Planet of the Apes
May. 29th, 2008 02:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
veiledndarknessTitle: In Thade We Trust – Chapter 8
Author: veiledndarkness
Warning: The usual disclaimer, not my property, just playing with the characters. Takes place shortly after the end of Planet of the Apes (2001).
Summary: In the darkest parts of the human mind lies the ability to be needlessly cruel and inhuman, a baser nature that separates us from the animals.
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xx
Leo's bodyguard dropped him quite unceremoniously on the floor of Dr. Naira's rooms, a wary gaze on his face. Leo grunted and sat up, glaring at the ape. "Would it kill you to put me down properly?" he snapped at him. "I'm not a fuckin' sack of potatoes!"
The ape leaned in, one that Leo had nicknamed Bob for his own amusement, and bared his large teeth at him. "You're lucky that you're under Naira's protection," he growled.
Leo smirked and rolled his eyes. "Same for you," he said. "Lucky cause if Naira leaves anythin' sharp around, I just might, oh I don't know, accidentally cut you when I'm being carried. So yeah, lucky for you he never does, right?"
Bob's small, dark eyes flashed with fury. He lunged for Leo, stopped only by the sound of the door swooshing open, Naira's frame filling the doorway. "That's enough!" he commanded. "Daril, what might I ask where you about to just do?"
Leo coughed, smothering a laugh. "Daril," he muttered under his breath.
"He threatened me! That worthless human just threatened me!" Daril fumed.
"I have no doubt that he was merely retaliating because of your behavior," Dr. Naira said dryly. "I expect better of my guards, and frankly, I will have you replaced if your unacceptable attitude does not improve. The human is to be treated safely and carefully. Is this unclear, Daril?"
Daril clenched his teeth. "No Sir," he said.
"Good," Dr. Naira pointed to the door. "Take your leave now, Daril. I will call if I need you."
And with that, Daril left but not before giving Leo a look of pure contempt as he moved past the doorway. Leo chuckled bitterly and got to his feet. He held out his chained hands to Naira. "Little help?"
Dr. Naira took the keys from his pocket and unlocked the wrist cuffs, pulling them free from his arms. "Turn around," he said, bringing out a second set of keys from the pocket of his white lab coat.
Leo did so; sighing gratefully with the metal band around his neck was taken off. He rubbed at the red marks the collar left on him, the skin pinched and sore. "He's a real charming guard," he said.
Dr. Naira eyed him. "Leo, really," he sighed as he put the cuffs in his deep coat pockets. "Please don't aggravate the guards. You're better off just staying quiet. Rumors are fast spreading about you. The more you talk to them, the worse it'll be."
Leo stalked across the room and sat against one wall, his head resting back. "Two weeks of being in this room, they're bound to hear me say something sometime," he mumbled into his chest.
Dr. Naira rubbed his temples with his fingers. "Look, I explicitly remember telling you not to speak in front of anyone but myself, and that is only when we are alone," he looked over at him. "It's only a matter of time before Daril tells others what he heard. It's fortunate that I can have him discharged to a remote location within the day."
"What a shame," Leo mocked. "Me an' Daril were getting to be so close, what with the way he'd throw me around and all."
"Leo!"
Leo couldn't help the flinch at the angry tone. "I'm sorry," he offered.
"Sorry..." Dr. Naira sighed. "Your apologies do nothing to keep your secrets secure in this facility. The newspapers, reporters, all of them are hounding the building to get a glimpse at the human who came from the heavens. Thade, what a circus this has become."
Leo rubbed his neck slowly. "I said I was sorry," he darted his gaze at Naira. "I am, honest. I just...I get tired of bein' treated like this sometimes."
Dr. Naira nodded. "I know," he gestured to the stack of folders. "I've heard the reports while I was away this morning. I'm changing your routine; your safety is becoming quite the issue."
"To where?" Leo struggled with the fear that rose in his chest, his palms damp.
"I have additional rooms. The tests will continue in there. They're private, meaning that only others who can be trusted will be allowed to observe, besides myself."
Leo closed his eyes. "How long has it been since I crashed?"
"Almost a month to the day," Dr. Naira replied.
Leo chuckled humorlessly. "You think time moves like this in my world?"
Dr. Naira stilled, his eyes widening. "That is a very intriguing question," he said. "If I had to hazard a quick guess, and if I was to include your description of what's happened, then yes, I believe it's possible that the time would be the same."
"This is my world," Leo whispered brokenly. "Just not what I thought it would be."
Dr. Naira put his folder down, pity in his eyes. "Leo, perhaps you’d like to lie down? You look a little worn out."
Leo nodded silently and stood, making his way to his bedroom. He curled up on the bed, rubbing his sweatshirt clad arm over his eyes for a moment.
xx
Dr. Naira poured over his sheets, attacking them with a renewed need to understand. He sipped his coffee slowly, one hand fiddling with his pen. He looked over the results of Leo's physicals for the day, his eyes widening. They had pushed him to his limit it seemed. Leo had run the length of the testing room for 2 hours straight before dropping into a dead faint.
Naira swore under his breath and reached for his desk phone. He hit the third button on speed dial, drumming his long fingers on the desk top blotter. "Calder, its Naira. I think it's about time we arranged a meeting, don't you?"
He scoffed after hearing the reply. "Don't you even suggest that to me, Calder. You will meet with me, immediately."
Naira dropped the phone and slapped his folder shut. He carried his cup of coffee with him and turned the coffee maker on, waiting for it to brew. He drained the last of his mug, a new thought occurring to him as he looked out to the main room.
"Time...a rip in time," he whispered. "A wormhole..."
He slid the cup on the counter and all but ran to his stuffed wooden bookcase, the books piled every which way on the shelves. He traced his finger over the titles, murmuring under his breath. He yanked one of the books out, the spine cracking as he flipped through the pages.
Naira read through the pages, his eyes darting over the lines rapidly. He dimly registered the sound of the coffeemaker going off, the sound of his door opening. He whirled around, Calder standing before him, a disgruntled look on his lined face.
"Yes, Naira?" he drawled. "What was so terribly demanding that I was to abandon my chemical testing?"
Naira clutched the book, tucking the spine away from Calder's view. "I received my reports on your treatment of the human," he said. "What is the meaning of this?" he went over to the desk and lifted the papers. "You ran him until he dropped!"
Calder stared at him, his eyes cold. "And your point is?"
"My point," Naira said through gritted teeth, "Is that there was no need. The human was unconscious for over a minute and a half. You are not to be running him until he dies, Calder. Surely even you are aware of what will happen if we allow the human to die!"
Calder shrugged. "If he dies, he dies. There are more humans being rounded up and brought in. I've spoken to Netred, and she has developed a synthetic hormone to stop the incessant births between testing intervals. We will have more humans to work on."
Naira dropped the papers, a rage he had never felt before building inside him. "Be that as it may, this human is not like the others. He is advanced, Calder, light years away from the humans that you toss aside so casually. If he dies, all of our experiments will be for nothing but statistics."
Calder eyed him with a hint of a smirk. "It wasn't so long ago that you thought nothing of them either. How long has it been since the last human died in your captivity, Naira? Not very long at all when you consider it, right? You've lost your touch. You've become too close to the humans. You, and that nosey chimp, Ari, the pair of you need to be reminded of what's most important to our kind."
Naira exhaled silently. He knew if he spoke too soon, the damage would be large. "Are you questioning my loyalty?" he asked finally.
"Certainly not," Calder demurred, his eyes glinting. "I do question how wise it is for you to keep one of them in your personal quarters. Should the human attack, why it would be fascinating to watch the trial and execution of it, don't you agree?"
"I am removing you from the team," Naira hissed. "Your efforts are no longer necessary on behalf of this human, though I thank you for your input. I apologize but I really must get back to my studies, I have much to research tonight."
Calder's lips stretched and twitched in a mockingly polite smile. "Of course," he nodded. "Good night to you, Naira." He left the rooms, the door swooshing shut firmly.
Naira slapped his book down with a sigh of disgust. "The cold bastard..."
He sat down heavily on his cushioned chair, his long fingers rubbing the other side of his head. After several minutes of reflection, Naira looked back at his book, the pages beckoning to him. He lifted the book, one finger trailing over the chapter heading, entitled, 'Lorentzian Wormholes'.
xx
Leo leaned back against the hallway, his knees weakening as the other chimp left, Naira's sigh echoing in the room. The doctors' furious exchange, their words echoed in his ears. Leo took a tentative step forward, his heart pounding. "Dr. Naira?" he called softly.
Naira spun around his chair, his gaze pinning Leo to the spot. "You were eavesdropping?!"
Leo swallowed dryly. "I...I'm sorry. I wanted a drink, and you said before I didn't have to ask...I didn't hear much."
Dr. Naira nodded tightly, his eyes angry still. "I apologize. You should not have had to overhear all that. Take a seat; I'll get you some water."
Leo did so, his gaze landing on the book. "Wormholes..." he murmured.
Dr. Naira returned with a bottle of water for Leo and a cup of coffee for himself. "Yes," he nodded. "After you went to lie down, I had a thought. I'm looking into this now."
Leo opened his bottle of water and sipped from it, the cool liquid helping to calm him. "Aren't wormholes stuff outta science fiction stories?" he asked before gulping another mouthful of water.
Dr. Naira sipped his coffee. "In theory, they could exist," he said. "It's not been proven of course, but many scientists have dedicated years to researching the plausibility of it all."
Leo tapped the book with one hand. "Yeah, Einstein had this theory about them," he said. "I should've paid more attention in my physics classes," he added with a sigh.
"Have you ever heard the words traversable wormhole?" Dr. Naira flipped the book open and pointed to the chapter.
Leo scanned the first few lines. "Uh no, don't really remember."
"Basically, it means a wormhole that beings could travel through repeatedly without injury over a short period of time," Dr. Naira said.
Leo sat upright, his mouth opening. "You mean...like how I was able to keep jumpin' times?" he said.
Dr. Naira nodded. "Bear in mind that this is all in theory, Leo. But if this was true, it could explain how you've landed in an alternate version of your own planet."
"But...how is it that this world could be so much like my own?" Leo gestured to the room. "It looks identical! Even the monuments, I knew where I had landed; until I had apes running at me with guns!"
"I admit, much of our history has been lost over the years," Naira nodded. "Our earliest beginnings were kept under wraps from the later generations."
Leo groaned in frustration. "But...there has to be an explanation! How in the hell did Thade get here before me? He must've..." Leo trailed off, the realization settling in. "He...He must've activated Oberon...used the extra pods to leave. He came through the wormholes the way Pericles and I did!"
Dr. Naira stared at Leo as though he'd screamed. "Oberon, your space station?" he said.
Leo nodded rapidly. "I trapped him, I know I did. But Oberon, even after it crashed, it was run on nuclear fuel. The power would have been there still. If...If one of the other chimps let him out, he would've been able to use the technology to rebuild any pods that were damaged." He paused, wiping a hand over his mouth. "Jesus..."
"So..." Dr. Naira grabbed his pen and began writing. "You think he could have flown a pod and ended up going through the wormhole, time traveling?"
Leo got up and paced the length of the room, favoring his right leg as he did so. "He could've, sure he could've. He was a hominid chimp, smart and fuckin' evil. The pods were flown solo by the chimps originally. Most of the pods were on auto-pilot. And the training programs, they would've been in the Oberon's data history."
"And that he somehow managed to come forward in time and change Earth's history?" Dr. Naira continued.
"If this is Earth," Leo replied, his forehead furrowed. "This might just look like Earth, an alternate universe, parallel dimensions," he waved his hand. "Jesus..." he echoed, "I bet that's how he did it."
"Leo..."
Leo paced faster. "If he got here before me, sure, cause Pericles got to the planet after I did, and Oberon had been there for fuck knows how long by the time I found it again, then he could've landed before I did," he rambled.
"Leo!"
He glanced back at Naira, breathing rapidly. "Yeah?"
"Are you forgetting something?" Dr. Naira pointed to the book. "Wormholes exist in theory only. There's no proof of it, and the logistics...do you know what would happen if you were to try and travel through one?"
Leo blinked, confused. "But I'm right in front of you, obviously they aren't that dangerous."
"Leo, listen to me now, Boy," Dr. Naira said. "The ability to create a wormhole...that is way beyond our current technology. It would require the enlargement of one of the many submicroscopic quantum wormholes believed to exist within any volume of space. The process alone would require an intense, ultra-high frequency negative energy source and as of right now, that is something that we have no idea how to produce. Not to mention what would've happened to you if you had gone through a wormhole."
"Damn it Naira, would you just listen to me?!" Leo slapped both his hands down on the table. "I'm standing in fucking front of you! I'm in one goddamned piece. I'm living proof of everything you say can't be possible! I didn't just fall out of the sky, I came here through some sort of wormhole, ok? I know it seems crazy, and yeah I think I've gone around the bend too, but there has to be an explanation!"
Dr. Naira waited and then pointed to the hallway. "I want you to go sit in your room," he said patiently though his eyes gleamed with frustration. "I need some time to process all this."
Leo let out a growl of outrage. "How dare you? I'm not a fuckin' kid; I'm not some lap dog or an experiment that can be put down when you get bored!" He grabbed the mug from the table and whipped it across the room furiously, the cup shattering when it hit the wall. Streaks of dark brown trickled down the wall, the shards embedded in the paneling.
"Get to that room, now!" Dr. Naira shouted. "Or so help me, I will chain you to your wall!"
"Make me!" Leo dared him. "Fucking make me go!"
Naira was up from his chair in a flash, grabbing his arm. He yanked a needle from his lab coat and pulled the protective cap off. He jammed the needle in Leo's neck, a drop of blood appearing from the force, pushing the plunger down hard, the sedative flooding Leo's veins.
"You son of a bitch!" Leo kicked and fought him as he was dragged to his room.
Dr. Naira dragged him into the room, the sedative already kicking in. "Damn you, Leo, you left me no choice," he snapped. Leo struggled in his grasp, his eyes glazed.
Naira attached the collar and wrist cuffs easily, Leo's movements slowing. He attached the cuffs to the hook in one corner, making sure to keep Leo's arms from being stretched too far. Leo kicked and cursed at him, his chest hitching.
Naira stood back, breathing hard. "You need to cool down. I'll come back for you in a few hours," he said.
"Bastard..." Leo slurred as the room spun around him.
Dr. Naira sighed and left the room, guilt heavy in his eyes.
xx
Naira returned several hours later and unhooked Leo from the restraints. Leo blinked at him hazily, his lips moving silently. Naira leaned in closer, his large ear almost pressed to Leo's mouth.
"Calima..." Leo faintly whispered, his eyes rolling back in his head as he slipped into a heavy sleep.
Dr. Naira stared at him for a long moment before lifting Leo up and placing him on the bed. He undid the wrist restraints and the collar, draping the thin blanket over Leo gently.
"I'm sorry, Leo," he murmured, stroking Leo's forehead.
xx
Author: veiledndarkness
Warning: The usual disclaimer, not my property, just playing with the characters. Takes place shortly after the end of Planet of the Apes (2001).
Summary: In the darkest parts of the human mind lies the ability to be needlessly cruel and inhuman, a baser nature that separates us from the animals.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
xx
Leo's bodyguard dropped him quite unceremoniously on the floor of Dr. Naira's rooms, a wary gaze on his face. Leo grunted and sat up, glaring at the ape. "Would it kill you to put me down properly?" he snapped at him. "I'm not a fuckin' sack of potatoes!"
The ape leaned in, one that Leo had nicknamed Bob for his own amusement, and bared his large teeth at him. "You're lucky that you're under Naira's protection," he growled.
Leo smirked and rolled his eyes. "Same for you," he said. "Lucky cause if Naira leaves anythin' sharp around, I just might, oh I don't know, accidentally cut you when I'm being carried. So yeah, lucky for you he never does, right?"
Bob's small, dark eyes flashed with fury. He lunged for Leo, stopped only by the sound of the door swooshing open, Naira's frame filling the doorway. "That's enough!" he commanded. "Daril, what might I ask where you about to just do?"
Leo coughed, smothering a laugh. "Daril," he muttered under his breath.
"He threatened me! That worthless human just threatened me!" Daril fumed.
"I have no doubt that he was merely retaliating because of your behavior," Dr. Naira said dryly. "I expect better of my guards, and frankly, I will have you replaced if your unacceptable attitude does not improve. The human is to be treated safely and carefully. Is this unclear, Daril?"
Daril clenched his teeth. "No Sir," he said.
"Good," Dr. Naira pointed to the door. "Take your leave now, Daril. I will call if I need you."
And with that, Daril left but not before giving Leo a look of pure contempt as he moved past the doorway. Leo chuckled bitterly and got to his feet. He held out his chained hands to Naira. "Little help?"
Dr. Naira took the keys from his pocket and unlocked the wrist cuffs, pulling them free from his arms. "Turn around," he said, bringing out a second set of keys from the pocket of his white lab coat.
Leo did so; sighing gratefully with the metal band around his neck was taken off. He rubbed at the red marks the collar left on him, the skin pinched and sore. "He's a real charming guard," he said.
Dr. Naira eyed him. "Leo, really," he sighed as he put the cuffs in his deep coat pockets. "Please don't aggravate the guards. You're better off just staying quiet. Rumors are fast spreading about you. The more you talk to them, the worse it'll be."
Leo stalked across the room and sat against one wall, his head resting back. "Two weeks of being in this room, they're bound to hear me say something sometime," he mumbled into his chest.
Dr. Naira rubbed his temples with his fingers. "Look, I explicitly remember telling you not to speak in front of anyone but myself, and that is only when we are alone," he looked over at him. "It's only a matter of time before Daril tells others what he heard. It's fortunate that I can have him discharged to a remote location within the day."
"What a shame," Leo mocked. "Me an' Daril were getting to be so close, what with the way he'd throw me around and all."
"Leo!"
Leo couldn't help the flinch at the angry tone. "I'm sorry," he offered.
"Sorry..." Dr. Naira sighed. "Your apologies do nothing to keep your secrets secure in this facility. The newspapers, reporters, all of them are hounding the building to get a glimpse at the human who came from the heavens. Thade, what a circus this has become."
Leo rubbed his neck slowly. "I said I was sorry," he darted his gaze at Naira. "I am, honest. I just...I get tired of bein' treated like this sometimes."
Dr. Naira nodded. "I know," he gestured to the stack of folders. "I've heard the reports while I was away this morning. I'm changing your routine; your safety is becoming quite the issue."
"To where?" Leo struggled with the fear that rose in his chest, his palms damp.
"I have additional rooms. The tests will continue in there. They're private, meaning that only others who can be trusted will be allowed to observe, besides myself."
Leo closed his eyes. "How long has it been since I crashed?"
"Almost a month to the day," Dr. Naira replied.
Leo chuckled humorlessly. "You think time moves like this in my world?"
Dr. Naira stilled, his eyes widening. "That is a very intriguing question," he said. "If I had to hazard a quick guess, and if I was to include your description of what's happened, then yes, I believe it's possible that the time would be the same."
"This is my world," Leo whispered brokenly. "Just not what I thought it would be."
Dr. Naira put his folder down, pity in his eyes. "Leo, perhaps you’d like to lie down? You look a little worn out."
Leo nodded silently and stood, making his way to his bedroom. He curled up on the bed, rubbing his sweatshirt clad arm over his eyes for a moment.
xx
Dr. Naira poured over his sheets, attacking them with a renewed need to understand. He sipped his coffee slowly, one hand fiddling with his pen. He looked over the results of Leo's physicals for the day, his eyes widening. They had pushed him to his limit it seemed. Leo had run the length of the testing room for 2 hours straight before dropping into a dead faint.
Naira swore under his breath and reached for his desk phone. He hit the third button on speed dial, drumming his long fingers on the desk top blotter. "Calder, its Naira. I think it's about time we arranged a meeting, don't you?"
He scoffed after hearing the reply. "Don't you even suggest that to me, Calder. You will meet with me, immediately."
Naira dropped the phone and slapped his folder shut. He carried his cup of coffee with him and turned the coffee maker on, waiting for it to brew. He drained the last of his mug, a new thought occurring to him as he looked out to the main room.
"Time...a rip in time," he whispered. "A wormhole..."
He slid the cup on the counter and all but ran to his stuffed wooden bookcase, the books piled every which way on the shelves. He traced his finger over the titles, murmuring under his breath. He yanked one of the books out, the spine cracking as he flipped through the pages.
Naira read through the pages, his eyes darting over the lines rapidly. He dimly registered the sound of the coffeemaker going off, the sound of his door opening. He whirled around, Calder standing before him, a disgruntled look on his lined face.
"Yes, Naira?" he drawled. "What was so terribly demanding that I was to abandon my chemical testing?"
Naira clutched the book, tucking the spine away from Calder's view. "I received my reports on your treatment of the human," he said. "What is the meaning of this?" he went over to the desk and lifted the papers. "You ran him until he dropped!"
Calder stared at him, his eyes cold. "And your point is?"
"My point," Naira said through gritted teeth, "Is that there was no need. The human was unconscious for over a minute and a half. You are not to be running him until he dies, Calder. Surely even you are aware of what will happen if we allow the human to die!"
Calder shrugged. "If he dies, he dies. There are more humans being rounded up and brought in. I've spoken to Netred, and she has developed a synthetic hormone to stop the incessant births between testing intervals. We will have more humans to work on."
Naira dropped the papers, a rage he had never felt before building inside him. "Be that as it may, this human is not like the others. He is advanced, Calder, light years away from the humans that you toss aside so casually. If he dies, all of our experiments will be for nothing but statistics."
Calder eyed him with a hint of a smirk. "It wasn't so long ago that you thought nothing of them either. How long has it been since the last human died in your captivity, Naira? Not very long at all when you consider it, right? You've lost your touch. You've become too close to the humans. You, and that nosey chimp, Ari, the pair of you need to be reminded of what's most important to our kind."
Naira exhaled silently. He knew if he spoke too soon, the damage would be large. "Are you questioning my loyalty?" he asked finally.
"Certainly not," Calder demurred, his eyes glinting. "I do question how wise it is for you to keep one of them in your personal quarters. Should the human attack, why it would be fascinating to watch the trial and execution of it, don't you agree?"
"I am removing you from the team," Naira hissed. "Your efforts are no longer necessary on behalf of this human, though I thank you for your input. I apologize but I really must get back to my studies, I have much to research tonight."
Calder's lips stretched and twitched in a mockingly polite smile. "Of course," he nodded. "Good night to you, Naira." He left the rooms, the door swooshing shut firmly.
Naira slapped his book down with a sigh of disgust. "The cold bastard..."
He sat down heavily on his cushioned chair, his long fingers rubbing the other side of his head. After several minutes of reflection, Naira looked back at his book, the pages beckoning to him. He lifted the book, one finger trailing over the chapter heading, entitled, 'Lorentzian Wormholes'.
xx
Leo leaned back against the hallway, his knees weakening as the other chimp left, Naira's sigh echoing in the room. The doctors' furious exchange, their words echoed in his ears. Leo took a tentative step forward, his heart pounding. "Dr. Naira?" he called softly.
Naira spun around his chair, his gaze pinning Leo to the spot. "You were eavesdropping?!"
Leo swallowed dryly. "I...I'm sorry. I wanted a drink, and you said before I didn't have to ask...I didn't hear much."
Dr. Naira nodded tightly, his eyes angry still. "I apologize. You should not have had to overhear all that. Take a seat; I'll get you some water."
Leo did so, his gaze landing on the book. "Wormholes..." he murmured.
Dr. Naira returned with a bottle of water for Leo and a cup of coffee for himself. "Yes," he nodded. "After you went to lie down, I had a thought. I'm looking into this now."
Leo opened his bottle of water and sipped from it, the cool liquid helping to calm him. "Aren't wormholes stuff outta science fiction stories?" he asked before gulping another mouthful of water.
Dr. Naira sipped his coffee. "In theory, they could exist," he said. "It's not been proven of course, but many scientists have dedicated years to researching the plausibility of it all."
Leo tapped the book with one hand. "Yeah, Einstein had this theory about them," he said. "I should've paid more attention in my physics classes," he added with a sigh.
"Have you ever heard the words traversable wormhole?" Dr. Naira flipped the book open and pointed to the chapter.
Leo scanned the first few lines. "Uh no, don't really remember."
"Basically, it means a wormhole that beings could travel through repeatedly without injury over a short period of time," Dr. Naira said.
Leo sat upright, his mouth opening. "You mean...like how I was able to keep jumpin' times?" he said.
Dr. Naira nodded. "Bear in mind that this is all in theory, Leo. But if this was true, it could explain how you've landed in an alternate version of your own planet."
"But...how is it that this world could be so much like my own?" Leo gestured to the room. "It looks identical! Even the monuments, I knew where I had landed; until I had apes running at me with guns!"
"I admit, much of our history has been lost over the years," Naira nodded. "Our earliest beginnings were kept under wraps from the later generations."
Leo groaned in frustration. "But...there has to be an explanation! How in the hell did Thade get here before me? He must've..." Leo trailed off, the realization settling in. "He...He must've activated Oberon...used the extra pods to leave. He came through the wormholes the way Pericles and I did!"
Dr. Naira stared at Leo as though he'd screamed. "Oberon, your space station?" he said.
Leo nodded rapidly. "I trapped him, I know I did. But Oberon, even after it crashed, it was run on nuclear fuel. The power would have been there still. If...If one of the other chimps let him out, he would've been able to use the technology to rebuild any pods that were damaged." He paused, wiping a hand over his mouth. "Jesus..."
"So..." Dr. Naira grabbed his pen and began writing. "You think he could have flown a pod and ended up going through the wormhole, time traveling?"
Leo got up and paced the length of the room, favoring his right leg as he did so. "He could've, sure he could've. He was a hominid chimp, smart and fuckin' evil. The pods were flown solo by the chimps originally. Most of the pods were on auto-pilot. And the training programs, they would've been in the Oberon's data history."
"And that he somehow managed to come forward in time and change Earth's history?" Dr. Naira continued.
"If this is Earth," Leo replied, his forehead furrowed. "This might just look like Earth, an alternate universe, parallel dimensions," he waved his hand. "Jesus..." he echoed, "I bet that's how he did it."
"Leo..."
Leo paced faster. "If he got here before me, sure, cause Pericles got to the planet after I did, and Oberon had been there for fuck knows how long by the time I found it again, then he could've landed before I did," he rambled.
"Leo!"
He glanced back at Naira, breathing rapidly. "Yeah?"
"Are you forgetting something?" Dr. Naira pointed to the book. "Wormholes exist in theory only. There's no proof of it, and the logistics...do you know what would happen if you were to try and travel through one?"
Leo blinked, confused. "But I'm right in front of you, obviously they aren't that dangerous."
"Leo, listen to me now, Boy," Dr. Naira said. "The ability to create a wormhole...that is way beyond our current technology. It would require the enlargement of one of the many submicroscopic quantum wormholes believed to exist within any volume of space. The process alone would require an intense, ultra-high frequency negative energy source and as of right now, that is something that we have no idea how to produce. Not to mention what would've happened to you if you had gone through a wormhole."
"Damn it Naira, would you just listen to me?!" Leo slapped both his hands down on the table. "I'm standing in fucking front of you! I'm in one goddamned piece. I'm living proof of everything you say can't be possible! I didn't just fall out of the sky, I came here through some sort of wormhole, ok? I know it seems crazy, and yeah I think I've gone around the bend too, but there has to be an explanation!"
Dr. Naira waited and then pointed to the hallway. "I want you to go sit in your room," he said patiently though his eyes gleamed with frustration. "I need some time to process all this."
Leo let out a growl of outrage. "How dare you? I'm not a fuckin' kid; I'm not some lap dog or an experiment that can be put down when you get bored!" He grabbed the mug from the table and whipped it across the room furiously, the cup shattering when it hit the wall. Streaks of dark brown trickled down the wall, the shards embedded in the paneling.
"Get to that room, now!" Dr. Naira shouted. "Or so help me, I will chain you to your wall!"
"Make me!" Leo dared him. "Fucking make me go!"
Naira was up from his chair in a flash, grabbing his arm. He yanked a needle from his lab coat and pulled the protective cap off. He jammed the needle in Leo's neck, a drop of blood appearing from the force, pushing the plunger down hard, the sedative flooding Leo's veins.
"You son of a bitch!" Leo kicked and fought him as he was dragged to his room.
Dr. Naira dragged him into the room, the sedative already kicking in. "Damn you, Leo, you left me no choice," he snapped. Leo struggled in his grasp, his eyes glazed.
Naira attached the collar and wrist cuffs easily, Leo's movements slowing. He attached the cuffs to the hook in one corner, making sure to keep Leo's arms from being stretched too far. Leo kicked and cursed at him, his chest hitching.
Naira stood back, breathing hard. "You need to cool down. I'll come back for you in a few hours," he said.
"Bastard..." Leo slurred as the room spun around him.
Dr. Naira sighed and left the room, guilt heavy in his eyes.
xx
Naira returned several hours later and unhooked Leo from the restraints. Leo blinked at him hazily, his lips moving silently. Naira leaned in closer, his large ear almost pressed to Leo's mouth.
"Calima..." Leo faintly whispered, his eyes rolling back in his head as he slipped into a heavy sleep.
Dr. Naira stared at him for a long moment before lifting Leo up and placing him on the bed. He undid the wrist restraints and the collar, draping the thin blanket over Leo gently.
"I'm sorry, Leo," he murmured, stroking Leo's forehead.
xx
