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)
“Who’d want these scruffy old things?” said GURion. He
lifted me to my feet and shouted, “Run like the wind, Bullseye!” A line from my
favorite movie as a kid – one I’d watched over and over when I was little.
Right upstairs in the house that was probably a disintegrated fog of ashes
blowing in a cyclonic wind over our heads.
“My name’s not Bullseye!” I managed to shout over the
increasing rumble around us.
“I don’t think we’re gonna make it to the blast doors before
your bodyguard blows the nuke!”
“He’s not my bodyguard!”
“Then he’s your worst enemy! Run!”
Instead of arguing with my great uncle, I ran, pounding
after Pack, Herd, and Bodyguard – or whatever Retired was. Him and me were
gonna have major conversation once I
caught up with him.
“Hang on…” GURion shoved me and I dove at the floor, head
up, like ‘Shay and I had learned from our swim instructor when we were little.
That didn’t keep me from bumping my chin on the floor as me and Rion slid
across a floor that was smooth and frozen solid. We passed under a slowly
lowering door that thudded into place as we hit a slide that took us deeper
underground. It also cut off the roaring maelstrom we’d left behind and
magnified my scream as we accelerated downhill.
The ground bucked once more, tossing me into the air, the
landing knocking the air out of me for the second time in as many minutes. The
ceiling of the tunnel groaned, dumping sand and clods of damp, cold earth on
us. We slowed down really fast. I ended up rolling wildly, on my side,
somersaulting, smashing into the walls, bouncing like a ping pong in a tumble
dryer. For a second, I thought the tunnel was going to come down on us. Don’t
get me wrong, I wasn’t scared or anything.
I was terrified.
Being raised in the Triad – all nineteen of us had the best
of everything Earth could offer. We didn’t get hurt except when we were
training with each other. We didn’t have to worry about being “accepted” by our
peers. We were all without peers. That’s what the Tutors told us. We were the
last hope for the Universe – at least our part of it. See, the worst calculations
said that we’d be alone in the Milky Way; the best said there’d be zillions of
alien races.
According to the Yown’Hoo and the Kiiote, the three of us
are all there is. According to the Triad Corporation, we were the last, best
hope of knitting the three intelligences into one civilizations. A Van der
Walls society.
In the split second it had taken me to think all that, I
found myself face-down and panting, my heart racing and my hands balled into
fists like I was clutching the ground but pressed against a wall.
GURion said, “Are you alive?”
I managed to gasp, then said, “Yeah.”
“Good. Get up and get moving.”
“There’s a door in front of my face but pressed against a
wall. If I stand up – and I’m not sure I can – there’s nowhere to go.”
I heard Rion’s foot step next to my head rather than saw it.
I couldn’t see anything because it was cave-dark. The only light I could see
was the phosphenes in my retina when I rubbed my eyes. He said, “I know there’s
got to be a handle here.”
“Why does there have to be a handle?”
“It’s how I made it.”
“You dug the tunnel?” I couldn’t help sounding amazed. “How
long did it take?”
“Not alone,” he said. “But a lot of it I did. But I never
had to use a shovel or anything like that. We could use Yown’Hoo and Kiiote tools.”
“How far does it go?”
“All the way,” he said softly. “Here it is.” I heard a sharp
crack and the door swung out a bit, creating a breeze there on the ground.
“What’s here?”
“The doorway north.”
“North to where?”
“Grendl. Manitoba.”
The idea of walking a zillion miles underground… “Insane!” I
blurted.
GURion snorted in the dark, though I noticed the walls
beyond the door were starting to glow a faint green. He said, “Not insane. Just
a long walk. Staying down here will keep the Triad safe.”
“Where’s this ‘Grendl’?”
“Canada.”
I blinked, startled and started to get to my feet. “Canada,”
I said. Even the echo of my voice was flat.
“Yep. Let’s go.” He started walking.
No matter how crazy he was, I didn’t have anywhere else to
go.
And I didn’t hear any noise from the rest of my family…
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