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)
Lieutenant Commander Patrick Bakhsh (ret) – I’d started
thinking of him as just “Retired” once he seemed to be on our side – 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.”
There was an abrupt and stupefied silence. From all of us.
Alien and Human alike. If Retired hadn’t taken over the van’s controls right
then, I would have probably crashed us into a crumbled concrete island that rose
up in the road just then. As it was, I said, “You just said I didn’t get
drafted until I was five! How would you know when I saw my uncle?”
“Take it easy kid,” Retired said.
“I don’t have to take it easy! You’re not the boss of me!
You just told me that Dad’s brother was a robot!”
“Not a robot. An android.”
“What the hell difference is there?”
“Robots look like machines, androids are robots that are
created to be deceptively realistic. They’re constructed to be a living lie,”
he paused. “So to speak.”
“How would you know my uncle was an android?”
“I didn’t until you asked about him. I hadn’t thought about
the Farm for years.”
"It was just a farm!”
Suddenly the Yown’Hoo Herd mother, Dao-hi, said from the
back, “It was not. It was a place Yown’Hoo might leave their young to be raised
in safety from the depredations of the Kiiote.”
Qap snarled and snapped her jaw, “It was not Kiiote who
trampled litters! It was a place where Kiiote pups could grow in peace in a
time of war, safe from slobbering...”
Retired shouted, “Stop!” Silence fell again. Eventually he
said, “On the farm, the Kiiote and the Yown’Hoo reached an agreement that none
would kill the young. Earth was an ideal place for the aliens to grow...”
I couldn’t help it and said, “Wasn’t a bad place for us,
either, seeing it was our home world.”
Retired snorted. “That, too, kid. This planet was good for
all three of our peoples. It was your uncle’s farm gave us the idea to attempt
the Triads in the first place. He was their biggest advocate, having a daughter
grow up alongside the Kiiote and Yown’Hoo there.”
Even I could hear the downturn in his voice and said, “What
happened?”
He sighed, “Plain and simple heart attack. He died out in
the back forty once morning and we didn’t find him ‘til after sundown. Nothing
we could do then,” he shot a glance over his shoulder, “Not even our highly
advanced aliens could bring him back.”
We drove in silence and I took over. Pretty soon we were
past even the few lights of the city. As the darkness grew, it became more than
just an absence of light...
Image:
http://www.bydavvi.com/C1/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/nightDriving.jpg
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