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)
I wrapped my arms around my chest and tried thinking about
how cold I’d be when Retired searched me for tracking devices. He’d search
Great Uncle Rion first; who would then search Xio – while Retired checked me
out for tracking devices. The feelings that brought on I shoved really deep
down. For a second, the image of me stripped down and him scanning me with some
device as well as checking anything that looked suspicious hit me as
unexpectedly intimate and a little bit exciting.
Then I thought about who might be tracking us, and my
pounding pulse slowed down as I felt cold fear wash over me.
Xio came out of the refuge shaking her head. “When Retired
is finished with your great uncle, you’re up.” She slid a heavy sweatshirt over
her head, tugging it down. “It’s a good thing Retired has hiking gear stashed
back there.”
“That’s just a sweatshirt!” I said.
“Way more than that, my best Human friend. Way more than
that!” She threw another look over her shoulder as GURion came out of the room.
It nodded to me and said, “Like I said, I’m clean of bugs.
So is your Tribe-mate.”
“She’s not my mate!” I said. “Why would you think that?”
As it passed me by, it patted me on the shoulder. “I’m going
to go find out what our youngest Herd member’s discovered farther on.”
Retired stepped out of the room. “You’re next Romeo.”
“I’m not in love with Xio!”
Scowling, Retired motioned me in as he said, “I never said
anything about love, kid. Why would I do that?”
“Because…because…” I snorted and pushed past him and started
shedding my clothing.
“You can stop at your underwear if you want,” he said. I
peeled out of them and tossed them on the pile with my other clothes.
The room was warmer than I was expecting. Retired held up a
scanner box then whistled. “What?” I said, my voice cracking again.
He shook his head, passed the scanner again and said,
“You’re a real redhead, aren’t you?”
I was suddenly embarrassed and excited at the same time,
then embarrassed at my excitement. I bent over to grab my underwear. Retired
laughed. “Sorry, son. I couldn’t help it.”
“What?” I said as I tried to force my foot through the leg
hole, caught my toe on the material and had to throw my arms wildly into the
air. My excitement was so obvious, I probably blushed blood red. I’m pretty
sure an infrared scanner would have shown me lighting up like a beacon.
“Natural reaction, kid. Don’t worry about it. Flattered
even.”
“I don’t love you!”
He shrugged. “Maybe not, but your great uncle loves you.”
“It’s a robot. It can’t love anything.”
“It was programmed to look like a Human at one time. You
thought he was Human.”
I couldn’t look at
him while I dressed. I was dying of embarrassment and just wanted to get out of
there. But I had to defend myself. “I was just a kid. What did I know?”
“You knew your great uncle loved you.”
“He…it…it couldn’t love. I was programmed to act like it
loved me!”
“If you act a part long enough, maybe you start to become
the part,” said Retired.
“Just because I take the part of King Lear and don’t do any
other part my whole life,” we’d watched the series of performances by the
incredible Human actor, Master Deepak Ogomelenday. He played Kind Lear six
thousand, four hundred and twenty-one times before he died in the first wave of
the Yown’Hoo attacks on Earth. “It doesn’t make me a king at the end!”
Ogomelenday had been executed with the two billion seven hundred million four
thousand eight hundred and seventeen other Humans who’d died immediately after
the Yown’Hoo and Kiiote ran into each other head on – they’d been used as pawns
and died like pawn, hostages in a conflict they didn’t understand and hadn’t
known existed. Until they died.
Retired hung his head and said, “Truth.” Dressed, I turned
to leave, pausing when he said, “I’ve also known people who were brilliant, and
were told repeatedly that they were stupid, finally believed it…and let
themselves become stupid.” He paused again. “Thank you for loving me.”
“I don’t love you, I said! Not…not…like…that!”
“Not that. That was just biology.”
“Huh?” So much for sounding smart.
“You were embarrassed. People are only embarrassed when they
value the opinion of the person observing them.” He stepped up to open the door for me. “I
love you, too, Oscar Simak Paulson.”
I left before I could say anything else.
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