A/N: Based on the screenplay by Edward J. Lakso

For readers who know the show: I changed Burke's and Virdon's roles, because Burke will get hurt plenty in the next episode, and I wanted a bit of balance.

The sun was almost at its highest point in the sky and was burning so viciously on Virdon's neck that he wished he still had the straw hat that Zana had bought him back in the capital. He had miscalculated the distance of this village from the border of the Forbidden Zone — if they had wanted to reach it in the cool morning hours, they would've needed to break camp in the middle of the night.

Human settlements were few and far between now, and ape density was even lower, but he still didn't dare to leave the Forbidden Zone for traveling; it stretched all the way North to the mountains, according to Galen's map, so they only had to leave it if they needed to stock up on food. Nobody dared to enter the Zones, and Virdon hoped that staying inside those taboo areas would throw any pursuer off their scent. Urko might have called off the hunt after all those weeks... but maybe Aken's report had raised suspicion, describing a traveling group of two apes and two humans.

Virdon didn't want to find out.

He squinted against the glare: so far, only humans were moving between the huts, and he hadn't seen any hoof tracks on their way to the settlements, either. It didn't reassure him; in his experience, it was always safe to assume that an ape was just beyond the hilltop or a bend in the road.

"Seems peaceful," Burke murmured behind him. "Must be because it's not so ape-infested."

"This district is only sparsely populated," Galen said. "But the Northern districts are mining for iron and minerals, so you'll have a greater... ape infestation there."

"Lemme guess who they're sending down those mines," Burke muttered, ignoring Galen's sarcasm.

Virdon wasn't yet willing to believe his luck. "You mean there's a good chance this village isn't guarded?"

Galen gave him a sideways glance. "Not all districts have insurgencies to battle, Alan." He gestured towards the village. "I know the prefect of this area - a second cousin on my father's side - and the only thing he's complaining about is the weather and the mosquitoes. Oh, and the earthquakes." He held up his hands in surprise when both men turned to stare at him.

"The what?" Burke yelped.

"They're nothing serious," Galen hastened to assure them. "Just a little swaying of the ground, and they hardly ever result in people being seriously injured."

Burke buried his head in his arms with a groan.

"Let's go and buy some food, then," Zana murmured. "The heat is killing me."

The villagers were friendly and curious and not too cowed by their simian companions, Virdon noticed; apparently, the local ape masters weren't too strict with their subjects. They ran into another, unexpected problem, though: nobody wanted to sell them anything.

"They have no use for money," Galen concluded with a sigh. "In these remote areas, people produce most of what they need themselves, and barter for the few things they can't grow or make."

"Yeah, I admire their homesteading skills, too," Burke kicked at a pebble. "Thing is, we don't have anything they'd need, so what do we barter with?"

"I could offer my scarf," Zana suggested hesitantly. It was the gold-and-green silk scarf she had bought as camouflage during their mad escape from the capital, and most of the time, she had carried it tucked away in her backpack. Her tone indicated that she still found it hard to let go of it; in a way, it was the last remnant of her old life.

Virdon laid a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "I don't think it's necessary, Zana - it's nothing they'd need, either."

"But it may be something they'd want," she objected and tilted her head towards a group of young women who had gathered around the well on the village square and were unabashedly sizing up Pete... and him.

"It seems to me that it's not your scarf that they are lusting after, dear," Galen said innocently, and bent over his backpack to ostensibly search for something to barter with.

Burke stared down on his back. "Did you just think aloud about selling our... 'services' to them for food?" His voice was flat.

Galen jerked up with a shocked expression. "No, of course not, I'd never..." He frowned when he caught Burke's smirk.

"'Course you did. It'd just be like chaining us to a plough... or a water pump for days. And days, and d..."

"Check your backpack, Pete," Virdon cut their banter short. "If we can't find anything they'd trade for, we leave. I don't want to spend any more time outside the Zone than I have to."

In the end, the only things that Virdon thought might have a chance of raising interest were Zana's scarf and one of his magnetized sewing needles - provided he'd be able to explain to these people what a compass was, and provided they'd even need such a thing; in his experience, humans rarely left their villages to travel, unless they were herded somewhere for work by the apes.

He took Zana's scarf and scanned the people milling about for a promising victim, but before he could settle on one, his attention was caught by a middle-aged man with a thin beard and a broad smile on his face, who now strode across the village square and bowed slightly before Zana and Galen.

"I'm Leon. Please excuse the rude behaviour of these peasants," he said with a wink, "you must be tired and hungry. I can offer you shade and a midday meal - I'd be honored if you'd accept."

"Oh, that's too kind of you." Zana grabbed her backpack. "Do lead the way." She waved for Galen as the man turned away; Virdon and Burke shook their heads, but had no choice but to follow them.

"Even the humans treat us like slaves," Burke muttered under his breath.

Virdon didn't answer. Zana was capable of making rash decisions, but in the last few days she had been unusually moody; this was just the latest example.

But she had complained about the heat. Perhaps it was the prospect of getting out of the scorching sun that had her accept the offer in a hurry. And, well, perhaps he could convince the man to accept the scarf in exchange for supplies later. If anything, they'd at least get lunch.

A sudden dizziness grabbed him as he stepped over the threshold, and he had to steady himself against the doorframe to stay on his feet. No, Virdon realized when he saw the others stumble and reach for something to hold on to, it wasn't him; the ground was swaying. He swallowed hard against the nausea lodging in the pit of his stomach, and leaned against the wooden beam until the ground stopped moving.

Leon didn't seem too fazed about the incident; so Galen had been right, and slight tremors were a frequent occurrence in the area. His wife, however, was white as a sheet. Her hands trembled as she put down the plates, and when she came to one place at the table, Virdon saw tears in her eyes.

"Is everything all right, ma'am?" he asked in a low voice.

The woman shook her head, lips pressed into a thin line. "My daughter hasn't returned yet... and I'm sure she's been to the ruins again. It's dangerous there even when the ground isn't shaking, but now..." She fought back new tears. "What if she's buried under one of those big houses?"

"Don't frighten yourself or our guests, Asa," Leon chided her. "Delia is a clever girl, she'll be back soon. Those tremors aren't dangerous."

"Here they aren't," his wife shot back, "but those ruins - the houses there are taller than trees, even though they're half destroyed."

Virdon exchanged a look with Burke. Ruins of houses taller than trees? Perhaps big enough to have scraped the sky once?

"These ruins," he asked cautiously, "where are they?"

The woman shook her head and turned away to sit down at her place across the table; it had dawned on her - too late - that she shouldn't talk to strangers about her daughter's violation of this world's strongest taboo.

Virdon smiled at her, trying to ease her concern. "We travel inside the Blasted Zone sometimes; and we found that none of the stories are true. It's just deserted land, with some old ruins here and there. Although I can see why your daughter wants to explore them - I'm curious myself after what you told us. Are the houses really higher than the trees?"

Asa picked at her meal, avoiding his gaze. "I don't go there; it's cursed land. I told Delia time and again not to go there, either, but the girl just won't listen." She finally looked up and gave a light shrug. "The houses... that's what Delia told me. Houses made of strange stone, taller than trees... and caves and tunnels underground..." She shivered. "I had bad dreams about it afterwards. How she can go back there, I don't know."

Virdon scooped up some turnips, trying to hide his excitement. Those were ruins of a big city, from the girl's description. He had to have a look himself! "It's hard to imagine if you've never been there, I think," he said casually. "I'd like to see those strange things for myself..."

The woman's look was dark. "I wouldn't go there if you gave me a new cow," she said. "A lot of people went to have a look in the olden days, and none returned. It's a cursed land, a cursed place, and one day it'll swallow up my Delia, just like in my dreams."

"Listen to the woman, Al," Burke murmured into his bowl, "this isn't a good idea."

Virdon fell silent and concentrated on his meal. It was clear that the woman was too frightened to tell him anything more, but perhaps her daughter would be more forthcoming.

He just hoped she'd be back before they had to leave.

The sun was pounding down on Urko's head, but there was no thought of taking off his helmet, or taking shelter in the shadow of the trees. A soldier of Urko's army didn't bow to anyone but his commanding officer, and Urko, chief of said army, didn't bow to anyone. Not to Zaius - though he technically ought to -, and not to nature's trials, either. Especially not to them.

They had made good progress this morning, traveling northwards at high speed, changing horses at every waystation. Urko was taking his gray as near horse when he wasn't riding it - it was right to grant it respites, but he wasn't leaving it behind. It was too valuable to leave it in the hands of some human groom.

Ever since Aken's report had landed on his desk, Urko had felt that old rush of excitement coursing anew through his veins. The time and location of his prey's reappearance indicated that they had been hiding for quite some time in the area; they must've had help.

Well, they'd be having some interesting conversations later. Urko was looking forward to that.

Officially, he was on an inspection tour of his troops through the Northern districts, since Zaius had called off the manhunt, the old fool. Now they were inspecting the human settlements along the Forbidden Zone, and so far, every village in a thirty mile corridor along the border had yielded results. The humans knew his name and needed little convincing - most of the time, a glare was sufficient, though one or two had needed his hand around their throats.

Only one had defied him even then. In the end, though, he had talked like all the others.

The group was traveling inside the Zone, only leaving it for provision runs. It was pretty smart, Urko had to give it to them. On the other hand, it was making their next surface point quite predictable, which was why they were racing North instead of waiting out the midday heat like any sane ape. If they could overtake them now, they could enjoy the shade of a tree in the next village and wait for the fugitives to run into their open arms like hares into a net...

He halted his horse when he saw the cart creeping down the road towards them.

A human was steering it, and the village they were headed to was just about five miles ahead of them, so it had to be coming from there. Urko smiled and rode up to the creature, that had by now stopped its cart, too, and was eyeing them uncertainly. Its expression turned fearful when Urko's men fanned out and casually encircled it.

"Where're you going?" Urko demanded to know.

"Jus' taking the dung out to the fields, master," the human said meekly. It didn't dare to meet Urko's eyes. The general wrinkled his nose. The cart did stink. He'd thought it was the human.

Better make it quick, then.

"You're from that village five miles up?"

"Yes, master."

"Had any visitors there lately?"

Now the human looked up at him, wide-eyed. It shook his head. Urko leaned forward from his horse and the human shrank back immediately.

"Better think again, and think harder, because we're on our way to your little crap-hole, and if we find some humans that don't belong there, I'll remember you."

"I don't know... master, perhaps there were people visiting... but I left an hour ago, I don't know if they even stayed..." It yelped when Urko's gloved hand shot forth and grabbed it by its collar.

"So why did you at first say there weren't any strangers in your village?" Urko kept his tone friendly. The human was shaking like a leaf in his grip.

"I, I didn't remember at first... I thought harder, like you said... please..." Its eyes began to water. Urko growled and shoved it back on its ass. The human crumpled with a sob, to the laughter of his men.

"Humans!" Urko spat. "Liars, all of them! You have to beat the truth out of them with a stick! Remember that," he turned to his lieutenant. "Always assume that a human is lying. You're lucky that I don't have time for that right now," he said to the human that still cowered on its seat in an almost fetal position. Maybe it had shat its pants; it was hard to tell over the general stench of the cart. Urko spurred his horse on to get to the lee side of it.

"So they have guests in town. We better hurry up, then - I don't want to miss the party."

They fell into a sharp gallop.

Zana picked at the white, glassy chunks in her bowl and pretended to eat one; hopefully nobody noticed how the cabbage-y smell was turning her stomach. She had hoped for some fruit and nuts, or some fresh vegetables... she could die for tomatoes lately - but no such luck. She glanced around the table to see if the vigorous movements of her fork on the plate were successfully fooling Galen and the humans.

Peet was completely focused on his bowl, perhaps even on his second serving already. Zana shook her head - that human could eat like a... very hungry animal. Though she shouldn't compare him to an animal. Alan was eating slowly, his gaze flicking to the door again and again. Apparently he was waiting for the humans' daughter to return. Zana stuffed a turnip into her mouth and forced herself to chew on it. If she wanted to leave before that girl returned, she'd better empty her plate. She didn't want to give Alan the chance to get sidetracked.

She froze momentarily when her gaze locked with Galen; her fiancé had been watching her. Well, her mouth was filled with those terrible turnips right now, so he couldn't say anything, could he? Zana smiled and chewed demonstratively. Galen just turned up one corner of his mouth, but still looked worried. Well, he was prone to fussing over her; she just had to make clear that it was the heat that was making her sluggish and irritated. Later, when they were alone.

Her hopes were dashed when Delia entered a moment later, a tall, lanky girl of about twelve with sunburned cheeks and a tousled ponytail. She carried a cloth bag whose boxy shape announced that the fearless explorer had brought back plenty of booty.

"You're late for noonday meal," her mother scolded her, perfectly hiding her relief behind a mask of disapproval. Zana saw the light in the girl's eyes dull for a moment; but then Delia noticed the strangers around the family table, and they lit up again with fascination. Children...

"What's in your bag?" Virdon asked with real interest, and Delia came around to his place. Virdon pushed his plate aside and the girl began to lay out her treasures. Zana smiled; Alan loved children - Peet thought it was because he was missing his own son so much that he somehow saw him in every little human they encountered - and the children responded to him immediately. Perhaps they felt that his affection and interest were genuine.

"Delia, take that away, it's dirty! We have food on the table!" Her mother eyed the admittedly dusty artefacts with disgust and... fear?

"You can show me the rest of it over there." Virdon pointed to a sideboard at the wall behind him and helped her to carry the exhibits over to it. They put their heads together over them like two seasoned archaeologists. Zana sighed and returned to her battle with the turnips. So much for getting in and out quickly, before anyone suspected they were here...

"Pete, look at this!"

Peet looked up from his bowl with an expression on his face that said he'd rather not look at whatever had caught his friend's attention; Zana knew that he wanted to get back inside the Forbidden Zone as quickly as possible. When it came to apes, Peet's paranoia was even greater than her own.

"Looks like junk," he said unenthusiastically. Virdon came over to him with something that looked like a necklace made of various colored strings.

"Those are electric wires!" Virdon's voice was strained, his face and shoulders tense. He was trying to contain a great excitement. Zana gave up pretending that she was eating her stew and followed the humans' interaction with interest. She couldn't help it; she was still a human behavioral analyst, even if the institute didn't send her a paycheck anymore.

Peet leaned back in his chair and rubbed his upper lip. His whole body indicated aversion.

"Yeah, it's wiring alright," he agreed. "But it's still useless junk, I mean, look at it, Al. Look at all of it." He waved his hand towards Delia's collection on the sideboard. "It's just like the stuff Gres had collected in that bunker of his. Centuries old, corroded, melted, molding, or just... broken. It doesn't do anything. It's just... it's pot shards and arrowheads." He looked up at Alan, and his face softened.

"That stuff won't help you to get home, Al - you gotta face reality here."

Alan had begun to shake his head halfway through Peet's little speech. Zana suppressed a sigh. Alan could be stubborn like... Peet had likened him to a mule. And sensible as Peet's objections were, in the end he'd give in, as always. Zana found the internal hierarchy between her two humans fascinating, but for once she wished Peet would assert himself as the leader. Maybe she should advise him to wrestle Alan to the ground or whatever adult humans did to rearrange the ranks. Wrestling had been the method of choice among the human young she had been working with.

"Even if the technology that Gres had collected was damaged, you would've been able to repair it," Alan was arguing. "Yes, it may all be junk in that city, but we can't know until we've had a look ourselves. And if they did have computers..."

Peet leaned forward with a huff. "Jeez, Al, I was exchanging the fused wiring of that gun, that's a whole other dimension than fixing a computer! And then you'd need a power source and oh right I'll go with you, you won't budge anyway! God!" He buried his face in his hands for a moment. When he lifted his head, he wore a resigned expression. "Someone has to make sure you don't get yourself killed by getting yourself into stupid shit."

Alan smiled gratefully and gave him a playful slap on the shoulder. "I appreciate that."

"Oh fuck off, Al," Peet murmured, though Zana supposed it was meant as an endearment, despite the choice of language.

"I'd like to go with you, if that is all right."

Zana turned to Galen, as surprised as the humans. "What do you want there, Galen?" Was Alan's obsession infectious? Galen's nose twitched, as it always did when he was nervous... or excited.

"Oh, I, I just want to see one of those mythical cities myself. They are said to be remnants of an advanced ape civilisation," he added towards the humans, "but since they are all located inside the Forbidden Zones, our archeologists have never gotten a permit to go there for excavations." He shook his head in regret. "Such a shame, really - to have the truth within reach, and no means to touch it."

Zana leaned over and hissed into his ear: "It's that cursed book of yours, isn't it!"

Galen just turned his head towards her and smiled slightly, but didn't answer. Zana had noticed that he only took it out when he thought the humans were asleep or busy, and although Peet had lately shown interest in it, Galen's demeanour had so far discouraged him from actually asking anything about it, or its content. Zana wasn't surprised that her fiancé didn't want to talk about it right now, either, but Mothers, could she really let him join the humans on such a crazy mission without resistance?

"Does that mean you're leaving me behind here, to somehow barter for our food with nothing more than my scarf and Alan's funny needle?" she asked sternly.

Peet grinned. "Well, if you sell it as a 'lsquo;funny' needle, you might even get some takers."

Alan had a guilty look on his face, but he didn't make any sign of calling off his quest. Zana threw her arms up in frustration. "All right, go, all of you, I'll take care of the actual reason we came here! Just don't take all day, you know we... still have quite a distance to travel today."

The others nodded - everyone had understood what she hadn't said outright. Alan's fear that Urko might yet again be on their tail had unsettled them all, and driven them to march long and hard day after day.

What an irony that it was Alan, of all people, who was now costing them precious time.

The humans scattered like frightened chickens when his squad broke into their midst. Urko waved his men to herd them together on the village square and took a deep draw from his water bottle while they set to work. He didn't want to address the critters more than once, and besides, being encircled by apes on horseback had a taming effect on a human herd. They instinctively huddled together and paid attention.

"It's been brought to my attention that this village harboured wanted criminals not long ago," he began abruptly, "or, who knows, is maybe still harbouring them. Now I'll grant you that you didn't know that they're wanted by the government, but legally, that wouldn't make a difference."

He leaned on his saddle horn and smiled. "I could still burn your burrows down and hang your carcasses in the trees and nobody would care." Except for the local prefect, perhaps - and Urko would have to convince Zaius to pay reparations for the loss of workers. He really didn't need that hassle, but there was no reason to let the humans know that, who were muttering fearfully among themselves. He straightened in the saddle.

"But. I'm in a good mood today. If you tell me, right now, where they are, I'll spare you. As I said, you didn't know what you invited in, and of course there were two apes among them, and you're right to obey any ape. So..." he let his horse walk around the crowd, scanning the faces for signs of a confession wish, "who wants to save their village today? I'm sure your fellow humans will throw a feast for you afterwards, in gratitude for saving their lives."

The creatures were averting their eyes, whether out of fear or defiance he couldn't say. Well. It would've been boring without a little struggle. He waved for his men, and two of them jumped from their horses and grabbed a boy under both arms. The human whipped its head around with wide eyes. From somewhere in the crowd came a strangled cry. Ah yes, family. The strongest bond, right?

"I don't know about you, but I think it's an awfully hot day," Urko said conversationally. "And I think we all need a bit of refreshment. One can think better, and remember better, with a cool head." He nodded to his soldiers, and they dragged the human over to a water barrel. The youngster threw itself back in their grip and dug its heels into the dust, but of course a human was no match for simian strength. They reached the barrel and dunked its head under water.

"I'm a bit short of time," Urko told the horrified onlookers while the prisoner kicked and struggled behind him, "otherwise I'd have shown you how a proper interrogation works. This," he gestured over his shoulder, "is crude, I know. I apologize. But it's often effective." At his sign, his men let the human surface; Urko waited until the coughs and sobs, and the retching, had subsided a bit.

"Well?" he asked mildly.

"I don't know! I don't know!" the boy yelled, panicked. Urko nodded, and his men hoisted it up again. "No, no..." the rest of its screams was drowned, literally.

Urko clucked his tongue. "He should've tried to hold his breath instead of wasting it on lies."

"He doesn't know! He was out in the fields all morning! Please..." An old woman pushed her way through the crowd towards him and fell on the ground before his horse. Urko curled his lip in disgust. Why they let these beasts live on once they were no longer productive was beyond him. They were a drain on resources, something ape society was eternally struggling with. The food that the old nag consumed should go to an ape child instead.

"I can't imagine that you 've been out in the fields all morning, too," he scoffed, "so perhaps you'll tell me who gave shelter to my fugitives, before my men forget to let your relative up for air?"

The human hesitated, and Urko suppressed the urge to laugh. Here his lieutenant was drowning its son, or grandson, in a barrel like a kitten, and it still needed time to deliberate?

"Better hurry up," he grinned, "your boy has stopped kicking."

The woman still said nothing, but her gaze flicked to a hut on the other side of the square. Urko followed it with his eyes. "That one, huh?"

He waved his men to follow him; they dropped the boy to the ground like a wet rag. The old hag hurried over to him and threw himself over his still body. Urko gave them no heed and steered his horse over to the hut.

"One to guard the back, the others are with me. Leave no pot unturned while I have a chat with the residents."

Her breasts hurt as they were squeezed against the earth beneath the floorboards, and the dust was tickling her nose, but Zana found it horribly easy to lie absolutely still in that tiny hiding place, while heavy boots were creaking back and forth above her, and pots were crashing on the ground. If she had counted right, there were three soldiers in the room above her, one of them Urko. The sound of his voice was the main reason she had no problems to stay frozen like a doll. The few inches of wood between her and him meant that she was currently safe from his eyes, but unfortunately, they did nothing to muffle the conversation.

"They aren't here." That was Leon's voice, surprisingly calm, considering he had Urko in his hut. He must've heard of him - the general's reputation was preceding him, especially among the humans. Zana didn't know if she should admire his courage or fear for his life. Perhaps both.

"So they've been here, then." That was Urko, equally calm. You could think the two were discussing the weather.

"Many pass through the village." Zana thought she could even hear the shrug in Leon's voice.

Urko snorted. "Through this remote craphole? I really doubt that. So where did they go?"

"I have no idea. They didn't talk much." Well, that was the truth - it was mostly Alan who had done the talking, and he'd had only one topic of interest.

"You're lying." Urko's voice had taken on a new quality - soft, conversational, deceptively casual. Zana could feel every hair on her body rise.

"Humans are always lying, until you put the screws on them. Lovely daughter you have there. Is she your only young?"

"Leave her out of this, please." Leon's voice was still calm, but Zana could hear the tension in it. She was sure that Urko heard it, too, and reveled in the man's fear.

"I always said that the average ape tends to underestimate humans," Urko mused. "They think of them as cattle, which is how we use them, alright. But I think a more apt comparison is... a rat. Smart, cunning, social vermin . The only disadvantage you humans have compared to rats is that you drop fewer offspring. That's what makes them so dear to you, am I right, little one?"

Zana heard the girl yelp, and Urko chuckle. "If your mate here would birth a litter of eight, I doubt you'd even give them names. What's your name, girl?"

"D... Delia."

"Lovely name. Now, Delia, you're still young, and healthy, and you have a great life before you, toiling in the fields and popping out even more humans to populate our land, and I bet you want to enjoy all those things in your future. Do you want to have a future, Delia? Then I suggest you convince your father that he should start talking to me right now." Urko's voice had turned to steel with the last words.

"They went for the ruins in the Blasted Zone," Asa cried out. Zana closed her eyes; she couldn't fault the woman for wanting to protect her child... she could only hope that Urko was so keen on them that he wouldn't waste time with retaliating against the family for holding back that information for so long.

"All of them?"

Zana held her breath.

"All of them," Leon confirmed in a shaky voice. "They were eager to go back into the Zone, because they thought nobody would dare to follow them there."

"Very well." Zana could hear someone topple a chair - had Urko shoved the girl aside? The floorboards creaked as Urko took two steps away from where she lay hidden.

"You're lucky that I'm in a bit of a hurry right now - but don't think I'll neglect my duty to discipline you for lying. I'll make sure to stop by on my way back and put the cane on... no, not on you."

Zana heard someone whimper. What had Urko done? Was that Delia's voice?

"On her. That'll teach you not to defy your masters. And it'll teach that cub of yours, too - seems you can't be trusted to raise her right, so I'll have to."

The heavy steps moved to the door.

"And if she doesn't survive it, you can always squeeze out another one."