3 days later Dr. Zaius, with a new, unsplintered gavel, called the Senate into session.  "Order! Order! Order!" he demanded.

Slowly the members came to order, seeking their seats in the vast chamber.  High above the Senate floor, in the press gallery, Julius and his fellow newsapes prepared notepads and pencils, although through rumors and leaks from both the political and military branches, as well as from reporters who were with the expedition, they had a pretty good idea of what the Elder was going to say.

"It is my pleasant duty," Zaius began, his voice carried to the people in the square outside the building by loudspeaker, "to call this special session of the Senate in order to hear our report on the expedition into the Forbidden Zone in search of flying objects and talking humanoids."

He paused for a long moment, to let the tension build in the room and outside, where a large percentage of the population of Ape City was listening.

"I must report to all peace-loving apes everywhere that the rumor of spaceships, and the fanciful tale of talking humanoids arriving were totally false."

A roar of excited comment broke out in the chamber, and even through the thick walls of the building the cheering of the crowds outside could be heard.

"I repeat," said Dr. Zaius, smiling widely, "we found no strange craft from the skies in the Forbidden Zone. And no intelligent humanoids."  He looked down at General Urko, seated below the platform now---a sign that his rapidly rising political power had suffered a seatback.

The general said nothing, but sat, arms crossed, staring out at the assembly with a heavy scowl on his dark face.  He had no facts with which to combat the claims of Dr. Zaius, but he was sure the Supreme Council leader was wrong. Otherwise, he asked himself, why did my soldier report a flying machine and humanoids? And what caused that explosion just before we reached the dry riverbed? And, above all, who killed the soldier I left on guard at the pass and stole his truck, abandoning it, some twenty miles east of the Forbidden Zone...?

Urko didn't have answers to any of these questions, but he vowed to himself as waves of applause for his enemy, Dr. Zaius, washed over his head that he would someday have the answers---and on that day the humanoids, and maybe even the great Dr. Zaius, would die!14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8wjQ4cPtz
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As a member of the news media team who accompanied the expeditionary force, Julius had broadcast regularly every day from his jeep, relating the problems of travel in the Forbidden Zone, the almost certainty that a spaceship would be found, with traces of humanoids who had invaded their land...8964 copyright protection10ＰＥＮＡＮＡm1GWkaukgJ 維尼

Since the return of the expedition, the Simian Broadcasting Company had kept silent, waiting for the announcement to the nation that had just been made by Dr. Zaius.  So had Julius, SBC's top newscaster.8964 copyright protection10ＰＥＮＡＮＡX7G4ZmO9Pf 維尼

He left the Ape Senate Building feeling embarrassed---his predictions, while on the expedition, had sounded so certain.  But, as usual, his walk was cocky, and he sneered at a passerby who looked at him.  8964 copyright protection10ＰＥＮＡＮＡjK2IsOr2a9 維尼

On a bench at the side of the central square sat a mother chimpanzee and her small son.  The boy-ape looked up impishly at the familiar newscaster, and yelled, "Hey, Julius! Don't count your humanoids before they've landed!"8964 copyright protection10ＰＥＮＡＮＡE5i6N9MDL1 維尼

Another young voice nearby joined in.  "Nobody here but us humanoids, Jules!"8964 copyright protection10ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3qfmC4QPhM 維尼

The ambitious newsape hurried away from the square, red-faced, as fast as his feet could carry him.8964 copyright protection10ＰＥＮＡＮＡJOeps5PVal 維尼