Free Battle For The Planet Of The Apes by David Gerrold

sections. There were ten representatives of each species. The orangutans were older and more staid; Virgil was the youngest member. The gorillas were all brutish young males; Aldo was chief among them. The chimpanzees included both males and females; they all had kindly faces.
    Caesar, Lisa, and Cornelius entered and took their seats on a dais before a table on which were stacked the apes’ laws, a set of hand-lettered parchments. Caesar was deep in thought. He hugged Cornelius fondly and bade him keep quiet, then he called the meeting to order. He rapped the table for silence. “My friends, I have convened this extraordinary meeting of the council in order that I might report on an action that I deemed necessary: a reconnaissance expedition to the Forbidden City . . .”
    At that, all the apes reacted visibly. Lisa was startled and concerned. The gorillas became restless and fidgety, rattling their swords. The orangutans were outraged, and the chimpanzees were confused. The Forbidden City?
    “. . . with Virgil and MacDonald as my aides,” Caesar finished.
    “Why MacDonald?” complained Aldo. “Why not a soldier?”
    “You will hear,” said Caesar. Cornelius crawled under the table and stayed there. “When ape history comes to be written, we want it based not on legendary fiction but on facts. We went in search of records that might provide such facts.”
    “Did you find them?” asked a chimpanzee.
    “Yes,” said Caesar.
    “And brought them back?” said an eager orangutan hopefully.
    “No,” said Caesar.
    “Why not?”
    “Because we went in peace to what, we thought, was a dead city; but in case there might still be human survivors, we took MacDonald to parley with them and secure permission for our search.” He paused. “There are survivors.”
    The Council murmured. “Survivors?” they echoed.
    “Maimed, mutated, mad, hostile, and . . . human.”
    The murmur became a shocked roar.
    “They attacked us,” said Caesar.
    At that, the gorillas leaped to their feet. “Then let me lead my soldiers against them!” growled Aldo.
    Caesar looked at him firmly, “General Aldo, not only are they armed, for they attacked us with sophisticated weapons . . .”
    “We, too, have weapons.”
    “. . . but the radiation in the city is still such that if you and your soldiers fought there for just a few hours, you would become maimed, mutated, and as mad as they. So also would your future children.”
    The Council was shocked into silence. Then Aldo said sullenly, “Did the humans follow you here? ”
    “We saw no sign of it. But you are right to be concerned. We have to plan for a time when they may come out of the city, when they may find us.”
    Now the chimpanzees and orangutans rose to their feet; what was Caesar saying?
    “Our gorilla army will exercise constant vigilance through continuous patrols. Civilians will assist in building defenses. And we should discuss training a militia.”
    Lisa gathered Cornelius up in her arms. “Caesar, is this necessary? Isn’t it possible that the humans will stay in their city and leave us in peace?”
    Caesar said gently, “Yes, it’s possible. But if we wish for the peace to last, we must be prepared to fight for it.”
    Lisa turned desperately to Virgil, “Virgil . . .?”
    The pudgy little orangutan said calmly, “If light is possible, so is darkness. If peace if possible, so is war.”
    Caesar added, “This has not been an easy decision to make, but it is a necessary one. If we are to build a world of peace, we must survive. And if we are to survive, we must be strong.” At this, the gorillas cheered.
    Abruptly, there was a scuffle at the door, a flurry of sudden noise as a group of humans tried to enter. Two gorilla guards had grabbed them and were forcibly trying to evict them. The group included MacDonald, Teacher, Doctor, Jake, and a few others. MacDonald was resisting loudly, “Get your filthy gorilla hands off of me!”
    “No humans in council,”