Apes Chapter 3

3.

Doctor Lanceston stirred himself from his short rest after a grueling marathon of twenty hours doing the diagnostics. He opened his eyes to find Astrid his servant chimpanzee holding a mug of coffee for him. He smiled at the chimp which he had trained since young soon after the surgery to implant the nodes into their spine where the nerves that trailed to the brain were tapped.

“Hello, Astrid. Why thank you for the tea.” Doctor Lanceston pushed himself up and then sat on the bedding which he had placed inside the laboratory. He rubbed his eyes of the wax there and then he saw Astrid handling him his goggles.

“No, Astrid. I do not need my goggles.” His servant had interpreted his action by picking up the goggles. “You are a good girl.”

Lanceston then reminded himself to amend the training modules for that. He had programmed the signals which activate them to be more susceptible to commands of a stern voice and at times some repeated actions that they will recall if the apes are to comply. Initially, it took him a year to train a chimp and then twice as long for a gorilla but eventually he refined his action with more detailed nerve activation. His success was hailed as the find of the century and within two years they were training these apes, including the gorillas on a larger scale, with the more intense breeding program. It was then Doctor Julius discovered the unique DNA of the apes to get them to breed and grow on an accelerated mode. The apes like the chimpanzees only bred every four or five years but he shortened it to twice a year but the mortality of the females was shortened to half.

“We are undoing God’s intention on the apes.” Doctor Lanceston recalled telling the others but the other researcher was more cynical in reply.

“And you may one day make them our servant.” How much of that was to become reality was sooner than expected Lanceston heard then the alarm signal which resonated inside the laboratory. It agitated the lab test creatures and Astrid was no different. The chimp had retreated to the far corner to hide.

“What is the issue with the alarm?” The doctor picked up the communication unit.

“Doctor Lanceston, we have a situation in the Animal Cell Five and Eight. All personnel are to confine themselves in secured chambers and hold there until further orders.”

It was a rare caution but the order was specific. Doctor Lanceston grabbed his portable unit and then called Astrid to follow him. He ran for the nearby secure area which was a self-contained survival unit with supplies to last for two weeks. When he approached the chamber, he saw it was guarded by four armed guards with heavy powered rifles.

“No servants allowed, Doctor Lanceston.” The armed guard there stopped him. “The servant will be taken to the courtyard.”

“I can’t allow it. This is against my privileges here.” Doctor Lanceston protested on it but the guards had pushed him in while restraining the chimpanzee. Astrid was then in fright began uncontrollably and escaped from the guard’s clutches. It went into a frenzy of screeching and then began snarling at the guards.

“Tranquilize it.” The leader of the guards gave the order and one of them withdrew the air pistol which it shot at Astrid. The chimpanzee tried to run but it was shot before it got away. It went down immediately on the ground. The doctor tried to get back to get the servant but the door of the unit was closed on him.

“Bastards!’ Doctor Lanceston screamed out then. He then looked at the others in the unit. They were his staff and other research team members. He saw then Doctor Julius seated on the far corner.

“What did happen? Why the alarm?”

“There was an outbreak of violence involving the servants in several areas in the city. It was like a rioting session with no apparent reason the apes were screeching and then some turned on their masters and mistresses. The Enforcers handle it where they could but the riot caused fifty deaths and over a few hundred wounded. The report said that it was unprecedented and the servants were fine before it. The Council has called for total round up of servants until they know the cause.”

“It can’t be. For over thirty years I have researched the apes and there was never such an incident.” Lanceston protested. “What is happening? Four gruesome murders before this and now mass rioting.”

“Maybe we missed something, Lanceston.” Doctor Julius remarked. “After all, we are all creatures of God.”

“Don’t get religious with me, Julius. You have not read the good Book in ages. And God has nothing to do with us making them our servants. We did it out of …. greed.” Doctor Lanceston smiled. “And I am Shylock which is now being paid with my pound of flesh. Dead ones.”

“Do not despair, Lanceston. Your works meant well but we are just having some new adjustment.” Julius consoled the other and it was then the door was opened. The leader of the guards stepped in.

“Doctor Lanceston and Doctor Julius, you are wanted elsewhere.” The two researchers were taken along the corridor to the upper levels. During their walk, they saw from the closed windows, the scores of the servants all congregated by types at the courtyard. The huge gorillas were isolated to the left and were barricaded with the barbed wires and there were several heavy machine guns posted there. There were also four armored vehicles with the mounted heavy machine guns on the side of the courtyard. For the chimpanzees, they were on the right with barbed wires but there were only armed guards over the estimated three hundred creatures. Lanceston turned to look at the other side where the huge gorillas were kept. He estimated about fifty gorillas there and they were in a state of confusion and fear as if when they were first herded to place the implants. He saw in their eyes; they were recalling the past which made them what they were then.

“Julius, they are scared.” Lanceston voiced his concern. “They cannot be there. Why are there guns when we told them to use sonar cannons?”

“This is not a drill or exercise. This is for real” Doctor Julius remarked. “Look your Astrid is joining in.”

Soon after, the researchers found themselves facing Director Mudding in the lavish office of the Director. They were made to stand before the Director.

“Ernie, we launched your research to assist us but the recent incidents concerned us.” Director Mudding seated on his comfortable chair behind the heavy wood table was tapping his right index finger on the surface. It was an annoying habit of the Director to do that when under stress.

“Damn you, Mudding. My works have assisted us for over twenty years and there was …. Never any major incidents since then but now you are trying to place the issue onto me. What did your other researchers do to my works recently?”

There were some variations done to Lanceston’ works on the apes which he did not sanction but he was not the head of Research. It was screened from him.

“That’s none of your concern. The Council wants us to contain the incident to a solitary one and not an outbreak. All servants in the center are withdrawn from contact with Man until further notice.”

“Director Mudding, you know that it’s impossible to withdraw them now. The apes are in our life as an extension of our limbs. They do our menial works from housework to bringing out the trash. They are everywhere.” Doctor Lanceston spoke out in anger. “We even got the gorillas to guard our banks or handle the infirmed.”

“I know that Doctor Lanceston but the Council orders were specific. It only applies to the Centre. Outside of here, the order was to cull any renegade apes.” Director Mudding then sighed. “Tell me, Ernie. What else can we do?”

“I don’t know. The last diagnostics did not reveal anything unusual unless there were some changes that we could not yet detect. Organic materials do evolve on certain conditions or environment that may affect it.”

“Like creating defensive strains against our synapses?” Director Mudding asked. It drew on the look from Lanceston who glared at him.

“What did you do, Mudding?”

“I did nothing. I heard there were some works done on making the apes think more advanced. Perhaps to …”

“My God, you made them into intelligent than they are now. That was what we did with the machines and we fought a long war called the Dividing War. Now you are going to let the apes take the same evolutionary move.”

“No, Ernie. We learned from the war a hundred and fifty years ago, and stopped putting all …our…” Mudding tried to find the words but Lanceston snapped it on faster.

“Eggs? You are not taking of eggs here. These are the embryos of the top-ranked five intelligent creatures and one which we managed to control. Now you want to make them more intelligent. It was their level of intelligence that I tapped in to make them more compliant and that was works done for years. I am sure your other researchers are leapfrogging on my notes.”

“Bastards!’ It was Doctor Julius who cursed out. He had been following Lanceston for five years then and felt as if he deserved the credit there but the new direction may have shadow him.

“Lanceston, I need…” The sounds of the machine guns could be heard firing outside.