Apes Chapter 22

 

22.

Doctor Lanceston was pondering over the archive folders on the console when he came across one which he was sure not of his. It was named Movement. He clicked on it and a password request came out. That was unusual for all his folders had no password to it. He tried his usual password and it failed. He tried others and they all failed. If only he had Astrid there then. He had taught the servant to use his password at times to retrieve some folders while he is busy.

“Darn it!” Doctor Lanceston muttered out. He then tried to look for some other approach. He even picked up his communicator to call the Admin Section that was the Administrator for it but no one responded to his call. He then decided to drop the subject and concentrated on the other subjects on hand. It took him a while trying to concentrate and watching the guards by the corner of his eyes, he was soon back at the folder he could not open.

“Astrid…. Astrid…. where art thou?” Doctor Lanceston receded to his old books saying as a form of solace into his problems. He without thinking he typed in the words; ASTRID.

The folder was given access to him. He opened it and saw inside. It was empty inside. It was wiped clean. He was disappointed then but was relieved. He told himself that it was good. Astrid was not a bad servant.

Doctor Lanceston then sighed. Astrid was not there He feared for his servant being out there alone. It was just like when he first found the chimpanzee than a few years ago; ostracised by the others in the breeding center. It was a tiny one and among those there, it was being bullied then. The doctor recalled then reaching out and petting the shivering creature. It took a while before the doctor could hold the creature which then had snuggled up to the doctor with its head on the left shoulder and the eyes glaring into the others. Unseen by the doctor, there was hatred in those eyes.

It was not hatred in the eyes of Bernice then but wild ideas when she ran for the cruiser followed closely by Juanico. They reached the cruiser with each other offering them cover fire. The gorillas have all backed up to the far corner avoiding the Enforcers. They did not believe they could outrun the creatures and if they did, where would they go. They heard the City was under fire too.

“Get the hatch open.” Bernice hollered to Juanico while she stood guard for any servants. The other hit the switch to raise the hatch on the vehicle but it won’t open.

“I need to pry it open,” Juanico called back and then reached for the manual lock. It was on the side and needed to crank up.

In the Outpost, Lances was also making the break to the City. They checked the vehicles and then Lances cursed at his predicament.

“Tell me what else can go wrong?” Lances saw Leroy trying to open the door. The later lower the M500 to reload and then smiled.

“If you have lived as long as I did, then you will know that nothing works out all the time.” Leroy then stood up and grabbed his gears. He had it placed inside a long knapsack He heaved it over his right shoulder.

“Bloody heavy.” Leroy heaved up the sack and then stared at the others. “They are undecided. And will stay.”

“Work on the door.” Lances told him. “You may have open it manually. It’s not easy.” Lances commented back. “Anyway, the servants are no mounting any attack. But don’t take your time.”

Leroy did not wait for the reply and ran out of the structure. Lances followed through with PJ in the rear. They were going to take that chance then. The unlocked the hatch and heaved hard to open it.

Meanwhile, The Colonel stood by the wall opening looking at the outside barricades. They were doing fine but the siege was going to end soon or they will eventually be servants’ serving. He was interrupted by the arrival of an officer.

“Colonel, we got General Dixon whereabout. They are at the barricade.” General Ian Dixon turned out to be an average person with a close-shaven hairstyle and with the sunken eyes, he looked like a menacing punk than an officer. More so when the man was dressed in a tight dark jacket and matching pants with strapped boots. He had on the belt and sidearm. He was accompanied by two burly looking guards

“General Dixon, please….” The Colonel was introducing him to the Senate in the special chamber where they were kept for their safety. It was Caesar who asked the General. The officer was from the smaller city and it was governed by the military ruling.

“General Dixon, when having your kind decide to emerge in the open? Perhaps the current riot may not be to your favor.”

“It has, Emperor Caesar. Is that what you call yourself now. The Dark Ones have emerged and they have taken sections of the City back. We have distributed weapons to the dwellers and are fighting back.” General Dixon replied as the leader of the ten thousand strong members of the Dark Ones along with the servants have created two fronts. “We have suppressed them far too long and they have risen now. We are low on supplies and men. We may lose the city soon.”

“The Dark Ones have sentenced all of you here as traitors to the City.” General Dixon then motioned to his guards. “Bring forth the evidence.”

Two new guards stepped in pulling the body of a Silverback. The Silverback was laid before the Senate and then a microchip was tossed onto the creature.

“That microchip contained new routines which were never seen before. We analyzed it and found it contains new skill sets that included murder. It leads back to this City.”  

“Your City created this disaster. All of you stand to face death by execution for it.” General Dixon glared at the Senate. “I will have my revenge but not today.”

“Are you with me, Colonel?” General Dixon looked at the Colonel.

“Take them away.” The Colonel told the guards to take the Senate away.

“You will pay for this betrayal, Colonel.” It was Brutus who voiced out.

“No more than yours.” The Colonel shot the Senate member in the face. He then turned to the remaining Senate members.

“You will live to see the slaughter.” The Senate members were taken to the cells below the Fortress while the Colonel looked at the General.

“Colonel, I brought with me a hundred warriors to assist you. That’s all we have now. We have excluded you from the foul deed there and will now make a new member of the New Senate. A military designed one.”

“Hail, General. You have my command. We will protect the new Senate.” The Colonel told the other.  

“You will not regret it, Colonel.” General Dixon replied. “The Dark Ones will not always prevail.”

An officer rushed in and told the Colonel the grim update.

“Colonel, we lost two-third the City now and more. Most of the survivors are in our sector but we are facing a new threat.” The officer then showed the vid-console to the Colonel.

“The servants are arming themselves with weapons including our rifles. They have learned to fight like us.”

The vid showed a clip of the chimpanzees raising their captured rifles to the camera. It was unheard of. It was an image of the breeding center outside of the City.

“General Dixon, how many warriors have you left in your city?” The Colonel searched for the communicator.

“They are all I have. We took on casualties and even more getting here.” General Dixon admitted his defeat. “These are my only guards. We have been hit badly.”

“And continued.” The Colonel replied. “In your next lifetime.”

The Colonel shot the General. His guards then leveled their guns on the General’s guards.

“Join me or faced death.” The Colonel offered.