LOVE IN A TIME OF ALIEN INVASION 6

The Cold War between the Kiiote and the Yown’Hoo has become a shooting war.  On Earth, there are three Triads – one in the US, one in India and one in China. Protected by the Triad Corporation, they intend to integrate not only the three peoples and stop the war that threatens to break loose and slaughter Humans and devastate their world.; but to stop the war that consumes Kiiote economy and Yown’Hoo moral fiber and confront the extra-Universe aliens who created the Interstice that may pull our universe through itself.

The Triads are made up of the smallest primate tribe of Humans –two.

The Triads are made up of the smallest canine pack of Kiiote – six.
The Triads are made up of the smallest camelid herd of Yown’Hoo – eleven, a prime number.

The Merger of Human-Kiiote-Yown’Hoo into a Congenic will produce a stable society capable of incredible expansion, creativity, longevity...and wealth.

Humans have tended young Yown’Hoo and Kiiote in secret for decades, allowing the two warring people to reproduce and grow far from their home worlds.

Outside of Grendl, Manitoba; south of Winnipeg and somewhat north of the old Canadian-US border, is a place where both Yown’Hoo and Kiiote can grow together. No one but the Triad Company has ever heard of it and the physical plant goes by the unobtrusive name of Organic Prairie Dairy.

The NA Triad’s never heard of anything they weren’t spoon fed in their luxury world surrounded by a Humanity that has degenerated into a “duck-and-cover” society as the Big Boys fight their war. They don’t care about anything but their own lives. Oblivious, cocooned, manipulated, they have no idea that their privileges are about to be violently curtailed.

The Kiiote pack of six jackal-like aliens led by leaders Qap and Xurf, were hemmed in by the Yown’Hoo herd. The eleven animals of the Herd looked like huge llamas, led by the Herd Mother Dao-hi ran, the Humans on the Kiiote’s backs.

Overhead, the rattle-trap Tribal flier swooped, it’s repellers shrieking as it tried to avoid the police helicopters that roared over the trees. Those two mechanical fliers were deafeningly loud.

The Kiiote muscles under me bunched and stretched as Pack, Herd, and Tribe raced away from the riot.

The Tribal flier followed us despite the fact that Qap, Xurf and Dao-hi ran like crazy. By the time they started panting, the flier was still following us.

‘Shayla shouted, “Left!”

Without a word, the Herd turned, directing the rest of us down a deserted street. A really deserted street. There were boarded up houses and the street had a long, black burn mark down the center. The asphalt had even melted, creating a trench that had filled with sand and leaves. As we thundered down the street, some of the houses were missing, a few burned to the ground; a few more simply holes in the ground.

“What happened here?” I shouted to Shayla.

“I’ve never been here before! How would I know?”

“You know...”

The Kiiote underneath us bucked to get our attention. Xurf shouted, “Lean forward and hold on tight.”

“Why?” I shouted.

A second later it was obvious. The houses ended abruptly, there was a wide open, weedy field edged in front of us by a cracked road and curb. As our triad raced across the field, the Tribe flier emerged from where it had been flying, close to the trees. A circle of searchlight spilled over us, our shadows leaping ahead, racing like we were insane. “Faster!” Shayla called. Low scrub appeared and suddenly, the tops of trees. “Get ready to go downhill. Cut left when we reach Minnehaha!”

“What’s Minnehaha?” I said. Then suddenly we were going down, plunging into the woods. The canopy must have grown tight together above us because the low lying growth disappeared and the Kiiote were scrambling to keep a foothold on the hard ground. The Herd plunged past us, whistling in excitement. Even Dao-hi screamed her supposed war cry. Into a small canyon, I smelled the water before we hit it.

“Left! Left! Left!” Shayla screamed as we turned into a shallow stream. The bushes and brush was suddenly thick, hanging over the water, slapping me in the face before I hunkered down, face pressed to Qap’s pelt. It was strange. We’ve wrestled a hundred times – it was the only way me and Shayla had established our places in the Herd-Pack-Tribe. We had to use our Human penchant for tricks to beat enough of our Triad mates to win their respect.

But I hadn’t been this close to Qap’s body since we’d both become sexually mature. It was strange.

And all of those thoughts disappeared as the Tribe flier overhead began to shoot at us. I shouted, “Don’t they know who we are?”

Dao-hi, no longer whistling with joy, called, “Maybe that’s why they’re shooting! They know exactly who we are!”

Image: http://www.phototour.minneapolis.mn.us/pics/1185.jpg