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 Xiaomara; 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
at great profit to Humanity. Then the war spilled over on to the Human homeworld
and all three are threatened with extinction…
Choral Reading
STAGE DIRECTION: (Spotlight falls on each as they speak
then shuts off, illuminating the next; then all three spotlights fall on them as
they chorus together.)
Yown’Hoo: “The literal decay of the fiber of Yown’Hoo morality
accelerated when we refused peace with Kiiote.”
Kiiote: “Interbreeding, internecine war, and ritual
cannibalism devoured us in resisting harmony with Yown’Hoo.”
Human: “Material gain from both Yown’Hoo and Kiiote fed
our greed, so concord held no profit.”
All: “We might do something none of us alone can do, we
might braid an unbreakable cord of unity.” (4/6/2019)
The tentacle that 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, though you are but a strand of DNA compared to me.” 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. I was created for my role on this
earth, but Yown’Hoo from antiquity on Y’eh One of Seven Hundred and Thirty-nine.
I am able to speak Y’eh 2349, a tongue so old that you would think that I was
speaking in Human. For one as old as I, memories are stored in tight coils of
DNA then packed in cells that rarely die and incorporated into my very bones,”
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?”
“Quite real, and quite painful as
well. There is no joy in wearing this Crown, only burden. The most important
DNA, with its messages, can be deliberately drawn back to conscious memory as
needed,” she looked at the Human girl, Xiaomara, adding, “Much as your kind can
slow your breathing and heartrate through intense meditation, I can pull up memories
stored in the Crown. Some of those memories were stolen from the echoes
of Yown’Hoo. Others are more complex and I need the help of the Triad to reveal
ancient memories of demons and conjures. Nevertheless, when all
of the memories are bound together, the plan created the first Triad chose becomes
clear. 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 Discord.”
For a moment, Dao-hi felt an
overwhelming sense of disappointment. She looked at the rest of her tiny Herd –
Lan-mai-ti and Por-go-el. Her intestines twisted a bit, knowing that she must
turn this time Herd over to the Mother of All. Ji-Hi said, “You must lead,
child.”
“Me?” Without thinking, Dao-hi reared
and bared her tentacles.
Ji-hi trembled with laughter. “Of
course, daughter. I can no more lead this mission than St. Admiral could lead
the Humans to freedom. Our destinies are entwined but it is not my place to overthrow
you!”
This time Dao-hi reared
intentionally then dropped to the snowy ground. It was an ancient tradition
going back to presentience, when control of Herd would be fought to the death
between females, then the males were trampled to smears on the Plain from which
grew the sweetest grasses. The grass thus fertilized would sprout as fast as
ninety centimeters a day and store a peculiar suite of compounds that would stimulate
the new Herd Mother to pass eggs into her pouches and hunt wild new males. For
a moment, instinct warred with cognition and she felt mind begin to slide away.
Then she focused on the mission Commander Baksh had laid on them, reared again,
then pulled her tentacles back into their sheathes and bowed deeply to the
Mother of All.
Who immediately dipped her head,
saying, “You will be a worthy Mother when your time comes, daughter. Now, to
the mission. We must run.”
“Run?” said Dao-hi.
“Indeed, to the dunes to the north.
We will meet the rest of your Triad and accomplish the deed we set before you.”
Dao-hi scowled and, glancing at
her tiny Herd, said, “You will share that mission with me now, Mother of All.” She
added a bow, slightly less subservient than she’d done a moment ago – which she
completed when the Mother of All stamped a hoof, very slightly.
“Impertinent DNA sample!” but the
tone was not anger, it was pride. She said, “We run, daughter. We run to gather
an army and prepare to challenge the Yown’Hoo, the Kiiote, and the Human so
that they will have no choice but to cease this absurd conflict and finally
grow into the Society they have the potential to create.”
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