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)
Fax, the Kiiote, Pack Second male, rose up into his humanoid
form, opening his mouth to taste the air as well as smell it. He panted, his
breath a white cloud between us. After a moment, he said, “Not of your world or
ours.” He drew a deep breath, “Not of the Herd World, either. Something
different. Of another world I’ve never tasted or smelled.”
“Something besides us?” I asked.
Fax snarled, “You didn’t think the Universe held only
Kiiote, Yown’Hoo, and Human, did you?”
I shrugged, “No one ever really mentioned anything else. The
Kiiote and the Yown’Hoo are the only ones who’ve ever laid waste to Earth.”
Fax snapped at me, though he didn’t bite. That was only for
enemies. Being more like pack brothers, there was an unspoken rule that Kiiote
couldn’t fatally bite litter mates. I’d never learned the finer points of
Kiiote law, but I did know that they didn’t include Humans. There were plenty
of cases where Kiiote had killed and eaten Humans –though to be fair, there
were plenty of Yown’Hoo who’d been devoured by them as well. The most educated
took vows abstaining from the flesh of intelligent life, but as I understood it,
the philosophy had been around for a millennium. Fax added, “Humans have been
laying waste to this planet since you crawled off of the savannah.”
“Hey!”
Fax suddenly collapsed into his canine form then pressed
close to my leg. He whispered, “They’re moving around in there. I think they’re
coming out.” The light went out, then the front door slammed open. “Hunker down
with me.”
I dropped to my hands and knees, hiding behind Fax.
“What are you doing?”
“Hiding. Don’t move," I breathed. He stopped trying to squirm away
from me and held his place.
Something large moved into the night, down the steps and
across what had once been a lawn. Fax didn’t breathe – an evolutionary
adaptation from their home world where the main predator had been an immense,
partially armored bear-like creature that could emit a tuned sonic waved strong
enough to vibrate the skull of a Kiiote’s, making it explode.
I couldn’t see well, but my genetic enhancements allowed for
me to see farther into the infrared and ultraviolet than any Humans before the
Triads. The being wasn’t looking in our direction, turned instead toward the
barn. I heard a distinct laugh – the kind that the evil villain makes in old
movies – and then it moved away.
“It’s going to kill the others!”
“What did I tell you, stupid! If you hadn’t insisted on
coming here…”
I opened my mouth to snap back at him when all of a sudden, I
was lifted from the ground. Fax tried to run, but a white hand grabbed his tail
and gave it a yank. He yelped, then fell to the ground unconscious – something to
do with the tail being a fifth limb and yanking it hard enough to dislocate the
bones, it caused an electrical surge into the brain stunning him.
My attention went back to the owner of the hand as it turned
me, at an angle impossible for a living Humanoid. When it’s eyes began to glow
and when I lashed out with a judo kick and hit solid plastic...I knew I was dead.
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