seeing on the island: campfires.’
‘So, to put it bluntly,’ Candace said, turning away from the window.
‘We’ve got a bunch of cavemen out there like back in prehistoric time.’
‘Something like that,’ Kevin said. As he’d expected the women were
aghast. Strangely, he actually felt a little better now that he’d voiced
his anxieties.
‘What are we going to do?’ Candace demanded. ‘I’m certainly not going to
be involved with sacrificing any more until this is resolved one way or
the other. I was having a hard enough time dealing with the situation
when I thought the victim was an ape.’
‘Wait a sec,’ Melanie said. She spread her hands with fingers apart. Her
eyes were blazing anew. ‘Maybe we’re jumping to conclusions here.
There’s no proof of all this. Everything we’ve been talking about is
circumstantial at best.’
‘True, but there’s more,’ Kevin said. He turned back to the computer and
instructed it to display the locations of all the bonobos on the island
simultaneously. Within seconds, two red splotches began pulsating. One
was in the location where Melanie’s double had been. The other was north
of the lake. Kevin looked up at Melanie. ‘What does this data suggest to
you?’
‘It suggests there are two groups,’ she said. ‘Do you think it is
permanent?’
‘It was the same earlier,’ Kevin said. ‘I think it is a real phenomenon.
Even Bertram mentioned it. That’s not typical of bonobos. They get along
in larger social groups than chimps, plus these are all relatively young
animals. They should all be in one group.’
Melanie nodded. Over the previous five years she’d learned a lot about
bonobo behavior.
‘And there is something else more upsetting,’ Kevin said. ‘Bertram told
me one of the bonobos killed one of the pygmies on the retrieval of
Winchester’s double. It wasn’t an accident. The bonobo aggressively
threw a rock. That kind of aggression is more associated with human
behavior than with bonobos.’
‘I’d have to agree,’ Melanie said. ‘But it’s still circumstantial. All
of it.’
‘Circumstantial or not,’ Candace said, ‘I’m not going to have it on my
conscience.’
‘I feel the same way,’ Melanie said. ‘I’ve spent today getting two new
female bonobos started on the egg-collection protocol. I’m not going to
proceed until we find out if this wild idea about these possible
protohumans is valid or not.’
‘That’s not going to be easy,’ Kevin said. ‘To prove it, somebody has to
go to the island. The trouble is there are only two people who can
authorize a visit: Bertram Edwards or Siegfried Spallek. I already tried
to talk with Bertram, and even though I brought up the issue about the
smoke, he made it very clear that no one was allowed near the island
accept for a pygmy who brings supplementary food.’
‘Did you tell him what you are worried about?’ Melanie asked.
‘Not in so many words,’ Kevin said. ‘But he knew. I’m sure of it. He
wasn’t interested. The problem is that he and Siegfried have been
included in the project bonuses. Consequently, they are going to make
damn sure nothing threatens it. I’m afraid they’re venal enough not to
care what’s on the island. And on top of their venality we have to weigh
in Siegfried’s sociopathy.’
‘Is he that bad?’ Candace asked. ‘I’d heard rumors.’
‘Whatever you heard, it’s ten times worse,’ Melanie said. ‘He’s a major
sleazeball. To give you an example, he executed some impoverished
Equatoguinean men because they’d been caught poaching in the Zone, where
he likes to hunt.’
‘He killed them himself?’ Candace questioned with shock and revulsion.
‘Not by himself,’ Melanie said. ‘He had the men tried in a kangaroo
court here in Cogo. Then they were executed by a handful of
Equatoguinean soldiers at the soccer field.’
‘And to add insult to injury,’ Kevin said, ‘he uses the skulls as bowls
for odds and ends on his desk.’
‘Sorry I asked,’ Candace said with a shiver.
‘What about Dr. Lyons?’ Melanie asked.
Kevin laughed. ‘Forget it. He’s more venal than Bertram. This whole
operation is his baby. I tried to talk to him about the smoke, too. He
was even less receptive. Claimed it was my imagination. Frankly I don’t