Kevin told Candace not to paddle as he aimed the canoe at the six-foot-high wall of reeds and took a number of forceful strokes. To everyone’s surprise, the boat skimmed through the vegetation with no trouble at all, despite the scraping noise of the reeds on the hull. Sooner than they expected, they bumped against dry land.

“That was easy,” Kevin said. He looked behind at the path they’d created to the lake, but already the reeds were springing back to their original position.

“Am I supposed to get out?” Candace said. “I can’t see the ground. What if there are bugs and snakes?”

“Make yourself a clearing with your paddle,” Kevin suggested.

As soon as Candace climbed out of the bow, Kevin paddled against the vegetation and succeeded to force the canoe still further onto the shore. Melanie got out easily.

“What about the food?” Kevin asked as he moved forward.

“Let’s leave it here,” Melanie said. “Just bring the bag with the directional beacon and flashlight. I’ve got the locator and the contour map.”

The women waited for Kevin to get out of the boat, then motioned for him to go ahead of them. With the gear bag over his shoulder, he pushed aside the reeds and began moving inland. The ground was marshy and the muck sucked at his shoes. But within ten feet, he emerged onto the grassy field.

“This looks like a field, but it’s actually a swamp,” Melanie complained as she looked down at her tennis shoes. They were already black with mud and completely soaked.

Kevin struggled with the contour map to get his bearings, then pointed off to the right. “The transmitting chip from bonobo number sixty should be no more than a hundred feet from here in the direction of that cul de sac of trees,” he said.

“Let’s get this over with,” Melanie said. With her new tennis shoes ruined, even she was beginning to question if they should have come. In Africa, nothing was easy.

Kevin struck off with the women following. At first, walking was difficult because of the unstable footing. Although the grass appeared generally uniform, it grew in small, lumpy hummocks surrounded by muddy water. But the going became easier about fifty feet from the pond, where the ground rose and became comparatively drier. A moment later, they came across a trail.

They were surprised to discover that the trail looked well-used. It ran parallel with the shoreline of the lake.

“Siegfried must send work crews out here more than we thought,” Melanie said. “This trail has been maintained.”

“I’d have to agree,” Kevin said. “I suppose they’d need to keep them up for retrievals. The jungle is so thick and grows so fast out here. Lucky for us, they’ll certainly help us get around as well. As I recall, this one heads up to the limestone cliff.”

“If they come out here to maintain trails, maybe there is something to Siegfried’s story about workmen making the fires,” Melanie said.

“Wouldn’t that be nice,” Kevin said.

“I smell something bad,” Candace said, while sniffing the air. “In fact, it smells putrid.”

Hesitantly, the others sniffed and agreed.

“That’s not a good sign,” Melanie said.

Kevin nodded and moved off in the direction of the cul de sac. A few minutes later, with their fingers pinching their nostrils shut, the three stared down at a disgusting sight: It was the remains of bonobo number sixty. The carcass was in the process of being devoured by insects. Larger scavengers had also taken a toll.

Far more gruesome than the state of the corpse was the evidence of how the animal had died. A wedge-shaped piece of limestone had struck the poor creature between the eyes effectively splitting his head in two. The rock was still in place. Exposed soft eyeballs stared off in opposite directions.

“Ugh!” Melanie said. “It’s what we didn’t want to see. This suggests that not only the bonobos have split into two groups, but they’re killing each other. I wonder if number sixty-seven is dead, too.”

Kevin kicked the rock out of the decomposing head. All three stared at it.

“That’s also what we didn’t want to see,” Kevin said.

“What are you talking about?” Candace asked.

“That rock was shaped artificially,” Kevin said. With the toe of his shoe, he pointed to an area along the side of the rock where there appeared to be freshly made gouges. “That suggests tool-making.”

“More circumstantial evidence I’m afraid,” Melanie said.

“Let’s move upwind,” Kevin managed. “Before I get sick. I can’t stand this smell.”

Kevin got three steps away in an easterly direction when someone grabbed his arm and yanked him to a stop. He turned to see Melanie with her index finger pressed against her lips. Then she pointed to the south.

Kevin turned his gaze in that direction, then caught his breath. About fifty yards away in the shadows of the very back of the cul de sac was one of the bonobos! The animal was standing ramrod straight and absolutely motionless, as if he were a military honor guard. He appeared to be staring back at Kevin and the others just as they were staring at him.

Kevin was surprised at the creature’s size. The animal was well over five feet tall. It also seemed oversized in terms of weight. Given its enormously muscular torso, Kevin guessed the bonobo weighed between one hundred twenty-five and one hundred fifty pounds.

“He’s taller than the bonobos that have been brought in for transplant surgery,” Candace said. “At least I think he is. Of course, the bonobos for the transplants were already sedated and strapped to a gurney by the time they got to me.”

“Shhhhhh,” Melanie admonished. “Let’s not scare him. This might be our only chance to see one.”

Being careful not to move too quickly, Kevin pulled the gear bag off his shoulder and got out the directional beacon. He turned it on to scan. It began to quietly beep until he pointed it toward the bonobo; then it let out a continuous note. Kevin looked at the LCD screen and gasped.

“What’s the matter?” Melanie whispered. She had seen Kevin’s expression change.

“It’s number one!” Kevin whispered back. “It’s my double.”

“Oh my god!” Melanie whispered. “I’m jealous. I’d like to see mine, too.”

“I wish we could see better,” Candace said. “Do we dare try to get closer?”

Kevin was struck by two things. First was the coincidence that the first live bonobo they’d come across would happen to be his double. Secondly, if he had inadvertently created a race of protohumans, then he was in some metamorphic way meeting himself six million years earlier. “This is too much,” Kevin couldn’t help but whisper aloud.

“What are you talking about?” Melanie asked.

“In some ways that’s me standing over there,” Kevin answered.

“Now let’s not jump the gun,” Melanie said.

“He’s certainly standing like a human,” Candace remarked. “But he’s hairier than any human I’ve ever been out with.”

“Very funny,” Melanie said without laughing.

“Melanie, use the locator to scan the area,” Kevin said. “Bonobos usually travel together. Maybe there are more around that we can’t see. They could be hiding in the bushes.”

Melanie played with the instrument.

“I can’t believe how still he is,” Candace said.

“He’s probably scared stiff,” Kevin said. “I’m sure he doesn’t know what to make of us. Or if Melanie is right about there not being enough females out here, maybe he’s smitten with you two.”

“That I don’t find funny at all,” Melanie said, without looking up from the keyboard of the locator.

“Sorry,” Kevin said.

“What’s he got around his waist?” Candace asked.

“I was wondering that, too,” Kevin said. “I can’t make it out, unless it’s just a vine that got caught on him when he came through the bushes.”

“Look at this,” Melanie said with excitement. She held up the instrument so the others could see. “Kevin, you were right. There’s a whole group of bonobos in the trees behind your double.”