{ "submission_id": "3696783", "keywords": [ { "keyword_id": "3343", "keyword_name": "action", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "4407" }, { "keyword_id": "27858", "keyword_name": "alvin and the chipmunks", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2011" }, { "keyword_id": "17875", "keyword_name": "ape", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1911" }, { "keyword_id": "199", "keyword_name": "bear", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "50993" }, { "keyword_id": "1007", "keyword_name": "blood", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "21878" }, { "keyword_id": "374", "keyword_name": "bull", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "7735" }, { "keyword_id": "16373", "keyword_name": "cage", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2060" }, { "keyword_id": "11418", "keyword_name": "chipmunk", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "13564" }, { "keyword_id": "5214", "keyword_name": "combat", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1310" }, { "keyword_id": "127", "keyword_name": "cougar", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "4582" }, { "keyword_id": "1183", "keyword_name": "dark", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "8552" }, { "keyword_id": "932", "keyword_name": "death", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "12837" }, { "keyword_id": "3", "keyword_name": "dog", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "177854" }, { "keyword_id": "860", "keyword_name": "drugs", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2886" }, { "keyword_id": "123", "keyword_name": "female", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1114377" }, { "keyword_id": "1674", "keyword_name": "fire", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "11998" }, { "keyword_id": "33", "keyword_name": "fox", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "253556" }, { "keyword_id": "9765", "keyword_name": "gritty", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "46" }, { "keyword_id": "1818", "keyword_name": "gun", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "7936" }, { "keyword_id": "864812", "keyword_name": "h. g. wells", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1" }, { "keyword_id": "6926", "keyword_name": "history", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "623" }, { "keyword_id": "1670", "keyword_name": "horror", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "5476" }, { "keyword_id": "1440", "keyword_name": "human", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "110900" }, { "keyword_id": "511", "keyword_name": "hyena", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "19871" }, { "keyword_id": "1631", "keyword_name": "hypnosis", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "16882" }, { "keyword_id": "15723", "keyword_name": "interspecies", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "11024" }, { "keyword_id": "2486", "keyword_name": "island", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1272" }, { "keyword_id": "20291", "keyword_name": "judo", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "100" }, { "keyword_id": "1000", "keyword_name": "jungle", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2674" }, { "keyword_id": "786", "keyword_name": "leopard", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "11921" }, { "keyword_id": "7074", "keyword_name": "llama", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "923" }, { "keyword_id": "963", "keyword_name": "loincloth", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "4546" }, { "keyword_id": "964", "keyword_name": "love", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "24297" }, { "keyword_id": "165", "keyword_name": "male", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1226473" }, { "keyword_id": "2518", "keyword_name": "medicine", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "210" }, { "keyword_id": "4473", "keyword_name": "mind control", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "8698" }, { "keyword_id": "1516", "keyword_name": "murder", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1973" }, { "keyword_id": "1737", "keyword_name": "ocean", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "6472" }, { "keyword_id": "7066", "keyword_name": "ocelot", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2078" }, { "keyword_id": "140338", "keyword_name": "oklahoma", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "57" }, { "keyword_id": "12429", "keyword_name": "opium", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "14" }, { "keyword_id": "11062", "keyword_name": "ox", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "565" }, { "keyword_id": "21924", "keyword_name": "pacific", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "153" }, { "keyword_id": "1656", "keyword_name": "pain", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "6321" }, { "keyword_id": "3441", "keyword_name": "pig", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "8978" }, { "keyword_id": "4219", "keyword_name": "puma", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "3872" }, { "keyword_id": "186", "keyword_name": "rabbit", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "142230" }, { "keyword_id": "19951", "keyword_name": "revolver", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "494" }, { "keyword_id": "909", "keyword_name": "romance", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "9257" }, { "keyword_id": "2591", "keyword_name": "science", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2309" }, { "keyword_id": "1568", "keyword_name": "sea", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "6603" }, { "keyword_id": "3878", "keyword_name": "sloth", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1011" }, { "keyword_id": "2686", "keyword_name": "superhero", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "4366" }, { "keyword_id": "14493", "keyword_name": "surgery", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "523" }, { "keyword_id": "32072", "keyword_name": "swine", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1648" }, { "keyword_id": "864811", "keyword_name": "the island of dr. moreau", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1" }, { "keyword_id": "43515", "keyword_name": "time machine", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "72" }, { "keyword_id": "36101", "keyword_name": "time travel", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "330" }, { "keyword_id": "1655", "keyword_name": "torture", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "6169" }, { "keyword_id": "1336", "keyword_name": "transformation", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "45107" }, { "keyword_id": "2513", "keyword_name": "tropical", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "811" }, { "keyword_id": "969", "keyword_name": "violence", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "4550" }, { "keyword_id": "6833", "keyword_name": "whip", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2207" }, { "keyword_id": "164", "keyword_name": "wolf", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "197778" } ], "hidden": "f", "scraps": "f", "favorite": "f", "favorites_count": "0", "create_datetime": "2025-08-31 04:22:09.999113+00", "create_datetime_usertime": "31 Aug 2025 06:22 CEST", "last_file_update_datetime": "2025-08-31 03:29:02.988097+00", "last_file_update_datetime_usertime": "31 Aug 2025 05:29 CEST", "username": "snorgatch", "user_id": "1500125", "user_icon_file_name": "446488_snorgatch_snarf.png", "user_icon_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/large/446/446488_snorgatch_snarf.png", "user_icon_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/medium/446/446488_snorgatch_snarf.png", "user_icon_url_small": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/446/446488_snorgatch_snarf.png", "file_name": "5699284_snorgatch_genesis.doc", "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/5699/5699284_snorgatch_genesis.doc", "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/5699/5699284_snorgatch_genesis.doc", "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/5699/5699284_snorgatch_genesis.doc", "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/5699/5699284_snorgatch_genesis.jpg", "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/5699/5699284_snorgatch_genesis.jpg", "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/5699/5699284_snorgatch_genesis.jpg", "thumb_huge_x": "229", "thumb_huge_y": "300", "thumb_large_x": "153", "thumb_large_y": "200", "thumb_medium_x": "92", "thumb_medium_y": "120", "files": [ { "file_id": "5699284", "file_name": "5699284_snorgatch_genesis.doc", "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/5699/5699284_snorgatch_genesis.doc", "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/5699/5699284_snorgatch_genesis.doc", "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/5699/5699284_snorgatch_genesis.doc", "mimetype": "application/msword", "submission_id": "3696783", "user_id": "1500125", "submission_file_order": "0", "full_size_x": null, "full_size_y": null, "screen_size_x": null, "screen_size_y": null, "preview_size_x": null, "preview_size_y": null, "initial_file_md5": "0a00dc9db8b6fe6d26eada2534bad761", "full_file_md5": "0a00dc9db8b6fe6d26eada2534bad761", "large_file_md5": "", "small_file_md5": "", "thumbnail_md5": "0d4d9a64d3a7323d68a0a567fa1d3c63", "deleted": "f", "create_datetime": "2025-08-31 03:29:02.988097+00", "create_datetime_usertime": "31 Aug 2025 05:29 CEST", "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/5699/5699284_snorgatch_genesis.jpg", "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/5699/5699284_snorgatch_genesis.jpg", "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/5699/5699284_snorgatch_genesis.jpg", "thumb_huge_x": "229", "thumb_huge_y": "300", "thumb_large_x": "153", "thumb_large_y": "200", "thumb_medium_x": "92", "thumb_medium_y": "120" } ], "pools": [], "description": "Nightmunk is enlisted by PRIMUS--the Paranormal Research and Investigation Mission of the United States--to travel back in time to the island of the original Dr. Moreau in the year 1887 to learn his secret of preventing tissue rejection in his Beast Folk.", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Nightmunk is enlisted by PRIMUS--the Paranormal Research and Investigation Mission of the United States--to travel back in time to the island of the original Dr. Moreau in the year 1887 to learn his secret of preventing tissue rejection in his Beast Folk.", "writing": "[center]Genesis[/center]\n\n[center]a story set in the universe of Champions Online[/center]\n\n\tIt is night. I am running through the jungle as fast as I can, wearing only a loincloth. Ferns and creeper vines lash across my body. All around me I hear the snarls and growls of beasts. They seek my blood, and that of my companion. I glance up at him. He is human and twice my height, about thirty, with a scraggly fringe of beard, his blond hair an unkempt mess, his skin tanned deep brown by the tropical sun. He wears a dirty, ragged blue shirt and trousers and leather shoes that are in the process of falling apart. He clutches a revolver in his right hand. I hope the creatures chasing us still remember what it can do.\n\tWe break out of the dense undergrowth and splash into a shallow stream. A chance to lose our pursuers. We both drop down into the water and begin swimming downstream, trying not to make too much noise. For several minutes the night is deathly still, save for the light sound of the water lapping at our bodies. Then a cacophany of angry hoots and howls explodes behind us. Our pursuers have lost our scent. We've bought ourselves another day in hell.\n\n\tIt was a bitterly cold winter's day in Millennium City, and an icy wind as sharp as a knife licked at my furry face and whipped my cape around as I entered the offices of PRIMUS—the Paranormal Research and Investigation Mission of the United States. I got a few odd looks as I walked through the lobby, because even in this town a three-foot-tall chipmunk dressed in black-and-gray body armor with a matching hood and cape and a gold hawk emblem on his chest is an unusual sight, but PRIMUS agents are used to dealing with weird stuff and they all quickly went back to whatever they were doing. \n\tI walked up to the receptionist, told her who I was, and showed her a card identifying me as a registered hero. She scanned it with a device much like a barcode reader, told me I was expected and which office to go to, and stuck a little yellow badge on my chest so I wouldn't set off their security measures. I thanked her and walked toward a large steel door. On either side of it stood two PRIMUS Iron Guard agents in their heavy, clunky armored suits with the Presidential eagle over their hearts. They paid no attention to me as the door slid open and I walked between them and through it. \n\tBeyond was a short, featureless corridor with another steel door at the end. The door behind me slid shut. Both doors were never open at the same time. I knew that as I walked along the corridor, I was being scanned six ways from Sunday to make sure I wasn't a robot duplicate or an alien shapeshifter or something. PRIMUS takes their security seriously, and this was only one of their branch offices. I tried to imagine what kind of security their headquarters in Washington, D.C. had.\n\tThe door opened, and I entered a hallway with a number of PRIMUS agents walking up and down it in their black berets, armored chest plates, camouflage trousers, and combat boots. Some had cybernetic prostheses, a reminder of the danger of their occupation. As before, a number of them glanced at me curiously but then went on with their business. After all, if I'd gotten this far, I must have been cleared. I went to an elevator, pressed the call button, waited until it opened, and then got inside with a number of momentarily surprised PRIMUS agents. I rode it to the proper floor, exited, and went down the hall to a door simply labeled M. SANCHEZ, DIRECTOR. It slid open for me, and I went through.\n\tBehind a desk in a spartan office sat a dark-skinned woman with long white hair, dressed in the same outfit as all the other PRIMUS agents. She smiled and rose when I came in, coming around her desk and holding out her hand to me, which I shook. Her grip was strong, which was to be expected. Mayte Sanchez was a Silver Avenger, one of a handful of elite PRIMUS agents whose strength and speed had been biochemically enhanced to superhuman levels. \"Hello, Nightmunk,\" she said, in a deep voice with a slight Spanish accent. \"Nice to see you again.\"\n\t\"Nice to see you, too, Director Sanchez,\" I replied. \"What did you want to see me about?\"\n\t\"Direct and to the point,\" she said, still smiling. \"Just like your mentor.\"\n\tI shrugged. \"Nighthawk was never one for social pleasantries. I like to think I'm a little less brusque than him.\"\n\t\"I always found you quite charming,\" she said, \"as well as extremely clever. The way you showed up my former Justice Department liason, Anthony Abruzzi, was amazing!\"\n\tI began to suspect I was being buttered up for something. \"That's very flattering, Director,\" I said, \"but I'm sure you didn't call me here just to shower me with compliments.\"\n\tShe went back behind her desk and sat down. \"Quite right. Have a seat, please.\" I hopped up in a chair facing her. \"Are you familiar with a gentleman named Damon Armstrong?\"\n\t\"Juryrig? Yeah, I rescued him from that vampire gang, the New Shadows, down in Vibora Bay. He's an inventor.\"\n\tShe nodded. \"Yes, he is, and he has invented a great many things, one of which PRIMUS is particularly interested in.\"\n\t\"I'm guessing it's not a better mousetrap,\" I said.\n\t\"You guess correctly,\" she said. \"What I am about to tell you is a secret known to only a few people in the entire world, most of whom are members of PRIMUS. One of them you know: Supersonic Squirrel.\"\n\tI nodded. \"He's a friend of mine. Great guy, even though our methods differ.\"\n\t\"You will be happy to know he speaks well of you, too. I asked him if he thought you could be trusted, and his reply was an unqualified 'yes.'\"\n\t\"I'm honored,\" I said. \"After my recent brainwashing by the Parapsychological Studies Institute, I wasn't sure anyone would trust me anymore.\"\n\t\"That was a most unfortunate business,\" said Sanchez. \"But since you have been given a clean bill of mental health by one of the world's most powerful telepaths, I feel I can rely on your discretion.\"\n\t\"Thank you, Director,\" I said. \"That means a lot to me. So, what about this invention of Juryrig's?\"\n\t\"He calls it a quantum displacement engine. It is, quite simply, a time machine.\"\n\tI stared at her. \"Seriously?\"\n\tShe nodded. \"Seriously.\"\n\t\"And it actually works?\"\n\t\"Indeed it does. Supersonic himself used it to travel back to when the Lemurians invaded Millennium City.\"\n\t\"Good lord!\" I said, sinking back in my chair. The implications of such a thing were staggering. \"So what do you want me to do? Kill Hitler? Because time travel always equals Hitler.\"\n\t\"Certainly not!\" said Sanchez. \"Any use of such a device must be done with the greatest care, so as not to alter the course of history.\"\n\t\"Good to know someone is thinking sensibly,\" I said, relieved.\n\t\"However,\" she said, \"there is a task we feel you may be ideally suited for.\"\n\t\"What task would that be?\"\n\t\"How well acquainted are you with the origins of manimals?\"\n\t\"Are you kidding? I learned all that growing up on Monster Island—how the first Dr. Moreau had modified animals to look human, as described in the novel by H. G. Wells, how Moreau's great-grandson Phillippe discovered that the novel was actually based on a true story and vowed to carry on his great-grandfather's work, and how he created me and my brothers in the likeness of those stupid singing cartoon chipmunks to entertain him.\"\n\t\"Have you ever actually read [i]The Island of Dr. Moreau[/i]?\" she asked.\n\tI blushed beneath my fur. \"No, I haven't. I haven't even seen any of the movie versions. Funny, isn't it? You'd think I'd want to. I even own a copy of the book. But every time I pick it up and try to read it, I just can't. Maybe it hits too close to home.\" I shrugged.\n\tSanchez smiled sympathetically. \"That is understandable. But if you had, you might have been struck by an odd discrepancy between the Beast Folk created by the original Dr. Moreau, and the manimals created by his great-grandson. The former eventually reverted to bestial states, while the latter appear to be stable.\"\n\tI nodded. \"I know I haven't had any urge to run around on all fours gathering nuts lately.\"\n\tShe chuckled. \"We suspect the reason for this lies in the time they were made. The events described in the novel occur in 1887. At that time, the nature of heredity was still a mystery. Gregor Mendel's experiments showing that hereditary information is transmitted as discrete units that we now call genes had been ignored and forgotten, and his work would not be rediscovered until 1900. And it was not until 1952 that Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase confirmed that genes are made of DNA, and a year later that James Watson and Francis Crick determined its structure.\"\n\t\"So the first Dr. Moreau was only changing the outward appearence of his subjects through surgery,\" I said, \"while manimals like me were created by genetic manipulation. That's why we're stable. Our bodies formed the way our genes told them to.\"\n\t\"Oh, he did much more than simply change their appearance,\" said Sanchez. \"He grafted into them tissues from other species, including human brain tissue, granting them human-level intelligence. And somehow, he found a means of preventing the rejection of foreign tissue.\"\n\t\"Ah, now I'm beginning to undertand,\" I said.\n\t\"Exactly! In the book, some of the Beast Folk are clearly derived from pigs. Now, if you try to transplant a pig organ into a human body, the human immune system rejects it so violently that necrosis occurs and the transplanted tissue starts to turn black before you can even sew up the patient. But Moreau must have found a way to prevent this. If we can learn what it was, it could open up a whole new era in organ transplantation. Millions of lives could be saved!\"\n\t\"So, you want to send me back to 1887, find Moreau's secret, and bring it back. And you figure I'm suited to do this because I'm a manimal and can pass myself off as one of his Beast Folk.\"\n\tShe nodded. \"That is the basic idea.\"\n\t\"But won't Moreau realize he didn't make me?\"\n\t\"The book says the Beast Folk bred with each other. You could pretend to be one of their offspring. The fact that you are the size of a human child will bolster your claim.\" She looked at me expectantly. \"So, what do you think?\"\n\tI shook my head. \"I think this sounds like the craziest idea I've ever heard.\"\n\tShe smiled. \"But will you do it?\"\n\tI thought for a moment. It was an incredible opportunity, and the potential benefits were enormous. Of course, so were the risks, but I hadn't put on this costume to play it safe. I nodded. \"All right, I'm game.\"\n\tI realized the moment I said it that that was probably a poor choice of words.\n\n\tJulie Martins and I sat at a table in the dining room of our apartment in the Westside neighborhood of Millennium City, eating a dinner of beef bourguignon and mashed potatoes. Besides being the superhero Nightfox, she's also my friend, lover, and crime-fighting partner.\n\t\"So,\" she said, after a long silence, \"you can't tell me where you're going, what you're doing, or how long it'll take.\"\n\tI shook my head. \"PRIMUS swore me to secrecy. All I'm allowed to say is that it could save lots of lives.\"\n\t\"And I can't come because . . .\"\n\t\"I can't tell you that, either.\"\n\tShe fiddled with something on her plate. \"Can I at least get a ballpark figure of how long you'll be gone?\"\n\t\"It's hard to say. There's a lot of unknowns involved. Could be a day, could be a week, could be a month.\"\n\t\"Could be forever,\" she said.\n\tI shrugged. \"That's always a risk in our line of work.\"\n\t\"And you'll be totally incommunicado the whole time. Not even able to make a phone call.\"\n\t\"Yeah.\"\n\tShe put down her fork, got up from the table, went into the living room, and sat down on the couch, arms and legs crossed. I sighed, hopped down off my chair, went over, and stood before her. \n\t\"I'm sorry, Julie,\" I said.\n\t\"Why did you accept this mission?\" she asked, glaring at me.\n\t\"Because it's the right thing to do. I'm a superhero. My job is to save lives. That's why I put on a costume and go out and do stupid things at one o'clock in the morning.\"\n\t\"Why doesn't PRIMUS send one of their own people to do it?\"\n\t\"I'm uniquely qualified.\"\n\t\"In what way?\"\n\t\"I can't tell you that.\"\n\tJulie looked away. She sat there for a moment, fuming, before looking back at me. \"I hate this, Alvin!\"\n\t\"You think I'm happy about it?\" I asked. \"You think I want to be separated from you for who knows how long? I'd give anything for you to be able to come, but it's not up to me. I don't have a say in this!\"\n\t\"Sure you do! You could make it a condition for your going! You said you're uniquely qualified. That means without you, whatever it is doesn't happen!\"\n\tI shook my head. \"That's not true. There are others they could send.\"\n\t\"Then let them!\"\n\tI sighed. \"They asked me because they think I have the best chance of success. And this is important enough that the person with the best chance should go.\"\n\t\"You could force the issue!\"\n\t\"I could, but I'm not going to.\"\n\tShe stood up angrily. \"Why not? You think I'm not good enough?\"\n\t\"You know better than that, Julie.\"\n\t\"Then why not? Why won't you push for me to come?\"\n\tI bit my lip and looked away.\n\tShe stared at me. \"You think it's too dangerous! You're protecting me!\"\n\t\"No, it's not that at all!\"\n\t\"Jesus, Alvin, we've been to other dimensions together! We fought a [i]god[/i] together! How could this possibly be any more dangerous than what we've already done?\"\t\n\t\"Look, I can't explain why, but this is a one-person job. Having someone else along would actually make it harder.\"\n\tShe sat back down, sulking. I went over to the couch, sat down beside her, and looked up at her.\n\t\"This sucks!\" she said bitterly.\n\tI nodded. \"I know it does. And I'm sorry.\"\n\tI leaned against her, and she reached down and scritched my hair. I chrred with pleasure, wriggling. Then she leaned down and kissed my cheek. I turned my head and returned the kiss, my buck teeth brushing against her lips. We kept on kissing for a while, our hands roaming around each other. Then we paused, gazing into each other's eyes. We both knew what we wanted. We got off the couch, went into the bedroom, and made it a night to remember.\n\n\tI emerged from behind a screen in Juryrig's enormous warehouse laboratory in Vibora Bay and looked down at myself. I was wearing nothing but a loincloth. \"I feel ridiculous,\" I said.\n\tSanchez chuckled as I stood there before her. \"Didn't you go naked on Monster Island?\"\n\t\"Yeah, but that was before I got civilized.\"\n\t\"Well, we cannot have you taking any modern technology back to 1887. Too much risk of altering history.\" Then she smiled. \"For what it is worth, you look adorable.\"\n\t\"Thanks,\" I replied, sneering up at her.\n\tJuryrig was hunched over a bank of computer keyboards that appeared to have been wired haphazardly together, fiddling with them. He was a redhaired man with a pointed beard, wearing green coveralls. His right arm and left leg were prosthetic, made out of rusty, clunky junk. His left eye was also artificial, a glowing red sphere that telescoped forward from his eye socket. On his back he wore a device that looked just as randomly assembled as the keyboards. Out of the top of it stuck an ordinary household blender with green liquid sloshing around inside it. I had no idea what it was for. Maybe an artificial kidney or something.\n\tBehind him stood an immense apparatus that appeared to have been cobbled together out of household appliances and odds and ends. It constantly buzzed and rattled and made other strange noises. Two huge Tesla coils erupted from the top of it, sparking continuously. In the middle, a ramp led upward to a circular opening that glowed brightly. Above the opening was a clock whose hands whirled swiftly in opposite directions. \n\tI shook my head. \"Looks like something out of a Z-grade movie.\"\n\t\"Oh, she'll get ya where an' when ya need ta go,\" said Juryrig, in a high, grating voice, not looking up from his keyboards.\n\t\"And exactly where and when is it I'm going?\" I asked.\n\t\"According to the book,\" said Sanchez, \"a ship called the [i]Lady Vain[/i]—on which the narrator, Edward Prendick, was sailing—collided with a derelict and sank on February 1st, 1887, at 1 degree south latitude and 107 degrees west longitude, roughly a thousand miles west of the Galapagos Islands. Prendick and two other men escaped in a dinghy and drifted for eight days, during which time the other two men died. He was then picked up by the schooner [i]Ipecacuanha[/i], half dead from dehydration and exposure. He was nursed back to health by a doctor named Montgomery, a colleague of Moreau's who was bringing supplies and animals to the island, including a female puma, a llama, and six hounds that Moreau intended to transform into Beast Folk. Prendick spent at least two days on the [i]Ipecacuanha[/i] recuperating from his ordeal, and she arrived at Moreau's island the following day, at which time her rather disagreeable captain threw him off the ship.\"\n\tI mentally sifted through this information. \"So Prendick arrived on the island eleven days after the sinking of the [i]Lady Vain[/i], on February 12th.\"\n\t\"Yes, but it would be best if you never encounter him, in order to avoid interfering with the events of the book. Therefore, we will set you down five days earlier. Hopefully, that will be enough time for you to get what you are after and return before Prendick arrives.\"\n\tI nodded. \"That takes care of when. How about where? Do we know which island Moreau was on?\"\n\t\"The eastern Pacific has the least amount of land per square mile of any place on Earth,\" said Sanchez. \"The only island near the sinking is a small, uninhabited volcanic island called Noble's Isle. That must be it.\"\n\tI shrugged. \"Well, if you're wrong, I guess we'll find out soon enough.\"\n\tShe nodded and handed me what looked like an ordinary digital wristwatch. \"This is a recall device. Press the alarm button, and you will return to the present. We can also pull you back from this end, but only if you are wearing the watch. Remember, when you go back, that time and this one will become entangled at the quantum level. Time will pass at the same rate in both.\"\n\t\"So no popping back a second after I left.\" I examined the watch. \"This looks suspiciously like modern technology.\"\n\t\"An unavoidable risk,\" said Sanchez. \"In any case, we can always pull it back ourselves, if it becomes necessary.\"\n\t\"Won't Moreau want to know what it is and how one of his Beast Folk came to have it?\"\n\t\"Undoubtably. That is why you must find a place to hide it before you meet him. Whatever you do, do not lose it. It is your sole link to the present.\"\n\tI nodded. \"Anything else I need to know before I go?\"\n\t\"I hardly feel it is necessary to tell you not to reveal anything about the future to anyone in the past.\"\n\t\"Understood. Well, let's get this show on the road.\" I turned to Juryrig. \"Ready?\"\n\t\"Ready when you are,\" he replied.\n\tSanchez held out her hand to me. \"Good luck, Nightmunk.\"\n\tI shook her hand. \"Thanks, Director. See you whenever.\" I turned and walked toward the glowing portal to the past, the metal ramp cold against my bare feet. I was scared, but also excited. I've done a lot of weird things in my life, but traveling into the past was something only a handful of people had ever done. It was incredible to think about. I took a deep breath and stepped though.\n\n\tI found myself standing on a beach of dull gray sand under a bright, hot noonday sun. There had been no shock of transition, no sensation of any kind. It had been just like walking through a door. There were some feathery cirrus clouds overhead. Otherwise, the sky was clear. I turned and looked out across the seemingly infinite expanse of the Pacific Ocean as it rasped gently on the shore. I felt as if I were all alone in the world, which, in a way, I was. This was 1887. Grover Cleveland was in the White House. Queen Victoria was on the throne of England. Germany and the United States were up and coming world powers. China and Japan were emerging from centuries of feudal darkness. Coca-Cola had just been invented. I shook my head. Incredible.\n\tI turned and began climbing the steeply sloping beach toward the tree line. My first order of business was to find a safe place to hide my recall device. I couldn't afford to let anyone see it. I made my way through the forest in the thick tropical heat, pushing through the undergrowth, my feet crunching on a carpet of dead leaves, sunlight dappling my body through the canopy. I noticed ants and beetles scurrying along the tree trunks. I might end up having to resort to those for food, if I couldn't find any fish, crabs, or shellfish in the ocean. There would be no frogs or freshwater fish here. This island had risen Venus-like from the sea and had never been connected to a continent, so there had been no way for freshwater animals to reach it. There would be birds and eggs, though. And coconuts. And robber crabs—those huge, land-dwelling crustaceans that fed on coconuts and other fruits. Supposedly, their meat tasted sweet. I might have to find out.\n\tAs I walked along, I became aware of someone moving through the undergrowth nearby. I paused, pretending to inspect the orange-and-yellow flower of a bromeliad clinging to a tree trunk. My unseen companion also stopped moving. I was being followed. Inconvenient, since I didn't really want company until I found a place to hide the watch. Maybe I could scare them off.\n\t\"I know what you're thinking,\" I said. \"I'm small and unarmed. Don't try it. I'm quite able to defend myself.\"\n\tThere was a moment of pregnant silence. Then my companion moved, the leaves rustling around his feet. He half rose from beneath the undergrowth, staring at me with bright green eyes. He had copper skin, black hair, a large nose, and a protruding face with fangs visible above and below his lipless slit of a mouth. He reminded me somewhat of a baboon, but I found out later he had been made from a leopard. He stood hunched over, with his head forward, and was clothed in a shirt and trousers of blue serge, smeared with dirt.\n\t\"Where do you come from?\" the Leopard Man asked, in a coarse, gutteral voice.\n\t\"Here,\" I replied.\n\tHe shook his head. \"No. No boat. No cries.\"\n\t\"What?\" I asked, confused.\n\t\"Always, before a new one comes, there is a boat. Always, there are cries, from the House of Pain.\"\n\tNow I understood. The arrival of new Beast Folk on the island was always preceded by the arrival of a boat bringing new animal subjects, and screams as Moreau operated on them, transforming them into Beast Folk.\n\t\"Where is the House of Pain?\" I asked.\n\tHe stared at me. \"You do not know?\"\n\tI shook my head. \"As you already figured out, I'm not from there.\"\n\t\"Then where?\" he demanded.\n\tI waved dismissively at him. \"Go away.\"\n\tThe Leopard Man's eyes fixed on my arm, light from the shiny metal wristwatch reflecting on his ugly face, and I cursed myself for practically dangling the thing in front of him. I quickly covered it with my hand, but he was already fixated on it. He sprang at me, fingers outstretched. I seized his arm, spun, and threw him over my shoulder, slamming him onto the ground on his back. The air left his lungs in a whoosh, and I locked an arm around his neck in a choke hold, my other hand pressed against the side of his head as he squirmed and writhed.\n\t\"Take me to the House of Pain,\" I said, my muzzle nearly touching one of his slightly pointed hairy ears.\n\t\"Why do you want to go there?\" the Leopard Man asked. \"No one wants to go there!\"\n\t\"I have business with Moreau.\"\n\t\"Who is that?\"\n\tI realized the Beast Folk probably didn't know his real name. \"He Who Makes.\"\n\tHe gasped, green eyes going wide. \"You are mad!\"\n\t\"I'm getting there,\" I replied.\n\tHe struggled some more, and I tightened my grip. \"Stop!\" he whined. \"Please! I will take you!\"\n\tI released him and stood up. He stood up as well, rubbing his neck and glaring down at me. His legs were scarcely half the length of his body. I noticed there were dark stains on his knees and the fabric was frayed there. I recalled something about the Beast Folk not being supposed to go on all fours. \"Lead on,\" I said.\n\tHe whimpered, moving forward in a clumsy, hunched, stoop-shouldered walk.\n\t\"I'm Alvin,\" I said to him. \"What's your name?\"\n\tThe Leopard Man looked down at me. \"Name?\"\n\t\"Don't you have one?\"\n\tHe shook his head.\n\t\"Do any of you have names?\"\n\t\"Only the Sayer of the Law.\"\n\tI nodded. My conversation with the Leopard Man had at least confirmed one thing: Prendick wasn't here yet. He and Montgomery were still at sea. \n\tI had Moreau all to myself.\n\n\tAs the Leopard Man and I made our way through the dense jungle, my eyes sought a suitable place to conceal my watch, someplace where I could easily find it again when I needed it. Unfortunately, nothing really jumped out at me. There were plenty of rotting tree stumps and fallen logs, but they all looked more or less the same, and I wasn't confident that I'd be able to locate any particular one among all the others in this trackless wilderness. In addition, I couldn't do it with the Leopard Man watching me, as he knew this island better than I did and might be able to follow my scent back to the hiding place. After his earlier attempt to steal the watch from me, I had no doubt he'd try again at the first opportunity.\n\tAfter an hour or so, my ears once again detected the staticky sound of waves crashing on sand, and shortly thereafter we broke out of the jungle onto another stretch of beach. A few hundred yards away stood a square stone enclosure with a heavy wooden gate framed in iron, two thatched roofs peeping above its walls.\n\t\"The House of Pain,\" the Leopard Man announced, his voice quavering with fear.\n\tI nodded. \"Thank you. You can go now.\"\n\tHe stared at me. \"You are really going in there?\"\n\tI smiled up at him. \"You've seen I can take care of myself. Goodbye.\" I set off toward the enclosure.\n\tWalking on loose sand is exhausting, and the sand was also burning hot, searing the soles of my bare feet. Several times I paused with my feet buried in it to let them cool off. Eventually, I reached the enclosure and stood before that imposing gate, feeling like a tiny barbarian preparing to storm a castle. I pushed at the gate, but it was locked. I examined the walls. They were made of a combination of coral limestone and pumiceous lava rock. They hadn't been constructed with any great skill, the irregular stones crudely mortared together. Climbing them would be easy. Before I did, I removed my watch. Since I still hadn't found a suitable place to hide it, I concealed it the only place I could—inside my loincloth. It wasn't comfortable there, but at least it was out of sight. That done, I commenced my assault on the stone wall.\n\tAfter a minute of not very challenging climbing, I stood atop the wall of the enclosure, looking down on the courtyard. The floor was paved with flat stones laid in the sand, and there were two simple thatch-roofed huts. It was a far humbler affair than the sprawling bamboo house I'd grown up in on Monster Island. This Dr. Moreau clearly didn't care about frivolous luxuries. I jumped down and began to look for him.\n\tThe first hut contained an operating table with surgical instruments and jars of various chemicals. I'd expected to find something like that. I left quickly, as it brought back too many unpleasant memories, and moved on to the second hut. The door was open, and I walked inside. There, sitting at a rough wooden desk, surrounded by stacks of books and jars of specimens floating in formaldehyde, was Dr. Moreau.\n\tHe was a massively built man of about fifty, with white hair, a square head, and small, brilliant black eyes beneath heavy, bushy brows. His skin had the hue and texture of tanned leather, from years of exposure to the tropical sun, and was moist with sweat. Like the Leopard Man, he wore a jacket and trousers of blue serge. He was presently immersed in an anatomy text, but he looked up immediately as I came in and stared at me from behind a pair of reading glasses. \"What in the devil?\" he asked, speaking with a British accent.\n\t\"Dr. Moreau, I presume?\" I asked.\n\tHe continued staring at me. Perhaps he was wondering how I could be familiar with the famous question asked by Henry Stanley to Dr. David Livingstone in Africa sixteen years earlier. Or perhaps he simply dismissed the similarity of phrasing as a coincidence. \"Where have you come from?\" he asked, finally.\n\tThat British accent really threw me. I'd expected him to be French, but I realized that was only because my Moreau had been French. I wished now that I'd read the damn book. \"Here, on the island,\" I replied. \"I was born to two of your Beast Folk.\"\n\t\"Impossible,\" said Moreau. \"None of their offspring have ever shown any evidence of their parents' acquired human characteristics.\" \n\tI shrugged. \"There's a first time for everything.\"\n\tHe stood and came over to me, fully twice my height, and got down on one knee to look at me more closely. \"You're a rodent,\" he said.\n\t\"Very observant,\" I replied.\n\t\"I've never used any of the Rodentia in my work,\" said Moreau. \"They're too small, too hard to operate on. And with their short lifespans, it's hardly worth the bother. What point is there giving intelligence to something that will die of old age in two or three years?\"\n\tI folded my arms. \"All right then, how do you account for me?\"\n\tHe shook his head. \"I confess, I have no explanation. Who are your parents?\"\n\t\"I never knew them.\"\n\t\"So you were raised in the Beast Folk colony, then. Strange that I've never seen you there.\"\n\t\"You've never seen me there because I've never been there.\"\n\tHe blinked. \"Then how did you learn to speak English?\"\n\t\"I don't know. I just do.\"\n\tMoreau looked over my body. \"You have excellent muscle development.\"\n\t\"Thank you. I worked hard for it.\"\n\tHe took my small hand in his much larger one, inspecting it. \"Only four fingers. Not an unusual deformity for a Beast Man. However, despite its stunted build, your body is still much closer to the human form than any of the other Beast Folk.\" Then his eyes widened as he noticed my scars, mementos of my days on Monster Island. \"Where did you get those scars?\" he demanded.\n\t\"I've been in a few fights,\" I replied.\n\t\"With whom?\"\n\t\"What makes you think it was a whom?\"\n\t\"There is no dangerous wildlife on this island.\"\n\tI smirked. \"I may be a rodent, but I'm not a rat.\"\n\tMoreau stood up and gazed down at me, his brow furrowed. \"This is not a joking matter. The Law forbids the spilling of blood, and no Beast Man can be permitted to break the Law. It's all that keeps them in line. The guilty party [i]must[/i] be punished!\"\n\t\"That's not my problem, Moreau. And by the way, I have a name, too. It's Alvin.\"\n\t\"Who gave you a name? And how do you know mine?\"\n\t\"I know a lot of things,\" I said. \"For instance, I know you've found a way to prevent tissue rejection in cross-species transplants. I'd like to find out how you do that.\"\n\tHe stared at me. \"How can you know of such things?\"\n\tI put my hands on my hips, smiling up at him. \"I know more than you can possibly imagine, Moreau. Now, why don't you tell me your secret and we'll call it a day, hmm?\"\n\tMoreau was silent for a long moment. Then he turned and went to the desk, opened a drawer, and reached inside. He withdrew a revolver and aimed it at me. \"How do you know these things?\" he asked menacingly.\n\tI steeled my nerves as I looked down the barrel of Moreau's gun. I don't scare easily, having faced death many times in the fight pits on Monster Island. However, I did want to see Julie again, and I knew she'd be heartbroken if I never returned. I kept my voice low and steady. \"If you kill me, you'll never find out how I came by my knowledge.\"\n\t\"I already have my suspicions,\" Moreau replied darkly.\n\tI blinked. \"You do? Mind telling me what they are?\" He couldn't possibly suspect the truth, but I was curious to find out what he thought it was.\n\t\"Turn around and walk toward the surgical hut,\" Moreau said.\n\t\"Yeah, that's not gonna happen,\" I said, smiling.\n\t\"You're an intriguing specimen, Alvin,\" said Moreau, \"and it would be a pity to have to shoot you, but I shan't hesitate to do so if it becomes necessary.\"\n\tI had no doubt that he was telling the truth. A man who had done the things he had done—cutting into animals as they writhed and screamed in agony—didn't make idle threats. The surgical hut would contain chloroform or ether that he could use to subdue me. The thought of being at this man's mercy sent a chill down my spine, despite my aforementioned fearlessness. Even worse, he might discover the recall device concealed in my loincloth. That must not happen.\n\tI turned around and began walking toward the doorway, Moreau following. I was sure I could take him if I could just get my hands on him. Despite his greater size, he wasn't an expert in unarmed combat. I was. But Moreau was no fool. He kept a safe distance behind me.\n\tIt was time for a \"Hail Mary\" play. As I stepped out the door, I dodged to the right as fast as I could. I heard the crack of Moreau's revolver and felt an explosion of pain in my lower left side. There was a second crack as I ducked behind the thatched wall of the hut and Moreau fired at where he thought I was. His shot burst through the thatch, missing me, and ricocheted off one of the flagstones paving the floor of the courtyard. \n\tI ran around behind the hut. Through a haze of pain, I formulated some vague plan of trying to ambush Moreau when he came around the corner looking for me. Unfortunately, the doctor had other ideas. He walked out of the hut and stood in the center of the courtyard, where he had a clear shot at me if I came at him. Bastard.\n\t\"Come out, Alvin,\" he called. \"I know I hit you. There's nowhere for you to go, and it won't be long before you pass out from loss of blood. I have no desire to kill you or let you bleed to death. That would be a tragic waste of a unique specimen. Surrender quietly, and I promise I'll patch you up.\"\n\t\"And then cut me to pieces!\" I yelled, gritting my teeth against the pain. I glanced down at the wound. The bullet had cut a gash in the left side of my abdomen. I pressed my left hand over the wound, applying direct pressure to it, and the pain made me squeal and shudder. Blood flowed around my fingers, soaking my loincloth and running down my left leg and onto the ground. I'd never been shot before. Cut, stabbed, and beaten within an inch of my life, yes, but never shot. It was amazing how much it hurt.\n\t\"There would be no point in that,\" said Moreau. \"You're much more interesting to me alive. Come on, now. I can see from your blood trail that you're bleeding badly, and a creature your size can't have that much blood to begin with. You'll be unconscious in a few minutes. Surrender now and I may still be able to save your life.\"\n\tI looked around desperately for a means of escape. I knew the front gate was locked. Climbing the walls was out of the question. I wasn't even sure I could manage it in my present condition, and I'd be a sitting duck for Moreau if I tried. Then I noticed a small door in a corner of the courtyard, slightly ajar. There was about sixty feet of open ground between me and it, but it appeared to be the only exit. I just had to hope Moreau was a lousy shot. I took a deep breath and bolted for it.\n\tMoreau fired, and a bullet whizzed past my head and hit the wall, making a puff of dust. I weaved as I ran, trying to spoil his aim, leaving a zigzag trail of bloody footprints on the flagstones. Moreau fired again, but his shot missed by a wide margin. I reached the door, yanked it open, and ducked inside.\n\tI was in a small room, plainly furnished with a table and two chairs, a hammock slung in one corner, and a small, unglazed window with a vertical iron bar across it facing out toward the sea. There was a deck chair beneath the window and a shelf containing some old books by the hammock. There was also another door in the outer wall. I ran to it and tried the knob. It was locked.\n\tI could hear Moreau's heavy footsteps approaching from the courtyard. I glanced at the window. There wasn't enough space on either side of the bar for a man to squeeze through, but a chipmunk might manage it. I jumped up on the deck chair, grabbed the sides of the window, and tried to pull my body through. I squealed in pain as my injured side rubbed against the bar. Then I was clear.\n\tI fell onto the sand outside the enclosure, got up, and started running along the wall toward the tree line. Moreau stuck his arm out the window, revolver in hand. He couldn't see me from his vantage point, but he fired his last two cartridges blindly. Both bullets raised little fountains of sand well away from me. I kept running until I reached the tree line, and then crashed into the undergrowth.\n\tAs I ran through the jungle, vines and bushes tore at me, seemingly doing everything in their power to impede my progress. I was going on pure adrenaline now. I wished I had Julie's ability to ignore pain and fatigue, but that took years to learn, and I hadn't had the benefit of being possessed by the spirit of a dead ninja. \n\tI started feeling faint and dizzy from loss of blood as the adrenaline surge wore off. Moreau had predicted that I would pass out in a few minutes. He may have been crazy, but he clearly knew his stuff. My mission was looking more and more like a washout. As much as I hated to give up on anything, the most sensible course of action was to return to my own time, rest and heal up, and then try again. I reached into my loincloth for the recall device.\n\tIt wasn't there.\n\t\"Shit!\" I cursed, looking back at the jungle behind me. It must have fallen out while I was running. I considered going back to look for it, but I wasn't sure how long I could stay conscious, and Moreau would no doubt be coming after me. Better to come back and search for it later, assuming I lived that long.\n\tI continued running, determined to keep going as long as I could. I passed through a cluster of straight-stemmed trees and skidded down the side of a narrow valley toward a small stream that ran through it. I plunged into the forest of reeds that covered the steam's bank, waded across the channel of shallow water, and into the reeds on the opposite side. I didn't want to fall unconscious here because if I did, I'd probably drown. Breaking out of the reeds, I clambered up the other side of the valley and over a ridge, my chest aching, the wound in my side burning. I was staggering now, scarcely able to concentrate, my energy almost spent. I stumbled into a canebrake and collapsed among the thicket of tall, green stems, panting hard, my vision fading.\n\t\"I'm sorry, Julie,\" I said, my voice barely a whisper.\n\tThen I passed out.\n\n\tThe first thing I noticed when I awoke was the strong, pungent odor of rotting fruit, which made me wrinkle my nose. I opened my eyes, which were crusty from having been closed for too long. I was lying in a small, dim chamber of black rock. There was a bed of palm fronds beneath me and a coarse woolen blanket on top of me. One wall of the chamber was covered with thatch made of palm leaves, and light from outside squeezed through the gaps. There was also another occupant besides myself.\n\tHe was small—even smaller than me—and his skin was bright pink. His head was round, and he had big brown eyes set far apart, a flat nose, small ears, and a wide mouth that was smiling. He looked like a hairless sloth. He wore only a loincloth of blue serge, and he was squatting facing me, leaning forward.\n\tI started to sit up and felt a stabbing pain in my left side, which made me gasp and lie back down. I reached down and touched the gash made by Moreau's bullet. It was coated with some sticky, grainy gunk. I lifted my fingers to my nose and sniffed them. The stuff had an acrid, astringent smell. I touched my tongue to it, and recognized its bitter taste immediately. Tannic acid. Probably some kind of poultice made from mashed-up roots or leaves. It should keep the pH low enough to inhibit bacterial growth and prevent infection. I looked over at the little pink sloth creature. \"Hello,\" I said.\n\t\"Hello,\" he replied, in a high, wheezy voice, still smiling at me.\n\t\"Where am I?\" I asked.\n\t\"Home,\" he said.\n\tI became aware of movement outside and gruff, grunting voices. I remembered Moreau mentioning something about a Beast Folk colony. This must be it. \"Did you bring me here?\" I asked.\n\tHe nodded.\n\t\"How long have I been here?\" I asked.\n\tHe raised his hands. He had three fingers on each hand, tipped with long, thin claws. Those fingers were spread apart, with one folded down. Five days.\n\tI sat up again, more slowly this time, and felt only a slight twinge of pain from my wound. Carefully, I got to my feet. I was naked, which didn't surprise me, as my loincloth had been soaked through with blood. I seemed to be able to stand on my own steadily enough. I took an experimental step and didn't stumble. So far, so good. I picked up the blanket that had been covering me and wrapped it around my waist, then went to the thatched wall and pressed my hand against it. It began to fall over, and my companion leaped forward and seized the top edge with his long-clawed fingers to stop it. Then he carefully slid it sideways. It had been covering an opening in the side of the chamber, the bottom of which extended out several inches farther than the top. With the thatch covering out of the way, I got my first look at the Beast Folk colony.\n\tIt was in a narrow ravine of black lava rock, both sides of which contained numerous natural recesses. Some of these were covered by thatch screens much like the one that had been covering the one I was in. The screens were made out of thin branches, vines, and palm leaves. They were crude, but would at least serve to keep the rain out and afford the den's occupant some degree of privacy. \n\tI could see about two dozen Beast Folk of various descriptions sitting or walking around. The Leopard Man was not among them. All conversation faded into silence as their eyes focused on me. I remembered something the Leopard Man had mentioned. \"Where is the Sayer of the Law?\" I asked.\n\tA figure covered in silver-gray hair shuffled forward. I couldn't make out any details of its face, which was veiled by its hair, with only dark shadows where the eyes and mouth would be. Its hands and feet were like the hooves of a deer, but curved into claws. \"I am he,\" it said, in a thick voice with a whistling overtone and a noticeable English accent.\n\t\"How did I get here?\" I asked.\n\t\"You were hurt,\" the Sayer replied, then gestured at my companion. \"He found you, brought you here.\"\n\tI looked at the little Sloth Man. \"Thank you,\" I said. He nodded, smiling. \"Has anyone been here looking for me?\"\n\t\"[i]He[/i] came,\" said the Sayer.\n\t\"The one who made you?\" I asked.\n\tThe Sayer nodded. \"He wanted to know if you were here.\"\n\t\"And you didn't tell him?\" I asked, surprised.\n\t\"You were struck by His lightning-flash,\" he said, indicating the wound in my side.\n\t\"I don't understand,\" I said.\n\t\"Have you broken the Law?\" the Sayer asked.\n\tI shrugged. \"Not that I know of.\"\n\t\"Do you know the Law?\"\n\t\"No.\"\n\tA large creature beside the Sayer who looked like a cross between a bull and a bear spoke in a deep, rumbling voice. \"He is a Man. He must know the Law.\"\n\t\"He is not like the others,\" said the Sayer.\n\t\"He is not a five-man!\" cried a black-faced ape-like creature excitedly, holding up his five-fingered hand. \"Not like me!\"\n\t\"There was no boat!\" said a satyr-like creature, evidently a combination of goat and ape. \"Not when he came here!\"\n\tThe Sayer leaned forward, peering at me. \"You were not made in the House of Pain?\"\n\t\"No,\" I said. \"I wasn't.\"\n\t\"You did not come on a boat?\"\n\tI shook my head. \"No.\"\n\t\"And you did not break the Law?\"\n\t\"I told you, I don't know.\"\n\t\"He must learn the Law!\" shouted the Ape Man.\n\tThe Sayer nodded. \"You must learn the Law if you are to stay with us.\"\n\t\"All right,\" I said, squatting down. \"Teach me.\"\n\t\"Say the words,\" said the Sayer. The others echoed him in a deep, swelling rumble. Then he launched into a long litany, the others repeating each line, swaying and smacking their knees with their hands. I followed along, feeling as though I was in the middle of a revival meeting, or attending some cult ritual.\n\t\"Not to go on all-Fours; [i]that[/i] is the Law. Are we not Men?\"\n\t\"Not to suck up Drink; [i]that[/i] is the Law. Are we not Men?\"\n\t\"Not to eat Flesh or Fish; [i]that[/i] is the Law. Are we not Men?\"\n\t\"Not to claw Bark of Trees; [i]that[/i] is the Law. Are we not Men?\"\n\t\"Not to chase other Men; [i]that[/i] is the Law. Are we not Men?\"\n\tIt went on like that, line after line of prohibitions aimed at elevating them above the beasts they'd been, and as it continued the Beast Folk got more and more excited, while I suppressed a giggle at the knowledge that nearly a century from now the rock band Devo would use the refrain \"Are we not Men?\" as a song lyric.\n\t\"[i]His[/i] is the House of Pain,\" chanted the Sayer, as I and the others followed his lead. \"[i]His[/i] is the Hand that makes. [i]His[/i] is the Hand that wounds. [i]His[/i] is the Hand that heals. [i]His[/i] is the lightning-flash. [i]His[/i] is the deep salt sea. [i]His[/i] are the stars in the sky.\"\n\tI shook my head. Moreau had set himself up as a god to his creations, and while his reasons may have had more to do with self-preservation than with vanity, I couldn't help thinking about the as-yet-unwritten Kipling story \"The Man Who Would Be King\" and its lesson about what happens to people who try to pass themselves off as gods when they're found out.\n\t\"Evil are the punishments of those who break the Law,\" said the Sayer. \"None escape.\"\n\t\"None escape,\" the Beast Folk echoed, glancing furtively at each other.\n\tThe recitation of the Law having concluded, the Sayer gazed at me. \"Have you broken the Law?\" he asked again, and I suddenly realized that I'd been on trial this whole time. They wanted to know if I deserved the punishment their god had inflicted on me. That was why they hadn't handed me over to him when he'd come looking for me, though why they hadn't just asked him what I'd done I couldn't fathom. Perhaps they wanted to decide for themselves whether or not I was guilty, knowing the horrible fate that awaited me if I was.\n\t\"No,\" I said promptly. This was not a situation where honesty was the best policy.\n\tThe Sayer gestured at my wounded side. \"Then why this?\"\n\tI looked down at the wound. \"It was an accident.\"\n\tHis hair-covered face somehow managed to convey incredulity. \"An accident?\"\n\tI shrugged. \"Accidents happen.\" Nothing in the Law had said their god was infallible.\n\t\"We should take him to the House of Pain,\" said an old Fox-Bear Woman.\n\t\"He has done no wrong,\" countered the Bull-Bear Man.\n\t\"So he says. Suppose he lies?\" Her amber vulpine eyes narrowed at me accusingly. There were murmurs all around.\n\t\"We do not know that,\" said the Bull-Bear Man. The others were turning their heads, watching the conversation as it bounced back and forth like a game of tennis.\n\t\"[i]He[/i] wants him!\" the Fox-Bear Woman insisted. \"[i]He[/i] asked for him! He [i]must[/i] have done something! We should give him to [i]Him[/i]!\"\n\t\"You have been saying that since he came here!\" the Bull-Bear Man shot back.\n\t\"It is dangerous to keep him!\" she hissed.\n\tThe Bull-Bear Man snorted. \"There is nothing in the Law against it. You know that as well as anyone.\"\n\tThe Sayer nodded. \"It is even so.\"\n\tThe Fox-Bear Woman spat on the ground and hobbled off. The other Beast Folk began filtering away. Apparently, we were done. At least for now.\n\tI turned to the Sayer and the Bull-Bear Man. \"Thank you for taking my side,\" I said. I actually felt bad about having to lie to them.\n\t\"The Law is the Law,\" said the Sayer of the Law. He began lumbering toward one of the thatch-covered recesses in the side of the ravine. \"Come with me. We must talk more.\"\n\tI nodded and moved to follow him. As I did, I noticed one of the Beast Folk watching me. He was a big, burly fellow with spots across his body, a wide face with small black eyes, thick toes with hoof-like nails, and prominent tusks jutting up from his lower jaw. A shiver ran down my spine. I had known someone like him on Monster Island, a vicious manimal called Hyena-Swine. It seemed that my Dr. Moreau had re-created this Beast Man from Wells's novel over a century later. Hyena-Swine had hated me, and had tried to kill me more than once. I hoped that the future wouldn't loop back into the past and repeat itself as I followed the Sayer into his den.\n\tI entered a semicircular chamber in the side of the ravine, wrinkling my nose at the rank smell that permeated the place. The Sloth Man came in behind me and perched himself on a rough wooden stool, while the Sayer of the Law sat down heavily in a dark corner and gestured with one thick-fingered hand at a pile of coconuts and multicolored fruits lying against one rocky wall. \"You must be hungry,\" the Sayer said. \"Eat.\"\n\t\"Thank you,\" I said. I squatted down, picked up a coconut that had been cracked open, and began gnawing on the white meat inside.\n\tThey watched me for a minute as I ate, and then the Sayer broached the subject that was troubling his brain. \"If you were not made in the House of Pain, and you did not come on a boat, then where do you come from?\"\n\t\"I can't tell you that,\" I replied.\n\t\"We gave you shelter,\" he said, sounding hurt, \"healed your wounds.\"\n\tI nodded. \"And I appreciate it.\"\n\t\"If He knew, evil would fall upon us.\"\n\tI looked at him. \"Do you want me to leave?\"\n\tHe didn't reply, just kept watching me as I scraped the last of the coconut from its shell with my big buck teeth. I picked up a fruit I didn't recognize and bit into it. It was tart and stringy, and had a bitter aftertaste.\n\t\"Why did He wound you?\" the Sayer asked, finally.\n\tI wasn't surprised that he hadn't been fooled by my story about it being an accident. He seemed to be a bit more intelligent than the others. \"He wanted to do something to me, and I didn't want him to.\"\n\t\"And so he punished you,\" said the Sayer.\n\tI nodded, munching on the fruit.\n\t\"He will come again,\" said the Sayer. \"You should not be here when He does.\"\n\t\"Can I have my loincloth back?\" I asked.\n\tThe Sayer glanced at the Sloth Man, who climbed down off his stool and left the chamber. A minute later he returned, holding my loincloth out to me. It had been washed clean of blood. I accepted it, took off the blanket I had wrapped around my waist, handed it back to him, and put the loincloth back on. I looked at both of them, feeling sorry for these tragic creatures. They had both been kind to me, but sooner or later they were destined to revert to bestial states. Moreau may have altered their bodies, grafted foreign tissue onto them, but Nature could not be denied indefinitely. Eventually, their genes would begin to reassert themselves. \"Thank you,\" was all I could think to say.\n\tAs I turned to leave, the Ape Man scampered into the ravine, gesticulating wildly. \"A boat comes! A boat comes!\" he jabbered.\n\t\"Is there a new five-man on it?\" I asked, as the Beast Folk murmured among themselves.\n\t\"Yes, yes!\" said the Ape Man\t, grinning. \"A five-man like me!\" Then his bright eyes blinked. \"How did you know?\"\n\t\"Take me to the House of Pain,\" I said firmly. When he continued staring blankly at me, I shouted, \"Now!\"\n\tThe Ape Man flinched, then nodded and began leading me out of the ravine. I heard the other Beast Folk muttering behind my back, but I couldn't make out what they were saying.\n\n\tWe climbed a path that wound up from the ravine between two knotty masses of black scoria. To our left, past a shoulder of rock, I could see the blue of the ocean. We crossed a bare place covered with yellow-white encrustation, then came to a patch of charred, brown trees. As we plunged into the green jungle, I took the opportunity to inspect my guide further. I couldn't tell exactly what kind of ape he'd been, but he was definitely a simian, with a black face, a large mouth that was almost lipless, lanky arms, thin feet, and bow legs. He walked with his heavy face thrust forward. Like many of the Beast Folk, he wore a jacket and trousers of blue serge.\n\tAfter what seemed like an eternity of pushing through ferns, bushes, and dense tangles of creeper vines, the jungle gave way to a thicket of bamboo, then to open sand, and we found ourselves facing the ocean, the House of Pain a few hundred yards to our left. In the distance, I could see the sails of a schooner disappearing over the horizon. That must be the [i]Ipecacuanha[/i]. Before the House of Pain, a two-masted launch lay in a crude slip exacavated in the beach, and tethered to its stern was a small wooden dinghy, half full of water. As the surf jostled the dinghy about, its transom turned toward me for a moment, and I could make out the name painted on it: [i]Lady Vain[/i].\n\t\"Prendick's here,\" I said to nobody.\n\t\"What?\" the Ape Man asked.\n\t\"The new five-man,\" I explained.\n\t\"Prendick's here,\" said the Ape Man. \"The new five-man. Prendick's here. The new five-man. Prendick's here. The new five-man.\" He kept on repeating this.\n\tI looked at him, puzzled. \"What are you doing?\"\n\tHe grinned at me. \"It's a big think!\"\n\t\"A big think?\" I asked, raising an eyebrow.\n\tHe nodded, still grinning.\n\tI shrugged and turned my attention back to the launch. There were three Beast Men in the process of unloading it. They were all about seven feet tall, and their bodies were entirely wrapped in dirty cloth, like mummies, with only their faces exposed. Even their hands and feet were covered. Their faces were brown and narrow, with protruding lower jaws and lank black hair, and their bodies were abnormally long, their thighs short and twisted. I found out later they'd been made from oxen.\n\tSomething scampered swiftly past us through the undergrowth. I spun to see what it was and was rewarded with a stab of pain from the half-healed bullet wound in my left side. I put my hand over it, gritting my teeth, and spied the source of the movement. It was a rabbit. \n\t\"What's that doing here?\" I asked in astonishment as it ran off.\n\t\"The Other with the whip brought them,\" the Ape Man replied. \"He brought them today!\"\n\tHe couldn't be referring to Moreau; they wouldn't call him the Other. And he couldn't mean Prendick, who wouldn't be bringing rabbits. That left only Montgomery. \"That idiot!\" I growled. \"Doesn't he realize they'll eat this island down to nothing?\" Then I stopped as I heard the crack of a whip from the House of Pain, followed by a cry of anguish. A human cry. I gritted my teeth. \"I have to get in there!\"\n\t\"Why do you want to go in there?\" asked the Ape Man. \"Only pain is in there!\"\n\tI ignored his question and began jogging toward the House of Pain as fast as I could without risking reopening my wound. I looked back at my simian companion. \"Come on!\" I ordered him. He hesitated a moment, then meekly followed me. More whip cracks and screams emanated from the place, which made the Ape Man stop and cower, forcing me to urge him on. I could hear the barking of dogs inside.\n\tWe reached the near wall of the enclosure, and I stood looking up at it. Climbing it had been easy enough before, but I hadn't been wounded then. Now, it was problematical—but now, fortunately, I wasn't alone. I looked at the Ape Man. \"I need you to help me to the top of the wall,\" I said.\n\tHe shook his head vigorously.\n\tI sighed with exasperation. \"Look, you don't have to go inside, but I need to find out what's going on in there!\" When he still demurred, I added, \"I'll give you more big thinks.\"\n\tHe appeared intrigued by that possibility, and after considering it for a moment, he looped one lank, hairy arm around my waist and began clambering nimbly up the wall, carrying me as if I weighed nothing, his long fingers and toes finding easy purchase on the crudely mortared rocks. We attained the top and flattened ourselves against it, looking down on the courtyard.\n\tMoreau was standing facing the corner of the enclosure to our immediate left, a whip clutched in one hand. Before him, cowering in the corner, was a man of about thirty, with blond hair, a straw-colored mustache, watery gray eyes, and a drooping lower lip. There were several gashes in his blue serge jacket and trousers, with angry red welts visible beneath them. A short distance away, another man stood watching the proceedings. He was short and broad, with a crooked back and a hairy neck. His black face projected forward in a sort of muzzle, with a huge mouth containing large white teeth. His eyes were hazel, with scarcely any white, and his head was covered with coarse black hair. He, too, wore a blue serge jacket and trousers. Knowing what I did, I could tell immediately that he was a Beast Man, though Moreau had modified him enough that he could pass for a particularly ugly and deformed human. He stood there gazing at the blond man and whimpering. Also in the courtyard were six brown-and-white hounds tethered to a post and barking furiously; a llama, also tethered to a post; and a puma in an iron cage, hunkered down and snarling.\n\t\"I'll ask again,\" Moreau growled at the blond man, \"who have you sold me out to? Was it Huxley?\" He must mean Thomas Henry Huxley, one of the foremost British biologists of the late 19th century, also known as \"Darwin's Bulldog\" for his vigorous advocacy of Darwin's theory of evolution. \"Confound it, Montgomery, answer me!\" \n\t\"Don't be a silly ass, Moreau!\" Montgomery said, panting, his sweat darkening his clothes. \"I haven't sold you out to anyone, least of all Huxley! Where did you get that idea?\"\n\t\"Prendick let it slip that he'd done some research under him,\" Moreau replied. \"You're together in this, aren't you?\"\n\tMontgomery shook his head. \"I don't know what you're talking about. Prendick was rescued at sea, as I told you. We found him adrift in that dinghy. He's the survivor of a shipwreck.\"\n\tMoreau sneered. \"You just happened to stumble upon one of Huxley's former students in the middle of the ocean! And the captain of that schooner just happened to throw him off here! Do you think I'm a fool, man?\"\n\t\"That captain was a drunken ass!\" Montgomery yelled. \"It was all I could do to keep him from throwing M'ling overboard!\" He gestured at the Beast Man who stood watching their exchange.\n\t\"I am not letting that popinjay steal my life's work!\" shouted Moreau. \"Not after he and his damned Royal Society ran me out of England!\" \n\t\"I'm telling you,\" protested Montgomery, \"I'm not working for Huxley! I've never even spoken to the man!\"\n\t\"Liar!\" roared Moreau, and struck with his whip. It slashed across Montgomery's chest, tearing a rent in his jacket and gouging the flesh beneath. M'ling cringed as the man screamed in pain, and my fur bristled as I watched helplessly from atop the wall. I had no love for Montgomery—he was Moreau's accomplice and complicit in his atrocities—but I didn't like seeing anyone tortured. I'd had my fill of that on Monster Island. More importantly, he was the only one who might be able to get me what I wanted. Moreau sure as hell wasn't going to.\n\t\"Alvin was here,\" said Moreau, glowering at Montgomery. \"He wanted the extract.\"\n\t\"Who the bloody hell is Alvin?\" asked Montgomery, nearly hysterical.\n\t\"You know very well who he is,\" growled Moreau. \"Good god, man, I knew you had a fondness for my creations, but I never imagined it could go that far!\"\n\tMontgomery stared at him. \"What in God's name are you talking about?\"\n\tMoreau leaned toward him, black eyes narrowed. \"Your son!\"\n\tI blinked. Did Moreau actually think I was Montgomery's son? Of course he did! It explained everything—my presence here on the island, the fact that I could speak English, and why I looked so much more human than any of the other Beast Folk. Moreau had said he suspected how I knew so much about his work. Who else could I have learned it from? And given his lack of understanding of the nature of heredity—which was beyond the knowledge of his time—it wasn't unreasonable for him to believe that Montgomery had fathered me with one of his Beast Folk. My hat was off to Dr. Moreau. He may have reached the absolute wrong conclusion, but it was completely consistent with the facts as he knew them. Sherlock Holmes himself couldn't have made a better deduction.\n\tMontgomery shook his head. \"I haven't got a son. I've never even been married.\"\n\t\"I must admit,\" said Moreau, \"it's something I'd never even considered, the possibility that humans and Beast Folk might be interfertile.\"\n\tMontgomery gasped. \"You can't possibly believe I would do such a thing!\"\n\tMoreau shrugged. \"Why not? Bestiality is certainly nothing new, and these animals have at least some measure of intelligence. You are an animal yourself. Your continued susceptibility to pain proves that well enough.\"\n\t\"It's monstrous!\" Montgomery protested. \"Not if there were no other women on Earth would I ever—\"\n\t\"Then explain the presence on this island of a boy with animal traits who speaks perfect English and knows all about my work!\" Moreau demanded.\n\tMontgomery laughed like a man who has surrendered to fate and has only laughter left to fight with. \"I'd say you've been out in the sun too long, old man!\"\n\tMoreau gestured at the dried blood footprints I'd left on the flagstones. \"Did the sun make those?\"\n\tMontgomery gazed at the reddish-brown footprints, his lower lip quivering, then back at Moreau. \"I swear to you, I have no knowledge of any of this. I haven't betrayed you, we found Prendick at sea, and I have no idea who this Alvin is!\"\n\tMoreau was silent for a long moment. \"Would you submit to hypnosis so I can verify that you are telling me the truth?\"\n\tMontgomery stared at him. \"Hypnosis?\"\n\tMoreau nodded. \"Men cannot lie while hypnotized. If you are telling the truth, you have nothing to fear, and I would be reassured that I can still trust you.\"\n\tMontgomery threw up his arms. \"Fine! Whatever it takes to satisfy you!\"\n\tMoreau reached into his jacket pocket, removed his revolver, and gestured with it toward the hut I'd first discovered him in. Montgomery hauled himself wearily to his feet and trudged toward the hut in an attitude of complete resignation. Moreau turned to M'ling. \"Get the ether from the surgical hut. I won't be able to hypnotize him while he's in pain. Also, bring some alcohol and some gauze and bandages so I can tend to his wounds.\" M'ling nodded and scurried toward the surgical hut while Moreau followed Montgomery.\n\tThe Ape Man shook his head. \"Never seen a five-man beat another five-man before!\"\n\t\"Happens all the time where I come from,\" I said. I sighed, fatigue overtaking me. I was in nowhere near top condition, with my bullet wound only partly healed, and I'd put way too much strain on my weakened body. I needed a place to rest and recover, but where? The Beast Folk colony certainly wasn't safe for me. Who knew if they'd decide to hand me over to Moreau if he came back? I wasn't even sure how far I could trust this Ape Man, but I didn't exactly have an abundance of options. I looked at him hopefully. \"Is there a place where no one will find me?\"\n\tHe grinned at me eagerly. \"I know a place!\"\n\t\"Would you take me there?\" I asked. \"I'll give you lots of big thinks.\"\n\tHe nodded, scooped me up with one arm, scampered down the wall as easily as if he were crossing a street, and carried me into the jungle. Somewhere along the way, I fell asleep.\n\n\tI awoke to find myself in a cave, lying beneath a blanket on a bed of palm fronds. The cave was actually an almost perfectly cylindrical tunnel, with smooth walls of black basaltic rock. One way led to a circular opening through which I could see trees and the sky. The other led off into darkness. I realized I was in a lava tube, a channel formed by molten rock flowing to the surface. Beside me lay a pile of various kinds of fruits. I picked one up and began eating it.\n\tI was on my third fruit when the Ape Man appeared in the opening and scampered over to me, grinning. \"You, you, you!\" he chattered.\n\t\"Yes,\" I said, nodding, \"it's me. I'm right here where you left me. Thanks for the food. How long was I asleep?\"\n\t\"A night, a day, and a second night,\" he replied.\n\t\"Anything interesting happen while I was out?\" I asked, picking up a fourth fruit.\n\t\"Screams from the House of Pain,\" the Ape Man said. \"A new Beast Man is coming.\"\n\t\"Must be the puma,\" I said, surprised by how casually I said it. After all, it meant that poor creature was suffering agony that defied comprehension as Moreau worked his horrible skill upon it. I was no stranger to pain and death, but I wasn't normally so callous about it. If I'd been back in Millennium City, I'd have felt compelled to stop what Moreau was doing. That was why I'd become Nightmunk in the first place, to save lives and stop suffering. And yet, I felt strangely unmoved. Perhaps it was because this wasn't Millennium City, it was the island of Dr. Moreau, and this was something that [i]must[/i] happen because it [i]had[/i] happened. Interfering in these events could have dire consequences, particularly to myself, since my own creation was tied to them.\n\t\"The new five-man was out,\" said the Ape Man. \"I talked to him. He was hungry, so I took him to the huts, and he ate and learned the Law.\"\n\t\"Did you tell him about me?\" I asked anxiously.\n\tHe shook his head. \"No. He is a silly Man. He ran into the sea!\"\n\tI blinked. \"He drowned himself?\"\n\t\"No. [i]He[/i] and the Other with the whip took him back to the House of Pain. Also, the Leopard Man chased him!\"\n\t\"Isn't that against the Law?\" I asked. \"It specifically says not to chase other Men.\"\n\tThe Ape Man shrugged. \"It was night.\"\n\t\"So what? The Sayer said 'The Law is the Law.'\"\n\tThe Ape Man looked away pensively. \"Not always.\"\n\t\"You mean Beast People do things at night they wouldn't do during the day?\"\n\tHe turned his back to me, sitting there hunched over. \"You said you would give me big thinks,\" he said sullenly. \"You promised.\"\n\t\"Yes, I did,\" I said, nodding. I thought for a moment, then launched into a rendition of \"Eleanor Rigby.\" He stared at me as I sang, seeming mesmerized by the melancholy lyrics. When I finished, he asked me to sing it again, which I did, the Ape Man following along with me, his eyes fixed on mine. We performed this weird duet three more times, until he was satisfied he had it down.\n\t\"A face in a jar by the door!\" he said, grinning excitedly as he immediately got the line wrong. That should keep him happy for a while at any rate, and I was reasonably certain there was zero probability that his words would find their way to the ears of John Lennon and Paul McCartney eighty years hence, thus avoiding a causality paradox like the one in [i]Back to the Future[/i], where Marty McFly inadvertantly inspires Chuck Berry.\n\tI stayed in the lava tube for three more days, making occasional forays outside to stretch my legs, get some fresh air, and bathe in a nearby pool, until my bullet wound was more or less healed and I'd regained my full strength. The Ape Man came and went as he pleased, bringing me food, and I taught him more big thinks, mainly song lyrics, which he seemed to enjoy, even if he had no idea what they meant. Then again, I've heard humans do the same thing, like children singing \"Ring Around the Rosey,\" unaware that it refers to the Black Death.\n\tI tried to think of how to get what I'd come here for. Moreau had mentioned some kind of extract, but I had no idea what it was an extract of, what it was called, or what it looked like. Logically, it should be in the surgical hut, but there must be hundreds of jars of chemicals in there. Montgomery would know which one it was, but how could I get him to tell me? He had no reason to trust or help me, particularly since I was partly responsible for him being whipped. Maybe, if I could get him away from Moreau, I could force it out of him, but Prendick's arrival complicated things. I wanted to avoid any contact with him so as not to accidentally change history.\n\tI also thought about Julie and how she must be worrying about me. In the two years we'd been living together, we'd never been apart this long before, and being without her was almost unbearable. I found myself craving the sound of her voice, the touch of her hand. I wished I could let her know I was all right, but that was impossible without my damned watch, and I hadn't felt competent enough to go out and search for it. So I lay on my bed of palm fronds each night, lonely and miserable, missing her.\n\tOn the third day, I was outside practicing my [i]kata[/i] when the bellow of a cowherd's horn sounded in the distance. A minute later, the Ape Man came crashing out of the jungle, hooting and flailing his arms around. \"The horn has sounded! The Beast Folk gather! [i]He[/i] is there, and the two Others!\"\n\tI stopped and turned toward him, panting hard in the tropical heat from my exertions. \"What's going on?\" I asked.\n\tHe shook his head vigorously. \"I don't know! I don't know! But all Beast Folk must come! Come, come!\" He beckoned to me with a long, hairy arm.\n\tI considered the situation. I was no slavish Beast Man to come running at Moreau's beck and call. I'd left that mentality behind when I'd left Monster Island. Plus, I wanted to avoid Prendick if at all possible. But it was also a chance to nab Montgomery, and that was tempting. Maybe I could stay out of sight and wait for an opportunity to present itself. If none arose, I could always fade back into the jungle. \"All right,\" I said, and followed.\n\tThe Ape Man and I ran together through the dense green foliage, through a canebrake, to the edge of a shallow natural amphitheater whose floor was covered with yellow sulfurous dust, residue from a nearby hot spring. I wrinkled my nose at the acrid smell of the sulfur. In the center of the amphitheater stood Moreau, Montgomery, and M'ling. With them was a slim, blond man who must be Prendick, dressed in the blue serge jacket and trousers that was the standard here, his skin not nearly as bronzed as Moreau's and Montgomery's. Around them at a distance of about thirty yards were several dozen Beast People, groveling servilely in the yellow dust and throwing it atop their heads, chanting, independently of each other, \"[i]His[/i] is the Hand that Makes, [i]His[/i] is the Hand that Wounds, [i]His[/i] is the Hand that Heals,\" and so on. The three humans stood there surrounded by Beast Folk, armed with whips and revolvers, while M'ling carried a small hatchet. A large cowherd's horn hung from Moreau's shoulder.\n\t\"Sixty-two, sixty-three,\" counted Moreau. \"There are four more.\"\n\t\"I do not see the Leopard Man,\" said Prendick, surveying the crowd, his eyes wide with fear and revulsion at the Beast People.\n\tMoreau raised the horn to his lips and blew it again, the note rolling over the Beast Folk and echoing through the leafy jungle as they bowed and scraped and writhed in the dust. From my position I could see the Leopard Man slink out of the canebrake and join the dust-throwing circle behind Moreau's back. The Ape Man looked back at me expectantly, but I shook my head, crouching low to avoid being seen. He shrugged and advanced into the open, the last to join, which earned him angry glares from the other Beast Folk.\n\t\"Cease!\" Moreau commanded, and all the Beast Folk instantly fell silent. \"Where is the Sayer of the Law?\"\n\tThe Sayer crawled forward, his hair-covered face in the dust.\n\t\"Say the words,\" Moreau ordered. Immediately, the Beast Folk began repeating the Law. When they reached the part about not eating flesh or fish, Moreau held up his hand. \"Stop!\" Again, there was total silence. \"That Law has been broken.\"\n\t\"None escape,\" said the Sayer.\n\t\"None escape,\" echoed the crowd.\n\t\"Who is he?\" cried Moreau, scanning the sea of grotesque faces and cracking his whip. I noticed that both the Leopard Man and the Hyena-Swine looked nervous. Moreau turned his gaze on the Leopard Man, who shrank beneath it. \"Who is he?\" Moreau roared at him.\n\t\"Evil is he who breaks the Law,\" said the Sayer.\n\tMoreau glared down at the Leopard Man like an Old Testament prophet. \"Who breaks the Law—\" he said, looking out across the crowd.\n\t \"—goes back to the House of Pain,\" the crowd chanted, \"goes back to the House of Pain, O Master!\"\n\t\"Back to the House of Pain!\" cheered the Ape Man excitedly, hopping up and down. \"Back to the House of Pain!\"\n\t\"Do you hear?\" Moreau said, turning back to the Leopard Man. \"My friend . . . Hullo!\"\n\tThe Leopard Man sprang at Moreau, eyes blazing, slamming into him, and Moreau staggered backward. The crowd rose as one, yelling and howling in a swirling chaos of movement. Prendick drew his revolver, his face white with fear, as the Leopard Man bolted past him with M'ling in hot pursuit. Moreau, Prendick, and the rest of the Beast Folk ran after them, while Montgomery hesitated a moment and then headed off at a right angle to the others, evidently intending to flank the Leopard Man. His course was taking him close to my hiding place, and he was still in the amphitheater after all the others had plunged into the canebrake.\n\tThis was perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better setup. I burst out of the canebrake, my bare feet pounding the yellow dust, attempting to intercept Montgomery. He saw me coming, and I got a brief glimpse of his face, his mouth a comical \"O\" of surprise as he raised his right arm to fire his revolver. I leaped at him, knocking his gun aside with my left hand as my right arm wrapped around his neck, and we fell together into the dust.\n\tI squirmed around behind him, my right leg hooking around his right arm, pinning it, my arms locked around his neck in a chokehold. \"Hi, dad!\" I said in his ear.\n\t\"What?\" he gasped, struggling against my hold. \"Alvin?\"\n\t\"That's right,\" I said, tightening my grip. \"I want the extract that stops tissue rejection. Take me to it.\"\n\t\"What do you want with that?\" he asked, grunting as he strained against me.\n\t\"That's not important,\" I said. \"What is important is that I can break your neck any time I feel like it. As you've no doubt noticed, I'm stronger than I look. Now, let go of your gun and whip.\" When he hesitated, I squeezed, and he cried out in pain. \"Do it, or you're dead!\" \n\tHe opened his hands, letting the gun and whip fall from them. I planted my left foot beneath his back and thrust him forward, sending him sprawling face-down in the dust. As he scrambled to his feet, I kipped up and grabbed the gun and whip. I stood there for a moment looking at them as Montgomery whirled to face me, staring in disbelief. \"I feel like Indiana Jones,\" I said, grinning up at him, \"only he never looked this good in a loincloth.\"\n\t\"What the devil are you talking about?\" Montgomery sputtered furiously. \"What are you? You're not one of Moreau's. Where did you come from?\"\n\t\"A better question would be 'How long before the furry little freak gets bored and decides to blow my head off?'\" I aimed the revolver and pulled back the hammer with my thumb. \"One . . . two . . .\"\n\t\"Stop!\" Montgomery cried, holding up his hands before him. \"For God's sake, please, don't!\" He looked at me desperately, his gray eyes pleading.\n\t\"Are you going to take me to the extract?\" I asked. He nodded frantically. \"Then lay on, Macduff.\"\n\tHe blinked. \"You know Shakespeare?\"\n\tI grinned. \"I'm an extremely well-read Beast Man.\" I gestured with the gun. \"Move.\"\n\tHe turned and began trudging sullenly away from the amphitheater with me behind him. Then we both froze at the sound of a distant gunshot.\n\t\"I'm guessing that's the end of the Leopard Man,\" I said grimly.\n\t\"It must have been that ass, Prendick,\" said Montgomery. \"Moreau wanted him taken alive.\"\n\t\"That puts Prendick way above you two in my book,\" I said. \"Come on, let's go.\"\n\tAs we made our way through the jungle, I asked Montgomery, \"What did the Leopard Man do to bring the wrath of God down on his head?\"\n\t\"He killed a rabbit,\" Montgomery said.\n\t\"You mean one of the rabbits [i]you[/i] brought here?\"\n\tMontgomery nodded. \"I was a silly ass.\"\n\t\"I'll say. Haven't you heard what happened in Australia? And to dangle prey in front of a predator and then tell him not to eat it? What did you [i]think[/i] would happen?\"\n\tHe shot a vicious glance back at me. \"I wanted meat, and Moreau said I might have them!\"\n\tI sneered. \"Oh, did he? Well, that just tells me you're [i]both[/i] idiots, on top of being sadistic bastards! How do you know it was the Leopard Man who killed the rabbit?\"\n\t\"Prendick found another one murdered on his first day here. He saw the Leopard Man drinking from a stream just before.\"\n\t\"Sucking up drink,\" I said, \"which is also against the Law.\"\n\tMontgomery nodded. \"And he chased Prendick that first night.\" He sighed. \"I don't understand it. They all have the proscriptions of the Law implanted in their minds with hypnosis—not to eat flesh, not to suck up drink, not to chase other Men, and so forth.\"\n\tThat sent a shiver down my spine, as someone had hynotically implanted ideas in my mind not so long ago. \"I have it on good authority that the Law weakens at night. Apparently, their animal natures reassert themselves when the sun goes down.\" A thought occurred to me. \"Is that how Moreau makes you serve him, by hypnosis?\"\n\tMontgomery looked indignant. \"Certainly not! I'm not a Beast Man!\"\n\t\"Then what hold does he have over you, Montgomery? Why are you here? You're clearly not a complete monster. You saved Prendick's life on the [i]Ipecacuanha[/i].\"\n\tHe stared at me. \"How do you know about that?\"\n\tI grinned. \"I have my sources.\"\n\tMontgomery scowled as he trekked through the jungle in front of me. \"It's chance,\" he said finally, \"as everything is in a man's life. Only the asses won't see it. I lost my head for ten minutes on a foggy night in London eleven years ago.\"\n\t\"And that brought you to this place, serving a madman like Moreau? Sounds to me like there's a whole lot of steps missing from that equation.\"\n\tHe glared back at me. \"I don't feel any need to explain myself to you, since you refuse to do the same.\"\n\tI nodded. \"Fair enough. I'm not really that interested in your reasons. I was just thinking Moreau might have hypnotized you without your knowing it.\"\n\tMontgomery snorted. \"Ridiculous!\"\n\t\"Is it? You're an alcoholic, Montgomery. I can see it in your face—your bloodshot eyes, the veins on your ears and nose, your slurred speech. Who knows what mischief Moreau might have gotten up to when you were in your cups?\"\n\tHe shook his head. \"I would have remembered.\" I could hear growing unease in his voice.\n\t\"Hypnosis can make you forget things,\" I reminded him. \"Trust me, I've had first-hand experience in that area.\"\n\tHe lapsed into silence as we continued walking.\n\n\tWe arrived at the House of Pain, and Montgomery produced a key from his jacket pocket and unlocked the front gate. We entered the courtyard, and the hounds began barking, straining at their leashes. Immediately, I noticed a change from my last visit. The llama was still there, tethered to its post and munching placidly on a pile of hay, but the cage that had held the puma was empty. Montgomery led me toward the surgical hut, and as we approached I sniffed the air and scented blood and antiseptic wafting from it.\n\tEntering the hut, I saw a body swathed in bandages lying on an operating table. I'd expected that. Moreau must be in the process of transforming the puma into one of his Beast Folk. I didn't even want to think about the suffering that poor creature had endured. I was sorely tempted to put a bullet in its head right now, but I didn't want to alter the past any more than I already had. \n\tI turned to Montgomery, who was gazing at the puma. \"It's healing just now,\" he said, \"deeply anesthetized. The work is about a quarter done. It will be at least a week before we can begin the next stage of the surgery.\" I noticed an odd look in his eye, a sort of admiration. It made anger well up inside me.\n\t\"Why?\" I asked. \"Why is Moreau doing this? What end could possibly justify the torment he's putting these creatures through?\"\n\tMontgomery shook his head. \"The pain doesn't matter to him. 'A little thing,' he calls it. He doesn't feel it, you see?\"\n\tI stared at him. \"He doesn't feel pain?\"\n\t\"I once saw him accidentally cut his hand with a scalpel, a nice deep cut. He just looked at it, calmly as you will, then poured some antiseptic on it, which must have burned like the devil, and began stitching it up. If it had been me, I should have been yelling my fool head off, but he never made a sound, never so much as changed his expression. I asked him how he could stand the pain without flinching. He told me it didn't hurt him a pinprick. Pain, he said, was for animals. With men, the more intelligent they become, the more intelligently they can see to their own welfare, and the less they need pain to protect them.\"\n\tI nodded. There were neurological conditions that caused people to have reduced sensitivity to pain, and it was also possible, through rigorous mental discipline, to make yourself immune to it, at least temporarily. Hell, Julie could do that, thanks to the ninja skills she'd absorbed when she was possessed. If Moreau truly didn't feel pain, it might go a long way toward explaining his disinterest in the pain he inflicted on others. He couldn't empathize with them because he couldn't understand what they were going through. \n\t\"But even if he doesn't care about the pain,\" I persisted, \"that still doesn't explain why. What good is coming from all this?\"\n\tMontgomery gave a short, mirthless laugh. \"I don't think he's ever troubled himself with that question. With him, it's an obsession, almost a religion. The ethics of it mean nothing to him. That thing on the table,\" he gestured at the puma, \"isn't an animal to him, it's a problem in need of solving. His dream is to burn out all the animal in it and turn it into a rational creature.\"\n\t\"Like those sad wretches in the ravine?\" I asked accusingly.\n\t\"He has no interest in them,\" Montgomery replied. \"He can barely stand to look at them. They remind him of his failure.\"\n\tI struggled to wrap my head around this. My Dr. Moreau had at least had a practical, if insane, goal—to create legions of manimal soldiers who would help him to rule the world. But this one's aim was both simpler and purer—to see just how far he could go. I wasn't sure which one was more terrifying.\n\t\"He's going to continue to fail,\" I said.\n\tMontgomery raised an eyebrow. \"What makes you say that?\"\n\t\"Because there are things about the nature of life he doesn't understand. He thinks that by sculpting their bodies and minds he can turn them into anything he wants, but he's wrong. There's something intrinsic in living things that he can't change.\"\n\t\"And how would a Beast Man know that?\" he asked suspiciously.\n\t\"I have certain advantages he lacks,\" I replied.\n\t\"Such as?\"\n\t\"Never mind that. Where's the extract?\"\n\tHe turned, went to a shelf, took down a brown glass bottle, and offered it to me. I laid my whip on the counter and accepted it. Inside was about a pint of some sort of clear, dark fluid. I looked up at him. \"How do I know this is really it?\" I asked.\n\tMontgomery smirked. \"I suppose you'll just have to trust me, won't you?\"\n\tI smirked back. \"Yeah, right! What is this an extract of, anyway?\"\n\t\"It's from a plant of the genus [i]Epidendrum[/i],\" he replied.\n\tI blinked. \"An orchid?\"\n\t\"You know about orchids?\" he asked, surprised.\n\t\"Charles Darwin wrote a treatise on them that helped lay the groundwork for his theory of evolution. I've read it. Fascinating stuff, especially as it applies to his later work.\"\n\t\"You've read Darwin,\" he said skeptically.\n\t\"I've read [i]The Origin of Species[/i] and [i]The Descent of Man[/i], cover to cover. He's kind of a hobby of mine. By the way, he was right.\"\n\t\"Next you'll be telling me you wrote the Magna Carta,\" Montgomery scoffed.\n\tI frowned. \"Why is it so hard to accept that a Beast Man could know as much as a human? Must be that Victorian arrogance. You're the pinnacle of creation, everyone else is inferior.\"\n\tHe shrugged. \"Well, the sun never sets on the British empire, you know.\"\n\tI grinned. \"For now.\" I looked down at the bottle. \"I'm still not convinced this is the real McCoy.\"\n\t\"The what?\" Montgomery asked blankly.\n\tI ignored his question. \"If it prevents tissue rejection, then it must somehow interfere with the immune system. And the immune system is what causes allergic reactions. Unfortunately, I don't have any allergies.\" I looked at Montgomery. \"Is there anything you're allergic to?\"\n\t\"Only raspberries,\" he replied. \"They make me break out in hives.\"\n\t\"I don't suppose there are any raspberries on this island.\"\n\t\"Shockingly, I didn't think to bring any,\" said Montgomery sardonically.\n\tI looked up at the shelves. \"There must be something here that can trigger an immune response.\" Then a thought occurred to me. \"But the extract can't suppress immunity completely, or the Beast Folk would all die of opportunistic infections.\"\n\t\"What the devil are you babbling on about?\" asked Montgomery, annoyed.\n\tI glanced at him. \"Haven't you heard about Pasteur's work on the germ theory of disease? No, of course you haven't, stuck on this island for the past eleven years. No access to medical journals out here.\" I continued scanning the shelves while Montgomery glared at me, insulted that a mere Beast Man knew more about current advances in medicine than he did. \"Antigens,\" I mused. \"Tissue rejection is caused by the immune system failing to recognize antigens on foreign cells. A skin graft would do it, but I haven't got time for you to perform one on me.\" \n\tThen I heard a whooshing sound behind me. I whirled just as Montgomery's whip wrapped around my right wrist, immobilizing the hand that held his revolver and preventing me from aiming at him. Apparently, he'd picked up the whip from the counter while I'd been distracted.\n\t\"I've gotten rather good with this thing,\" he said, grinning at me. He yanked the whip, and I fell forward, landing flat on my face. I held the bottle up so that it didn't break on the floor. I growled up at him, jumped to my feet, and yanked back. He came stumbling toward me, and I had the pleasure of seeing his stupid surprised face for the second time today as I rammed my foot into his abdomen. He fell to the floor, groaning and clutching his belly.\n\tI stood over him, pointing my gun. \"That was really dumb, Montgomery!\"\n\t\"Don't move, Alvin!\" came Moreau's voice from behind me. I froze, hating myself for being caught off guard. \"Now, drop the gun. Drop it, I say!\" I sighed and let my revolver clatter to the floor, standing with my arms raised. Moreau came over toward me, Prendick and M'ling with him. \"Are you all right?\" he asked Montgomery.\n\tMontgomery nodded, getting to his feet. \"Just got the wind knocked out of me,\" he said, glaring at me. \"Thank heavens you arrived when you did!\"\n\t\"I wouldn't have had to, if you hadn't been such a damned fool as to get yourself captured!\" growled Moreau. \"Take that bottle from him!\"\n\t\"If he takes one step toward me,\" I warned, \"I'll drop it. You can't do anything without this.\"\n\t\"You're assuming I don't have any more,\" said Moreau. \"That would be rather stupid of me, wouldn't it?\"\n\t\"You could be bluffing,\" I said, locking eyes with him.\n\tMoreau shrugged. \"Then go right ahead and drop it.\"\n\tI looked at the bottle. If this was the only sample, then destroying it would negate my whole reason for coming here. And Moreau's concern for it confirmed that it was indeed what I was looking for. \"You win,\" I said quietly, holding it out.\n\tMontgomery came over to me and snatched the bottle from my hand, scowling at me as he stooped to pick up the revolver as well. I glanced at Prendick, who was staring at me in abject disbelief.\n\t\"M'ling,\" said Moreau. \"Ether.\"\n\tThe Beast Man nodded, went to the counter, uncorked a bottle of clear, colorless fluid, and poured some on a cloth, holding it at arm's length. Even from across the hut, I could smell the potent fumes rising from it. He came over to me and put the cloth over my muzzle, and everything went black.\n\n\tWhen I awoke, I was lying on the floor of the iron cage that had held the puma. I sat up and looked around. I was in the courtyard, and it was night. The hounds and the llama were asleep. The only sound was the rustling of the treetops in the breeze and the distant rasp of the surf breaking on the sand.\n\tI stood up. The top of the cage was still several inches above my head, so I could stand fully upright. I wrapped my hands around the bars and pulled on them. They felt solid. I reached between them and explored the keyhole of the lock with a finger. I could probably pick it without too much trouble if I had anything to pick it with, but I didn't. I sighed. I'd made a real botch of my mission, getting myself shot and losing my recall device. I thought of what Julie must be going through, which made me feel depressed. I quickly pushed those thoughts away. They weren't helpful. \n\tI sat down in a lotus position on the floor of the cage, closed my eyes, and concentrated. A feeling of serenity filled my mind. Witchcraft—a member of the Champions—had taught me how to do this. She had told me this was the place in the heart and soul where peace and happiness dwell. I still don't know if it's an actual place or just a state of mind, but I don't suppose it really matters. What mattered was I wasn't scared, I wasn't angry, and I wasn't sad. I felt peaceful and calm.\n\tAfter a timeless time, I became aware of someone near me. I opened my eyes to see Prendick standing by the cage, looking down at me. I sighed. I'd hoped not to have to interact with him, but there was no longer any way of avoiding it. \"Hello, Mr. Prendick,\" I said.\n\t\"Hello . . . Alvin, is it?\" he replied.\n\t\"That's right. What can I do for you?\"\n\tHe seemed taken aback at someone locked in a cage addressing him so casually, but quickly recovered. \"You could explain what that business with the bottle was all about.\"\n\tI shook my head. \"I can't tell you that.\"\n\t\"Why not?\"\n\t\"Because it's a secret.\"\n\t\"Could you at least tell me what was in the bottle?\"\n\t\"Ask Moreau or Montgomery.\"\n\t\"I did. They won't say.\"\n\t\"I'm not surprised. Moreau thinks Thomas Huxley sent you to steal his work.\"\n\tPrendick blinked. \"Huxley?\"\n\tI nodded. \"It seems there's bad blood between them. Moreau blames him for driving him out of England. He even accused Montgomery of being your accomplice.\"\n\tPrendick looked dumbfounded. \"That's absurd! I escaped from a shipwreck! My being here is pure happenstance!\"\n\tI shrugged. \"You're a former student of Moreau's greatest enemy, and you just happened to show up on the remote island in the Pacific he's been hiding out on. You have to admit, it's kind of hard to swallow. If I were him, I'd be suspicious too.\"\n\t\"Huxley's had thousands of students!\" Prendick protested.\n\t\"Lower your voice!\" I hissed. \"You'll wake up the dogs!\"\n\tPrendick stared at me, no doubt surprised that a lowly Beast Man would give him an order. After all, he was a 19th century European, with a 19th century European's sense of innate superiority. He naturally expected anyone who wasn't a white male of the same or higher social class to be deferential and submissive toward him. After a moment, he continued, keeping his voice down. \"If I were Huxley's spy, would I be stupid enough to tell Moreau about my past association with him?\"\n\t\"You don't have to convince me. I believe you.\"\n\t\"Moreau actually thinks Montgomery and I are working together?\" Prendick asked.\n\t\"Not anymore,\" I replied. \"I'm pretty sure he used hypnosis to get the truth out of Montgomery.\"\n\t\"Then why hasn't he done the same with me?\"\n\tI smirked. \"How do you know he hasn't? He could have put you under and then made you forget.\" \n\tPrendick looked uncomfortable at this notion. I could sympathize, having been in that situation myself. \"You're remarkably intelligent and well-spoken for a Beast Man,\" he said at last.\n\t\"Compliments I don't need,\" I said. \"What I need is to get out of this cage.\"\n\t\"I can't help you there,\" said Prendick. \"I've no idea where the key is.\"\n\t\"I don't need a key; just get me something to pick the lock with. Anything thin and strong will do. There must be some surgical instruments in the hut that fit the bill.\"\n\tAt that moment, the door of the little apartment I'd escaped through on my first day opened and Moreau, Montgomery, and M'ling came out, M'ling holding a lantern while the other two held revolvers. Immediately, the dogs were on their feet, barking savagely. Apparently, M'ling's scent enraged them. I'd known a M'ling back on Monster Island, another instance of my Moreau naming one of his creations after one of his great-grandfather's Beast Men, but that M'ling had been a bear manimal who hadn't looked remotely human apart from his bipedal stance. I found out later that this M'ling had been made from a dog, a bear, and an ox. His eyes shined in the dark as the light from the lantern struck them.\n\t\"Hullo, what's going on?\" Prendick asked as they approached. \n\tMoreau didn't reply. Instead, he removed a key from his jacket, crouched down, and unlocked my cage while Montgomery kept me covered with his revolver. Then Moreau rose and stepped back. \"Come out, Alvin,\" he said.\n\tI emerged from the cage, looking up at both of them. \"Is this the part where you try to hypnotize me to find out how I know what I know?\" I asked casually.\n\tMoreau nodded. \"After I inject you with laudanum to make you more compliant.\"\n\tI grinned. \"I've never done opium before. This should be fun. Let's get to it!\"\n\tMoreau and Montgomery looked at each other in bemusement. Then Montgomery motioned toward the door to the apartment with his pistol, and I started walking.\n\tInside, Moreau told me to lie down in the deck chair, which I did, and Montgomery kept his gun trained on me while Prendick and M'ling watched. Moreau removed a syringe from a box in a pocket of his jacket, squirted it to make sure there were no air bubbles, and pressed the needle against my right arm.\n\t\"If I get an infection from a dirty needle,\" I said as the laudanum flowed from the syringe into my arm, \"I swear I'll sue your ass for malpractice.\"\n\t\"I assure you,\" said Moreau calmly, \"I take care to sterilize all my instruments.\"\n\t\"Of course. Can't have all that work lost to an ordinary infection.\"\n\t\"You're remarkably chipper for someone in your predicament,\" Montgomery commented.\n\tI chuckled. \"Please, compared to some of the fixes I've been in, this is a walk in the park.\"\n\tMontgomery sneered at me. \"We'll see if you're still laughing when the laudanum starts to take effect.\"\n\t\"Eh, you're just mad because I beat you up. Twice.\"\n\t\"Smug little rotter!\" Montgomery growled.\n\tI glanced up at him. \"That's rich coming from you, you pathetic spineless sot.\"\n\tMontgomery snarled and took aim with his pistol, but Moreau pushed it aside with one hand. \"He can't tell us anything if he's dead!\" Moreau shouted.\n\tMontgomery scowled, but kept silent.\n\tThe laudanum began seeping into my brain, and I started to feel drowsy and relaxed. Laudanum is a tincture of opium, and it was extremely popular in the 19th century, particularly among women. Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of the U.S. president, was a laudanum addict. It was used to treat every malady under the sun, in both adults and children, because it could be taken orally, could be purchased without a prescription, and cost less than a bottle of wine. Then again, considering the horrible living conditions of the time and the general paucity of medical care, it's not really surprising that a cheap, effective pain reliever would be popular, even one that was highly addictive.\n\tI decided to fight fire with fire. Moreau intended to hypnotize me once the drug broke down my resistance. I would beat him to the punch and hypnotize myself first. Nighthawk had taught me how to do that. I closed my eyes, selected a song lyric, something melodic and repetitive with a steady cadence, and began singing softly: \"Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day. I've got a beautiful feeling, everything's going my way!\"\n\t\"What's he doing?\" asked Montgomery as I repeated the verse.\n\tMoreau didn't answer him. Instead, he began speaking to me in a low, sonorous voice. \"Listen to the sound of my voice, Alvin. Listen only to the sound of my voice.\"\n\t\"Oh what a beautiful morning . . .\" I continued, ignoring him.\n\t\"You are getting sleepy. You want to sleep . . .\"\n\t\". . . oh what a beautiful day.\"\n\t\"Your body feels heavy . . .\"\n\t\"I've got a beautiful feeling . . .\"\n\t\"You must sleep, you can't resist . . .\"\n\t\"Everything's going my way!\"\n\t\"Sleep. A deep, restful sleep . . .\"\n\t\"Oh what a beautiful morning . . .\"\n\t\"You must sleep, Alvin . . .\"\n\t\". . . oh what a beautiful day.\"\n\t\"Alvin . . .\"\n\t\"I've got a beautiful feeling . . .\"\n\t\"Alvin . . .\"\n\tI opened my eyes and glared defiantly into Moreau's. \"Everything's going my way!\"\n\tMoreau looked back at me with just a hint of displeasure on his oak-tanned face. I'd half been expecting him to scream my name in frustration, the way Dave Seville used to do to my cartoon counterpart, but he had too much self-control for that. I grinned and began singing again.\n\t\"Can't you shut him up?\" asked Montgomery in annoyance as I sang.\n\t\"It won't make a difference,\" Moreau replied. \"I can't stop him from thinking.\"\n\t\"Then give him another shot!\"\n\t\"As small as he is, a higher dosage could kill him.\"\n\tI nodded. \"And then you'd be deprived of my beautiful singing voice. Oh what a beautiful morning . . .\"\n\t\"Gah!\" cried Montgomery. \"If he sings that damned song one more time . . .\"\n\t\"Oh, come on, who doesn't love [i]Oklahoma![/i]?\" I asked, giggling drunkenly. \"Rodgers and Hammerstein, for the win! Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain . . .\"\n\tMoreau seized my shoulders and shook me violently. \"Where do you come from?\" he demanded. \"Who made you?\"\n\tI blinked up at the three white-haired heads circling above me. \"You did.\"\n\t\"Nonsense! I never made anything like you!\"\n\t\"I told you when we first met, I was born to two of your Beast Folk.\"\n\t\"Rubbish!\"\n\tPrendick spoke up. \"Perhaps he's an evolutionary throwback. There is a theory that primates evolved from rodents.\"\n\tMoreau whirled on him savagely. \"Shut up!\" Then he turned back to me. \"Was it Huxley?\"\n\tI waved at him dismissively with a hand that felt as if it were made of rubber. \"Don't be a silly ass, Moreau. If Huxley had made me, why would he send me here? What could he possibly need from you?\"\n\tMoreau stared at me as my words sank in, and I grinned at him through a foggy haze. \"That's what's really bugging you, isn't it? The idea that someone left you in the dust, succeeded in doing the very thing you've been trying and failing to do on this island for eleven years—creating a fully human Beast Man. You may not feel pain, but jealousy, that's something else again, isn't it?\"\n\tMoreau cried out, then grabbed me and shook me again, but I barely felt it. My body was limp in his grasp, my head sagging. \"Who made you?\" he yelled into my face.\n\tI slowly opened my eyes, which took considerable effort, and gazed blearily into his. \"Go to hell, Moreau. I'm not telling you shit.\" I closed them again.\n\t Moreau slammed me into the deck chair, and I moaned and writhed, my body immersed in a cocoon of warm fuzziness. I felt as if I was sliding off the face of the Earth. He took a moment to regain his composure, then started again. \"Alvin, listen to the sound of my voice.\"\n\t\"Oh what a beautiful morning . . .\"\n\t\"Oh, for pity's sake!\" I heard Montgomery say from a million miles away. \"This is a waste of time!\"\n\tMoreau sighed. \"I'm inclined to agree. He seems impossible to hypnotize.\"\n\t\"There [i]are[/i] other ways of getting information out of people,\" said Montgomery.\n\t\"I say,\" said Prendick, \"you aren't seriously suggesting torturing him!\"\n\t\"Why the bloody hell not?\" asked Montgomery angrily. \"It isn't as if we're strangers to causing pain!\"\n\t\"And do you imagine that would be any more successful?\" Moreau asked. \"If he can resist hypnosis, he can probably resist torture, as well. Besides, I'm not keen on the idea.\"\n\t\"You aren't?\" asked Prendick, sounding astonished.\n\t\"The pain I have caused,\" said Moreau, \"has all been toward the achieving of a particular goal. To inflict pain on someone to get information out of them would be mean and petty.\"\n\tI giggled, curled up in a fetal position on the deck chair. \"So you have no problem with vivisection, but torture is beneath you? That's a scream.\"\n\t\"M'ling,\" said Moreau's distant voice. \"Put him back in his cage.\"\n\tI felt strong hands lifting me, and I was helpless to resist, my bones having turned to jelly. I snuggled up against M'ling's chest. \"Tell me a story, daddy,\" I murmured. He didn't reply, just carried me out into the courtyard, which set the dogs barking again. Then he poured me into the cage, closed the door, and locked it. The sound of the dogs faded as I slipped into unconsciousness.\n\n\tI spent the next two months in that cage, which wasn't much fun. I began to wonder if PRIMUS had forgotten about me. I found out later that when I hadn't returned after a month, Sanchez had proposed a rescue mission, but her superiors had vetoed it, feeling there was too much danger of altering history. I could see their point. After all, Prendick's story had inspired my creator, who had caused trouble all over the world for years before finally being killed in a battle with some superheroes. If my Dr. Moreau—or his activities—were erased from history, who knew what the consequences might be or what it would mean for me personally? I might return to the present and find myself like George Bailey in [i]It's a Wonderful Life[/i], in a world where I'd never been born, only there wouldn't be a helpful guardian angel to set things right again. However, none of that gave me much comfort as I sweated it out in that damn cage day after mind-numbing day.\n\tI spent much of my time in meditation, practicing the mantras Julie had taught me. It helped my mind stay sharp and clear and not become dulled by boredom. They let me out of my cage to exercise in the compound for an hour each day under the watchful eyes of Moreau and Montgomery, their revolvers ready in case I tried anything. Perhaps Moreau hoped that prolonged imprisonment would eventually break my spirit and make me tell him my secrets. He didn't know me very well. On Monster Island, I'd had to fight for my life on a regular basis. This was a breeze by comparison.\n\tOne morning, just after dawn, I was lying in my cage on the blanket they'd kindly provided for me. The air was cool and misty, and my blanket, loincloth, and fur were dusted with tiny droplets of dew. Prendick came out and stood beside the open gate, smoking a cigarette. He silently nodded to me, and I silently nodded back as I sat up and began mentally preparing myself for my morning meditation. While he hadn't been willing to help me escape, as he feared incurring Moreau's and Montgomery's displeasure, he had argued with them on my behalf, saying that keeping me in a cage was inhumane. But the two Ms were having none of it. They'd both seen firsthand how dangerous I was, and they weren't taking any chances. They didn't know that I couldn't risk harming either one of them. Prendick tried to make it up to me by occasionally coming out and playing chess with me, using a board made from a flat piece of wood with lines etched on it and different kinds of seashells for pieces. It helped relieve the monotony of both our existences.\n\tMoreau came around the corner of the enclosure, greeted Prendick, passed by me, and unlocked the door of the surgical hut. I winced, knowing what was coming. A minute later, a human-sounding shriek issued from the hut, and I clamped my hands over my ears. It was the puma. This was by far the worst part of my captivity: the screams of Moreau's victims as he continued working on them in futile attempt to realize his dream. I glanced over at Prendick, but he just continued smoking, unmoved. He'd become hardened to this. I closed my eyes, doing my best to block out those agonized cries as my heart bled for that poor creature. Every fiber of my being, every instinct in my gut, told me to try to help her, to save her, but even if I hadn't been locked up in that cage, I couldn't have. Her suffering was part of this time, a thing that was meant to be. None of which made me feel the slightest bit better about sitting there doing nothing.\n\tSuddenly, there was a sharp cry from behind me, followed by a fall. I opened my eyes to see a semihuman shape, wrapped in linen and with blood-soaked bandages flapping behind it, bound past me toward Prendick, who turned toward it, raising his left arm to defend himself. The mummy-like figure swiped at him, knocking him down, leaped over him, and disappeared through the gate. A moment later, Moreau emerged from the hut, blood trickling down his face, revolver held in one hand. Without a word, he ran past Prendick and me and out through the gate in pursuit of the puma.\n\tPrendick was lying on the ground, groaning in pain and cradling his arm, and I jumped to my feet, seizing the bars of my cage. Montgomery appeared in the doorway, revolver in hand. \"Great God, Prendick!\" he said. \"That brute's loose! Tore the fetter out of the wall. Have you seen them?\" Then he noticed that the other man was injured. \"What's the matter?\"\n\t\"I was standing in the doorway,\" Prendick replied through clenched teeth, getting to his feet.\n\tMontgomery came toward him. \"Blood on the sleeve,\" he said, rolling it back and feeling the arm beneath, which caused Prendick obvious discomfort. \"Your arm is broken. Tell me exactly how it happened—what happened.\"\n\t\"Let me out!\" I said urgently, tightening my grip on the bars. \"I can help!\"\n\tMontgomery stared at me. \"You?\" he asked, incredulous.\n\t\"I have medical training,\" I said. \"I can tend to his arm while you help Moreau.\"\n\t\"Not likely!\" said Montgomery.\n\t\"I won't try to escape, you have my word!\"\n\tMontgomery ignored me and helped Prendick into the little apartment while I stood in my cage, flexing my hands around the bars and stewing. A few minutes later, Montgomery emerged from the apartment and went out the doorway, locking the gate behind him.\n\t\"Prendick!\" I shouted. \"Prendick!\"\n\tAfter a minute, he came outside, his arm in a sling, face lined with pain. \"Yes?\"\n\t\"Help me out of this cage!\" I said.\n\tHe shook his head. \"We've been through this before, Alvin.\"\n\t\"I don't know if you've noticed,\" I said, \"but things have changed. Moreau and Montgomery are going to need all the help they can get against that thing!\"\n\tHe stared at me. \"You'd be willing to help them, after all that's happened?\"\n\t\"They're still human beings,\" I said, \"more or less. I can't let them be killed if there's anything I can do about it. And I can't do anything from in here!\"\n\tPrendick sighed. \"You baffle me, Alvin.\"\n\tI nodded. \"I baffle myself, sometimes.\"\n\tOur conversation was cut off by the sound of the gate being unlocked. Montgomery came through, looking pale, his lower lip drooping. \"I can neither see nor hear anything of him. I've been thinking he may want my help. That was a strong brute. It simply wrenched its fetter out of the wall.\"\n\t\"Let me out and I'll help you find him,\" I said.\n\tMontgomery laughed. \"You? Help me?\"\n\tI nodded. \"It's what I do.\"\n\t\"Even if I trusted you—which I certainly do not—Moreau has the only key to your cage.\" He turned to Prendick. \"I shall go after him. There's another revolver I can leave with you. It's just possible you may need it.\" He went and got the weapon, handed it to the other man, and left.\n\tPrendick gazed down at the gun in his hand for a moment, then walked to the doorway of the compound and stood looking out at the sea. The morning had become quiet and still. Change was in the air. Don't ask me how I knew, but I could feel it.\n\t\"You know trouble's coming,\" I said.\n\t\"They have guns,\" he replied.\n\t\"I don't think that's going to be enough.\"\n\t\"Why do you say that?\"\n\tI shrugged. \"Call it intuition. My girlfriend's been helping me develop mine.\"\n\tHe glanced at me curiously. \"You have a girlfriend?\"\n\tI nodded. \"One I love and miss very much. Does it surprise you that a Beast Man can feel love?\"\n\tHe shook his head. \"No, not especially. I imagine all higher animals do, to some degree.\"\n\t\"But not as much as humans,\" I said with a smirk.\n\tHe shrugged. \"I really wouldn't know. Perhaps the passion of a male butterfly fanning his wings as he tries to attract a mate surpasses anything any human being has ever felt.\"\n\t\"Let me out of here,\" I said, \"and I promise I'll do everything I can to save Moreau and Montgomery.\"\n\tPrendick pressed his lips together, then turned and walked to the open door of the surgical hut. He returned a minute later, his one good hand holding a tray that bore an assortment of surgical instruments, his gun stuck in his pocket. He held out the tray to me, and I selected a couple that looked suitable and went to work on the lock. Thirty seconds later, it clicked and the door of the cage swung open.\n\t\"Thank you, Mr. Prendick,\" I said.\n\t\"Remember your promise,\" he said.\n\tI nodded and ran out through the gate.\n\t\n\tOnce I was out of the compound, I began searching for the trail of Moreau and the puma. I found it easily, thanks to the crushed bushes, bits of white bandages, and blood smears on the foliage, and plunged into the chaos of ferns and creepers, forcing them aside with my hands. Coming to the little stream I'd waded across after Moreau had shot me on my first day here, I climbed the slope on the far side to the stony ground beyond. There, the trail became harder to follow, and I had to crouch and sniff the ground for traces of blood. My sense of smell isn't especially keen, but fresh blood has a strong scent and I was able to follow their path without too much difficulty. To my right, I heard Montgomery calling out Moreau's name, along with the voice of M'ling. I decided not to join them, as I didn't want to deal with Montgomery right now, and in any case he had M'ling with him for protection if trouble arose.\n\tI followed the trail west toward deeper and thicker jungle, sinking into a silent riot of green. Here, sunlight couldn't even reach the ground, which was soft and squishy beneath my bare feet and reeked of decay. A sheet of silken strands wrapped around my face, and I instinctively recoiled and did \"the spiderweb dance,\" waving my arms around and swatting the strands away, fearing that their maker might be crawling on my body somewhere. Look, I don't like spiders, okay? Besides, I had no protection, being practically naked, and no idea what kind of spiders lived on this island or how dangerous they might be. The last thing I needed was an infection from a festering spider bite, something that could easily prove fatal in this pre-antibiotic world.\n\tThe trail finally gave out, and I stood there immersed in green, unable to see more than five feet in any direction, pondering which way to go. Suddenly, the silence was punctured by a gunshot, close by. I ran toward it, leaves and vines lashing across my body. I broke out of the jungle and found myself facing the puma, lying sprawled on her back on a patch of soft, moss-covered ground. I ran over and knelt beside her. Her shoulder had been shattered by a bullet, but she was still alive, her chest rising and falling as she gurgled blood, her green eyes staring up at me through a gap in the bandages shrouding her head. From a shackle on each arm, a length of chain snaked across the ground, ending in a heavy iron eye-bolt smeared with blood with silver hair stuck to it. Tearing those out of the wall had required enormous strength, the kind that comes from intense pain, or fear, or anger.\n\tI shivered as I knelt there, helplessly watching the life drain out of her. I'd been in this same situation before, with my brother Simon. I took her gauze-wrapped head in my hands, cradling it gently, because nobody should be alone at this moment. I gazed down into her eyes as tears welled up in mine and managed to force some words though my clenched throat. \"I'm so sorry.\" She blinked up at me, uncomprehending. Then her eyes went blank.\n\tI stood up and walked over to another body, lying face down in a trampled space in a canebrake about sixty feet away. Its silver-haired head had been smashed in by the puma's fetters, and its black eyes were open and empty. One hand had been nearly severed at the wrist; a revolver lay next to it. I stood there glaring down at the remains of Dr. Moreau, trembling, rage seething inside me. I hadn't been sure if I could bring myself to save him or if I should even try, and I was glad I hadn't had to decide, because at that moment, if he'd still been alive, I could have killed him myself. \"Bastard!\" I hissed down at him. Then I savagely kicked his body and screamed, \"[i]Bastard![/i]\"\n\tA snorting sound from behind me brought me out of my red haze. I whirled to see two Beast Men standing and staring at me. I'd seen them before when Moreau had summoned all the Beast Folk together. They had drab pink skins, short legs, clumsy feet, fat chinless faces, receding foreheads, and scant bristly hair atop their heads. They wore nothing but scarlet cloths wrapped around their pudgy waists. It didn't take too much imagination to see that they'd begun life as pigs. There had been a Pig Woman with them at the gathering, but she wasn't here now.\n\tThe two Pig Men came cautiously forward, their gazes fixed on Moreau's body as I backed slowly away from it. They leaned over and sniffed at it, then looked at me and uttered some thick, sloppy syllables I couldn't understand. Then they began advancing toward me, making ominous grunting sounds. I snatched up Moreau's revolver and aimed it at them, and they froze in their tracks.\n\t\"What is the Law?\" I asked them.\n\tThey said nothing, just stood there glowering at me, beady eyes narrowed.\n\t\"What is the Law?\" I demanded again, louder. When they still didn't reply, I continued. \"Not to chase other Men; [i]that[/i] is the Law. Are we not Men?\"\n\tOne of them pointed at Moreau's body and spoke in a low, gutteral voice. \"[i]That[/i] is the Law.\"\n\t\"The Law still holds!\" I shouted. \"Evil are the punishments of those who break the Law! None escape!\" I waved the revolver to make my meaning clear in case they didn't get it.\n\tThe other one crouched down and sank his teeth into Moreau's back, tearing out a chunk of flesh and chewing it, blood dripping down his chin, neck, and bare chest as he looked up at me.\n\t\"Son of a bitch,\" I muttered.\n\tThe two Pig Men began slowly moving to flank me. They may not have been the brightest of creatures, but they understood that the lightning-flash could only be fired in one direction at a time. I backed away from them, trying to keep them both in my field of vision. Suddenly, there was a feline screech and something pounced on me from behind. I reached back with my free hand, trying to pull the attacker off, and the Pig Men rushed me.\n\tI grabbed my unseen assailant and threw him over my shoulder. He landed on the ground and shrieked, clutching his foot. He was one of the smallest Beast Men I'd ever seen, even smaller than me, a scrawny little fellow I later learned had been made from an ocelot. He snarled up at me, baring tiny fangs. I couldn't spare him any attention, however, as the Pig Men were almost upon me, and I didn't dare risk shooting either one of them for fear of altering history. If I'd only known they'd both be dead in less than an hour.\n\tI dropped the revolver, seized the arm of one of the Pig Men as he reached for me, and twisted my body, executing a judo throw that sent him flying over my head and into his companion. I'd learned early in my career that when facing someone bigger and heavier than you—which describes most of my opponents—you can't beat judo. It's an elegant martial art that uses an opponent's weight against them. The two Pig Men went down together in a jumble of flabby arms and legs, enabling me to turn my attention back to the Ocelot Man, who was limping toward me, growling. It was almost cute the way he was trying to threaten me. He lunged, and I socked him in the face. He fell to his knees, cupping his nose and whimpering, blood trickling between his tiny fingers.\n\tAs the Pig Men disentangled themselves, I picked up the revolver and stuck it in my loincloth. There was no point in staying here any longer, so I plunged into the jungle, heading back toward the House of Pain. There was something there I wanted, and this time I wasn't going to let anything stand in my way.\n\n\tI made my way through the cacophony of vegetation back toward the House of Pain. The cool mistiness of the morning had retreated before the heat of midday, and the air was thick and muggy. I suddenly became aware that I was being followed, and paused for a moment to listen. There were three of them, probably the two Pig Men and the Ocelot Man. Pigs have an exceptionally keen sense of smell, having been used for centuries to sniff out truffles, so it wouldn't be difficult for them to track me by scent. Perhaps I could lose them when I waded across the little stream behind the enclosure.\n\tAs I began moving again, the air was split by two gunshots in rapid succession. After a brief pause, there came a third. While it didn't take a genius to figure out what had just happened, since there were only two other people on this island with guns and one of them was unlikely to leave the enclosure due to a broken arm, I decided to investigate anyway. I turned around and crept back through the undergrowth in the direction of the shots.\n\tI reached the edge of a small clearing and stopped. Through a veil of ferns, I could see Montgomery and M'ling standing over the bodies of the two Pig Men and the Ocelot Man. Montgomery was holding a revolver and a whip. M'ling was unarmed, but his mouth was smeared with blood. The blond man looked pale and shaken. He looked down at the whip and the gun, then at M'ling.\n\t\"They attacked . . . without provocation!\" Montgomery said, a quaver in his voice. \"They've never . . . they've never done that before!\" M'ling simply licked his lips. Then they both turned and began walking in the direction of the House of Pain. \n\tI frowned as I watched them heading toward the same place I was heading. I didn't want to confront Montgomery and possibly screw things up even worse than I already had. True, I wanted the orchid extract, but now that I knew where to find it, there was no rush. After all, it wasn't going anywhere. Then again, neither was I unless I found that watch. \n\tI pondered further. If Montgomery and M'ling had been searching here, then they couldn't possibly have found Moreau's body, as it was on the far western edge of the island, and it seemed unlikely that any of those Beast Men had told them about it before they'd died. Therefore, it was safe to assume they didn't know he was dead, which meant they'd be going out again to look for him. While they were doing so, the House of Pain would be empty, or at worst occupied only by Prendick, who was, if not my ally, at least a neutral observer who wouldn't try to stop me. All I had to do was wait for them to leave.\n\tI followed Montgomery and M'ling back to the House of Pain, watched them go inside, and sat down in a canebrake to wait. I gazed out at the endless blue sea and watched seagulls wheeling overhead, shrieking their mournful cries. I lay back on the sand and closed my eyes, listening to the rasp of the surf as it washed over the beach. I felt peaceful and restful. This actually wasn't a bad place, if not for Moreau and his Beast Folk. Nice spot for a vacation. I wished Julie were here with me, the two of us cuddled up on the sand together, her hands caressing my fur. God, I missed her so much! I wondered what I'd do if I couldn't find that watch. I knew I could escape from the island, since Prendick was destined to do so eventually, but then what? Where could I go in this time, a freak from the future? What kind of life could I have? Maybe I could join P. T. Barnum's carnival of human oddities as Alvin, the Amazing Chipmunk Boy.\n\tThe sound of the gate opening brought me back to full awareness, and I sat up. It was now well into afternoon, and the heat was at its height. Montgomery, M'ling, and Prendick emerged from the compound and headed toward the jungle, the two humans armed with revolvers and Montgomery with a whip as well. I noticed he was walking unsteadily. No doubt he'd been drinking. I'd learned during my captivity that Prendick was a teetotaler, so at least they weren't both drunk while in the company of a Beast Man whose loyalty was now problematical, as M'ling had tasted blood. I watched them disappear into the jungle, then got up and began walking toward the House of Pain.\n\tThe walls were no more of an obstacle than they'd been the first time. I dropped down into the compound, went to the surgical hut—whose door was still hanging open from when Moreau had burst out chasing the half-finished Puma Woman—and went inside.\n\tThere were seven cloth-draped forms lying on operating tables—the llama and the six hounds, all at various stages of Moreau's hideous conversion process. They were all heavily anesthetized, their bodies covered with bandages soaked with phenol to prevent infection. It made a sick kind of sense for Moreau to have so many projects going at once. Someone as obsessed as him would hardly want to sit around idle while his subject recovered from surgery. This way, he could work on one while the others were healing. My throat clenched as I gazed upon those poor, miserable creatures. I was no stranger to this kind of horror, having grown up on Monster Island with another Dr. Moreau, but it still turned my stomach. I looked down at my revolver, sorely tempted to end their suffering right now, but I didn't dare. What must be must be.\n\tI went over to some shelves holding jars of chemicals and located the one Montgomery had gotten for me the last time I'd been in here. Unfortunately, it was above my reach. I growled and looked around for something to stand on. The operating table the Puma Woman had been lying on was empty. I dragged it over to the shelves, climbed up on top of it, grabbed the jar of extract, and hopped back down to the floor, cradling the jar in my arms. Finally!\n\tI left the surgical hut and walked to the front gate—which Montgomery had naturally locked when he'd left. Sighing, I put the jar down, went back to the hut, found some surgical instruments I could use as lockpicks, returned to the gate, picked the lock, and left the House of Pain with the extract, heading off into the jungle.\n\tAfter burying the extract where I was certain I could find it again, I went back to the House of Pain. The watch had to be someplace between the enclosure and the spot where I'd realized it was missing. All I had to do was examine every inch of that ground until I found it. Unfortunately, it was now starting to get dark. I found the spot, got down on my hands and knees, and began rummaging through the leaf litter. I found all sorts of creepy crawlies—ants, beetles, spiders, centipedes, millipedes, springtails, scorpions, mites, hermit crabs, snails, slugs, isopods (those many-legged, armadillo-like things you find under rocks that curl into a ball when you touch them), and even a peripatus, or \"walking worm,\" the link between arthropods (the group that includes insects, spiders, and crustaceans) and worms—but no watch. Eventually, it got too dark to see, so I gave up and headed off to find a safe place to spend the night, intending to resume my search in the morning.\n\tAs I made my way through the jungle, I became aware of the snapping and rustling of bodies moving through the undergrowth, along with occasional grunts and other sounds. I decided to investigate, following the noise back toward the House of Pain. It was now quite dark, but the moon was full above, bathing the island in its soft silvery light and creating a strange, colorless, spectral world of shiny grey fronds and deep black shadows.\n\tWhen I reached the treeline, I could see nine figures moving along the glittering diamond sand of the beach, their black shapes silhouetted against the dark grey eastward ocean. They bore a large, bulky object upon their shoulders. It took no great insight to realize what it was. I watched from behind a tree, mindful that some of the Beast Folk could see in the dark, as the silent, solemn procession approached the House of Pain. It stopped before the gate, and one of the figures separated and unlocked it while the others lowered their burden to the sand. All but two of them then departed, leaving the remaining pair to haul Moreau's body inside the enclosure. I heard the grinding, metallic squeak of the gate locking, then turned and headed back into the jungle. As I walked among the tree trunks, seven gunshots echoed from behind me. The llama and the six hounds. That was the end of Moreau's experiments. Prendick and Montgomery had done what I'd been unable to. That made me feel a bit better.\n\n\tI spent the night wedged in the crook of a tall tree and awakened sore and stiff. The sky over the ocean was salmon pink, the sun still beneath the horizon. I climbed down from the tree, took care of my morning needs, and began walking back toward the House of Pain. With any luck, this would be my last day on this island.\n\tAs I emerged from the jungle onto the beach, I could see immediately that something was wrong. A cloud of smoke hung in the air up the beach past the enclosure, and I could hear raucous shouts of \"More, more!\" Then came the sound of arguing, and then a shriek. I began walking faster as the sounds grew louder and angrier. Then a gunshot split the air, and I broke into a run, my feet spraying sand. Prendick emerged from the enclosure, apparently alerted by the sound of the shot. He looked as though he hadn't slept a wink, which didn't surprise me a bit. He glanced at me, then began running alongside me, a revolver held in his good hand.\n\tThe boathouse was in flames, glowing embers raining on the sand, a mass of black figures struggling before it. I heard Montgomery call Prendick's name, and then there was another gunshot, the flash close to the ground. Prendick shouted and fired into the air. Someone cried, \"The Master!\" and the writhing mass broke apart as Beast Folk scattered and fled up the beach. Prendick fired at their backs as they vanished into the bushes. Then we both stopped, panting for breath, and turned toward the shapes on the sand.\n\tMontgomery was lying on his back with the Sayer of the Law sprawled on top of him, the Sayer's curving claws gripping his throat. Neither of them were moving. Nearby, M'ling lay face down, his throat ripped open, a smashed bottle of brandy clutched in one hand. Farther away lay a dead Bull Man and a grey-bearded Wolf Man, still alive but mortally wounded, moaning and writhing in pain. I pulled my pistol from my loincloth, clenched my teeth, and shot him in the head.\n\t\"Montgomery's still alive!\" cried Prendick, kneeling beside him, having pulled the dead Sayer off him. I ran over and knelt beside them. Montgomery's face was dark, and he was barely breathing. \n\t\"You said you had medical training,\" said Prendick desperately. \"Can you help him?\"\n\t\"His windpipe's been crushed,\" I said grimly, \"but an emergency tracheotomy could still save his life.\"\n\t\"Then do it, man, for God's sake!\"\n\t\"I need a scalpel and a hollow tube of some kind,\" I said. \"Try to keep him breathing. I'll be right back.\" As I stood up, there was a thud and a hiss from behind me, and I spun around. My mouth fell open, and my eyes went wide. Black smoke was boiling up from the House of Pain, crimson tongues flickering above its walls. The thatched roofs of the huts ignited in a fireworks display, and a jet of flame shot from the tiny window I had escaped though on my first day here.\n\t\"It's my fault,\" said Prendick numbly, staring at the burning enclosure as he knelt beside the gasping form of Montgomery. \"I was gathering supplies, preparing to leave. When I went to help Montgomery, I must have overturned the lamp.\"\n\tI sighed and shook my head. There was nothing I could do for Montgomery now. I turned back toward the boathouse. It had burned down to smoldering black timbers, the edges glowing orange and white. I suddenly realized that the slip dug into the beach to hold the launch was empty. There was no sign of the dinghy, either. Then I noticed a pair of axes lying on the sand nearby, wood chips and splinters scattered around them. I bit my lip as I realized what had happened. \"The boats are gone anyway,\" I said. \"Montgomery chopped them up for kindling.\"\n\tPrendick gasped, staring at the empty slip, then raised his hand to strike Montgomery, but stopped himself. Montgomery opened his eyes, gazing at the breaking dawn, then at us, then closed them again. \"Sorry,\" he said, his voice a hoarse rasp as he forced air through his smashed windpipe with effort. \"The last . . . the last of this silly universe. What a mess—\" Then his head fell limply to one side.\n\tPrendick splashed some seawater on his face, trying to revive him, but I shook my head. \"It's no use,\" I said. \"He's gone.\"\n\t\"Wretched devil,\" said Prendick. \"He complained that he hadn't had any life and wondered when it was going to begin. He said M'ling was the only thing that ever cared for him.\"\n\tI shrugged. \"You take what you can get.\" Just then, the sun peeked over the red-rimmed horizon, its warm glow illuminating our bodies, bathing us in its radiance. A new day had begun.\n\tI scanned the beach, taking stock of our situation. The enclosure and all its supplies were gone, the boats burned. We had three revolvers with perhaps a dozen bullets between them, two axes, a whip lying beside the body of the Wolf Man, and the clothes on our backs. That was it. Before us lay a jungle full of slowly reverting Beast People whose instincts were no longer held in check by the Law. Plus, one of us had a broken arm. I'd been in worse situations, but not many.\n\tAs I stood there considering our next move, three Beast People emerged from the jungle and moved hesitantly toward us, their eyes unwelcoming. Prendick went over to the body of the Wolf Man, picked up the bloodstained whip lying there, and cracked it. The three Beast People stopped and stared at him. Then their eyes shifted to me. Perhaps they were wondering which side I was on. I did and said nothing, just watched and waited to see how things went. This was a crucial moment.\n\t\"Salute,\" Prendick ordered them. \"Bow down!\"\n\tAfter a moment's hesitation, one bent his knees. Prendick repeated his command, advancing toward them. One knelt, then the other two, and I followed suit to keep up appearances. Prendick turned and walked toward the corpses littering the beach, keeping his eyes on the three Beast Folk. \"They broke the Law,\" he said, placing his foot on the body of the Sayer of the Law. \"They have been slain. Even the Sayer of the Law. Even the Other with the whip. Great is the Law! Come and see.\"\n\t\"None escape,\" said one of the Beast Folk, advancing and peering at the bodies.\n\t\"None escape,\" said Prendick. \"Therefore hear and do as I command.\" He turned toward me. \"Pick up the hatchets.\" I nodded and did as I was told. If he was going to survive, he had to command obedience from the Beast Folk, and as far as they knew, that included me. He pointed at Montgomery. \"Get his gun.\" I went over to Montgomery, picked up his revolver, and broke it open. The cylinder still had two cartridges in it. I searched his body and found six more rounds in his pocket.\n\t\"Take him,\" Prendick ordered the Beast Folk, pointing at Montgomery with the whip. \"Take him and carry him out, and cast him into the sea.\" They approached the body timidly, as if afraid it might suddenly spring back to life, and after some fumbling, shouting, and whip-cracking, carried it out into the sparkling surf. \"On,\" said Prendick, \"on! Carry him far.\"\n\tThe Beast Folk waded out up to their armpits, then stood looking at Prendick for instructions. He swallowed, a pained look on his face. \"Let go,\" he said, and the body of Montgomery sank beneath the waves. \"Good!\" said Prendick, his voice tight. The Beast Folk returned to the beach, looking back furtively at the spot where Montgomery had vanished.\n\t\"Now these,\" said Prendick, pointing at the other bodies. They picked up the bodies of the four dead Beast Men and carried them out to sea one by one, studiously avoiding the spot where they had dropped Montgomery in favor of one about a hundred yards up the beach. Prendick glanced down at me as I stood there beside him. \"Sorry to have to take such a tone with you, Alvin.\"\n\tI nodded. \"I understand.\"\n\tAs the Beast Folk were disposing of the body of M'ling, I heard footsteps on the sand behind us and turned around quickly. The Hyena-Swine was standing about a dozen yards away, his small, bright eyes fixed on us, his stumpy hands clenched. Prendick realized something was up and turned around as well, then dropped the whip and put his hand on the pistol in his pocket. \"Salute! Bow down!\" he said.\n\tThe Hyena-Swine's glistening lips curled back in a snarl. \"Who are [i]you[/i], that I should . . .\"\n\tI took a step toward him, a hatchet clutched in each hand. \"He is Master here now!\" I shouted. \"You will obey him!\"\n\tHe glared at me contemptuously, tusks gleaming, and I had such a bizarre feeling of [i]deja-vu[/i], facing this creature whose spiritual descendant would be my mortal enemy more than a century from now. I took comfort in the knowledge that that Hyena-Swine had been a bigger and more fearsome foe than this one.\n\t\"He is no Master,\" said the Hyena-Swine. \"The Master is dead! I saw his body!\"\n\t\"That was his old body,\" said Prendick, \"the one he cast away because he had no more need of it. He is there,\" Prendick pointed upward, \"where he can watch you. You cannot see him. But he can see you. Fear the Law!\"\n\tThe Hyena-Swine growled and spat on the sand.\n\tPrendick drew his pistol and fired. The Hyena-Swine yelped and jumped to one side, then ran dodging up the beach, disappearing into the swirling clouds of black smoke that were still belching from the House of Pain. The shot had obviously missed. I dropped my hatchets, drew my pistol, and ran after him. I wasn't concerned about changing history. The Hyena-Swine had made his intentions quite clear. If Prendick was going to live, this creature had to die.\n\tI fired at the Hyena-Swine as he disappeared into the jungle, but he passed behind a palm tree and my bullet struck that instead. I charged into the forest after him, trying to keep him in sight. The foliage was so dense that I couldn't get a clear shot, and I didn't want to waste another round, as ammunition was in critically short supply. I tracked him through the undergrowth, following his cloven hoofprints, but eventually they disappeared as the ground became higher and rockier. I paused, panting, no longer sure which way to go. Black masses of lava rock towered all around me. I swore under my breath. He no doubt knew this area well, while I was completely ignorant.\n\t\"Why do you obey him?\" came the Hyena-Swine's voice, echoing among the rocks. \"He is not your Master. There never was a Master. It was all a lie. They are just Men. Men who bleed and die as we do.\"\n\t\"He is important to me,\" I said, feeling his beady eyes watching me from somewhere.\n\t\"He is nothing. M'ling served the Other with the whip. Now they are both dead. Soon, the Other who walked in the Sea will be dead, too.\"\n\t\"Not if I have anything to say about it.\"\n\tHe laughed. \"What can you do? You are small and weak.\"\n\t\"Then why are you hiding from me?\" I asked, trying to figure out where his voice was coming from.\n\t\"What are you?\" the Hyena-Swine asked. \"You are not one of them. You are not one of us. Where did you come from?\"\n\t\"The mind of Ross Bagdasarian. Listen, Hyena-Swine, I'll make a deal with you. Leave us alone, and we'll leave you alone. That way, nobody has to die. Sound fair?\" I wasn't sure he even grasped the concept of fairness, but it was worth a try. \"What do you say?\"\n\tAfter a long silence, the Hyena-Swine said, \"He must die.\"\n\t\"Why?\" I asked. \"He's done nothing to you.\"\n\t\"He is one of them.\"\n\t\"No, he isn't. He is here against his will. And he never caused any of you pain.\"\n\t\"He is the same. He lies, he gives orders, he uses the whip and the lightning-flash. He killed the Leopard Man. I saw it.\"\n\t\"He did that to spare him from the House of Pain. Would you rather he had gone back there?\"\n\t\"He must die. And you, too, if you stand with him.\"\n\t\"Is that your final word?\" I waited a moment for his reply. Nothing. I sighed. \"So be it.\"\n\tI turned and headed back toward the beach.\n\n\tWhen I arrived at the smoldering, flickering ruins of the House of Pain, I called out Prendick's name, but there was no reply. A chill ran down my spine. Could the Beast Folk have killed him? He had a gun, but he was just one man with a broken arm. They could have overwhelmed him easily enough. Fortunately, apart from the Hyena-Swine they all seemed to have a superstitious fear of him. Still, not knowing where he was made me uneasy, so I decided to go and find him. The ravine seemed the most likely place. I headed off in that direction.\n\tI arrived at the ravine to find a number of Beast Folk chattering excitedly. There was a Wolf Woman, the Satyr Man, an Ox-Boar Man, the Ape Man, a Dog Man, the little pink Sloth Man, and several others. There was no sign of the Hyena-Swine. The topic of their conversation was no surprise. They were talking about the fact that the Master was dead, the Other with the Whip was dead, and there was no more House of Pain. Their conversation ceased and they looked at me as I approached.\n\t\"Is the Man with the Bandaged Arm here?\" I asked them.\n\tThe Ox-Boar Man gestured lazily at one of the huts in the side of the ravine. \"He is in there.\"\n\tI nodded and walked toward it. The Dog Man, whose markings resembled those of a St. Bernard, interposed himself in front of me. \"What do you want with him?\" he asked suspiciously.\n\t\"I want to see if he's all right,\" I replied. When he seemed hesitant to move, I put my hand on the revolver stuck in my loincloth, and he slowly backed away, glowering at me with his canine eyes. I continued toward the hut. There was a flimsy barricade of sticks and rotting leaves covering the opening. I pushed them aside and went in.\n\tPrendick was sitting with his back to the wall, asleep, revolver in hand, the remains of some fruit beside him. Since it's not a good idea to touch someone who's asleep while they're holding a gun, I sat down to one side. \"Mr. Prendick,\" I said. When he didn't wake, I repeated it, louder, and he stirred and groaned, his eyes fluttering open. It took a moment for them to focus on me.\n\t\"Hullo, Alvin,\" he said.\n\t\"How are you feeling?\" I asked.\n\t\"Arm hurts like the devil,\" he replied.\n\t\"That's to be expected,\" I said. \"Too bad Montgomery's cache of brandy burned up, but I know you're an abstainer.\"\n\t\"In this case, I'd be willing to make an exception,\" said Prendick. He looked at me hopefully. \"Did you get him?\"\n\tI shook my head. \"He was too sly for me. We had a nice little chat, though, and he told me in no uncertain terms he wants you dead.\"\n\tPrendick sighed. \"There's nothing for it, then. We'll have to kill him.\"\n\tI nodded. \"Most likely.\"\n\tHe gazed at me for a moment. \"You know, Alvin, as bizarre as this whole situation is, everything in it makes a certain amount of sense—except for you. You're the only thing doesn't fit.\"\n\t\"Yeah, Hyena-Swine said pretty much the same thing.\"\n\t\"Huxley didn't make you, did he?\"\n\t\"Never met the man, though it would have been a real honor if I had. I envy you that.\"\n\t\"And you're not Montgomery's son.\"\n\tI shuddered. \"Perish the thought!\"\n\t\"Then where [i]do[/i] you come from?\"\n\tI sighed. \"Just call me a faerie.\"\n\tHe stared at me. \"A faerie?\"\n\t\"It's as good an explanation as any.\"\n\t\"Rubbish!\"\n\t\"I thought you Victorians were big on faeries. I know Doyle was . . . or is, rather,\" I added, catching myself.\n\t\"Doyle?\" he asked, baffled. \"Who is that?\"\n\t\"You know, the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories.\" I didn't find out until later that the first Holmes story wasn't published until December of that year.\n\tPrendick shook his head. \"I haven't the faintest notion what you're talking about. In any case, I don't believe in faeries.\"\n\t\"I do. I met a couple in Ireland two years ago.\"\n\t\"Bosh! You're having me on.\"\n\tI shook my head. \"I'm totally serious.\"\n\tHe eyed me skeptically. \"What did they look like?\"\n\t\"Well, they weren't tiny humans with wings, like in those faked photographs.\" Again, I was ahead of the times. The Cottingley photographs wouldn't be taken for another thirty years. \"They were both seven feet tall. One was a green deer man, and the other had the head of a pumpkin and a body made of vines.\"\n\t\"What rot!\"\n\tI tilted my head. \"You believe in God, don't you, Mr. Prendick?\"\n\tHe seemed taken aback. \"What's that got to do with it?\"\n\tI shrugged. \"Well, if you believe in God, you're in no position to rule anything out, since God is supposedly all-powerful.\"\n\t\"I hardly think it follows that because I believe in God I should believe in nonsense like faeries!\"\n\t\"Why not? Once you open that door, there's no closing it. Anything becomes possible. You should really be a bit more open-minded, Mr. Prendick.\"\n\tHe smirked. \"Well, if you do know two faeries, why don't you have them whisk us off this island?\"\n\t\"That [i]would[/i] make things a lot easier,\" I said. \"Unfortunately, they're on the other side of the world, they're both asleep right now, and I have no means of waking them.\" Plus, Bres and Streng hadn't met me yet.\n\t\"Where does that leave us, then?\" Prendick asked.\n\t\"Pretty much up the creek,\" I replied. \"That Dog Man seems to be rather protective of you, though. We might be able to recruit him as an ally. We can use all of those we can get.\"\n\tHe nodded. \"Any others?\"\n\t\"I wouldn't rely on the Ape Man. Even though he helped me out when I was wounded, he seems pretty flaky. The Bull-Bear Man could be a possibility, though. He stood up for me when that Fox-Bear Woman wanted to hand me over to Moreau. Don't turn your back on her, by the way.\"\n\t\"Yes, I'd already surmised that,\" Prendick said.\n\t\"The thing I'm really worried about—apart from Hyena-Swine—is what'll happen as they revert.\"\n\tPrendick nodded. \"Moreau mentioned that they always do. It caused him no end of frustration.\" Then he looked at me intently. \"What about you, Alvin?\"\n\t\"Don't worry about me,\" I replied. \"I was made in a different way. I won't revert.\"\n\tHe sighed. \"I wish you'd explain why.\"\n\t\"It wouldn't make any sense to you. Just accept that it's the way things are. I know you're not used to being told what to do by someone you consider an inferior . . .\"\n\t\"Have I ever treated you as such?\" asked Prendick, sounding offended. \"I even apologized to you for ordering you around on the beach. I knew you were only doing it for my benefit, otherwise you'd have never stood for it. I've known you long enough to know that.\" He smiled. \"You're really quite remarkable, Alvin.\"\n\tI smiled back. \"Thanks, Mr. Prendick.\" \n\t\"Call me Edward.\"\n\tI nodded. \"Okay, Edward.\" Then I heard the Beast Folk chattering outside. \"We should probably find out what that's about.\"\n\tHe sighed. \"I suppose we must.\"\n\tWe left the hut and went out into the ravine.\n\tAbout twenty of the Beast Folk were sitting around a campfire, staring into it or talking to each other. They took no notice of either of us as we approached. We were no longer of central importance to them now that their world had been upended. I scanned the crowd. Still no Hyena-Swine.\n\t\"He is dead, he is dead, the Master is dead,\" said the Ape Man. \"The House of Pain—there [i]is[/i] no House of Pain.\"\n\t\"He is not dead,\" said Prendick, loudly. They all fell silent, staring at him. \"Even now he watches us. The House of Pain is gone. It will come again. The Master you cannot see. Yet even now he listens above you.\"\n\tI nodded. \"What he says is true.\"\n\t\"The Man with the Bandaged Arm speaks a strange thing,\" said one of the Beast Folk.\n\t\"I tell you it is so,\" said Prendick, seating himself before the fire. \"The Master and the House of Pain will come again. Woe be to him who breaks the Law!\"\n\tThe Beast Folk looked at each other while Prendick sat there casually chopping at the ground in front of him with a hatchet, feigning indifference. Then a discussion began among them that had all the attributes of a theological debate of the sort that medieval churchmen used to engage in for days. Prendick and I joined in, arguing for our cause, and over the course of an hour, several of the Beast Folk—the Dog Man among them—came over to our side, and most of the others seemed at least willing to give us the benefit of the doubt.\n\tSeeing that the situation here appeared to have stabilized somewhat, I decided to return to the ruins of the enclosure and resume searching for my recall device. I walked through the jungle—always on the alert for any sign of the Hyena-Swine—to the spot where I had broken off the search last night, got down on my hands and knees, and started shuffling leaves.\n\tAfter a time, my ears detected someone approaching through the forest. I drew my pistol and looked in that direction. It was Prendick and the Dog Man. They stopped when they saw my gun.\n\t\"Not to go on all-Fours; [i]that[/i] is the Law,\" said Prendick, smiling.\n\t\"Very funny,\" I said, sticking the gun back in my loincloth.\n\t\"What are you looking for?\" he asked, as he and the Dog Man came over to me.\n\t\"A wristwatch,\" I replied. \"Do you know what that is, or do you all still use pocket watches?\"\n\t\"I know what it is,\" said Prendick. \"Our army began equipping its officers with them during the Burmese War to help synchronize maneuvers. A friend of mine showed me one. What were [i]you[/i] doing with one?\"\n\t\"How else would I know when it was teatime?\" I asked, resuming my search.\n\t\"Damn,\" he said. \"What I wouldn't give for a hot cup of tea.\"\n\t\"There's probably something on this island you could use for a substitute.\"\n\t\"I say,\" said Prendick, \"it wasn't a flat metal thing with a flexible metal band and a little window with numbers on it, was it?\"\n\tMy head snapped around. \"You've seen it?\"\n\tHe nodded. \"Moreau showed it to me. He told me he found it while he was looking for you after you escaped.\"\n\tMy mouth fell open. \"And he never asked me about it?\"\n\tPrendick shrugged. \"I suppose it must have slipped his mind. You know how obsessed he was with his work.\"\n\tI jumped to my feet and looked in the direction of the enclosure. \"Oh no! No no no no no!\"\n\t\"Is something wrong, Alvin?\" he asked, but I was already off and running.\n\tI burst out of the forest and sprinted across the sand toward the ruins of the House of Pain. Its stone walls were now black, and I ran inside through the open entrance, the wooden gate having been destroyed by the fire. The courtyard was ankle-deep in ashes. I could make out the charred remains of Moreau's corpse half-buried in them. I waded through the ash toward what was left of the hut where I had first met him, every step raising a choking cloud of light, papery fragments, and started rummaging around in the debris. It didn't take me long to find what I was after. The metal casing was still intact, but the fire had completely gutted its inner workings. The watch was a burned-out husk.\n\tWhen Prendick and the Dog Man arrived, they were treated to the sight of a chipmunk raging and cursing like a drunken sailor.\n\n\t\"I'm deeply sorry, Alvin,\" Prendick said as I sat staring sullenly into the campfire back at the ravine. It was now night, and the Beast Folk had all retired to their huts save for the Dog Man, who sat up with us, watching and listening to the sounds of the jungle.\n\t\"It's okay,\" I said quietly. \"You had no way of knowing.\"\n\t\"I still don't understand why that watch was so important to you.\"\n\tI sighed. \"It doesn't matter. What matters is getting off this island.\"\n\t\"And how do you propose we do that?\" Prendick asked.\n\t\"By building a raft.\"\n\t\"I'm afraid I won't be much help with that, as I've only one arm and I am an extremely unhandy man. My schooling was over before the days of [i]slöjd[/i].\" I found out later that [i]slöjd[/i], or sloyd in its Anglicized form, was a Swedish system of handicraft-based education that had been taught widely in schools in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, sort of an early precursor to shop.\n\t\"I can manage,\" I said.\n\t\"Assuming for the moment that we do succeed in building a raft, and assuming further that someone finds our flyspeck in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean and we are rescued, what then? What do you intend to do, looking the way you do?\"\n\t\"Don't worry about me,\" I said. \"If there's one thing I'm good at, it's surviving.\"\n\t\"So I've noticed,\" said Prendick, smiling wryly.\n\tThe Dog Man perked up and sniffed the air, his sensitive canine ears and nose apparently detecting something that ours couldn't.\n\t\"Something wrong?\" I asked.\n\t\"The Hyena-Swine,\" the Dog Man said, growling.\n\t\"Where?\" asked Prendick, alarmed.\n\t\"He is near,\" said the Dog Man. \"And he is not alone.\"\n\tPrendick and I both drew our guns and stood up, looking around. I could see many pairs of eyes shining in the darkness beyond the light of the campfire, at both ends of the ravine.\n\t\"What do you want, Hyena-Swine?\" I shouted.\n\t\"You know,\" came his guttural voice from somewhere in the night.\n\t\"I see you brought some friends,\" I said.\n\t\"The Master is dead,\" said the Hyena-Swine. \"The Other with the Whip is dead. The Other who walked in the Sea is as we are. We have no Master, no Whips, no House of Pain. There is an end.\"\n\t\"He is Master now!\" shouted the Dog Man, pointing at Prendick. \"He will slay you all! Great is the Law!\"\n\tThe Hyena-Swine chuckled. \"He cannot slay us all. He can only use the lightning-flash six times; then he must open it and put in new metal seeds. Only six. I have watched. I have learned.\"\n\t\"Congratulations,\" I said, \"you can count to six. Your mother must be proud. But you're forgetting about me. I have a lightning-flash, too. That's twelve of you dead. Are you prepared to lose that many?\"\n\t\"Leave him,\" the Hyena-Swine said. \"Leave him and you will live. We only want the Other.\"\n\t\"You're a liar, Hyena-Swine,\" I said. \"You want us [i]all[/i] dead!\"\n\tI could hear the Beast Folk whispering among themselves. They were getting ready to try something. I cocked the hammer on my revolver.\n\tA rock flew out of the darkness and past my ear, narrowly missing me. A second one sailed over my head. A third hit me square in the chest, causing a sharp pain. I heard Prendick cry out as one of them hit him as well. Prendick and I both fired at the shining eyes, but I couldn't tell if either of us hit anything.\n\t\"We have to run for it!\" I shouted. The Dog Man charged toward one end of the ravine and hurled himself at the floating eyes there, growling and snarling. Prendick and I followed him, and hands emerged from the darkness, groping at us. I fired again and heard leaves rustle as a body fell. Prendick shot, too, but whether his bullet found its mark was anybody's guess. I heard the Dog Man snarling savagely in the bushes as he struggled with someone, but I couldn't see who it was, and I didn't dare fire for fear of hitting our only ally. Regardless, the Dog Man had created an opening for us. We had to take advantage of it. Someone jumped me from behind, and I instinctively executed a judo throw, slamming my attacker to the ground in front of me. It was the Fox-Bear Woman, the one whom I had warned Prendick never to turn his back on.\n\t\"This way!\" I yelled to Prendick as I crashed through the undergrowth. He nodded and followed me, the two of us trying to put as much distance as we could between ourselves and the chaos in the ravine. I heard more snarling and snorting and grunting and shouting behind us as ferns and creeper vines lashed across my body.\n\tWe broke out of the undergrowth and splashed into a shallow stream. Dropping down into the water, we began swimming with the current, Prendick doing the best he could with only one arm. The sounds of fighting had ceased. There was no sound for several minutes except for the lapping of water against our bodies. Then a chorus of angry hoots and howls arose behind us as our pursuers realized they had lost our scent. We were safe, for the moment.\n\tPrendick and I paddled down the stream for ten or fifteen minutes and then climbed out onto the bank. We couldn't stay by the stream, as our pursuers might follow it, so we headed off perpendicular to it into the forest, trying to make as little noise as possible, which—at least in Prendick's case—was still more than I was comfortable with. I tried to think of where we might go. My first thought was the lava tube where the Ape Man had taken me, but I wasn't sure that was such a good idea. Even though I'd given him plenty of big thinks, he might now be among the Hyena-Swine's followers, and even if he wasn't, he might be foolish enough to blab about it to someone. The tube could become a death trap if they caught us in it, since it had only one opening and they could simply starve us out.\n\t\"Let's go west,\" said Prendick.\n\t\"Why west?\" I asked.\n\t\"There's more land that way. And there's a high outcropping of rocks I discovered while you were locked in your cage. It should afford us a clear view of any approach.\"\n\tI nodded, having no better ideas. \"Lay on, Macduff.\"\n\tHe looked at me curiously. \"You've read Shakespeare?\"\n\tI grinned as we walked along. \"Montgomery asked the same thing when I used that line on him. Yes, I'm a big fan of the Bard.\"\n\t\"You know, I'm not even surprised,\" said Prendick. \"Which is your favorite play?\"\n\t\"Probably [i]Macbeth[/i].\"\n\t\"Why [i]Macbeth[/i]?\"\n\t\"Because of all Shakespeare's tragedies, it has the simplest message: Thou shalt not kill. Plus there's lots of fighting. How about you?\"\n\t\"I must confess, I'm a [i]Hamlet[/i] man.\"\n\tI nodded. \"It does have the most classic lines.\"\n\t\"I saw Edwin Booth perform the role in New York in '85. Smashing.\"\n\t\"Damn, I'm jealous,\" I said. \"Too bad about his brother.\"\n\t\"Well, we can't pick our relatives, can we?\" After a moment, he asked, \"What do you suppose became of the Dog Man?\"\n\t\"He must have been killed,\" I replied.\n\tPrendick sighed. \"That's a damned shame.\"\n\t\"He bought our lives with his. Remember that.\"\n\t\"I shan't forget. By the by, what was that you did when the Fox-Bear Woman attacked you?\"\n\t\"It was a judo throw.\"\n\t\"Judo?\"\n\t\"It's a Japanese martial art.\"\n\t\"I see. You come from Japan, then?\"\n\t\"Never been there.\"\n\tHe shook his head. \"You certainly are an enigma, Alvin.\"\n\tI grinned. \"That I am.\"\n\n\tThe sky was pinkening to the east by the time we reached the rocky outcropping Prendick had mentioned. It was a high promotory of black basalt jutting up some thirty feet above the surrounding jungle, encrusted with vines, ferns, and bromeliads.\n\t\"I can think of worse places to make a last stand,\" I said, looking up at it with my hands on my hips. \"It's a lot prettier than the Alamo or Rorke's Drift.\"\n\t\"Which is this to be?\" asked Prendick, panting, his shirt dark with sweat.\n\t\"The one that held out, of course!\" I glanced at his left arm. \"You're gonna have a hell of a time climbing it with that busted wing.\"\n\t\"Yes, I hadn't considered that,\" said Prendick, looking nonplussed.\n\t\"Well, there's plenty of vines around to make a rope with. I'll climb it and pull you up.\"\n\t\"Do you think you can manage?\" asked Prendick.\n\tI nodded. \"Piece of cake.\"\n\tWe gathered some vines, cutting them with our hatchets, and braided them together into a crude but sturdy rope. Then I looped it over my shoulder and began my ascent. The climb itself wasn't especially difficult, as the surface was rough and there were plenty of places for my hands and feet to find purchase. My main concern was that there might be snakes, spiders, scorpions, and other nasty things hiding among the plants. Fortunately, I didn't encounter any. \n\tOnce I reached the top, I paused for a minute to rest, admiring the view. From this vantage point, it was possible to see that I was indeed on an island, and all that blue stretching off to the horizon in every direction gave me an oppressive feeling of loneliness and isolation. My throat tightened as I considered the very real possibility that I might be trapped in this time for the rest of my life and that I'd never see Julie again. I felt tears welling in my eyes. Then I wiped them away, took the rope in both hands, braced my foot on a rock, and yelled down to Prendick, \"Going up!\" He wrapped the rope around his torso, and I began hauling him upward as he assisted as best he could with his feet and his one good hand.\n\t\"Fourth floor, ladies' underwear,\" I said, gritting my teeth as I grasped his hand and pulled him up to join me.\n\tPrendick chuckled, shaking his head as he sat down to rest. \"You are extraordinary, Alvin.\"\n\t\"Well, duh,\" I said, sitting down beside him, my arms and back aching from my exertions. \"How many talking chipmunks do you know?\"\n\t\"[i]Are[/i] there others like you?\" he asked.\n\tI sighed. \"No. Not anymore.\"\n\t\"But you said you had a girlfriend.\"\n\t\"My girlfriend is human.\" I looked at him to see his reaction. His face was neutral. \"Does that shock you?\"\n\tHe shrugged. \"After all I've seen in the past two months, I suspect there is very little left that can shock me. And if Darwin was right—and Huxley insists that he was—then we all share a common ancestry if one goes far enough back.\"\n\tI chuckled. \"What was it Huxley said in his debate with Bishop Wilberforce?\"\n\tPrendick closed his eyes. \"'I would rather be descended from that heroic little monkey than a man who used his great gifts to obscure the truth.'\" He opened them again. \"Or words to that effect. I wasn't present, of course, having been only a child at the time. Certainly, there is nothing in Darwin's theory to prevent a tribe of rodents evolving intelligence alongside man.\" He looked at me. \"What became of the others of your kind?\"\n\t\"They died. Let's leave it at that.\"\n\t\"I'm sorry. You know, I haven't asked you why you've done all this for me. Surely, you'd have a better chance on your own.\"\n\t\"Because saving people is my business,\" I replied, \"and don't call me Shirley.\" Then I heard the sound of leaves rustling and palm fronds snapping in the forest below us. \"The guests have arrived.\"\n\t\"Let's make them feel unwelcome,\" said Prendick, grinning.\n\tI peered over the side. A dozen Beast People were standing under the trees at the base of the outcropping. \"How many bullets have you got?\" I asked Prendick.\n\t\"Four,\" he replied. \"You?\"\n\t\"Three. You might want to save one for yourself.\" I called down to the Beast Folk, waving. \"Hello, there! Sorry, this rock is taken. Get your own.\"\n\t\"You cannot stay up there forever!\" growled the Hyena-Swine from somewhere beneath the canopy.\n\t\"Oh, I don't know. There's plenty of food, rainwater to drink, plus we've got some girls from the island next door coming over later to party with us. I think we could make a go of it.\"\n\t\"We will come up there and kill you, as we did the Dog Man!\"\n\t\"Go ahead and try. We'll blow your heads off before you get ten feet.\"\n\t\"And what happens when you run out of metal seeds?\"\n\t\"We found a bunch of 'em in the ruins of the House of Pain,\" I said. \"Trust me, you'll run out of warm bodies long before we run out of seeds.\"\n\t\"You lie!\" the Hyena-Swine shouted.\n\t\"Could be. You just have to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?\" I cocked the hammer on my revolver and spoke in a raspy voice, because as long as I was playing Dirty Harry, I might as well do it right. \"Well, do ya, punk?\"\n\tThe Beast People began muttering among themselves, milling about under the trees, and I tried to determine which one was the Hyena-Swine. If we could kill him, I felt sure the others would back off. But I couldn't identify him through the leafy canopy.\n\t\"We will wait until it is dark before we come for you,\" said the Hyena-Swine. \"You will not see us then, but we will see you.\"\n\t\"You forget,\" I said, \"I'm a Beast Man, too. I can see just fine in the dark.\" That was a lie, but he didn't know that.\n\t\"You cannot be on all sides at once,\" said the Hyena-Swine. \"One of us will get you.\"\n\t\"Not before I get a bunch of you,\" I said. \"Is it really worth it?\"\n\t\"To kill you and the Other who walked in the Sea, it is. We will not have another Master.\"\n\t\"Alvin!\" shouted Prendick, nudging me. I whirled around. Four Beast People had climbed up the opposite side of the promontory while I'd been chatting with the Hyena-Swine and were now at the top with us. They charged at us, snarling savagely.\n\tI raised my gun and fired, and one of the Beast People spun and dropped. Prendick shot another, but a second plowed into him, knocking him on his back. Before I could come to his aid, the Fox-Bear Woman lunged at me. I used a judo throw on her for the second time today, and over the side she went. She screamed as she fell, hitting the rocks at the base of the cliff with a final-sounding thud. Then I turned to Prendick, who was desperately defending himself against his opponent as best he could with only one arm. I jumped on the Beast Man's back and locked an arm around his neck in a choke hold. He flailed around, slamming me against the jagged rocks, and I felt sharp pains in my back and sticky wetness in my fur, but I kept up the pressure on his throat. Then Prendick shot him, and he went limp.\n\tI let go of the Beast Man's corpse and ran to the edge of the cliff. As I'd expected, Beast Folk were climbing up the side. They were already more than halfway to the top. I looked for the Hyena-Swine, but he wasn't among them. Prendick looked down at them as well, and his jaw tightened. \"Bad show,\" he said, with typical British understatement.\n\tI gritted my teeth, because the idea of gunning down men who were clinging helplessly to the side of a cliff repulsed me, but I didn't see that I had any alternative. I took a deep breath, aimed, and fired, and one fell. I fired again, and another died. I looked over at Prendick. \"You're not shooting?\" I asked, feeling sick.\n\tHe shrugged. \"I've only two cartridges left.\"\n\tI nodded. \"Thanks.\"\n\tBeast People were climbing over the edge of the cliff, glaring at us, murder in their eyes. Prendick and I backed away, our guns pointed at them. \n\t\"I'll give you one last chance,\" said Prendick. \"Leave now, and we won't kill you.\" They hesitated, looking at each other uneasily, everyone wanting someone else to be the first to die.\n\t\"I suggest you take his offer,\" came a woman's voice from behind us.\n\tI spun around, my mouth hanging open. \"Julie?\"\n\tShe was standing atop a rock, wearing a camouflage-pattern jumpsuit and holding a wooden staff. She smiled at me. \"Hello, Alvin.\"\n\tI just stared at her, unable to believe my eyes. Then her expression changed to one of alarm. \"Look out!\" she shouted, pointing. \n\tI turned in the direction she was indicating to see the Hyena-Swine with his thick arms around Prendick, wrestling him toward the edge of the cliff. He must have climbed up the other side while we were busy with his followers. Prendick was struggling, but he was no match for his opponent's strength. \"DIE!\" shouted the Hyena-Swine as the pair teetered on the brink.\n\tI seized Prendick around his waist while Julie sprang from her perch and landed before the other Beast Folk, spinning her staff to keep them at bay. I yanked as hard as I could on Prendick, but the Hyena-Swine had the strength of a zealot clinging to his faith and seemed determined to pull all three of us over the edge. I rammed my knee into his shin. The Hyena-Swine cried out in pain, and his grip on Prendick loosened just enough that I was able to pull the human free of the creature's grasp. Together, Prendick and I fell painfully onto the hard, uneven surface of the little mesa, and then Prendick swung his arm around and fired his revolver, hitting the Hyena-Swine squarely in the center of his chest. The creature groaned and toppled over the side, and we heard his body hit the rocks below.\n\tPrendick and I got to our feet, panting, and he fixed his eyes on the rest of the Beast Folk. \"So end all who break the Law!\" he shouted. \"None escape!\"\n\t\"None escape,\" the Beast Folk echoed somberly. Then they turned and began climbing back down the rock face.\n\t\"That's got them,\" said Prendick, nodding with satisfaction.\n\tI ran to Julie. She crouched down, her arms wide and welcoming, and I threw mine around her and hugged her tight as she did the same to me.\n\t\"I'd given up hope,\" I said, my throat tight.\n\tJulie held me close, stroking my head and back. \"I'd been searching all over the island for you when I heard the gunshots.\"\n\t\"What are you doing here?\" I asked.\n\t\"Sanchez decided to disobey her superiors and let me come get you.\"\n\t\"Won't she get in trouble?\"\n\t\"She decided to hell with it. Oh god, Alvin, you're bleeding!\"\n\t\"It's nothing,\" I said. \"Just a few cuts.\" I looked up into her eyes. \"I've missed you so much!\"\n\tShe nodded, smiling. \"Same here.\" She pressed her lips to my bucktoothed mouth, and we kissed long and deeply. Then I realized that Prendick was staring at us. No doubt the sight of a human and a chipmunk kissing shocked his Victorian sensibilities. I released Julie and turned to face him. \"Julie Martins, meet Edward Prendick.\"\n\t\"How do you do, sir?\" she asked, standing up and bowing to him.\n\t\"You must be Alvin's girlfriend,\" said Prendick, trying to maintain his composure. \"Delighted to make your acquaintance, Miss Martins.\"\n\t\"He mentioned me?\" asked Julie, looking at me in surprise.\n\tI shrugged. \"You came up in conversation once or twice.\"\n\t\"Well, pleased to meet you, too, Mr. Prendick,\" she said, holding out a hand to him, which he shook. Then she looked at me. \"Sanchez wanted me to ask you about the thing you came for.\"\n\t\"I got it,\" I replied.\n\t\"You mean that bottle you tried to steal from Moreau's laboratory?\" asked Prendick. \"Surely, it was destroyed in the fire!\"\n\tI shook my head. \"I snuck back and stole it while you and Montgomery were out looking for Moreau. It's buried in a safe place.\"\n\tJulie grinned. \"Well, then, let's get it and get out of here!\"\n\t\"You have a boat?\" asked Prendick, his eyes lighting up.\n\t\"Not exactly,\" I replied. \"But we do have a way off the island.\"\n\t\"Oh, thank Heaven!\" said Prendick, shuddering with relief.\n\tI glanced over at Julie. She was biting her lip, dreading what was coming as much as I was. \"First, let's get down from here,\" I said.\n\tJulie and I helped Prendick descend from the rock, and the three of us walked through the jungle together. Surprisingly, Prendick remained quiet rather than barraging us with the questions that must have been burning a hole in his mind, which was fine by me, since it made what I was going to have to do a bit easier. We arrived at the spot where I'd buried the bottle of orchid extract. After we dug it up, Julie handed me the extra recall device she'd brought, and I strapped it around my wrist. Then I took a deep breath, steeling my nerves for would happen next.\n\t\"I'm afraid this is where we part ways, Mr. Prendick,\" I said around a lump in my throat.\n\tHe stared at me. \"What—what do you mean? You can't mean to abandon me here!\"\n\t\"Don't worry,\" I said, \"you won't stay on this island forever. You will escape.\"\n\tJulie nodded. \"In just a few months.\"\n\t\"How can you possibly know that?\" he demanded.\n\t\"We can't explain,\" I said. \"You just have to trust us.\"\n\tHe fell to his knees, eyes pleading, and grasped my hand, squeezing it. \"Alvin, please, I beg of you, you can't do this! You mustn't! If our friendship means anything at all to you . . .\"\n\tI sighed. \"I don't have a choice, Edward. This is how it has to be. I'm sorry.\"\n\t\"Mr. Prendick,\" said Julie, \"I know we're not exactly in the best position to ask you for a favor, but since we did save your life, when you tell your story we'd appreciate it if you didn't mention us. It would be best for everyone.\"\n\tPrendick hung his head, trembling and sobbing. \"Please, don't leave me here alone with these beasts. Please . . .\"\n\tI swallowed and squeezed his shoulder. \"Goodbye, Edward.\" I let go, Julie and I activated our recall devices, and Edward Prendick and the island of Dr. Moreau vanished into history.\n\n\tJulie and I emerged from the portal and walked down the ramp of Juryrig's time machine to the floor of his laboratory, where Sanchez stood waiting for us. I walked up to her and held out the bottle. \"Here you are, Director,\" I said.\n\t\"You got it?\" she asked, astonished, as she accepted the bottle.\n\tI nodded. \"Julie tells me you defied your superiors by sending her to bring me back. Thanks.\"\n\tShe looked down at me apologetically. \"I am sorry, Alvin,\" she said. \"I should have done it sooner.\"\n\tI shrugged. \"Well, considering I only got my hands on that stuff two days ago, I'd say you timed it just right.\"\n\t\"Two days?\" asked Julie in surprise. \"What were you doing all the rest of that time?\"\n\tI smiled. \"I'll tell you all about it later. Right now, I just want to get cleaned up.\" I turned to Juryrig, who was working at a console nearby. \"Do you have a shower I can use?\"\n\tHe waved a prosthetic arm without looking at me. \"Up the stairs and to the left.\"\n\t\"Thanks,\" I said, and Julie and I went that way. \n\t\"So, I take it you read the book,\" I said as we walked.\n\tJulie nodded. \"Last night. It's a quick read.\"\n\t\"Does it say what happens to Prendick after he escapes?\"\n\tShe sighed. \"He returns to England, but whenever he looks at other humans, he feels like they're about to turn into animals. He becomes a recluse and a misanthrope. He dies sometime before 1896, the year the book is published.\"\n\tI shook my head. \"So he never really escaped the island. That's too bad. He was a decent guy.\"\n\tShe smiled and ruffled my hair. \"So are you, for a Beast Man.\"\n\tI smiled up at her, then went to wash the dirt of a previous century out of my fur.\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "
Genesis


a story set in the universe of Champions Online


\tIt is night. I am running through the jungle as fast as I can, wearing only a loincloth. Ferns and creeper vines lash across my body. All around me I hear the snarls and growls of beasts. They seek my blood, and that of my companion. I glance up at him. He is human and twice my height, about thirty, with a scraggly fringe of beard, his blond hair an unkempt mess, his skin tanned deep brown by the tropical sun. He wears a dirty, ragged blue shirt and trousers and leather shoes that are in the process of falling apart. He clutches a revolver in his right hand. I hope the creatures chasing us still remember what it can do.
\tWe break out of the dense undergrowth and splash into a shallow stream. A chance to lose our pursuers. We both drop down into the water and begin swimming downstream, trying not to make too much noise. For several minutes the night is deathly still, save for the light sound of the water lapping at our bodies. Then a cacophany of angry hoots and howls explodes behind us. Our pursuers have lost our scent. We've bought ourselves another day in hell.

\tIt was a bitterly cold winter's day in Millennium City, and an icy wind as sharp as a knife licked at my furry face and whipped my cape around as I entered the offices of PRIMUS—the Paranormal Research and Investigation Mission of the United States. I got a few odd looks as I walked through the lobby, because even in this town a three-foot-tall chipmunk dressed in black-and-gray body armor with a matching hood and cape and a gold hawk emblem on his chest is an unusual sight, but PRIMUS agents are used to dealing with weird stuff and they all quickly went back to whatever they were doing.
\tI walked up to the receptionist, told her who I was, and showed her a card identifying me as a registered hero. She scanned it with a device much like a barcode reader, told me I was expected and which office to go to, and stuck a little yellow badge on my chest so I wouldn't set off their security measures. I thanked her and walked toward a large steel door. On either side of it stood two PRIMUS Iron Guard agents in their heavy, clunky armored suits with the Presidential eagle over their hearts. They paid no attention to me as the door slid open and I walked between them and through it.
\tBeyond was a short, featureless corridor with another steel door at the end. The door behind me slid shut. Both doors were never open at the same time. I knew that as I walked along the corridor, I was being scanned six ways from Sunday to make sure I wasn't a robot duplicate or an alien shapeshifter or something. PRIMUS takes their security seriously, and this was only one of their branch offices. I tried to imagine what kind of security their headquarters in Washington, D.C. had.
\tThe door opened, and I entered a hallway with a number of PRIMUS agents walking up and down it in their black berets, armored chest plates, camouflage trousers, and combat boots. Some had cybernetic prostheses, a reminder of the danger of their occupation. As before, a number of them glanced at me curiously but then went on with their business. After all, if I'd gotten this far, I must have been cleared. I went to an elevator, pressed the call button, waited until it opened, and then got inside with a number of momentarily surprised PRIMUS agents. I rode it to the proper floor, exited, and went down the hall to a door simply labeled M. SANCHEZ, DIRECTOR. It slid open for me, and I went through.
\tBehind a desk in a spartan office sat a dark-skinned woman with long white hair, dressed in the same outfit as all the other PRIMUS agents. She smiled and rose when I came in, coming around her desk and holding out her hand to me, which I shook. Her grip was strong, which was to be expected. Mayte Sanchez was a Silver Avenger, one of a handful of elite PRIMUS agents whose strength and speed had been biochemically enhanced to superhuman levels. "Hello, Nightmunk," she said, in a deep voice with a slight Spanish accent. "Nice to see you again."
\t"Nice to see you, too, Director Sanchez," I replied. "What did you want to see me about?"
\t"Direct and to the point," she said, still smiling. "Just like your mentor."
\tI shrugged. "Nighthawk was never one for social pleasantries. I like to think I'm a little less brusque than him."
\t"I always found you quite charming," she said, "as well as extremely clever. The way you showed up my former Justice Department liason, Anthony Abruzzi, was amazing!"
\tI began to suspect I was being buttered up for something. "That's very flattering, Director," I said, "but I'm sure you didn't call me here just to shower me with compliments."
\tShe went back behind her desk and sat down. "Quite right. Have a seat, please." I hopped up in a chair facing her. "Are you familiar with a gentleman named Damon Armstrong?"
\t"Juryrig? Yeah, I rescued him from that vampire gang, the New Shadows, down in Vibora Bay. He's an inventor."
\tShe nodded. "Yes, he is, and he has invented a great many things, one of which PRIMUS is particularly interested in."
\t"I'm guessing it's not a better mousetrap," I said.
\t"You guess correctly," she said. "What I am about to tell you is a secret known to only a few people in the entire world, most of whom are members of PRIMUS. One of them you know: Supersonic Squirrel."
\tI nodded. "He's a friend of mine. Great guy, even though our methods differ."
\t"You will be happy to know he speaks well of you, too. I asked him if he thought you could be trusted, and his reply was an unqualified 'yes.'"
\t"I'm honored," I said. "After my recent brainwashing by the Parapsychological Studies Institute, I wasn't sure anyone would trust me anymore."
\t"That was a most unfortunate business," said Sanchez. "But since you have been given a clean bill of mental health by one of the world's most powerful telepaths, I feel I can rely on your discretion."
\t"Thank you, Director," I said. "That means a lot to me. So, what about this invention of Juryrig's?"
\t"He calls it a quantum displacement engine. It is, quite simply, a time machine."
\tI stared at her. "Seriously?"
\tShe nodded. "Seriously."
\t"And it actually works?"
\t"Indeed it does. Supersonic himself used it to travel back to when the Lemurians invaded Millennium City."
\t"Good lord!" I said, sinking back in my chair. The implications of such a thing were staggering. "So what do you want me to do? Kill Hitler? Because time travel always equals Hitler."
\t"Certainly not!" said Sanchez. "Any use of such a device must be done with the greatest care, so as not to alter the course of history."
\t"Good to know someone is thinking sensibly," I said, relieved.
\t"However," she said, "there is a task we feel you may be ideally suited for."
\t"What task would that be?"
\t"How well acquainted are you with the origins of manimals?"
\t"Are you kidding? I learned all that growing up on Monster Island—how the first Dr. Moreau had modified animals to look human, as described in the novel by H. G. Wells, how Moreau's great-grandson Phillippe discovered that the novel was actually based on a true story and vowed to carry on his great-grandfather's work, and how he created me and my brothers in the likeness of those stupid singing cartoon chipmunks to entertain him."
\t"Have you ever actually read The Island of Dr. Moreau?" she asked.
\tI blushed beneath my fur. "No, I haven't. I haven't even seen any of the movie versions. Funny, isn't it? You'd think I'd want to. I even own a copy of the book. But every time I pick it up and try to read it, I just can't. Maybe it hits too close to home." I shrugged.
\tSanchez smiled sympathetically. "That is understandable. But if you had, you might have been struck by an odd discrepancy between the Beast Folk created by the original Dr. Moreau, and the manimals created by his great-grandson. The former eventually reverted to bestial states, while the latter appear to be stable."
\tI nodded. "I know I haven't had any urge to run around on all fours gathering nuts lately."
\tShe chuckled. "We suspect the reason for this lies in the time they were made. The events described in the novel occur in 1887. At that time, the nature of heredity was still a mystery. Gregor Mendel's experiments showing that hereditary information is transmitted as discrete units that we now call genes had been ignored and forgotten, and his work would not be rediscovered until 1900. And it was not until 1952 that Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase confirmed that genes are made of DNA, and a year later that James Watson and Francis Crick determined its structure."
\t"So the first Dr. Moreau was only changing the outward appearence of his subjects through surgery," I said, "while manimals like me were created by genetic manipulation. That's why we're stable. Our bodies formed the way our genes told them to."
\t"Oh, he did much more than simply change their appearance," said Sanchez. "He grafted into them tissues from other species, including human brain tissue, granting them human-level intelligence. And somehow, he found a means of preventing the rejection of foreign tissue."
\t"Ah, now I'm beginning to undertand," I said.
\t"Exactly! In the book, some of the Beast Folk are clearly derived from pigs. Now, if you try to transplant a pig organ into a human body, the human immune system rejects it so violently that necrosis occurs and the transplanted tissue starts to turn black before you can even sew up the patient. But Moreau must have found a way to prevent this. If we can learn what it was, it could open up a whole new era in organ transplantation. Millions of lives could be saved!"
\t"So, you want to send me back to 1887, find Moreau's secret, and bring it back. And you figure I'm suited to do this because I'm a manimal and can pass myself off as one of his Beast Folk."
\tShe nodded. "That is the basic idea."
\t"But won't Moreau realize he didn't make me?"
\t"The book says the Beast Folk bred with each other. You could pretend to be one of their offspring. The fact that you are the size of a human child will bolster your claim." She looked at me expectantly. "So, what do you think?"
\tI shook my head. "I think this sounds like the craziest idea I've ever heard."
\tShe smiled. "But will you do it?"
\tI thought for a moment. It was an incredible opportunity, and the potential benefits were enormous. Of course, so were the risks, but I hadn't put on this costume to play it safe. I nodded. "All right, I'm game."
\tI realized the moment I said it that that was probably a poor choice of words.

\tJulie Martins and I sat at a table in the dining room of our apartment in the Westside neighborhood of Millennium City, eating a dinner of beef bourguignon and mashed potatoes. Besides being the superhero Nightfox, she's also my friend, lover, and crime-fighting partner.
\t"So," she said, after a long silence, "you can't tell me where you're going, what you're doing, or how long it'll take."
\tI shook my head. "PRIMUS swore me to secrecy. All I'm allowed to say is that it could save lots of lives."
\t"And I can't come because . . ."
\t"I can't tell you that, either."
\tShe fiddled with something on her plate. "Can I at least get a ballpark figure of how long you'll be gone?"
\t"It's hard to say. There's a lot of unknowns involved. Could be a day, could be a week, could be a month."
\t"Could be forever," she said.
\tI shrugged. "That's always a risk in our line of work."
\t"And you'll be totally incommunicado the whole time. Not even able to make a phone call."
\t"Yeah."
\tShe put down her fork, got up from the table, went into the living room, and sat down on the couch, arms and legs crossed. I sighed, hopped down off my chair, went over, and stood before her.
\t"I'm sorry, Julie," I said.
\t"Why did you accept this mission?" she asked, glaring at me.
\t"Because it's the right thing to do. I'm a superhero. My job is to save lives. That's why I put on a costume and go out and do stupid things at one o'clock in the morning."
\t"Why doesn't PRIMUS send one of their own people to do it?"
\t"I'm uniquely qualified."
\t"In what way?"
\t"I can't tell you that."
\tJulie looked away. She sat there for a moment, fuming, before looking back at me. "I hate this, Alvin!"
\t"You think I'm happy about it?" I asked. "You think I want to be separated from you for who knows how long? I'd give anything for you to be able to come, but it's not up to me. I don't have a say in this!"
\t"Sure you do! You could make it a condition for your going! You said you're uniquely qualified. That means without you, whatever it is doesn't happen!"
\tI shook my head. "That's not true. There are others they could send."
\t"Then let them!"
\tI sighed. "They asked me because they think I have the best chance of success. And this is important enough that the person with the best chance should go."
\t"You could force the issue!"
\t"I could, but I'm not going to."
\tShe stood up angrily. "Why not? You think I'm not good enough?"
\t"You know better than that, Julie."
\t"Then why not? Why won't you push for me to come?"
\tI bit my lip and looked away.
\tShe stared at me. "You think it's too dangerous! You're protecting me!"
\t"No, it's not that at all!"
\t"Jesus, Alvin, we've been to other dimensions together! We fought a god together! How could this possibly be any more dangerous than what we've already done?"\t
\t"Look, I can't explain why, but this is a one-person job. Having someone else along would actually make it harder."
\tShe sat back down, sulking. I went over to the couch, sat down beside her, and looked up at her.
\t"This sucks!" she said bitterly.
\tI nodded. "I know it does. And I'm sorry."
\tI leaned against her, and she reached down and scritched my hair. I chrred with pleasure, wriggling. Then she leaned down and kissed my cheek. I turned my head and returned the kiss, my buck teeth brushing against her lips. We kept on kissing for a while, our hands roaming around each other. Then we paused, gazing into each other's eyes. We both knew what we wanted. We got off the couch, went into the bedroom, and made it a night to remember.

\tI emerged from behind a screen in Juryrig's enormous warehouse laboratory in Vibora Bay and looked down at myself. I was wearing nothing but a loincloth. "I feel ridiculous," I said.
\tSanchez chuckled as I stood there before her. "Didn't you go naked on Monster Island?"
\t"Yeah, but that was before I got civilized."
\t"Well, we cannot have you taking any modern technology back to 1887. Too much risk of altering history." Then she smiled. "For what it is worth, you look adorable."
\t"Thanks," I replied, sneering up at her.
\tJuryrig was hunched over a bank of computer keyboards that appeared to have been wired haphazardly together, fiddling with them. He was a redhaired man with a pointed beard, wearing green coveralls. His right arm and left leg were prosthetic, made out of rusty, clunky junk. His left eye was also artificial, a glowing red sphere that telescoped forward from his eye socket. On his back he wore a device that looked just as randomly assembled as the keyboards. Out of the top of it stuck an ordinary household blender with green liquid sloshing around inside it. I had no idea what it was for. Maybe an artificial kidney or something.
\tBehind him stood an immense apparatus that appeared to have been cobbled together out of household appliances and odds and ends. It constantly buzzed and rattled and made other strange noises. Two huge Tesla coils erupted from the top of it, sparking continuously. In the middle, a ramp led upward to a circular opening that glowed brightly. Above the opening was a clock whose hands whirled swiftly in opposite directions.
\tI shook my head. "Looks like something out of a Z-grade movie."
\t"Oh, she'll get ya where an' when ya need ta go," said Juryrig, in a high, grating voice, not looking up from his keyboards.
\t"And exactly where and when is it I'm going?" I asked.
\t"According to the book," said Sanchez, "a ship called the Lady Vain—on which the narrator, Edward Prendick, was sailing—collided with a derelict and sank on February 1st, 1887, at 1 degree south latitude and 107 degrees west longitude, roughly a thousand miles west of the Galapagos Islands. Prendick and two other men escaped in a dinghy and drifted for eight days, during which time the other two men died. He was then picked up by the schooner Ipecacuanha, half dead from dehydration and exposure. He was nursed back to health by a doctor named Montgomery, a colleague of Moreau's who was bringing supplies and animals to the island, including a female puma, a llama, and six hounds that Moreau intended to transform into Beast Folk. Prendick spent at least two days on the Ipecacuanha recuperating from his ordeal, and she arrived at Moreau's island the following day, at which time her rather disagreeable captain threw him off the ship."
\tI mentally sifted through this information. "So Prendick arrived on the island eleven days after the sinking of the Lady Vain, on February 12th."
\t"Yes, but it would be best if you never encounter him, in order to avoid interfering with the events of the book. Therefore, we will set you down five days earlier. Hopefully, that will be enough time for you to get what you are after and return before Prendick arrives."
\tI nodded. "That takes care of when. How about where? Do we know which island Moreau was on?"
\t"The eastern Pacific has the least amount of land per square mile of any place on Earth," said Sanchez. "The only island near the sinking is a small, uninhabited volcanic island called Noble's Isle. That must be it."
\tI shrugged. "Well, if you're wrong, I guess we'll find out soon enough."
\tShe nodded and handed me what looked like an ordinary digital wristwatch. "This is a recall device. Press the alarm button, and you will return to the present. We can also pull you back from this end, but only if you are wearing the watch. Remember, when you go back, that time and this one will become entangled at the quantum level. Time will pass at the same rate in both."
\t"So no popping back a second after I left." I examined the watch. "This looks suspiciously like modern technology."
\t"An unavoidable risk," said Sanchez. "In any case, we can always pull it back ourselves, if it becomes necessary."
\t"Won't Moreau want to know what it is and how one of his Beast Folk came to have it?"
\t"Undoubtably. That is why you must find a place to hide it before you meet him. Whatever you do, do not lose it. It is your sole link to the present."
\tI nodded. "Anything else I need to know before I go?"
\t"I hardly feel it is necessary to tell you not to reveal anything about the future to anyone in the past."
\t"Understood. Well, let's get this show on the road." I turned to Juryrig. "Ready?"
\t"Ready when you are," he replied.
\tSanchez held out her hand to me. "Good luck, Nightmunk."
\tI shook her hand. "Thanks, Director. See you whenever." I turned and walked toward the glowing portal to the past, the metal ramp cold against my bare feet. I was scared, but also excited. I've done a lot of weird things in my life, but traveling into the past was something only a handful of people had ever done. It was incredible to think about. I took a deep breath and stepped though.

\tI found myself standing on a beach of dull gray sand under a bright, hot noonday sun. There had been no shock of transition, no sensation of any kind. It had been just like walking through a door. There were some feathery cirrus clouds overhead. Otherwise, the sky was clear. I turned and looked out across the seemingly infinite expanse of the Pacific Ocean as it rasped gently on the shore. I felt as if I were all alone in the world, which, in a way, I was. This was 1887. Grover Cleveland was in the White House. Queen Victoria was on the throne of England. Germany and the United States were up and coming world powers. China and Japan were emerging from centuries of feudal darkness. Coca-Cola had just been invented. I shook my head. Incredible.
\tI turned and began climbing the steeply sloping beach toward the tree line. My first order of business was to find a safe place to hide my recall device. I couldn't afford to let anyone see it. I made my way through the forest in the thick tropical heat, pushing through the undergrowth, my feet crunching on a carpet of dead leaves, sunlight dappling my body through the canopy. I noticed ants and beetles scurrying along the tree trunks. I might end up having to resort to those for food, if I couldn't find any fish, crabs, or shellfish in the ocean. There would be no frogs or freshwater fish here. This island had risen Venus-like from the sea and had never been connected to a continent, so there had been no way for freshwater animals to reach it. There would be birds and eggs, though. And coconuts. And robber crabs—those huge, land-dwelling crustaceans that fed on coconuts and other fruits. Supposedly, their meat tasted sweet. I might have to find out.
\tAs I walked along, I became aware of someone moving through the undergrowth nearby. I paused, pretending to inspect the orange-and-yellow flower of a bromeliad clinging to a tree trunk. My unseen companion also stopped moving. I was being followed. Inconvenient, since I didn't really want company until I found a place to hide the watch. Maybe I could scare them off.
\t"I know what you're thinking," I said. "I'm small and unarmed. Don't try it. I'm quite able to defend myself."
\tThere was a moment of pregnant silence. Then my companion moved, the leaves rustling around his feet. He half rose from beneath the undergrowth, staring at me with bright green eyes. He had copper skin, black hair, a large nose, and a protruding face with fangs visible above and below his lipless slit of a mouth. He reminded me somewhat of a baboon, but I found out later he had been made from a leopard. He stood hunched over, with his head forward, and was clothed in a shirt and trousers of blue serge, smeared with dirt.
\t"Where do you come from?" the Leopard Man asked, in a coarse, gutteral voice.
\t"Here," I replied.
\tHe shook his head. "No. No boat. No cries."
\t"What?" I asked, confused.
\t"Always, before a new one comes, there is a boat. Always, there are cries, from the House of Pain."
\tNow I understood. The arrival of new Beast Folk on the island was always preceded by the arrival of a boat bringing new animal subjects, and screams as Moreau operated on them, transforming them into Beast Folk.
\t"Where is the House of Pain?" I asked.
\tHe stared at me. "You do not know?"
\tI shook my head. "As you already figured out, I'm not from there."
\t"Then where?" he demanded.
\tI waved dismissively at him. "Go away."
\tThe Leopard Man's eyes fixed on my arm, light from the shiny metal wristwatch reflecting on his ugly face, and I cursed myself for practically dangling the thing in front of him. I quickly covered it with my hand, but he was already fixated on it. He sprang at me, fingers outstretched. I seized his arm, spun, and threw him over my shoulder, slamming him onto the ground on his back. The air left his lungs in a whoosh, and I locked an arm around his neck in a choke hold, my other hand pressed against the side of his head as he squirmed and writhed.
\t"Take me to the House of Pain," I said, my muzzle nearly touching one of his slightly pointed hairy ears.
\t"Why do you want to go there?" the Leopard Man asked. "No one wants to go there!"
\t"I have business with Moreau."
\t"Who is that?"
\tI realized the Beast Folk probably didn't know his real name. "He Who Makes."
\tHe gasped, green eyes going wide. "You are mad!"
\t"I'm getting there," I replied.
\tHe struggled some more, and I tightened my grip. "Stop!" he whined. "Please! I will take you!"
\tI released him and stood up. He stood up as well, rubbing his neck and glaring down at me. His legs were scarcely half the length of his body. I noticed there were dark stains on his knees and the fabric was frayed there. I recalled something about the Beast Folk not being supposed to go on all fours. "Lead on," I said.
\tHe whimpered, moving forward in a clumsy, hunched, stoop-shouldered walk.
\t"I'm Alvin," I said to him. "What's your name?"
\tThe Leopard Man looked down at me. "Name?"
\t"Don't you have one?"
\tHe shook his head.
\t"Do any of you have names?"
\t"Only the Sayer of the Law."
\tI nodded. My conversation with the Leopard Man had at least confirmed one thing: Prendick wasn't here yet. He and Montgomery were still at sea.
\tI had Moreau all to myself.

\tAs the Leopard Man and I made our way through the dense jungle, my eyes sought a suitable place to conceal my watch, someplace where I could easily find it again when I needed it. Unfortunately, nothing really jumped out at me. There were plenty of rotting tree stumps and fallen logs, but they all looked more or less the same, and I wasn't confident that I'd be able to locate any particular one among all the others in this trackless wilderness. In addition, I couldn't do it with the Leopard Man watching me, as he knew this island better than I did and might be able to follow my scent back to the hiding place. After his earlier attempt to steal the watch from me, I had no doubt he'd try again at the first opportunity.
\tAfter an hour or so, my ears once again detected the staticky sound of waves crashing on sand, and shortly thereafter we broke out of the jungle onto another stretch of beach. A few hundred yards away stood a square stone enclosure with a heavy wooden gate framed in iron, two thatched roofs peeping above its walls.
\t"The House of Pain," the Leopard Man announced, his voice quavering with fear.
\tI nodded. "Thank you. You can go now."
\tHe stared at me. "You are really going in there?"
\tI smiled up at him. "You've seen I can take care of myself. Goodbye." I set off toward the enclosure.
\tWalking on loose sand is exhausting, and the sand was also burning hot, searing the soles of my bare feet. Several times I paused with my feet buried in it to let them cool off. Eventually, I reached the enclosure and stood before that imposing gate, feeling like a tiny barbarian preparing to storm a castle. I pushed at the gate, but it was locked. I examined the walls. They were made of a combination of coral limestone and pumiceous lava rock. They hadn't been constructed with any great skill, the irregular stones crudely mortared together. Climbing them would be easy. Before I did, I removed my watch. Since I still hadn't found a suitable place to hide it, I concealed it the only place I could—inside my loincloth. It wasn't comfortable there, but at least it was out of sight. That done, I commenced my assault on the stone wall.
\tAfter a minute of not very challenging climbing, I stood atop the wall of the enclosure, looking down on the courtyard. The floor was paved with flat stones laid in the sand, and there were two simple thatch-roofed huts. It was a far humbler affair than the sprawling bamboo house I'd grown up in on Monster Island. This Dr. Moreau clearly didn't care about frivolous luxuries. I jumped down and began to look for him.
\tThe first hut contained an operating table with surgical instruments and jars of various chemicals. I'd expected to find something like that. I left quickly, as it brought back too many unpleasant memories, and moved on to the second hut. The door was open, and I walked inside. There, sitting at a rough wooden desk, surrounded by stacks of books and jars of specimens floating in formaldehyde, was Dr. Moreau.
\tHe was a massively built man of about fifty, with white hair, a square head, and small, brilliant black eyes beneath heavy, bushy brows. His skin had the hue and texture of tanned leather, from years of exposure to the tropical sun, and was moist with sweat. Like the Leopard Man, he wore a jacket and trousers of blue serge. He was presently immersed in an anatomy text, but he looked up immediately as I came in and stared at me from behind a pair of reading glasses. "What in the devil?" he asked, speaking with a British accent.
\t"Dr. Moreau, I presume?" I asked.
\tHe continued staring at me. Perhaps he was wondering how I could be familiar with the famous question asked by Henry Stanley to Dr. David Livingstone in Africa sixteen years earlier. Or perhaps he simply dismissed the similarity of phrasing as a coincidence. "Where have you come from?" he asked, finally.
\tThat British accent really threw me. I'd expected him to be French, but I realized that was only because my Moreau had been French. I wished now that I'd read the damn book. "Here, on the island," I replied. "I was born to two of your Beast Folk."
\t"Impossible," said Moreau. "None of their offspring have ever shown any evidence of their parents' acquired human characteristics."
\tI shrugged. "There's a first time for everything."
\tHe stood and came over to me, fully twice my height, and got down on one knee to look at me more closely. "You're a rodent," he said.
\t"Very observant," I replied.
\t"I've never used any of the Rodentia in my work," said Moreau. "They're too small, too hard to operate on. And with their short lifespans, it's hardly worth the bother. What point is there giving intelligence to something that will die of old age in two or three years?"
\tI folded my arms. "All right then, how do you account for me?"
\tHe shook his head. "I confess, I have no explanation. Who are your parents?"
\t"I never knew them."
\t"So you were raised in the Beast Folk colony, then. Strange that I've never seen you there."
\t"You've never seen me there because I've never been there."
\tHe blinked. "Then how did you learn to speak English?"
\t"I don't know. I just do."
\tMoreau looked over my body. "You have excellent muscle development."
\t"Thank you. I worked hard for it."
\tHe took my small hand in his much larger one, inspecting it. "Only four fingers. Not an unusual deformity for a Beast Man. However, despite its stunted build, your body is still much closer to the human form than any of the other Beast Folk." Then his eyes widened as he noticed my scars, mementos of my days on Monster Island. "Where did you get those scars?" he demanded.
\t"I've been in a few fights," I replied.
\t"With whom?"
\t"What makes you think it was a whom?"
\t"There is no dangerous wildlife on this island."
\tI smirked. "I may be a rodent, but I'm not a rat."
\tMoreau stood up and gazed down at me, his brow furrowed. "This is not a joking matter. The Law forbids the spilling of blood, and no Beast Man can be permitted to break the Law. It's all that keeps them in line. The guilty party must be punished!"
\t"That's not my problem, Moreau. And by the way, I have a name, too. It's Alvin."
\t"Who gave you a name? And how do you know mine?"
\t"I know a lot of things," I said. "For instance, I know you've found a way to prevent tissue rejection in cross-species transplants. I'd like to find out how you do that."
\tHe stared at me. "How can you know of such things?"
\tI put my hands on my hips, smiling up at him. "I know more than you can possibly imagine, Moreau. Now, why don't you tell me your secret and we'll call it a day, hmm?"
\tMoreau was silent for a long moment. Then he turned and went to the desk, opened a drawer, and reached inside. He withdrew a revolver and aimed it at me. "How do you know these things?" he asked menacingly.
\tI steeled my nerves as I looked down the barrel of Moreau's gun. I don't scare easily, having faced death many times in the fight pits on Monster Island. However, I did want to see Julie again, and I knew she'd be heartbroken if I never returned. I kept my voice low and steady. "If you kill me, you'll never find out how I came by my knowledge."
\t"I already have my suspicions," Moreau replied darkly.
\tI blinked. "You do? Mind telling me what they are?" He couldn't possibly suspect the truth, but I was curious to find out what he thought it was.
\t"Turn around and walk toward the surgical hut," Moreau said.
\t"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," I said, smiling.
\t"You're an intriguing specimen, Alvin," said Moreau, "and it would be a pity to have to shoot you, but I shan't hesitate to do so if it becomes necessary."
\tI had no doubt that he was telling the truth. A man who had done the things he had done—cutting into animals as they writhed and screamed in agony—didn't make idle threats. The surgical hut would contain chloroform or ether that he could use to subdue me. The thought of being at this man's mercy sent a chill down my spine, despite my aforementioned fearlessness. Even worse, he might discover the recall device concealed in my loincloth. That must not happen.
\tI turned around and began walking toward the doorway, Moreau following. I was sure I could take him if I could just get my hands on him. Despite his greater size, he wasn't an expert in unarmed combat. I was. But Moreau was no fool. He kept a safe distance behind me.
\tIt was time for a "Hail Mary" play. As I stepped out the door, I dodged to the right as fast as I could. I heard the crack of Moreau's revolver and felt an explosion of pain in my lower left side. There was a second crack as I ducked behind the thatched wall of the hut and Moreau fired at where he thought I was. His shot burst through the thatch, missing me, and ricocheted off one of the flagstones paving the floor of the courtyard.
\tI ran around behind the hut. Through a haze of pain, I formulated some vague plan of trying to ambush Moreau when he came around the corner looking for me. Unfortunately, the doctor had other ideas. He walked out of the hut and stood in the center of the courtyard, where he had a clear shot at me if I came at him. Bastard.
\t"Come out, Alvin," he called. "I know I hit you. There's nowhere for you to go, and it won't be long before you pass out from loss of blood. I have no desire to kill you or let you bleed to death. That would be a tragic waste of a unique specimen. Surrender quietly, and I promise I'll patch you up."
\t"And then cut me to pieces!" I yelled, gritting my teeth against the pain. I glanced down at the wound. The bullet had cut a gash in the left side of my abdomen. I pressed my left hand over the wound, applying direct pressure to it, and the pain made me squeal and shudder. Blood flowed around my fingers, soaking my loincloth and running down my left leg and onto the ground. I'd never been shot before. Cut, stabbed, and beaten within an inch of my life, yes, but never shot. It was amazing how much it hurt.
\t"There would be no point in that," said Moreau. "You're much more interesting to me alive. Come on, now. I can see from your blood trail that you're bleeding badly, and a creature your size can't have that much blood to begin with. You'll be unconscious in a few minutes. Surrender now and I may still be able to save your life."
\tI looked around desperately for a means of escape. I knew the front gate was locked. Climbing the walls was out of the question. I wasn't even sure I could manage it in my present condition, and I'd be a sitting duck for Moreau if I tried. Then I noticed a small door in a corner of the courtyard, slightly ajar. There was about sixty feet of open ground between me and it, but it appeared to be the only exit. I just had to hope Moreau was a lousy shot. I took a deep breath and bolted for it.
\tMoreau fired, and a bullet whizzed past my head and hit the wall, making a puff of dust. I weaved as I ran, trying to spoil his aim, leaving a zigzag trail of bloody footprints on the flagstones. Moreau fired again, but his shot missed by a wide margin. I reached the door, yanked it open, and ducked inside.
\tI was in a small room, plainly furnished with a table and two chairs, a hammock slung in one corner, and a small, unglazed window with a vertical iron bar across it facing out toward the sea. There was a deck chair beneath the window and a shelf containing some old books by the hammock. There was also another door in the outer wall. I ran to it and tried the knob. It was locked.
\tI could hear Moreau's heavy footsteps approaching from the courtyard. I glanced at the window. There wasn't enough space on either side of the bar for a man to squeeze through, but a chipmunk might manage it. I jumped up on the deck chair, grabbed the sides of the window, and tried to pull my body through. I squealed in pain as my injured side rubbed against the bar. Then I was clear.
\tI fell onto the sand outside the enclosure, got up, and started running along the wall toward the tree line. Moreau stuck his arm out the window, revolver in hand. He couldn't see me from his vantage point, but he fired his last two cartridges blindly. Both bullets raised little fountains of sand well away from me. I kept running until I reached the tree line, and then crashed into the undergrowth.
\tAs I ran through the jungle, vines and bushes tore at me, seemingly doing everything in their power to impede my progress. I was going on pure adrenaline now. I wished I had Julie's ability to ignore pain and fatigue, but that took years to learn, and I hadn't had the benefit of being possessed by the spirit of a dead ninja.
\tI started feeling faint and dizzy from loss of blood as the adrenaline surge wore off. Moreau had predicted that I would pass out in a few minutes. He may have been crazy, but he clearly knew his stuff. My mission was looking more and more like a washout. As much as I hated to give up on anything, the most sensible course of action was to return to my own time, rest and heal up, and then try again. I reached into my loincloth for the recall device.
\tIt wasn't there.
\t"Shit!" I cursed, looking back at the jungle behind me. It must have fallen out while I was running. I considered going back to look for it, but I wasn't sure how long I could stay conscious, and Moreau would no doubt be coming after me. Better to come back and search for it later, assuming I lived that long.
\tI continued running, determined to keep going as long as I could. I passed through a cluster of straight-stemmed trees and skidded down the side of a narrow valley toward a small stream that ran through it. I plunged into the forest of reeds that covered the steam's bank, waded across the channel of shallow water, and into the reeds on the opposite side. I didn't want to fall unconscious here because if I did, I'd probably drown. Breaking out of the reeds, I clambered up the other side of the valley and over a ridge, my chest aching, the wound in my side burning. I was staggering now, scarcely able to concentrate, my energy almost spent. I stumbled into a canebrake and collapsed among the thicket of tall, green stems, panting hard, my vision fading.
\t"I'm sorry, Julie," I said, my voice barely a whisper.
\tThen I passed out.

\tThe first thing I noticed when I awoke was the strong, pungent odor of rotting fruit, which made me wrinkle my nose. I opened my eyes, which were crusty from having been closed for too long. I was lying in a small, dim chamber of black rock. There was a bed of palm fronds beneath me and a coarse woolen blanket on top of me. One wall of the chamber was covered with thatch made of palm leaves, and light from outside squeezed through the gaps. There was also another occupant besides myself.
\tHe was small—even smaller than me—and his skin was bright pink. His head was round, and he had big brown eyes set far apart, a flat nose, small ears, and a wide mouth that was smiling. He looked like a hairless sloth. He wore only a loincloth of blue serge, and he was squatting facing me, leaning forward.
\tI started to sit up and felt a stabbing pain in my left side, which made me gasp and lie back down. I reached down and touched the gash made by Moreau's bullet. It was coated with some sticky, grainy gunk. I lifted my fingers to my nose and sniffed them. The stuff had an acrid, astringent smell. I touched my tongue to it, and recognized its bitter taste immediately. Tannic acid. Probably some kind of poultice made from mashed-up roots or leaves. It should keep the pH low enough to inhibit bacterial growth and prevent infection. I looked over at the little pink sloth creature. "Hello," I said.
\t"Hello," he replied, in a high, wheezy voice, still smiling at me.
\t"Where am I?" I asked.
\t"Home," he said.
\tI became aware of movement outside and gruff, grunting voices. I remembered Moreau mentioning something about a Beast Folk colony. This must be it. "Did you bring me here?" I asked.
\tHe nodded.
\t"How long have I been here?" I asked.
\tHe raised his hands. He had three fingers on each hand, tipped with long, thin claws. Those fingers were spread apart, with one folded down. Five days.
\tI sat up again, more slowly this time, and felt only a slight twinge of pain from my wound. Carefully, I got to my feet. I was naked, which didn't surprise me, as my loincloth had been soaked through with blood. I seemed to be able to stand on my own steadily enough. I took an experimental step and didn't stumble. So far, so good. I picked up the blanket that had been covering me and wrapped it around my waist, then went to the thatched wall and pressed my hand against it. It began to fall over, and my companion leaped forward and seized the top edge with his long-clawed fingers to stop it. Then he carefully slid it sideways. It had been covering an opening in the side of the chamber, the bottom of which extended out several inches farther than the top. With the thatch covering out of the way, I got my first look at the Beast Folk colony.
\tIt was in a narrow ravine of black lava rock, both sides of which contained numerous natural recesses. Some of these were covered by thatch screens much like the one that had been covering the one I was in. The screens were made out of thin branches, vines, and palm leaves. They were crude, but would at least serve to keep the rain out and afford the den's occupant some degree of privacy.
\tI could see about two dozen Beast Folk of various descriptions sitting or walking around. The Leopard Man was not among them. All conversation faded into silence as their eyes focused on me. I remembered something the Leopard Man had mentioned. "Where is the Sayer of the Law?" I asked.
\tA figure covered in silver-gray hair shuffled forward. I couldn't make out any details of its face, which was veiled by its hair, with only dark shadows where the eyes and mouth would be. Its hands and feet were like the hooves of a deer, but curved into claws. "I am he," it said, in a thick voice with a whistling overtone and a noticeable English accent.
\t"How did I get here?" I asked.
\t"You were hurt," the Sayer replied, then gestured at my companion. "He found you, brought you here."
\tI looked at the little Sloth Man. "Thank you," I said. He nodded, smiling. "Has anyone been here looking for me?"
\t"He came," said the Sayer.
\t"The one who made you?" I asked.
\tThe Sayer nodded. "He wanted to know if you were here."
\t"And you didn't tell him?" I asked, surprised.
\t"You were struck by His lightning-flash," he said, indicating the wound in my side.
\t"I don't understand," I said.
\t"Have you broken the Law?" the Sayer asked.
\tI shrugged. "Not that I know of."
\t"Do you know the Law?"
\t"No."
\tA large creature beside the Sayer who looked like a cross between a bull and a bear spoke in a deep, rumbling voice. "He is a Man. He must know the Law."
\t"He is not like the others," said the Sayer.
\t"He is not a five-man!" cried a black-faced ape-like creature excitedly, holding up his five-fingered hand. "Not like me!"
\t"There was no boat!" said a satyr-like creature, evidently a combination of goat and ape. "Not when he came here!"
\tThe Sayer leaned forward, peering at me. "You were not made in the House of Pain?"
\t"No," I said. "I wasn't."
\t"You did not come on a boat?"
\tI shook my head. "No."
\t"And you did not break the Law?"
\t"I told you, I don't know."
\t"He must learn the Law!" shouted the Ape Man.
\tThe Sayer nodded. "You must learn the Law if you are to stay with us."
\t"All right," I said, squatting down. "Teach me."
\t"Say the words," said the Sayer. The others echoed him in a deep, swelling rumble. Then he launched into a long litany, the others repeating each line, swaying and smacking their knees with their hands. I followed along, feeling as though I was in the middle of a revival meeting, or attending some cult ritual.
\t"Not to go on all-Fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?"
\t"Not to suck up Drink; that is the Law. Are we not Men?"
\t"Not to eat Flesh or Fish; that is the Law. Are we not Men?"
\t"Not to claw Bark of Trees; that is the Law. Are we not Men?"
\t"Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not Men?"
\tIt went on like that, line after line of prohibitions aimed at elevating them above the beasts they'd been, and as it continued the Beast Folk got more and more excited, while I suppressed a giggle at the knowledge that nearly a century from now the rock band Devo would use the refrain "Are we not Men?" as a song lyric.
\t"His is the House of Pain," chanted the Sayer, as I and the others followed his lead. "His is the Hand that makes. His is the Hand that wounds. His is the Hand that heals. His is the lightning-flash. His is the deep salt sea. His are the stars in the sky."
\tI shook my head. Moreau had set himself up as a god to his creations, and while his reasons may have had more to do with self-preservation than with vanity, I couldn't help thinking about the as-yet-unwritten Kipling story "The Man Who Would Be King" and its lesson about what happens to people who try to pass themselves off as gods when they're found out.
\t"Evil are the punishments of those who break the Law," said the Sayer. "None escape."
\t"None escape," the Beast Folk echoed, glancing furtively at each other.
\tThe recitation of the Law having concluded, the Sayer gazed at me. "Have you broken the Law?" he asked again, and I suddenly realized that I'd been on trial this whole time. They wanted to know if I deserved the punishment their god had inflicted on me. That was why they hadn't handed me over to him when he'd come looking for me, though why they hadn't just asked him what I'd done I couldn't fathom. Perhaps they wanted to decide for themselves whether or not I was guilty, knowing the horrible fate that awaited me if I was.
\t"No," I said promptly. This was not a situation where honesty was the best policy.
\tThe Sayer gestured at my wounded side. "Then why this?"
\tI looked down at the wound. "It was an accident."
\tHis hair-covered face somehow managed to convey incredulity. "An accident?"
\tI shrugged. "Accidents happen." Nothing in the Law had said their god was infallible.
\t"We should take him to the House of Pain," said an old Fox-Bear Woman.
\t"He has done no wrong," countered the Bull-Bear Man.
\t"So he says. Suppose he lies?" Her amber vulpine eyes narrowed at me accusingly. There were murmurs all around.
\t"We do not know that," said the Bull-Bear Man. The others were turning their heads, watching the conversation as it bounced back and forth like a game of tennis.
\t"He wants him!" the Fox-Bear Woman insisted. "He asked for him! He must have done something! We should give him to Him!"
\t"You have been saying that since he came here!" the Bull-Bear Man shot back.
\t"It is dangerous to keep him!" she hissed.
\tThe Bull-Bear Man snorted. "There is nothing in the Law against it. You know that as well as anyone."
\tThe Sayer nodded. "It is even so."
\tThe Fox-Bear Woman spat on the ground and hobbled off. The other Beast Folk began filtering away. Apparently, we were done. At least for now.
\tI turned to the Sayer and the Bull-Bear Man. "Thank you for taking my side," I said. I actually felt bad about having to lie to them.
\t"The Law is the Law," said the Sayer of the Law. He began lumbering toward one of the thatch-covered recesses in the side of the ravine. "Come with me. We must talk more."
\tI nodded and moved to follow him. As I did, I noticed one of the Beast Folk watching me. He was a big, burly fellow with spots across his body, a wide face with small black eyes, thick toes with hoof-like nails, and prominent tusks jutting up from his lower jaw. A shiver ran down my spine. I had known someone like him on Monster Island, a vicious manimal called Hyena-Swine. It seemed that my Dr. Moreau had re-created this Beast Man from Wells's novel over a century later. Hyena-Swine had hated me, and had tried to kill me more than once. I hoped that the future wouldn't loop back into the past and repeat itself as I followed the Sayer into his den.
\tI entered a semicircular chamber in the side of the ravine, wrinkling my nose at the rank smell that permeated the place. The Sloth Man came in behind me and perched himself on a rough wooden stool, while the Sayer of the Law sat down heavily in a dark corner and gestured with one thick-fingered hand at a pile of coconuts and multicolored fruits lying against one rocky wall. "You must be hungry," the Sayer said. "Eat."
\t"Thank you," I said. I squatted down, picked up a coconut that had been cracked open, and began gnawing on the white meat inside.
\tThey watched me for a minute as I ate, and then the Sayer broached the subject that was troubling his brain. "If you were not made in the House of Pain, and you did not come on a boat, then where do you come from?"
\t"I can't tell you that," I replied.
\t"We gave you shelter," he said, sounding hurt, "healed your wounds."
\tI nodded. "And I appreciate it."
\t"If He knew, evil would fall upon us."
\tI looked at him. "Do you want me to leave?"
\tHe didn't reply, just kept watching me as I scraped the last of the coconut from its shell with my big buck teeth. I picked up a fruit I didn't recognize and bit into it. It was tart and stringy, and had a bitter aftertaste.
\t"Why did He wound you?" the Sayer asked, finally.
\tI wasn't surprised that he hadn't been fooled by my story about it being an accident. He seemed to be a bit more intelligent than the others. "He wanted to do something to me, and I didn't want him to."
\t"And so he punished you," said the Sayer.
\tI nodded, munching on the fruit.
\t"He will come again," said the Sayer. "You should not be here when He does."
\t"Can I have my loincloth back?" I asked.
\tThe Sayer glanced at the Sloth Man, who climbed down off his stool and left the chamber. A minute later he returned, holding my loincloth out to me. It had been washed clean of blood. I accepted it, took off the blanket I had wrapped around my waist, handed it back to him, and put the loincloth back on. I looked at both of them, feeling sorry for these tragic creatures. They had both been kind to me, but sooner or later they were destined to revert to bestial states. Moreau may have altered their bodies, grafted foreign tissue onto them, but Nature could not be denied indefinitely. Eventually, their genes would begin to reassert themselves. "Thank you," was all I could think to say.
\tAs I turned to leave, the Ape Man scampered into the ravine, gesticulating wildly. "A boat comes! A boat comes!" he jabbered.
\t"Is there a new five-man on it?" I asked, as the Beast Folk murmured among themselves.
\t"Yes, yes!" said the Ape Man\t, grinning. "A five-man like me!" Then his bright eyes blinked. "How did you know?"
\t"Take me to the House of Pain," I said firmly. When he continued staring blankly at me, I shouted, "Now!"
\tThe Ape Man flinched, then nodded and began leading me out of the ravine. I heard the other Beast Folk muttering behind my back, but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

\tWe climbed a path that wound up from the ravine between two knotty masses of black scoria. To our left, past a shoulder of rock, I could see the blue of the ocean. We crossed a bare place covered with yellow-white encrustation, then came to a patch of charred, brown trees. As we plunged into the green jungle, I took the opportunity to inspect my guide further. I couldn't tell exactly what kind of ape he'd been, but he was definitely a simian, with a black face, a large mouth that was almost lipless, lanky arms, thin feet, and bow legs. He walked with his heavy face thrust forward. Like many of the Beast Folk, he wore a jacket and trousers of blue serge.
\tAfter what seemed like an eternity of pushing through ferns, bushes, and dense tangles of creeper vines, the jungle gave way to a thicket of bamboo, then to open sand, and we found ourselves facing the ocean, the House of Pain a few hundred yards to our left. In the distance, I could see the sails of a schooner disappearing over the horizon. That must be the Ipecacuanha. Before the House of Pain, a two-masted launch lay in a crude slip exacavated in the beach, and tethered to its stern was a small wooden dinghy, half full of water. As the surf jostled the dinghy about, its transom turned toward me for a moment, and I could make out the name painted on it: Lady Vain.
\t"Prendick's here," I said to nobody.
\t"What?" the Ape Man asked.
\t"The new five-man," I explained.
\t"Prendick's here," said the Ape Man. "The new five-man. Prendick's here. The new five-man. Prendick's here. The new five-man." He kept on repeating this.
\tI looked at him, puzzled. "What are you doing?"
\tHe grinned at me. "It's a big think!"
\t"A big think?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
\tHe nodded, still grinning.
\tI shrugged and turned my attention back to the launch. There were three Beast Men in the process of unloading it. They were all about seven feet tall, and their bodies were entirely wrapped in dirty cloth, like mummies, with only their faces exposed. Even their hands and feet were covered. Their faces were brown and narrow, with protruding lower jaws and lank black hair, and their bodies were abnormally long, their thighs short and twisted. I found out later they'd been made from oxen.
\tSomething scampered swiftly past us through the undergrowth. I spun to see what it was and was rewarded with a stab of pain from the half-healed bullet wound in my left side. I put my hand over it, gritting my teeth, and spied the source of the movement. It was a rabbit.
\t"What's that doing here?" I asked in astonishment as it ran off.
\t"The Other with the whip brought them," the Ape Man replied. "He brought them today!"
\tHe couldn't be referring to Moreau; they wouldn't call him the Other. And he couldn't mean Prendick, who wouldn't be bringing rabbits. That left only Montgomery. "That idiot!" I growled. "Doesn't he realize they'll eat this island down to nothing?" Then I stopped as I heard the crack of a whip from the House of Pain, followed by a cry of anguish. A human cry. I gritted my teeth. "I have to get in there!"
\t"Why do you want to go in there?" asked the Ape Man. "Only pain is in there!"
\tI ignored his question and began jogging toward the House of Pain as fast as I could without risking reopening my wound. I looked back at my simian companion. "Come on!" I ordered him. He hesitated a moment, then meekly followed me. More whip cracks and screams emanated from the place, which made the Ape Man stop and cower, forcing me to urge him on. I could hear the barking of dogs inside.
\tWe reached the near wall of the enclosure, and I stood looking up at it. Climbing it had been easy enough before, but I hadn't been wounded then. Now, it was problematical—but now, fortunately, I wasn't alone. I looked at the Ape Man. "I need you to help me to the top of the wall," I said.
\tHe shook his head vigorously.
\tI sighed with exasperation. "Look, you don't have to go inside, but I need to find out what's going on in there!" When he still demurred, I added, "I'll give you more big thinks."
\tHe appeared intrigued by that possibility, and after considering it for a moment, he looped one lank, hairy arm around my waist and began clambering nimbly up the wall, carrying me as if I weighed nothing, his long fingers and toes finding easy purchase on the crudely mortared rocks. We attained the top and flattened ourselves against it, looking down on the courtyard.
\tMoreau was standing facing the corner of the enclosure to our immediate left, a whip clutched in one hand. Before him, cowering in the corner, was a man of about thirty, with blond hair, a straw-colored mustache, watery gray eyes, and a drooping lower lip. There were several gashes in his blue serge jacket and trousers, with angry red welts visible beneath them. A short distance away, another man stood watching the proceedings. He was short and broad, with a crooked back and a hairy neck. His black face projected forward in a sort of muzzle, with a huge mouth containing large white teeth. His eyes were hazel, with scarcely any white, and his head was covered with coarse black hair. He, too, wore a blue serge jacket and trousers. Knowing what I did, I could tell immediately that he was a Beast Man, though Moreau had modified him enough that he could pass for a particularly ugly and deformed human. He stood there gazing at the blond man and whimpering. Also in the courtyard were six brown-and-white hounds tethered to a post and barking furiously; a llama, also tethered to a post; and a puma in an iron cage, hunkered down and snarling.
\t"I'll ask again," Moreau growled at the blond man, "who have you sold me out to? Was it Huxley?" He must mean Thomas Henry Huxley, one of the foremost British biologists of the late 19th century, also known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his vigorous advocacy of Darwin's theory of evolution. "Confound it, Montgomery, answer me!"
\t"Don't be a silly ass, Moreau!" Montgomery said, panting, his sweat darkening his clothes. "I haven't sold you out to anyone, least of all Huxley! Where did you get that idea?"
\t"Prendick let it slip that he'd done some research under him," Moreau replied. "You're together in this, aren't you?"
\tMontgomery shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about. Prendick was rescued at sea, as I told you. We found him adrift in that dinghy. He's the survivor of a shipwreck."
\tMoreau sneered. "You just happened to stumble upon one of Huxley's former students in the middle of the ocean! And the captain of that schooner just happened to throw him off here! Do you think I'm a fool, man?"
\t"That captain was a drunken ass!" Montgomery yelled. "It was all I could do to keep him from throwing M'ling overboard!" He gestured at the Beast Man who stood watching their exchange.
\t"I am not letting that popinjay steal my life's work!" shouted Moreau. "Not after he and his damned Royal Society ran me out of England!"
\t"I'm telling you," protested Montgomery, "I'm not working for Huxley! I've never even spoken to the man!"
\t"Liar!" roared Moreau, and struck with his whip. It slashed across Montgomery's chest, tearing a rent in his jacket and gouging the flesh beneath. M'ling cringed as the man screamed in pain, and my fur bristled as I watched helplessly from atop the wall. I had no love for Montgomery—he was Moreau's accomplice and complicit in his atrocities—but I didn't like seeing anyone tortured. I'd had my fill of that on Monster Island. More importantly, he was the only one who might be able to get me what I wanted. Moreau sure as hell wasn't going to.
\t"Alvin was here," said Moreau, glowering at Montgomery. "He wanted the extract."
\t"Who the bloody hell is Alvin?" asked Montgomery, nearly hysterical.
\t"You know very well who he is," growled Moreau. "Good god, man, I knew you had a fondness for my creations, but I never imagined it could go that far!"
\tMontgomery stared at him. "What in God's name are you talking about?"
\tMoreau leaned toward him, black eyes narrowed. "Your son!"
\tI blinked. Did Moreau actually think I was Montgomery's son? Of course he did! It explained everything—my presence here on the island, the fact that I could speak English, and why I looked so much more human than any of the other Beast Folk. Moreau had said he suspected how I knew so much about his work. Who else could I have learned it from? And given his lack of understanding of the nature of heredity—which was beyond the knowledge of his time—it wasn't unreasonable for him to believe that Montgomery had fathered me with one of his Beast Folk. My hat was off to Dr. Moreau. He may have reached the absolute wrong conclusion, but it was completely consistent with the facts as he knew them. Sherlock Holmes himself couldn't have made a better deduction.
\tMontgomery shook his head. "I haven't got a son. I've never even been married."
\t"I must admit," said Moreau, "it's something I'd never even considered, the possibility that humans and Beast Folk might be interfertile."
\tMontgomery gasped. "You can't possibly believe I would do such a thing!"
\tMoreau shrugged. "Why not? Bestiality is certainly nothing new, and these animals have at least some measure of intelligence. You are an animal yourself. Your continued susceptibility to pain proves that well enough."
\t"It's monstrous!" Montgomery protested. "Not if there were no other women on Earth would I ever—"
\t"Then explain the presence on this island of a boy with animal traits who speaks perfect English and knows all about my work!" Moreau demanded.
\tMontgomery laughed like a man who has surrendered to fate and has only laughter left to fight with. "I'd say you've been out in the sun too long, old man!"
\tMoreau gestured at the dried blood footprints I'd left on the flagstones. "Did the sun make those?"
\tMontgomery gazed at the reddish-brown footprints, his lower lip quivering, then back at Moreau. "I swear to you, I have no knowledge of any of this. I haven't betrayed you, we found Prendick at sea, and I have no idea who this Alvin is!"
\tMoreau was silent for a long moment. "Would you submit to hypnosis so I can verify that you are telling me the truth?"
\tMontgomery stared at him. "Hypnosis?"
\tMoreau nodded. "Men cannot lie while hypnotized. If you are telling the truth, you have nothing to fear, and I would be reassured that I can still trust you."
\tMontgomery threw up his arms. "Fine! Whatever it takes to satisfy you!"
\tMoreau reached into his jacket pocket, removed his revolver, and gestured with it toward the hut I'd first discovered him in. Montgomery hauled himself wearily to his feet and trudged toward the hut in an attitude of complete resignation. Moreau turned to M'ling. "Get the ether from the surgical hut. I won't be able to hypnotize him while he's in pain. Also, bring some alcohol and some gauze and bandages so I can tend to his wounds." M'ling nodded and scurried toward the surgical hut while Moreau followed Montgomery.
\tThe Ape Man shook his head. "Never seen a five-man beat another five-man before!"
\t"Happens all the time where I come from," I said. I sighed, fatigue overtaking me. I was in nowhere near top condition, with my bullet wound only partly healed, and I'd put way too much strain on my weakened body. I needed a place to rest and recover, but where? The Beast Folk colony certainly wasn't safe for me. Who knew if they'd decide to hand me over to Moreau if he came back? I wasn't even sure how far I could trust this Ape Man, but I didn't exactly have an abundance of options. I looked at him hopefully. "Is there a place where no one will find me?"
\tHe grinned at me eagerly. "I know a place!"
\t"Would you take me there?" I asked. "I'll give you lots of big thinks."
\tHe nodded, scooped me up with one arm, scampered down the wall as easily as if he were crossing a street, and carried me into the jungle. Somewhere along the way, I fell asleep.

\tI awoke to find myself in a cave, lying beneath a blanket on a bed of palm fronds. The cave was actually an almost perfectly cylindrical tunnel, with smooth walls of black basaltic rock. One way led to a circular opening through which I could see trees and the sky. The other led off into darkness. I realized I was in a lava tube, a channel formed by molten rock flowing to the surface. Beside me lay a pile of various kinds of fruits. I picked one up and began eating it.
\tI was on my third fruit when the Ape Man appeared in the opening and scampered over to me, grinning. "You, you, you!" he chattered.
\t"Yes," I said, nodding, "it's me. I'm right here where you left me. Thanks for the food. How long was I asleep?"
\t"A night, a day, and a second night," he replied.
\t"Anything interesting happen while I was out?" I asked, picking up a fourth fruit.
\t"Screams from the House of Pain," the Ape Man said. "A new Beast Man is coming."
\t"Must be the puma," I said, surprised by how casually I said it. After all, it meant that poor creature was suffering agony that defied comprehension as Moreau worked his horrible skill upon it. I was no stranger to pain and death, but I wasn't normally so callous about it. If I'd been back in Millennium City, I'd have felt compelled to stop what Moreau was doing. That was why I'd become Nightmunk in the first place, to save lives and stop suffering. And yet, I felt strangely unmoved. Perhaps it was because this wasn't Millennium City, it was the island of Dr. Moreau, and this was something that must happen because it had happened. Interfering in these events could have dire consequences, particularly to myself, since my own creation was tied to them.
\t"The new five-man was out," said the Ape Man. "I talked to him. He was hungry, so I took him to the huts, and he ate and learned the Law."
\t"Did you tell him about me?" I asked anxiously.
\tHe shook his head. "No. He is a silly Man. He ran into the sea!"
\tI blinked. "He drowned himself?"
\t"No. He and the Other with the whip took him back to the House of Pain. Also, the Leopard Man chased him!"
\t"Isn't that against the Law?" I asked. "It specifically says not to chase other Men."
\tThe Ape Man shrugged. "It was night."
\t"So what? The Sayer said 'The Law is the Law.'"
\tThe Ape Man looked away pensively. "Not always."
\t"You mean Beast People do things at night they wouldn't do during the day?"
\tHe turned his back to me, sitting there hunched over. "You said you would give me big thinks," he said sullenly. "You promised."
\t"Yes, I did," I said, nodding. I thought for a moment, then launched into a rendition of "Eleanor Rigby." He stared at me as I sang, seeming mesmerized by the melancholy lyrics. When I finished, he asked me to sing it again, which I did, the Ape Man following along with me, his eyes fixed on mine. We performed this weird duet three more times, until he was satisfied he had it down.
\t"A face in a jar by the door!" he said, grinning excitedly as he immediately got the line wrong. That should keep him happy for a while at any rate, and I was reasonably certain there was zero probability that his words would find their way to the ears of John Lennon and Paul McCartney eighty years hence, thus avoiding a causality paradox like the one in Back to the Future, where Marty McFly inadvertantly inspires Chuck Berry.
\tI stayed in the lava tube for three more days, making occasional forays outside to stretch my legs, get some fresh air, and bathe in a nearby pool, until my bullet wound was more or less healed and I'd regained my full strength. The Ape Man came and went as he pleased, bringing me food, and I taught him more big thinks, mainly song lyrics, which he seemed to enjoy, even if he had no idea what they meant. Then again, I've heard humans do the same thing, like children singing "Ring Around the Rosey," unaware that it refers to the Black Death.
\tI tried to think of how to get what I'd come here for. Moreau had mentioned some kind of extract, but I had no idea what it was an extract of, what it was called, or what it looked like. Logically, it should be in the surgical hut, but there must be hundreds of jars of chemicals in there. Montgomery would know which one it was, but how could I get him to tell me? He had no reason to trust or help me, particularly since I was partly responsible for him being whipped. Maybe, if I could get him away from Moreau, I could force it out of him, but Prendick's arrival complicated things. I wanted to avoid any contact with him so as not to accidentally change history.
\tI also thought about Julie and how she must be worrying about me. In the two years we'd been living together, we'd never been apart this long before, and being without her was almost unbearable. I found myself craving the sound of her voice, the touch of her hand. I wished I could let her know I was all right, but that was impossible without my damned watch, and I hadn't felt competent enough to go out and search for it. So I lay on my bed of palm fronds each night, lonely and miserable, missing her.
\tOn the third day, I was outside practicing my kata when the bellow of a cowherd's horn sounded in the distance. A minute later, the Ape Man came crashing out of the jungle, hooting and flailing his arms around. "The horn has sounded! The Beast Folk gather! He is there, and the two Others!"
\tI stopped and turned toward him, panting hard in the tropical heat from my exertions. "What's going on?" I asked.
\tHe shook his head vigorously. "I don't know! I don't know! But all Beast Folk must come! Come, come!" He beckoned to me with a long, hairy arm.
\tI considered the situation. I was no slavish Beast Man to come running at Moreau's beck and call. I'd left that mentality behind when I'd left Monster Island. Plus, I wanted to avoid Prendick if at all possible. But it was also a chance to nab Montgomery, and that was tempting. Maybe I could stay out of sight and wait for an opportunity to present itself. If none arose, I could always fade back into the jungle. "All right," I said, and followed.
\tThe Ape Man and I ran together through the dense green foliage, through a canebrake, to the edge of a shallow natural amphitheater whose floor was covered with yellow sulfurous dust, residue from a nearby hot spring. I wrinkled my nose at the acrid smell of the sulfur. In the center of the amphitheater stood Moreau, Montgomery, and M'ling. With them was a slim, blond man who must be Prendick, dressed in the blue serge jacket and trousers that was the standard here, his skin not nearly as bronzed as Moreau's and Montgomery's. Around them at a distance of about thirty yards were several dozen Beast People, groveling servilely in the yellow dust and throwing it atop their heads, chanting, independently of each other, "His is the Hand that Makes, His is the Hand that Wounds, His is the Hand that Heals," and so on. The three humans stood there surrounded by Beast Folk, armed with whips and revolvers, while M'ling carried a small hatchet. A large cowherd's horn hung from Moreau's shoulder.
\t"Sixty-two, sixty-three," counted Moreau. "There are four more."
\t"I do not see the Leopard Man," said Prendick, surveying the crowd, his eyes wide with fear and revulsion at the Beast People.
\tMoreau raised the horn to his lips and blew it again, the note rolling over the Beast Folk and echoing through the leafy jungle as they bowed and scraped and writhed in the dust. From my position I could see the Leopard Man slink out of the canebrake and join the dust-throwing circle behind Moreau's back. The Ape Man looked back at me expectantly, but I shook my head, crouching low to avoid being seen. He shrugged and advanced into the open, the last to join, which earned him angry glares from the other Beast Folk.
\t"Cease!" Moreau commanded, and all the Beast Folk instantly fell silent. "Where is the Sayer of the Law?"
\tThe Sayer crawled forward, his hair-covered face in the dust.
\t"Say the words," Moreau ordered. Immediately, the Beast Folk began repeating the Law. When they reached the part about not eating flesh or fish, Moreau held up his hand. "Stop!" Again, there was total silence. "That Law has been broken."
\t"None escape," said the Sayer.
\t"None escape," echoed the crowd.
\t"Who is he?" cried Moreau, scanning the sea of grotesque faces and cracking his whip. I noticed that both the Leopard Man and the Hyena-Swine looked nervous. Moreau turned his gaze on the Leopard Man, who shrank beneath it. "Who is he?" Moreau roared at him.
\t"Evil is he who breaks the Law," said the Sayer.
\tMoreau glared down at the Leopard Man like an Old Testament prophet. "Who breaks the Law—" he said, looking out across the crowd.
\t "—goes back to the House of Pain," the crowd chanted, "goes back to the House of Pain, O Master!"
\t"Back to the House of Pain!" cheered the Ape Man excitedly, hopping up and down. "Back to the House of Pain!"
\t"Do you hear?" Moreau said, turning back to the Leopard Man. "My friend . . . Hullo!"
\tThe Leopard Man sprang at Moreau, eyes blazing, slamming into him, and Moreau staggered backward. The crowd rose as one, yelling and howling in a swirling chaos of movement. Prendick drew his revolver, his face white with fear, as the Leopard Man bolted past him with M'ling in hot pursuit. Moreau, Prendick, and the rest of the Beast Folk ran after them, while Montgomery hesitated a moment and then headed off at a right angle to the others, evidently intending to flank the Leopard Man. His course was taking him close to my hiding place, and he was still in the amphitheater after all the others had plunged into the canebrake.
\tThis was perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better setup. I burst out of the canebrake, my bare feet pounding the yellow dust, attempting to intercept Montgomery. He saw me coming, and I got a brief glimpse of his face, his mouth a comical "O" of surprise as he raised his right arm to fire his revolver. I leaped at him, knocking his gun aside with my left hand as my right arm wrapped around his neck, and we fell together into the dust.
\tI squirmed around behind him, my right leg hooking around his right arm, pinning it, my arms locked around his neck in a chokehold. "Hi, dad!" I said in his ear.
\t"What?" he gasped, struggling against my hold. "Alvin?"
\t"That's right," I said, tightening my grip. "I want the extract that stops tissue rejection. Take me to it."
\t"What do you want with that?" he asked, grunting as he strained against me.
\t"That's not important," I said. "What is important is that I can break your neck any time I feel like it. As you've no doubt noticed, I'm stronger than I look. Now, let go of your gun and whip." When he hesitated, I squeezed, and he cried out in pain. "Do it, or you're dead!"
\tHe opened his hands, letting the gun and whip fall from them. I planted my left foot beneath his back and thrust him forward, sending him sprawling face-down in the dust. As he scrambled to his feet, I kipped up and grabbed the gun and whip. I stood there for a moment looking at them as Montgomery whirled to face me, staring in disbelief. "I feel like Indiana Jones," I said, grinning up at him, "only he never looked this good in a loincloth."
\t"What the devil are you talking about?" Montgomery sputtered furiously. "What are you? You're not one of Moreau's. Where did you come from?"
\t"A better question would be 'How long before the furry little freak gets bored and decides to blow my head off?'" I aimed the revolver and pulled back the hammer with my thumb. "One . . . two . . ."
\t"Stop!" Montgomery cried, holding up his hands before him. "For God's sake, please, don't!" He looked at me desperately, his gray eyes pleading.
\t"Are you going to take me to the extract?" I asked. He nodded frantically. "Then lay on, Macduff."
\tHe blinked. "You know Shakespeare?"
\tI grinned. "I'm an extremely well-read Beast Man." I gestured with the gun. "Move."
\tHe turned and began trudging sullenly away from the amphitheater with me behind him. Then we both froze at the sound of a distant gunshot.
\t"I'm guessing that's the end of the Leopard Man," I said grimly.
\t"It must have been that ass, Prendick," said Montgomery. "Moreau wanted him taken alive."
\t"That puts Prendick way above you two in my book," I said. "Come on, let's go."
\tAs we made our way through the jungle, I asked Montgomery, "What did the Leopard Man do to bring the wrath of God down on his head?"
\t"He killed a rabbit," Montgomery said.
\t"You mean one of the rabbits you brought here?"
\tMontgomery nodded. "I was a silly ass."
\t"I'll say. Haven't you heard what happened in Australia? And to dangle prey in front of a predator and then tell him not to eat it? What did you think would happen?"
\tHe shot a vicious glance back at me. "I wanted meat, and Moreau said I might have them!"
\tI sneered. "Oh, did he? Well, that just tells me you're both idiots, on top of being sadistic bastards! How do you know it was the Leopard Man who killed the rabbit?"
\t"Prendick found another one murdered on his first day here. He saw the Leopard Man drinking from a stream just before."
\t"Sucking up drink," I said, "which is also against the Law."
\tMontgomery nodded. "And he chased Prendick that first night." He sighed. "I don't understand it. They all have the proscriptions of the Law implanted in their minds with hypnosis—not to eat flesh, not to suck up drink, not to chase other Men, and so forth."
\tThat sent a shiver down my spine, as someone had hynotically implanted ideas in my mind not so long ago. "I have it on good authority that the Law weakens at night. Apparently, their animal natures reassert themselves when the sun goes down." A thought occurred to me. "Is that how Moreau makes you serve him, by hypnosis?"
\tMontgomery looked indignant. "Certainly not! I'm not a Beast Man!"
\t"Then what hold does he have over you, Montgomery? Why are you here? You're clearly not a complete monster. You saved Prendick's life on the Ipecacuanha."
\tHe stared at me. "How do you know about that?"
\tI grinned. "I have my sources."
\tMontgomery scowled as he trekked through the jungle in front of me. "It's chance," he said finally, "as everything is in a man's life. Only the asses won't see it. I lost my head for ten minutes on a foggy night in London eleven years ago."
\t"And that brought you to this place, serving a madman like Moreau? Sounds to me like there's a whole lot of steps missing from that equation."
\tHe glared back at me. "I don't feel any need to explain myself to you, since you refuse to do the same."
\tI nodded. "Fair enough. I'm not really that interested in your reasons. I was just thinking Moreau might have hypnotized you without your knowing it."
\tMontgomery snorted. "Ridiculous!"
\t"Is it? You're an alcoholic, Montgomery. I can see it in your face—your bloodshot eyes, the veins on your ears and nose, your slurred speech. Who knows what mischief Moreau might have gotten up to when you were in your cups?"
\tHe shook his head. "I would have remembered." I could hear growing unease in his voice.
\t"Hypnosis can make you forget things," I reminded him. "Trust me, I've had first-hand experience in that area."
\tHe lapsed into silence as we continued walking.

\tWe arrived at the House of Pain, and Montgomery produced a key from his jacket pocket and unlocked the front gate. We entered the courtyard, and the hounds began barking, straining at their leashes. Immediately, I noticed a change from my last visit. The llama was still there, tethered to its post and munching placidly on a pile of hay, but the cage that had held the puma was empty. Montgomery led me toward the surgical hut, and as we approached I sniffed the air and scented blood and antiseptic wafting from it.
\tEntering the hut, I saw a body swathed in bandages lying on an operating table. I'd expected that. Moreau must be in the process of transforming the puma into one of his Beast Folk. I didn't even want to think about the suffering that poor creature had endured. I was sorely tempted to put a bullet in its head right now, but I didn't want to alter the past any more than I already had.
\tI turned to Montgomery, who was gazing at the puma. "It's healing just now," he said, "deeply anesthetized. The work is about a quarter done. It will be at least a week before we can begin the next stage of the surgery." I noticed an odd look in his eye, a sort of admiration. It made anger well up inside me.
\t"Why?" I asked. "Why is Moreau doing this? What end could possibly justify the torment he's putting these creatures through?"
\tMontgomery shook his head. "The pain doesn't matter to him. 'A little thing,' he calls it. He doesn't feel it, you see?"
\tI stared at him. "He doesn't feel pain?"
\t"I once saw him accidentally cut his hand with a scalpel, a nice deep cut. He just looked at it, calmly as you will, then poured some antiseptic on it, which must have burned like the devil, and began stitching it up. If it had been me, I should have been yelling my fool head off, but he never made a sound, never so much as changed his expression. I asked him how he could stand the pain without flinching. He told me it didn't hurt him a pinprick. Pain, he said, was for animals. With men, the more intelligent they become, the more intelligently they can see to their own welfare, and the less they need pain to protect them."
\tI nodded. There were neurological conditions that caused people to have reduced sensitivity to pain, and it was also possible, through rigorous mental discipline, to make yourself immune to it, at least temporarily. Hell, Julie could do that, thanks to the ninja skills she'd absorbed when she was possessed. If Moreau truly didn't feel pain, it might go a long way toward explaining his disinterest in the pain he inflicted on others. He couldn't empathize with them because he couldn't understand what they were going through.
\t"But even if he doesn't care about the pain," I persisted, "that still doesn't explain why. What good is coming from all this?"
\tMontgomery gave a short, mirthless laugh. "I don't think he's ever troubled himself with that question. With him, it's an obsession, almost a religion. The ethics of it mean nothing to him. That thing on the table," he gestured at the puma, "isn't an animal to him, it's a problem in need of solving. His dream is to burn out all the animal in it and turn it into a rational creature."
\t"Like those sad wretches in the ravine?" I asked accusingly.
\t"He has no interest in them," Montgomery replied. "He can barely stand to look at them. They remind him of his failure."
\tI struggled to wrap my head around this. My Dr. Moreau had at least had a practical, if insane, goal—to create legions of manimal soldiers who would help him to rule the world. But this one's aim was both simpler and purer—to see just how far he could go. I wasn't sure which one was more terrifying.
\t"He's going to continue to fail," I said.
\tMontgomery raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"
\t"Because there are things about the nature of life he doesn't understand. He thinks that by sculpting their bodies and minds he can turn them into anything he wants, but he's wrong. There's something intrinsic in living things that he can't change."
\t"And how would a Beast Man know that?" he asked suspiciously.
\t"I have certain advantages he lacks," I replied.
\t"Such as?"
\t"Never mind that. Where's the extract?"
\tHe turned, went to a shelf, took down a brown glass bottle, and offered it to me. I laid my whip on the counter and accepted it. Inside was about a pint of some sort of clear, dark fluid. I looked up at him. "How do I know this is really it?" I asked.
\tMontgomery smirked. "I suppose you'll just have to trust me, won't you?"
\tI smirked back. "Yeah, right! What is this an extract of, anyway?"
\t"It's from a plant of the genus Epidendrum," he replied.
\tI blinked. "An orchid?"
\t"You know about orchids?" he asked, surprised.
\t"Charles Darwin wrote a treatise on them that helped lay the groundwork for his theory of evolution. I've read it. Fascinating stuff, especially as it applies to his later work."
\t"You've read Darwin," he said skeptically.
\t"I've read The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man, cover to cover. He's kind of a hobby of mine. By the way, he was right."
\t"Next you'll be telling me you wrote the Magna Carta," Montgomery scoffed.
\tI frowned. "Why is it so hard to accept that a Beast Man could know as much as a human? Must be that Victorian arrogance. You're the pinnacle of creation, everyone else is inferior."
\tHe shrugged. "Well, the sun never sets on the British empire, you know."
\tI grinned. "For now." I looked down at the bottle. "I'm still not convinced this is the real McCoy."
\t"The what?" Montgomery asked blankly.
\tI ignored his question. "If it prevents tissue rejection, then it must somehow interfere with the immune system. And the immune system is what causes allergic reactions. Unfortunately, I don't have any allergies." I looked at Montgomery. "Is there anything you're allergic to?"
\t"Only raspberries," he replied. "They make me break out in hives."
\t"I don't suppose there are any raspberries on this island."
\t"Shockingly, I didn't think to bring any," said Montgomery sardonically.
\tI looked up at the shelves. "There must be something here that can trigger an immune response." Then a thought occurred to me. "But the extract can't suppress immunity completely, or the Beast Folk would all die of opportunistic infections."
\t"What the devil are you babbling on about?" asked Montgomery, annoyed.
\tI glanced at him. "Haven't you heard about Pasteur's work on the germ theory of disease? No, of course you haven't, stuck on this island for the past eleven years. No access to medical journals out here." I continued scanning the shelves while Montgomery glared at me, insulted that a mere Beast Man knew more about current advances in medicine than he did. "Antigens," I mused. "Tissue rejection is caused by the immune system failing to recognize antigens on foreign cells. A skin graft would do it, but I haven't got time for you to perform one on me."
\tThen I heard a whooshing sound behind me. I whirled just as Montgomery's whip wrapped around my right wrist, immobilizing the hand that held his revolver and preventing me from aiming at him. Apparently, he'd picked up the whip from the counter while I'd been distracted.
\t"I've gotten rather good with this thing," he said, grinning at me. He yanked the whip, and I fell forward, landing flat on my face. I held the bottle up so that it didn't break on the floor. I growled up at him, jumped to my feet, and yanked back. He came stumbling toward me, and I had the pleasure of seeing his stupid surprised face for the second time today as I rammed my foot into his abdomen. He fell to the floor, groaning and clutching his belly.
\tI stood over him, pointing my gun. "That was really dumb, Montgomery!"
\t"Don't move, Alvin!" came Moreau's voice from behind me. I froze, hating myself for being caught off guard. "Now, drop the gun. Drop it, I say!" I sighed and let my revolver clatter to the floor, standing with my arms raised. Moreau came over toward me, Prendick and M'ling with him. "Are you all right?" he asked Montgomery.
\tMontgomery nodded, getting to his feet. "Just got the wind knocked out of me," he said, glaring at me. "Thank heavens you arrived when you did!"
\t"I wouldn't have had to, if you hadn't been such a damned fool as to get yourself captured!" growled Moreau. "Take that bottle from him!"
\t"If he takes one step toward me," I warned, "I'll drop it. You can't do anything without this."
\t"You're assuming I don't have any more," said Moreau. "That would be rather stupid of me, wouldn't it?"
\t"You could be bluffing," I said, locking eyes with him.
\tMoreau shrugged. "Then go right ahead and drop it."
\tI looked at the bottle. If this was the only sample, then destroying it would negate my whole reason for coming here. And Moreau's concern for it confirmed that it was indeed what I was looking for. "You win," I said quietly, holding it out.
\tMontgomery came over to me and snatched the bottle from my hand, scowling at me as he stooped to pick up the revolver as well. I glanced at Prendick, who was staring at me in abject disbelief.
\t"M'ling," said Moreau. "Ether."
\tThe Beast Man nodded, went to the counter, uncorked a bottle of clear, colorless fluid, and poured some on a cloth, holding it at arm's length. Even from across the hut, I could smell the potent fumes rising from it. He came over to me and put the cloth over my muzzle, and everything went black.

\tWhen I awoke, I was lying on the floor of the iron cage that had held the puma. I sat up and looked around. I was in the courtyard, and it was night. The hounds and the llama were asleep. The only sound was the rustling of the treetops in the breeze and the distant rasp of the surf breaking on the sand.
\tI stood up. The top of the cage was still several inches above my head, so I could stand fully upright. I wrapped my hands around the bars and pulled on them. They felt solid. I reached between them and explored the keyhole of the lock with a finger. I could probably pick it without too much trouble if I had anything to pick it with, but I didn't. I sighed. I'd made a real botch of my mission, getting myself shot and losing my recall device. I thought of what Julie must be going through, which made me feel depressed. I quickly pushed those thoughts away. They weren't helpful.
\tI sat down in a lotus position on the floor of the cage, closed my eyes, and concentrated. A feeling of serenity filled my mind. Witchcraft—a member of the Champions—had taught me how to do this. She had told me this was the place in the heart and soul where peace and happiness dwell. I still don't know if it's an actual place or just a state of mind, but I don't suppose it really matters. What mattered was I wasn't scared, I wasn't angry, and I wasn't sad. I felt peaceful and calm.
\tAfter a timeless time, I became aware of someone near me. I opened my eyes to see Prendick standing by the cage, looking down at me. I sighed. I'd hoped not to have to interact with him, but there was no longer any way of avoiding it. "Hello, Mr. Prendick," I said.
\t"Hello . . . Alvin, is it?" he replied.
\t"That's right. What can I do for you?"
\tHe seemed taken aback at someone locked in a cage addressing him so casually, but quickly recovered. "You could explain what that business with the bottle was all about."
\tI shook my head. "I can't tell you that."
\t"Why not?"
\t"Because it's a secret."
\t"Could you at least tell me what was in the bottle?"
\t"Ask Moreau or Montgomery."
\t"I did. They won't say."
\t"I'm not surprised. Moreau thinks Thomas Huxley sent you to steal his work."
\tPrendick blinked. "Huxley?"
\tI nodded. "It seems there's bad blood between them. Moreau blames him for driving him out of England. He even accused Montgomery of being your accomplice."
\tPrendick looked dumbfounded. "That's absurd! I escaped from a shipwreck! My being here is pure happenstance!"
\tI shrugged. "You're a former student of Moreau's greatest enemy, and you just happened to show up on the remote island in the Pacific he's been hiding out on. You have to admit, it's kind of hard to swallow. If I were him, I'd be suspicious too."
\t"Huxley's had thousands of students!" Prendick protested.
\t"Lower your voice!" I hissed. "You'll wake up the dogs!"
\tPrendick stared at me, no doubt surprised that a lowly Beast Man would give him an order. After all, he was a 19th century European, with a 19th century European's sense of innate superiority. He naturally expected anyone who wasn't a white male of the same or higher social class to be deferential and submissive toward him. After a moment, he continued, keeping his voice down. "If I were Huxley's spy, would I be stupid enough to tell Moreau about my past association with him?"
\t"You don't have to convince me. I believe you."
\t"Moreau actually thinks Montgomery and I are working together?" Prendick asked.
\t"Not anymore," I replied. "I'm pretty sure he used hypnosis to get the truth out of Montgomery."
\t"Then why hasn't he done the same with me?"
\tI smirked. "How do you know he hasn't? He could have put you under and then made you forget."
\tPrendick looked uncomfortable at this notion. I could sympathize, having been in that situation myself. "You're remarkably intelligent and well-spoken for a Beast Man," he said at last.
\t"Compliments I don't need," I said. "What I need is to get out of this cage."
\t"I can't help you there," said Prendick. "I've no idea where the key is."
\t"I don't need a key; just get me something to pick the lock with. Anything thin and strong will do. There must be some surgical instruments in the hut that fit the bill."
\tAt that moment, the door of the little apartment I'd escaped through on my first day opened and Moreau, Montgomery, and M'ling came out, M'ling holding a lantern while the other two held revolvers. Immediately, the dogs were on their feet, barking savagely. Apparently, M'ling's scent enraged them. I'd known a M'ling back on Monster Island, another instance of my Moreau naming one of his creations after one of his great-grandfather's Beast Men, but that M'ling had been a bear manimal who hadn't looked remotely human apart from his bipedal stance. I found out later that this M'ling had been made from a dog, a bear, and an ox. His eyes shined in the dark as the light from the lantern struck them.
\t"Hullo, what's going on?" Prendick asked as they approached.
\tMoreau didn't reply. Instead, he removed a key from his jacket, crouched down, and unlocked my cage while Montgomery kept me covered with his revolver. Then Moreau rose and stepped back. "Come out, Alvin," he said.
\tI emerged from the cage, looking up at both of them. "Is this the part where you try to hypnotize me to find out how I know what I know?" I asked casually.
\tMoreau nodded. "After I inject you with laudanum to make you more compliant."
\tI grinned. "I've never done opium before. This should be fun. Let's get to it!"
\tMoreau and Montgomery looked at each other in bemusement. Then Montgomery motioned toward the door to the apartment with his pistol, and I started walking.
\tInside, Moreau told me to lie down in the deck chair, which I did, and Montgomery kept his gun trained on me while Prendick and M'ling watched. Moreau removed a syringe from a box in a pocket of his jacket, squirted it to make sure there were no air bubbles, and pressed the needle against my right arm.
\t"If I get an infection from a dirty needle," I said as the laudanum flowed from the syringe into my arm, "I swear I'll sue your ass for malpractice."
\t"I assure you," said Moreau calmly, "I take care to sterilize all my instruments."
\t"Of course. Can't have all that work lost to an ordinary infection."
\t"You're remarkably chipper for someone in your predicament," Montgomery commented.
\tI chuckled. "Please, compared to some of the fixes I've been in, this is a walk in the park."
\tMontgomery sneered at me. "We'll see if you're still laughing when the laudanum starts to take effect."
\t"Eh, you're just mad because I beat you up. Twice."
\t"Smug little rotter!" Montgomery growled.
\tI glanced up at him. "That's rich coming from you, you pathetic spineless sot."
\tMontgomery snarled and took aim with his pistol, but Moreau pushed it aside with one hand. "He can't tell us anything if he's dead!" Moreau shouted.
\tMontgomery scowled, but kept silent.
\tThe laudanum began seeping into my brain, and I started to feel drowsy and relaxed. Laudanum is a tincture of opium, and it was extremely popular in the 19th century, particularly among women. Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of the U.S. president, was a laudanum addict. It was used to treat every malady under the sun, in both adults and children, because it could be taken orally, could be purchased without a prescription, and cost less than a bottle of wine. Then again, considering the horrible living conditions of the time and the general paucity of medical care, it's not really surprising that a cheap, effective pain reliever would be popular, even one that was highly addictive.
\tI decided to fight fire with fire. Moreau intended to hypnotize me once the drug broke down my resistance. I would beat him to the punch and hypnotize myself first. Nighthawk had taught me how to do that. I closed my eyes, selected a song lyric, something melodic and repetitive with a steady cadence, and began singing softly: "Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day. I've got a beautiful feeling, everything's going my way!"
\t"What's he doing?" asked Montgomery as I repeated the verse.
\tMoreau didn't answer him. Instead, he began speaking to me in a low, sonorous voice. "Listen to the sound of my voice, Alvin. Listen only to the sound of my voice."
\t"Oh what a beautiful morning . . ." I continued, ignoring him.
\t"You are getting sleepy. You want to sleep . . ."
\t". . . oh what a beautiful day."
\t"Your body feels heavy . . ."
\t"I've got a beautiful feeling . . ."
\t"You must sleep, you can't resist . . ."
\t"Everything's going my way!"
\t"Sleep. A deep, restful sleep . . ."
\t"Oh what a beautiful morning . . ."
\t"You must sleep, Alvin . . ."
\t". . . oh what a beautiful day."
\t"Alvin . . ."
\t"I've got a beautiful feeling . . ."
\t"Alvin . . ."
\tI opened my eyes and glared defiantly into Moreau's. "Everything's going my way!"
\tMoreau looked back at me with just a hint of displeasure on his oak-tanned face. I'd half been expecting him to scream my name in frustration, the way Dave Seville used to do to my cartoon counterpart, but he had too much self-control for that. I grinned and began singing again.
\t"Can't you shut him up?" asked Montgomery in annoyance as I sang.
\t"It won't make a difference," Moreau replied. "I can't stop him from thinking."
\t"Then give him another shot!"
\t"As small as he is, a higher dosage could kill him."
\tI nodded. "And then you'd be deprived of my beautiful singing voice. Oh what a beautiful morning . . ."
\t"Gah!" cried Montgomery. "If he sings that damned song one more time . . ."
\t"Oh, come on, who doesn't love Oklahoma!?" I asked, giggling drunkenly. "Rodgers and Hammerstein, for the win! Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain . . ."
\tMoreau seized my shoulders and shook me violently. "Where do you come from?" he demanded. "Who made you?"
\tI blinked up at the three white-haired heads circling above me. "You did."
\t"Nonsense! I never made anything like you!"
\t"I told you when we first met, I was born to two of your Beast Folk."
\t"Rubbish!"
\tPrendick spoke up. "Perhaps he's an evolutionary throwback. There is a theory that primates evolved from rodents."
\tMoreau whirled on him savagely. "Shut up!" Then he turned back to me. "Was it Huxley?"
\tI waved at him dismissively with a hand that felt as if it were made of rubber. "Don't be a silly ass, Moreau. If Huxley had made me, why would he send me here? What could he possibly need from you?"
\tMoreau stared at me as my words sank in, and I grinned at him through a foggy haze. "That's what's really bugging you, isn't it? The idea that someone left you in the dust, succeeded in doing the very thing you've been trying and failing to do on this island for eleven years—creating a fully human Beast Man. You may not feel pain, but jealousy, that's something else again, isn't it?"
\tMoreau cried out, then grabbed me and shook me again, but I barely felt it. My body was limp in his grasp, my head sagging. "Who made you?" he yelled into my face.
\tI slowly opened my eyes, which took considerable effort, and gazed blearily into his. "Go to hell, Moreau. I'm not telling you shit." I closed them again.
\t Moreau slammed me into the deck chair, and I moaned and writhed, my body immersed in a cocoon of warm fuzziness. I felt as if I was sliding off the face of the Earth. He took a moment to regain his composure, then started again. "Alvin, listen to the sound of my voice."
\t"Oh what a beautiful morning . . ."
\t"Oh, for pity's sake!" I heard Montgomery say from a million miles away. "This is a waste of time!"
\tMoreau sighed. "I'm inclined to agree. He seems impossible to hypnotize."
\t"There are other ways of getting information out of people," said Montgomery.
\t"I say," said Prendick, "you aren't seriously suggesting torturing him!"
\t"Why the bloody hell not?" asked Montgomery angrily. "It isn't as if we're strangers to causing pain!"
\t"And do you imagine that would be any more successful?" Moreau asked. "If he can resist hypnosis, he can probably resist torture, as well. Besides, I'm not keen on the idea."
\t"You aren't?" asked Prendick, sounding astonished.
\t"The pain I have caused," said Moreau, "has all been toward the achieving of a particular goal. To inflict pain on someone to get information out of them would be mean and petty."
\tI giggled, curled up in a fetal position on the deck chair. "So you have no problem with vivisection, but torture is beneath you? That's a scream."
\t"M'ling," said Moreau's distant voice. "Put him back in his cage."
\tI felt strong hands lifting me, and I was helpless to resist, my bones having turned to jelly. I snuggled up against M'ling's chest. "Tell me a story, daddy," I murmured. He didn't reply, just carried me out into the courtyard, which set the dogs barking again. Then he poured me into the cage, closed the door, and locked it. The sound of the dogs faded as I slipped into unconsciousness.

\tI spent the next two months in that cage, which wasn't much fun. I began to wonder if PRIMUS had forgotten about me. I found out later that when I hadn't returned after a month, Sanchez had proposed a rescue mission, but her superiors had vetoed it, feeling there was too much danger of altering history. I could see their point. After all, Prendick's story had inspired my creator, who had caused trouble all over the world for years before finally being killed in a battle with some superheroes. If my Dr. Moreau—or his activities—were erased from history, who knew what the consequences might be or what it would mean for me personally? I might return to the present and find myself like George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, in a world where I'd never been born, only there wouldn't be a helpful guardian angel to set things right again. However, none of that gave me much comfort as I sweated it out in that damn cage day after mind-numbing day.
\tI spent much of my time in meditation, practicing the mantras Julie had taught me. It helped my mind stay sharp and clear and not become dulled by boredom. They let me out of my cage to exercise in the compound for an hour each day under the watchful eyes of Moreau and Montgomery, their revolvers ready in case I tried anything. Perhaps Moreau hoped that prolonged imprisonment would eventually break my spirit and make me tell him my secrets. He didn't know me very well. On Monster Island, I'd had to fight for my life on a regular basis. This was a breeze by comparison.
\tOne morning, just after dawn, I was lying in my cage on the blanket they'd kindly provided for me. The air was cool and misty, and my blanket, loincloth, and fur were dusted with tiny droplets of dew. Prendick came out and stood beside the open gate, smoking a cigarette. He silently nodded to me, and I silently nodded back as I sat up and began mentally preparing myself for my morning meditation. While he hadn't been willing to help me escape, as he feared incurring Moreau's and Montgomery's displeasure, he had argued with them on my behalf, saying that keeping me in a cage was inhumane. But the two Ms were having none of it. They'd both seen firsthand how dangerous I was, and they weren't taking any chances. They didn't know that I couldn't risk harming either one of them. Prendick tried to make it up to me by occasionally coming out and playing chess with me, using a board made from a flat piece of wood with lines etched on it and different kinds of seashells for pieces. It helped relieve the monotony of both our existences.
\tMoreau came around the corner of the enclosure, greeted Prendick, passed by me, and unlocked the door of the surgical hut. I winced, knowing what was coming. A minute later, a human-sounding shriek issued from the hut, and I clamped my hands over my ears. It was the puma. This was by far the worst part of my captivity: the screams of Moreau's victims as he continued working on them in futile attempt to realize his dream. I glanced over at Prendick, but he just continued smoking, unmoved. He'd become hardened to this. I closed my eyes, doing my best to block out those agonized cries as my heart bled for that poor creature. Every fiber of my being, every instinct in my gut, told me to try to help her, to save her, but even if I hadn't been locked up in that cage, I couldn't have. Her suffering was part of this time, a thing that was meant to be. None of which made me feel the slightest bit better about sitting there doing nothing.
\tSuddenly, there was a sharp cry from behind me, followed by a fall. I opened my eyes to see a semihuman shape, wrapped in linen and with blood-soaked bandages flapping behind it, bound past me toward Prendick, who turned toward it, raising his left arm to defend himself. The mummy-like figure swiped at him, knocking him down, leaped over him, and disappeared through the gate. A moment later, Moreau emerged from the hut, blood trickling down his face, revolver held in one hand. Without a word, he ran past Prendick and me and out through the gate in pursuit of the puma.
\tPrendick was lying on the ground, groaning in pain and cradling his arm, and I jumped to my feet, seizing the bars of my cage. Montgomery appeared in the doorway, revolver in hand. "Great God, Prendick!" he said. "That brute's loose! Tore the fetter out of the wall. Have you seen them?" Then he noticed that the other man was injured. "What's the matter?"
\t"I was standing in the doorway," Prendick replied through clenched teeth, getting to his feet.
\tMontgomery came toward him. "Blood on the sleeve," he said, rolling it back and feeling the arm beneath, which caused Prendick obvious discomfort. "Your arm is broken. Tell me exactly how it happened—what happened."
\t"Let me out!" I said urgently, tightening my grip on the bars. "I can help!"
\tMontgomery stared at me. "You?" he asked, incredulous.
\t"I have medical training," I said. "I can tend to his arm while you help Moreau."
\t"Not likely!" said Montgomery.
\t"I won't try to escape, you have my word!"
\tMontgomery ignored me and helped Prendick into the little apartment while I stood in my cage, flexing my hands around the bars and stewing. A few minutes later, Montgomery emerged from the apartment and went out the doorway, locking the gate behind him.
\t"Prendick!" I shouted. "Prendick!"
\tAfter a minute, he came outside, his arm in a sling, face lined with pain. "Yes?"
\t"Help me out of this cage!" I said.
\tHe shook his head. "We've been through this before, Alvin."
\t"I don't know if you've noticed," I said, "but things have changed. Moreau and Montgomery are going to need all the help they can get against that thing!"
\tHe stared at me. "You'd be willing to help them, after all that's happened?"
\t"They're still human beings," I said, "more or less. I can't let them be killed if there's anything I can do about it. And I can't do anything from in here!"
\tPrendick sighed. "You baffle me, Alvin."
\tI nodded. "I baffle myself, sometimes."
\tOur conversation was cut off by the sound of the gate being unlocked. Montgomery came through, looking pale, his lower lip drooping. "I can neither see nor hear anything of him. I've been thinking he may want my help. That was a strong brute. It simply wrenched its fetter out of the wall."
\t"Let me out and I'll help you find him," I said.
\tMontgomery laughed. "You? Help me?"
\tI nodded. "It's what I do."
\t"Even if I trusted you—which I certainly do not—Moreau has the only key to your cage." He turned to Prendick. "I shall go after him. There's another revolver I can leave with you. It's just possible you may need it." He went and got the weapon, handed it to the other man, and left.
\tPrendick gazed down at the gun in his hand for a moment, then walked to the doorway of the compound and stood looking out at the sea. The morning had become quiet and still. Change was in the air. Don't ask me how I knew, but I could feel it.
\t"You know trouble's coming," I said.
\t"They have guns," he replied.
\t"I don't think that's going to be enough."
\t"Why do you say that?"
\tI shrugged. "Call it intuition. My girlfriend's been helping me develop mine."
\tHe glanced at me curiously. "You have a girlfriend?"
\tI nodded. "One I love and miss very much. Does it surprise you that a Beast Man can feel love?"
\tHe shook his head. "No, not especially. I imagine all higher animals do, to some degree."
\t"But not as much as humans," I said with a smirk.
\tHe shrugged. "I really wouldn't know. Perhaps the passion of a male butterfly fanning his wings as he tries to attract a mate surpasses anything any human being has ever felt."
\t"Let me out of here," I said, "and I promise I'll do everything I can to save Moreau and Montgomery."
\tPrendick pressed his lips together, then turned and walked to the open door of the surgical hut. He returned a minute later, his one good hand holding a tray that bore an assortment of surgical instruments, his gun stuck in his pocket. He held out the tray to me, and I selected a couple that looked suitable and went to work on the lock. Thirty seconds later, it clicked and the door of the cage swung open.
\t"Thank you, Mr. Prendick," I said.
\t"Remember your promise," he said.
\tI nodded and ran out through the gate.
\t
\tOnce I was out of the compound, I began searching for the trail of Moreau and the puma. I found it easily, thanks to the crushed bushes, bits of white bandages, and blood smears on the foliage, and plunged into the chaos of ferns and creepers, forcing them aside with my hands. Coming to the little stream I'd waded across after Moreau had shot me on my first day here, I climbed the slope on the far side to the stony ground beyond. There, the trail became harder to follow, and I had to crouch and sniff the ground for traces of blood. My sense of smell isn't especially keen, but fresh blood has a strong scent and I was able to follow their path without too much difficulty. To my right, I heard Montgomery calling out Moreau's name, along with the voice of M'ling. I decided not to join them, as I didn't want to deal with Montgomery right now, and in any case he had M'ling with him for protection if trouble arose.
\tI followed the trail west toward deeper and thicker jungle, sinking into a silent riot of green. Here, sunlight couldn't even reach the ground, which was soft and squishy beneath my bare feet and reeked of decay. A sheet of silken strands wrapped around my face, and I instinctively recoiled and did "the spiderweb dance," waving my arms around and swatting the strands away, fearing that their maker might be crawling on my body somewhere. Look, I don't like spiders, okay? Besides, I had no protection, being practically naked, and no idea what kind of spiders lived on this island or how dangerous they might be. The last thing I needed was an infection from a festering spider bite, something that could easily prove fatal in this pre-antibiotic world.
\tThe trail finally gave out, and I stood there immersed in green, unable to see more than five feet in any direction, pondering which way to go. Suddenly, the silence was punctured by a gunshot, close by. I ran toward it, leaves and vines lashing across my body. I broke out of the jungle and found myself facing the puma, lying sprawled on her back on a patch of soft, moss-covered ground. I ran over and knelt beside her. Her shoulder had been shattered by a bullet, but she was still alive, her chest rising and falling as she gurgled blood, her green eyes staring up at me through a gap in the bandages shrouding her head. From a shackle on each arm, a length of chain snaked across the ground, ending in a heavy iron eye-bolt smeared with blood with silver hair stuck to it. Tearing those out of the wall had required enormous strength, the kind that comes from intense pain, or fear, or anger.
\tI shivered as I knelt there, helplessly watching the life drain out of her. I'd been in this same situation before, with my brother Simon. I took her gauze-wrapped head in my hands, cradling it gently, because nobody should be alone at this moment. I gazed down into her eyes as tears welled up in mine and managed to force some words though my clenched throat. "I'm so sorry." She blinked up at me, uncomprehending. Then her eyes went blank.
\tI stood up and walked over to another body, lying face down in a trampled space in a canebrake about sixty feet away. Its silver-haired head had been smashed in by the puma's fetters, and its black eyes were open and empty. One hand had been nearly severed at the wrist; a revolver lay next to it. I stood there glaring down at the remains of Dr. Moreau, trembling, rage seething inside me. I hadn't been sure if I could bring myself to save him or if I should even try, and I was glad I hadn't had to decide, because at that moment, if he'd still been alive, I could have killed him myself. "Bastard!" I hissed down at him. Then I savagely kicked his body and screamed, "Bastard!"
\tA snorting sound from behind me brought me out of my red haze. I whirled to see two Beast Men standing and staring at me. I'd seen them before when Moreau had summoned all the Beast Folk together. They had drab pink skins, short legs, clumsy feet, fat chinless faces, receding foreheads, and scant bristly hair atop their heads. They wore nothing but scarlet cloths wrapped around their pudgy waists. It didn't take too much imagination to see that they'd begun life as pigs. There had been a Pig Woman with them at the gathering, but she wasn't here now.
\tThe two Pig Men came cautiously forward, their gazes fixed on Moreau's body as I backed slowly away from it. They leaned over and sniffed at it, then looked at me and uttered some thick, sloppy syllables I couldn't understand. Then they began advancing toward me, making ominous grunting sounds. I snatched up Moreau's revolver and aimed it at them, and they froze in their tracks.
\t"What is the Law?" I asked them.
\tThey said nothing, just stood there glowering at me, beady eyes narrowed.
\t"What is the Law?" I demanded again, louder. When they still didn't reply, I continued. "Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not Men?"
\tOne of them pointed at Moreau's body and spoke in a low, gutteral voice. "That is the Law."
\t"The Law still holds!" I shouted. "Evil are the punishments of those who break the Law! None escape!" I waved the revolver to make my meaning clear in case they didn't get it.
\tThe other one crouched down and sank his teeth into Moreau's back, tearing out a chunk of flesh and chewing it, blood dripping down his chin, neck, and bare chest as he looked up at me.
\t"Son of a bitch," I muttered.
\tThe two Pig Men began slowly moving to flank me. They may not have been the brightest of creatures, but they understood that the lightning-flash could only be fired in one direction at a time. I backed away from them, trying to keep them both in my field of vision. Suddenly, there was a feline screech and something pounced on me from behind. I reached back with my free hand, trying to pull the attacker off, and the Pig Men rushed me.
\tI grabbed my unseen assailant and threw him over my shoulder. He landed on the ground and shrieked, clutching his foot. He was one of the smallest Beast Men I'd ever seen, even smaller than me, a scrawny little fellow I later learned had been made from an ocelot. He snarled up at me, baring tiny fangs. I couldn't spare him any attention, however, as the Pig Men were almost upon me, and I didn't dare risk shooting either one of them for fear of altering history. If I'd only known they'd both be dead in less than an hour.
\tI dropped the revolver, seized the arm of one of the Pig Men as he reached for me, and twisted my body, executing a judo throw that sent him flying over my head and into his companion. I'd learned early in my career that when facing someone bigger and heavier than you—which describes most of my opponents—you can't beat judo. It's an elegant martial art that uses an opponent's weight against them. The two Pig Men went down together in a jumble of flabby arms and legs, enabling me to turn my attention back to the Ocelot Man, who was limping toward me, growling. It was almost cute the way he was trying to threaten me. He lunged, and I socked him in the face. He fell to his knees, cupping his nose and whimpering, blood trickling between his tiny fingers.
\tAs the Pig Men disentangled themselves, I picked up the revolver and stuck it in my loincloth. There was no point in staying here any longer, so I plunged into the jungle, heading back toward the House of Pain. There was something there I wanted, and this time I wasn't going to let anything stand in my way.

\tI made my way through the cacophony of vegetation back toward the House of Pain. The cool mistiness of the morning had retreated before the heat of midday, and the air was thick and muggy. I suddenly became aware that I was being followed, and paused for a moment to listen. There were three of them, probably the two Pig Men and the Ocelot Man. Pigs have an exceptionally keen sense of smell, having been used for centuries to sniff out truffles, so it wouldn't be difficult for them to track me by scent. Perhaps I could lose them when I waded across the little stream behind the enclosure.
\tAs I began moving again, the air was split by two gunshots in rapid succession. After a brief pause, there came a third. While it didn't take a genius to figure out what had just happened, since there were only two other people on this island with guns and one of them was unlikely to leave the enclosure due to a broken arm, I decided to investigate anyway. I turned around and crept back through the undergrowth in the direction of the shots.
\tI reached the edge of a small clearing and stopped. Through a veil of ferns, I could see Montgomery and M'ling standing over the bodies of the two Pig Men and the Ocelot Man. Montgomery was holding a revolver and a whip. M'ling was unarmed, but his mouth was smeared with blood. The blond man looked pale and shaken. He looked down at the whip and the gun, then at M'ling.
\t"They attacked . . . without provocation!" Montgomery said, a quaver in his voice. "They've never  . . . they've never done that before!" M'ling simply licked his lips. Then they both turned and began walking in the direction of the House of Pain.
\tI frowned as I watched them heading toward the same place I was heading. I didn't want to confront Montgomery and possibly screw things up even worse than I already had. True, I wanted the orchid extract, but now that I knew where to find it, there was no rush. After all, it wasn't going anywhere. Then again, neither was I unless I found that watch.
\tI pondered further. If Montgomery and M'ling had been searching here, then they couldn't possibly have found Moreau's body, as it was on the far western edge of the island, and it seemed unlikely that any of those Beast Men had told them about it before they'd died. Therefore, it was safe to assume they didn't know he was dead, which meant they'd be going out again to look for him. While they were doing so, the House of Pain would be empty, or at worst occupied only by Prendick, who was, if not my ally, at least a neutral observer who wouldn't try to stop me. All I had to do was wait for them to leave.
\tI followed Montgomery and M'ling back to the House of Pain, watched them go inside, and sat down in a canebrake to wait. I gazed out at the endless blue sea and watched seagulls wheeling overhead, shrieking their mournful cries. I lay back on the sand and closed my eyes, listening to the rasp of the surf as it washed over the beach. I felt peaceful and restful. This actually wasn't a bad place, if not for Moreau and his Beast Folk. Nice spot for a vacation. I wished Julie were here with me, the two of us cuddled up on the sand together, her hands caressing my fur. God, I missed her so much! I wondered what I'd do if I couldn't find that watch. I knew I could escape from the island, since Prendick was destined to do so eventually, but then what? Where could I go in this time, a freak from the future? What kind of life could I have? Maybe I could join P. T. Barnum's carnival of human oddities as Alvin, the Amazing Chipmunk Boy.
\tThe sound of the gate opening brought me back to full awareness, and I sat up. It was now well into afternoon, and the heat was at its height. Montgomery, M'ling, and Prendick emerged from the compound and headed toward the jungle, the two humans armed with revolvers and Montgomery with a whip as well. I noticed he was walking unsteadily. No doubt he'd been drinking. I'd learned during my captivity that Prendick was a teetotaler, so at least they weren't both drunk while in the company of a Beast Man whose loyalty was now problematical, as M'ling had tasted blood. I watched them disappear into the jungle, then got up and began walking toward the House of Pain.
\tThe walls were no more of an obstacle than they'd been the first time. I dropped down into the compound, went to the surgical hut—whose door was still hanging open from when Moreau had burst out chasing the half-finished Puma Woman—and went inside.
\tThere were seven cloth-draped forms lying on operating tables—the llama and the six hounds, all at various stages of Moreau's hideous conversion process. They were all heavily anesthetized, their bodies covered with bandages soaked with phenol to prevent infection. It made a sick kind of sense for Moreau to have so many projects going at once. Someone as obsessed as him would hardly want to sit around idle while his subject recovered from surgery. This way, he could work on one while the others were healing. My throat clenched as I gazed upon those poor, miserable creatures. I was no stranger to this kind of horror, having grown up on Monster Island with another Dr. Moreau, but it still turned my stomach. I looked down at my revolver, sorely tempted to end their suffering right now, but I didn't dare. What must be must be.
\tI went over to some shelves holding jars of chemicals and located the one Montgomery had gotten for me the last time I'd been in here. Unfortunately, it was above my reach. I growled and looked around for something to stand on. The operating table the Puma Woman had been lying on was empty. I dragged it over to the shelves, climbed up on top of it, grabbed the jar of extract, and hopped back down to the floor, cradling the jar in my arms. Finally!
\tI left the surgical hut and walked to the front gate—which Montgomery had naturally locked when he'd left. Sighing, I put the jar down, went back to the hut, found some surgical instruments I could use as lockpicks, returned to the gate, picked the lock, and left the House of Pain with the extract, heading off into the jungle.
\tAfter burying the extract where I was certain I could find it again, I went back to the House of Pain. The watch had to be someplace between the enclosure and the spot where I'd realized it was missing. All I had to do was examine every inch of that ground until I found it. Unfortunately, it was now starting to get dark. I found the spot, got down on my hands and knees, and began rummaging through the leaf litter. I found all sorts of creepy crawlies—ants, beetles, spiders, centipedes, millipedes, springtails, scorpions, mites, hermit crabs, snails, slugs, isopods (those many-legged, armadillo-like things you find under rocks that curl into a ball when you touch them), and even a peripatus, or "walking worm," the link between arthropods (the group that includes insects, spiders, and crustaceans) and worms—but no watch. Eventually, it got too dark to see, so I gave up and headed off to find a safe place to spend the night, intending to resume my search in the morning.
\tAs I made my way through the jungle, I became aware of the snapping and rustling of bodies moving through the undergrowth, along with occasional grunts and other sounds. I decided to investigate, following the noise back toward the House of Pain. It was now quite dark, but the moon was full above, bathing the island in its soft silvery light and creating a strange, colorless, spectral world of shiny grey fronds and deep black shadows.
\tWhen I reached the treeline, I could see nine figures moving along the glittering diamond sand of the beach, their black shapes silhouetted against the dark grey eastward ocean. They bore a large, bulky object upon their shoulders. It took no great insight to realize what it was. I watched from behind a tree, mindful that some of the Beast Folk could see in the dark, as the silent, solemn procession approached the House of Pain. It stopped before the gate, and one of the figures separated and unlocked it while the others lowered their burden to the sand. All but two of them then departed, leaving the remaining pair to haul Moreau's body inside the enclosure. I heard the grinding, metallic squeak of the gate locking, then turned and headed back into the jungle. As I walked among the tree trunks, seven gunshots echoed from behind me. The llama and the six hounds. That was the end of Moreau's experiments. Prendick and Montgomery had done what I'd been unable to. That made me feel a bit better.

\tI spent the night wedged in the crook of a tall tree and awakened sore and stiff. The sky over the ocean was salmon pink, the sun still beneath the horizon. I climbed down from the tree, took care of my morning needs, and began walking back toward the House of Pain. With any luck, this would be my last day on this island.
\tAs I emerged from the jungle onto the beach, I could see immediately that something was wrong. A cloud of smoke hung in the air up the beach past the enclosure, and I could hear raucous shouts of "More, more!" Then came the sound of arguing, and then a shriek. I began walking faster as the sounds grew louder and angrier. Then a gunshot split the air, and I broke into a run, my feet spraying sand. Prendick emerged from the enclosure, apparently alerted by the sound of the shot. He looked as though he hadn't slept a wink, which didn't surprise me a bit. He glanced at me, then began running alongside me, a revolver held in his good hand.
\tThe boathouse was in flames, glowing embers raining on the sand, a mass of black figures struggling before it. I heard Montgomery call Prendick's name, and then there was another gunshot, the flash close to the ground. Prendick shouted and fired into the air. Someone cried, "The Master!" and the writhing mass broke apart as Beast Folk scattered and fled up the beach. Prendick fired at their backs as they vanished into the bushes. Then we both stopped, panting for breath, and turned toward the shapes on the sand.
\tMontgomery was lying on his back with the Sayer of the Law sprawled on top of him, the Sayer's curving claws gripping his throat. Neither of them were moving. Nearby, M'ling lay face down, his throat ripped open, a smashed bottle of brandy clutched in one hand. Farther away lay a dead Bull Man and a grey-bearded Wolf Man, still alive but mortally wounded, moaning and writhing in pain. I pulled my pistol from my loincloth, clenched my teeth, and shot him in the head.
\t"Montgomery's still alive!" cried Prendick, kneeling beside him, having pulled the dead Sayer off him. I ran over and knelt beside them. Montgomery's face was dark, and he was barely breathing.
\t"You said you had medical training," said Prendick desperately. "Can you help him?"
\t"His windpipe's been crushed," I said grimly, "but an emergency tracheotomy could still save his life."
\t"Then do it, man, for God's sake!"
\t"I need a scalpel and a hollow tube of some kind," I said. "Try to keep him breathing. I'll be right back." As I stood up, there was a thud and a hiss from behind me, and I spun around. My mouth fell open, and my eyes went wide. Black smoke was boiling up from the House of Pain, crimson tongues flickering above its walls. The thatched roofs of the huts ignited in a fireworks display, and a jet of flame shot from the tiny window I had escaped though on my first day here.
\t"It's my fault," said Prendick numbly, staring at the burning enclosure as he knelt beside the gasping form of Montgomery. "I was gathering supplies, preparing to leave. When I went to help Montgomery, I must have overturned the lamp."
\tI sighed and shook my head. There was nothing I could do for Montgomery now. I turned back toward the boathouse. It had burned down to smoldering black timbers, the edges glowing orange and white. I suddenly realized that the slip dug into the beach to hold the launch was empty. There was no sign of the dinghy, either. Then I noticed a pair of axes lying on the sand nearby, wood chips and splinters scattered around them. I bit my lip as I realized what had happened. "The boats are gone anyway," I said. "Montgomery chopped them up for kindling."
\tPrendick gasped, staring at the empty slip, then raised his hand to strike Montgomery, but stopped himself. Montgomery opened his eyes, gazing at the breaking dawn, then at us, then closed them again. "Sorry," he said, his voice a hoarse rasp as he forced air through his smashed windpipe with effort. "The last . . . the last of this silly universe. What a mess—" Then his head fell limply to one side.
\tPrendick splashed some seawater on his face, trying to revive him, but I shook my head. "It's no use," I said. "He's gone."
\t"Wretched devil," said Prendick. "He complained that he hadn't had any life and wondered when it was going to begin. He said M'ling was the only thing that ever cared for him."
\tI shrugged. "You take what you can get." Just then, the sun peeked over the red-rimmed horizon, its warm glow illuminating our bodies, bathing us in its radiance. A new day had begun.
\tI scanned the beach, taking stock of our situation. The enclosure and all its supplies were gone, the boats burned. We had three revolvers with perhaps a dozen bullets between them, two axes, a whip lying beside the body of the Wolf Man, and the clothes on our backs. That was it. Before us lay a jungle full of slowly reverting Beast People whose instincts were no longer held in check by the Law. Plus, one of us had a broken arm. I'd been in worse situations, but not many.
\tAs I stood there considering our next move, three Beast People emerged from the jungle and moved hesitantly toward us, their eyes unwelcoming. Prendick went over to the body of the Wolf Man, picked up the bloodstained whip lying there, and cracked it. The three Beast People stopped and stared at him. Then their eyes shifted to me. Perhaps they were wondering which side I was on. I did and said nothing, just watched and waited to see how things went. This was a crucial moment.
\t"Salute," Prendick ordered them. "Bow down!"
\tAfter a moment's hesitation, one bent his knees. Prendick repeated his command, advancing toward them. One knelt, then the other two, and I followed suit to keep up appearances. Prendick turned and walked toward the corpses littering the beach, keeping his eyes on the three Beast Folk. "They broke the Law," he said, placing his foot on the body of the Sayer of the Law. "They have been slain. Even the Sayer of the Law. Even the Other with the whip. Great is the Law! Come and see."
\t"None escape," said one of the Beast Folk, advancing and peering at the bodies.
\t"None escape," said Prendick. "Therefore hear and do as I command." He turned toward me. "Pick up the hatchets." I nodded and did as I was told. If he was going to survive, he had to command obedience from the Beast Folk, and as far as they knew, that included me. He pointed at Montgomery. "Get his gun." I went over to Montgomery, picked up his revolver, and broke it open. The cylinder still had two cartridges in it. I searched his body and found six more rounds in his pocket.
\t"Take him," Prendick ordered the Beast Folk, pointing at Montgomery with the whip. "Take him and carry him out, and cast him into the sea." They approached the body timidly, as if afraid it might suddenly spring back to life, and after some fumbling, shouting, and whip-cracking, carried it out into the sparkling surf. "On," said Prendick, "on! Carry him far."
\tThe Beast Folk waded out up to their armpits, then stood looking at Prendick for instructions. He swallowed, a pained look on his face. "Let go," he said, and the body of Montgomery sank beneath the waves. "Good!" said Prendick, his voice tight. The Beast Folk returned to the beach, looking back furtively at the spot where Montgomery had vanished.
\t"Now these," said Prendick, pointing at the other bodies. They picked up the bodies of the four dead Beast Men and carried them out to sea one by one, studiously avoiding the spot where they had dropped Montgomery in favor of one about a hundred yards up the beach. Prendick glanced down at me as I stood there beside him. "Sorry to have to take such a tone with you, Alvin."
\tI nodded. "I understand."
\tAs the Beast Folk were disposing of the body of M'ling, I heard footsteps on the sand behind us and turned around quickly. The Hyena-Swine was standing about a dozen yards away, his small, bright eyes fixed on us, his stumpy hands clenched. Prendick realized something was up and turned around as well, then dropped the whip and put his hand on the pistol in his pocket. "Salute! Bow down!" he said.
\tThe Hyena-Swine's glistening lips curled back in a snarl. "Who are you, that I should . . ."
\tI took a step toward him, a hatchet clutched in each hand. "He is Master here now!" I shouted. "You will obey him!"
\tHe glared at me contemptuously, tusks gleaming, and I had such a bizarre feeling of deja-vu, facing this creature whose spiritual descendant would be my mortal enemy more than a century from now. I took comfort in the knowledge that that Hyena-Swine had been a bigger and more fearsome foe than this one.
\t"He is no Master," said the Hyena-Swine. "The Master is dead! I saw his body!"
\t"That was his old body," said Prendick, "the one he cast away because he had no more need of it. He is there," Prendick pointed upward, "where he can watch you. You cannot see him. But he can see you. Fear the Law!"
\tThe Hyena-Swine growled and spat on the sand.
\tPrendick drew his pistol and fired. The Hyena-Swine yelped and jumped to one side, then ran dodging up the beach, disappearing into the swirling clouds of black smoke that were still belching from the House of Pain. The shot had obviously missed. I dropped my hatchets, drew my pistol, and ran after him. I wasn't concerned about changing history. The Hyena-Swine had made his intentions quite clear. If Prendick was going to live, this creature had to die.
\tI fired at the Hyena-Swine as he disappeared into the jungle, but he passed behind a palm tree and my bullet struck that instead. I charged into the forest after him, trying to keep him in sight. The foliage was so dense that I couldn't get a clear shot, and I didn't want to waste another round, as ammunition was in critically short supply. I tracked him through the undergrowth, following his cloven hoofprints, but eventually they disappeared as the ground became higher and rockier. I paused, panting, no longer sure which way to go. Black masses of lava rock towered all around me. I swore under my breath. He no doubt knew this area well, while I was completely ignorant.
\t"Why do you obey him?" came the Hyena-Swine's voice, echoing among the rocks. "He is not your Master. There never was a Master. It was all a lie. They are just Men. Men who bleed and die as we do."
\t"He is important to me," I said, feeling his beady eyes watching me from somewhere.
\t"He is nothing. M'ling served the Other with the whip. Now they are both dead. Soon, the Other who walked in the Sea will be dead, too."
\t"Not if I have anything to say about it."
\tHe laughed. "What can you do? You are small and weak."
\t"Then why are you hiding from me?" I asked, trying to figure out where his voice was coming from.
\t"What are you?" the Hyena-Swine asked. "You are not one of them. You are not one of us. Where did you come from?"
\t"The mind of Ross Bagdasarian. Listen, Hyena-Swine, I'll make a deal with you. Leave us alone, and we'll leave you alone. That way, nobody has to die. Sound fair?" I wasn't sure he even grasped the concept of fairness, but it was worth a try. "What do you say?"
\tAfter a long silence, the Hyena-Swine said, "He must die."
\t"Why?" I asked. "He's done nothing to you."
\t"He is one of them."
\t"No, he isn't. He is here against his will. And he never caused any of you pain."
\t"He is the same. He lies, he gives orders, he uses the whip and the lightning-flash. He killed the Leopard Man. I saw it."
\t"He did that to spare him from the House of Pain. Would you rather he had gone back there?"
\t"He must die. And you, too, if you stand with him."
\t"Is that your final word?" I waited a moment for his reply. Nothing. I sighed. "So be it."
\tI turned and headed back toward the beach.

\tWhen I arrived at the smoldering, flickering ruins of the House of Pain, I called out Prendick's name, but there was no reply. A chill ran down my spine. Could the Beast Folk have killed him? He had a gun, but he was just one man with a broken arm. They could have overwhelmed him easily enough. Fortunately, apart from the Hyena-Swine they all seemed to have a superstitious fear of him. Still, not knowing where he was made me uneasy, so I decided to go and find him. The ravine seemed the most likely place. I headed off in that direction.
\tI arrived at the ravine to find a number of Beast Folk chattering excitedly. There was a Wolf Woman, the Satyr Man, an Ox-Boar Man, the Ape Man, a Dog Man, the little pink Sloth Man, and several others. There was no sign of the Hyena-Swine. The topic of their conversation was no surprise. They were talking about the fact that the Master was dead, the Other with the Whip was dead, and there was no more House of Pain. Their conversation ceased and they looked at me as I approached.
\t"Is the Man with the Bandaged Arm here?" I asked them.
\tThe Ox-Boar Man gestured lazily at one of the huts in the side of the ravine. "He is in there."
\tI nodded and walked toward it. The Dog Man, whose markings resembled those of a St. Bernard, interposed himself in front of me. "What do you want with him?" he asked suspiciously.
\t"I want to see if he's all right," I replied. When he seemed hesitant to move, I put my hand on the revolver stuck in my loincloth, and he slowly backed away, glowering at me with his canine eyes. I continued toward the hut. There was a flimsy barricade of sticks and rotting leaves covering the opening. I pushed them aside and went in.
\tPrendick was sitting with his back to the wall, asleep, revolver in hand, the remains of some fruit beside him. Since it's not a good idea to touch someone who's asleep while they're holding a gun, I sat down to one side. "Mr. Prendick," I said. When he didn't wake, I repeated it, louder, and he stirred and groaned, his eyes fluttering open. It took a moment for them to focus on me.
\t"Hullo, Alvin," he said.
\t"How are you feeling?" I asked.
\t"Arm hurts like the devil," he replied.
\t"That's to be expected," I said. "Too bad Montgomery's cache of brandy burned up, but I know you're an abstainer."
\t"In this case, I'd be willing to make an exception," said Prendick. He looked at me hopefully. "Did you get him?"
\tI shook my head. "He was too sly for me. We had a nice little chat, though, and he told me in no uncertain terms he wants you dead."
\tPrendick sighed. "There's nothing for it, then. We'll have to kill him."
\tI nodded. "Most likely."
\tHe gazed at me for a moment. "You know, Alvin, as bizarre as this whole situation is, everything in it makes a certain amount of sense—except for you. You're the only thing doesn't fit."
\t"Yeah, Hyena-Swine said pretty much the same thing."
\t"Huxley didn't make you, did he?"
\t"Never met the man, though it would have been a real honor if I had. I envy you that."
\t"And you're not Montgomery's son."
\tI shuddered. "Perish the thought!"
\t"Then where do you come from?"
\tI sighed. "Just call me a faerie."
\tHe stared at me. "A faerie?"
\t"It's as good an explanation as any."
\t"Rubbish!"
\t"I thought you Victorians were big on faeries. I know Doyle was . . . or is, rather," I added, catching myself.
\t"Doyle?" he asked, baffled. "Who is that?"
\t"You know, the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories." I didn't find out until later that the first Holmes story wasn't published until December of that year.
\tPrendick shook his head. "I haven't the faintest notion what you're talking about. In any case, I don't believe in faeries."
\t"I do. I met a couple in Ireland two years ago."
\t"Bosh! You're having me on."
\tI shook my head. "I'm totally serious."
\tHe eyed me skeptically. "What did they look like?"
\t"Well, they weren't tiny humans with wings, like in those faked photographs." Again, I was ahead of the times. The Cottingley photographs wouldn't be taken for another thirty years. "They were both seven feet tall. One was a green deer man, and the other had the head of a pumpkin and a body made of vines."
\t"What rot!"
\tI tilted my head. "You believe in God, don't you, Mr. Prendick?"
\tHe seemed taken aback. "What's that got to do with it?"
\tI shrugged. "Well, if you believe in God, you're in no position to rule anything out, since God is supposedly all-powerful."
\t"I hardly think it follows that because I believe in God I should believe in nonsense like faeries!"
\t"Why not? Once you open that door, there's no closing it. Anything becomes possible. You should really be a bit more open-minded, Mr. Prendick."
\tHe smirked. "Well, if you do know two faeries, why don't you have them whisk us off this island?"
\t"That would make things a lot easier," I said. "Unfortunately, they're on the other side of the world, they're both asleep right now, and I have no means of waking them." Plus, Bres and Streng hadn't met me yet.
\t"Where does that leave us, then?" Prendick asked.
\t"Pretty much up the creek," I replied. "That Dog Man seems to be rather protective of you, though. We might be able to recruit him as an ally. We can use all of those we can get."
\tHe nodded. "Any others?"
\t"I wouldn't rely on the Ape Man. Even though he helped me out when I was wounded, he seems pretty flaky. The Bull-Bear Man could be a possibility, though. He stood up for me when that Fox-Bear Woman wanted to hand me over to Moreau. Don't turn your back on her, by the way."
\t"Yes, I'd already surmised that," Prendick said.
\t"The thing I'm really worried about—apart from Hyena-Swine—is what'll happen as they revert."
\tPrendick nodded. "Moreau mentioned that they always do. It caused him no end of frustration." Then he looked at me intently. "What about you, Alvin?"
\t"Don't worry about me," I replied. "I was made in a different way. I won't revert."
\tHe sighed. "I wish you'd explain why."
\t"It wouldn't make any sense to you. Just accept that it's the way things are. I know you're not used to being told what to do by someone you consider an inferior . . ."
\t"Have I ever treated you as such?" asked Prendick, sounding offended. "I even apologized to you for ordering you around on the beach. I knew you were only doing it for my benefit, otherwise you'd have never stood for it. I've known you long enough to know that." He smiled. "You're really quite remarkable, Alvin."
\tI smiled back. "Thanks, Mr. Prendick."
\t"Call me Edward."
\tI nodded. "Okay, Edward." Then I heard the Beast Folk chattering outside. "We should probably find out what that's about."
\tHe sighed. "I suppose we must."
\tWe left the hut and went out into the ravine.
\tAbout twenty of the Beast Folk were sitting around a campfire, staring into it or talking to each other. They took no notice of either of us as we approached. We were no longer of central importance to them now that their world had been upended. I scanned the crowd. Still no Hyena-Swine.
\t"He is dead, he is dead, the Master is dead," said the Ape Man. "The House of Pain—there is no  House of Pain."
\t"He is not dead," said Prendick, loudly. They all fell silent, staring at him. "Even now he watches us. The House of Pain is gone. It will come again. The Master you cannot see. Yet even now he listens above you."
\tI nodded. "What he says is true."
\t"The Man with the Bandaged Arm speaks a strange thing," said one of the Beast Folk.
\t"I tell you it is so," said Prendick, seating himself before the fire. "The Master and the House of Pain will come again. Woe be to him who breaks the Law!"
\tThe Beast Folk looked at each other while Prendick sat there casually chopping at the ground in front of him with a hatchet, feigning indifference. Then a discussion began among them that had all the attributes of a theological debate of the sort that medieval churchmen used to engage in for days. Prendick and I joined in, arguing for our cause, and over the course of an hour, several of the Beast Folk—the Dog Man among them—came over to our side, and most of the others seemed at least willing to give us the benefit of the doubt.
\tSeeing that the situation here appeared to have stabilized somewhat, I decided to return to the ruins of the enclosure and resume searching for my recall device. I walked through the jungle—always on the alert for any sign of the Hyena-Swine—to the spot where I had broken off the search last night, got down on my hands and knees, and started shuffling leaves.
\tAfter a time, my ears detected someone approaching through the forest. I drew my pistol and looked in that direction. It was Prendick and the Dog Man. They stopped when they saw my gun.
\t"Not to go on all-Fours; that is the Law," said Prendick, smiling.
\t"Very funny," I said, sticking the gun back in my loincloth.
\t"What are you looking for?" he asked, as he and the Dog Man came over to me.
\t"A wristwatch," I replied. "Do you know what that is, or do you all still use pocket watches?"
\t"I know what it is," said Prendick. "Our army began equipping its officers with them during the Burmese War to help synchronize maneuvers. A friend of mine showed me one. What were you doing with one?"
\t"How else would I know when it was teatime?" I asked, resuming my search.
\t"Damn," he said. "What I wouldn't give for a hot cup of tea."
\t"There's probably something on this island you could use for a substitute."
\t"I say," said Prendick, "it wasn't a flat metal thing with a flexible metal band and a little window with numbers on it, was it?"
\tMy head snapped around. "You've seen it?"
\tHe nodded. "Moreau showed it to me. He told me he found it while he was looking for you after you escaped."
\tMy mouth fell open. "And he never asked me about it?"
\tPrendick shrugged. "I suppose it must have slipped his mind. You know how obsessed he was with his work."
\tI jumped to my feet and looked in the direction of the enclosure. "Oh no! No no no no no!"
\t"Is something wrong, Alvin?" he asked, but I was already off and running.
\tI burst out of the forest and sprinted across the sand toward the ruins of the House of Pain. Its stone walls were now black, and I ran inside through the open entrance, the wooden gate having been destroyed by the fire. The courtyard was ankle-deep in ashes. I could make out the charred remains of Moreau's corpse half-buried in them. I waded through the ash toward what was left of the hut where I had first met him, every step raising a choking cloud of light, papery fragments, and started rummaging around in the debris. It didn't take me long to find what I was after. The metal casing was still intact, but the fire had completely gutted its inner workings. The watch was a burned-out husk.
\tWhen Prendick and the Dog Man arrived, they were treated to the sight of a chipmunk raging and cursing like a drunken sailor.

\t"I'm deeply sorry, Alvin," Prendick said as I sat staring sullenly into the campfire back at the ravine. It was now night, and the Beast Folk had all retired to their huts save for the Dog Man, who sat up with us, watching and listening to the sounds of the jungle.
\t"It's okay," I said quietly. "You had no way of knowing."
\t"I still don't understand why that watch was so important to you."
\tI sighed. "It doesn't matter. What matters is getting off this island."
\t"And how do you propose we do that?" Prendick asked.
\t"By building a raft."
\t"I'm afraid I won't be much help with that, as I've only one arm and I am an extremely unhandy man. My schooling was over before the days of slöjd." I found out later that slöjd, or sloyd in its Anglicized form, was a Swedish system of handicraft-based education that had been taught widely in schools in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, sort of an early precursor to shop.
\t"I can manage," I said.
\t"Assuming for the moment that we do succeed in building a raft, and assuming further that someone finds our flyspeck in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean and we are rescued, what then? What do you intend to do, looking the way you do?"
\t"Don't worry about me," I said. "If there's one thing I'm good at, it's surviving."
\t"So I've noticed," said Prendick, smiling wryly.
\tThe Dog Man perked up and sniffed the air, his sensitive canine ears and nose apparently detecting something that ours couldn't.
\t"Something wrong?" I asked.
\t"The Hyena-Swine," the Dog Man said, growling.
\t"Where?" asked Prendick, alarmed.
\t"He is near," said the Dog Man. "And he is not alone."
\tPrendick and I both drew our guns and stood up, looking around. I could see many pairs of eyes shining in the darkness beyond the light of the campfire, at both ends of the ravine.
\t"What do you want, Hyena-Swine?" I shouted.
\t"You know," came his guttural voice from somewhere in the night.
\t"I see you brought some friends," I said.
\t"The Master is dead," said the Hyena-Swine. "The Other with the Whip is dead. The Other who walked in the Sea is as we are. We have no Master, no Whips, no House of Pain. There is an end."
\t"He is Master now!" shouted the Dog Man, pointing at Prendick. "He will slay you all! Great is the Law!"
\tThe Hyena-Swine chuckled. "He cannot slay us all. He can only use the lightning-flash six times; then he must open it and put in new metal seeds. Only six. I have watched. I have learned."
\t"Congratulations," I said, "you can count to six. Your mother must be proud. But you're forgetting about me. I have a lightning-flash, too. That's twelve of you dead. Are you prepared to lose that many?"
\t"Leave him," the Hyena-Swine said. "Leave him and you will live. We only want the Other."
\t"You're a liar, Hyena-Swine," I said. "You want us all dead!"
\tI could hear the Beast Folk whispering among themselves. They were getting ready to try something. I cocked the hammer on my revolver.
\tA rock flew out of the darkness and past my ear, narrowly missing me. A second one sailed over my head. A third hit me square in the chest, causing a sharp pain. I heard Prendick cry out as one of them hit him as well. Prendick and I both fired at the shining eyes, but I couldn't tell if either of us hit anything.
\t"We have to run for it!" I shouted. The Dog Man charged toward one end of the ravine and hurled himself at the floating eyes there, growling and snarling. Prendick and I followed him, and hands emerged from the darkness, groping at us. I fired again and heard leaves rustle as a body fell. Prendick shot, too, but whether his bullet found its mark was anybody's guess. I heard the Dog Man snarling savagely in the bushes as he struggled with someone, but I couldn't see who it was, and I didn't dare fire for fear of hitting our only ally. Regardless, the Dog Man had created an opening for us. We had to take advantage of it. Someone jumped me from behind, and I instinctively executed a judo throw, slamming my attacker to the ground in front of me. It was the Fox-Bear Woman, the one whom I had warned Prendick never to turn his back on.
\t"This way!" I yelled to Prendick as I crashed through the undergrowth. He nodded and followed me, the two of us trying to put as much distance as we could between ourselves and the chaos in the ravine. I heard more snarling and snorting and grunting and shouting behind us as ferns and creeper vines lashed across my body.
\tWe broke out of the undergrowth and splashed into a shallow stream. Dropping down into the water, we began swimming with the current, Prendick doing the best he could with only one arm. The sounds of fighting had ceased. There was no sound for several minutes except for the lapping of water against our bodies. Then a chorus of angry hoots and howls arose behind us as our pursuers realized they had lost our scent. We were safe, for the moment.
\tPrendick and I paddled down the stream for ten or fifteen minutes and then climbed out onto the bank. We couldn't stay by the stream, as our pursuers might follow it, so we headed off perpendicular to it into the forest, trying to make as little noise as possible, which—at least in Prendick's case—was still more than I was comfortable with. I tried to think of where we might go. My first thought was the lava tube where the Ape Man had taken me, but I wasn't sure that was such a good idea. Even though I'd given him plenty of big thinks, he might now be among the Hyena-Swine's followers, and even if he wasn't, he might be foolish enough to blab about it to someone. The tube could become a death trap if they caught us in it, since it had only one opening and they could simply starve us out.
\t"Let's go west," said Prendick.
\t"Why west?" I asked.
\t"There's more land that way. And there's a high outcropping of rocks I discovered while you were locked in your cage. It should afford us a clear view of any approach."
\tI nodded, having no better ideas. "Lay on, Macduff."
\tHe looked at me curiously. "You've read Shakespeare?"
\tI grinned as we walked along. "Montgomery asked the same thing when I used that line on him. Yes, I'm a big fan of the Bard."
\t"You know, I'm not even surprised," said Prendick. "Which is your favorite play?"
\t"Probably Macbeth."
\t"Why Macbeth?"
\t"Because of all Shakespeare's tragedies, it has the simplest message: Thou shalt not kill. Plus there's lots of fighting. How about you?"
\t"I must confess, I'm a Hamlet man."
\tI nodded. "It does have the most classic lines."
\t"I saw Edwin Booth perform the role in New York in '85. Smashing."
\t"Damn, I'm jealous," I said. "Too bad about his brother."
\t"Well, we can't pick our relatives, can we?" After a moment, he asked, "What do you suppose became of the Dog Man?"
\t"He must have been killed," I replied.
\tPrendick sighed. "That's a damned shame."
\t"He bought our lives with his. Remember that."
\t"I shan't forget. By the by, what was that you did when the Fox-Bear Woman attacked you?"
\t"It was a judo throw."
\t"Judo?"
\t"It's a Japanese martial art."
\t"I see. You come from Japan, then?"
\t"Never been there."
\tHe shook his head. "You certainly are an enigma, Alvin."
\tI grinned. "That I am."

\tThe sky was pinkening to the east by the time we reached the rocky outcropping Prendick had mentioned. It was a high promotory of black basalt jutting up some thirty feet above the surrounding jungle, encrusted with vines, ferns, and bromeliads.
\t"I can think of worse places to make a last stand," I said, looking up at it with my hands on my hips. "It's a lot prettier than the Alamo or Rorke's Drift."
\t"Which is this to be?" asked Prendick, panting, his shirt dark with sweat.
\t"The one that held out, of course!" I glanced at his left arm. "You're gonna have a hell of a time climbing it with that busted wing."
\t"Yes, I hadn't considered that," said Prendick, looking nonplussed.
\t"Well, there's plenty of vines around to make a rope with. I'll climb it and pull you up."
\t"Do you think you can manage?" asked Prendick.
\tI nodded. "Piece of cake."
\tWe gathered some vines, cutting them with our hatchets, and braided them together into a crude but sturdy rope. Then I looped it over my shoulder and began my ascent. The climb itself wasn't especially difficult, as the surface was rough and there were plenty of places for my hands and feet to find purchase. My main concern was that there might be snakes, spiders, scorpions, and other nasty things hiding among the plants. Fortunately, I didn't encounter any.
\tOnce I reached the top, I paused for a minute to rest, admiring the view. From this vantage point, it was possible to see that I was indeed on an island, and all that blue stretching off to the horizon in every direction gave me an oppressive feeling of loneliness and isolation. My throat tightened as I considered the very real possibility that I might be trapped in this time for the rest of my life and that I'd never see Julie again. I felt tears welling in my eyes. Then I wiped them away, took the rope in both hands, braced my foot on a rock, and yelled down to Prendick, "Going up!" He wrapped the rope around his torso, and I began hauling him upward as he assisted as best he could with his feet and his one good hand.
\t"Fourth floor, ladies' underwear," I said, gritting my teeth as I grasped his hand and pulled him up to join me.
\tPrendick chuckled, shaking his head as he sat down to rest. "You are extraordinary, Alvin."
\t"Well, duh," I said, sitting down beside him, my arms and back aching from my exertions. "How many talking chipmunks do you know?"
\t"Are there others like you?" he asked.
\tI sighed. "No. Not anymore."
\t"But you said you had a girlfriend."
\t"My girlfriend is human." I looked at him to see his reaction. His face was neutral. "Does that shock you?"
\tHe shrugged. "After all I've seen in the past two months, I suspect there is very little left that can shock me. And if Darwin was right—and Huxley insists that he was—then we all share a common ancestry if one goes far enough back."
\tI chuckled. "What was it Huxley said in his debate with Bishop Wilberforce?"
\tPrendick closed his eyes. "'I would rather be descended from that heroic little monkey than a man who used his great gifts to obscure the truth.'" He opened them again. "Or words to that effect. I wasn't present, of course, having been only a child at the time. Certainly, there is nothing in Darwin's theory to prevent a tribe of rodents evolving intelligence alongside man." He looked at me. "What became of the others of your kind?"
\t"They died. Let's leave it at that."
\t"I'm sorry. You know, I haven't asked you why you've done all this for me. Surely, you'd have a better chance on your own."
\t"Because saving people is my business," I replied, "and don't call me Shirley." Then I heard the sound of leaves rustling and palm fronds snapping in the forest below us. "The guests have arrived."
\t"Let's make them feel unwelcome," said Prendick, grinning.
\tI peered over the side. A dozen Beast People were standing under the trees at the base of the outcropping. "How many bullets have you got?" I asked Prendick.
\t"Four," he replied. "You?"
\t"Three. You might want to save one for yourself." I called down to the Beast Folk, waving. "Hello, there! Sorry, this rock is taken. Get your own."
\t"You cannot stay up there forever!" growled the Hyena-Swine from somewhere beneath the canopy.
\t"Oh, I don't know. There's plenty of food, rainwater to drink, plus we've got some girls from the island next door coming over later to party with us. I think we could make a go of it."
\t"We will come up there and kill you, as we did the Dog Man!"
\t"Go ahead and try. We'll blow your heads off before you get ten feet."
\t"And what happens when you run out of metal seeds?"
\t"We found a bunch of 'em in the ruins of the House of Pain," I said. "Trust me, you'll run out of warm bodies long before we run out of seeds."
\t"You lie!" the Hyena-Swine shouted.
\t"Could be. You just have to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?" I cocked the hammer on my revolver and spoke in a raspy voice, because as long as I was playing Dirty Harry, I might as well do it right. "Well, do ya, punk?"
\tThe Beast People began muttering among themselves, milling about under the trees, and I tried to determine which one was the Hyena-Swine. If we could kill him, I felt sure the others would back off. But I couldn't identify him through the leafy canopy.
\t"We will wait until it is dark before we come for you," said the Hyena-Swine. "You will not see us then, but we will see you."
\t"You forget," I said, "I'm a Beast Man, too. I can see just fine in the dark." That was a lie, but he didn't know that.
\t"You cannot be on all sides at once," said the Hyena-Swine. "One of us will get you."
\t"Not before I get a bunch of you," I said. "Is it really worth it?"
\t"To kill you and the Other who walked in the Sea, it is. We will not have another Master."
\t"Alvin!" shouted Prendick, nudging me. I whirled around. Four Beast People had climbed up the opposite side of the promontory while I'd been chatting with the Hyena-Swine and were now at the top with us. They charged at us, snarling savagely.
\tI raised my gun and fired, and one of the Beast People spun and dropped. Prendick shot another, but a second plowed into him, knocking him on his back. Before I could come to his aid, the Fox-Bear Woman lunged at me. I used a judo throw on her for the second time today, and over the side she went. She screamed as she fell, hitting the rocks at the base of the cliff with a final-sounding thud. Then I turned to Prendick, who was desperately defending himself against his opponent as best he could with only one arm. I jumped on the Beast Man's back and locked an arm around his neck in a choke hold. He flailed around, slamming me against the jagged rocks, and I felt sharp pains in my back and sticky wetness in my fur, but I kept up the pressure on his throat. Then Prendick shot him, and he went limp.
\tI let go of the Beast Man's corpse and ran to the edge of the cliff. As I'd expected, Beast Folk were climbing up the side. They were already more than halfway to the top. I looked for the Hyena-Swine, but he wasn't among them. Prendick looked down at them as well, and his jaw tightened. "Bad show," he said, with typical British understatement.
\tI gritted my teeth, because the idea of gunning down men who were clinging helplessly to the side of a cliff repulsed me, but I didn't see that I had any alternative. I took a deep breath, aimed, and fired, and one fell. I fired again, and another died. I looked over at Prendick. "You're not shooting?" I asked, feeling sick.
\tHe shrugged. "I've only two cartridges left."
\tI nodded. "Thanks."
\tBeast People were climbing over the edge of the cliff, glaring at us, murder in their eyes. Prendick and I backed away, our guns pointed at them.
\t"I'll give you one last chance," said Prendick. "Leave now, and we won't kill you." They hesitated, looking at each other uneasily, everyone wanting someone else to be the first to die.
\t"I suggest you take his offer," came a woman's voice from behind us.
\tI spun around, my mouth hanging open. "Julie?"
\tShe was standing atop a rock, wearing a camouflage-pattern jumpsuit and holding a wooden staff. She smiled at me. "Hello, Alvin."
\tI just stared at her, unable to believe my eyes. Then her expression changed to one of alarm. "Look out!" she shouted, pointing.
\tI turned in the direction she was indicating to see the Hyena-Swine with his thick arms around Prendick, wrestling him toward the edge of the cliff. He must have climbed up the other side while we were busy with his followers. Prendick was struggling, but he was no match for his opponent's strength. "DIE!" shouted the Hyena-Swine as the pair teetered on the brink.
\tI seized Prendick around his waist while Julie sprang from her perch and landed before the other Beast Folk, spinning her staff to keep them at bay. I yanked as hard as I could on Prendick, but the Hyena-Swine had the strength of a zealot clinging to his faith and seemed determined to pull all three of us over the edge. I rammed my knee into his shin. The Hyena-Swine cried out in pain, and his grip on Prendick loosened just enough that I was able to pull the human free of the creature's grasp. Together, Prendick and I fell painfully onto the hard, uneven surface of the little mesa, and then Prendick swung his arm around and fired his revolver, hitting the Hyena-Swine squarely in the center of his chest. The creature groaned and toppled over the side, and we heard his body hit the rocks below.
\tPrendick and I got to our feet, panting, and he fixed his eyes on the rest of the Beast Folk. "So end all who break the Law!" he shouted. "None escape!"
\t"None escape," the Beast Folk echoed somberly. Then they turned and began climbing back down the rock face.
\t"That's got them," said Prendick, nodding with satisfaction.
\tI ran to Julie. She crouched down, her arms wide and welcoming, and I threw mine around her and hugged her tight as she did the same to me.
\t"I'd given up hope," I said, my throat tight.
\tJulie held me close, stroking my head and back. "I'd been searching all over the island for you when I heard the gunshots."
\t"What are you doing here?" I asked.
\t"Sanchez decided to disobey her superiors and let me come get you."
\t"Won't she get in trouble?"
\t"She decided to hell with it. Oh god, Alvin, you're bleeding!"
\t"It's nothing," I said. "Just a few cuts." I looked up into her eyes. "I've missed you so much!"
\tShe nodded, smiling. "Same here." She pressed her lips to my bucktoothed mouth, and we kissed long and deeply. Then I realized that Prendick was staring at us. No doubt the sight of a human and a chipmunk kissing shocked his Victorian sensibilities. I released Julie and turned to face him. "Julie Martins, meet Edward Prendick."
\t"How do you do, sir?" she asked, standing up and bowing to him.
\t"You must be Alvin's girlfriend," said Prendick, trying to maintain his composure. "Delighted to make your acquaintance, Miss Martins."
\t"He mentioned me?" asked Julie, looking at me in surprise.
\tI shrugged. "You came up in conversation once or twice."
\t"Well, pleased to meet you, too, Mr. Prendick," she said, holding out a hand to him, which he shook. Then she looked at me. "Sanchez wanted me to ask you about the thing you came for."
\t"I got it," I replied.
\t"You mean that bottle you tried to steal from Moreau's laboratory?" asked Prendick. "Surely, it was destroyed in the fire!"
\tI shook my head. "I snuck back and stole it while you and Montgomery were out looking for Moreau. It's buried in a safe place."
\tJulie grinned. "Well, then, let's get it and get out of here!"
\t"You have a boat?" asked Prendick, his eyes lighting up.
\t"Not exactly," I replied. "But we do have a way off the island."
\t"Oh, thank Heaven!" said Prendick, shuddering with relief.
\tI glanced over at Julie. She was biting her lip, dreading what was coming as much as I was. "First, let's get down from here," I said.
\tJulie and I helped Prendick descend from the rock, and the three of us walked through the jungle together. Surprisingly, Prendick remained quiet rather than barraging us with the questions that must have been burning a hole in his mind, which was fine by me, since it made what I was going to have to do a bit easier. We arrived at the spot where I'd buried the bottle of orchid extract. After we dug it up, Julie handed me the extra recall device she'd brought, and I strapped it around my wrist. Then I took a deep breath, steeling my nerves for would happen next.
\t"I'm afraid this is where we part ways, Mr. Prendick," I said around a lump in my throat.
\tHe stared at me. "What—what do you mean? You can't mean to abandon me here!"
\t"Don't worry," I said, "you won't stay on this island forever. You will escape."
\tJulie nodded. "In just a few months."
\t"How can you possibly know that?" he demanded.
\t"We can't explain," I said. "You just have to trust us."
\tHe fell to his knees, eyes pleading, and grasped my hand, squeezing it. "Alvin, please, I beg of you, you can't do this! You mustn't! If our friendship means anything at all to you . . ."
\tI sighed. "I don't have a choice, Edward. This is how it has to be. I'm sorry."
\t"Mr. Prendick," said Julie, "I know we're not exactly in the best position to ask you for a favor, but since we did save your life, when you tell your story we'd appreciate it if you didn't mention us. It would be best for everyone."
\tPrendick hung his head, trembling and sobbing. "Please, don't leave me here alone with these beasts. Please . . ."
\tI swallowed and squeezed his shoulder. "Goodbye, Edward." I let go, Julie and I activated our recall devices, and Edward Prendick and the island of Dr. Moreau vanished into history.

\tJulie and I emerged from the portal and walked down the ramp of Juryrig's time machine to the floor of his laboratory, where Sanchez stood waiting for us. I walked up to her and held out the bottle. "Here you are, Director," I said.
\t"You got it?" she asked, astonished, as she accepted the bottle.
\tI nodded. "Julie tells me you defied your superiors by sending her to bring me back. Thanks."
\tShe looked down at me apologetically. "I am sorry, Alvin," she said. "I should have done it sooner."
\tI shrugged. "Well, considering I only got my hands on that stuff two days ago, I'd say you timed it just right."
\t"Two days?" asked Julie in surprise. "What were you doing all the rest of that time?"
\tI smiled. "I'll tell you all about it later. Right now, I just want to get cleaned up." I turned to Juryrig, who was working at a console nearby. "Do you have a shower I can use?"
\tHe waved a prosthetic arm without looking at me. "Up the stairs and to the left."
\t"Thanks," I said, and Julie and I went that way.
\t"So, I take it you read the book," I said as we walked.
\tJulie nodded. "Last night. It's a quick read."
\t"Does it say what happens to Prendick after he escapes?"
\tShe sighed. "He returns to England, but whenever he looks at other humans, he feels like they're about to turn into animals. He becomes a recluse and a misanthrope. He dies sometime before 1896, the year the book is published."
\tI shook my head. "So he never really escaped the island. That's too bad. He was a decent guy."
\tShe smiled and ruffled my hair. "So are you, for a Beast Man."
\tI smiled up at her, then went to wash the dirt of a previous century out of my fur.
", "pools_count": 0, "title": "The Manimal Chronicles #19: Genesis", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "application/msword", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "2", "rating_name": "Adult", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "5", "name": "Strong Violence", "description": "Strong violence, blood, serious injury or death", "rating_id": "2" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "f", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "0", "views": "5" }