Read Online Battle For The Planet Of The Apes by David Gerrold - Free Book Online Page B

Follow them. Find their hideout.”
    “Yes, sir. Right away, sir!” The captain saluted and wheeling about on one heel, hurried out.
    Méndez looked at Kolp. “Why?” he asked.
    Kolp grinned at him. “So that we can exterminate them .” He rubbed his hands together and giggled. “Won’t that be fun?”

FIVE
    Aldo stood on the ridge and peered out into the desert. Somewhere out there lay the Forbidden City. Someday, someday . . . He sniffed the air and curled his lip. Someday he would lead an army out there!
    Behind him, the other gorillas sat at a small, almost burned-out fire, muttering and grunting, picking their fleas and cracking them.
    Abruptly, Aldo stiffened. “Quiet,” he barked to his troops.
    Eyes narrowing, he looked out into the desert. Was there something out there? Other gorillas moved up to look, too. They sniffed at the wind.
    Far out, almost lost in the sparsely vegetated terrain, were three figures, too distant to be identified. His hackles rose, and he growled deep in his throat. Were they men or apes? “Look . . . there!” he pointed. The other gorillas looked, then reacted. They snorted, they snuffled, they flared their nostrils and fidgeted; they bounced up and down, they grunted, they made noises. They squinted and sniffed and became excited. They stamped their feet and pounded the ground.
    “Quiet!” snapped Aldo again. His eyes narrowed to slits. The short, fat one must be an orangutan; yes, he could tell by the way the paunchy little thing waddled. The one on the other side, the one who was limping, was definitely a man. Aldo sneered. The third figure was walking like an ape. Too skinny to be a gorilla. Must be a chimp. Hmf. What were they doing out in the desert, anyway? The desert and the city were forbidden.
    Aldo growled orders to his troops. They backed down off the ridge, out of sight.
    As Caesar, Virgil, and MacDonald came climbing up the hill, the gorillas came charging down the slope and flung themselves on the trio.
    “Hey, what . . .?” cried Virgil, as he disappeared under the thundering black bodies. They went tumbling down over the rocks.
    There was the flash of a drawn sword.
    Caesar was yelling, “Stop . . . it’s us . . . it’s Caesar!”
    “Caesar?” Aldo frowned. “Stop,” he called. “Stop.” He said it without urgency, only curiosity. “Caesar?” The scuffling muttered off into embarrassed silence. The two apes and the man stood up, brushing off the dirt.
    “That’s some welcome,” said MacDonald wryly. “We should have stayed in the city. Definitely.”
    “I imagine Aldo was hoping we’d stay there in definitely,” remarked Virgil.
    Aldo came down the slope toward them. “Why were you there? To visit the city is forbidden.” His manner was grim.
    Caesar was just as cold. “I know. I forbade it.”
    “Then why . . .?” Aldo frowned in puzzlement. This did not make sense to him.
    “Aldo,” said Virgil. “If a king forbids his subjects to wear a crown, that doesn’t mean he can’t wear one himself. Caesar is Caesar. He went to the city for a purpose.”
    “What purpose?” Aldo was suspicious.
    “I went looking for my past, but I found our future.”
    “Huh? Explain.” The big gorilla was aggressively insistent.
    Caesar snarled irritably. “You wouldn’t understand.” He started to shove past Aldo.
    But Aldo stopped him. He raised his sword and pointed it directly at Caesar’s heart. “Aldo will make the future—with this.”
    “No,” Caesar shook his head. “With that, Aldo will find himself in the past.”
    MacDonald smothered a smile, but Virgil laughed out loud. The trio moved up the hill and on toward Ape City.
    The gorillas snorted in contempt and moved back toward their outpost. Not a single one noticed the three mutant scouts who had been tracking Caesar all the way from the city. The mutants began moving away from the outpost, circling it widely to move toward Ape City.
    The Ape Council meeting was divided into three