CHAPTER 13

MARCH 6, 1997

12:00 NOON

COGO, EQUATORIAL GUINEA

KEVIN was totally unaware of the time when a knock interrupted the intense concentration he’d been directing toward his computer screen for several hours. He opened his laboratory door and was promptly greeted by Melanie as she swooped into the room. She was carrying a large paper bag.

“Where are your techs?” she asked.

“I gave them the day off,” Kevin said. “There was no way I was going to get any work done today so I told them to enjoy the sun. It’s been a long rainy season, and it will be back before we know it.”

“Where’s Candace?” Melanie asked. She put down her parcel on the lab bench.

“I don’t know,” Kevin said. “I haven’t seen or talked with her since we dropped her off at the hospital this morning.”

It had been a long night. After having hid in the pathology cooler for over an hour, Melanie had talked both Kevin and Candace into sneaking up to the on-call room Melanie had at the animal center. The three had stayed there getting very little sleep, until the early-morning shift change. Blending in with all the employees coming and going, the group had made it back to Cogo without incident.

“Do you know how to get in touch with her?” Melanie asked.

“I guess just call the hospital and have her paged,” Kevin suggested. “Unless she’s in her room in the Inn, which is what I’d guess since Horace Winchester is doing so well.” The Inn was the name given to the temporary quarters for transient hospital personnel. It was physically part of the hospital/laboratory complex.

“Good point!” Melanie said. She picked up the phone and had the operator put her through to Candace’s room. Candace answered on the third ring. It was apparent she’d been asleep.

“Kevin and I are going to the island,” Melanie said without preamble. “You want to come or hang in here?”

“What are you talking about?” Kevin asked nervously.

Melanie motioned for him to be quiet.

“When?” Candace asked.

“As soon as you get over here,” Melanie said. “We’re in Kevin’s lab.”

“It will take me a good half hour,” Candace said. “I’ve got to shower.”

“We’ll be waiting,” Melanie said. She hung up the phone.

“Melanie, are you crazy?” Kevin said. “We’ve got to let some time go by before we hazard another try at the island.”

“This girl doesn’t think so,” Melanie said, giving herself a poke in the chest. “The sooner we go, the better. If Bertram finds out a key is missing, he could change the lock, and we’ll be back to square one. Besides, like I said last night, they expect us to be terrified. Going out there right away will catch them off-guard.”

“I don’t think I’m up for this,” Kevin said.

“Oh really?” Melanie questioned superciliously. “Hey, you’re the one who’s brought up this worry about what we’ve created. And now I’m really worried. I saw some more circumstantial evidence this morning.”

“Like what?” Kevin asked.

“I went into the bonobo enclosure out at the animal center,” Melanie said. “I made sure no one saw me go in, so don’t get yourself all worked up. It took me over an hour, but I managed to find a mother with one of our infants.”

“And?” Kevin questioned. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the rest.

“The infant walked around on its hindlegs-just like you and I-the whole time I was able to observe,” Melanie said. Her dark eyes flashed with emotion akin to anger. “Behavior we used to call cute is definitely bipedal.”

Kevin nodded and looked away. He found Melanie’s intensity unnerving, and her conversation was underlining all his own fears.

“We have to find out for sure what the status is of these creatures,” Melanie said. “And we can do that only by going out there.”

Kevin nodded.

“So, I made some sandwiches,” Melanie said, pointing toward the paper bag she’d brought in with her. “We’ll call it a picnic.”

“I came across something disturbing this morning as well,” Kevin said. “Let me show you.” He grabbed a stool and pushed it over to his computer terminal. He motioned for Melanie to sit down, while he took his own chair. His fingers played over the keyboard. Soon the screen displayed the computer graphic of Isla Francesca.

“I programmed the computer to follow all seventy-three bonobos on the island for several hours of real-time activity,” Kevin explained. “Then I had the data condensed so I could watch it in fast-forward. Look what resulted.”

Kevin clicked his mouse to start the sequence. The multitude of little red dots rapidly traced out weird geometric designs. It only took a few seconds.

“Looks like a bunch of chicken scratches,” Melanie said.

“Except for these two dots,” Kevin said. He pointed to two pinpoints.

“They apparently didn’t move much,” Melanie said.

“Exactly,” Kevin said. “Creature number sixty and creature number sixty-seven.” Kevin reached over and picked up the detailed contour map he’d inadvertently taken from Bertram’s office. “I located creature number sixty to a marshy clearing just south of Lago Hippo. According to the map, there are no trees there.”

“What’s your explanation?” Melanie asked.

“Hang on,” Kevin said. “What I did next was reduce the scale of the grid so that it represented a fifty-by-fifty-foot portion of the island right where creature number sixty was located. Let me show you what happened.”

Kevin keyed in the information and then clicked to start the sequence again. Once again the red light for creature number sixty was a pinpoint.

“He didn’t move at all,” Melanie said.

“I’m afraid not,” Kevin said.

“You think he’s sleeping?”

“In the middle of the morning?” Kevin asked. “And with such a scale, even turning over in his sleep should result in some movement. The system is that sensitive.”

“If he’s not sleeping, what is he doing?” Melanie asked.

Kevin shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he found a way to remove his computer chip.”

“I never thought of that,” Melanie said. “That’s a scary idea.”

“The only other thing I could think of is the bonobo died,” Kevin said.

“I suppose that’s a possibility,” Melanie said. “But I don’t think it is very probable. Those are young, extraordinarily healthy animals. We’ve made sure of that. And they are in an environment without natural enemies and have more than enough food.”

Kevin sighed. “Whatever it is, it is disturbing, and when we go out there, I think we should check it out.”

“I wonder if Bertram knows about this?” Melanie asked. “It doesn’t bode well for the program in general.”

“I suppose I should tell him,” Kevin said.

“Let’s wait until we make our visit,” Melanie said.

“Obviously,” Kevin said.

“Did you come across anything else with this real-time program?”

“Yup,” Kevin said. “I pretty much confirmed my earlier suspicion they are using the caves. Watch!”

Kevin changed the coordinates of the displayed grid on the computer screen to correspond to a specific portion of the limestone escarpment. He then asked the computer to trace the activity of his own double, creature number one.

Melanie watched as the red dot traced a geometric shape then disappeared. It then reappeared at the identical spot and traced a second shape. Then a similar sequence repeated itself for a third time.

“I guess I’d have to agree,” Melanie said. “It sure looks like your double is going in and out of the rock face.”

“When we go out there, I think we should make it a point to see our doubles,” Kevin said. “They are the oldest of the creatures, and if any of the transgenic bonobos are acting like protohumans, it should be them.”

Melanie nodded. “The idea effacing my double gives me the creeps. But we’re not going to have a lot of time out there. And given the twelve-square-mile island it will be extraordinarily difficult for us to find a specific creature.”