Macaque Attack Read Online Free PDF Page A

of them.”
    “You were wrong.”
    “Well, excuse me.”
    K8 winced at his sarcasm. She passed a hand across her face, and turned to face him. “Look, we’re sorry, okay? We know you were trying to help. It’s just tough for us now, to be alone.”
    “Tell me about it.”
    “This is different.”
    Ack-Ack Macaque sat heavily on the edge of the bed. “I don’t see how. So you’re the only Gestalt drone on this rock. Big whoop. I spent years as the world’s only talking monkey.”
    “But now you have an army.”
    He grinned. “Yeah, but most of them are assholes.”
    K8 looked him in the eye, expression serious. “Most of them are variations of you.”
    “Asshole variations.”
    “Well, imagine losing them.” She straightened the hem of her jacket with a tug. “Imagine going back to being the only one of your kind after being surrounded by all those others. How do you think that would feel?”
    Ack-Ack Macaque shifted his position on the bed, getting more comfortable on the mussed blankets.
    “Pretty shitty,” he admitted.
    “Well, that’s what we’re going through. The majority of the Gestalt aren’t fanatics. Only the leaders were evil. Most of the drones are ordinary, decent people caught up in something bigger than themselves. And they welcomed us. They took us for who we were and welcomed us. For the first time in our life, we felt truly accepted; truly part of a family.”
    “The ‘first time’, huh?”
    “Don’t be like that.” She stuck her chin forward. “We come from a broken home. Our only friend was a talking monkey.”
    “I thought we were doing okay.”
    “We were.” She rapped the side of her head. “But now it’s too quiet. We can’t stand it.”
    Ack-Ack Macaque looked down at his hairy hands.
    “I’m sorry,” he said. “If I could get that computer stuff out of your head...”
    “We don’t want it out.”
    He pulled a cigar from the inside pocket of his flight jacket.
    “Then what should I do? I can’t just give you back to the hive.”
    “It’s what we want. We need to be whole again.”
    “But, Nguyen—”
    “We’ll help you with Nguyen. But after that, you take us back, okay?”
    He huffed air through his cheeks. He could tell she wasn’t going to drop the subject, and he couldn’t be bothered to argue any more. Best just to agree now and deal with the consequences later.
    “Okay,” he said.
    “You promise?”
    Ack-Ack Macaque screwed the cigar into his lips and lit it. All he wanted was some peace and quiet. “Sure.”
    “Then we have a deal.”
    “Thank fuck for that.”
    K8 uncrossed her arms and perched beside him. “What do you need us to do?”
    Ack-Ack suppressed a yawn. “I need you to get on the jump engines and plot our escape. I don’t want to hang around after we’ve trashed Nguyen’s lab. I can do without a run-in with the French air force.”
    K8 raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound like you, Skipper.”
    “Maybe I’m getting old.”
    “Seriously?”
    “We’re about to attack a civilian government contractor.” He blew at the tip of his cigar, watching the cherry-red ember flare. “The French are going to take that as an act of terrorism. They’ll send planes.”
    “They don’t have anything that can hurt us.”
    “Not straight away.” Ack-Ack Macaque got to his feet and shambled to the door. “But as soon as we shoot one of them down, they’ll send ten more. We’ll be fighting a war and, frankly, I’m just too tired for all that crap.” He scratched his belly. Some mornings, he ached all over, and he had to get up at least twice every night to take a piss.
    “So, you want us to go in fast, hit them hard, and then vanish?”
    “Bingo.” He turned the handle and stepped out into the gangway beyond. “Oh, and K8?”
    “Yes, Skip?”
    “Try to find us somewhere nice, okay?”
    “Define ‘nice’.”
    “Ah, you know.” He waved a hand. “All the usual shit. White sand, blue sea, coconut trees. No