Page 6 - Fables volume 1

How the Fish Decided to Bypass Evolution

thinking of them as an extra pair of useless fins. But the rest seem to
have caught on to the concept of oxygen extraction. It is somewhat
abstract, you know. When I was a student, Profess Souffleur had just
announced the results of his bubble research.”
“Indeed, madam!” said Gagarin with a wink. “I had not thought you
that old.”
The teacher snapped her puckering lips shut and retreated several
body lengths. “Do go on,” she said primly.
“Blarop!” the director belched. “You’ll have to excuse me, children.
This work takes a tremendous toll on the piscine physiognomy. Now,
as I was saying, numberless generations of fish have filled the waters
of the world. We reproduce in huge quantities, and there isn’t enough
food to go around. Inevitably, some of us have taken to preying on
the others. Do you understand what I mean?”
Gagarin’s audience nodded nervously, its collective gaze never
straying from his bright incisors.
“So we’ve got to branch out, find a new habitat. I have put together
reports from several explorers and traveling salesfish: it seems the
world is at least one-quarter dry land.”
A burbling hubbub broke out among the students.
“Sir!” said Freddy, waving one fin to gain recognition. “What does
‘dry land’ mean?”
“A very good question, youngster. To answer, let me first show you
some wet land.” He swam around the side of the coral branches and
stopped on the rocky bottom near a couple of muscular salmon. The
school followed.
“If you look ahead of us you will see the surface of the water ending
in a line where it meets the ocean floor. That is where wet land ends
and dry land begins, and that is the New Frontier. Our task is to breed
a fish capable of surviving up there. Do you want to take a look?”
The students eagerly clustered around Gagarin as he drifted up to
the surface. Then each of them underwent the same traumatic
experience: as intense cold sharply drilled through their scales, they
gazed popeyed at a distorted panorama of glaring sun and sand. Then
they fell back, gasping. The teacher flitted about her charges, prodding
those who looked greenest about the gills.

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