Free Jupiter by Ben Bova

solemnly, extended her massive right hand toward Grant.
    'Just put your hand on her palm,' Karlstad told him,
sotto voce
. 'Gently.'
    His heart thumping wildly, Grant stretched out his right arm and let his fingertips touch Sheena's leathery palm. His hand looked minuscule in the gorilla's huge paw: Grant had a vision of her closing her fist and crushing his hand to a bloody pulp but the gorilla merely let Grant's hand rest on her palm for a few moments. She stared at Grant, then at his hand. Slowly, she bent her head forward slightly and sniffed noisily at Grant's hand.
    Then she said, 'Grant,' as if to fix his name in her memory.
    She pulled her hand away, and Grant let his arm drop to his side with a gusting sigh of relief.
    'We're going now, Sheena,' Karlstad said, still in the tone that a man would use with a small child.
    Sheena thought that over for a few seconds. 'Yes,' she said at last. 'You go.'
    'Say goodnight to her,' Karlstad told Grant.
    'Uh… goodnight, Sheena.'
    'Grant,' the gorilla answered. 'Grant.'
    Karlstad turned slowly and walked out of the gorilla's compartment, with Grant so close behind them they might have been Siamese twins. They headed back along the glowing fish tanks toward the hatch where they had entered the aquarium. Grant could hear the gorilla's heavy breathing and knew the beast was shuffling along behind them, not more than a step or two away. The dolphins seemed to be grinning at them, as if they were enjoying the show.
    'This is the tricky part,' Karlstad said softly as they walked slowly away from the gorilla. 'Females don't usually attack, but when they do it's when your back is to them.'
    Grant felt his knees go rubbery.
    'Don't look back!' Karlstad cautioned. 'If she decides to rush us there's not a damned thing we can do about it."
    His voice shaky, Grant heard himself ask, 'Has she ever attacked anyone before?'
    Karlstad did not answer for several heartbeats. Then, 'Not really attack. But she's so pissing strong she's broken people's ribs by accident.'
    'What… how is she able to talk?'
    'That's Wo's brilliant idea. Built a voicebox for her. Injected her brain with neuronal stem cells to see how much he could boost her intelligence.'
    'Our intellectual cousins,' Grant remembered. They had reached the hatch. Karlstad pushed it open and they stepped through. Grant helped to push it closed. He saw Sheena standing on all fours, so big that her shoulders brushed either wall of the narrow corridor. He felt a lot safer once the hatch clicked shut.
    'Sheena's a long way from being an intellectual cousin,' Karlstad said, his voice louder now, firmer, as they started walking briskly back toward their quarters.
    'But she talks,' Grant said. 'She can obviously think.' 'To a degree. Like a two-year-old, that's all. There isn't enough room in her cranium to grow a human-equivalent brain.'
    'I see.'
    Karlstad laughed grimly. 'Wo wanted to open up her skull, enlarge it so there'd be more room for cerebral growth.'

    'What happened?'

    'Sheena was smart enough to recognize what was going on. As soon as she entered the surgical theater she tore loose and ran away. That's when she broke ribs. Arms, too.'
    'She understood what was going to happen?'
    'You bet! She ran back to her own quarters and no one could coax her out. Wo wanted to sedate her and go ahead with the surgery but the medical staff was so banged up that it was impossible.'
    'And he didn't try again?'
    'Not yet,' said Karlstad. 'But he will. Wily old Woeful doesn't give up. Not him.'
    The corridor was down to its night-time lighting, Grant realized. Most of the research station's personnel were in their quarters or already asleep. No one in sight, except a middle-aged couple strolling hand-in-hand through the twilight dimness toward them.
    'So we have a gorilla roaming around loose back there?' Grant asked.
    Karlstad did not reply until the approaching couple passed them. Then, his voice lowered, he answered, 'Sheena works as a guard