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)
From a pine and oak wood, burst an
immense white-tailed buck, sixteen points of stone-hard, twisted antler bone.
He led his harem that came after him, a thundering animal herd that, for
whatever reason, stirred Dao-hi’s blood, reacting to the buck as if it were a
powerful female. She wanted to follow them and crouched to leap.
An instant later, what she thought
at first was a deformed Earth deer followed the animal herd.
Suddenly she realized what it was
and froze. The potential and the immature dropped to the cold, frozen ground.
The elderly Yown’Hoo, its long fur dragging over the snow, looked at her then
strode, every step difficult, stiffly, the sound of the fur across the snow a
faint hiss. Either she was decrepit or moved with studied dignity. For a
moment, Dao-hi stared, unable to decide which way the creature was moving. The
air was curiously clear, devoid of scent. Dao-hi’s decision flipped back and
forth until the bass voice of a Herd Mother, deeper than any voice she’d heard
on Earth or in recordings, said, “Daughter. Your presence is long-awaited.
Welcome at long, long last.” The scent of authority abruptly swirled in the air
between them. The others rolled onto their sides as if they’d been struck dead.
Dao-hi stepped back, then forced
herself forward and said, “You are clearly a Great Mother, and I acknowledge
your authority, but I…I…have questions.” Startled because she’d never before felt
– much less exhibited – such a confusion of senses.
The Great Mother shook herself,
but so slowly, it was like a groundquake rolled through her body, threatening and
comforting at the same time.
“I am Ji-Hi.”
Dao-hi’s knees went weak and trembled.
She locked the joints, and it was the only thing that prevented her from
falling to the ground in a quivering heap. She managed a hoarse whisper, “You
cannot be Ji-Hi.”
“And yet, I am.”
“The Mother of All would be ten thousand
years old!”
“And I am, child.”
“I am not a child in your sight, I
am an egg!” She fell to her forward knees.
The tentacle the Mother of All
pulled from its sheathe was leathery, dark, and deeply wrinkled. She lifted the
fingers at its tip toward Dao-hi and slowly unfurled them. The Earth-born and
raised Yown’Hoo had seen Humans who had aged this much look as haggard, but
never one of her own kind. In fact, she had rarely seen Yown’Hoo older than
herself. The Mother of All said, “I am not entirely ten thousand of the Earth
years old, DNA.” She shuddered in gentle laughter. “My parts have been regrown
and replaced many times, though this mind has indeed experienced ten thousand
years of events.”
“But how…”
“I do not remember events as you
or your Human and Kiiote partners remember. For one as old as I, memories are
stored in tight coils of DNA then packed in cells that rarely die,” she lifted hoof and bowed her head to show a crown of
bone.
Dao-hi’s voice was a whisper, “A
Crown of Wisdom?” She paused, “I thought that was myth?”
“Stolen from the echoes, it gives me memory of what must
be done. It is the reason the Triads were formed. In time, the Triads will
absorb echoes, conjures, and Human demons
alike – the worst into the best. That, my daughter, is the Plan that will save
all three, weaving us into a civilization strong enough to stand against the
Chaos.”
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