Page 46 - Fables volume 3

Homo Furtivus

The meeting place, after Beringia submerged, had moved from
island to island as climatological and political conditions changed
through the centuries. Survivors of the Homo sapiens invasion had
quickly realized they had little chance against the newcomers. Some,
like the Neanderthals, attempted a modus vivendi, and were absorbed
into the dominant gene pool without much trace. But the Cro-
Magnon kept migrating north, better able to withstand the cold and
much more skilled in hunting and fishing than their agricultural
enemies.
Then the continents drifted apart, leaving eastern and western
tribes isolated in similar but shrinking habitats. Their populations
accordingly shrank rapidly to the point where inbreeding would have
quickly destroyed them without intermarriage. More intelligent and
stronger than the prevailing hominids, they had avoided contact while
observing world history as it unfolded disastrously toward them. But
they persevered, assimilation never considered possible.
This year’s meeting occurred, as it had for several decades, on
Medny Island in the Bering Straits. It lay at the boundary of empires,
a buffer left unpopulated as a nature preserve and unvisited in the
dead of winter. At the solstice two large baidara canoes, apparently
carrying Aleuts in sealskin coats, landed on the northern coast from
opposite directions. The parties approached other warily in the gloom
of arctic night until each was certain of the other’s identity. Then
their leaders met for a brief conference. They were not Aleuts.
“Greetings, Man of the West.” The first to speak made a sign with
his hands. “The weather will not long hold for our return voyage. We
must leave quickly.”
“I concur,” said the other, returning the gesture. “I see you were
again unable to find six marriageable young women.”
“No,” sighed the Man of the East. “These four were the only ones
with enough stamina to make the trip. It is a brutal qualification, but
we know its necessity.”
“And we could only muster three. Barely enough to make a crew.
But that attests to their proficiency and fortitude.”

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