CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“I don’t think you realize, do you, the danger you are in here on Soror?”
“I’ve already had some experience of it; but I feel that if I showed myself in my true colors—and I can do so now by providing proof—the apes ought to admit me as their spiritual brother.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Now listen . . .”
We were strolling through the park. The paths were almost deserted and we had passed no more than one or two courting couples who were roused to a momentary curiosity by my presence. I, on the other hand, stared at them shamelessly, being firmly resolved not to miss a single opportunity to learn about simian customs.
They walked along together holding each other around the waist, the length of their arms making this embrace a tight and complex encirclement. They would often stop at a corner of a path to exchange a kiss or two. From time to time also, after darting a furtive glance all around, they would take hold of the low branches of a tree and swing themselves off the ground. This they accomplished without separating, each of them using one hand and one foot with an ease that I envied, and they would then disappear into the foliage.
“Now listen,” said Zira. “Your launch”—I had told her in detail how we had arrived on the planet—”your launch has been discovered; at least what’s left of it after being pillaged. It has aroused the curiosity of our researchers. They realize it was not manufactured here.”
“Do you build similar machines?”
“Yes, but not so perfected. From what you’ve told me, we’re a long way behind you. We have, however, already launched artificial satellites around our planet, the last one even being occupied by a living being: a man. We had to destroy it in flight because we were unable to recover it.”
“I see,” I said, lost in thought. “So men also serve you for this sort of experiment.”
“It can’t be helped. . . . Anyway, your rocket has been discovered.”
“What about our spaceship, which has been in orbit around Soror for the last few months?”
“I haven’t heard anything about it. It must have escaped the notice of our astronomers . . . but do stop interrupting me. Some of our scientists have put forward the theory that the machine comes from another planet and that it was inhabited. They are unable to go a step further and imagine intelligent beings in human form.”
“But you must tell them, Zira!” I cried. “I’ve had enough of living like a prisoner, even in the most comfortable of cages, even looked after by you. Why are you hiding me away? Why not reveal the truth to everyone?”
Zira stopped short, glanced all about her, and put her hand on my arm.
“Why? It’s purely in your own interests that I’m doing this. You know Zaius?”
“Of course. I wanted to talk to you about him. Well?”
“Did you notice the effect your first attempts at rationality produced on him? Do you know I’ve tried a hundred times to tell him about you and to suggest—ever so carefully!—that perhaps you were not a beast in spite of appearances?”
“I’ve seen you having long conversations together and noticed you didn’t agree.”
“He’s as stubborn as a mule and as stupid as a man!” Zira burst out. “Alas! it’s the same with almost all the orangutans. He has decreed once and for all that your talents are due to a highly developed animal instinct, and nothing will make him change his opinion. The unfortunate thing is, he has already prepared a long theses on you in which he asserts that you are a tame man, in other words, a man who has been trained to perform certain tricks without understanding them, probably during a former period of captivity.”
“The stupid beast!”
“Certainly. The only snag is, he represents official science and he’s powerful. He is one of the highest authorities in the institute, and all my reports have to go through him. I’m almost certain he would accuse me of scientific heresy if I tried to reveal the truth in your case, as you suggest. I should be dismissed. That’s unimportant, but do you realize what might then happen to you?”
“What fate could be worse than living in a cage?”
“Be thankful for small mercies! Do you know how I’ve had to scheme and plot to prevent him from having you transferred to the encephalic section? Nothing could restrain him if you insisted on claiming to be a rational creature.”
“What’s the encephalic section?” I asked in alarm.
“That’s where we perform certain extremely tricky operations on the brain: grafting; observation and alteration of the nervous centers; partial and even total ablation.”
“And you carry out these experiments on men!”
“Of course. Man’s brain, like the rest of his anatomy, is the one that bears the closest resemblance to ours. It’s a lucky chance that nature has put at our disposal an animal on whom we can study our own bodies. Man serves us in many other fields of research, as you’ll come to realize. ... At this very moment we are undertaking an extremely important series of experiments.”
“For which you need a considerable amount of human material.”
“A very considerable amount—which explains those drives we carry out in the jungle to renew our supplies. Unfortunately, it’s the gorillas who organize them, and we can’t stop them indulging in their favorite pastime, which is shooting. A large number of subjects have thus been lost to science.”
“What a terrible shame,” I muttered, biting my lip. “But to get back to me . . .”
“Do you know why I’ve insisted on keeping our secret?”
“Am I then condemned to spend the rest of my life in a cage?”
“Not if the plan I have in mind succeeds. But you must not drop your mask until the time is ripe and you hold all the cards. This is what I suggest: in a month from now we’re holding our annual biological conference. It’s an important event. A large public is admitted to it and the representatives of all the leading papers attend. Now, for us public opinion is a more powerful element than Zaius, more powerful than all the orangutans combined, more powerful even than the gorillas. This will be your chance. It’s when this congress is in full session that you must lift the veil; for you’re going to be introduced by Zaius, who, as I’ve told you, is preparing a long report on you and your famous instinct. The best thing then would be for you to speak up yourself to explain your case. This would cause such a sensation that Zaius wouldn’t be able to stop you. It will be up to you to explain yourself clearly to the assembly and convince the crowd and the journalists, as you have already convinced me.”
“And if Zaius and the orangutans put their foot down?”
“Once the gorillas are forced to bow before public opinion, they’ll soon make those idiot orangutans see reason. Many of them, after all, are not so stupid as Zaius; and there are also, among the scientists, a few chimpanzees whom the Academy has been obliged to admit because of their sensational discoveries. One of these is Cornelius, my fiancé. He’s the only one to whom I have spoken about you. He has promised to do all he can for you. Naturally, he wants to see you beforehand so as to check the incredible account I have given him. That’s partly why I’ve brought you here today. I’ve arranged to meet him and he shouldn’t be long.”
Cornelius was waiting for us near a bank of giant ferns. He was a fine-looking chimpanzee, older than Zira certainly, but extremely young for a learned academician. As soon as I saw him I was struck by his exceptionally keen and intense expression.
“What do you think of him?” Zira whispered to me in French.
I realized from her question that I had definitely won the confidence of this she-ape. I muttered some complimentary remark and we went up to him.
The engaged couple embraced in the manner of the lovers in the park. He had opened his arms wide without glancing in my direction. In spite of what she had told him about me, it was clear that my presence counted no more for him than that of a pet animal. Zira herself forgot me for a moment and they exchanged long kisses on the muzzle. Then she stiffened, broke free from him, and bashfully lowered her eyes.
“Darling, we are not alone.”
“Yes, I am here,” I said with dignity in my best simian language.
“What’s that?” Cornelius exclaimed with a start.
“I said, I am here. I am sorry to have to remind you of the fact. Your demonstrations do not embarrass me in the least, but you might hold it against me later.”
“Well, I never!” exclaimed the learned chimpanzee. Zira burst out laughing and introduced us.
“Dr. Cornelius of the Academy,” she said. “Ulysse Merou, an inhabitant of the solar system or, to be more precise, the Earth.”
“I am delighted to make your acquaintance,” I said. “Zira has told me about you. I congratulate you on having such a charming fiancée.”
And I held out my hand. He shied away as though a snake had just raised its head in front of him.
“So it’s true?” he muttered, looking at Zira in utter bewilderment.
“Darling, am I in the habit of telling you lies?”
He pulled himself together. He was a man of science. After a moment’s hesitation he shook my hand.
“How do you do?”
“How do you do?” I replied. “Once more I must apologize for appearing in this state of undress.”
“That’s all he can think of,” said Zira with a laugh. “It’s a complex with him. He does not realize the effect he would have if he were dressed.”
“And you really come from . . . from?”
“From Earth, a planet of the Sun.”
He had evidently given little credit till now to Zira’s confidences, preferring to believe in some hoax. He started firing questions at me. We were strolling along, the two of them a few paces ahead and arm in arm, I following on the end of my chain so as not to attract the attention of the passers-by we chanced to meet. But my replies roused his scientific curiosity to such a pitch that he would often stop short, let go of his fiancée, and we would embark on a discussion face to face with sweeping gestures, tracing diagrams in the sand on the path. Zira did not mind. She appeared, on the contrary, delighted with the impression I had made.
Cornelius was particularly interested, of course, in the emergence of Homo sapiens on Earth and made me tell him again and again everything I knew about this subject. Then he pondered over it for some time. He told me that my revelations undoubtedly constituted a document of capital importance to science and particularly to him, as he was then engaged on some extremely arduous research into the simian phenomenon. From what I understood, this was still an unsolved problem to him and he did not agree with the generally, accepted theories. But he became reticent on this subject and did not let me know his views completely during this first encounter.
However it might be, I was an object of great interest to him and he would have given a fortune to have me in his laboratory. We then spoke about my present situation and about Zaius, whose stupidity and blindness he fully appreciated. He approved of Zira’s plan. He would himself prepare the ground by alluding to the mystery of my case in die presence of some of his colleagues.
When he left us he held out his hand without a moment’s hesitation, after first making sure the path was deserted.
Then he kissed his fiancée and went off, not without turning around several times to convince himself that I was not an hallucination.
“A charming young ape,” I said as we made our way back to the car.
“And a very great scientist. With his support I’m sure you will persuade the congress.”
“Zira,” I murmured in her ear when I was in the back seat, “I shall owe you my liberty and my life.”
I was thinking of all she had done for me since my capture. Without her I should never have been able to come into contact with the simian world. Zaius would have been quite capable of having my brain removed to demonstrate that I was not a rational being. Thanks to her, I now had some allies and could face the future with a little more optimism.
“I did it out of love for science,” she said, blushing. “You are a unique case that must be preserved at all costs.”
My heart overflowed with gratitude. I yielded to the soulfulness of her expression, managing to overlook her physical appearance. I put my hand on her long hairy paw. A shiver went down her spine and I discerned in her eyes a gleam of affection. We were both deeply moved and remained silent all the way back. When she returned me to my cage, I roughly rebuffed Nova, who was indulging in some sort of childish demonstration to welcome me back.