A Glibertarians Exclusive: Setting Suns, Part II
The cave – 28,000 years ago
When a flock of birds gathers to migrate, there is no time scheduled and no particular single decision. The flock will gather, slowly, over the course of days or even weeks. Over that course of time the birds will burst into flight, whirl around the sky, then land again, over and over, until one day, suddenly, for no discernable reason, a tipping point is reached, and the entire flock takes wing and leaves the summer nesting grounds.
So it was with the People. When Tuk said “tomorrow,” none of the clan understood that to mean any specific time; they had not the concept of hours, minutes, schedules. Instead, they went about their morning routines as usual. Eba awoke, chewed a birch twig to clean her teeth, breakfasted on some leftover stewed mussels from the previous evening’s meal, then helped Eda and Tlee cut up the red deer quarters into long, thin strips and stretch them on the drying racks over several small, smoky fires. The others went about the chores of living as usual: Making and repairing tools, knapping flint gathered from an outcropping up the coast, working hides for wraps and bedding.
About midday, when the sun was high in the sky, Tuk walked out of the back of the cave where he had been brooding over the clan’s symbol etched into the rock. He walked to the big communal fire just outside the cave’s opening and sat down on a large, flat rock that was reserved for the clan’s elder. Seeing this, the clan slowly coalesced around him, taking some time to do so. Little Ghee, as usual, ran around making a happy nuisance of himself, but was treated tolerantly. The People were gentle with children, and Ghee was the only small child in the clan, and thus doubly precious.
When all this had happened and the clan was seated, quietly, around the fire, Tuk looked up at the sky. A small gray cloud was drifting across the great field of blue. He nodded.
“When was the last time we encountered another clan?” he asked.
“Four summers ago,” Kleg said. “I met three of their hunters, two days’ walk across the ‘above.’ They invited me to visit their clan, and I hunted with them for a week before returning home.”
“How many were there?”
Kleg thought for a moment, then held up both hands; all the fingers on one hand outstretched, and two fingers on the other. “Three mated pairs. One child.”
“Have you been back?”
“Last summer. They were gone.”
“There are so few of the People,” Tuk observed, “and so many of the Runners.”
“They flock like birds,” Gula said. “If they could fly, they would fill the sky.”
“They are not birds,” Hoo snapped. “They are the Runners, and they are many where we are few. What can we do? They will take all the game, they will take all the hunting grounds, and the People will go hungry.”
“If they could talk,” Eda said, “we could talk to them. Has anyone tried?”
“They cannot talk,” Tuk frowned. “I have been near them, before we crossed the mountains. They chatter like squirrels. I think that the noises they make may be talking, among them, but it is not talking to us.”
“They are people,” Eda objected. “They talk to each other; they can learn to talk to us, or us to them.”
“They are people,” Hoo said, “Maybe. But they are not People. How would we begin to learn to talk to them?”
Nobody had a good answer to that.
Eba sat quietly, thinking. She heard the raucous call of a sea bird flying past the cave. She looked at little Ghee, for once sleeping quietly in his mother’s arms while the clan talked. She knew that her own chances of having children were slim, unless there were other clans of the People somewhere. That thought prompted her to speak up. “Maybe,” she said, “we should leave our cave here. We crossed the mountains to come here. We could move again. We could find more of the People.”
“Where would we go?” Hoo gestured at the beach. “The land ends here. We could go ‘above,’ see if there is more land to north or west, but the Runners are already flocking over that land, and where the Runners come, the People leave.”
“The People must be going somewhere,” Eba pointed out.
“The People,” Tuk said quietly, “the ones that are disappearing, they may be setting their feet on the Star-Path.”
Eba remembered Hwoogh. Suddenly Tuk’s suggestion seemed all too likely. She sat quietly again, stroking her brow ridges, as was her habit when thinking.
“What to do, then?” Hoo asked.
Tlee spoke up. “Ghee is too little,” she said. “I do not want to go on a long journey with him being so small.”
Eba decided not to point out that she was still younger when the clan had crossed the mountains. “Can a few of us walk across the ‘above,’ to see if we can find any more of the People? And, if we encounter any of the Runners, try to speak to them?”
Hoo’s brow ridges shot upwards; he had not missed Eba including herself in the proposed journey. “This might not be a bad thing,” Hoo agreed. “Eba needs a mate. There is no one in our clan that is not taboo to her. In time, Ghee will need a mate, too. Perhaps we can find another clan and combine the two to form one clan.”
“Who would go?” Tuk asked.
Hoo thought about that. It was a serious question. “I would go,” he said after a few moments. “I would like Gula and Tep to come with me. That leaves Kleg and Vekk to stay here as hunters.”
“I would come as well,” Eba said.
“Are you sure?” Hoo asked. “We will be gone for many days. We may encounter the Runners.”
“I am the one who lacks a mate,” Eba pointed out. “If we find another clan, I would like to be there, to see with whom I might mate for myself.”
“That is not unreasonable,” Tuk said. “It is Eba’s right to refuse any proposed mate. Such is our tradition. There would be little purpose to bringing a young man all the way back to our home only to find Eba does not like him.”
“Eba is strong and capable,” Hoo said, nodding. “She should do well enough on the journey.”
“It is decided, then,” Tuk said. “I will speak with the spirits. If there is no bad sign from them, you can leave tomorrow.”
That evening, the four travelers gathered tools. Eba selected a supply of dried deer meat and fish, in case they could not find sufficient game. The men sharpened spear points in the fire and inspected their flint knives, re-knapping the edges as needed. Then, as the Star-Path showed in the sky, they slept.
Hoo, anxious to be on the way, woke the others the next morning as the sun was just a pale glint in the east. Eba was still rubbing sleep from her eyes when Tuk had them stand in a line. The elder had his ivory bowl, this time filled with water from the sea. Starting with Hoo, he dipped his hand in the water and rubbed it on each of the travelers’ sloped foreheads, just above their brow ridges. “This,” he said, “the water from the sea, it will guide you home when it is time for you to return.”
Every member of the clan then touched their foreheads with the travelers, rubbing their brow ridges together. Many eyes were damp. Ghee looked around, confused; he was too young to understand, but his mother lifted him to touch brow ridges with those that were departing.
Then, with nothing else to say, the four walked to the sloping path to ‘above’ and went on their way.
***
Many in a circle,
Slowly ’round the fire,
When he is gone,
I want to know him better.
No one is forsaken.
No one is a liar.
He plants the tree of life on our foreheads with water.
Note: This one isn’t a Bob Dylan creation but was in fact written by The Grateful Dead’s Donna Jean Godchaux. You can hear the original here.
This one’s kind of heavy.
I can’t imagine going on a journey with no real idea of where I was going, carrying everything I needed on my back, and not knowing if I would ever get back to my people.
Weren’t you an enlisted man?
Yep, but that’s a different level.
Hell, I can’t imagine doing what the pioneers did in this country just a century and a half ago. Every time I fly across country, I think of how the trip I am taking in hours was measured in months for people with horse and wagon.
Absolutely. When I visit the Badlands I imagine how demoralizing it must have been for those brave fuckers. Miles and miles of poisoned land. And it wasn’t even that long ago.
Poisoned land, potentially hostile natives, no idea what was over the next hill.
That took a lot of courage.
In a pinch, desperation will serve as a passable substitute.
Speaking of pioneers. Does anyone know if the Daily Wire movie with Gina Carano “Terror on the Prairie” worth it.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/quintessentially-american-western-terror-on-the-prairie-starring-gina-carano-debuts-june-14
Is it based on “The Curse of Yig”?
No,
“Quintessentially American Western Terror”, without the punctuation, made me think ‘Bone Tomahawk’.
Which you could tie back into the ongoing story.
“What happened to ‘The People’ who weren’t worried about a little thing like taboo?”
I used to say “there’s no such thing as a bad western” but then Alec Baldwin started killing people, so…?
*modern pioneer diary*
Well we’ve been on the wagon trail for at least fifteen minutes and my Instagram account has thirty new followers.
Watch out for the dysentery.
I’m researching the Lewis and Clark expedition now. It is hard to think what I may have said when Jefferson called me into his office and asked me to go 7600 miles through unknown and possibly hostile territory.
Good chapter. What do you do when every option is a bad one?
Thanks, Animal!
Between twi evils, i tend to pick the one I’ve never tried before.
— Mae West, Klondike Annie
I stumbled on this a while back, and the conflict of the People and the Runners reminds me a bit of it.
Sorry, Animal, I can’t help myself sometimes.
Experts say
Standard economic theory holds that profit margins are “mean-reverting’’ – in other words, they tend to be pulled back to normal levels. It’s supposed to work like this: An industry with high profits should attract new entrants, with increased competition forcing margins lower.
Not mentioned: one-hundred-plus years of regulatory capture and barriers to entry.
What does “standard economic theory” say about government-created cartels?
Every time I fly across country, I think of how the trip I am taking in hours was measured in months for people with horse and wagon.
Driving across Nevada on US 50 in a BMW at 85mph is bad enough. Walking behind a Conestoga wagon would be a convincing approximation of Hell.
This is how you gaslight.
Despite Multiple Arson Arrests, MSM Continues to Blame Canada Wildfires on ‘Climate Change’
Your link. I do not think it works like you think it works.
Sometimes it works, sometimes not.
https://21stcenturywire.com/2023/06/09/despite-multiple-arson-arrests-msm-continuesto-blames-canada-wildfires-on-climate-change/
One of the linked tweets.
https://twitter.com/MaximeBernier/status/1666446446076260352
Big MIC party onsite today. No idea who in particular, but ever since we got the “trusted foundry” designation the management has been making a play for the defense spending cash firehose.
Enjoy it while you’ve got it, New York has made reliable electricity illegal.
Also the reason natural gas must be forbidden. We need to make you more dependant on the state.
Also as NY and NYC continue to circle the drain.
Manhattan street-brawl murder is a surreal sign of what’s to come
This is right on my walk to the office during the same time as my AM walk. The fact that folks are ignore a street brawl and accepted this as the “new normal” is absolutely on point.
Wow. And that dead guy thought he could out box a man with a knife…
I got this, I’ve watched some Krav Maga videos on Youtube.
+1 Roadhouse
The best knife defense video ever made.
The best knife defense video ever made.
When I was in training to become a Marine Corps Martial Arts Instructor, we learned knife fighting techniques.
Our Instructor told us the first rule of knife fighting: “Don’t do it. You WILL get stabbed.”
Am disappoint. I thought the knife defense video would be this.
Yes – If I was cornered or trying to protect a family member I’d try some of those knife-defense moves the Marines taught me. Otherwise I’m running away until I get to a gun.
The people walking right by them. WTF?
Crazy. But this shit has spread everywhere.
Case in point.
Lunchtime on a Monday.
Naturally, in both places it must be Team Red’s fault.
I seem to recall that behavior being a NY stereotype of the 1970’s.
Just keep on walkin’
Somebody in the comments compared it to Gotham in the first half of any Batman movie.
It was on point.
Let’s not forget the impending trial of the guy who choked the crazy who threatened to kill everyone on the train.
Call 9-1-1 añd tell them “officer down” to get quick response.
Don’t be on site when they get there. Next thing you know, you’re holding someone’s drop pistol in your cold dead fingers.
Also acceptable “Someone mispronouned me” will equally get the officers there too.
Are there still payphones in the city? I’m not calling from my cell – they’d probably go to my house and shoot my dog.
At least it’s not the fascist suburbs.
Waiting for the print media to run this story with two white guys in a fighting stance as the headliner photo.
They reportedly identify as white supremacists.
They haven’t seen dark yet, not even dusky.
OK, so apparently black man survived and arrested – the other guy? Couldn’t tell – how am I supposed to know what racial outrage to support?
Not racial outrage.
Blasphemy!
Big party in Syracuse. Some poeple got shot, some stabbed, a couple run over. All the casualties were between the ages of 17-25.
https://www.syracuse.com/crime/2023/06/hundreds-enjoying-outdoor-party-in-syracuse-suddenly-fight-breaks-out-dozens-of-gunshots-erupt-heres-what-happened.html
Actually, a non-paywalled version of the story is running on the website of the… Chicago Tribune.
1.5 miles from my childhood home.
No surprise, terrible neighborhood.
It might slow slightly.
U.S. to Allow South Korean, Taiwan Chip Makers to Keep Operations in China
Politicians would never underestimate the difficulty of moving very complicated production lines.
Simple, you bomb the crap out of the existing plants and let the spike in prices motivate someone to build in a preferred locale.
Same reason CA can’t immediatlely get it’s special 11 herbs and spices blend of gasoline when something happens to one of its refineries.
It’s always Big Oil’s fault.
I miss the days when the powers that be were looking after their own selfish interests instead of those of foreign powers.
This would be funny in a movie.
She says U.S. @VP @KamalaHarris was ridiculed in Zambia. She went to the African nation to discourage Africa-China ties. However, she landed at a Chinese-built airport, was driven on a Chinese-built road, and her summit took place at a Chinese building gifted to Zambia.
Too late.
So oppressed.
Michigan’s highest court is considering a rule that would compel judges and their employees to use the preferred pronouns of anyone coming before their courts.
If the Michigan Supreme Court adopts a new rule proposed earlier this year, parties in a case could submit filings listing their personal pronouns, including they/them pronouns.
Judges and court staff throughout the state would be obligated to adhere to those pronouns, although the proposal leaves room for a judge to use the person’s name “or other respectful means” to address them if deemed necessary for court records.
My pronouns are “Your Honor”
Something, something “compelled speech”.
Bake the Cake, Bigot.
Code the website, arrange the flowers and say the pronoun you Nazi!
Bake/the cake/bigot
How does that work in court where everything is based on facts on record?
There are no facts, only truths and everyone has their own.
*falls out of chair laughing*
Facts are for the weak.
Music link… Right Album, wrong song.
That kid looks rightfully uncomfortable.
Children watch ‘Boston Area Pets’ walk by in the today’s pride parade and see other sexually explicit dressed people.
Large banner reads:
“Your Sex is Political”
It is because it is a political agenda.
Sick. What the fuck is wrong with those parents?
Completely self-obsessed, narcissistic assholes who think fucking is the end-all, be-all of moral worth.
They simultaneously believe that judging people is a heinous act, but immediately judge those who might find certain acts distasteful. They’re losers who think they’ve found a way to force social endorsement of themselves.
Think of all the talk about Trump while these weirdos fuck.
Yeah baby, stick in my butt like you’re pegging Donny!”
“This sex, this pegging… flaccid, no enthusiasm. The worst, really. Sad.”
Also, a horrible new meaning for “MAGA” has popped into my head.
My Ass Gonna Ache?
Make Anal Great Again?
My Ass Gives AIDS?
Massively Abused Gaping Asshole?
Interestingly enough, I have seen plenty of people more vocal about needing a divorce and these people and their allies are all for just murdering people who want to walk away. So yes, it is a political agenda.
I used to say “politics is poison”. It’s worse now. It’s a genuine psychopathic disorder.
When is “Straight Pride Month?”. I can’t wait to see the Playboy Rabbit flag hanging from the White House.
Holy shit!
Elephant vs Rhino.
Never bring a horn to a tusk fight.
He just walks calmly away, cock a swingin’.
You’re not kidding. He’s gonna trip over that thing.
Mess with the bull, you get the
hornstusks.Fight music
There is only one fight music.
Good call. I stand corrected.
MAGA vs. The Lincoln Project
The important question. Was that a White Rhino or a Black Rhino?
https://www.safariventures.com/white-rhino-vs-black-rhino/#:~:text=White%20rhinos%20tend%20to%20be,usually%20go%20over%201%2C000%20kilograms.
Jeebus. I don’t see how the rhino survives.