“And?” Kevin questioned. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the rest.

“The infant walked around on its hindlegs—just like you and I—the whole time I was able to observe,” Melanie said. Her dark eyes flashed with emotion akin to anger. “Behavior we used to call cute is definitely bipedal.”

Kevin nodded and looked away. He found Melanie’s intensity unnerving, and her conversation was underlining all his own fears.

“We have to find out for sure what the status is of these creatures,” Melanie said. “And we can do that only by going out there.”

Kevin nodded.

“So, I made some sandwiches,” Melanie said, pointing toward the paper bag she’d brought in with her. “We’ll call it a picnic.”

“I came across something disturbing this morning as well,” Kevin said. “Let me show you.” He grabbed a stool and pushed it over to his computer terminal. He motioned for Melanie to sit down, while he took his own chair. His fingers played over the keyboard. Soon the screen displayed the computer graphic of Isla Francesca.

“I programmed the computer to follow all seventy-three bonobos on the island for several hours of real-time activity,” Kevin explained. “Then I had the data condensed so I could watch it in fast-forward. Look what resulted.”

Kevin clicked his mouse to start the sequence. The multitude of little red dots rapidly traced out weird geometric designs. It only took a few seconds.

“Looks like a bunch of chicken scratches,” Melanie said.

“Except for these two dots,” Kevin said. He pointed to two pinpoints.

“They apparently didn’t move much,” Melanie said.

“Exactly,” Kevin said. “Creature number sixty and creature number sixty-seven.” Kevin reached over and picked up the detailed contour map he’d inadvertently taken from Bertram’s office. “I located creature number sixty to a marshy clearing just south of Lago Hippo. According to the map, there are no trees there.”

“What’s your explanation?” Melanie asked.

“Hang on,” Kevin said. “What I did next was reduce the scale of the grid so that it represented a fifty-by-fifty-foot portion of the island right where creature number sixty was located. Let me show you what happened.”

Kevin keyed in the information and then clicked to start the sequence again. Once again the red light for creature number sixty was a pinpoint.

“He didn’t move at all,” Melanie said.

“I’m afraid not,” Kevin said.

“You think he’s sleeping?”

“In the middle of the morning?” Kevin asked. “And with such a scale, even turning over in his sleep should result in some movement. The system is that sensitive.”

“If he’s not sleeping, what is he doing?” Melanie asked.

Kevin shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he found a way to remove his computer chip.”

“I never thought of that,” Melanie said. “That’s a scary idea.”

“The only other thing I could think of is the bonobo died,” Kevin said.

“I suppose that’s a possibility,” Melanie said. “But I don’t think it is very probable. Those are young, extraordinarily healthy animals. We’ve made sure of that. And they are in an environment without natural enemies and have more than enough food.”