Galen watched intently as Hamez carefully squeezed a tiny amount of Wonder Elixir onto a small glass slide with a dropper. The young Chimp had repeatedly encouraged him to try out the microscope himself, but Galen had politely declined, claiming that so far, there hadn't been a medical reason for him to use it.
Truth was, he was afraid to break something, although the thing never ceased to fascinate him. It looked different from the one Kira had shown him, although both contraptions reminded him of Zatis' telescope — it seemed to Galen that you simply looked into the tube from the opposite end.
But Hamez' microscope was much more advanced than Kira's: an elegant construction, consisting of a small brass tube mounted on polished wood that pointed to a small metal plate, onto which one would clamp the glass slide. The metal stage had a hole in its center; behind it, a small oil lamp was also mounted on the wooden base, so that one could illuminate the specimen from behind.
It must've cost a fortune. Not for the first time, Galen wondered how Hamez had come by it. Kira's had been a gift from her fiancé; even the income of an excellent surgeon in a reputable clinic wouldn't have been sufficient to buy one for herself. For a simple student like Hamez, it was impossible to even dream of. Yet here it was, and Galen wished he had seized the opportunity to blurt out the question in the rush of wonder and excitement when he had first seen it; it wouldn't have been suspicious then. But there hadn't been a good occasion ever since.
Now though, on the heels of his own, barely-averted blunder over Melvin's latest package, he wondered if he shouldn't turn the tables on Hamez and inquire him about the origins of this remarkable piece of equipment. Make the young ape sweat a bit for a change.
... maybe after they had examined the liquid, though; he didn't want to annoy Hamez so much that he'd withhold any discoveries he might make.
"Interesting," Hamez commented, his eye still glued to the eyepiece.
"Interesting in what way?" Galen nudged him when he didn't elaborate.
His assistant pushed away from the microscope. "Ah, see for yourself, doctor. And if you agree, I propose we analyze this elixir with the reactants I brought from the City."
He seemed to have forgotten about the package, Galen noted with relief; apparently, the composition of the bottled water had completely caught his attention. He sat down to peer through the tube himself. As always when he had stolen a look under Hamez' supervision, his eyes began to water from the attempt to discern anything in the dimly lit disc at the end of a seemingly infinite black tunnel.
Movement. Tiny specks were moving in all directions in that drop of... whatever those criminals had filled into their bottles. They seemed to move on their own accord, too, randomly changing direction. Galen lifted his head from the eyeglass and stared at Hamez. "What in Cesar's name is this? Tiny... creatures? Animals?"
Hamez' eyes glinted. "Whatever it is, I'm not sure I'd want to ingest it."
"No," Galen murmured, peering once more through the tube. "Neither would I."
He leaned back again to rub his watery eyes. "But I'm afraid this is still not sufficient proof for Chief Voltis. After all, we don't know that these tiny things are harmful to apes — or their livestock — and shouldn't be there. After what I've seen in that tent, I'm sure Heron would claim he put them there on purpose." He snorted. "He'll probably claim they are the 'healing agents' responsible for the wonderful effects of his wonder cure."
"I'm afraid you are right, vetes," Hamez agreed. He carefully removed the glass slide from the metal plate, and extinguished the light of the little lamp mounted behind it. "Yet I'd still like to examine this liquid a bit more. Maybe I'll find something in it that is harmful, and cannot be explained away by the venerable gentlemen from the circus."
"By all means," Galen said eagerly. "I'd be honored to watch. This sorcery of yours wasn't taught at school in my time, and I'm always eager to expand my knowledge of the natural philosophy."
"No, no, it's my honor," Hamez assured him. "I'll be right back!"
He was back in no time indeed, carrying a wooden case that Galen hadn't seen before. Hamez had lodged in one of the local inns, and had transferred his belongings to his room the day after Galen had accepted him as his assistant, but Galen had been making his rounds in the country on that day, and hadn't witnessed the move. Now he wondered what other mysteries Hamez was storing in his room. His assistant preferred bringing his equipment downstairs into the study, instead of inviting his employer into his room.
Well, it was just a tiny guest room, and the equipment did need quite a bit of room once it was unpacked—
Hamez opened the locks of the case with a snap and revealed an assortment of little boxes, vials, and containers of an undeterminable nature, neatly strapped into place on a cushion of black fabric. He nestled open the strap of one of the mysterious containers, and lifted it up.
"First, we'll determine the liquid's cloudiness," he explained. "This will give us a first indication of the amount of solids floating in it."
"Like those little animals," Galen mused.
"Yes, but also minerals, and maybe plant material — if they really used herbal extracts for this concoction." Hamez poured some of the elixir into the container and peered into it, then poured in some more.
Galen craned his neck. "And what exactly are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm sorry." Hamez jerked his head back. "There is a marking at the end of this tube, see here?" He gestured Galen to come closer and look down the tube. Sure enough, there was a cross mark at the bottom.
"I fill up the tube until I can no longer see the mark clearly," Hamez explained. "Then I read the scale on the side of the measuring tube, and... we developed a comparison chart that assigns an agreed-upon quality to each of the values of the scale." He pulled a small scroll from the case and unrolled it. "According to the chart, the liquid is of moderate cloudiness — a mark two on a scale from one to six."
"So... it is harmless?" Galen ventured.
Hamez shrugged. "Not necessarily. Some poisons don't cloud the liquid they're dissolved in. But generally speaking, very cloudy water is not suited for drinking."
"Understood." Galen rubbed his hands. This was so fascinating! "What are we going to examine next?"
"The liquid's acidity." Hamez lifted another container from his case of wonders, and opened it to take out a small reddish strip of paper.
"This paper changes color according to a liquid's acidity," he explained. Galen noticed absently that the young ape had lost his nervous stutter. He was focused completely on his task. "An ingenious invention by doctor Algon — he boiled a cabbage in purified water, then soaked a scroll with the liquid and let it dry. We students had to cut those scrolls into these tiny strips like the one I'm holding." He smiled. "We all had red fingers for weeks."
Galen watched with rapt attention as Hamez dropped the scrap into the tube he had used to measure the elixir's cloudiness. It took a moment, but then the red color changed, as if by magic, into a deep blue.
"Hm," Hamez murmured. "It is neither acidic nor caustic. It is neutral."
"Well, that's good," Galen commented. "At least it won't burn anyone's mouth or stomach."
"Yes, very good." Hamez was still staring at the strip, apparently deep in thought.
Then he straightened abruptly. "I would like to do some more tests, with your permission, vetes, but I'm afraid those will take a bit more time — I need to concentrate the solution to the point where the dissolved substances start to crystallize before I can continue."
"Oh," Galen murmured, disappointed. "But time is of the essence, Hamez — this circus show will only stay for a few more days before it leaves, and who knows what damage these crooks can do in that time?" And besides, if they could find especially indemning proof, maybe Heron and Zolon would give their next presentation in some penal colony off the eastern coast, instead of inflicting their poison on innocent animals in a neighbouring district. "Is there nothing else your substances can discover now?"
"I'm afraid not," Hamez said contritely. "As one of my teachers used to say, the alchemical arts are not for the hasty ape. Not, not that I don't understand your insistence on speed under these circumstances," he added quickly.
"No, it's alright," Galen muttered. "Ah, but it would've been so neat to kick that baboon out of town today!"
"Agreed." Hamez began to pack up his case and his microscope. Apparently, he'd conduct the rest of his investigation in his own room. Galen watched him absently, still preoccupied with his own frustration over their lack of immediate success.
He needed more information, as quickly as possible. But he had no idea how to conduct such an operation — this was more in Zana's wheelhouse. She knew what to do — if she hadn't made that detour to buy a bottle of the so-called elixir, he and Hamez wouldn't have had anything to examine at all!
Maybe he should ask Zana what to do next... but Zana wouldn't be home until evening, and it was also a bit embarrassing to turn to her for every little thing in this matter. He had accepted Voltis' challenge, and by Cesar, he'd rise to it!
Galen tried to remember how Zana had unravelled the mystery of Felga's murder, back in Sapan. She'd acquired two bottles of Blaze , just as she had now acquired a bottle of Wonder Cure, but in Sapan, she hadn't bought them — Blaze was an illegal substance that wasn't freely available; she had in fact broken into Vilam's stables and stolen them... although if he remembered correctly, it had been an accidental find. She had actually looked for any incriminating evidence: ledgers, letters, murder weapons...
He stood. "Well, I appreciate what you've been able to do with this..." he gestured vaguely, "... stuff you've brought all the way from the City to here. I'll be excited to see more of what you can do with it. Now though, I'm afraid, we need to resort to more direct means of investigation."
Hamez pushed his glasses back into place. "What do you mean, doctor?"
Galen cocked his head and regarded his assistant with a gentle smile. "It's time to join the circus."
Galen couldn't help but imagine all the caustic remarks he'd be forced to listen to, if he'd taken Peet with him. Even Alan would've had some choice things to say about his plan, albeit with fewer expletives strewn in.
Hamez, on the other hand, hadn't said a word ever since they'd left the house. His assistant had obediently followed him down to the riverside camp, through the admittance booth and into the milling crowds, and finally, into the shrubbery that lined the river banks and camouflaged their stealthy approach to the back-side of an elaborately painted wagon that Galen had decided had to be Heron's.
The young Chimp hadn't even asked how the good doctor Kova had come to the conclusion that this wagon had to be the crook's headquarters, but Galen still felt compelled to explain himself.
"Look at the gilded underside of the roof," he whispered. "Who can afford that, if not the head of these gangsters?"
"It's called a soffit," Hamez whispered back, "do you really think they used real gold on it?"
"Oh. Thank you. You never stop learning, do you? And no, of course I don't think they used real metal, that'd have been much too expensive. Heron is hoarding his sembles, I've no doubts about that. But it looks expensive, and he has to remind his underlings who's in charge. I've seen the type."
"What do we hope to learn here?" Apparently, their whispered exchange had encouraged Hamez to finally ask the question that had to have been burning on his tongue ever since he had taken his equipment and the bottle with the elixir up to his room.
Before Galen could come up with a reasonable-sounding answer, the door at the front of the wagon creaked, and heavy steps sounded inside. Both apes pressed their ears to the wagon's side.
The voices were muffled, what with an inch of wood between them and Galen's ear, but after a moment, his brain managed to translate the sounds into words.
"... today." A bright, clattering sound suggested small, hard objects dropping on an equally hard surface. Sembles, Galen concluded, being poured onto a table. Probably the day's receipts.
"Nice." That voice belonged to Heron. Galen silently congratulated himself for having selected the right wagon to spy on.
"I always say townspeople are way more gullible than village apes," the other voice rumbled. "Never had so many idiots in one place before, though."
Softer, clacking sounds, as Heron was stacking his sembles.
"Yes, I've been thinking of extending our stay for another week or so. They're slow to catch on here."
Low chuckles. Galen felt the fur on his back rise in outrage.
"How's the numbnut doing?" Heron again.
"He says the light hurts his eyes and his skin."
"Well, what does he think he's here for?" Heron's voice instantly lost all geniality. "Free nuts and a shaded wagon? He has to earn his keep like everyone else, and that means people have to see him. Blessings of a bleached monk is what's driving sales!"
"Eh, your sales pitch is awesome enough," the other ape groveled.
"Yeah, right. Tell Gusa to hurry up making more of the stuff, and you — find someone from around here to sell us more bottles, we're running low."
"Good thing we have the river right here." Both apes laughed softly; in the brushes behind the wagon, Galen clenched his fists. "Endless supply of the wondrous elixir. If these good people only knew what a treasure they have here, nobody would do their laundry in there anymore!"
Hamez turned his head to stare wide-eyed at him, excitement shining in his eyes, and opened his mouth.
Something grabbed Galen's collar and yanked him to his feet. With a yelp, Hamez joined him, dangling from the hand of...
... a huge Gorilla. Apparently, Heron had guards patrolling his grounds, even the underbrush at the waterline.
Maybe especially the underbrush.
The Gorilla unceremoniously dragged them to the front of the wagon and hollered for Heron. He didn't knock at the door, for which Galen was grateful — he wasn't sure that the guard would've let go of him for that.
Hamez didn't look at all surprised at the sight of him. In fact, he was smirking. "My, my, what a surprise. What were you doing in the bushes? Hunting ducks? Or spying on me?" His smile dropped as fast from his face as the warmth had vanished from his voice during his earlier conversation with his accountant.
"Take them out the front gate," he ordered the guard. "Let everyone see what little pests we've caught here."
There was no resisting a Gorilla — they could wrestle down a bull with their bare hands. All Galen could do was to keep pace with the guard shoving him forward to avoid being dragged through the mud by his neck. Hamez was stumbling along with him, trying his best to do the same.
Behind them, Heron's voice followed them at top volume, explaining for everyone to hear that once again a sniveling monkey had been caught in the act, trying to steal the secret formula for the Elixir from Heron's wagon.
"To no avail, though! The secret formula is not written down anywhere! It is a sacred, oral tradition, handed down from ape to ape in a holy ceremony!"
"It's a lie," Galen shouted at the scandalized crowd gathering around them. "He's lying! I have no interest in stealing the recipe for bottled river water! That's what it is! Just muddy water! You're paying good money for—"
Something hit his temple and made him stumble in the Gorilla's grip. Someone, probably one of Heron's troupe, had thrown an apple at him. Galen dazedly shook his head, then threw up his arms to protect himself from more projectiles flying at him. The crowd, taking its cue from the agitator, was jeering.
Nobody believed him, if they had even listened to him. Everyone believed Heron.
Fools!
"What were you intending to do with the formula, had you succeeded with your dastardly plan, my good ape?" Heron's voice egged them on. He didn't know who he was, Galen realized, or he'd probably have tailored his accusations more to the 'abusive doctors'-routine. "Were you planning to replace the herbs and crystal extracts with cheap substitutes, then sell the Elixir under the same name, riding on its excellent reputation for your personal gain?"
Galen twisted in the Gorilla's grip to glare at the crook, the pieces of dried mud and rotten fruit pelting him forgotten. "I made a healer's vow! I'm here to help my patients to get well again, not to rip them off like you do!"
Heron's eyes widened for a moment as realization struck him. Then he grinned. "Look around you! They don't want your help. They want mine!"
They had reached the main gate, and the Gorilla suddenly let go of his neck. At the same moment, something crashed with force against Galen's behind, and he fell face-first into the dust.
"If I see you here again, I'll kick your butt myself," Heron shouted to the applause of the crowd.
Galen ignored Hamez' offered hand and stumbled to his feet, shaking with fury and humiliation. He brushed off his pants — he'd scraped his palms trying to cushion his fall — and began limping away as fast as he could manage. Clumps of dirt and other things kept hitting his back; they weren't out of the mob's range yet.
He didn't dare to look back. If he wanted to be able to ever treat those people's animals again, he couldn't allow the sight of them now to lodge in his memory.
He'd place his boot on Heron's backside when that baboon got kicked out of town. He'd see to it that he'd get kicked out of town. Today!
And then he'd insist on an apology from every single fool in Chubla. The queue would reach from his doorstep back to the Iron mountains.
"Clean up and then grab your microscope and the bottle, Hamez," he ordered when his house came finally in view. "We have yet another appointment today."
Hamez' hands were shaking so badly that the drop of water from the 'elixir' flew several inches to one side and landed on the polished wood of Voltis' desk instead of the glass plate it was intended to go.
Galen clasped his hands behind his back to keep himself from snatching the dropper from his assistant's hand and preparing the slides himself. Hamez hadn't been too keen on carrying his precious microscope through the streets of Chubla and into Voltis' office in the first place, and it was understandable that the forbidding presence of the district chief made the young ape a bit nervous.
But Hamez had finally succeeded with placing the droplets — one from the circus bottle, one from a small vial of river water they had taken downstream — onto the glass slides, and covering them with an even thinner plate of glass. He stepped back, clearly relived to let Galen take the stage.
"We overheard Heron talking with one of his accountants," Galen explained to a slightly amused looking Voltis, who had watched them setting up their display without comment. "They talked about using the water from the river for their so-called elixir. They were joking about it." He inhaled deeply to calm himself down and to force the the tremolo of rage from his voice.
"So we took a sample from the river, and compared it to the liquid they sell at the circus," he continued. "And we found the same... things swimming in both of them."
Voltis raised a brow. "Things?"
"Things," Galen confirmed. "Maybe little animals, like water striders or tadpoles, but much, much smaller, so that you can't see them with the naked eye. But they become visible under the microscope. See for yourself, if you will, vetes." He gestured towards the instrument.
Voltis stepped closer and peered down the tube. "I can't see a thing," he commented after a moment.
"Light the lamp, Hamez!" Galen hissed. "My apologies," he turned to Voltis. "My young assistant is apparently suffering from a bout of stage fright in your esteemed presence."
Hamez, a bit of sweat shining on his brow, lit the lamp, and quickly retreated to the wall again. Voltis bent down a second time to peer through the tube, turning the small wheels to adjust the focus as he did so.
Galen noticed it with interest. The Chief seemed to be familiar with a microscope, not a skill one would have expected in an administrator... nor a soldier, if that had been Voltis' former profession... it occurred to him that he had never bothered to find out anything about the chief's background. The Club would've been the logical place to ask these questions, but Galen had been content to let sleeping bushcats lie, not wanting to arouse suspicion, or even just Voltis' attention.
Well, that had worked out perfectly, hadn't it?
"Yes, I see what you mean," Voltis commented, still staring into the microscope; he had exchanged the glass slides himself, and was now looking at the sample from the river.
He straightened. "Do you have anything else aside from this?"
Galen stared at him. "Isn't this damning enough for you... uh, vetes?
Voltis smiled one of his quick, thin smiles. "You don't understand, Doctor. I need a proof that cannot be contested. Our venerable crook will demand that we prove without a doubt that the creatures in the drop of river water are the same ones that can be found in the elixir; that we prove, also without a doubt, that they are harmful to anyone's health; and that we prove that his tiny creatures aren't an indispensable ingredient responsible for the elixir's wondrous healing powers. Can you prove any of this? Neither can I."
It was exactly the reasoning Galen had laid out for Hamez earlier that day, but he had hoped that the chief, shrewed as he was, would find a way to pierce through this pile of monkey manure. Galen dropped his gaze to the useless microscope, trying not to let his disappointment show.
Voltis stepped to the window overlooking the town and stared down at it. Temporarily safe from the Chief's piercing gaze, Hamez sidled up to Galen and began quietly packing up his microscope.
"A fine piece of work you have there, young ape," Voltis commented without taking his gaze from the view outside. Hamez froze for a moment, then continued packing.
"It must've cost a nice sum of money, I'd think," Voltis added. He turned around abruptly, hands still folded casually behind his back, and smiled at Hamez, who was now rooted to the spot like a rabbit before a snake. "What brings a wealthy scientist to our humble settlement, if you don't mind me asking?"
"A, a, an inheritance," Hamez stuttered. "I, I'm not at all wealthy, vetes, not at all." He lifted the microscope into its wooden case and hastily snapped the clasps shut, as if to hide the offensive thing from Voltis' attention.
"Well, I applaud your courage to take this expensive piece of scientific equipment on the long and hazardous journey across the mountains for the sake of our local cattle," Voltis remarked. "Yes, doctor?"
"What kind of proof would you accept as incontestible?" Galen demanded to know. "As you said, he's a crook, he'll come up with all kinds of excuses for anything we'll accuse him of! And if he really claims that these little things in the water are 'healing agents', shouldn't he be required to prove that?"
"Ah." Voltis leaned comfortably against the windowsill. "I understand that you're not a politician, doctor, nor aspiring to become one, but let me still explain something to you about simian nature. It much prefers to follow the comfortable, sturdy branch of habit and desire, rather than the fragile twig of reason and logic. And most of all, it clings to those branches that other apes have already showed to favor."
Galen frowned. "But surely the judges would appreciate this case according to reason, even if the crowd wouldn't? And it's the court that decides on these matters, not the ape in street."
"When it comes to arson, theft, or murder? Certainly." Voltis leaned forward. "But in this case, the venerable Heron is already much-beloved by our good citizens, and unfortunately, we don't have anything as irrefutable as a burnt-down home, a loot of sembles , or a dead body — a dead siminan body, mind! — to sway public opinion. I understand you already determined the gist of that opinion for yourself." The ironic glint in his eyes told Galen that Voltis had already gotten news of his humiliation by Heron's hand.
"If it's any consolation, you convinced me," Voltis added with a nod to Hamez' boxed microscope. "But I'm afraid that Heron already convinced the rest of Chubla of the opposite, and it's them you need to win over."
"They are determined to believe in his lies," Galen complained.
"Exactly." Voltis' lips twitched. "I will bring him before the court and sentence him to leave and to never set foot into my district again, but that sentence won't do any good if the citizens continue to sneak out to meet him at the district border. And frankly, doctor, I have better things to do with my time than to start a protracted war against smugglers of medical counterfeit. Confiscating a few bottles here and there won't solve the problem. You have to grab it by the root."
"I... I have no idea how to do that," Galen murmured.
"Make him fail," Voltis said. He sat down behind his desk and reached for a scroll, an unmistakeable hint that their audience was drawing to a close. "Make him fail publicly."
"Yes, vetes." Galen heaved a deep sigh and motioned to Hamez to pick up his trunk. "I'll... try to think of something."
He had not the faintest idea how to apply the Chief's advice, either, but judging by the latest developments, he'd have ample time to think about it.