Apes Chapter 6

Episode 2

6.

Lance snuggled to the warm bodies that were cramped like him inside the train that was traveling at high speed in the subterranean tunnels. The train ran on the tracks build beneath the towering structures. It was built deep below to avoid hitting any supporting structure on the towers. The nearest tunnel to the surface was a hundred feet below and some stood almost three hundred feet deep. The planners of the design had reckoned to go deep instead of above.

“The tunnels will be interlinked to the stations that will be built underground. The stations will have access via tunnels to the inhabited towers.”

It was the fastest way to get across the city and he used that daily when he needed to get to work. He could apply for a vehicle with his rank but he decided to go with the mass. He felt the person on the right nudged him on the shoulder and then the slung bag hit his thigh. He opened his eyes and looked over. It was a lady there like him trying to appear comfortable on the train.

“I am sorry.” The lady smiled at him. She was not a beauty but like many he saw on the train, she was one of the many. “My servant was not feeling well.”

Lance pulled a weak smile on his face and then closed his eyes. It was then the lady he had spoken to cursed out. It was a hangout of the commuters to do that in the city; cursed when you are ignored. He shuffled his body weight to lean onto the left and was given a friendly push. He was to move his body again when he got the buzzing noise inside his jacket. He never wore his uniform off duty and his casual wear then blended with the others; leather jacket over his shirt and jeans with the strapping boots that hid his three-inch dagger.

“I am over it …” Lance looked at the train map. “I shall be over at Station Five.”

He was only five stations away and then a ten-minute walk to reach the office. It was ridiculous to call his office that for it was more of a fortress.

It was a mini fortress.

The city was not exactly comfortable with the dense population but that dense numbers allowed for all variations to live in safety in the numbers. With the dense condition of living and the populated servants, not all of in the city was that fortunate to have servants, and the unfortunate; well they claim what they could. Hence the Enforcers in some parts of the city needed the assurance that they were guarded their properties. The Enforcer office was with a ten upper level and five lower levels, with a protective wall that prevent any armored vehicles from ramming the structure. It held a reinforced umbrella roofing to protect it from dropped vehicles or inhabitants. It was cramped in between a few inhabited structures on what was previously a green park a long time ago.

The Enforcer vehicle sent to pick Lance at the Station when he rode up the escalator to the ground level. The vehicles dropped him at the entrance at the Station. He saw the three-armed Enforcers there with the projectile rifles and armored vests with the machine gun set up at the side. It was as if they were preparing for an attack.

“Officer Lance, you are needed at the Colonel’s office.” The Colonel’s office was on the second level alongside with the other Senior Enforcers. To get to that level, he needed to go past the Front Reception which was also named Hell’s Gate. It was a long ten feet counter raised to the head level and above it was a protective glass with three officers seated behind it. Once you get behind the counter either on the right or the left, you will be faced with the eighty-odd uniformed officers seated behind desks in the three thousand square feet area, squaring off complaints and squabbles. If you faced towards the sidewall of the office, you will notice a dozen officers armed with rifles patrolling the common area, with orders to shoot on any signs of trouble. It was also the area where the first complainants get their reports looked at and processed. There were several side doors which the access to the other sections and the rear were the escalators to other levels.

All of the entrances were reinforced by the double metal doors.

“The Colonel is waiting for you.” Lance nodded to the officer there when he took one of the entrances and then mounted the stairs to the upper levels before he was greeted by the guard there at Level Two.

“Good day, Sir.” Lance took past the guard and towards the familiar door that marked ‘Commanding Officer’. He was familiar with the Colonel’s office with the dark desk that spanned over six feet and the man named the Colonel, and yet he was not holding any military rank. He was called that for he was the commanding officer there. He was a tall man with the thick shoulders and the creased facial expression heightened by the sunken cheeks. He had his hair cropped short and with his uniform on he had the Colonel in the looks.

“You are late, Officer.” Lance was motioned to the seat in front of the desk. He sat there before he looked over to the other two officers there.

“I will be brief.” The Colonel voiced out. “The mayhem with the servants was a disaster that needed to be contained. I will have a task force formed. You will be part of it. All of you here are in the special task force.”

“Officer Lance and Judd, you will head the investigation. Officer Bernice will be the …. terminating force.” The Colonel continued. “I will assume as the Head of the Task Force….”

“No, Sir. I will not be part of this task force. It’s …” Officer Lance cut off the superior officer but he got his rebuttal then.

“Lance, I have no qualms to remove you from this task force but your records spoke well of your handling investigations into the servants. I will advise you…”

“I am sorry, Sir. I am still declining the position within the Special Task Force. May I please be excused?”

“Then if it’s your wish. Officer Judd, you are promoted to Senior Officer and will replace Senior Officer Lance. You will have a partner in your team.” The Colonel looked from Officer Judd towards Lance. “Officer Lance, you re-assigned to General Duties.”

General duties were to handle all the menial and unwanted cases that the other Enforcers were to reject. It was a demotion in rank for a Senior Officer to do such tasks. Lance saluted and left the office but soon he was given the look by the other officers at his new post at the General Area among the eighty officers there. He had sat down to warm his seat when the dossier was handed over.

“Lance, I got a case of a missing chimpanzee. The owner claimed the servant took his personal effects including his keys to the office. He soon reported to us that his office was ransacked and lost several confidential documents from there.” The officer left Lance with the dossier. It contained the report and the ‘docu-vid’ which recorded the theft.

Lance looked at the ‘docu-vid’ that was passed to him on the viewer set on the desk.  The details correspond to the report he had read.

What the report did not say was that the victim was a staff at the Research Centre V.

“Lance, may I speak to you?” The then newly promoted Senior Officer Judd approached Lance at the desk. “I did not plan for this. I was not ….”

“It’s alright. You deserved the promotion. Get your new partner and be on the task.” Lance smiled warmly and then grabbed his jacket to leave.

“Where are you of” Officer Judd asked then.

“Missing servant. I will see you around.” Lance rushed out and then to the assigned vehicle for his task. With his new posting, he was given the same design cruiser without the cannon. He was also without a partner but he has his mini dart on the vambrace and baton.

Soon he was at Research Centre V.

“Doctor Lopez, may I have the details of the files that your servant may have had taken.” Lance glared at the man seated across him. The doctor was about his age with the well-maintained frame but his thick mustache and the thinning hairline misplaced his good looks.

“It were some notes of my research into the behavior of the apes.” The doctor then paused. “Are you by any chance related to Doctor Lanceston?”

“Yes, but my works are not related to him,” Lance replied and was to question further when the doctor then decided to cut short the discussion.

“Just get me back the servant and the files. I will not press charges and also no one is allowed to read those files. Including Doctor Lanceston.”  With that, Lance was dismissed from the office. He learned from his works and in his discussion with Doctor Lanceston, the works at the Research were sacred to individual Researchers or Departments. They all fear their works will be taken over by another and they will lose their stay at the Research House. Every research was closely guarded by the respective staff.

Lance then returned to his vehicle in the front yard and was to drive off when he saw a familiar sight in the nearby corridor. He stopped the vehicle and opened the door. He then called out to the chimpanzee.

“Astrid!” Lance reached out to hold the chimpanzee that had rushed out to greet Lance. The chimpanzee weighed heavily on the Officer and he had known Astrid as a young cub.

“You are getting heavy. Where is the Doctor?” The chimpanzee held onto the officer and sneered at Lance. It was soon distracted when it saw the new batch of gorillas being led off by the guards. The batch of gorillas was brought in by carriage to replace the dead ones shot earlier. For a while, both of them were motionless looking at the new arrivals until the voice of Doctor Lanceston broke their focus.

“Lance, when did you arrive? Why was I not told?” The elderly doctor reached for his nephew on the shoulder. Astrid climbed down and moved out of the way while the two conversed on. “How goes the investigation?”

“What investigation?”

“The shooting of the gorilla? Oh, that one. I am not involved. I am …onto other duties.”

“Bernice vid me that you were in but she voiced her …you know displeasure of your attention to the servants.” Lance gave out a low laugh at the relaying of the doctor and shook his head.

“I think we can have a quick meal and I needed to know more on a Doctor Lopez.” Lance moved to change the subject.

“Lopez, he is an imbecile and in cahoots with Julius. I think they are doing some side research on mine. It won’t be for the betterment of mankind. More of a nasty side to mankind.” By then, Lance had led the doctor towards the cafeteria while Astrid looked at them from a distance. It just stood there in the yard and watched the two humans stepped into the cafeteria. The chimp then turned to go back to the lab. Lance was going to be occupied with his uncle who was always with the grunts and moans of the associates.