The young experimental Triads are made up of the
smallest primate tribe of Humans –two; the smallest canine pack of Kiiote –
six; and the smallest camelid herd of Yown’Hoo – a prime eleven. On nursery
farms and ranches away from the TC cities, 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. Grendl, Manitoba is one such place. 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 Triads never hear of anything they aren’t spoon fed
in their luxury worlds and have heard only rumors of the farms and ranches. 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.
It was NOT overgrown, rather it had been plowed and
cultivated! How had Doj not smelled this? Clearly Humans lived here...
A deep, gruff voice said from the darkness, “One move
stranger and you’ll have a perforated ulcer – from the outside in.” The threat
was emphasized by the sharp sound of the pump action of a shotgun.
I raised my hands in the air, a surrender move I’d seen in
an old-fashioned flat movie from the middle of the 20th Century
called a Western and said, “Don’t shoot.”
“One good reason.”
“We’re trying to escape,” said Shayla suddenly. There was a
sound I’d never heard before from her direction. It took me a second to
recognize the buzz of nerve disruptor – not a military grade, but deadly all
the same.
The person on the other end of the pump action shotgun
snorted in laughter, saying, “Why don’t you come on in for a bowl...” he paused,
sniffed the air, then added, “You and the rest of the Triad are welcome here.”
“What...Triad...” Shayla stammered.
“It’s obvious – and I can smell the Kiiote.”
“They don’t...”
“I met them fifteen years ago when they swarmed the colony
at Cabeus Crater.”
“There were no survivors!” I said.
“I’m relieved to know I can let my garden go to seed now
because I don’t exist.” There was a long pause, then he said, “I’m Lieutenant
Commander Patrick Bakhsh, retired. Bring your Triad on in.”
I didn’t know what to say. Shayla was silent, too – maybe for
the first time since we met when we were three. She suddenly said, “We need a
place to stay before we leave.”
“From what I can see, you need more than a place to stay.
You need to get out of this City.” He turned and opened his gate. “Tell the
Kiiote to stay away from me. I’ve been conditioned to kill them. While I’m pretty
sure I can control myself, I can’t guarantee it.”
“What about the Yown’Hoo?” From the shadows, the Herd Mother
Dao-Hi stepped.
“I’ve no beef with your kind, Herd Mother. It’s just them,”
he gestured to a tangle of brush hugging the ground.
The branches shook as Qap rearranged his bones and
musculature so that he could stand. He said, “The Pack will stay in the garage,
Lieutenant Commander.”
“The basement is warmer and more appropriate. I also don’t
need any of my neighbors getting curious.”
“You don’t have any neighbors,” said Shayla.
“Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they can’t see
you.”
“There are Humans watching us?” said a different Yown’Hoo
voice.
“Why would that surprise you? People have been watching the
Triad feed since the day they opened your house in the Old Metrodome.”
“They’re watching us?”
The gate swung open silently. Patrick said, “Let’s talk more
inside. I don’t want your arrival to end up on rLife.”
Qap growled and yipped. The rest of the Pack followed as
Patrick went to a separate doorway set into the side of the house. He palmed a
lock and stepped back as heavy door slowly opened as a motor somewhere whined. “You
can bunk down there. The others can access the room from a staircase inside.”
“How do we know...” Towt began.
Shayla snarled in Ki. The Pack hurried down the ramp. The
doors closed. Patrick opened the back door and stood back. Shayla went in first
– I’m sure to salve the wounds of her litter mate. The Herd Mother followed and
I brought up the rear. Before I entered, Patrick snagged my sleeve. I stopped
as he said, “They’re looking for you. Half the City’s convinced you’ve all been
murdered. The other half think you’re going to bring the Hot War down on us.”
He shook my arm and said, “What are you up to?”
I shook my head as I said, “I wish I knew what was going on.
I just know we have to get out of here
and North is the only way to go.”
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