February 22, 2018

LOVE IN A TIME OF ALIEN INVASION 81: Oscar Alone 1


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)

Dao-hi was giving me command of her Herd whether she was there or not.

Suddenly she charged me, swinging her long neck and catching me full in the chest. She knocked me clear across the tunnel and reared back, shouting, “There is no one here to protect you, small Human! No one here to make me your equal or the Pack’s equal when I am the one who is superior!” I staggered to my feet and she swung her head again. I didn’t move fast enough, and I couldn’t believe what she was saying – she was betraying us! She was betraying us to…

By the time I woke up, the Herd Mother, Dao-hi was gone with her tiny sliver of a herd.

When I sat up, I practically passed out from the pain in my ribs. I wasn’t dead from a punctured lung, so I guess that’s a good thing. It was probably only a bruise – maybe a fracture. Even if I was supposed to – which I wasn’t – I couldn’t have wrapped myself. First, I wouldn’t know what I was doing; second, I didn’t have anything to wrap myself with.

I managed to get to my feet, leaning against the wall and gasping like a fish out of water. After moving around a bit more, I realized it was less my ribs that having been hit with the Yown’Hoo sledgehammer head. They used they used their heads as weapons in battle – no problem for them as the Yown’Hoo kept their brain in what Humans would call their chest.

I took as deep a breath as I could, held it, realized I also had a pounding headache, and figured I’d better get moving. Besides Retired’s – Lieutenant Commander Patrick Bakhsh – orders to get to Sand Dune State Forest and dig out the all-terrain vehicle and get it ready to take us north. We’d have a long way to go – nearly six hundred kilometers. On foot. With people who want to kill you…
That’s why Retired had me heading for something with a more kick to it. He said there was an ancient armory not far from the Forest. Maybe even grown over by now. He said there might be a tank or something he called a cargo plane. It was in a village that had once been a renowned headquarters of a religious order, a place called Saint Clodoald, after an abbot, counselor, and healer from so long ago, no one had any idea who he was besides the moniker.

Anyway, Retired said that I’d have to travel beyond the Dunes to the Abbey of the saint and appeal to whoever I found that still lived there. For a second, I wondered if the Herd Mother – or even the Pack leaders had orders from Retired as well.

In fact, I wished right then that I could talk to my Great Uncle Rion. How many others did Retired know? How many others were involved in the Triad? Would I even have a clue if we were being manipulated by forces beyond us? Worst, what if the manipulators didn’t care about any of us?

Retired said he’d come from a long line of soldiers, dating back to Indigenes who had tried to defend North America from waves of invaders sent against them by the super powers of the time. They succeeded often, but eventually were crushed by the sheer numbers fielded against them. Retired said he’d ancestors on both sides of that conflict. He’d also compared the Yown’Hoo and Kiiote conflict and its effect on Humanity’s home world with the invasion of the land I’d grown up on. The super powers then hadn’t cared about the people who’d already been there. They were too wrapped up in their own conflict not notice the people they trampled to death.

Sounded like the Yown’Hoo and Kiiote to me!

I was finally loose enough to set off on my own trek. I had about thirty kilometers to go until I could head back up to the surface. Retired had said I should be close to the Dunes by then. He’d another surprise, too. He’d given me directions to a shelter that contained a wing I could use to fly, combining helium and a small hydrogen jet. Slow, sure, but faster than walking to Saint Clodoald. Once there, he wanted me to see if I could get the plane flying or the tank running, or some other thing that could carry us all the way to Grendl.

I found that if I kept my elbow pressed to my side, I could almost jog. As I lit out for the Forest, I realized that if I had secret orders, then everyone else could have secret orders, too.

I just hoped we were all working on the same side…


No comments: