Free The Eskimo Invasion by Hayden Howard

mammals have much shorter gestation

periods. Growth from fertilized ovum to embryo to fetus to fully formed

baby could proceed more rapidly than nine months, he pondered, if the

prehistorically programmed hormone signals proceeded faster and more

efficiently.
     
     
How do I know? I've just seen it demonstrated. My son is here wiggling

strongly on my chest.
     
     
Smiling at that perfect little red face, Dr. West thought that part of a

nine-month gestation period must be a waste of time anyway, particularly

during the early embryonic stages. How much growth-energy does a

human embryo waste while growing its tail and then absorbing it again? "And our embryonic gills -- ridiculous. Obsolete recapitulation."
     
     
A one-month gestation period really is more logical from a uterine

standpoint, he thought. Approximately once a month an ovum descends a

Fallopian tube toward the uterus, and the walls of the uterus thicken in

preparation. If the ovum isn't fertilized, fails to attach itself, the

uterus sloughs off a bloody discharge which is a signal of failure.

The womb is unfulfilled and its menstrual flow simply reveals a wasted

month, a physiological failure, an inefficiency of the civilized female,

he thought to himself, grinning. Ovarian efficiency would mean a baby

every month.
     
     
For we Homo sapiens, a nine-month gestation period may have been one

of our prehistoric survival advantages, he thought, when we were in

competition with other manlike species. We don't know how long was the

extinct Neanderthal woman's gestation period? Or Peking woman's? Nine

months happened to be a characteristic of our winning species long ago.
     
     
But conditions on Earth now are so different in the same competition

for food and living space, he thought. Perhaps people with a one-month

gestation period will have the advantage?
     
     
Not unless they have food, he thought, worriedly looking down at his

sleeping wife. Her lips were moving, smiling in her dream.
     
     
Like the rest of us, they can't understand or admit they're breeding

toward catastrophe, he thought unhappily. To save them from starvation

this winter they'll need food and other help from outside this so-called

Sanctuary.
     
     
His snow-burned eyes blurred. What should I do first?
     
     
     
     
     
     
2. POLAR BEAR!
     
     
Snowblindness stalked him like a spectral white bear. Through his Arctic

sunglasses, Dr. Joe West's eyes winced. His forehead ached from the

penetrating white glare.
     
     
Across the dazzling ice, shadow-shapes of children and squatty men romped

on all fours. They were pretending to he bears, roaring and giggling as

the bears devoured the children. Watching from their summer parkas with

hoods turned back, the horde of swollen women exposed their squinting

babies to the Arctic sun. Dr. West's eyes pulsed uncomfortably in

the glare.
     
     
He must leave soon and travel fast before his eyes betrayed him. His eyes

seemed weaker every day. He had to leave, he thought. Escape still seemed

too strong a word.
     
     
"Today we go," Dr. West said (asked).
     
     
"Soon-soon we go," Edwardluk agreed pleasantly; his was the only dog team

in the encampment. "The wind will change. This bad ice will be better

tomorrow. We will go."
     
     
"Each day you say that." Dr. West felt trapped in a morass of happy promises

and no action.
     
     
"Eh-eh," Edwardluk laughed, politely agreeing. "The ice will be better.

Your eyes will be better if you stay inside the tent with Marthalik.

Each day we are more all-the-same with you, and you will like us more.

In the winter the ice will be safer ."
     
     
"I like you now." Dr. West tried not to raise his voice. "We must travel

now. As soon as we reach the whitemen, I'll tell them how much you helped

me. The airplanes will drop much food for this camp. We must go now, before

the ice is worse."
     
     
"Eh-eh." Edwardluk unexpectedly stood up as if he were about to do