Travis wondered if Ross and the others realized how grave their situation was. "Any new Band Five on Mukenko?" Travis asked.
Band 5 on Landsat satellites recorded infrared data. On its last pass over the Congo, Landsat had acquired significant new information on Mukenko. The volcano had become much hotter in the nine days since the previous Landsat pass; the temperature increase was on the order of 8 degrees.
"Nothing new," the technician said. "And the computers don't project an eruption. Four degrees of orbital change are Within sensor error on that system, and the additional four degrees have no predictive value."
"Well, that's something," Travis said. "But what are they going to do about the apes now that they're cut off from the computer?"
That was the question the Congo Field Survey had been asking themselves for the better part of an hour. With communications disrupted the only computers available were the computers in their own heads. And those computers were not powerful enough.
Elliot found it strange to think that his own brain was inadequate. "We had all become accustomed to the availability of computing power," he said later. "In any decent laboratory you can get all the memory and all the computation speed you could want, day or night. We were so used to it we had come to take it for granted.
Of course they could have eventually worked out the ape language, but they were up against a time factor: they didn't have months to puzzle it out; they had hours. Cut off from the APE program their situation was ominous. Munro said that they could not survive another night of frontal attack, and they had every reason to expect an attack that night.
Amy's rescue of Elliot suggested their plan. Amy had shown some ability to communicate with the gorillas; perhaps she could translate for them as well. "It's worth a try," Elliot insisted.
Unfortunately, Amy herself denied that this was possible. In response to the question "Amy talk thing talk?" She
signed, No talk.
"Not at all?" Elliot said, remembering the way she had signed. "Peter see Amy talk thing talk."
No talk. Make noise.
He concluded from this that she was able to mimic the gorilla verbalizations but had no knowledge of their meaning. It was now past two; they had only four or five hours until nightfall.
Munro said, "Give it up. She obviously can't help us." Munro preferred to break camp and fight their way out in daylight. He was convinced that they could not survive another night among the gorillas.
But something nagged at Elliot's mind.
After years of working with Amy, he knew she had the maddening literal-mindedness of a child. With Amy, especially when she was feeling uncooperative, it was necessary to be exact to elicit the appropriate response. Now he looked at Amy and said, "Amy talk thing talk?"
No talk.
"Amy understand thing talk?"
Amy did not answer. She was chewing on vines, preoccupied.
"Amy, listen to Peter." She stared at him. "Amy understand thing talk?"
Amy understand thing talk, she signed back. She did it so matter-of-factly that at first he wondered if she realized what he was asking her.
"Amy watch thing talk, Amy understand talk?"
Amy understand.
"Amy sure?"
Amy sure.
"I'll be goddamned," Elliot said.
Munro was shaking his head. "We've only got a few hours
of daylight left," he said. "And even if you do learn their language, how are you going to talk to them?"
6.Amy Talk Thing Talk
AT 3 P.M., ELLIOT AND AMY WERE COMPLETELY concealed in the foliage along the hillside. The only sign of their presence was the slender cone of the microphone that protruded through the foliage. The microphone was connected to the videotape recorder at Elliot's feet, which he used to record the sounds of the gorillas on the hills beyond.
The only difficulty was trying to determine which gorilla the directional microphone had focused on - and which gorilla Amy had focused on, and whether they were the same gorilla. He could never be quite sure that Amy was translating the verbal utterances of the same animal that he was recording. There were eight gorillas in the nearest group and Amy kept getting distracted. One female had a six-month-old infant, and at one point, when the baby was bitten by a bee, Amy signed, Baby mad. But Elliot was recording a male.
Amy, he signed. Pay attention.
Amy pay attention. Amy good gorilla.
Yes, he signed. Amy good gorilla. Amy pay attention man thing.
Amy not like.
He swore silently, and erased half an hour of translations from Amy. She had obviously been paying attention to the wrong gorilla. When he started the tape again, he decided that this time he would record whatever Amy was watching. He signed, What thing Amy watch?
Amy watch baby.
That wouldn't work, because the baby didn't speak. He signed, Amy watch woman thing.
Amy like watch baby.
This dependency on Amy was like a bad dream. He was in the hands of an animal whose thinking and behavior he barely understood; he was cut off from the wider society of human beings and human machinery, thus increasing his dependency on the animal; and yet he had to trust her.
After another hour, with the sunlight fading, he took Amy back down the hillside to the camp.
Munro had planned as best he could.
First he dug a series of holes like elephant traps outside the camp; they were deep pits lined with sharp stakes, covered with leaves and branches.
He widened the moat in several places, and cleared away dead trees and underbrush that might be used as bridges.
He cut down the low tree branches overhanging the camp, so that if gorillas went into the trees, they would be kept at least thirty feet above the ground - too high to jump down.