Instinct: A Chess Team Adventure - By Jeremy Robinson Page 0,79

that old.”

“Very observant of you. You’re U.S. military, right? But no ordinary soldier . . . Too smart . . . and too big for that.” The man thought for a moment and then voiced his conclusion. “You’re after the same thing those insidious Vietnamese soldiers are searching for, is that it?”

Weston saw Bishop’s serious gaze hadn’t faltered. “Right, right. My age. I must be in my forties now. I stopped keeping track years ago. But this one here . . .” Weston tussled the girl’s hair, messing it up like an bona fide grandfather might do. “Lucy here is three years old.”

Blood drained from Bishop’s face.

Three . . . years . . . old.

Weston scoffed at Bishop’s grimace. “Come now, you’re smart enough to see she’s not entirely human. They walk within two weeks of birth. Can climb trees at six months. Hunt at one year. They’re fully mature by two years. Most give birth before they are three. Lucy is my descendent, so she is part Homo sapien, but she is also something else, too.”

Bishop looked across the river. “One of them?”

Weston’s face showed true surprise. “You’ve seen them?”

Bishop nodded.

“And have they seen you?”

Bishop nodded again.

Weston pursed his lips and nodded his head, mulling something over.

Bishop interrupted his interlude. “What are they?”

Weston looked up as though startled. “Huh? Oh. The wenches. That’s what I like to call them. Though I suppose they are responsible for everything good in my life now.” Weston leaned back and crossed his arms. “I came here in 1995. I’m a cryptozoologist and came to the Annamites in search of new species. I expected to find wild pigs or antelope, but I found them, the Nguoi Rung. The forest people. Even I had written them off as the creations of superstitious villagers before I stumbled upon them here in the mountains. After discovering their group, I watched them for a week, observing their hunts, tool usage, and customs. I knew from the beginning that they were something more than apes. They were unique in the world. Intelligent, but not human. Then they found me out. Chased me down.”

Weston shifted slightly at the memory. “I thought they were going to kill me, and they nearly did. But that was not their intent. One after another, those in heat . . . had their way with me, starting with Red, the dominant female. Then they left. Two days later they returned for me. I had a fever and a foot in the grave. It seemed odd to me at the time, but they brought me back to their cave and restored my health. When the fever abated, two more had a go. But as I struggled less, their bites became more gentle, and drew less blood.” Weston motioned to several scars on his shoulders.

“Over time I discerned that all of their males had died inexplicably. They were simply carrying out their genetic urge to mate and propagate the species. Being the right size and appearing as close to one of their males as any creature they had ever seen, they took me as one of their own. I became their alpha male, studying them as I lived among them. When my first daughter was born I realized we shared a common heritage. How else could they bear my children?”

Weston stood and stretched. The story was coming to an end. “I began exploring the cave systems and came upon the most incredible find.”

“The bone city,” Bishop said.

Weston again looked surprised. “You’re quite lucky to have made it out of the necropolis. They’ve taken residency there since their banishment.”

“Banishment?” Bishop asked.

“They’re old and unintelligent. What they did to me was unthinkable. Unforgivable. I can’t stand the sight of them. And they were holding the kids back.” Weston picked up a stone and skipped it on the river. “But where were we? Ah, yes. The necropolis is the tip of the iceberg. What I discovered was nothing short of a miracle. The Annamite Mountain range has been described as a modern-day Noah’s Ark. In a way, that couldn’t be truer. You see, the Nguoi Rung are the ancestors of a civilization that developed here hundreds of thousands of years ago. Homo sapiens evolved and lived among the Nguoi for thousands of years, interbreeding and peacefully coexisting. But humanity became violent and warlike. Pushed the Nguoi east. They fled as far as they could and settled here. For thousands of years their civilization blossomed. When humanity reached the East, into