“The Commission ordered you sterilized. The same thing could be done with the baby. None of you has to die—”
She turned to run again. Hasslein shouted, “No, wait—” Then he took careful aim and fired.
Zira fell to the deck. Hasslein fired again, into the blanketed form she carried. He started toward the two still forms, moving slowly, his face a mask.
There was a shot. Victor Hasslein felt it before he heard it—excruciating pain in his chest. Suddenly he couldn’t breathe, and every beat of his heart was agony. He turned to see Cornelius, pistol in hand, on the ship’s bridge high above. The ape’s face was twisted with rage.
“Zira!” Cornelius shouted.
It all seems so trivial now, Hasslein thought. The pain wasn’t so bad, it had been much worse a minute ago. I don’t feel it because I’m dying, he thought. But what happened to Cornelius? And who is shouting so loud? There were other shots, and screams, but he no longer heard them. Hasslein fell to the deck and was very still.
* * *
Lewis Dixon saw it as a nightmare, the kind in which everything happens in slow motion and there is nothing anyone can do no matter how horrible it is.
He ran across the planking toward the ship. He had almost reached it when he heard the first shots.
“No!” Lewis shouted. “Sergeant! I have orders from the admiral! The chimpanzees are not to be harmed!”
There was another shot. Cornelius stood high above him on the bridge of the ship, and he held the pistol Lewis had given him. He was aiming at someone or something below, and Sergeant Meissner was coming up behind him shouting for him to drop the pistol.
Cornelius took careful aim.
“God damn you!” the Sergeant screamed. “Drop that—”
Cornelius fired again. And again.
Sergeant Meissner screamed wordless rage and triggered his weapon. Cornelius straightened and half turned toward the Marine; then he fell from the bridge onto the fantail, landing in a heap near the motionless form of Victor Hasslein.
Nightmare! Lewis thought. And it was not over yet. Now Zira pulled herself up, holding the blanketed baby, and threw it over the side into the oily water below.
“Zira!” Lewis shouted, but she didn’t hear him. Or if she did, she no longer cared what any human had to say. She staggered along the deck until she reached Cornelius, and sank down beside him, her hand in his, her muzzle next to his breast.
That was how Lewis Dixon found her; and that was how they were buried, with the infant beside them.
23
“Nearly ready to roll, Armando.”
“Very good. I will not be long, but I wish to see to Heloise and her baby.” The sounds of a circus on the move were around him: grunts and snarls from disturbed animals, the roar of the motors warming up, shouts from the drivers. The dogs barked in excitement—circus dogs, who enjoyed being on the road again.
He carried the newspaper to the cage door. Beyond the bars a female chimpanzee fondled a baby. “You will not understand,” Armando said. “But I will tell you anyway. They buried them. A scientist who proposed that they be stuffed and exhibited in a museum barely escaped with his life from his own students, while policemen stood by and did nothing! They were buried.”
The chimpanzees made contented sounds. The baby nuzzled closer and began to suckle. “You will be fine with Heloise,” Armando said. “And—later, Armando will teach you himself. Armando will teach you everything. Papa Armando and Mama Heloise, eh? But now you stay with your mama.”
The baby looked up at him with bright eyes. Armando nodded. “Intelligent creature. But then you should be.” He peered into the semidarkness and caught a glint of light from the baby’s breast. “Saint Francis protect you, Milo. St. Francis and Mama Heloise—” He turned away. “Ready to roll!” he shouted to his crew.
Behind him the infant chimpanzee toyed with the St. Francis medal on its silver chain around his neck. “Ma-ma-ma? Ma-ma? Ma-ma! Mama!”
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Michael Angelo Avallone was a prolific American author of mystery and secret agent fiction, and novelizations based on TV and films. He claimed a lifetime output over 1,000 works, including novels, short stories, articles, published under his own name or over seventeen pseudonyms.
Jerry Pournelle has been a full-time science fiction writer since 1972, and was involved with the US space program prior to this. He has four children, and unlike many of his SF writer friends he prefers dogs to cats.
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