Battle For The Planet Of The Apes Read Online Free PDF Page A

been discovered and killed, the baby chimpanzee with them.
    Or, had the baby chimp been killed? A young chimp had been killed, but was it Cornelius’ and Zira’s? It would be years before the truth became known.
    Half a generation later, the world was a different place. Cornelius and Zira had been forgotten— almost . One of their predictions had already come true: a plague had wiped out almost all of the dogs and cats in the world, and human beings had turned to apes and monkeys to take their place.
    The government had become monolithic and totalitarian, fearful of its own future; it was a repressive and all-controlling state, and as such, it needed slaves. As the intelligence of chimpanzees and orangutans and the strength of gorillas became recognized, apes were given more and more work to do. Scientists worked to raise their intelligence level, and apes began to approach human levels of understanding. They became the slaves the government needed to keep its real slaves—the people—content.
    And then the second prediction had come true: an ape had said “No” to his human masters. The ape was Caesar. He had been raised in secret by Armando, the owner of a traveling circus, who had brought him to the city to see and to fulfill his destiny. Armando had been killed, but Caesar had stayed free long enough to lead the apes in revolt against their human masters. He had been captured by Governor Breck and almost killed. But he had been rescued by MacDonald’s brother. Caesar had led his people to freedom, and the world had plunged into war, and the cities had been flattened.
    The few survivors, men and apes alike, returned to a simpler life. They lived in the forests, and the apes were the masters.
    Now, today, nine years later, Caesar was going to go in search of his parents’ image. And MacDonald, with him, was going to search for the truth—just what was it that Cornelius and Zira had said that had frightened the government so badly and turned it into a dictatorship? Was it really the end of the world? Two of their predictions had already come true . . .
    Just as Caesar had to know, so did MacDonald.
    He came out of his reverie, realized that Doctor was looking at him, “Is this journey really necessary?” she asked.
    He nodded slowly. “Yes. Yes, it is.”
    She accepted that. She got up out of her chair and came around to him. “Be careful, Mac,” she said. “Please.” She kissed him long and hard. “Come back.”
    He looked at her. “I have to know the truth.”
    She lowered herself to his lap and put her arms around his neck. “Mac,” she whispered. “Life is more important than truth. If it costs you your life to find out the answer, what good will that do any of us?”
    He couldn’t answer her question, not the way she had phrased it. Instead, he kissed her and said, “I’ll come back. And I’ll come back with the answers.”
    And on the other side of Ape City, in a different house, an ape house, the same scene was being played between two apes.
    “Caesar,” Lisa was saying. “Don’t go. Please don’t go.”
    “Lisa, you remember your parents. I was too young when they died to remember mine.”
    Lisa stiffened. “I don’t want to have to remember my husband. I want to love you now.”
    He took her outstretched hand against his cheek, then he took her into his arms and rubbed his muzzle against hers. “Lisa, Lisa, dear. My parents left me knowledge, I must go find it. Perhaps they left me the knowledge that I need to lead our people. Apes must be better than humans ever were. Apes must build a world of peace and justice, freedom and equality. My parents came from the future; they came from such a world. They came from a world of apes—it must have been a time of graciousness and plenty. I need to know how such a world was built; perhaps they brought me the answer. I must take the chance. I must be the kind of leader that my people need, and to do that, I must have the knowledge that a