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)
The smallest Yown’Hoo in Xio’s part of the Triad, Nah-hi-el,
dug its claws into the earth and ran. They could hear it scrambling for some
time. Shortly it returned and said, “It is a much disused ramp and my stronger
brothers Ali-go and Seg-go will of need go on first joint to move freely, but
it exits in a large, Human built room.”
Xio said, “We all go. Now. We have no time to waste. I will
lead.” She ducked into the tunnel, glad she wasn’t any taller than she was. All
she needed to do was crouch. ‘Car would have had to crawl. Retired…she cut off
that line of thought. He was an old man. Probably would have had to slither,
getting all muddy. And wet. His clothing would have clung tight to his hard
muscled body.
She swallowed hard to stop that line of imagination and led
her team upward and into an abandoned storage room, and crossing a floor
littered with debris, they found a door with no handle.
Ali-go said, “Where do we go, Herd Minor?”
Xio gestured to the two larger Yown’Hoo and said, “You need
to knock the door down.”
“Herd Minor?” they spoke in unison, though the notes they
took were different. Atonal harmony – jarring and cacophonous, but also
melodic, lyrical and sweet at the same time.
“What?”
“If you do not wish to be damaged, it would be wise for you
to move out from in front of the door,” said Ali-go.
As this was the most she’d ever heard them speak, Xio moved.
“Thank you, Team Leader Xio,” said Seg-go. The two Yown’Hoo
spun and kicked out. The door dented. They repeated the kick three times before
the metal was bent so badly, it popped open, the door itself bent nearly into a
“V” shape.
“I’ll lead,” she stepping forward.
All three said in atonal harmony, “As the Herd Minor
should.”
She nodded and stepped through the wreckage of the door into
the corridor beyond, saying, “Stay here unless you hear me call.”
All three took a step back in respect. Xio kept going. The
corridor had been sealed for some time. A thick layer of dust lay on the floor,
but there were no marks of wear at all. She reached out to the wall, expecting
wood, but finding something slick, plastic-like instead, though not dry…not wet
either. “What is this?” She discovered then that her little Herd had not heeded
her command. They were practically on her heels.
She started when Ali-go said, “It smells of Kiiote. Taste
it, Least.”
Nah-hi-el paused, licked the wall, then spat violently. “It
is Kiiote urine.”
Xio jerked her hand away from the wall. “It doesn’t smell like
piss!”
Seg-go yipped, a Yown’Hoo expression equivalent to a Human
snort of derision, and said, “Not literal, Xio! It’s a substance Kiiote use to
coat surfaces that must be preserved from bacterial and fungal growths.” It
sniffed, “Given the state of growth of both, it’s a good thing that they did.”
Xio stared down at the small Yown’Hoo. In the past, it had barely
spoken a dozen words a day, and then only in response to the Herd Mother or
Zei-go. This other herd mother – maybe a herd mother in training – at least she
assumed it was a female, was more the disciplinarian and a sort of teacher –
though in a way Xio only recognized because she’d been in the Triad since she
was three years old. She stopped suddenly and touched the wall again, then
said, “How long would the coating be effective against fungal and bacterial
growth?”
Seg-go walked backwards to stand beside her and fell to her
knees, saying, “I cannot believe I did not think of that!”
Ali-go and Nah-hi-el said together, “What do you not
believe?”
Seg-go looked up at Xio and said, “You speak, Herd Minor!”
Xio made a face. “How long, Seg-go?”
“To the best of my knowledge, the treatment would last some
seventy or eighty revolutions around the Earth’s Sun. The rate at which the
growth have infiltrated the wall surface, indicates that they were treated
nearly a hundred Earth years ago.”
There was a long silence. In the distance, they heard water
dripping. Like a cave, the air, while cold, seemed to be a constant, warm-ish
temperature. Certainly above freezing. “So the Yown’Hoo were here before the
war broke out,” Xio said.
“This is inarguable evidence, Herd Minor. Before Kiiote
arrived, before Humans knew of our existence, this tunnel was here; therefore,
it was NOT before the Kiiote arrived.”
Xio wished she could talk to Retired. She wished he would
hold her…she gulped, shuddered, and whispered, “Not that.”
“Long before the Conflict broke out on Earth, the Kiiote
were here…”
“We have to get moving,” Xio said and started along the
tunnel again. Shortly, it rose to the surface. Another pile of soil partially blocked
their way, but the Yown’Hoo were good diggers and with Xio, they moved aside
enough dirt to reveal another door.
There was a handle this time. Xio looked at her small Herd,
nodded and pulled it open.
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