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 – sighed, “Plain
and simple heart attack. Your uncle 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; somehow oppressive...
Retired said softly, “Sorry, kid. I wish I...”
“I think you’ve said enough,” I snapped.
For the first and only time in our friendship, he sighed and
sat back, without saying anything else.
I didn’t want to talk to anyone. My involvement in the Triad
had somehow been nothing at all about my choice or even my parent’s choice. The
tests I’d taken; the ones they’d threatened me with they told me if I failed
them, they’d turn me over to a life with normal people and the rest of war-torn
Earth. I sighed. I’d read about “war-torn” Europe, the Reconstruction Era
South, the divided Koreas, Fractured Africa, and Proxy America, China, and
Russia – where Kiiote and Yown’Hoo maneuvered and skirmished each other. It
didn’t have much to do with us.
At least it hadn’t. I said, “What happens to us now?” I shot
a glance over my shoulder and said, “I don’t care what happens to them – or you
for that matter.” I flipped my hand out into the heavy darkness. “I don’t care
about any of it any more. What happens to me?”
Somehow, I was expecting Retired to be stunned by my
question. Flustered maybe. Instead, he said immediately, “You’ll be moved to a
safe location and sequestered for the rest of your life.”
“You mean I’ll be thrown in prison?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t ask for this!” I shouted. I knew the others were
in the back of the truck. I knew they were listening. Somehow I knew ‘Shay was
sitting behind me; her back to the wall; listening. I didn’t care. “I never
wanted to be a part of…of…this!”
I looked over at Retired and he didn’t shout at me to keep
my eyes on the road. Instead he said, “You’re absolutely right. You had no
choice. Once your biological uncle agreed to help us start the Triad program, he
signed your entire family up – forever.”
From the darkness of the back of the truck, a Kiiote voice
said, “We, none of us had a choice, my Human friend.” It was Xurf and I
suddenly felt embarrassed. Our Human and Kiiote and Yown’Hoo overlords had
chosen all of us.
“What for?” I asked.
Even though Retired couldn’t have been reading my thoughts,
he must have followed my logic train. He replied, “You were chosen for compatibility.
All of you came from the most sympathetic lines your peoples could produce.
Even though none of you had a choice, you were...” he paused for a long time,
then said, “Chosen.”
“I didn’t want to be chosen!” Behind my head, something
slammed against the wall. I knew it was ‘Shay punching it instead of my face. “I
don’t care!” I shouted at her. Then to Retired, “Fine. The chosen thing, but
the compatibility thing I get. But what’s the big ‘why’? We’re not in the
Cities any more. We aren’t protected anymore! There are people out there –
aliens! – who are out to kill us because of who we are!”
Dao-hi, the really young Herd Mother to ten Yown’Hoo, said, “There
have always been those who have been ‘out to kill us’. The Herd has never been
safe, even before Yown’Hoo thought coalesced. Predators have always sought to
take us down one-by-one.”
“Us as well!” exclaimed Qap. “Make no mistake, Human, Kiiote
are only one apex predator on the home world. Even Humans on Earth fall prey to
your sharks, and tigers, and influenza – before they fell prey to Yown’Hoo...”
“…and Kiiote!” said Dao-hi.
“I don’t care!” I shouted. My voice even hurt my ears. There
was silence as the truck hummed along in the dark.
Finally Retired said, “I can’t give any other answer, kid.
That’s the only one there is. The Triads are the only hope we have of forging a
viable civilization of Kiiote, Yown’Hoo, and Human that will not be dependent
on war and dominance.”
From the depth of the truck’s cargo area, a tiny voice –
probably one of the immature Herd, Ked-sah-ti, I think – said, “Without civilization,
every last one of us…and the populations of all three…will die out until there
is nothing left but semi-sentient ameba on Y’eh, Kii, and Earth.”
I don’t think anyone else felt like saying anything after
that. Not even me.
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