It seems that each successive story takes the time traveler and his AI further in time from their goal. This episode, rife with Neanderthals and Denisovans, starts off in 42,967 BCE.
What do you get when a Neanderthal, a Denisovan, and a Red Deer Cave sit down around a table together?

Variants

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  1. “Hybrid, Blue by Firelight” by Bill Johnson, in Asimov’s Science Fiction, November/December 2017.
  2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Bill Johnson