MICHAEL CRICHTON

He had a glimpse of an enormous animal, distinctly gray in color, racing up tohim as he ducked down; a moment later, the gorillas hit the electrified fence witha shower of spitting sparks and the odor of burning flesh.It was the start of an eerie, silent battle.Emerald laser beams flashed through the air; the tripod-mounted machineguns made a soft thew-thew-thew as the bullets spit outward, the aimingmechanisms whining as the barrels spun and fired, spun and fired again. Everytenth bullet was a white phosphorous tracer; the air was crisscrossed green andwhite over Elliot’s head.The gorillas attacked from all directions; six of them simultaneously hit thefence and were repelled in a crackling burst of sparks. Still more charged,throwing themselves on the flimsy perimeter mesh, yet the sizzle of sparks andthe shriek of the colobus monkeys was the loudest sound they heard. And thenhe saw gorillas in the trees overhanging the campsite. Munro and Kahega beganfiring upward, silent laser beams streaking into the foliage. He heard the sighingsound again. Elliot turned and saw more gorillas tearing at the fence, which hadgone dead—there were no more sparks.And he realized that this swift, sophisticated equipment was not holding thegorillas back—they needed the noise. Munro had the same thought, because heshouted in Swahili for the men to hold their fire, and called to Elliot, “Pull thesilencers! The silencers!”Elliot grabbed the black barrel on the first tripod mechanism and plucked itaway, swearing—it was very hot. Immediately as he stepped away from thetripod, a stuttering sound filled the air, and two gorillas fell heavily from the trees,one still alive. The gorilla charged him as he pulled away the silencer from thesecond tripod. The stubby barrel swung around and blasted the gorilla at veryclose range; warm liquid spattered Elliot’s face. He pulled the silencer from thethird tripod and threw himself to the ground.Deafening machine-gun fire and clouds of acrid cordite had an immediateeffect on the gorillas; they backed off in disorder. There was a period of silence,although the sentries fired laser shots that set the tripod machines scanningrapidly across the jungle landscape, whirring back and forth, searching for atarget.Then the machines stopped hunting, and paused. The jungle around them wasstill.The gorillas were gone.200