apertures. A group of white-garbed men waited for the new arrivals. Each man selected an animal from the quartet, guided him toward one of the entrances. “Playtime, Junior,” Caesar’s attendant said with a cynical grin. He pushed Caesar into the aperture. Its door opened instantly, revealing a similar door a few steps beyond.
Apprehensively, Caesar stepped forward. The rear door closed. Caesar was held a few moments in the lightless space between the walls. Then the inner door admitted him to a high-walled roofless cell, its floor turfed and planted with small shrubs. Well, Caesar thought as he sniffed the breeze, and another, curiously pleasing scent, that was decent of them.
Sitting near one of the shrubs, fingering her right foot and gazing about with what could only be termed a coy expression, was a plump female chimpanzee, young, and not at all unattractive. Then he spotted a large square of black glass in one of the cage walls. The privacy of the shrubbery was a charade. But of course, the callous breeders—the genetic experts—would want to be sure the rutting took place. In order that more slaves might be produced!
A murmur from the female chimp, and the somewhat more elemental reactions of his own body, diverted him from the angry thought. As long as this was inevitable, why not enjoy it?
Blinking against the brightness of the sunny sky, he gave a small shrug of resignation and started walking toward the female, who was now eyeing him with open admiration.
After two weeks, Caesar was sent to an underground center which resembled the one for arriving apes. He passed from station to station, one of a large group of chimps, gorillas, and orangutans being fingerprinted again and funneled toward waiting vans. He walked meekly past a semicircular communications station at which half a dozen male and female operators were speaking on phones and jotting notes.
“For immediate sale, one female orangutan, yes, got it . . .”
“Fully conditioned bedmaker grade A. Yes, we can take her, we have a vacancy.”
“Our policy is to credit you fourteen days after we auction the animal, sir . . .”
Relaxed handlers stationed inside and outside automatic doors watched the apes as they proceeded past the various inspection stations, left the shipment and auction information center, and crossed the outside dock for loading into an assigned truck. On the dock, Caesar relished another brief scent of the free, sweet air of the open countryside. It had been a horrifying, but in many ways instructive, fourteen days. By listening closely to conversations, for instance, he had learned that the animal population of this particular Ape Management Center numbered in the hundreds. And firsthand experience had taught him that all the animals were handled in small groups—an extremely costly business, he had concluded. Government-subsidized. That showed the tremendous emphasis the government placed on training apes to take over the menial jobs in society. How splendid for human beings, he thought bitterly. The result for the apes was cruelty—subjugation—slavery.
And yet, incidents on the first ghastly day in the city, particularly the rebellion of Aldo, indicated that even the scientific experts of this slave-making tower had their failures.
That left one question uppermost in Caesar’s mind as he ducked into the gloom of his assigned van, the perfect picture of the clever, willing, conditioned, chimpanzee. How numerous were the failures of the scientists?
Might there be dozens of potential rebels among the ape population? Hundreds? Even thousands? Caesar’s eyes lit with a harsh speculation as he dropped onto a bench inside the truck. Even the huge gorillas herded in after him did not sit too close. Caesar was not bothering to conceal the rage he’d suppressed for two long weeks.
NINE
Governor Jason Breck’s European-made airlift limousine came sweeping into the curve of the parkway preceded by half a dozen helmeted
Apprehensively, Caesar stepped forward. The rear door closed. Caesar was held a few moments in the lightless space between the walls. Then the inner door admitted him to a high-walled roofless cell, its floor turfed and planted with small shrubs. Well, Caesar thought as he sniffed the breeze, and another, curiously pleasing scent, that was decent of them.
Sitting near one of the shrubs, fingering her right foot and gazing about with what could only be termed a coy expression, was a plump female chimpanzee, young, and not at all unattractive. Then he spotted a large square of black glass in one of the cage walls. The privacy of the shrubbery was a charade. But of course, the callous breeders—the genetic experts—would want to be sure the rutting took place. In order that more slaves might be produced!
A murmur from the female chimp, and the somewhat more elemental reactions of his own body, diverted him from the angry thought. As long as this was inevitable, why not enjoy it?
Blinking against the brightness of the sunny sky, he gave a small shrug of resignation and started walking toward the female, who was now eyeing him with open admiration.
After two weeks, Caesar was sent to an underground center which resembled the one for arriving apes. He passed from station to station, one of a large group of chimps, gorillas, and orangutans being fingerprinted again and funneled toward waiting vans. He walked meekly past a semicircular communications station at which half a dozen male and female operators were speaking on phones and jotting notes.
“For immediate sale, one female orangutan, yes, got it . . .”
“Fully conditioned bedmaker grade A. Yes, we can take her, we have a vacancy.”
“Our policy is to credit you fourteen days after we auction the animal, sir . . .”
Relaxed handlers stationed inside and outside automatic doors watched the apes as they proceeded past the various inspection stations, left the shipment and auction information center, and crossed the outside dock for loading into an assigned truck. On the dock, Caesar relished another brief scent of the free, sweet air of the open countryside. It had been a horrifying, but in many ways instructive, fourteen days. By listening closely to conversations, for instance, he had learned that the animal population of this particular Ape Management Center numbered in the hundreds. And firsthand experience had taught him that all the animals were handled in small groups—an extremely costly business, he had concluded. Government-subsidized. That showed the tremendous emphasis the government placed on training apes to take over the menial jobs in society. How splendid for human beings, he thought bitterly. The result for the apes was cruelty—subjugation—slavery.
And yet, incidents on the first ghastly day in the city, particularly the rebellion of Aldo, indicated that even the scientific experts of this slave-making tower had their failures.
That left one question uppermost in Caesar’s mind as he ducked into the gloom of his assigned van, the perfect picture of the clever, willing, conditioned, chimpanzee. How numerous were the failures of the scientists?
Might there be dozens of potential rebels among the ape population? Hundreds? Even thousands? Caesar’s eyes lit with a harsh speculation as he dropped onto a bench inside the truck. Even the huge gorillas herded in after him did not sit too close. Caesar was not bothering to conceal the rage he’d suppressed for two long weeks.
NINE
Governor Jason Breck’s European-made airlift limousine came sweeping into the curve of the parkway preceded by half a dozen helmeted
Similar Books
