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General Urko's armored column came slowly back around the ridge and returned to Red Leader One camp in a cloud of dust. The command jeep slowed to a halt outside the tent and Urko slumped out.
"That damn humanoid eluded us again!" he snarled.
"Sir, maybe the patrol we left will turn him up hiding out there in the desert," Captain Sovak suggested.
Urko glared at him. "If one patrol can do what our whole force couldn't do, I'd be quite surprised, captain." Urko shook his head, ripped off his dusty leather helmet, and ran thick, stubby fingers through the matted fur on his head. "I'm convinced he got back this way, over that pile of rock---somehow."
The general looked around, then ordered foot patrols to search the perimeter of the camp for any sign of the blue-eyed humanoid. Then, as he and his aide-de-camp walked up the slope to his tent, he ordered: "Get me a drink, Sovak!" As an afterthought, he added, "Pour yourself one, too, you old battle-toad! Now, where are my officers I left behind to plan the attack the caves on our way back to Ape City?"
He halted abruptly.
Stunned by the sight of the slaughtered officers, he wailed, "Lawgiver's beard! What in the name of all simian gods---!"
Sovak raced from one body to another. "Dead, sir. Every one. Cut down by some huge sword, I suppose."
The general threw his helmet to the sandy floor of the tent. "By the paws of my ancestors! That humanoid will pay! All the damn humanoids will pay!" He glared down at the bodies sliced into meat and cursed fluently. "May his belly be spread for the buzzards! May his eyes shrivel into pits! May the Kathoga chew on his legs! May his teeth be drilled with nails! Nearly my whole staff! Dead!" He slammed his fist down on the top of the radio cabinet fiercely. "They'll die for this! And not quickly, not quickly at all!"15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrp7gVAg9bA
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Cornelius and Zira were in Dr. Zaius's study in Ape City. Cornelius paced up and down while his wife sat twisting one hand into the other.
"Now, when Dr. Zaius comes in," Cornelius warned, "remember to talk about the humanoid in scientific terms." He gave Zira a searching look. "We don't want anyone to think we care about Blue-Eyes as much as we would, say, another ape."
Zira's hands stopped fluttering, and she spoke with conviction. "Cornelius, I know how to act."
"I know you do, Zira. But this is important and....."
The door of the study opened and Zaius paused as he saw the pair. "Ah, yes.... Cornelius...Zira....What do you want?"
The Elder did not enter the room, but continued to stand in the doorway, an impatient figure with his hand still on the knob.
"Dr. Zaius....uh...." Cornelius seemed to be searching for words.
Zaius made an impatient face. "Quickly, Cornelius. I'm in the midst of a vital meeting."
Cornelius gulped, gave Zira a quick look, then plunged ahead. "Two things, Dr. Zaius. We heard General Urko has cornered Blue-Eyes."
Zaius nodded. "That is so. I have been in radio contact. It seems your Blue-Eyes caused a great deal of damage at the general's camp. But I just received a message that a patrol has discovered what might be a secret passageway to the Below World. A sergeant happened to see two humanoids disappear into the ground. Urko and his whole force are on the way there now. He says it will only be a matter of hours," Dr. Zaius added. "If the humanoids don't come out, he will start a barrage and then attack in force."
Zira's hands fluttered again. "That---that means you will vote to give money to the army?"
Zaius nodded.
"You must not, Dr. Zaius! Scientific research can bring great advances to the ape world!"
The orangutan leader nodded, his orange fur quivering. "That is true, my dear Zira, but I made a bargain with Urko----and I am an ape of my word."
"But..." Cornelius was making his mouth move, but nothing came out.
Zaius gave them both impatient looks. "What else? Come on! Quickly!"
"Sir---uh, well, sir----we recommend..." Cornelius gave his wife another pleading look, but she glared back at him to get on with it. "Sir, from a scientific point of view....well, the escaped humanoid must be preserved for study....."
As he wound down, Zira stood up and spoke quickly. "It would also give us an opportunity to prove that maybe he did not talk. What the sentry heard was probably Cornelius and me, not Blue-Eyes. He simply thought it was Blue-Eyes." She smiled nervously. "You know how simple some of those gorillas are doctor."
Cornelius quickly nodded agreement. "Yes, that's probably it. We sometimes use coaxing tones or cute little voices to try and persuade humanoids to do things, you know, Dr. Zaius. They are so shy, these simple humanoids. So bullied by the gorillas that they are almost imbeciles sometimes. We have to coax them. Perhaps it was one of these voices that the guard heard....."
Dr. Zaius looked at them solemnly from under his pale, bushy eyebrows. Sighing, he said, "General Urko is on the scene. It is up to him."
Zira took a step toward Zaius, her trembling hand out. "Please, Dr. Zaius! Don't let Urko harm Blue-Eyes. He means so much to us...."
"Zira!" Cornelius interrupted her with a sharp tone.
Zira looked at him, her face both angry and almost tearful. "No, Cornelius. It's true!" She turned again to the orangutan Elder. "Dr. Zaius, stop Urko! Please? Help Blue-Eyes!...."
The eyes of Zaius were troubled, but his voice was forceful----and tinged with anger. "Consider yourselves lucky—I’m choosing to ignore every word I just heard." He raised a finger. "Both of you, take this as your one and only warning: if it’s discovered that you’ve developed any emotional attachment to that talking humanoid, the consequences will be severe—and you’ll answer for every bit of it." He turned, his voice quivering with suppressed emotion. "I will hear no more!"
He slammed the door and Zira sat down abruptly. Cornelius went to his trembling, quietly sobbing wife and put an arm around her.
"Oh, Cornelius....What do we do now?"
Her husband had no answer.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHeDW1TtCk9
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The platform beneath the castaways was makeshift—a heavy door torn from its frame, slung by ropes at each corner and joined above in a rough pyramid. Mark and Fitzhugh steadied it carefully, guiding it through the jagged, uneven opening they'd burned in the floor with the laser.
"Get it level," muttered Mark, his hands tightening on the ropes as he kept the swaying platform steady.
Steve looked back and saw the line of white-robed Underfolk reeling it out from the railinged walkway above. "Ready?" he asked.
The foremost figure nodded.
Barry stepped closer and started to say something, but Betty waved him back. "Watch out, Barry! That room below is filled with lava and fumes."
Dan nodded to Fitzhugh, who slithered over the edge of the hole, and, holding onto the ropes, landed on the platform. He held up his arms and Steve handed him his special laser. Then Valerie gave Barry a fast grin, made a slight salute to the impassive Mendez, and went down the ropes herself.
"All right," came Fitzhugh's voice from below. "Lower away!"
Barry made a gesture, and the white-roped line of human counterweights began letting out the rope.
"Okay down there?" he shouted.
"So far, so good," Steve said.
Below, on the jury-rigged platform, Steve, Dan, Mark, Betty, Valerie, and Fitzhugh were swaying over a bubbling sheet of fresh lava. Only the reactor still showed above the molten rock. Every piece of equipment, and every cabinet and workbench, had been burned or dissolved by the searing heat. The hot air---rushing up to escape through the hole---was almost a wind. The stench was nauseating, and the heat had the castaways dripping in seconds.
"Lower us some more!" Steve yelled up.
The rope scraped on the rough edge of the hole above and the crude cage jerked down a few feet.
The castaways clung to the ropes and Dan shouted up, "Okay! Hold it!"
Then they heard Barry repeat the order, and the cage stopped, swaying slightly and rotating very slowly.
Fitzhugh grumbled, "Oh, splendid—we’ve built ourselves a lava-bound merry-go-round. Now if only we had a steering wheel to go with it!"
"No time," Dan said. He pointed at the far wall. "That's the spot. Think you can keep it on target with this thing moving as it is?"
Fitzhugh declared, “I’ll try to compensate—maybe the pretty red light’ll help me steer, and let’s all hope there’s enough juice left in this glorified flashlight!”
Dan nodded in agreement. “Okay! Fire away! And good luck!”
Fitzhugh gritted his teeth, flipped open the hidden panel on the side of his fake screwdriver, and pressed the recessed stud that activated the concealed laser. A narrow red beam snapped to life with a faint hum. He angled the tool carefully, sighting down the line of the beam toward a thin seam in the reactor wall. Bracing himself, he wrapped one arm tightly around a guy rope overhead, wedging his legs against the rough wooden platform to steady himself against its slow, swaying motion. The heat and fumes made his eyes sting, but he held his aim with a steady, grim focus.
Fitzhugh snapped, “Hold me steady, will you? This thing’s got a mind of its own!” He coughed harshly, waving a hand in front of his face. “And what is that smell? Never encountered anything quite like it—like rotten eggs mixed with burnt rubber. Delightful.”
The castaways gripped the other rope with white-knuckled determination, muscles tensing against the swaying platform. One by one, they slipped their hands under Fitzhugh’s free arm, locking their fingers firmly to steady him as he aimed the laser, creating a human brace against the jittering ropes.
"Let 'er rip," Mark called to Fitzhugh.
Fitzhugh steadied his breath, carefully lining up the laser's red beam on the target spot. With a quick glance at the glowing studs along the screwdriver's handle, he pressed the middle stud—the one that controlled the laser’s steady, focused beam—and fired. The ruby-red beam flashed out across the cavern with the speed of light. The flash was followed by an explosion on the far wall. Chunks of rock broke loose and fell into the lava just below, splashing and causing sparks.
"A little farther down?" Betty suggested, and Fitzhugh aimed slightly lower, cutting into the edge of the lava itself, which exploded, splashing wildly bubbling molten rock. The beam continued to cut into the rock, but the lava flowed into the hole and exploded in a series of fiery splashes.
"Betty was wrong," Steve shouted over the noise. "You'll have to cut just above, until we get the hole all the way through, then cut a channel into it for the lava to flow through!"
Fitzhugh nodded sharply, gripping the screwdriver firmly as he carefully aimed the hidden laser at the rock face above the cavern floor. The rock sizzled and popped under the intense beam, sending up clouds of smoke and steam that mingled with the cavern’s poisonous vapors. The powerful laser cut swiftly through the stone, and Fitzhugh rotated the tool constantly to widen the passage.
"It's going to work!" Steve shouted.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAvJYy2Au7b
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"Do you hear that?" Barry said to Mendez. "It's going to work."
"But is it going to work fast enough?"
Mendez stood unimpressed, staring into the portable TV receiver that had just been brought to him. The armored cameras within the reactor room had trouble piercing the billowing steam and smoke, but he could see the lava eating away at the rock base of the reactor.
Even as they watched, a portion of the base collapsed and the reactor tilted slightly, with an accompaniment of metallic screams and ripping supports.
Barry gasped. "The lava---it's melting the base!"15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1yr96FWWqx
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Urko was scanning the cliffside with his binoculars, his face set in an angry grimace.
Captain Sovak, on the ground by the jeep, spoke up. "Any sign of him, general?"
Urko lowered the binoculars and scowled fiercely at the high cliff. "Not yet. But be patient. We'll have Blue-Eyes soon enough. Are all the guns trained on that spot at the top of the cliff where Sergeant Tork reported seeing two humanoids sink into the rock?"
"Yes, sir. We sent a patrol up and they verified the spot. Very ingenious, these Underfolk!"
Urko glared down at his aide. "You sound like a sympathizer, captain."
"Oh, no, sir. Not me. But it never hurts to know just how good your enemy is. Does it, sir? I mean, that's something I learned from you, sir."
The general grunted and raised the field glasses again. "Be patient, captain. We'll have him soon. One way or another."15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pWO3Pqu1W
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Valerie was wiping Fitzhugh's forehead with a piece of cloth. Sweat streamed down the foreheads and into the eyes of all the castaways, and Fitzhugh was almost firing blind.
"Stop for a second," Dan said. "Let some of the smoke clear out of here. You could be wasting power."
Fitzhugh shook his head, eyes squinting through the smoke. "Oh no, let’s not stop now—can’t you smell that delightful change in aroma? Like brimstone with a hint of success. We’re past the tough stuff, my friend. Next up: soft rock—geologically speaking, of course."
"Can't argue with him there," Mark said. The room was a furnace. It was so hot that it was a wonder their clothing didn't burst into flame. Their skin was parched and burning. Barry had lowered them a container of water, but nobody took the time to stop and drink.
"Look!" Valerie shouted. A faint beam of white light filtered into the red glow of the reactor room. Fitzhugh circled the laser a bit and the beam became brighter. "That's it, Fitz! You've cut through!"
Fitzhugh smirked and muttered, "Oh, marvelous—now all I have to do is turn that pinhole into a freeway."
Mark glanced down at the floor. The lava was rising slowly, but steadily. The molten rock was almost level with the base upon which the reactor rested. In moments, it could flow onto the base and start melting away the sturdy steel supports. And soon after that, it would be all over....
"Hurry!" Betty urged.
The red beam continued to cut into the rock.
Fitzhugh smirked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “There, I think that does it. Now I’ll just slice down from the nice little opening and let the lava do what lava does b—”15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBppd7zZSw
He broke off mid-sentence, his eyes widening.
The laser beam died.
Fitzhugh glared at the useless tool in his hand and barked, "Well, isn’t that just perfect! My little miracle worker’s dead—out of juice, finished! Anybody got a spare battery for a top-secret, ape-frying laser? No? Marvelous!"
"Try it again!" Valerie suggested in desperation, her voice tight with urgency.
Dan nodded quickly beside her and added, "Yeah, maybe it’s just overheated—give it a second and hit the stud again!"
Fitzhugh shook the fake screwdriver in frustration, then held it up and declared with theatrical sarcasm, "Oh, I’m trying, believe me—I’m wooing it, coaxing it, sweet-talking it. But no use, my friends. She’s gone. Stone. Cold. Dead. Just like we’re going to be if we don’t think of something fast!"
Dan stared at the molten material, and at the opening Fitzhugh had cut above it, through to the outside.
"Only a few seconds more and we'd have had it..." Mark said, his voice tight with frustration.
Fitzhugh threw a glance at the rising lava and waved his arms dramatically. "Well, as charming as this sauna is, I suggest we vacate—unless we all want a molten footbath!" he snapped. Then he craned his neck and bellowed up at the others: "Hey! You lot up there! Time to earn your keep—pull us up! Fast, if it's not too much trouble!"
Valerie said hopelessly, "There's no use. The explosion will get us anyway."
Fitzhugh smirked grimly and muttered, “Maybe not—unless the lava has a reservation up here too.”
“We failed,” Betty groaned miserably as they were drawn up through the hole.
One by one, the castaways scrambled out. Dan was first, steadying the rope as he pulled himself up. Valerie came next, gasping for breath, followed by Mark, who kept a wary eye on the molten lava below. Betty was hauled up with the others’ help, and then Steve clambered out with a grunt, immediately turning to assist the last two. Fitzhugh, flushed and sweating, was the last to emerge. He tossed the smoldering fake screwdriver aside with disgust.
"You couldn't do it......?" Barry asked, his brow furrowed.
Steve shook his head. He gestured to the men holding the rope. "Let go!"
They did, and the platform dropped. The rope whipped across the rock floor and disappeared. On the TV screen they saw the platform burst into flames, disappearing almost at once.
"Oh!" Barry gasped, terribly frightened.
Dan told Barry helplessly, "We're not going to make it."
Mendez's fierce eyes turned to the TV screen. The lava was still rising....15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡidhDq8wTfl
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"General! Look!" One of Urko's junior officers was pointing at the cliff some distance below the spot at the top where all the guns were trained. "Smoke! Halfway down the cliff!"
Urko swiveled, jerking his field glasses to his eyes. His lips parted and the sun flashed on his tusks.
"They must've built a campfire, the fools!" The gorilla commander laughed----a harsh, guttural explosion. "Tell the men to stand by! Sovak, order the artillery to zero in on that smoke!"
"Yes, sir!"
The black-furred gorilla growled from deep within his massive chest. "Now!" he said in a low voice, "now, humanoid.....!"15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡveOvQvpMV3
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"Isn't there anything we can do?" Barry asked plaintively.
Fitzhugh shot Barry a wry grin and said, “Well, unless that missing power cell magically shows up, I’m fresh out of miracles.”
Mendez sighed as the seven castaways crowded closer to look into the TV screen. The leader of the Underfolk pointed. The lava was bubbling at the foundation beams of the reactor.
"Nothing can save us now," he said. "We couldn't ever run fast enough."15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNOHKGGjWas
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"Artillery ready, sir!"
Urko's mouth twisted in a grim smile. He took a deep breath. "Fire!"
His growled order echoed across the line of cannons, and gorilla hands yanked at the lanyards of six artillery pieces.
Cannon muzzles flared, too, and the combined sound deafened everyone in the vicinity. Urko's binoculars were focused on the wisp of smoke along the cliffside. His deepset eyes flared as the explosions struck at it in a series of flashes, to produce great eruptions of dirt and rock. The sound of the explosions came rolling back to the ape forces before the dust cleared, but Urko was already relaying more orders to his cannoneers.
"Down one, right two!"
"Down one, right two!" was repeated.
"Fire!"
"Fire!" came the echo to the general's command.
The barrage crashed again, and in Urko's binocular field the line of explosions was across the spot where the smoke had been.
"Prepare to fire again!"15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQB6JUrnzy
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"What was that?" Valerie asked, staggering as the ground heaved beneath them.
Mendez's voice was tense. "It must be an earthquake!"
"Wait a minute," Mark said. "That's no earthquake! That's artillery!"
"Artillery?" Mendez gasped. "The gorillas have found us at last!"
"Mendez," Steve snapped, "we've got more urgent matters right below us!"15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7PNdNhJuDk
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The dust was drifting away from a 3rd series of explosions and Urko was peering intently into the drifting dust, his teeth bared in a fierce grin.
"Direct hits, by Galen!" he gloated.
Then his manner changed as he heard a rumbling deep behind the cliff. More smoke was issuing from the spot where the shells had hit----new smoke, billowing ou t.
"What's going on? Sovak, do you think....?"
The cliff exploded. Fragments of shattered boulders spewed forth with a sudden glow; then came a gushing of molten rock, flaming brightly and splashing as it cascaded down and along the desert floor. Soon a slower, thicker river of lava oozed relentlessly to form a stream of molten rock.
"A river of flame!" Urko gasped, finding it hard to believe his eyes. " It's a trick of the damn Underfolk!" he shouted, but his men didn't believe him.
Gorilla voices rang out.
"A volcano!"
"Run! Retreat!"
"Look out! Let's get the hell outta here!"
"The damn earth's blowin' up!"
Urko raged at his men, but they threw down their M-16s and deserted their cannons. "You idiots! It's a trick! Come back or I'll have you all shot!"
Captain Sovak tugged at the sleeve of his commanding officer. "Sir! General! General Urko! It's not one of their illusions. It's real! Look!"
The aide-de-camp pointed at the first vehicle in the line, the one closest to the lava. Exploded globs of molten rock had fallen on it and parts of the truck were burning. As they watched, the truck's gas tank exploded and sent flaming pieces of rent metal in all directions.
Urko stared in disbelief.
The first streams of lava reached the line of jeeps, and their tires blew up. The lava flowed under them, one lurched and fell into the red stream. Urko heard a sizzle, then another explosion as the jeep's gas tank went; and finally, the battered chassis of the truck settled into the river of fire and quickly disappeared.
"General! We've got to get out of here!"
"An illusion....."
"No, sir! It's real! Sir!"
Captain Sovak ran and jumped into the seat of the command jeep; it'd been vacated by a frightened driver. Slamming the jeep into gear, he started backing it toward the general.
Sovak jumped down and tugged at his commander's arm. "General! It's time to retreat!"
"Retreat! No, never retreat....!"
Sovak sighed. His commander seemed dazed. He pulled at him again. "Then we'll advance, sir!"
"Advance....?"
"In this direction, sir! Yeah, that's the ticket! This way! Hurry, sir!"
The aide-de-camp pulled at Urko in desperation. The advancing fingers of the now quicker-flowing lava were almost upon them. The slower, thicker, and even more deadly lava was not far behind, engulfing rocks---dissolving them and absorbing them into its red-hot mass.
Sovak pulled Urko away, in fact, just as the hot finger touched the now stranded command jeep. A tire exploded and the jeep rocked. The lava flowed under and past it, dissolving the fallen vehicle into its relentless progress.
Another explosion rang out as a ruined troop transport fell into the lava. As another wave of lava reached the cannons, the shells exploded, throwing gobbets of the molten rock high into the air. Cannon after cannon fell, melting slowly into the glowing stream. Another troop carrier tilted over, and a fear-frozen gorilla, who'd been hiding in the back of the truck, was thrown screaming into the red-hot river. His screams ended abruptly, and then the troop carrier blew up.
Sovak urged the befuddled Urko onto a rise of rocks where other stunned soldiers were standing, burned and wounded by flying droplets of lava.
"Everything's gone," one soldier whined in a faint voice.
"We're stranded out here in the accursed Forbidden Zone."
"We blew up a volcano," a dusty, bleeding gorilla corporal murmured in wonderment. "A damn volcano......"
Urko lurched against a rock and sat down heavily. He stared at the flow of molten rock that had destroyed his armored column. "A volcano," he whispered. "Not an illusion....."
Captain Sovak flopped down near his commander. As he watched Urko, the dazed look receded and anger built slowly.
"The Underfolk!" Urko's voice built to a shrill cry. "They have destroyed me!"
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Mark and Fitzhugh turned from the screen and grinned at each other.
Barry clasped all six of the castaways' hands ecstatically. "You did it!"
Fitzhugh smirked and said, “Well, we only managed part of the job. The gorillas’ barrage busted open a hole, and the lava just took the easiest exit. I’m a little embarrassed, though—I swear I aimed that laser straight through the rock into some underground fault. Turns out I was just drilling a fancy tunnel right to the surface. That blasted white light gave it away. Now, why the lava chose that route instead of the fault? Beats me.”
"Let me explain," Mendez butt in gently. "At this point, my friends, the Underfolks' caverns face the edge of a plateau. We are, yes, underground. But the plateau which contains us ends there---where the lava flowed out---in a high cliff, down which it flowed to a lower level of the desert surface." The commanding figure in pale white turned to Barry. "Barook----No, Barry Lockridge....you are free to go." He held out a hand in friendship to the six castaways. "And remember: if she, or you, ever need our help, we will serve you. You have saved not only us who dwell in the Below World, but perhaps all creatures in this land."
"And I'll keep my pledge," Barry promised. "Send for me, Mendez, if you or your people need me, and I'll come back."
Mark frowned, rubbing his chin. “We need that battery if Fitzhugh’s laser is going to work again. No point trying to cut rock without power.”
Valerie nodded, glancing around nervously. “If we’re going to build any kind of wall to hold the apes back near the valley, we need it fast—before the gorillas get wise.”
Steve added grimly, “And if we’re lucky, we’ll find the Marintha out there."
Fitzhugh muttered, “Great. So now we’re on a scavenger hunt for a missing power cell—just what I needed.”
Dan cracked a half-smile. “Better get moving then. No time to waste.”
Betty tightened her grip on her pack. “We can’t afford to fail."
"Go in peace and friendship," Mendez said, making a gesture in the air. "We will meet again."Steve flashed a smile, then motioned for his companions to follow. "C'mon, gang! We've got lots to do!"15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGtYe4v7V31
