't even have to pretend to care about humans any longer.
Aloud, he just said, "I was tasked to relay a message from the prefect to you, Gres - I think I can manage that, barely."
Gres laughed at his sarcasm, an ape comfortable in his natural position above the human. "You're right, that's not too difficult. So what did Aken say?"
"You'll get all the captives in exchange for Lora." Burke leaned back. Gres had sent a whole laundry list of demands, but there was no way he'd have expected the prefect to meet any of them. That he'd gotten an answer at all had clearly been a surprise for him.
Gres raised his brows. "That's it?"
"That's it," Burke confirmed. "I'd accept the offer, if I was you. The man didn't give the impression that he was that interested in negotiating with you in the first place."
Gres shook his head. "And I'm not interested in selling out. We need those weapons, and the other resources on the list. I have people to feed, people who can't go back to their villages for fear of being arrested. And we can't start ploughing the fields here - we need to stay hidden, even inside the zone."
He sounded genuinely concerned about the humans' starving to death. Burke was impressed with his acting skills. Well, he could in turn pretend that he believed in Gres' benevolence.
"Look," he leaned forward to give his words more impact, "this prefect is a murderous bastard who'd even sacrifice his own niece to make a point. He told me that if she isn't back home in two days, he'll execute the prisoners, starting with your man, and I believe him. You won't get your list, no matter if you agree to his offer or not, but you'll lose your man, and, and four potential recruits." He kept his face blank at Gres' surprise; he could throw a bait, too, if he had to.
Gres wasn't that gullible. "You'd join us, after all that's happened?"
Burke shrugged. "What happened was that that prefect threw us into jail and is now holding a sword over my friends' necks - while you didn't do more than keep us in place until your man turned up, which was reasonable under the circumstances. Besides, I'd like to see this world turned into a place where no random ape can force me to strip for his amusement at the drop of a hat."
Gres leaned back and eyed him with a calculating look. Burke hoped that the prospect of getting more cannon fodder was more enticing than armwrestling Aken. "Aren't you at all interested in getting Galen?" he asked innocently. "He was Zaius' assistant before he decided to take a vacation. I'm sure he has all kinds of interesting tidbits to share about the city's celebs."
The chimp's lips twitched in wry amusement, and for a moment, Burke worried that he had been too blatant, but the rebel leader nodded in agreement. "Yes, I've been interested in Galen after what his lovely fiancée had told me about him. He seems to have a sharp mind and some... unusual ideas about the future of ape society. He'd definitely be an asset." He rose; Burke didn't move.
"Where is she?"
Gres pretended not to get his meaning immediately. "Who, Katlin?"
Burke blinked. Had he been staring at her that blatantly, back in that bomb shelter? "Zana."
"Oh, Zana? With Lora, I guess." Gres smiled. "I'm not supervising them around the clock - neither of them is a prisoner here, you know?"
Burke smiled back. "I want to see her."
Gres shrugged. "Of course. Later. I want to show you something first." He gave Burke a once over as if he was assessing a new horse. "I think I can also put you to good use, from what I know about you."
He waved at him, and Burke saw no other option than to follow him out of the room into a dark corridor. He wondered what Zana had told Gres about him.
The farther they wandered into the bowels of the hill, the more Burke began to wonder if this really had been a mine, or something else entirely. Sure, the corridors were lit by torches that had been stuck into the walls, but the walls themselves weren't rock, but some sort of concrete. He touched it with his fingertips; it was smooth and felt slightly damp. "Do you know what this was before you repurposed it?"
Gres shrugged. "No. It's something from before the Blast. We don't care what they did here before, only what good it does us, now."
"Serving as military headquarters," Burke commented grimly.
The chimp gave him a slight smile. "Nobody ever got freedom by asking politely."
That much, Burke had to admit grudgingly, was true.
"So what was it you wanted to show me?"
"This." Gres pushed open a door and lit the torches along the wall. Burke scanned the room and let out a low whistle.
The room was filled with junk - pieces of equipment whose purpose Burke couldn't even begin to guess, corroded and disassembled machinery, heaps of wiring and electronic parts. Everything was covered with dust, cobwebs, and dirt. Burke bent down and picked up something that looked like Virdon's data disc. He swallowed; could it be that his commander's pipe dream wasn't as insane as it had seemed?
"In particular, I wanted to show you this." Gres handed him a metal casing and gestured at him to open it. Burke pocketed the crystal disc and pried it open. Inside, a gun was embedded into some sort of rubber foam. It looked futuristic, nothing like any gun he'd ever seen - something from his future... and this world's past. Burke wondered how far apart both points were from his own time.
"It's some sort of weapon." Gres' tone made it a half-question. "I had everything that looked potentially useful brought down here." He jerked his chin at the gun. "How does it work?"
Burke didn't meet his gaze. "How would I know? It looks like a gun alright... Have you tried firing it?"
"Of course." The chimp gestured. "But it didn't do anything, and we couldn't determine where to load the bullets."
Burke took the thing out of its case and turned it over. As far as he could see, it had no mechanism to receive a magazine, and he suspected that this type of gun didn't fire bullets at all - perhaps it was some kind of laser gun, or some other radiation-type weapon. It was impossible to tell without taking it apart. He looked up at Gres and shrugged. "Why do you think I could help you with that thing?"
Gres' gaze was piercing all of a sudden. "Zana told me you were a human of unusual talents." He grinned. "I must admit I mistook her meaning at first."
Burke stared at him for a moment before he decided to ignore that last remark. He let his gaze drop to the weapon in his hand. "I can't tell before I haven't had a look at its innards, and even then I don't give any guarantees. I've never seen something like this before."
"That's all right; I'm sure you'll do whatever you can." Gres stepped closer to him. "I'm also sure you'll be an asset to our cause, just like Galen... just in a different capacity."
Burke smiled wryly, his eyes still on the weapon. "Because I might be able to make this thing functional again?"
"Because you're a leader." Gres was in his personal space now, but Burke had the wall against his back and couldn't pull away. "I could see you chafe against simian authority from the first moment I met you," Gres continued. "You have a fire in you that only few humans have... like Katlin. Why do you think I made her my lieutenant? I know talent when I see it. The way you carry yourself - you could inspire many of your fellow humans."
"Inspire them to what? To war?"
"To freedom! Liberation from simian rule - a state of our own, where apes and humans live and work as equals. Isn't that a vision worth fighting for?"
Burke chewed on the inside of his lip. "Yeah, sounds good. And you'll be our Dear Leader?"
Gres laughed. "I won't lie to you - yes, I'm a leader." He waved his arm, indicating the whole compound. "I created this. I built up the HLF from the ground, and made it strong. And we're getting stronger - every time the government clamps down on the humans with a new law, we get new recruits." He leaned in to Burke and whispered with faked confidentiality, "You could almost say Urko and I are creating the HLF together."
Burke swallowed involuntarily at the mention of the general's name. "If that's true, then this will end in a bloody war. Urko is itching for a pretense to bash our heads in."
Gres turned up his palms. "That's how everything new is born, in blood and pain." He cocked his head and regarded Burke with narrow eyes. "What do you think your descendants' lives will look like if you don't take up the fight, human?" He nodded with a slight smile when Burke didn't answer. "Join us, Peet; we're making a better future."
Burke avoided his eyes. "I need to think about it."
Gres stepped back and Burke suppressed the urge to take a deep breath. "Of course. Think while you work on that weapon. When it's ready, I hope you are, too." He turned to go.
"You said I could talk to Zana," Burke reminded him.
"Sure. I'll send her down to you." Gres hesitated at the door. "Do make up your mind quickly, Peet - we sent another message to the prefect." He smiled when Burke's head jerked up. "He'll give in or start cracking down. Either way, we'll move closer to a decision."
He left before Burke could ask him what he meant by that, but he had a pretty good idea what the chimp was trying to do. Suddenly, the prefect's deadline looked incredibly generous.
They probably wouldn't have two days to get out of here.
Burke stared at the gun in his hands and wondered if he shouldn't wreck it more instead of repairing it. On the other hand, it would give him a considerable advantage if he had to break out Zana... and that other chimp. Lora. Why she had joined the organization of Mao the Chimp was anyone's guess. With Katlin, Gres had probably used the same sales pitch as he had tried on him.
"I thought you were smarter than that, Katie," he murmured, and carefully put the case on a workbench.
Time to find that redhead, and have a little chat.