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Urko sped through the guarded gates of his fortress stronghold in the rugged Shadowspine Mountains, west of the humanoid caves and east of the Forbidden Zone. His jeep kicked up dust as it shot past the barracks toward the small airfield, and he gazed around with obvious pleasure.
For years, the gorilla commander had siphoned off funds for the construction and maintenance of this almost-secret headquarters. The orangutan Elders knew he had a secret H.Q. somewhere and the Senate knew he had a so-called Strategic Defense Headquarters where he trained troops, but none of them had been encouraged to visit. The roughness of the terrain and the discomforts needed to reach it---and its proximity to the Forbidden Zone---had been exaggerated, so that few if any of the Senators had expressed a desire to come see it, and none had ever made the trip.
It was strictly a military base, a forbidding compound surrounded by barbed-wire. There were barracks, tank parks, rows of jeeps and trucks, ranks of cannons, and watchtowers along the fences. Ammunition bunkers stood at one side--as far from the other buildings as possible. On the opposite side was the small airfield, recently constructed, towards which Urko now sped.
Next to the field was a hangar and, beyond, a small factory. A railroad line ran alongside the hangar and into the factory. A railroad crane sat on the tracks, hooked to an engine, amid piles of heavy equipment in crates.
Urko's jeep swerved through piles of equipment and came to a stop on the edge of the flight strip. He jumped down, followed by his aide-de-camp. Before them sat the ME-262, gleaming and perfect with its gray-green warpaint and its ferocious jagged swastikas painted on its tail and under its wings.
Urko walked to it, virtually ignoring the two figures who quickly approached him from the hangar.
Brutus, the pilot, was the first to arrive. He was still wearing his bulky flight suit and carrying his helmet. A long white scarf trailed dramatically from around his neck. He saluted smartly and stood with a wide grin on his dark-furred face. The second figure to arrive was the shambling Dr. Zeno, dressed in his usual white, kneel-length lab coat. Captain Sovak watched Zeno carefully. He still didn't trust the renegade chimpanzee scientist, although it was obvious that the scientist now pleased General Urko immensely.
Chimpanzees have come over to the gorilla side before, Sovak thought glumly. But they usually were after something---revenge on someone for an insult or hurt, some secret plan of controlling the "stupid" gorillas and through them ruling the planet, or for some other, secret reason.
Sovak didn't trust them, and he trusted the renegade Zeno least of all. He watched Urko grin at him; and then the general, Zeno, and Brutus broke into delighted laughter.
"A wonderful day, Wing Commander Brutus! A wonderful day!" Urko's manner was expansive and jubilant.
"Even better days lie ahead, general."
Nodding agreement, the general turned to the short chimpanzee scientist. "The air vehicle was a complete success, Dr. Zeno. You are to be congratulated!"
The white-coated chimpanzee stroked his long mustache contentedly. They were white, in contrast to the dark hair on his body. With his other hand he stroked the smooth metal surface of the aircraft's wing and looked at it lovingly.
"Restoring this ancient craft was comparatively simple, General Urko. Merely a matter of replacing the worn and rusted parts with similar of identical components, all carefully made by hand. Now I must find out the principles that make it work. That will not be at all easy, sir."
Urko dismissed any future problems with a wave of his hand. "I am sure that you'll do as well with that as you have done thus far. Since you found the craft in that accidentally sealed cavern in the mountains, you have shown unusual loyalty---and great intelligence---in fixing it up." The general turned to Brutus. "And you, commander, must be awarded a suitable prize for risking your life in learning how to fly this ancient machine."
"It was my duty, sir. I figured that if some ape in the long ago had flown it, I could."
"Good, good," beamed Urko. He turned back to Dr. Zeno. "Just make sure this is working perfectly for the demonstration tour four days from now. I want Dr. Zaius to be suitably impressed." The gorilla chieftain threw back his head and laughed. "Yes, very impressed!"26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlikLzDzjVm
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Dr. Zaius was standing behind his desk, his eyes fixed on the face of the arrogant Urko. Drawing himself up, his voice crackled with authority, he said: “Out of the question, General!" Still glaring at the gorilla commander, he paused to let his words sink in. "Not force in this life----or the next----would I hand over the government to you!”
Urko smirked and stepped closer, his massive bulk ominous in the little study. “Oh, but there is something that can... and will, Dr. Zaius.”
Urko reached into his uniform, behind the leather breastplate, and pulled out a photograph of the ME-262. He threw it onto the Elder's desk with a triumphant gesture.
“Behold!" The giant, black-furred ape sneered. "A relic of a forgotten war—unearthed by fate… and now the key to my future!”
Zaius snapped up the photo and stared at it. It took all his training not to let his face give him away. “Where did you find this? It’s a cursed relic—a link to a past that should never rise again!”
“It was recovered. That’s all you need to know, Zaius. Its purpose... is mine to decide.”
The old orangutan drew himself erect, his eyes flashing dangerously. With a voice trembling with repressed fear, he commanded, “I demand its destruction! Now—before its shadow swallows everything we’ve built!
Urko laughed, sending shivers of dread running down the orange-furred back of Dr. Zaius. “From this moment forward, I command, Dr. Zaius. Your authority ends—here!”
The orangutan's head snapped up. “You will rue this day, Urko. Across the ages, gorilla tyrants have risen, each believing himself invincible—yet every regime has shattered like glass. Yours will crumble too, should you dare forge a dictatorship.”
Urko chortled again. “They lacked the power now beating in my grasp. I possess the ultimate weapon, Zaius—soon the very sky will be blackened by my steel hawks!”
"You'll not succeed, Urko!"
"We shall see, Dr. Zaius, we shall see!"26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8QLiXXVOzP
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Zira was working in her laboratory. She was trying to keep her mind on what she was doing, but it kept straying. She looked suddenly at a cloudy, sorry-looking mixture she had just poured into a beaker and became angry with herself.
Zira, you clumsy Barbary ape! You goon! You ruined the experiment because you were thinking about Blue-Eyes! Now, get yourself together, girl!
She heard a sudden noise and asked, "Is that you, Cornelius?"
"Yes, dear." He entered the laboratory and dumped an armload of bound reports onto a desk. "I found these research reports in the Medical Library, dear. I think they might be a help...Hello? What have we here?"
He picked up an envelope.
"That's an invitation," Zira said, washing out the beaker. "It came in this morning's mail. I'm not sure I understand what it is, however."
Her husband slipped the invitation from the envelope and studied it nearsightedly. "From General Urko....?" He held the stiff paper up to the light and read aloud. "You are invited to a demonstration of a new secret weapon at the Strategic Defense Headquarters." Cornelius lowered the card and looked dejectedly at his wife.
"That invitation was sent to all government members and scientists here in Ape City," Zira explained.
Cornelius sank down on a lab stool, holding the invitation in his hand and looking blankly at it. "Then those rumors we've been hearing about a secret weapon are true...." he mused.
"But there's another significant thing," Zira said, setting down the beaker to dr y. "The invitation is to the Strategic Defense Headquarters! Urko must really have something if he's bringing everyone out to that place at long last."
"Yes," Cornelius remarked thoughtfully. "Yes....something's up."26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJ3ywayiv5
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As soon as they had seen the airplane, the castaways knew they needed Zira and Cornelius's help. Traveling eastward as fast as they could, sometimes using the north road into Ape City and sometimes skirting along its edges when an ape patrol came in sight, they reached a hill outside the eastern part of town two afternoons later.
Steve, Valerie, Betty, Mark, Fitzhugh, and Barry stood well hidden beneath the low-hanging branches of a sprawling, gnarled tree. From their perch on the hillside, they peered down cautiously at the sprawling capital of the Simian World, its bronze domes and angular towers rising like ominous monuments to a civilization teetering on the edge of war.
Mark was drawing a sketch map of the city in the dirt, outlining the main avenues, key buildings, and guarded checkpoints, in case they had to make the risky descent into the town below. His hand moved quickly but carefully, eyes flicking between the distant skyline and the rough etchings at his feet. "This is where the laboratory is," he said, stabbing his stick into a crosshatched area.
Barry shifted uneasily and glanced down at the sprawling city below, nestled between the rocky hills and shadowed by the ancient spires of Simian architecture. “I really hope we don’t have to go in there during the day,” he muttered. “Just looking at that place gives me the creeps.” His voice was low, but the others heard the tension behind it—the honest fear of a kid who’d already seen too much.
Mark looked up from the sketch map he’d been tracing in the dirt and asked, “Does anyone have the travelers’ mirror Steve salvaged from the Spindrift?”
Fitzhugh threw up his hands in exasperation. “A mirror? Really, Mark? What do you expect us to do—groom our way out of this?” He jabbed a finger toward the distant city. “We’re dealing with apes who march like soldiers, scheme like politicians, and fly Nazi warplanes for heaven’s sake! They shouldn’t act human—but they do. And now you want to flash a little sunlight at them like we’re signaling for tea?” He folded his arms, muttering, “Marvelous. Just marvelous.”
Steve spun Fitzhugh around, grabbed his shoulder, and snapped, “Then why don’t you tell us, genius—do you have a better idea?”
Valerie nodded, a faint blush rising in her cheeks. She reached into the side pocket of her dress and pulled out the small mirror. “Just… make sure your signals are only for Zira and Cornelius,” she said softly, handing it to Mark with a pointed look.
Mark estimated the angle of the sun and the position of the laboratory of Zira and Cornelius. It wouldn't be healthy to start flashing at a gorilla barracks or at the home of one of Urko's allies in the Senate!
