"Unfortunately its mind is opaque to me, no doubt due to its animal nature. I might however hear any distress on the part of—"
    A scream sounded in the distance.
    "I think he's over there," Astro-Man remarked. The gorilla had torn off most of its human clothing. "An albino mountain gorilla," he said almost reverently. "Magnificent beast; I can see why they took it in."
    "What part of California are you from?" Stevie asked dubiously, while Horus made a mental note that Astro-Man was just a bit loopy.
    Horus tracked it from above, and Astro-Man shifted to the aspect of Mercury and moved with superhuman speed after the ape. He saw two horses running off into the distance, an overturned carriage, and people screaming. Adam stood atop the carriage and roared, beating his chest.
    "Magnificent. Yes," Horus said dryly.
    Astro-Man used his superspeed to move civilians out of the way while Gravedigger and Stevie closed in, the latter bouncing around like a hyperactive squirrel until Adam leaped down into their midst and went for him.

    As the fists came down and shattered the pavement, Stevie dove between his legs, out of the way. Astro-Man shifted to his Mars aspect, walked up to Adam and punched him. The gorilla swung a massive hunk of concrete at him; Astro-Man made no effort to dodge, as in this form he simply absorbed the force.
    Horus tried another mystic bolt as Astro-Man tried to keep Adam's attention focused on him, and Gravedigger swung the shovel but the blow went awry. Stevie kept dancing around in the background, trying to think of a way to be useful, until, surrounded by enemies and pecked at from all sides, Adam finally collapsed. Astro-Man changed to Pluto aspect so the gorilla passed through him, then resolidified.
    "It's okay, Adam, it's okay," he assured the confused, besieged creature. "Food!" Changing back to Mercury, he visited the nearest restaurant and commandeered their fruit while the other three exchanged puzzled looks. "Here, Adam. Food." Sadly, the gorilla picked up a piece and looked at it, bit into it resignedly. "We're friends, Adam, I want to be your friend."
    Through a complex set of gestures—Hazel had succeeded in her linguistic aims—Adam asked, "Do you understand the ennui in my soul?"
    "Yes, yes I do. They were my friends, too."
    "What's ennui mean?" Stevie wanted to know.
    "Fascinating," Horus judged, checking on the Ray and Co. They were all still there, so he and Gravedigger went to pay a visit to Mr. Sullivan. On the way, Gravedigger used the new radio in the car to give the chief of police a few more white hairs by calling in the Central Park events directly.
    Sullivan wasn't there, of course. As long as they were there, Gravedigger tossed the place; it had been systematically cleared out.
    Eventually the story was pieced together. Through gestures, Adam explained how after witnessing the deaths of his surrogate parents he had attacked Mr. Christmas in a rage, but the man had escaped. Knowing that the police and indeed all humans would react poorly to his presence, Adam had left the house through the back door. There had been a car waiting with a blond woman in it. Belle had a long history seizing the main chance, and also of manipulating big dumb lugs.
    She, in turn, alternated between insisting that she knew nothing and spilling the entire story to the police. It seemed that ten years ago, Raymond and Belle had been contacted by Mr. Sullivan (though her story changed slightly each time), for a long-term plan. That plan had involved the kidnapping of Elsie Turnbull. Coming along with Belle was Tiny, her current big dumb lug, who had helped with the kidnapping and murder.
    Sullivan, the mastermind, had used his share of the ransom to purchase the land, set up the antiques store, heavily insure the store, remove the antiques and replace them with worthless junk, then set up the fire, again using Tiny. He had then collected the insurance money, sold the land, and sold the antiques.
    Raymond had used his share to buy the electro-static helmet and set himself up as the Ray. Every once in a while he would go back to Harold for some advice. (Antiquarian—lover of old things—old lover explained what Horus had heard early on.) For a minor cut of the take, Harold would give him a plan, and most of the time Ray would get it right.
    In exchange for taking the fall for the fire, Tiny had been assured that there would be a large sum awaiting him on release, as well as Belle. She, of course, spent both her own share and his while he was in the pen, and had lately sent her new big dumb lug, Christmas, after people she knew had money—like the Turnbulls. She had arranged the break-in and made a simple mistake on the date, resulting in the events everyone already knew of. With Adam in hand but Christmas dead and still short of cash, Belle had gone to Ray; they had used Adam to try to squeeze more out of his protection racket.
    Then poor Tiny had gotten out on parole, earlier than expected. When he found neither girl nor money had waited, he had threatened to go to the police. Belle had told Adam to hit him. Adam had. She had called Raymond for advice on what to do with the body. He had lent her his car and told her to drop the body in the old junkyard, end of problem; there was nothing about Tiny that anyone should be able to trace to either of them. He had also called Harold, who being a criminal mastermind had promptly left town, leaving his foolish associates to reap their rewards.
    
    I don't have room for an albino gorilla in my life, Astro-Man acknowledged. Yet there was no way to return him to the wild in his state, and it would be cruel to give him to a zoo. Somewhere, there must be some place for him....
    
    

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