Burke hesitated in the door to the tack room for a moment, not sure if he should address his friend at all. Virdon was either ignoring him on purpose, or was completely focused on his work; he was sewing up the saddlebags for their horses. Pieces of already cut leather were spread out on the table. Virdon's face was calm, not betraying any emotion.

"Hey Al," Burke began hesitantly. "Don't know if the news have reached you in here, but... it's not looking so good for Zana right now. Galen just sent me to get the doctor. She, uh, the bleeding won't stop. That tea and acupuncture stuff aren't working, and the baby hasn't come out, either..."

Virdon didn't answer, although his hands stilled. His gaze was fixed on the piece of leather in his lap, the awl in his hand.

"I'm gonna wait in the corridor," Burke continued. "I mean, they won't need us in there, but, well..."

"I don't think Galen would want me to loiter in the corridor," Virdon murmured after a moment.

"Yeah, maybe not, but this isn't about him, right? It's about Zana."

Virdon sighed and put the leather aside. "Right. Get the doctor, I'll meet you at the inn."

"Yep." Burke pushed away from the doorframe. It was no use talking to Al when he was in that kind of mood, and he didn't have any more time to waste, anyway; if Galen knew he'd made a detour to the stables first, he'd be livid.

He was lucky - the doc wasn't out to treat some farmer lodging miles away. The old chimp listened to his hasty report, shook his head, and grabbed his bag. Burke found the expression on the doc's face worrying, but didn't ask. It wasn't as if he would've gotten an answer anyway; apes didn't confide in humans.

Al was waiting outside the inn when they arrived; he probably didn't want to risk running into Zana's enraged fiancé upstairs. Burke lingered for a moment, too, leaving it to the doctor to find his way alone. "She's gonna be okay. She's tough."

Virdon just shot him a look, then turned and limped inside.

By an unspoken agreement, they hovered by the window at the end of the corridor, far away from the door to Zana's room, and from the sounds that filtered through it. There was a chair under the window, but Virdon didn't sit down; he limped up and down the narrow corridor, three paces back and forth. After watching him for a moment, Burke sat down on the chair.

From Zana's door came faint sounds - two male voices speaking, though the words were muffled and unintelligible. Zana sobbing. Something heavy was scraped across the floor. Something clinked.

"Uh, how are those saddlebags coming along?" Burke asked, desperate to drown out the ominous sounds with his voice. "I mean, seems we won't leave by morning now," he continued, when Virdon didn't answer. "Guess I need to organize a bit more ammo, in case that lieutenant turns up in town..."

"Do you think they'll try a cesarean in there?" Virdon interrupted him. He was staring down the corridor, at the door. "It can't be sterile in that room at all, not like Kira's operating room..."

"I've no idea, Al," Burke said, unnerved. "But he's been a doctor for a long time, an' Galen knows a thing or two, too, so I guess they know what they're doing."

"Yep." Virdon was still staring down the corridor, as if he could see through that door if he was just staring hard enough.

Burke, for his part, was glad that they weren't forced to watch. Or made to help. The one time when he had been forced to play anesthesist for Al in Kira's clinic had been more than enough. Pete Burke wasn't a doctor, no sir.

He just wished they weren't forced to listen, either. Zana was making deep, loud sounds now, sounds that were turning his stomach. Did they go without anestesia in there? "Uh, Tala's stitches should be pulled soon, the thread is growing into her skin," he raised his voice. "Don't want them to start festering, or something. Jesus, Al, talk to me! You can't want to listen to that!"

Virdon didn't turn his head. "If you can't bear to witness her suffering, why are you here?"

Burke spread his arms. "Moral support? I mean, she's in there because of... of us, right?"

Virdon finally turned around. "Because of me, you mean."

"Well..."

"I didn't ask you to follow me."

"You'd be dead now if we hadn't followed you."

"That's a risk I was willing to take."

Burke jumped up. "Willing to take? Seems to me you were awfully eager to take that risk, Al! Isn't suicide a sin in your religion?"

Virdon let himself drop against the wall. "I wasn't trying to commit suicide."

Burke huffed. "Well, I'm glad you told me that, 'cause from where I'm standing, it's hard to decide. But what's worse is that you were perfectly okay with taking that risk not just for your own life, but for ours as well. And don't start with the 'I didn't ask you to come' crap again. We survived until now because we have each other's back. You knew we wouldn't let you go in there alone!"

He gestured towards the door to Zana's room. "Zana's paying the price for that now. Do you still think it was worth it?"

Virdon cocked his head and pierced him with a sharp glance. "What do you want, Pete?"

Burke frowned. "What do you mean, what do I want?"

Virdon made a sweeping gesture with his arm. "What do you want to do with the rest of your life, assuming we survive Urko? You've been telling me over and over again that there's no chance in hell we'll ever return home, so- where do you see yourself, five years from now? Here, on this planet, in this time?"

Burke slowly sat down again. "I dunno, I haven't really thought about it, I guess... I mean, doesn't make much sense to plan that far ahead if I don't know if I'll even live that long."

Virdon smiled a joyless smile. "Humor me, Pete - assume you do survive that long. What kind of life do you want to make for yourself here? They don't have spaceships here, they don't even have planes, and honestly, I can't see you tilling the soil for the rest of your life."

"Hell, no!" Burke scoffed. "Can't see myself as a farmer, either. Guess I'll find a place where the apes aren't breathing down my neck..."

"They're everywhere," Virdon interrupted him. "You'll have to take them into account."

"No, I don't," Burke said heatedly. "If I don't find a place where I can be free, I'll make one. Maybe... maybe I'll find Katlin, join her group. Depends on where you are in five years. If you're still hell-bent on getting yourself killed, I guess I'll have to babysit you to the end of our lives."

Virdon looked away. "You shouldn't make your life contingent on mine."

"You're my piece of 21st century Earth, Al," Burke confessed, feeling embarrassed for baring his soul like that. But if it helped Virdon to get off his suicidal quest for miracle tech... "Can't give that up."

Virdon was staring down at his feet. Burke fervently wished he'd say something, wouldn't leave his confession hanging so awkwardly between them.

But his friend kept silent, and now Burke realized that the sounds behind the door had stopped, too. Virdon slowly slid down the wall until he sat on the floor, his hands gripping the crutch lying across his lap.

They listened to the silence.

Virdon's question continued to nag at Burke. Yeah, Al did know what he wanted; he wanted it so badly that he was willing to pay any price for it. Burke wondered if there was anything in his own life now that he could want so desperately, so absolutely, that he'd sacrifice everything he had, and even the things that weren't his to sacrifice. Suppose a genie offered him a ride home, but he'd have to leave Al behind?

Guess I'd give my seat to Al then. Couldn't break the poor bastard's heart like that, could he? And Al had a family back home, while he... he...

He'd be stuck with Galen and Zana here then. Good thing genies didn't exist.

The gray light of morning was creeping into the hallway when the door finally opened and the doctor left. He didn't even glance at them, but that was okay, because Galen was standing under the door, and his attention was burning into Burke like lava.

He rose from the chair. "How is Zana? Is she... she...?"

He couldn't bring himself to ask the question.

Galen kept his attention on him, very obviously not looking at Virdon. "She survived."

Burke closed his eyes. "Oh, good!"

"... but the baby didn't."

With a sigh, Burke dropped into his chair again. He rubbed his face. "Damn. That's... I'm so sorry, Galen, I'm... I don't know what to say..."

"The doctor wasn't able to stop the bleeding," Galen continued, his voice hard and expressionless. Burke looked up, dread pooling in his gut. Something else was coming, and it couldn't be good.

"He had to... stop the bleeding somehow," Galen continued after a moment of silence. "So he had to... to... she won't be able to have children anymore. Not ever."

The door closed with a soft click before Burke could say anything.

Dear Father,

Galen stared at the words for a moment, then made a careful stroke.

Dear Father,

I hope this letter finds you and Mother in good health. Zana and I-

He leaned back in his seat and rubbed his eyes. Should he tell Yalu about Zana's... predicament? He could almost feel his father's fury, blaming him for allowing her to tag along, insisting that as her fiancé and future husband, it would've been not only his right, but his duty to forbid her to come with them, and to order her to stay at Yalu's house, just as his father had proposed the last time they were in the City.

He sighed, and continued.

Dear Father Sir,

I hope this letter finds you and Mother in good health. Zana and I are well, as far as that is possible under the circumstances. I must say, though, that I heard unsettling news about Urko's latest activities regarding the Council and the Council Eldest, and I hope he hasn't extended his measures to other members of the Council. These new developments vindicate my decision to take Zana with me - it seems the City is becoming quite dangerous to people the Chief General disagrees with.

Which brings me to the occasion that prompted this letter. Whatever Urko is planning - and I am confident that whatever it is, you will keep on top of it - he isn't confining himself to the City alone. It seems he is also purging the surrounding prefectures from police chiefs and prefects that don't agree with his political ambitions, and supplants them with his own people. I don't have to point out to you how dangerous that will become once the number of his followers has reached a tipping point. It is one thing to reform the City Guard; it is quite another to build an army that can choke the City if it doesn't yield to Urko's vision, whatever it might be.

Specifically, Urko now seeks to unseat Prefect Kanla of Pendan Prefecture. She had to deal with an outbreak of human swamp fever lately, and was able to get it under control thanks to the help of a traveling veterinarian, who wrote up a complete report that includes all measures, as well as the medicines used. I'm sure that the surrounding prefectures can profit from the gathered knowledge, as well - they all have to deal with the same propagating conditions. However, in his zeal to erase all humans from our world, Urko set the human village on fire, and also pursued the veterinarian, because in his madness, he confused Dr. Kova with the fugitive Atiba Galen and his entourage, a similarity that was, as I can assure you, entirely coincidental.

Now the general is appealing to the Council to persecute Prefect Kanla for aiding and abetting an enemy of the state; let me say it again that the prefect dealt only with Dr. Kova and his wife, and at no point even dreamed of helping a wanted criminal. I am also positive that the general can offer not a single shred of evidence for his claim that he had apprehended the fugitives, nor can he justify the wilful destruction of the prefecture's workforce.

So I am respectfully asking you to speak for Prefect Kanla in this matter, who I'm sure will prove a valuable asset in the dangerous interesting times to come.

I hope to be able to write to you again in the near future, but since I'm also sure that your mail is being monitored, I will restrict my letters to occasions that necessitate a contact. Rest assured that you and Mother are always in my thoughts. I hope that one day, we may be able to talk to each other in person again. Until then I remain

Your faithful son

Galen stared at the letter, then sighed and reached for a fresh sheet to make a neat copy. There was no way he could send it directly to his father, not with Urko clamping down on his enemies right now. He'd have to send it to Melvin's cousin Ango first, who was a monk in a temple just outside the City, and who'd give it to Melvin, and Melvin...

His fingers stilled over the paper for a moment, as he tried to picture that scene - Melvin and his father in one room. Throughout his youth, Galen had managed to never bring his friends home while his father was there, too, so he couldn't even begin to imagine how those two would get along - one insulting people on purpose, the other out of sheer obliviousness, one sensitive to insults aimed at him, the other completely oblivious in that regard, too.

He wished he could be the fly on the wall in that moment.

He wished he could be back in the City, back at his university, back in his old life. He hadn't read a single page of that cursed book in weeks, and didn't even miss it. There had been a time when 'the truth' had seemed to be the most important thing to strive for, worth every sacrifice. He had fooled himself into believing that, if he spread the truth he found in that book among his fellow apes, he could start a revolution.

But now, in this tiny room in that tiny inn, with a dead baby and a wounded mate on his conscience, that dream seemed to be nothing more than the folly of a child. An angry, proud child who thought that knowing things nobody else knew would somehow make him get even with his father.

Most probably, nobody would even care for the shocking truth about humans. Whatever they had been once, they were nothing now. Nothing at all. Slaves, animals, not people. Not the noble and smart creatures that Zana had seen in them. She had been infatuated with them, nothing more, and he had allowed that rosy image to influence his thinking, too.

Galen thumped his palm on the table. This was of real importance - Urko's plans to usurp the power from the council, and to crush any dissenters in his way. Simian matters. He'd take care of the apes' concerns from now on.

He just hoped Zana would wake up to reality now, too.

Galen found the guard at the bigger of the two inns of Silam, drinking cider and playing keppa with some local guards. When the Chimp saw him, he immediately cashed in his money and sauntered over to him. "Doctor Kova. You look stressed, my friend. Let me invest my freshly won money and invite you for a drink."

They settled at the bar, and at the guard's wave, the barmaid set a tankard with cider in front of Galen. The metal was cool when he closed his hands around it, and with a sigh, he took a deep draw. The cider was cold, and sweet, with a hint of tartness and alcohol. It was divine.

He could get used to this.

"So, I gather you did reconsider, after all," Kanla's officer murmured without looking at him, and raised his own mug to his mouth. "Remembered someone you do know?"

"I give no guarantees that they will even consider my request," Galen murmured back. "They are... not especially fond of me."

"Noted. Still, it's better than nothing."

The Chimp took a deep draw from his mug, and Galen used the opportunity to quickly scan the barroom. He was a stranger in this little town, and so was the guard, and that meant they were doubly noticeable to the good citizens of Silam. He had actually planned on doing this little transaction somewhere more private, but the ape had simply taken him by surprise. Still, nobody seemed to spare them a second glance.

"No worries, Doctor." The guard gave him an amused sideways glance. "I come up here from time to time. The guard knows me."

Galen took a hasty draw from his own mug to cover his embarrassment. He certainly had no talent for those clandestine meetings; Mothers knew why Melvin found the idea so exciting. "Whoever delivers that letter can't go directly to my contact," he said when he set down the mug. "There's a monastery outside the City, dedicated to Blue Eyes. Ask for Privat Ango. He'll pass it along."

"That'll cost us time we don't have," the guard objected. Galen wondered for a moment if he should ask his name, then decided against it. The less he knew, the better he felt.

"If it's delivered directly, it could cost my contact's life, and that's not a risk I'm willing to take," Galen said grimly.

"Fair enough." The guard twisted a bit away from him; when he turned back, he held the pouch of money in his hand that he had offered him earlier. He dropped it beside Galen's mug. "Your money for getting our humans back in shape."

This time, Galen wasn't complaining - as he had told Zana earlier, they were as poor as dogs now. If they wanted to survive, they'd have to find a way to earn some money on the road.

Not as a veterinarian, though. Urko knew that identity now, and would amend his wanted posters accordingly. Speaking of Urko...

"Did anyone survive the general's inferno?" Galen had to ask; the guard couldn't know that they had used Kanla's humans to shake off Urko's troupe in the swamp.

"About two thirds of the village." The guard shrugged. "If Kanla wins this trial, she'll sue the City for compensation for the killed livestock. I mean, humans breed quickly enough, but it takes so damn long for the young to grow up. We'll need to buy replacements."

"I need you to do something else for me," Galen said. He didn't want to hear about humans right now. He didn't even want to think about humans, because then he'd have to think about their own two, and what to do with them.

The guard raised his brows. "Payment doesn't suit you?"

"No, no, it's fine," Galen assured him hastily. In fact, the payment was more than generous - and with Zana's deteriorated condition, had been the reason why he had relented in the end. He needed to buy another wagon, before Nelva descended on this town. "But you said you could throw Urko's men off our scent for a while..."

"Ah." The guard grinned. "I could do that... if I knew why the general is so eager to catch you."

Galen frowned. "That's irrelevant for what I'm asking of you."

"Sure it is." The guard emptied his mug. "I'm just curious. So humor me."

"It's political." Galen fastened the money pouch to his belt. "And that's all I'm going to say about the matter."

He fully expected the guard to insist on the details in exchange for his help, but the Chimp just held out his hand. "The letter."

Galen stared at him. "Will you delay Nelva?"

The guard held his gaze, slowly wiping the cider from his mouth. "I'll do my best. You should still get to the mountains as quickly as possible."

Galen reached into his robe and handed him the scroll. "Believe me, I'd fly if I could." He nodded at the letter. "Destroy that letter before you let it fall into the wrong hands. It can greatly endanger the recipient." And me, he added silently, although he suspected that neither Kanla nor her armsman would care about his fate.

The guard saluted him with the scroll. "Don't worry, Doctor - that letter is safe with me." He threw some sembles on the counter and sauntered off, patting Galen's shoulder in passing.

Galen tiredly rubbed his eyes and took another draw. He'd need to buy a wagon, a new harness, stock up their supplies...

His hand closed around the disc hanging from his neck.

And he had to give this thing back to the humans.