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)
Everyone looked to Commander Baksh expectantly. They figured
he’d laugh and take over. What he did was even more chilling. He said, “Risking
your life for the rest of us is the most mature thing I’ve ever seen you do,
Oscar.” He nodded, “Well done.”
There was silence. All of us would
have to be fit leaders eventually. We were learning what it took to direct our
own destiny. We would have to act for the Triad – not for our individual
peoples. Not even for ourselves personally. Our individual civilizations had
failed us. We were all we had. We were the future. I just might not see that
future. So I said, “Let’s go.”
I guess we weren’t really noisy,
but it’s hard for nineteen living things to move silently; especially with two
of them are in hiking boots and another ten of them have hooves. But we walked.
The tunnel was dark. “What was
this used for, Commander?” I asked.
“Utilities.”
“You mean like electricity and
water and stuff?” Xio said. In the past, she would have ended up as some kind
of civil or aerospace engineer. Too bad all we did these days was destroy the
old stuff – she’d tell you it had been called infrastructure – and forget about
going into space. Humans know exactly how far that got us.
“That, but more. Before things
started to fall apart, there was a movement to take the stuff we depended on
and protect it. Used to be that power lines, communications, and video and
audio transmissions used fiber optic cables. They were vulnerable to weather
and physical damage. So they started putting them underground. Problem up here
in the northland, was freezing ground. So some utility companies created tunnel
systems. This is one of those tunnels.”
We were moving faster than we had been
trying to go overland, though not as fast as we had in the truck; though with
the truck, we’d been a moving target and the burnt out shell was somewhere
miles back. We passed the first tunnel and for some reason, I started to jog.
Xio was right beside me. I’d forgotten how good she looked running and was
watching her so closely, I nearly ran into a wall as the tunnel veered left –
west. I stumbled.
Retired laughed out loud. Xio
smirked. Fax had been on my heels and he gave a little affectionate nip. I just
felt more confused. I picked up the pace more and as we passed the second exit,
I sprinted. Stopping abruptly, I was shocked to see the Triad and Retired had
done the same. I was gonna make a big deal about it, but kept my mouth shut.
For some reason, I didn’t think Retired would have made a snarky comment.
I was wrong. He said, “I thought
you were gonna run us all into the wall just to prove you were in charge.”
Fax heard it for sure, ‘cause he
snorted. None of the Herd would have heard it because he pitched his voice too
high. I ignored him and said, “Find a place to stash the first set of
trackers.”
After a few minutes, one of the
Pack’s puppies yipped, “I dropped mine in a hole.”
“Rat’s nest,” said another.
“Ew!” said Xio and moved closer to
Retired. Great. She wanted him to protect her.
“Let’s get moving. Qap, Quilf,
Towt, are you ready?” Three yips. I glanced at my watch – cellphones had
disappeared a long time ago; before I was born, I guess. Mechanical watches
survived the high energy, electromagnetic pulses the Yown’Hoo and Kiiote fought
with. Humans hadn’t stood chance when all-out war broke over Earth. “Good luck,
my friends.” No one else spoke as the three Kiiote, in four-legged form loped
up the exit to the surface. It was winter and by now, it would be dark. Cold,
probably, too. I wished I could go with them…
***
The three Kiiote emerged from a
concealed exit at the bottom of a sand pit, ringed with scrubby pine, loping to
the surface and instantly split up, doubling back a few times before trading
directions to confuse the trail. Like Earthly canines, they were deeply scent
animals. Unlike dogs and wolves, they could biologically manufacture scents,
sometimes even consciously triggering certain scents by a series of thoughts
Humans might have called mantras.
Scent mantras.
It wasn’t long before any Kiiote
happening along – or deliberately set on them – would have lost the original
scent in a heady mixture of sex stimulants and pup scent that would elicit
protective scent blindness. Their world was as complex in scent as a Human’s
was in color and a Yown’Hoo’s was in movement.
Pack Leader Qap used slang –
Yipe*fart – to communicate with the mini-pack, “We head north. Follow the scent
of cold and veer to the stirring of Plains and mountain snows.” Holding a loose
formation three or four lengths apart, they made their way northwest – by Human
orientation – keeping low to the ground and occasionally back tracking to
confuse their trail.
Unfortunately, they had not
arrived unnoticed…
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