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. All three intelligences hover on the
edge of extinction. The merger of Human-Kiiote-Yown’Hoo into a van der Walls
Society might not only save all three – but become something not even they
could predict. Something entirely new...
The young experimental Triads are made up of the smallest
primate tribe of Humans – Oscar and Xiomara; 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)
Outside the room, I gestured to the Pack as I figured they’d
be the logical next, but Retired – our nickname for Lieutenant Commander
Patrick Bakhsh (ret) – followed me out and said, “No need. I got the tracker.”
He suddenly had everyone’s attention. I stared at him for a
moment and then managed to whisper, “Me?”
He smiled a little, “No, not you, kid.”
Dao-hi pranced forward, he tentacles pulling free of their
sheathe for the first time. Qap and Xurf came forward as well. The Herd moved
with their Herd Mother; the Pack slid their malleable skeletons into their
four-legged state. Even Xio, who’d been watching for the smallest Herd who’d
gone ahead to scout and who were being shadowed by GURion stepped back to me. The
Herd Mother said, “Who then? One of mine?” She turned to look over them and the
Herd moved restlessly. Yown’Hoo trample traitors. I saw it once when I was a
kid after a particularly messy confrontation between them, the Kiiote, and a Human
faction armed with particle acceleration weapons. They lost, so the offending
Herd Mother had been executed.
Retired sighed, then said, “Me.”
Me and Xio exclaimed, “What?”
Dao-hi and her Herd reared up.
The Pack snarled in anger and fear.
From the door, Great Uncle Rion said, “It’s only logical.”
Retired’s eye narrowed dangerously. “Why is it logical?”
My robotic great uncle shrugged, so like a Human, for a
moment, I didn’t see his white plastic shell. His eyes had never changed. I
knew they were artificial, but they looked as real as Xio’s. “We know the Triad
Corporation stands in opposition to more than one group…”
Retired lifted his chin, “One of them being Apex Human.”
“Truth.”
Xio said, “HumanOne are terrorists!”
Xurf snarled the name of a Kiiote Pack
– something like “rowf-rowf-snapping, snapping, snapping teeth” – constantly at
odds with the rest of their civilization – which insisted on peace between
Kiiote and Yown’Hoo at any cost. The cost was usually said to be the
vaporization of Earth.
The Herd Mother didn’t say anything
even though we all looked at her. She spat in irritation and said, “Fine. The
Herd is not moving in the same direction. Many are, but the trails grow
increasingly divergent, following more and more Herd Mothers and ignoring the
traditions of ages past.” She paused, “This is what I have heard.”
“I represent Triad – in case you
were wondering, that’s why I’m here – but I’ve travelled extensively all over
the planet. I have been attacked more times than I can remember – and before I
was retired, I was acting liaison between the Combined Forces and the
Corporation. I had numerous physicals…”
To be honest, I didn’t care about
Retired’s history, “What are you going to do…”
He held up his left arm, where it
had been in shadow. His bicep was bleeding, the blood having run down his
forearm and into his hand. Now it ran down his bare upper arm, soaking into the
sleeve he’d slit open. Only Xio and I reacted – the others were no more
horrified than I would have been seeing a squirrel smashed on the road. We
were, even in the Triad, still primitives compared to the Kiiote and the Yown’Hoo.
They had been in space and colonizing worlds and building empires when Genghis
Khan was a baby. Humans only got as far as the Organization of Solar Humanity
when the war spilled into the solar system and we ended back on Earth again.
The outposts of Humanity either died off or were destroyed during various alien
battles – never directly. Neither people cared about Humans one way or the
either. They’d used Earth to raise their young, but once the fighting broke
out, they either vaporized their kids to prevent them being taken hostage,
rescued them, or…I have no idea what the other alternatives are.
Humanity found out the universe –
at least our slice of it – was brutal.
Retired said, “I removed the
tracker and destroyed it. We shouldn’t have anyone else after us.”
“Who put it in you?” Xio asked.
“It doesn’t matter…” she started
to protest, followed by the rest of us. He held up his bloody hand. “We can
talk about it while we run. But we have to get moving. Whoever planted it on me
has just discovered that it’s not tracking anymore.”
“What? Why didn’t you just leave
it?” said GURion.
Retired shook his head. “If I left
it transmitting, it would stop moving. They’d figure we went underground. Then they
would have had no trouble following it. Finding us would have been just a
matter of guesswork. They already know we’re headed north, so they’d have
wasted no time south. They’d have sent drones down the tunnel and quickly
discovered we weren’t there. Whoever is following us would just send whatever
air cover they have – anything from the helicopters that already tried to kill
us – to microdrones. They’d catch us in sixty minutes or less. This way, they’ll
puzzle over the loss of signal for at least sixty minutes. It could be a glitch
or a technical problem – and they wouldn’t want to tip off any of their
competitors that something was going on because that would risk them finding us
first. This way, we gain an hour. If we stop talking and get moving.” He didn’t
bark an order. He looked at me.
I might have fainted dead away if
I hadn’t been expecting it. I surprised him and everyone else by saying, “Herd
Mother, designate one of the younger males to gather up the scouts and then
join the rest of us. We’re moving to the surface. Now.” I looked at Retired, “Lead
the way, Lieutenant Commander Bakhsh.”
Without a hint of irony or
condescension, he said, “Yes, Sir.” We moved.
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