Prehistoric Ventures no.1

This story, in particular, is not a future, but actually a past that is kind of the start of the present so in a way, the future too. I’m going to write a few of these alternative pasts and see how it goes.

Armit was deep in the cave looking at his stash of meat.

He was one of the best of the tribe with numbers that’s why his stash was there in the first place. Most people in the tribe were not that good at looking at things beyond their noses. They woke up, scratch off the night dust, go towards the exit of the cave hoping not to get fucked over by some sabertooth or whatever species of the annoying feline was passing by while still partially asleep. Then as every day, they would go out scavenging for berries and other small fruit that could be found in the dry season. Every week or so, the whole cave used to meet to plan for a hunting session, as berries were nice, but not all the time.

Armit liked to plan it in advance, sketching some tactics on the wall, but Burba, the biggest of the men always took the piss of him, quite literally as he really enjoyed deleting the sketches with a copious amount of piss. Burba loved that, the dudes loved it too. You know what cave bros can be like. Armit’s plans whether willingly or not ended up being how the cave crew ended up behaving in the hunt. He never really wanted to take merit of his strategy. He used to leave to Burba, the cave’s dominant man, the final and fatal hit to the prey, so he could feel good about himself. Harmony and prosperity were far more important than glory for Armit, but he might have been the only one thinking like that.

After a successful hunt, most men needed to appease their appetite and their egos with the flesh and the blood, keeping good parts for the women and the kids of course. However, out of an antelope, they would manage to go on for a couple of days before the meat would rot if there was any remaining from it.

“We gotta think about the next time you wake up, and the next time after that.” Armit used to rant in the cave while everyone else was napping after a feast.

“Shut up, Armit. Just go in your corner and think in silence about that shit that you call the ‘future’. Now we sleep and enjoying doing so, that’s what matters” This was the typical reaction from Burba and his boys.

“We have to plan, we have to project ahead. It's like thinking whether there is a tiger running in this direction before you actually see it. There is a possibility right now that it is true and if you observe how many times it happens, then you might be able to predict it”.

“Just shut the fuck up! Knowing before something happens? That is crazy talk.”

As a stone flew and hit Armit right in the face, everyone started laughing. “Ah! you couldn’t see that coming? That’s a good start for your theory, Armit! Now go to your wet corner and let us all sleep.”

The problem of stashing meat was a pretty complicated one to solve at first , but Armit tested a few ways. After many failed attempts and a few hungry bellies, he ultimately found a deeper nook in the cave that was a little colder and never got the direct light of the large warm sphere up in the sky. That seemed to keep the meat from decomposing badly and attracting flies. Armit managed to seal the meat, crush a few white rocks over it that tasted nice, so that it would not become rancid but rather turn into some sort soft mushy easier to chew chunk.

At first, Armit was the only one eating this meat, he wasn’t sure it would be edible at first, hence he wasn’t gonna get anyone sick with it, but after a week of eating a little of it at a time, his belly was feeling good. His companion Noouka was the first to try the meat after Armit.

“Are you sure Armit? I mean we are already the laughing joke of the cave and if I suddenly vomit while making one of the baskets with the other women I’m not sure I could withstand their laughs any longer”

“Don’t worry Noouka, this is good and I tested it. It’s gonna be a revolution for me and for you and we are gonna make it out of this corner and finally get a spot in the cave with more air and maybe even one of the premium spots down there with the light beams from above!”

Noouka was smiling as she hated the idea of growing more children in their humid dark corner.

“Yes Noouka, we will be… I’m not sure what we will be but for sure we will be something!”

Noouka took in her palm a little scoop of that slimy meaty paste that Armit was hiding in his sealed nook. As she slowly nibbled pieces of it her all face started to smile and she gulped the rest in one go.

“Ok, Armit. This is something. But we gotta think this straight.”

Noouka like Armit was also good with numbers and more than Armit had also a far better sense of the social dynamics in the cave. She wass one of the most hardworking of the women, with the best and fastest technique to weave baskets and clean animal skins. But she loved to stay in silence and listen to the gossip of the others, rather than being at the center of the stage.

Noouka and Armit stayed for a couple of days in their corner, sketching, talking, sometimes fighting. The rest of the cave in the meantime was keeping up with the daily routine.

As the winter was getting closer, Armit was ready.

“So Burba. How much meat you kept for this coming winter?” Armit asked during a cave meeting.

“We got enough meat and fat on us for the whole winter for sure. We are strong.”

As that winter kept going for more than expected, Burba and the boys started to lose a bit of that fat, Armit instead was healthy and energetic as ever. As he was the one in the last spot on the cave, it was Armit’s role to go out and fetch materials during wintertime, an activity that he hated, not because it was dangerous, but just because it was boring and utterly uncomfortable.

“So Burba, let’s say, would you go out to get material in exchange for something? Like what would you want from me to take my spot?”

“And why would I do that, Armit?”

“Well because I could give you something that you want and like, and you could do my chore in exchange.”

“You are fucking joking! I am Burba and I’m the one in the sunny spot. So I don’t do those things.”

“What is it, Armit?” Asked Bota, one of Burba’s thinner bros.

“Well if you go get materials, I’ll give you a scoop of meat. sounds fair?”

“Hell yeah, I’m in.”

Armit was very happy that Bota accepted his offer, and congratulated Noouka with a cute nose scratch. Bota was also happy as he was kind of hungry and he felt like it was a fair deal to go out in the cold for a nice piece of meat.

For a split second in his head however, he thought that it wasn’t that fair of a deal after all. He would risk his health and status for a small and shortsighted reward, he had no protection from the others and also he might probably consume more energy doing this chore than what he would get back from a scoop of meat. But then he thought about meat and went straight out of the cave to do Armit’s job.

After Bota, all the men and women saw the opportunity and started asking Armit and Nooukas for tasks in exchange for a scoop of meat. Some wanted to weave or hunt for them, some offered their own corner of the cave for a few nights.

Armit and Noouka were having the time of their life and without knowing started the first-ever gigs of the gig economy. Armit and Noouka were also killed just right after as the rest of the cave realized they’ve been hiding meat for the past 6 months.

But you know, die fast and break things.