“One beer,” Jack told the waitress. “Then the check.”
“How’d you guys make out today?” Lou asked Jack and Laurie.
“We’re here,” Jack said. “That was the goal. Laurie and the others got the visas, and I got the tickets.” He patted his stomach. “I also got a bunch of French francs and a money belt. I was told that the French franc was the hard currency of choice for that part of Africa.”
“What’s going to happen when you arrive?” Lou asked.
Jack pointed over to Esteban. “Our expatriate traveling companion has taken care of the arrangements. His cousin’s meeting us at the airport, and his wife’s brother has a hotel.”
“You should be fine,” Lou said. “What’s your plan?”
“Esteban’s cousin has arranged for us to rent a van,” Jack said. “So we’ll drive to Cogo.”
“And just drop in?” Lou asked.
“That’s the idea,” Jack said.
“Good luck,” Lou said.
“Thanks,” Jack said. “We’ll probably need it.”
A half hour later the group-minus Lou-merrily boarded the 747. They found their seats and stowed their carry-on baggage. No sooner had they gotten themselves situated than the huge plane lurched and was pulled from the gate.
Later when the engines began to scream and the plane began its dash down the runway to takeoff, Laurie felt Jack take her hand. He gripped it fiercely.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Jack nodded. “I’ve just learned not to like air travel,” he said.
Laurie understood.
“We’re on our way,” Warren exclaimed gleefully. “Africa, here we come!”
CHAPTER 19
MARCH 8, 1997
2:00 A.M.
COGO, EQUATORIAL GUINEA
“ARE you asleep?” Candace whispered.
“Are you kidding?” Melanie whispered back. “How am I supposed to sleep on rock with just a few branches strewn over it?”
“I can’t sleep either,” Candace admitted. “Especially with all this snoring going on. What about Kevin?”
“I’m awake,” Kevin said.
They were in a small side cave jutting off the main chamber just behind the main entrance. The darkness was almost absolute. The only light came from meager moonlight reflected from outside.
Kevin, Melanie, and Candace had been shuttled into this small cave immediately on their arrival. It measured about ten feet wide with a downward sloping ceiling that started at a maximum height roughly equivalent to Kevin’s five feet ten inches. There was no back wall to this cave; the chamber simply narrowed to a tunnel. Earlier in the evening, Kevin had explored the tunnel with the help of the flashlight in hopes of finding another way out, but the tunnel abruptly ended after about thirty feet.
The bonobos had treated them well, even after the initially cold reception by the females. Apparently, the animals were mystified by the humans and intended to keep them alive and well. They’d provided them with muddy water in gourds and a variety of food. Unfortunately, the food was in the form of grubs, maggots, and other insects along with some kind of sedge from Lago Hippo.
Later in the afternoon, the animals had started a fire at the cave’s entrance. Kevin was particularly interested in how they started it, but he’d been too far back to observe their method. A group of the bonobos had formed a tight circle, and then a half an hour later a fire was going.
“Well, that answers the question about the smoke,” Kevin had said.
The animals had skewered the colobus monkeys and roasted them over the fire. The monkeys were then torn apart and distributed with great fanfare. Given all the hooting and vocalizations it had been obvious to the humans that this monkey meat was considered a great treat.
Bonobo number one had placed a few morsels of the feast on a large leaf and brought them back to the humans. Only Kevin had been willing to try it. He’d said it was the toughest thing he’d ever chewed. As far as taste was concerned, he’d told the women that it was strangely similar to the elephant he’d once sampled. The previous year, Siegfried had bagged a forest elephant on one of his hunting forays and after taking the tusks, he’d had some of the meat cooked up by the central kitchen.
The bonobos had not tried to imprison the humans and had not tried to inhibit Kevin and the women from untying the rope that bound them together. At the same time, the bonobos had made it clear that they were to stay in the small cave. At all times, at least two of the larger male bonobos remained in the immediate vicinity. Each time Kevin or one of the women tried to venture forth, these guards would screech and howl at the top of their lungs. Even more threatening, they would ferociously charge with bared teeth only to pull up short at the last minute. Thus they effectively kept the humans in their place.
“We’re going to have to do something,” Melanie said. “We can’t stay here forever. And it’s pretty apparent we’ll have to do it while they are all sleeping, like now.”
Every bonobo in the cave, including the supposed guards, were fast asleep on primitive pallets constructed of branches and leaves. Most were snoring.
“I don’t think we should take the chance of angering them,” Kevin said. “We’re lucky they’ve treated us as well as they have.”
“Being offered maggots to eat is not what I’d call being well treated,” Melanie said. “Seriously, we have to do something. Besides, they might turn on us. There’s no way to anticipate what they’ll do.”
“I prefer to wait,” Kevin said. “We’re a novelty now, but they’ll lose interest in us. Besides, we’re undoubtedly missed back in town. It won’t take Siegfried or Bertram that long to figure out what we’ve done. Then they’ll come for us.”
“I’m not convinced,” Melanie said. “Siegfried might take our disappearance as a godsend.”
“Siegfried might, but Bertram won’t,” Kevin said. “He’s basically a nice person.”
“What do you think, Candace?” Melanie asked.
“I don’t know what to think,” Candace said. “This situation is so far beyond anything I’d ever thought I’d be involved in, that I don’t know how to react. I’m numb.”
“What are we going to do when we do get back?” Kevin said. “We haven’t talked about that.”
“If we get back,” Melanie said.
“Don’t talk that way,” Candace said.
“We have to face facts,” Melanie said. “That’s why I think we should do something now while they’re all asleep.”
“We have no idea how soundly they sleep,” Kevin said. “Trying to walk out of here will be like walking through a mine field.”
“One thing is for sure,” Candace said. “I’m not going to be involved in any more harvests. I began to feel uncomfortable when I thought they were apes. Now that we know they’re protohumans, I can’t do it. I know that much about myself.”
“That’s a foregone conclusion,” Kevin said. “I can’t imagine any sensitive human being would feel differently. But that’s not the issue. The issue is that this new race exists, and if they’re not to be used for transplants, what’s to be done with them?”
“Will they be able to reproduce?” Candace asked.
“Most assuredly,” Melanie said. “Nothing was done to them to affect their fertility.”
“Oh, my,” Candace said. “This is a horror.”
“Maybe they should be rendered infertile,” Melanie said. “Then there’d only be a single generation to consider.”
“I wish I’d thought of all this before I started this project,” Kevin said. “The problem was that once I stumbled onto the ability to interchange chromosomal parts, the intellectual stimulation was so strong I never considered other consequences.”
There was a sudden, bright flash of lightning momentarily illuminating the interior of the cave, followed by a loud clap of thunder. The concussion seemed to shake the entire mountain. The violent display was nature’s way of announcing that one of the almost daily thunderstorms was about to inundate the island.