MICHAEL CRICHTON

Certainly Peter Elliot would have denied that his own behavior resembled thatof the dissolute Scottish nobleman. Nevertheless he found he was bored by theprospect of further exploration of Zinj; he had no interest in diamonds, or Amy’sdreams; he wished only to return home with a skeleton of the new ape, whichwould astonish colleagues around the world. He suddenly remembered he didnot own a tuxedo, and he found himself preoccupied with matters ofnomenclature; he imagined in the future three species of African apes:Pan troglodytes, the chimpanzee.Gorilla gorilla, the gorilla.Gorilla elliotensis, a new species of gray gorilla.Even if the species category and name were ultimately rejected, he would haveaccomplished far more than most scientists studying primates could ever hope toachieve.Elliot was dazzled by his own prospects.In retrospect, no one was thinking clearly that morning. When Elliot said hewanted to transmit the recorded breathing sounds to Houston, Ross replied itwas a trivial detail that could wait. Elliot did not press her, they both laterregretted their decision.And when they heard booming explosions like distant artillery fire that morning,they paid no attention. Ross assumed it was General Muguru’s men fighting theKigani. Munro told her that the fighting was at least fifty miles away, too far forthe sound to carry, but offered no alternative explanation for the noise.And because Ross skipped the morning transmission to Houston, she was notinformed of new geological changes that might have given new significance tothe explosive detonations.203