On Earth, there are three Triads intending 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. The Braiders accidentally created a
resonance wave that will destroy the Milky Way and the only way to stop it is
for the Yown’Hoo-Kiiote-Human Triads to build a physical wall. The merger of
Human-Kiiote-Yown’Hoo into a van der Walls Society may produce the Membrane to stop
the wave.
The young experimental Triads are made up of the smallest
primate tribe of Humans – Oscar and Kashayla; the smallest canine pack of
Kiiote – six, pack leaders Qap and Xurf; and the smallest camelid herd of
Yown’Hoo – a prime eleven, Dao-hi the Herd mother. 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.
“We had nearly fallen into stagnation when we
encountered the Kiiote.”
“And we into internecine war when we encountered the
Yown’Hoo.”
“Yown’Hoo and
Kiiote have been defending themselves for a thousand revolutions of our Sun.”
“Together, we
might do something none of us alone might have done…a destiny that included
Yown’Hoo, Kiiote, and Human.” (2/19/2015)
I took a deep breath, held it, and said, “I met a Kiiote
when I was two years old.”
Retired’s look narrowed as he said, “You weren’t drafted
into the Triad until you were five.”
I nodded slowly, turned my head and attended to my driving
as a dark, heavy silence fell in the bakery truck’s cab. Finally Retired said,
“You’re telling me your uncle was T984?”
“My parents told me his name was Tim Orwell.” That surprised
a huff out of Retired. “I doubt if anyone else would get the joke.”
He snorted this time and finally said, “So not only are you
in the North American Triad, your parents were involved with the Kiiote and the
Yown’Hoo from the get go.”
“The ‘get go’?”
“It means ‘from the very beginning’ – it was slang that came
from the African American Individualist and Civil Rights movements of the late
Twentieth Century.” He paused while I drove on into the night. The headlights
weren’t necessary with the holographic projection from the radar lighting up
the windshield, but it still made me nervous. I felt like I was driving blind –
though I admit it wasn’t much different from playing an imgame on the wall screen
back at home.
Home. “You think the Dome is gone?” I said suddenly.
Retired didn’t say anything, so I thought he hadn’t heard or
I hadn’t actually spoken out loud. We drove in silence for a while until he
finally said, “It’s gone.”
For whatever reason, I’d known that. “What do we do now?”
“We were headed for the safe house, but it seems it, too was
compromised. I can only think that the entire Triad program has a mole in it
somewhere.”
“Someone’s been spying on us?”
“Probably.”
“I’m coming back to my question then – I don’t want to seem
obsessive or nothing, but what are we going to do?”
Retired stopped talking. I risked a glance over at him and
just about ran us off the road. “Pay attention!” he shouted.
“Then answer the question!” I shouted back. The door into
the rear slid open a bit and ‘Shay stuck her head through.
“You two OK?”
Retired said, “The safe house we were headed for has been
compromised. We’re going to have to keep going until we reach our next
destination.”
“Where’s that?” ‘Shay said.
A Yown’Hoo tentacle slithered alongside the door and pulled
it open more. “The Human Herd member asks a valid question, Soldier. Where do
we go? For the sake of Herd, Pack, and Tribe.”
Retired looked over at me and said, “Did you ever hear the
story of where you uncle came from?”
I shrugged and said, “I think Dad said he grew up on the
farm.”
Retired snorted then said, “The biological uncle may have,
but the one you met was an android. He came from the Kiiote.”
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