February 26, 2016

LOVE IN A TIME OF ALIEN INVASION -- Chapter 39


https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2014/11/02/12/07/robot-513775_960_720.jpgOn 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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