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 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)
Kashayla glared at him, then gave a sharp nod, “Fine then. I
won’t kill you tonight. I’ll wait until after you tell us what we want to
know.”
Retired held her harsh gaze, then barked a laugh. “Just like
your mother! Damn, you’re tough!” He sobered suddenly, “I just hope you’re as
smart as she was. We’re going to need a new genius geneticist on our team.”
I’m pretty sure both of us looked stunned, because after
busting out another guffaw, he pushed himself to his feet and headed for
another room. “I’m going to bed. And so are you two.” He pointed suddenly, once
at each of us, adding, “Separately.”
I don’t know about ‘Shay, but I suddenly found myself
blushing about six shades of red…
‘Shay walked past me, slugged me – hard this time – and said,
“How else do you think I sleep?”
When she was gone, Great Uncle Rion said, “Ouch.”
“Shut up,” I said. For a second I looked at him. How much
could I tell him about myself? How much did he need to know? How much about
myself did I understand? I sighed and said, “Sort of.”
“Only ‘sort of’?”
“I’m kinda complicated.”
“Confused?”
I looked away from him, feeling my cheeks heat up, and
shrugged. “I dunno.”
GURion nodded slowly then said, “Maybe you do need to go to
bed.”
I looked up, glaring and opened my mouth. But for whatever
reason, all I saw in his android eyes was compassion. “I suppose I’ll need a
good night’s sleep in order to have enough energy to understand whatever
crapload Retired is going to try and force feed us.”
GURion just studied me for a while. I felt like turning away
at first, then stood up straighter. If he wanted to have a good long look at
me, then fine. Finally, he said, “Not exactly. You’re going to need all the
strength you have to believe.” He turned and left the room, gesturing silently
to a door. When he was gone, I opened it. The room was small, but the bed looked
clean, there was a table alongside it, and an e-reader – a full-sized one that
looked like it was new. I took off the boots, went out to the bathroom I’d
seen, and then went back to the room. It had been an intense night with all
kinds of weird feelings churning around inside me, so I took care of the one
need I could, then fell sound asleep.
I woke up the next day to someone tapping on the door. I sat
bolt upright, swinging my feet to the floor before I was really awake. Rubbing
my face with both hands, I scratched my head. Even with short hair, I think I
needed a shower. I definitely needed to use the bathroom. I said, “Come on in.”
‘Shay walked in. She looked clean, her tight curled hair
still flat against her head and wet. She said, “You look crappy.”
“Thanks for the update. I usually look great the second I
wake up.”
She smirked. “I know that that is a total lie. In the past
eight years, I’ve come to realize that you always look lousy when you first wake
up. But I do have good news.”
“What?”
“Your great uncle has coffee – the real thing! – and he said
he’s got both an explanation and a plan.”
“About time,” I said, standing up. I’d slept in my clothes,
which were still filthy from being exploded on and rolled around in a field
with me inside of them. Even so, I tried to straighten them out.
“Don’t worry how you look. The Pack and Herd won’t notice
and I’ll make sure I sit as far from you as I can.” She led the way out.
“What about Retired?” I muttered.
“Don’t worry, he likes you no matter what you do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I said, then walked into the
meeting room. I was the last one up. Shoot daggers at ‘Shay let me know that
she’d done it on purpose.
Fax slid up beside me and growled in his lowest register, “Don’t
worry, I love you no matter how bad the stench. In fact, I remember you smelled
a lot worse after you…”
I elbowed him before he could launch into his baked-beans
story. That always sent the Pack into paroxysms of laughter. How he told it.
The real story was…
Retired cleared his throat and even though his face was
completely still, the look in his eyes told me he’d be on the floor laughing if
it would have been a normal day. But it wasn’t. He said, “The time has come to
lay all of our cards on the table.”
“What?” Dao-hi exclaimed, pulling her tentacles from their
sheathes with a rude sucking sound.
Retired held up a hand, bowed his head, looked up and continued.
“Just the facts there – bare bones. At this time I’m not looking for
discussion, because frankly, there’s nothing anyone here – except Rion can add.
Most of the plan was laid out decades ago by minds far greater than yours or
mine.” He took a deep breath, held it, and gestured. One of the walls of the apartment
vanished, replaced by an orbital shot of Earth. “Once the condition of the
three societies became apparent – the reduction in the breeding imperative of
the Kiiote, the catastrophic increase in heart-fiber deaths among the Yown’Hoo,
and the unintended extermination of Humanity, it became clear to a group of all
the Intelligences in this part of the Milky Way that if something didn’t
change, there would be NO Intelligences left in approximately four hundred
Human years.” Stunned silence. Even GURion leaned back against a wall.
“In order to stop this…Extinction Event…an assembly of
scientists, philosophers, technologists, business beings, and spiritualists of
all the belief systems of the three Intelligences was held in secret. It was
clear to them that the eventual destruction of their peoples would bring about
a Dark Age that none of them were likely to escape from. The Triads were
proposed for a single purpose.” He stopped talking. None of us moved.
I didn’t even breathe until Qap said, “Prove that if we
worked together, we could accomplish something none of us had managed to do
apart.”
Ali-go, a Herd male I’d only known to speak one other time,
said, “gMod, faster-than-light, fusion – we have all of those. There is only
one thing we have not created,” he paused. Right then I knew he was going to be
a Herd-father someday. He had the flair for the dramatic that was required of the
males of their species. “Immortality.”
