Death of the Planet of the Apes Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Cover

  More Planet of the Apes from Titan Books

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Death of the Planet of the Apes Character Key

  Prologue – Orbital Decay

  ACT I: REPERCUSSIONS

  Chapter 1 –Tomorrow is the Future’s Past

  Chapter 2 –Trapped in the Forbidden Zone

  Chapter 3 –Diagnoses

  Chapter 4 –A Portent of Intrepidity

  Chapter 5 –The World We’d Made

  Chapter 6 –Home Bitter Home

  Chapter 7 –What Lies Beneath

  Chapter 8 –Falling Too Close to the Sun

  Chapter 9 –The Broken Bough

  ACT II: A TALE OF TWO CITIES

  Chapter 10 –The Path of Most Resistance

  Chapter 11 –A Quotient of Intelligence

  Chapter 12 –Of Council and Clergy

  Chapter 13 –That Which is Left Behind

  Chapter 14 –The Isolationist Transmogrified

  Chapter 15 –Baboons and Brinkmanship

  Chapter 16 –The Disposition of Affairs

  Chapter 17 –Theater of War

  Chapter 18 –Per Aspera ad Astra

  Chapter 19 –Phantasms and Reflections

  ACT III: INTO THE LABYRINTH

  Chapter 20 –The Quality of Mercy

  Chapter 21 –Pride, Pomp, and Caesaropapism

  Chapter 22 –Past Revelations Herald Future Transgressions

  Chapter 23 –An Inquisition of Conscience

  Chapter 24 –A Meaning Forgotten to Time

  Chapter 25 –Empire State and Revolution

  Chapter 26 –A Propensity for Taboo

  ACT IV: ANNIHILATION AND HOPE

  Chapter 27 –The Beginning of the End

  Chapter 28 –Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum

  Chapter 29 –The City of the Dead

  Chapter 30 –The Writing on the Wall

  Chapter 31 –Revels Now Ended

  Chapter 32 –Escape

  Epilogue – The Tornado in the Sky

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  MORE PLANET OF THE APES FROM TITAN BOOKS

  Planet of the Apes: Tales from the Forbidden Zone

  edited by Rich Handley and Jim Beard

  Planet of the Apes Omnibus 1 by Michael Avallone and Jerry Pournelle

  Planet of the Apes Omnibus 2

  by John Jakes, David Gerrold, and William T. Quick

  Planet of the Apes Omnibus 3 by George Alec Effinger

  Planet of the Apes Omnibus 4 by William Arrow

  Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm by Greg Keyes

  Dawn of the Planet of the Apes—the Official Movie Novelization

  by Alex Irvine

  Planet of the Apes: The Evolution of the Legend

  by Joe Fordham and Jeff Bond

  Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Art of

  the Films by Matt Hurwitz, Sharon Gosling, and Adam Newell

  War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations by Greg Keyes

  War for the Planet of the Apes—The Official Movie Novelization

  by Greg Cox

  AN ORIGINAL NOVEL BY

  ANDREW E.C. GASKA

  TITAN BOOKS

  DEATH OF THE PLANET OF THE APES™

  Print edition ISBN: 9781785653582

  E-book edition ISBN: 9781785653599

  Published by Titan Books

  A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd

  144 Southwark Street, London SE1 0UP

  First edition: November 2018

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Planet of the Apes TM & © 1968, 2018 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.

  All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

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  www.titanbooks.com

  DEDICATION

  For Roddy, who proved an ape can fly,

  For Adrien,

  And for the rest of you…

  You blew it up!

  …Damn you.

  Damn you all to hell.

  DEATH OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

  CHARACTER KEY

  HUMAN ASTRONAUTS

  George Taylor, Colonel

  Donovan Maddox, Colonel

  Eddie Rowark, Major

  John Brent, Major

  Alan Virdon, Major

  Robert Marx, Commander

  William Hudson, Commander

  Maryann Stewart, Lieutenant

  Thomas Dodge, Lieutenant

  John Landon, Lieutenant

  Judy Franklin, Lieutenant

  Jeff Allen, Lieutenant

  MUTANTS

  Albina

  Ongaro

  Caspay

  Adiposo

  Mendez XXVI

  Ygli VII

  Verger

  Be-One

  Be-Three

  Be-Six

  Be-Eight

  HALF-BREEDS

  Mungwortt

  Messias

  Dinge

  Abomination, the

  CHIMPANZEES

  Zira, Doctor

  Cornelius, Doctor

  Milo, Doctor

  Seraph, Doctor

  Lykos, Doctor

  Pinchus, Doctor

  Galen, Doctor

  Lucius

  Liet

  Jaila

  Tian

  Consus

  Liberus

  Quirinus

  Jerry

  ORANGUTANS

  Zaius, Doctor

  Sabian, Elder

  Zao, Elder

  Gaius, President

  Maximus, Doctor

  Arlus, Doctor

  Honorius, Doctor

  Reverend, the

  Hestia

  Senia

  Vitus

  Celia

  Camilla

  GORILLAS

  Ursus, General

  Marcus, Chief

  Dangral, Major

  Aurelios, Lieutenant

  Cerek, Chief

  Xirinius, Sub-Chief

  Duignan, Sergeant

  Jaffe, Private

  Kananaios, Preacher

  Julius

  Malia

  HUMAN MILITARY

  Theodore Lazenbe, General

  Eugene Taylor, Admiral

  HUMAN SCIENTISTS

  Otto Hasslein, Doctor

  Stanton, Doctor

  Kriegstein, Doctor

  HUMAN CIVILIANS

  Gillian Taylor

  Jo Taylor

  Tammy Taylor

  PROLOGUE

  ORBITAL DECAY

  In one of the countless galaxies in the universe lies a medium-sized star. One of its satellites—a blue and insignificant planet —has satellites of its own.

  Artificia
l satellites.

  Man-made.

  Far above that blue and green marble, one of those orbiters was losing a two-thousand-year-long battle with gravity. A dirty panel on its ventral side displayed her name, USA-33. It wasn’t a fancy name, but it was the name by which man had known her. No record remained of what “USA” had stood for. Hefted into space perched on top of a massive Titan IV rocket, “Oosa” was what used to be called a “keyhole satellite.” Her mission was referred to as reconnaissance, but in fact she was a spy, designed to keep watch over a totalitarian government distrustful of its own citizens.

  Her solar panels malformed from the many collisions she had suffered, the errant satellite careened around the planet at fantastic speeds, clattering through the haze of an immature ring, all the time drifting closer and closer to the atmosphere.

  Closer to fiery death.

  While her computer still functioned, her booster fuel had depleted long ago. She had no way of stopping her spindly descent.

  Oosa had put up the good fight for two millennia. Some fifteen hundred years earlier she had received her last modification—a finite AI package. The upgrade was designed to allow her to make limited decisions of her own while remaining subservient to her human masters’ whims.

  She had been masterless for a long time. Her primary camera eye still functioned, and Oosa had continued broadcasting everything she witnessed on a signal that had long since ceased being received. She had seen the brilliant cherry blossoms of nuclear exchange that had blanketed the planet, the lights from a thousand cities flickering, and then finally blinking out. She had even survived the destruction of the planet’s moon some nine centuries past.

  Even the moon had been a victim of mankind’s foolish wars.

  Oosa-33 danced at the edge of the upper atmosphere, feeling its heat as she drew toward its inevitable embrace. The friction wouldn’t claim her quickly, though. She would linger. She would burn. In all likelihood, the bulk of her would survive the agony long enough to smash into the Earth’s surface.

  As she hurtled over the continents, the planet edged into the sunrise. Oosa-33 focused on a region of the east coast of what used to be her homeland. There, the first light of morning began to lick the planet’s ruddy surface.

  * * *

  Dawn was approaching. An army gathered at the ragged cliffs on the edge of a barren wasteland—an organized military force preparing to raid the enemy encampment. Gorilla Lieutenant Dangral gazed at the stars disappearing in the growing light. One was brighter than the rest, moving across the sky at speed while the rest crawled lazily. It held his attention for a moment.

  Trepidation seized him. For generations his family had passed along the tale of the destruction that came from the sky and laid waste to most of the world. As a child, he had feared it would come again. As he watched the arcing light, irrational distress gave way to uncertainty, and finally a conclusion.

  A meteor, he assured himself. Nothing more. Dangral composed himself, wiping the sweat from his pronounced brow. His childhood preacher would consider it an omen of some kind, but things like that were for the superstitious.

  Dangral was considered a handsome gorilla—well-groomed, tall, and distinguished. His snout was nicely shaped, his skin oiled, and his mane always kempt. A soldier, he wore a smart dark leather vest and gloves, mauve pants and shirt, a bandolier across his left shoulder with a brown suede field pack.

  For many years ape culture had been divided into a caste system, largely along racial lines—political and academician orangutans, medical and scientific chimpanzees, and soldier and service-minded gorillas. The system had been flawed, of course. If a gorilla was so inclined, why shouldn’t he be allowed the opportunity to become a politician? A doctor?

  Indeed, after centuries of restrictions that was finally possible. Yet stereotypes still ran rampant. While the orangutans were philosophical and the chimpanzees intellectual, the gorillas were considered dimwitted. Dangral, however, was far from stupid, and he wasn’t alone. They were quick to anger, and the stigma of ignorance still clung to their necks, thanks to the allegedly superior orangutans.

  He gritted his teeth, angry at all of it.

  Whether they liked it or not, gorillas were on the rise.

  That’s where General Ursus came in. A gifted speaker, Ursus could convince you to walk naked into the Forbidden Zone without a wineskin or a gun. He was the epitome of what all gorillas could accomplish. He led the army, and his mission was the protection of all apes. Even the sniveling, cowardly chimpanzees.

  Such deep thoughts. Dangral smiled grimly. You’d think I was an orangutan in a gorilla’s suit. Shaking his head, the lieutenant returned his attention to the here and now.

  For the past few weeks the general had led his gorillas on a sweep through the provinces. Their goal was nothing short of extermination. Those who weren’t slaughtered had been rounded up in cages, to be used for scientific research. Nearly every enclave had been wiped off the face of Simia, leaving only the bluff he and the army now stood upon. The cliff face was riddled with holes—a fire ant colony gone awry—and like such a colony, these caves and tunnels were rife with pests.

  Vermin.

  Humans.

  This was their last stronghold.

  These bluffs lay in the outer territories of Simia, on the eastern border of the Forbidden Zone. High atop those same cliffs stood an array of massive crosses covered with animal pelts designed to simulate massive apes of lore, like the indomitable Kigor. Apparently, scarecrows weren’t enough to frighten the creatures away anymore, however, for directly beneath them the humans had taken lair. What perplexed Dangral most was that the mouths of the caves were built into a sheer cliff face, with the ones closest to the ground still a good 200 feet above it. There seemed no way for the humans to reach them, much less leave them to raid the apes’ crops.

  Yet Ursus’s forces had found a solution. While the army positioned cannons on the canyon floor, ready to collapse the openings, a platoon of crack gorilla commandos approached the cliffs from the Simia side, using rope and tackle to set themselves up for the assault. They would drop down on their unsuspecting quarry.

  The searing sun poked its head over the crescent mountain range. Orange fingers of light reached past the eastern peaks to caress them. From his mount between two of the massive scarecrows, the imposing General Ursus adjusted his bulbous helm. He nodded and gave the order.

  “Bugler, sound the attack.”

  Dawn had arrived, and with it came war.

  The horn blared three times. Nearly fifty gorillas leapt backward off the edge of the cliff, rifles slung over their shoulders. The platoon’s field leader, Dangral, descended with them. As he plummeted, invigoration embraced him.

  This is what it means to be alive!

  Action, honor, and combat!

  A gorilla’s code by which to live. The cord attached to his harness snapped tight as he reached the end of the rope. The lieutenant deftly unslung his automatic rifle and laid down suppressing fire into the mouth of the cave. His fellow troops did the same. As machine-gun rounds lit up the still-dark openings, Dangral saw that he had hit a target. A single elderly human male had slept near the entrance—likely an inept watch guard—and was immediately riddled with as many holes as the cliff face itself.

  “I don’t know how they got this high,” he said, and he sneered, “but they thought they were safe here.”

  They are not.

  Swiftly the gorillas swung themselves to the lip of the cave. As soon as their boots found purchase, they pulled the knotted cords and let their harnesses slip. Dropping to the ledge, they let their rappelling cables loose and sent them swaying in the early morning breeze. Then they charged forward, a cacophony of machine-gun fire echoing throughout the caves and across the canyon.

  * * *

  It was over quickly. The all-clear signal given, Ursus himself rappelled to the caves below.

  Lieutenant Dangral saluted him.

&n
bsp; “Sir. Inside, I…” He trailed off. Ursus wasn’t listening. Something about the cave’s walls had distracted the ape general. Removing his glove, he inspected them, touching the smoothed entrance. It felt wrong to him. Something about it was… artificial.

  Dangral’s confusion was palpable. He swallowed, appearing eager to give his report as soon as possible.

  “Sir?”

  Ursus turned. “Go on, Lieutenant. Show me what you’ve got.”

  The junior officer nodded, leading Ursus deep into the tunnel. As they passed one branch in particular, the general felt a rush of air caress his fur. Ursus immediately deciphered one of the secrets.

  “There is a way out on the Simia side,” he growled. His scouts had looked hard for such an entrance. It must have been hidden well.

  “Yes, sir,” Dangral replied. “The few humans that escaped fled into our territory. We are tracking them now.”

  “Good work, soldier.”

  The lieutenant half smiled, but hesitated.

  There was something else, and Ursus knew what it was. Army intel had been collecting reports of strange manifestations, out in the Forbidden Zone. Twelve of his best had ventured into that territory. Only one, Private Cormac, had returned, driven insane by whatever horror he had witnessed there.

  Ursus imagined an enemy force of some kind that was responsible, lurking in the zone and preparing to invade the ape nation. Army cartographers had triangulated the last known positions of his scouts, and determined that the outer territories of southeast Simia would be the most likely place for such a border crossing.

  His hands had been tied by the council, however. His orders were explicit. He was not to enter the Forbidden Zone.

  Dangral led him further into the honeycombed cliff, to a chamber dimly lit by a smoldering fire. Human bodies littered the floor. Animal hides were piled in the corners, obviously where the beasts slept.

  In the center of the room was a conundrum.

  There stood a hearth, midden, and posts. Wooden pillars were lashed together as well as any ape would make them. Ursus circled the hearth. It was clearly the work of some sort of artisan—be it ape or human.

  Rage welled up inside of him. Before he could express it, however, there was a clanking sound. Almost imperceptible. His boot skipped across a small hide pouch underfoot. He and Dangral promptly looked down. Dangral was uneasy. Ursus himself bent down to examine the contents of the purse. Bone. Wood. Carved sticks, essentially—to an untrained eye. Yet Ursus knew what they were.