plantation by Stella Samiotou Fitzsimons

Author:Stella Samiotou Fitzsimons [Fitzsimons, Stella Samiotou]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2012-12-22T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

We get to the hill where Rabbit and Scout have been waiting for us. I’m prepared to be faced with something totally startling because it is so unlike Rabbit to be secretive and, most of all, patient. Usually, his enthusiasm gets the better of him and he blurts out everything in a split second.

I reach the top of the hill and take a look at the forest and the facilities below. The view puts me in a state of shock. I cannot believe what I am seeing. A quick glance at the faces of the Saviors convinces me that they are all similarly stunned. Tilly and Biscuit break our bewildered silence when they burst out laughing.

The camp has been taken over by a group of big apes and, as unlikely as that is, it is also a relief. We all smile eventually.

Damian is the only one who seems to be more puzzled than joyful. “How is this possible?” he asks.

That’s exactly my question, too, but at the moment the answer doesn’t matter. We’ve never seen apes before apart from in the animal books. The reason is simple. Apes are not from this part of the world. Our forest and mountains are not their natural habitat. These creatures should not be here.

Doc steps to Damian. “I remember something that was said at the lab in Plantation-4 when I was a trainee,” he starts. “Not in the form of random rumors but as actual, possible experiments. There was a particular one about messing with the DNA of chimpanzees to make them more human-like.”

I turn to take a closer look at the action below. The apes are most likely chimpanzees if I judge by the pictures we have seen. There are seven of them and they are indeed behaving with an intelligence that exceeds that of any ordinary animal. They’re also quite big and look very strong and agile. They move their hands in a way that could be some form of language that they use to draw one another’s attention.

One of them pours water in a cup and tries to drink out of it. Another one examines a touchpad device he has his hands on.

“It’s true. These are no ordinary apes,” Theo says.

“Look at that,” Damian says. “They’re aping our behavior.”

We may even be more stunned now. Damian just made a joke. Who is this guy and what has he done with our normal leader?

“How’d they end up here?” Finn says. “Do you think they escaped?”

“Possible, but not likely,” Doc replies. “My guess is they were released into the wild for reasons known only to their creators.”

“Creators or tormentors?” Zoe asks.

“Both,” Theo replies.

“They seem to be having fun actually,” Tilly says.

“Not fun,” Finn says. “Something else. It’s not fun to be altered, to be driven away from your nature and to be thrown into a world completely foreign to you.”

“Are we still talking about the chimpanzees?” Daphne asks.

Finn just shrugs.

“We need a plan,” Damian says. “We have to get them out of the camp and drive them as far away from us as possible.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.