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 Kashayla; 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)
“You were on their side, weren’t you?”
Retired spun around and if I hadn’t been so mad, I’ve have
backed off. As it was, I didn’t flinch when he took a step toward me. He was
only a little taller than me, but his shoulders were big. I probably looked
like a branch compared to his tree trunk. He could have punched me or knocked
me on my butt.
He didn’t. He growled and said, “You have no idea what you’re
talking about.”
“Then explain it to me! How is being a traitor to Humanity a
good thing?”
He cocked his arm, making a fist. I braced myself and kept
my eyes open. If I was gonna die, I wanted to see how. Suddenly he laughed. It
wasn’t a humor laugh. It was a grim, dark laugh. A gallows laugh. He lowered
his arm and said, “You got bigger balls than I figured you for, kid.”
I know what that meant, but I wasn’t sure. Retired used
old-fashioned slang all the time, but I think that was a compliment. So, I took
it as one and said, “You haven’t explained anything to me yet, though.”
He snapped his head to the side, gesturing with his chin as
he said, “Let’s sit down.”
I’d probably stretched my luck about as far as it would go –
what with escaping a city about to go nuclear, a chase scene that would have
made any movie an award-winner, and meeting someone whom I’d thought was Human
and found out they were a robot – so I followed him when he went deeper into
the Human part of the refuge.
It wasn’t exactly a fancy hotel, but there were chairs and
couches built like they had been like, wooden crates at one time. He gestured,
me and ‘Shayla sat. GURion stood to one side, arms crossed over his chest. He
looked totally Human right then. I forgave myself for not noticing he was a
robot. Retired said, “I worked for the Triad Corporation.”
‘Shay said suddenly, “Worked?”
He shrugged, “I’m freelance now.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He looked right at me and said, “I don’t go off Earth
anymore. I’m a Triad agent here, in Minnesota.”
“What do you do?”
“Rescue teenagers – of all three Nations. Human, Kiiote, and
Yown’Hoo.”
“Why do you do that?” I asked. I’d never thought of Qap and
Xurf as teenagers; I’d really never thought of Herd Mother Dao-hi as anything
but old.
“Because I think Humans can do better when they’re teamed
with others.”
I snorted and said, “You’re gonna have to do better than
that!”
He sighed and sat down on one of the chairs. “Listen, you
need to get rest tonight. I’ll save the details for some night when we can sit
around a campfire without worrying about getting our asses shot off. But to
make a really long story short, as far as the Yown’Hoo and the Kiiote know,
Earth, Kii, and Y’eh are the only three planets in this part of the galaxy
where all of us can successfully reproduce.” He held up a hand when I opened my
mouth, so I shut it. “I don’t mean we can’t live anywhere else – and all three
Nations have worlds with colonies. But there aren’t any other worlds where the combination
of gravity, atmospheric gas proportions, insolation…”
“Insulation?” I said.
‘Shay slugged me in the shoulder. Even GURion rolled his
eyes. Retired said, “The amount and intensity of light that a world receives from
its primary.” He paused to let me ask any other stupid questions. I rubbed my
shoulder and looked at my boots. He went on, “The average temperature and
humidity are factors as well. But the single most important factor, when
coupled with gravity, is cosmic and geological background radiation. For
whatever reason, those two are profoundly limiting reproductive factors.”
I raised my hand to signal that I was going to ask another
stupid question. Retired nodded to me and I braced myself for another slug from
‘Shay. “Both the Kiiote and the Yown’Hoo mastered gravity a long time ago, and
can’t they just figure out the right amount of radiation and build it into some
kind of…um…sex house or something?”
“Good question, Kid,” he said. ‘Shay slugged me.
“What was that for?”
“Having a dirty mind.”
“But…”
Retired saved me from saying anything else stupid by adding,
“They can, but the correct combination of factors is so sensitive that even
when they get everything exactly right, it can go wrong.”
GURion said, “The cost of creating such havens is so
prohibitive that neither one of the super powers can afford to keep them.”
“Why would the cost make them stop doing that if they can?”
There was a long pause, then ‘Shay said, “Because if they
make places like that, they also have to defend it.”
GURion said softly, “And success by either side at destroying
the places carries its own cost.”
