Apes Chapter 5

5.

At Level Twenty-Six of the inhabited Tower Three of Park Lane Five Tower, Lance leaned against the wall with his hands holding the sonar rifle close to his chest. He heaved his breaths with his heart thumping loudly. He looked to the side and saw the other officers had taken their positions. They were looking at the adjacent tower which was Tower Two of Park Lane Five Tower. They were there to subdue the raging gorilla in the yard shared by five towering structures around it at Level Twenty-Five.

The call came shortly after the announcement of the rioting by the servants at Park Lance Tower. It went widespread on the five towers and the officers went into action. Fifty officers per the task team took to the towers. They were armed and wore protective armored chest shields.

“We got reports of mischief at the units above. The team will break into units of ten and proceed to move upwards.” The order was relayed.

“Another team will assist from the top.” The top was the rooftop of the towers at over seventy levels.”

Lance was part of the Tower Three assault team with the other nine officers. He had with him two other snipers and their task was made harder by the evacuating inhabitants. At each level, they have no hesitation to bring down any servants deemed hostile. Most of their encounters were the raging servants of the gorilla types who were tearing the furniture but there were some of them hurting their owners. They were brought down to their hinds with the sonar blast that impacted with intense pain but no casualty was recorded.

They soon came across the uncontrollable ones that were hurting the human inhabitants.

“Can we take a shot now?” Officer Judd or Judd Galania; Officer Molly’s replacement leaned over to peek at the Silverback gorilla standing on the balcony of the unit at Level Twenty-Five on Tower Two. It was an elderly one which probably served the last twenty years without a whimper or protest but something activated the gorilla that day. It began by tearing the furniture and then with a leap it had landed on the outside yard from the second level.

It had the misfortune of meeting an officer rushing towards it to control it. The creature was in a rage and when it was prodded by the electrical rod, it reacted with violence. It grabbed the officer by the right forearm before it tossed the officer to the ground. The impact was so hard that the officer went into unconsciousness. It then the gorilla did a series of slamming of the body with its huge arms onto the ground until the body was reduced to globs of flesh with broken bones seen. The gorilla then crouched over the dead officer with its chest-thumping while hollering out on its victory.

Lance sidestepped the other officers and approached the gorilla with his sonar rifle activated. He pressed the trigger and aimed at the gorilla. The sonar force from the rifle was powered from the rear pack and it was designed to stop the gorilla without hurting it. The silverback was thrown back to the far wall. It laid there for a few seconds and then crouched up. Its right hand went for the sore point on its left shoulder before it roared out a challenge to Lance. The later took on a second shot but the aim was to hit its left arm.

The gorilla fell to its face but it was not immobilized then. It was in pain but the rage of the ape was heightened by the pain. It charged at Lance from that fall. It ran towards Lance but before the later could fire the third shot, a series of shots rang from the sides. Those were not sonar rifles but deadly projectile shots. Five projectiles tore into the gorilla and caused it to fall sideways on its back. The silverback tried to roll over but it was unable to move. It gave out a whimper from its bloodied mouth before it died.

Lance stood there still holding the sonar rifle was in a state of shock at the gorilla’s behavior. He had never seen these creatures in that state but he was more taken aback by the action that was then happening. The whole yard reverted with the shrieks and roars of the gorillas of differing breeds from the adjacent towers as if in moaning for the dead one. Then several household items were tossed onto the yard and followed up by screaming human inhabitants.

“Move it!”  Officer Judd ran past Lance to go into Tower Three tower. The later than was shaken from his stupor and swung into action. He ran towards the nearest doorway and almost crashed into a falling flower pot. He took to the stairs and mounted to the upper levels. He saw there the officers had moved in and started shooting at the raging servants while comforting the human inhabitants. There was no mercy on the officers; they used their sidearm or rifle to shoot without any concern on where the shot landed. He saw one gorilla shot in the face then toppled over the railing. The drop of over twenty-five levels was bound to kill the creature.

Lance then saw Officer Judd at the level facing an open doorway. He joined her and was faced with a chimpanzee holding a crying infant with the distraught human mother on the far corner.

“Put the baby down!” Officer Judd had slung the sonar rifle and had on her hands was the side arms. It was a projectile designed weapon and held six shots.

“Don’t make me do it!” Officer Judd called out. The mother was seated on the far corner in a state of shock. Lance stepped in and then also slung the sonar rifle. He had dealt with apes since young under the care of his uncle but never had he been so confused like that of the chimpanzee then. The creature was cradling the infant as it was coached but its eyes showed a different personality. It was wide open and shifting between Lance, Judd, and the mother. It was unsure of what was to be done. It was also snarling at the officers.

“Hold!” Lance motioned to Judd. “Do not…”

It was then the sounds of shouts and screams of the creatures were heard. Some of the officers were overreacting or forced to shoot at the creatures. It was creating a panicky situation then and before Lance could calm down the frightened chimpanzee, one came crashing through the doorway. It ran to the other holding the child and grabbed the infant by the right arm.

It was then Officer Judd fired her weapon. The projectile hit the newly arrived chimpanzee in the back of the head and exit on the other in the chest. The infant was tossed up by the chimpanzee at the nearby window. The infant hit the window frame and dropped back onto the flooring. The infant had stopped crying when Lance reached it.

The infant was dead then. Its skull had cracked on impact.

“Bastards!” Officer Judd fired her weapon into the two dead chimpanzees. Lance stepped away and left the unit. He stopped at the corridor before he leaned onto the wall. He heard the gunshots that were reverting then in the tower but he made no effort to move.

“Move it!” Lance sidestepped when others ran past him on their way to more killing.

Across the city, Doctor Lanceston could only then stared at the dead pile of gorillas that were on the far corner. There were gorillas and chimpanzees alike. He was in a state of shock at the killing but there were no replies to the decision then. He then felt the chimpanzee that climbed up his legs and reached for it.

“Whoa, Astrid.” The researcher cradled the chimpanzee who was holding onto him then. He patted it to assure the chimpanzee that it was in safe hands.

“It’s not your fault. It’s them.” Doctor Lanceston looked to the officers who were pulling the dead gorillas by their limbs towards the pile. Astrid the chimpanzee was leaning with its face to the rear then looked at the other chimps. It gave them the silent signal to seek out their masters or mistresses who were stepping into the yard.

Go back. The time to act is not now.

The others then followed suit with the command given by Astrid. Those whose owners were not there began whimpering until their owners arrived to collect them. It was then a wounded gorilla roared out at the sight of the chimpanzees and was given a projectile shot into the face.

“Stupid ape!” Officer Bernice then lowered the sidearm. She then felt her left forearm grabbed from behind. She turned and faced her superior officer.

“That was not necessary, Officer. I want you to attend the wounded.” Leader Officer Shelley told off her subordinate.” I will not have killers among my officers.”

Officer Mary Shelley then stepped away leaving the officer fuming with rage. The senior officer was an experienced officer with over twenty years of service. Officer Bernice was still in rage at being reprimanded and used her left foot to stomp on the dead ape’s face.

In the yard, Doctor Julius searched out another research officer who was in his team. He found the officer examining the dead gorillas. He reached down to pull the officer upwards.

“Doctor Molly, go back to your lab and remove the program to designate Rome now from the consoles.” Research Officer Doctor Molly looked to the senior researcher and then ran off back to the lab. Doctor Julius then reached for another officer and whispered the instruction.

“Ian, make sure all designate specimens Rome are purged or destroyed their chips. I do want anyone to check those chips. Keep only the five involved under Group One. Tell the others.” The officer in question then passed the instructions on to the others.

Project Rome involved twenty-five gorillas out of the one hundred there in the research area. They were re-programmed to think outside the core program with specific commands to activate aggression.

“Doctor Julius, there is a call for you.” Doctor Julius reached for the communication unit passed to him by the Enforcer. He knew who was calling then, and his reply was short.

“It’s a temporary issue. We will resolve it. Rome will not fall.”

On the other side of the line, the caller closed the communication unit before he took up the breathing apparatus to resume his intake of oxygen. He was dressed in the expensive tailored suit but behind the high back seat were the frame decorations of a distinguished military officer. He was seated then there than in the huge library with his collection of books and stuffed creature trophy. He looked at the assembled there before him. Five statesmen and officers who had more than two hundred years of civil and military services between them sat there in the seats looking at each other. They shared one common objective; the superior mankind in the world.

“I am distressed, Members of the Senate.” The named caller then had removed the oxygen mask when the addressed the assembled. “Rome will not augur us well. We lost a closely guarded sample of the servants. We will need to tread carefully or our works will end sooner than expected.”

“We hear you, Julius.” The reply came back to him. “We will be careful.”