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)
Xio started. Seg-go said, “Do we
go, Herd-auntie; or do we back up and return to our leaders in abject failure?”
Xio scowled down at the little
Yown’Hoo and said, “Don’t bother, Herd second, we are not peers, so the
pressure you are attempting to place on me isn’t working.” She straightened her
spine and stepped forward, “I had already decided to enter before you challenged
my authority.” She kneed Seg-go, who stumbled as it tried to lead the Herd. She
added a toe nudge and the Herd second backed up, its fellow Yown’Hoo pressing
against it to relieve it of the stress of the Challenge. She smirked as she
passed through the door, though her pulse raced when the door irised closed
behind them.
The voice of Mother Kan Yuen said
softly in Chinese, “Perhaps there is hope for you yet, Daughter of Humanity.
Perhaps there is hope for us all.”
“What…” Xio began.
“Hold your questions. I cannot lay
out appropriate query markers for the Herd unless I understand who you are and
what you need to know to complete your mission. ” The floor began a slight downward
slant first which increased until it was all they could do to hold back from rushing
faster into the dimness, yet Kan Yuen did not seem to move any faster, nor did
she seem to have any trouble keeping an even pace.
It was some sort of projection, Xio
thought. The image had said as much. Xio said, “Where are we going?”
“To learn.”
“We don’t need to learn anything!
We have to rejoin the Triad with a weapon!” Xio exclaimed.
Seg-go and Ali-go suddenly pressed
on both sides of her. Seg-go said, “You cannot speak to the Mother with
disrespect! She may be Human, but she has seen your St. Admiral, and the
Kiiote, Pan and Zir, but most importantly, she has seen and spoken with and
touched Ji-Hi, Mother of All.” Seg-go’s voice fell to a whisper, “And she has
felt the slash of the Mother’s claws and survived the poison to serve as a
bridge between Humans and Yown’Hoo.”
Xio shoved both of them away, “She’s
as Human as I am! I can speak to her…”
Mother Kan Yuen turned and held up
a finger. “We are sisters, it is true, Xiomara Mary-Laura Kimpo, but,” she
moved closer and spoke in Twentieth Century English, “While Humans do not place
great stock in ceremony, the Yown’Hoo and the Kiiote do. Once, long ago, we had
the luxury of holding ceremony. But this world is a different place. Once we
join with our enemies, then Human ceremony will return – and it will mix with
Kiiote and Yown’Hoo ceremony until the three will be indistinguishable. Until
then,” she waved away Seg-go and Ali-go, “Let them think they protect my honor.”
The image started to move again.
Xio scowled. Who did this woman
think she was? She’d done nothing to earn her respect! Respect was given, not
claimed! “Follow the avatar, child!”
Muttering angrily as she did as
the elderly Query Marker guru commanded, she didn’t notice the abrupt change of
their path until she stumbled. The steep incline had flattened and become a
broad, paved circle of stone. A door far across opened, spilling golden light
in a widening wedge until it stopped at their feet. She swore and stopped.
“I live in the apartments ahead of
you. There are rooms for you to rest. Then we will begin your training.”
“What kind of training are you
offering? What do you know about what’s going on outside? It looks to me like
you’ve been sitting around down here while everything outside has gone to hell
in a gods-damned handbasket!” She’d spoken in Twentieth Century English again. Her
small Herd moved away from her, their tentacles slurping menacingly.
“There is only one kind of
training you need, child.”
Xio set her jaw, lifting her chin
then said, “What you possibly teach me?” She braced herself for a bellowing, angry
reply.
Instead, Mother Kan Yuen whispered,
“Only that a soft answer turns away wrath, child. And once Earth has grown the
Triads into effective governing units, Humanity, Kiiote, and Yown’Hoo will need
all of their wisdom and skill to softly turn aside the spectre that seeks to
devour us all.”
Xio’s mind was abruptly filled
with an image of some…thing intangible, malevolent, horrifying…yet it was not spirit.
It was technology; technology so far beyond the Triad, that not only did it
appear to her to be magic…it appeared to be necromancy.
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