(This will start out as male only but feel free to introduce females in later branches)
"Not only have I seen all the movies. I read the original book that inspired it all. Of course I'm an expert." said Mark.
Robert asked, "Is that why you keep referring to the Planet of the Apes in all your homework assignments? It must be working for you. You've
got one of the highest GPA's in school."
Mark said, "Well it isn't just that. I'll let you in on a secret. I've got a portal at home that let's me visit the Planet of the Apes. I use that portal to
make me a genius so I can do my homework. If you'd like, I'll show you how the portal works and you can improve your grades as well."
Robert said, "You're kidding. I don't believe you. It's impossible. Why would you have a portal? Portals don't even exist and if they did, how
would you have gotten one when no one else has one?"
Mark said, "Fine, don't believe me. But if I did have a portal, would you be interested in visiting the Planet of the Apes?"
Robert said, "Naw, I'm not really into all that ape stuff. But I will take you up on some tutoring time. You can teach me whatever you want if it
will improve my grades."
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"He's not home right now but you're welcome to come in and wait."
Robert said, "Thank you, Mrs. Jonna. Mark and I were going to study together."
"Yes, he told me and he should have been home by now. I'm hoping he didn't get into a wreck. He's probably just taking longer at his college
interview than he planned. I'll give him a call and see if I can reach him. Meanwhile, I've got supper on the stove so I must attend to it."
Robert sat in the living room for a while. Then he had a wicked idea. "Maybe I can sneak into Mark's room and see this portal for myself. It's
probably some goofy toy with flashing lights. Even if I don't find the portal, maybe I can find something else to tease Mark about."
Robert snuck into Mark's room. It was surprisingly clean but it was strangely decorated in a mixture of dark colors, primitive things made out
of clay and sci-fi decor. It didn't take long to find the portal. It was in a box on a shelf in the closet. It did look like a goofy toy with flashing
lights and fit the decor of Mark's bedroom. Mark could have easily left it out visible and no one would have noticed it as being anything other
than one of Mark's strange knick-knacks.
Robert pulled it out and looked it over. At least it was an elaborate, goofy looking toy. Robert thought, "If Mark made this thing as a joke to
play on me, he at least put some time and effort into it. Look at all these strange buttons with alien looking designs on them."
Robert decided to push a few just for fun, to see how the flashing lights would change. Then he was blinded by a bright light and felt like he
was pulled onto a water slide that then spun him around in circles. Then he hit a hard surface.
He looked up and wondered where he was. It looked like he was in the hall of a large science laboratory. Robert still thought he was on Earth
because everything looked just like Earth except for a few little details. First, everything was twice as big as it was supposed to be and Robert
wondered if he had shrunk. Second, some of the pictures on the wall and a few other items seemed a little strange. There were a lot of pictures
of apes dressed like humans and smiling for the cameras.
Robert thought, "This can't be the Planet of the Apes. All the movies had either primitive mud structures or sci-fi settings. Either I'm dreaming
or that portal simply transported me downtown and by coincidence I landed in this strange place."
Just then, a couple of chimpanzees came around the corner wearing lab coats. The female had horn-rimmed glasses and wore her hair in a
bun. The male yelled, "We have an escaped human. How'd he get out."
The female said, "Don't scare him. I've got a treat." She knelt down holding what looked like a dog biscuit out toward Robert. "Come on boy,
I've got a nice treat for you. You hungry. You want it, don't you."
Robert asked, "What's going on? Where am I."
The female suddenly stood up in shock, "A talking human. Humans can't talk."
The male said, "He's obviously a trained human, someone's pet that got loose. His owner even dressed him in those funny human clothes that
some owners like to dress pets in. He's a very valuable human if he's been trained that well."
Robert asked, "What are you talking about? I'm no pet. I'm a human."
Then two gorillas and an orangutan stepped into the hall. The two gorillas were wearing security guard uniforms and the orangutan was
dressed up fancy in his tweed jacket.
The male chimp turned to the orangutan and said, "Professor Zemalt. This is no ordinary escaped human. This human can mimic ape speech."
Professor Zemalt said, "Alright men, we still need to capture him but be as gentle as you can. We don't want to damage the human's value."
Robert yelled, "No, I'm a human." as he ran from the gorillas but the gorillas were twice as big as Robert and they tackled him. They were not
gentle like Professor Zemalt had asked but before Robert could protest, a sedative was shot into him and he fell unconscious.
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The months passed and Robert was losing hope. He'd been stripped of his clothes and kept in a cage like a common animal. He'd been
photographed and filmed for the evening news but no matter what Robert said or did, he was still being treated like a talking animal, like a
parrot that can entertain people by mimicking human speech.
In the cage, he at least got to meet other humans. But all the other humans acted like animals. They only grunted and growled.
Robert did learn some things about the Planet of the Apes. On this planet, three kinds of apes evolved sentient intelligence. The orangutans
evolved to be the most intelligent while the gorillas were the least intelligent, The gorillas were often treated as if they were only just barely a
step above animals. Chimps were typically of average intelligence.
One day, Robert was brought in a cage to where an orangutan was sitting. When there was no one else in the room, the orangutan asked, "So,
Robert, how are you holding up?"
Robert said, "Oh, I'm just dandy. Are you listening to me?"
The orangutan said, "Yes, I'm listening. It's me, Mark."
Robert asked, "What? how?"
Mark said, "You should have waited and let me show you how the portal works. There are other options. You could visit other places in the
timeline of the story or other versions of the story. You could have visited as one of the apes like I do. It's much safer than visiting as a human
like you did."
Robert said, "You came to rescue me. Thank God."
Mark said, "Unfortunately, rescuing you is not going to be easy. You need to know how difficult it was just to find you. First, the police have
been investigating your disappearance and I had to hide the portal to keep them from messing around with it. Then when I could use the
portal, I had to still track down what happened to you. It was both a good thing and a bad thing that you became famous. The good side is that
it made it easier to locate you. The bad side is that security is really tight around you and you can't just disappear."
Robert asked, "But you can use the portal and zap me back to Earth."
Mark said, "The portal has limits. Did you see a portal during your time here?"
Robert said, "No, I . . ."
Mark said, "That's because there is no portal on this side. The only portal is still safely hidden at my house. There are only two ways back. The
first is to preset a time for the portal to automatically pull you back. Usually I only set the time for a few hours but you managed to set yourself
to be here for eight years. The second way to return is to visit one of the story settings. You're in the story of the Planet of the Apes that came
from the original book. To return you to Earth, I need to somehow get you to one of the places described in the book. Even then, it isn't always
reliable because the setting has to match the book. For example, I could take you to the park scene at night and you wouldn't return to Earth
because that scene took place during the day. The scene doesn't have to be an exact match but there were times I couldn't return to Earth
because the scene wasn't crowded like the book described. It helps to locate one of the main characters from the story because then you can
just follow him."
Robert said, "That's too confusing to me. Let's just go there and do whatever it takes to get me out of here."
Mark said, "There's even more problems. I've had glitches occur where instead of being returned to Earth, I was sent to another time or another
version of this story. So far, it has always been the Planet of the Apes but I have wondered if it might glitch me into a different story entirely.
But that's beside the point. I cannot risk taking you to one of these scenes because if it fails to return you to Earth, than you and I would have
to face the consequences of whatever situation we find ourselves in."
Robert said, "What's an example of one of these consequences."
Mark said, "If I steal you and run to the park and we fail to return to Earth, I will be arrested and thrown in jail, you will be put back in your
cage, and that will make it even more difficult for either of us to escape."
Robert asked, "Can't you convince these apes that we're humans from Earth who came here by portal."
Mark said, "No, I tried that once. I was thrown into a mental ward and declared mentally ill. Fortunately, the portal resets the story each visit so
when I visited again, all was forgotten. But even if I do convince them that we are from Earth, that only makes the situation even more
complicated. It won't help us escape."
Robert asked, "So what do we do?"
Mark said, "I'm arranging to be your owner. There's been some legal confusion about who your owner is and I've had to do some finagling to
convince people that I'm the one who trained you. You are valuable and there are plenty of others who are trying to lay claim to you. The courts
have been working to resolve the issue. I'm in the lead but it would help if you would act like my pet. Start pretending that you are just a
trained animal and that you are used to me petting you and training you. Show loyalty to me and it will be easier for me to get you at least out
of this facility. I'll have to put a collar and leash on you or keep you in a cage while we are in the city. The city has a leash law."
Robert said, "But I don't want to be an animal on a leash and I don't want you petting me."
Mark asked, "Do you want to spend the rest of your life locked in a cage? They plan on creating movies where you can perform your little tricks
for the camera but you won't be paid. Your just an animal to them."