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The man, clad in rugged animal skins draped over his broad shoulders, sat confidently atop the magnificent horse. His steely eyes scanned the barren shoreline as the steady rhythm of hooves echoed faintly against the endless stretch of sand. Clinging tightly to his waist was a dark-haired woman, her wild, unkempt hair whipping in the salty breeze. She was dressed like him, in the rough garb of this primitive world, yet her gaze remained distant, her thoughts inscrutable.
Colonel George Taylor, former commander of the Icarus, guided the horse toward a peculiar scene ahead. A massive tree loomed over the shore, its twisted branches clawing at the sky. Bound to its trunk by thick vines was a creature—an ape with orange-tinted fur and piercing eyes that gleamed with intelligence and unease. It struggled against its restraints, its expression a mixture of disdain and grudging respect for the man approaching.
Taylor reined in the horse and dismounted, his boots sinking slightly into the soft, damp sand. He stepped closer to the captive ape, his rugged face etched with both determination and confusion.
"It just doesn’t make sense," he muttered, shaking his head. "A planet where apes evolved from man? There’s got to be an explanation somewhere."
The ape’s voice, filled with wary authority, broke through the rhythmic crash of the waves. "Don’t look for it, Taylor," the creature said, its words heavy with foreboding. "You may not like what you find."
Taylor’s jaw tightened, his gaze unwavering. Ignoring the warning, he turned back to the horse and swung into the saddle. With a nudge, the horse sprang forward, hooves thundering along the beach. The woman clung to him as the wind tore past, her silence as enigmatic as the ruins that dotted this cursed world.
Behind them, the ape, known as Dr. Zaius, watched with narrowed eyes. He turned to the group of apes emerging from the tree line—chimpanzees and gorillas, their faces grim. "Prepare the charges," Zaius ordered. His voice carried an edge of regret. "Seal the cave."
"But, Doctor," Zira, the female chimpanzee scientist, protested, her tone laced with curiosity and indignation. "The artifacts in that cave could reveal so much about the past!"
Zaius glanced at her, his expression unreadable. "Some knowledge is too dangerous, even for us."
"Dangerous?" Zira’s nephew, Lucius, piped up, his youthful defiance shining through. "You’re just afraid of what it means for the future."
Zaius’s gaze darkened. "The future, young one, is a fragile thing. And those who forget the past are doomed to repeat its mistakes."
The gorillas moved swiftly, hauling primitive explosives toward the jagged entrance of a cave nearby. The mouth of the cavern yawned like a wound in the earth, its depths shrouded in shadow. Within, the faint glint of something metallic and alien caught Zira’s eye, but before she could speak, Zaius gestured sharply for the work to continue.
Farther along the beach, Taylor reined in the horse abruptly. His sharp gaze caught sight of an anomaly protruding from the sand, partially buried but unmistakably artificial. He slid from the saddle, his boots crunching on the damp ground as he approached the object. The woman, Nova, dismounted as well, standing silently behind him.
It was a large, angular piece of metal, its surface pitted and blackened by time. Strange grooves and markings—neither human nor ape—were etched into its surface. Taylor reached out, brushing sand away to reveal faint symbols. They glowed faintly, a sickly green against the dull metal.
"What the hell is this?" he muttered, his voice barely audible over the crashing waves. The markings were unfamiliar, yet they stirred a vague sense of recognition deep within him—like the shadow of a half-forgotten dream. He traced the lines with his fingers, a chill running through him despite the sun’s relentless glare.
Suddenly, Nova tugged at his arm, her wide eyes filled with apprehension. She pointed toward the horizon, where a strange shimmer distorted the air, almost as if the fabric of reality itself was fraying. The distortion faded as quickly as it had appeared, leaving Taylor to wonder if his mind was playing tricks on him.
"We’ve got to keep moving," he said, pulling her back to the horse. But his thoughts lingered on the artifact. He couldn’t shake the feeling that it didn’t belong in this time—or this world.988Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNw65N8QFql
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Back at the tree, Dr. Zaius stood in silence as the gorillas completed their grim task. The explosion roared through the air, collapsing the cave’s entrance in a plume of dust and debris. Zira turned away, her heart heavy. She couldn’t help but wonder what secrets had been buried forever.
"You’ve done it, haven’t you?" she said softly to Zaius. "You’ve destroyed more than a cave. You’ve destroyed the truth."
Zaius didn’t reply. His gaze was fixed on the distant horizon, where Taylor and Nova had disappeared. Somewhere, deep within the scrolls he had sworn to protect, there were whispers of another time—a time not of apes or primitive humans, but of unimaginable technology and a world torn apart by its own ambition. He shook his head, banishing the thought. The future was theirs to shape, but only if the past remained buried.988Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2SVedmMqVJ
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Taylor and Nova continued their journey along the desolate shoreline. The relentless waves lapped at their feet, erasing their tracks as they pressed forward. As the sun dipped lower in the sky, casting long shadows across the sand, Taylor spotted something ahead that stopped him cold.
A colossal statue, half-buried in the shifting sands, loomed over them. Its once-proud form was broken and battered, its arm raised in a gesture that now seemed futile. The face, weathered and scarred, bore a familiar yet alien expression. It was unmistakably human—and unmistakably ancient.
Taylor’s knees buckled as he fell to the ground, staring up at the remnants of the Statue of Liberty. "Oh, my God," he whispered. "I’m back. I’m home. All this time…"
His voice cracked with a mixture of rage and despair. "You maniacs! You blew it all up! Damn you! God damn you all to hell!"
As his anguished cries echoed across the desolate beach, the faint shimmer on the horizon flickered again, unnoticed. Something beyond comprehension was at work in this world—something that tied Taylor’s fate to a future he could not yet imagine, and to a man he had not yet met.988Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9UVyVOjtXV
