Trigeminus

Chapter 9

I awoke to find my spouses attached to my nipples. Normally I would have chastised them for taking without asking, but I realized that they had gone a long time without a fix, so I let it slide. I just lay there and reveled in the waves of pleasure their sucking gave. OH YES! The pleasure crested and subsided. It came to me that I might have experienced an orgasm. This was to be a major turning point in thinking about my own identity. Triunes were not supposed to experience orgasm in Triskelion society. That was the norm. I understood then how much I had modeled my behavior upon Beloved Parent. I was a triune like it but a human one. Underline Human. Because of that I could not rely upon everything I had learned at Beloved Parent's knee. We human triunes were, to a large extent, on our own. It was up to us to find our own identity. I found that thought to be a little scary.

"Guys, when you finish I want to talk to about something." "Murf." "Snorf." Well, at lease I got some sort of response from the greedy guts. Pat came up for air.

"We haven't made up our minds about the kids yet."

"It is not about our unborn. I want to see if you will let me change you a little." That got Mike's attention.

"Please let me keep my tea and coffee."

"No, no. All I want to do is make your bodies more efficient."

"If this involves growing another head forget it."

"Try to be serious about this Mike. From my point of view you two are almost deaf and blind. To put it simply I want to give you both a full set of prehensile sensory tendrils, like Triskelion males and females, and place them around your wrist areas."

"I don't want to look like an octopus," said Pat.

"No one has to see them. I could make them retractable like a cat's claws. You can't imagine how much more you can perceive with them."

"You could remove them if we didn't like them?" asked Pat.

"Sure."

"When do you want to do it?" asked Mike.

"Ah, I did it last night. Sorry. They will be fully developed in about a week."

"Jeeze, Pepper, what else have you been doing to us," Mike said sounding a little steamed.

"Not much, just getting your bodies tuned up. I have cleaned up your arteries, got your livers working properly, kicked out a bunch of bad genes. We will have a lot of healthy years together."

"That doesn't sound bad," said Mike. I might make seventy-five yet."

"Seventy five what?" I asked.

"Years of course."

"You're funny, Mike," I said giggling.

"Pepper, how long do you think we are supposed to live?" asked Pat.

"Oh, with the physiological fine tuning I've done I would say about nine hundred years." They both looked quite shocked. What did I say?

"Pepper," said Pat whose eyes had glazed over, "Mike was being serious when he said seventy five years was the typical human life span."

I was shocked them. I guess I had never stopped to think about how biologically primitive regular human people are. "Well," I said nonchalantly, "it used to be." They were speechless. How novel.

"What about overpopulation?" Mike asked.

"Won't happen. Before human people had little, or no, control over their own reproduction. Now it is entirely a voluntary act. We shall have no unwanted children. But we must never talk about your changes to outsiders. I fear others might misunderstand. Or even worse it could be used for anti-triune propaganda."

"Pat your eyes are violet," exclaimed Mike.

"Yours are too," Pat replied.

"I modified your eyes to see in the infrared spectrum. You can see in complete darkness now."

"I'm going to work," Mike said racing out of bed.

"Don't get in my way," shouted Pat.

"Do you want to know about your digestive systems."

"Hell no!" was their joint reply.

I felt quite good about what I had done. In fact I felt euphoric about it and that puzzled me. My feelings seemed to way out of proportion in relation to what I had done. I felt the way I used to when I have pleased Beloved Parent. Oh well, what's so bad about feeling good.

I like doing housework. Doing the laundry, dusting, and cooking is fun. I tried to get Ten Speed interested in being a proper triune but it only sulked. Trinity only knew what was going on in its head, if anything. It was time to prepare the noon meal. My mates software business was close to home. And since I had moved in, and being the good cook I am, they started coming home for lunch. I Like to see them eat well, which they seldom did. I knew what they would do today. They would wolf down a few bites and then drag me upstairs for a quickie, then out the door again. Wham, bam, thank you triune. Not that I am complaining you understand.

There was the doorbell again. If it was another one of those door to door selling people I was going to give it good sting. It was always the same thing, "Hello, ah"-then they would eyeball me-"is the lady of the house in?" And I would say, "No, but the triune of the house is." After which they would lose interest and make a quick exit. I've got better things to do than play games with airheads.

I opened to door to greet a lady holding a cake.

"Hi, I'm Mrs. Goldbloom from down the street. I wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood."

"How thoughtful of you. Please come in and have some coffee." We had a lovely chat. Then I discovered the reason for her visit.

"Have you and your couple started your family yet?"

"No, they wanted a church wedding first. That is if my mates ever finish working out this complicated wedding business."

"I couldn't help noticing the one watching TV when I came in," she said trying to appear nonchalant. The reason for her visit was becoming clear to me.

"That's Ten Speed, my youngest sibling. It's such a trial for me. All it does is sulk around the house all day. I keep telling it to get out of the house and meet people. Find yourself a nice couple, settle down, raise a family. What do I get from it? I have to find myself first. I should tell it you are sitting on your butt watching television all day. That is where you are."

"I know, I have a brother who's the same way. But be patient with, her, ah, it. Sometimes young people need a little guidance."

"I suppose you are right."

"Now I have a son, a Doctor, and a sweet daughter-in-law. They are pillars of the community, attend synagogue regularly, and have plenty of money to see that their children would have the best education. If they had any."

"Yes they would be a great couple for my sibling to mate with. Would it be possible to arrange an introduction?" I said innocently, knowing that Mrs. Goldbloom would gladly eat fire for the chance.

"Now that mention it, we have dinner with our children every Friday night. Why don't you bring your couple and your sibling. I also have two daughters and their husbands who would also be most interested in meeting your sibling. And if Friday night goes well, maybe a date with one of them would be possible?"

"My thoughts exactly. Isn't it lucky you came by this morning?"

"Very lucky indeed," replied Mrs. Goldbloom.

And as luck would have it Ten Speed picked that day to disappear.

Ten Speed went out that morning and didn't come home that night. I walked around our neighborhood looking for it. Most of the neighbors were nice enough although some were bigots. One was too friendly and made an indecent proposal. Like I would do it with a single. Please don't bring up Ray again. That happened under unusual circumstances. I was new to the American scene and with the excitement and all. Well, it could happen to anyone. Anyway Ray got me into trouble this morning.

We were laying in bed talking about what our children should look like. They thought our girl child out to have curly red hair. I told them that red hair would be no problem as they both had the genes for that. But none of us had the genes for curly hair. Then I had to open my big fat mouth. "Wait, Ray had curly hair. I could use his genes for that."

"Who is Ray?" asked Pat.

"Just someone I met" Oh trinity!

"Who is Ray and how do you happen to have some of his, ah, genetic material," Mike asked pointedly.

"Listen, Ray was a nice gay guy who lonely and I was lonely."

"That disgusting Pepper," snorted Pat.

"I know, I lost my head in the heat of the moment, but I swear I was never with any couple but you." That seem to pacify them. Still, I had this feeling that Ray was going to come back to haunt me again.

* * *

Five days now and Ten Speed had not returned. I hoped it was not in trouble because I wanted to twist its cranial cilia until it screamed for mercy!

I had the radio jacked up, and was grooving to the tunes, when the door bell rang. Maybe it was the prodigal airhead. I opened the door and there were two older people standing there.

"Can I help you?" They just stared at me. I have said this before but it bears repeating. I make one hell of a first impression.

"We are the Fords," said the man, like I was supposed to know.

"And?"

"We are Patty's parents. James and Helen Ford."

"Oh! Of course, please come in. I'm Pepper. Your, ah, triune-in-law." Trinity, that sounded so lame! Another car pulled in behind theirs and another older couple emerged. That had to be Frank and Mary O'Connor. I think I had finished Jeopardy and was about to start Double Jeopardy. "Come in Mr. and Mrs. O'Connor. Let's go into the kitchen and I'll put on some coffee." I was the perfect host, hostess, or whatever. Everyone had a cup of coffee and said nothing. How should I start this?

"I am so happy you could come to the wedding."

"You're naked," said Mr. O'Connor.

I wanted to throw up. Normally a triune doesn't have anything to hide. I had forgotten that I had let my breasts develop. I quickly grabbed an apron and put it on. "As a rule triunes don't have breasts but I developed mine in order to …help breast feed the babies." (Liar) "Have my mates explained to you what kind of person I am?"

"Your, mates, have talked my ears off about you. I think you are some kind of freak," said Mr. ford.

"For God's sake, James," said Helen Ford. "They can have children now"

"Yeah, but what kind of children, that's what I want to know."

"They will be human children, Mr. Ford," I said. "Except that they will have three parents instead of two." Oh that went over real well. I was glad my back was to the wall because it made me want to come out fighting. Your male and female grandchildren will look just like any other children. They will of course have my genes so they will have a somewhat darker skin tone. I am black."

"I have noticed that," he replied humorlessly. "You said male and female. And?"

"We will of course have triune children and they will naturally look like me." I got a cold silence from that one. "We must have triune children. You may not like it but the facts of life are that triples, not couples, are the form that families must take from now on. Maybe you think I am a freak. You may even think that it is an abomination for me to marry your daughter and son-in-law. But be clear on this. If you try to come between me and my mates, or my children, you're going to eat a knuckle sandwich." Amazingly he broke out in a wide grin.

"You got backbone, kid. I like that. I think my grandchildren are going to be in good hands. Welcome to the family," he said extending his hand.

"Thank you," I said in a shaky voice and accepted his hand. He had been testing me like Beloved Parent often had. How odd that flesh that so different, could also be so alike.

"Tell me," asked Mrs. O'Connor, "when are you planning to have your children."

"Very soon. I have my babies right here," I said patting my stomach. Three perfect little eggs that are ready to be implanted."

"I see," she said staring at the smooth area between my legs. I knew she was wondering how I was going to do it. And I wasn't about to tell her. Would you discuss your sex life with your in-laws?

* * *

The rest of the afternoon went smoothly although marked by a few episodes of gender role confusion. The ladies and I started fixing supper spiced with girl talk. I suppose since I was carrying the eggs of their grandchildren that somehow made me female from their point of view. Then the men came along and we stated to talk about baseball. That was OK with me since I was a Mariners fan. I suppose that and the fact that I was going to impregnate my female spouse seemed to make me a male from their point of view. This didn't bother me because I knew it was going to take a long time for triunes' true sex roles to have a social definition. At least they all understood that I was the new process by which new life could be created. And for now that was enough.

When my spouses came home and saw me alone with their parents they broke out in a cold sweat It took some fast talking to convince them that everything was under control. The rest of the evening was, thankfully, uneventful. We spent our time talking and playing cards.. The card games were all new to me so I did not do very well but it was fun to learn. We put the Fords in the guest bedroom and the O'Connors into Ten Speed's still unoccupied room. That twit could sleep on the couch when it came home. The O'Connors came back out of their room quite quickly.

"Ah, this room is occupied," said a shocked Mary O'Connor.

"Well the air head has finally come home." It probably came in through the window to avoid my wrath. "I'll put it on the couch where it belongs."

"What about, its, ah, friends?" questioned Helen.

"Friends?" I went into Ten Speed's room to find it passionately loving an Asian boy and an Hispanic girl.

"Hi Pepper," it said with glazed look on its face. This is Jimmy Chong and Juanita Chavez. They were living on the street because they have mean parents. They are mine now." I knew what that meant but I had to ask.

"What do you mean?" Please don't say it.

"They are my mates."

Suddenly I had a vision of Columbo asking me where I was on the night of January 12. No, murder was too good for Ten. "How old are they?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"Fifteen and sixteen."

"You numskull! You nincompoop. You're telling me you have mated with underage runaways!" It was no use trying to talk to them while they were in mating rapture. We would have to sort this all out tomorrow.

 Life is like taking a walk on a foggy morning. Even when you are confident that you are headed in the right direction there is always an element of uncertainty. I was sure that when I had first modified my spouse's DNA that I had done the right thing. However, clouds of questions, circled my mind. I have discovered that I have changed them far more than I had intended. And they continue to change. I think that I should put a stop to this but a voice inside me says, don't worry everything is fine. But it doesn't feel like the voice of my conscience. It doesn't feel like my voice at all.

This morning my partner's sensory tendrils emerged for the first time. They wrapped them around each other and experienced each other in the bioelectric gestalt that is Triskelion perception. Their organs were crude compared with mine but this new analog of Triskelion and human senses came close. It was amazing.

"This is fantastic!" exclaimed Mike. "It sounds cliche but it just like being born blind and deaf, then suddenly being able to hear and see. Pepper I can comprehend your, wholeness. I can taste the pollen in the air and recognize what plants they come although I don't understand how I can know this. There is a sick squirrel in our backyard. There is a house on fire about ten blocks away. I seem to be aware, of everything. This is fantastic," he said wriggling his tendrils.

"I am pleased you like them but try to keep them out of sight for now. I don't think your parents can take any more weirdness. Especially after the Ten Speed surprise."

"I still can't believe that Ten Speed would do something as stupid as mate with children," said Pat.

"That's my sib, an airhead to the last. Its not only going to be spouse but parent to them as well. I am going to have to give those three a lecture on responsibility today, and I want you here to back me up."

"Of course, Ten Speed is family, as well as those two young people," Mike with said with a sigh. Tell me about it.

We cornered Ten Speed and its mates in the kitchen. With two sets of in-laws and us there was a sizable gallery of onlookers. Ten speed's new mates were huddled up close to it. It had its spinal braids wrapped around then in a typical gesture of triune protective/possessiveness. Looking at the it's two child mates I started. "First question can either of you two read and write?"

"I can, a little," said Jimmy. Translation, functional illiterate.

"I can read and write a little. In Spanish," said Juanita. Oh joy.

"Ten speed these are your mates for better or worse. They are your responsibility. So the first thing your are going to do is to register them in school."

"School!" they said in unison.

"Yes, air head, school. Unless you want to go to work and support them."

"I didn't think about that," it said.

"That's obvious. In fact you should go to school with them. You academic skills could stand improvement. So tomorrow, I am going to register all of you in school. Another thing. No babies."

"But Pepper…"

"No buts! Children should not have children. When you are older we will talk about it but not now. Mating isn't all fun and games. You have some tough times ahead of you. Your are their triune and it is your responsibility to act in their best interests. Unfortunately you are also going to have to act as their parent and raise them properly. I expect you to be at the wedding rehearsal this evening and tomorrow, school. End of lecture. Go on out and have some fun, while you can. Ten Speed lead its mates outside with them looking at it with adoration. The blind leading the blank.

"You gave it to them good," said Mr. Ford with approval. He was an old navy hand who was gung ho on disciple. I think I went up a rating in his eyes after I held my Captain's Mast.

"Ten Speed was always an air head. I can only hope it can learn a little responsibility now it has a family. Maybe we should make it a double wedding?"

"The can't be married legally because they are minors," said Mrs. O'Connor. Of course your marriage won't be legal either as far as that goes."

"When the bill legalizing triune marriages passes the state legislature it will be."

"How do you know it will pass?" asked Mike.

"By way of the grapevine," I said. The governor has had a recent addition to his family.

We are everywhere.

 I drove Ten Speed and its mates to school the next day. I was nervous because I had not been driving very long. Pat had taught me to drive on weekends but I still did not feel entirely comfortable behind the wheel of a car. I would have rather taken the bus but I could no longer do that.

The last time I had ridden on the bus I found myself surrounded by intense black people.

I was sitting quietly when I was approached by a tall black male.

"Hey tri you're looking good. I didn't know there were bloods in your bunch."

"Say, it's a black tri," said another one. "Black folk gonna have babies again." I was confused because I didn't understand what my skin color, or anyone's color, had to with continuity of the species.

"Come home with blood and we'll do the wild thing with my old lady."

"Get your hands off it man. I saw it first!"

"Like hell you did!"

That lead to a fist fight between the two which lead to a general confrontation with other black males. I hastily got off the bus and they followed in a whirling rampage. The fight escalated and flowed around me into a riot. As if in the eye of a hurricane, I was in an area of calm with ever increasing whirlpool of violence growing around me. I stood there paralyzed with fear when a hand reached out and lead me away from the melee. When I came to my senses I was safely away from the commotion. I wanted to thank my rescuer but he was already lost in the crowd. The smell on my hand was faint but familiar. It couldn't have been him. Could it?

After that I was sure that my use of public transportation was finished. I parked the car and we went looking for the admissions office. As usual Ten Speed and I got intense stares from the kids as well as the faculty. You would think you would become accustomed to it after awhile but you never do. But if you have faith in yourself, and have support from your loved ones, these things don't bother you as much.

My boys knew what they were singing about.

We found the admissions office and entered with some reluctance on Ten Speed's part. "I want to register these three."

The admissions clerk looked at us as if the circus had come to town.

"What are their names?"

"Ten Speed O'Connor."

"O'Connor?" it asked.

"That name is our trigon family name."

"How do you figure that," it asked belligerently.

"I am senior sibling so my family name is also our trigon family name," I said firmly.

"OK, I am Ten Speed O'Connor."

"We can't use nicknames on the admissions form. What is your real name?" asked the clerk.

Ten Speed gave her its actual name, which in the Triskelion custom, included at least sixty generations of our ancestry.

"Would you like me to spell that," it said sarcastically. Ten Speed did not have to work very hard at being an ass.

"I will just write down Ten Speed O'Connor," replied the bewildered clerk.

"Sex is female?" she asked.

I am starting to think it must be the hair. "No, sex is triune."

"Oh, I have heard about you people but I have never seen one of you before."

 Come on lady, I thought, did you think we were from Pakistan. Ten Speed's mates chimed in.

"I am Jimmy Chow O'Connor."

"I am Juanita Chavez-O'Connor."

"Address."

"We all live at 905 Big Beaver Road. These three are a newly mated trio so see to it that that all share the same classes. They can't stand to be separated at this stage you know."

"Yes, ah, I'm sure," she said, not be at all sure about this motley group.

Turning to them I said, "Companions you are on your own. Study hard and try to make friends."

They surprised me by not only liking their studies but also by making many new friends I did not know it then but other triunes had also been robbing the cradle. And some of them were at the same school. Because of that it had become the in thing to be in a triad amongst teenagers. The faculty being more conservative frowned upon the new trios which only served to make them more popular among their peers. And the fact that its young spouses soon sprouted tendrils only enhanced the reputation of the terrible triplets.

I found this deeply disturbing. I had never told Ten speed about the changes I made to my mates. But it had modified its mates exactly as I had done mine. I began to see this pattern being repeated without exception among my triune companions.

Trinity, what is happening to us?

 The wedding day came and I can truly say it was worth the effort. The church was filled with family, friends and acquaintances. I think there were also some gate crashers because there were some people there that none of us knew.

The women gathered around and wanted to know if I could feel the babies kick. I patiently explained to all that I only carried the eggs and that Pat was going to carry the babies. I was thinking about writing a book, Everything You Wanted to Know About Triad Sex but Were Afraid to Ask.

Our dress was a study in gender role confusion. Actually we did it on purpose just to have a little fun. Mike wore a kilt, I wore a formal wedding dress, and Pat wore a tuxedo. I could see the audience thinking, what's wrong with this picture. Ten Speed was the best triune and all it wore was a pair of big baggy shorts that had very loud and obnoxious colors. That sort of fit with its personality.

We had to tinker with the vows like, does this couple take this triune to be your lawfully wedded spouse, and so forth. We walked in hand in hand with my spinal braids wrapped around their necks. Some jerk off commented that my mates looked like dogs on a leash. The bigot. I would like to teach him to sit up and beg.

I got two rings one from Pat and one from Mike. One for each hand. It seemed appropriate because I was marring a couple. When I threw the bouquet it was caught by single triune, which also seemed appropriate. It was a young one, a friend of Ten Speed, that had not gotten the mating urge yet. All the young single couples flirted with it the rest of the evening. Ten Speed, the dope, declined to publicly marry its mates. It talked a lot of trash about how it was an outmoded archaic ceremony, but I think it was just afraid to speak in public.

It was our official wedding night which didn't mean anything to my randy bunch. Every night before this had been like the summer Olympic games. Come to think of it most days were too. But this was a special night because we were going to make babies.

We were doing by the book, that is, as the book was written for triunes. We triunes had sex education classes on board ship, because our parents did not think that ignorance was bliss.

The implantation procedure went smoothly, and even though I was scared out of my wits, I acted as if I was an old pro. That's part of the rules. A triune must always appear calm and collected in front of its mates even if it is about to pass out from fear. Some job description.

 Pat was into her third month when Mike noticed a seam developing across the upper part of his abdomen. This didn't worry him as much as the fact his hair was turning as white as mine.

"Pepper what the hell is this?" he asked.

I ran my braids through his hair and shouted, "Oh Trinity!" Which, on looking back, was not the best thing I could have said to reassure him.

"What!"

"Its not hair, Mike."

He rubbed his hand through his hair and anxiously asked, "If it is not hair what is it?"

"It is cranial cilia like mine." I examined Pat and her hair was also being replaced by cilia.

"Why are you doing this to us?" he said excitedly.

"I am not doing this Mike, That is…" as my voice dropped into silence.

Pat looked a little afraid. "Pepper what is happening?"

"It is not just you," I said with forced calm. "It is happening to all the spouses of triunes. I think I may know why this is happening but I must confer with my companions. Be calm and you will have an answer by tonight. I sent them off to work and began to make some phone calls. I gathered all the members of our triune support group. As we compared notes, we found that all the members of our group, and most likely all triunes, had the same compulsion to change their mates in exactly the same way. Let me restate the point that not one of us had consciously planed to do what we had done. The only explanation was that our parents had preprogrammed us to genetically alter our mates. But why they did this was a mystery to us. We saw no reason to continue after reaching this impasse. So we adjourned the meeting and went home to give our mates the news. Wasn't that going to be fun.

I came and told them what had gone on at our meeting.

"I understand what your parents have done and I don't blame you," said Mike. "But what does that have to do with the thing on my stomach."

"You're not going to like it," I said.

"Go on."

"I mean you're really not going to like it."

"Tell me before I have a stroke!"

"Very well. You know that humans are placental mammals."

"Yes," said Pat. 'The placenta attaches to the uterus and the babies are feed by it through the umbilical cord. We know all that stuff."

"Good. But the fact is that you are not placental mammals anymore. You are like the Triskelions."

"Spit it out Pepper you're scaring the hell out of me," said Mike.

"There is nothing to be afraid of. It is just that like the Triskelion race, we are now a marsupial species."

"Like a kangaroo?" Pat asked.

"Yes."

"My god, Pepper," she responded. "Am I going to develop a pouch?"

"No, Mike is." He just stared at me dumbfounded. "This is what is going to happen. In the Triskelion matter Pat well deliver premature babies at four months. And, as with the Triskelion, the male carries the babies in his pouch until they are fully developed."

"I'm growing a pouch!"

"It's perfectly natural. Now. There is a down side to this."

"Oh god, that was the good news?" Mike said holding his head.

"Well, ah, yes. Since it the male who actually gives birth, the infants have a special sort of tendril on its wrist that automatically penetrates into the abdominal wall when placed into the pouch. It joins with the vascular and nervous system. Through the nervous system attachment the male always knows how his offspring are doing. They detach just before they are ready to emerge from the pouch. And because the nervous systems connections must be severed during detachment, the process is, ah, quite painful, for the parent."

"Oh no," groaned Mike.

"Don't be a wimp Mike," quipped Pat. "Women have gone through the pain of childbirth for millions of years. So your going to be a mother. Be a man about it."

I tried to comfort Mike by saying what a wonderful thing that in our society males, females and triunes shared equally in having children. I don't think he was reassured.

Pat was going to deliver this week. The great thing is that we don’t need physicians, nurses or hospitals. Triads don’t have to deal with that nonsense. I would assist by maintaining her physiological processes in their natural balance. I taught Mike how to connect with her nervous system to block her pain. I think that best part of being a triad is that we can share every aspect of our lives. The idea of regular human males being separated from their females during childbirth seemed sad to me. That reminds me of what happened last week when I walked into Ten Speed’s room and found it and its partners in the classic impregnation positions. I was about to strangle them when it calmly replied that they were only practicing and would I please shut the door on my way out. I was embarrassed for two reasons. One, I should have respected their privacy and knocked before I entered their room. Second, practicing the procedure was a darn good idea. I should have thought of that myself. Yes, there is hope for congenital air heads. I wasn’t too proud to learn from my sibling. I was going to have a practice childbirth session with my mates today. But I was not going to tell Ten speed that it inspired me. It’s obnoxious enough without getting a swelled head.

The next day, our children decided that they wanted to be born, or in our new circumstance's preborn. I was nervous because I was not prepared for a Triskelion style birth. On the other hand, now that Pat and Mike were both Triskelions analogs, with expanded senses they were better prepared than I.

I thought about Jo Jo as I awaited the new arrivals. The last time I telephoned it we had a poignant conversation. It told me that it was joining a trigon family in San Francisco. That meant Ten Speed and I would have to accept a stranger into our midst if we were to form our own trigon family. I felt sad, and a little guilty, because I thought it might have been my fault. I have always been overbearing and perhaps because of that, I had alienated Jo Jo's affection. It said that it still loved me but simply wanted to go its own way. I hoped that was the truth because I had a terrible feeling that I would never see it again. Our greatest joys and sadness often set side by side. That was life. And that was family.

Whoops, here I am day dreaming and a baby is coming. In a moment I held a tiny mewing male child. It wrapped its little sensory tendrils around my hand and became quite. I placed it into Mike's marsupium. He flinched as the preborn attached.

"That's attachment. The preborn has used the attachment tentacle on its wrist to connect itself to your bloodstream and nervous system. Look at it."

"Yes! I can see its life processes."

"To a certain extent. Your senses are crude compared to mine but you will be the first to know if any of them develops any problems."

I passed our red-headed girl child from Pat to Mike.

"Damn, that one hurt worse."

And then the triune child came. I held the little of squirming flesh in wonder. I had never seen a triune infant before this. It had the same white sensory cilia that we all had. And the cutest little spinal braids. I put it promptly into Mike's pouch.

"Yow! That hurt like hell", he said glaring at Pat.

"My part didn't hurt at all," she said impishly.

"You're enjoying this way to much," he replied.

"I am going to enjoy it more," she said.

I told them to be quiet and try to take this seriously. Gee, sometimes I think those two are daffy.

Well, we were finished for the present. It was a measure of how much we had changed, that the whole experience seemed perfectly normal to us. But, we had no way of knowing how much more there was to come.

 Mike took to his pregnancy well, even when his waist doubled in size. Pat had to him help get up from a chair. She didn't tease him about it, much. Sometimes he laughed or cried for no apparent reason. I guess you just have to expect that sort of thing when your male is pregnant.

We went out that evening to have dinner. The kids were not due to exit for a week so we felt relatively safe. We received a considerable amount of attention from the people around us. For once it wasn't because we were a triad. It was because Mike was going through the buffet like a plague of locusts. He glanced at a woman who was staring at him.

"Are you expecting?" she asked.

"Yes I am expecting, and expecting and expecting," he replied with irritation.

Pat said to her, "Men get so cranky when they're pregnant."

I thought Mike would get angry but he was too busy covering a pickle with orange marmalade.

The lady said, "I am Dr. Summers. I one of a very few physicians that have seen an expecting triad."

"That's unusual because most triunes take care of their own spouses," I said.

"I have a cousin who's in a triad. He comes to me for prenatal advice for whatever that's worth," she said ruefully.

"It's hot in here," Mike said. He was dripping with sweat.

"I think we should get him home." I did not like the looks of this.

"Too late," he said with eyes bulging. "I think…" He held the edge of the table and screamed. We cradled him between us.

"That was bad," he said shaking.

"Can I help?" asked the physician.

"Yes, I will need help to stop the bleeding." I quickly explained that when a child detaches it bleeds profusely from the torn away attachment tendril. The blood has to be staunched before they bleed to death. I reached into Mike's pouch and handed the first baby to detach to the doctor. She expertly made a pressure bandage for it from a napkin. He screamed again and slumped against me. I reached in and withdrew the second detached child. "Stay with us Mike, only one more to go." The triune child was last and it would be the worst. They are always larger than the other two. "Just breathe deeply," I told him. The last pain hit him so hard and fast his eyes rolled up into his head and he fainted. I withdrew the lusty triune infant and a fountain of arterial blood hit me in the face. We had a difficult time stopping the profuse bleeding from the child's wrist. This was the only time in a triune's life that it has a wrist tendril. I guess that is why they bleed so much after detachment. Mike was still stone cold unconscious.

"I didn't think it would be this bad," Pat said crying. "It was like a real childbirth."

"That's because it was a real childbirth," I said with exasperation. I had told them this before but they thought they knew it all. People, listen to your triune. Occasionally they know what they are talking about.

"I haven't seen an infant for a long, long time," said the doctor to me. "It feels good to hold one again. We're going to make it," she said smiling.

"Absolutely," I replied. However, the we, she spoke of was conditional. Our kind of human was going to make it, not hers. Homo Sapiens was in its twilight, and I was afraid of what would happen when they truly understood this.

 The first time I took the triplets out for a stroll was a proud day for me. It seemed like every woman I met begged to hold one the babies. It was difficult to refuse their hunger. Even some of those people who called me a freak now looked at me with envious eyes.

But there were still those who looked at me with hate.

I was asked and then pleaded with by women and men to help them have children. I explained to them as gently as I could that this was not possible, except within a mated trio. Some understood what I was saying and accepted it. Then there was this jerk who demanded that I give him a child because he was a VIP of a very important corporation. I had no choice but to snub him with extreme prejudice.

There was an even sadder postscript to this. I met a woman who lived on my street. I knew that she had lost her husband and child in the sterility plague. She groveled before me and said love me, use me, just give me a child. Naturally I had to refuse her as I had all the others. Two days later she was found hanging in her garage. I was heartbroken when I heard about her suicide. I never knew her name but I think of her as Eleanor Rigby.

After that I stopped taking my children out for afternoon strolls.

 This was the Spring of the unraveling. The ice of anger was melting and flowing into rivers of rage. Television was getting scary. . One right wing Senator stated that triunes should be drafted by the government and forced to make babies for everyone. The ultra religious programs were even worse. One lunatic said that we were the evil and our babies were monsters. True human men and women would never conceive again until the triune race was wiped out. The news showed antitriune protesters picketing triad homes. True there were also protriune demonstrations, but when they showed up so did the antitriune factions, which led to ugly confrontations. It was even worse in the old world. The great powers were threatening war with North America if we did not share our triunes with them. The lesser states were either fighting each other or were involved with viscous civil wars. Again I could only ask myself, why did our parents send us only to North America?

I couldn't take any more of this so I shut the darn tube off. I looked at my triune child, little lifecodesinger O'Connor, playing with its spinal braids. And at Sean and Diana with their dark skins glowing in the sunlight. In that moment I had a flash of insight.

Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma; Father, son, holy ghost; In three was our glory. In three was our hope. The prophets had seen three as holy. And they were right, but for the wrong reasons. They had foreseen three as spiritual but its fulfillment was biological. We were Trigeminus, from the Latin, meaning three born together. So would we ever be.

 Pat and Mike continued to change. Their internal structures had undergone the most radical remodifications. They both had two hearts instead of one, and their blood vessels were twice their previous size. The normal human cardiovascular system is a slow beat high pressure system. Their restructured system was a fast beat, low pressure system. Because of this their chances of heart attack or stroke was nil. Their livers and immune systems were improved to the point that only a few diseases and poisons could hurt them. Externally their hair had been replaced by white cranial cilia like mine. Like me they also sprouted antennae on their foreheads. They took to wearing wigs to hide their new hair and antenna. The results were that they became lesser mirror images of me. I could understand most our of parents preprogrammed changes to our spouses. But why they grew an extra finger on both hands totally escapes me.

To make matters worse, I think I made the neighbors afraid of me. I saw this special about the blossoming of the cherry trees in Washington D. C. and I just had to have some. I took some cherry seeds, made some minor alterations to their genetic structure and planted them in our backyard. A week later we had a dozen cherry trees in full bloom. After that the neighbors seldom came outside and never spoke to us again. All because I wanted to sit under falling cherry blossoms.

I might as well explain how I do the things I do. I have a small pocket on my side into which I put samples I want to analyze. My body takes them into an internal organ, for lack of a better word, let us call it my atelier. In there I can perceive organic matter on a molecular level. When I finish with any scans or modifications made in my atelier, it is then shunted back into the pocket. Once I was experimenting with making some nutritional materials. I made some, let's call them food cubes, out of my body and gave them to my mates to eat. You know, a simple taste test. They liked them until I told them where the came from. Then they turned sort of white ran to the bathroom. What was their problem?

* * *

Our support group of triad families in our area continued to grow. We knew our situation was only going to grow worse so we met often to discuss how we might protect ourselves. Through us, and our communication with other groups, the concept of the triad city emerged. They would be places where we could be free to be ourselves, whatever that might prove to be. A place for hope, and protection, when the world finally came to pieces. We could only hope that we would have the time and the opportunity to continue with the project.

One particular evening we had a larger than average group. I know that I have described myself as having black skin and white hair but don't get the idea that we all looked like that. The triunes here were tall, thin, muscular, and I'll be kind and call one rubenesque. We had all types of skin and eye colors including some hues not found among regular humans. Triunes are individuals just like anyone else.

I think the problem we all had was trying to reconcile our Triskelion upbringing with our own human natures. For example the rubenesque one tried to remain faithful to our parents sexual natures. They engaged in reproductive sex and had no concept of recreational sex. (They were weird that way.) When I explained my own sexual style it was shocked and angry. It accused me of corrupting our traditional Triskelion values. The trouble was, those traditional values were often not relevant to a human way of life. At a later meeting that one confided to me that it had tried recreational sex and really liked it. I rest my case.

It was in this group that I met Swift Runner Silversmith. Swift was, in many ways, my polar opposite. It was fair of skin with jet black hair. It was tall and muscular and little shy. Despite these differences we liked each other from the start.

We started spending more time together, shopping, talking or taking care of the kids. Sometimes, when we were alone we would explore each other's bodies, in a biochemical sense. I know this sounds like we became lovers, and we did come to love each other, but not in a sexual way. Triunes can't do that with each other. I think that must be hard wired into us.

You would think that my mates would have been jealous but they surprised me by encouraging my relationship with Swift. I think on an instinctive level they also yearned for a complete family. In the end Swift's, Ten Speed's and my mates all ganged up on us. They said since were practically living together we might as well pledge ourselves to be a trigon family. I was happy and sad with the prospect of finally bringing together our three families to form a proper trigon. I was happy in that we had found completeness and a little sad that it was not with Jo Jo's triad. I am not saying that I did not love Swift and its family. I knew our greater family would find joy with each other. It is just that dreams are sometimes hard to let go of. The time comes when you have to move on and we took the pledge.

It is not a complicated ritual. I and Ten Speed adopted Swift as a sibling and promised to share with each other as one family. And because Swift, Ten Speed and I were now related, we exchanged our files of familial genetic material. Through this we could share the best of ourselves in our offspring. The last part is something we don't share with outsiders.

Because triunes can't share physical intimacy with each other, we do the next best thing, and exchange mates for the occasion. This is one of the few rites of our parents that I think is good for us to keep. It reaffirms the Triskelion idea that the greatest virtue lies in sharing. Most trigons only do it for this one occasion. Others do it all the time, but I think they may only be oversexed. My trigon falls in between these two extremes. Either way I think it is a lovely way to bind three families together, as well as eliminate any sexual tensions that might exist. You can see now why we don't talk about this to others. Most people think triads are a perversion to begin with. If they knew that we ritually exchanged mates, that would make a bad situation worse. It is like the Ballad of John and Yoko.

 December the eighth is a day of mourning for me. This is the day John Lennon was shot. I would play in chronological order every one of the Beatle's songs, and finish with his last solo album. We triunes were not schooled in any earthish religion but I would pray for John in my own way.

We all have another reason to remember December the eighth. That was the night our house was fire bombed. We never knew who torched our home or for what reason. We only knew that we woke up to a house in flames.

We triunes were awakened quickly by the first taste of burning hydrocarbons carried on the air. We are sort of like living smoke alarms. If it had been an ordinary fire we could have extinguished it ourselves. But the incendiary device spread flaming gasoline across the living room of our home in an instant. We frantically gathered our mates and children and jumped from the second story window. In the middle of the flashing lights of the fire trucks we counted heads. One was missing. My own little lifecodesinger. My baby was still in the house! We all became insane with fright. It took our entire family group and half of the firemen to keep us out of the burning building. I stood looking at the fire in numb horror. There are some things too horrible for words to express.

"Look!" Ten Speed shouted. There's someone on the roof!

We saw a figure go into the attic window. After what seemed like forever it came back out holding a bundle. Hesitating for a moment it jumped off the roof into the safety of the firemen's net. I ran to it, my hearts pounding furiously. My baby was alive. I cradled my triune infant and sobbed with relief. When I recovered my wits I sat down by my child's rescuer. His hair was all but burnt off and ash covered his face. Who was this? I swept the sensory fringe of my right arm over his burnt flesh and tasted him. It was the same smell/taste of the one who had rescued me from the bus riot. It was, Ray.

"Ray," I said softly. "Why are you here?"

He said with a thick tongue and not looking at me, "I come by, often. I just drive by. If I am lucky I see you outside with your kids. I was driving by tonight when I saw the fire. I heard you screaming for your baby. I had to do something."

"Why didn't you ever stop and come in?"

"You have a family now."

"Why, Ray?"

"Because I am dying. I have a brain tumor. And I love you. I loved you from the start. I wanted to see you as often as possible. But I couldn't intrude on your life. It was enough to see you from a distance."

"No, Ray, it is not enough. Your are one of us now." I adopted Ray into my family on the spot. He became an extra male spouse in our family. There was precedent for this in Triskelion society but I would have done it even if there was not.

Ray enriched our family with his humor and wit. Pat and Mike were generous in their acceptance of him. I managed to cure him of his cancer but I could never cure him of his shyness. It was difficult for me to physically love an individual. The truth was that sex wasn't a big deal for him. What Ray hungered for was the emotional warmth and affection of a loving family. He got plenty of that from us.

The fire left us deeply shaken and homeless. If it had only been a random act of terrorism we would have stood our ground and rebuilt. But this was only part of the picture. At first triads had been welcome, or at least tolerated, in the communities we settled in. Then the unthinkable happened. Jim Crow showed his ugly face. It started covertly at first like being refused service at a few stores and restaurants. Then it became covert when signs appeared that said, Couples only, no triune need apply. And in establishments, where we were welcome, we had to use separate facilities. When I wasn't angered by this bigotry, I was frightened.

After the fire we took refuge with another triad family and talked it out. The consensus was simple. It was time to leave. On New Years day we left for one of the new triad communities, Second Chance. And it just wasn't us because all the triads were moving out. It seemed like we had all came to the same conclusion at the same time. And that conclusion was that integration into regular human society was not going to work. Our best hope was to come together as a people and find our own way.

We could not have timed it better because that summer all hell broke loose.

* * *

The trip to the triad community of Second Chance was like a trip through a torture chamber. My triad plus Ray, Ten's triad, and three children were jammed together in our junky station wagon. Behind us was Swift and it's brood in their van. The road, what there was of it, was full of potholes and studded with rocks. All we could do was creep along and hope that the tires held up. We had little choice but to grin and bear it because all the triad communities were out in the sticks. The unholy three were into the terrible two's and talking their little heads off. "What's that, daddy? Moo cows, mama! Look at me triny." (That's what they called me. It was either that or "mama-daddy". Guess which name I encouraged them to use?) "Kids it's time to submerge."

Don't I wish!

Since we would be living in our own community, under our own rules, I told Ten speed it might as plan on having children.

"Look at Ten Speed triny," giggled Lifecodesinger.

"Damn it Ten, I didn't say to start right now!" Count your blessings I thought. If Ten Speed actually had a brain it would probably be dangerous.

* * *

Our first summer in Second Chance brought with it the most devastating plague the world had ever known. It was about 75% contagious and 100% fatal. We triunes, despite the way we had been treated by regular humans, were not insensitive to their plight. We attempted to analyze the virus in an attempt to make a vaccine for them. Instead we found a triune's ultimate nightmare. The disease entity was invisible to our senses. I want to be very clear about this. We can perceive a molecule as plainly as you can see a tractor trailer truck. But when we examined ill people we simple could not perceive the agent that was making them sick. And no triads were affected by the disease. Now pay attention to this. Many regular human people live in the triad communities. They were usually parents who chose to go with their triad children into the new communities. All of them appeared to be immune to the disease as well. I had an idea of what was going on but the thought of it made me feel nauseous.

The summer dragged on, grew hotter, and that only seemed to stimulate Homo Sapiens to commit compulsive acts of self mutilation. A deranged nihilistic group managed to get its hands on some thermonuclear devices. Within a month, London, Moscow, Tel Aviv, Paris, Rome, and for no known reason, Christchurch, New Zealand went up in mushroom clouds. The only reason there was not a massive nuclear exchange was that there simply weren't enough people left to run the military machines. Those poor souls in the Eastern Hemisphere had no triunes. I only hoped the survivors could find some sort of peace in their final days. Don't get the idea that the Triad cities were indifferent to the fate of our Sapien brothers and sisters. We took in many survivors, provided they renounce violence, and could adapt to our way of life. A fortunate few even managed to mate with the remaining single triunes.

Unfortunately there were also plenty of Homo Saps running around with guns. There had been a few futile raids on Triad cities. As it was the saps were disorganized, poorly armed, and were soundly routed. Mostly we had to contend with sniper attacks. Sadly all our communities suffered causalities. We lost two triunes in Second Chance which in real terms equaled six deaths. When a triune dies the surviving couple grieve themselves to death. Always. If a triune loses one of its mates it can survive if there is a beloved male or female to take its place. Of course the sniper wanted to kill triunes. It was a pathetic attempt to destroy our way of life.

There was one casualty who was not a triune. The bastards murdered my beloved Ray. I grieve and grieve and there seems to be no end to this sorrow. "Ray!"