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 Xiomara; 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)
“What was the worst-case scenario?” I said, feeling as if
the darkness was suddenly tangible.
Great Uncle Rion lifted its chin and didn’t say anything for
a long time. Finally it said, “The one where I’d been caught, had my memory
yanked and been melted down for parts. Based on my informing you, all of the
Triads are captured one-by-one, tortured and then your brains are injected with
a flesh-eating bacteria and you get to suffer some more.”
My eyes reached their maximum bugging-out distance and I
gagged. “Worst-case?”
It nodded. “Best case was than none of this happened, the
Yown’Hoo and the Kiiote made up, and they helped us rebuild Earth and formed a
strong, interstellar alliance.”
I nodded, then said, “Let’s try to stay as close to the
best-case scenario as we can.”
“Agreed.”
“How do we do that?”
GURion said, “You won’t like the answer.”
I nodded, “The only answer I would hate worse than having my
brain slowly eaten by bacteria is that I shut my mouth and do everything
Retired tells me to do without question.” [AUTHOR’S
NOTE TO SELF: YOU HAVE TO MAKE ‘CAR MORE RECALCITRANT AND HARDER TO HANDLE THAN
HE HAS BEEN. HE’S BEEN KIND OF A WUSS SO FAR…]
The android, who didn’t breathe except when it wanted to
appear alive, snorted and said, “If you can do that, then maybe the Triad Plan
has a chance.
I went to get my stuff and headed to the hallway. “No
guarantees, but I’ll do the best I can.”
“Then I’ll spend my time hoping your best is enough.” He
closed and locked the hideaway’s door and set off into the tunnel. “Perhaps I’ll
take up prayer. My studies indicate that it’s a good way to focus mental
energies.”
We had to hurry to catch the others, but Retired had been
right, they were moving fast and the walls of the tunnel had been chiseled or
drilled or mined from the bedrock, turning sharply, going downhill. They heard
voices ahead before they saw the group. Xio was standing on their side. The
rest of the Triad and Retired were farther ahead, shouting, “It’s not that
deep!”
“I don’t care how deep it is, it’s freezing cold and all I
have is these tennis shoes on!”
“Jump over it,” said Dao-hi.
“I can’t jump as far as you can.”
“Walk through it then,” said Qap.
“I don’t have waterproof feet like you do! If I walk through
this raging river…”
“It’s a stream,” said Retired. Me and GURion stopped behind
Xio. It was a freaking creek cutting through the tunnel!
“I don’t think I can…” GURion grabbed me under my armpit and
threw me across the water.
Retired caught me and held me up until I wasn’t about to
fall. I jerked my arm free and started walking, pushing through Herd and Pack,
even giving Fax a knee to the chest when he tried to calm m down. I kept going
as I heard Xio cry, “You will NOT throw me across this raging river like a
football!”
“Then how about I carry you, young lady?”
I missed the rest of the conversation as I stormed off down
the tunnel. I hadn’t understood what was going on from the beginning but since
the creepy conjure tried to eat us, it
was finally starting to sink in.
We hadn’t been holed up in the old stadium as an experiment
that might or might not succeed. We’d been training there for a mission that
was the only chance Humanity had to keep the Earth a viable proposition. If the
Kiiote – the intelligences my best Earthly friend belonged to – were to really,
truly go after the Yown’Hoo, there would be little left of Earth. The planet
would survive, but the intelligent life on it would vanish.
I would vanish.
We would all be gone and then eventually, the Kiiote and the
Yown’Hoo would fight themselves back into their respective Stone Ages…and that
would be it for intelligent life in this Galaxy. Oh, I know that for a fact.
Before they started their war, both had explored the galaxy and knew that it’s
Kiiote, Yown’Hoo, and Humans.
Some whack-a-doodles on their home worlds decided that it
was THEIR manifest destiny to get rid of the inferior Other and the mutual
feeling spawned their war. We’re just an afterthought because Earth was the
perfect place for both of them to reproduce. Plus they got smart babysitters
into the deal so they could continue to fight and make new soldiers.
I know. It sounds sick, but as far as I can see, it’s what
Humans did to the Korean peninsula two hundred years ago.
We had to fix this. We had to learn how to get along. We had
to change the future or it would just be more of the past. I stopped my charge
to the north to wait for the others.
I stopped my charge north to wait for the Triad, its
guardians and its teachers.
No comments:
Post a Comment