Page 107 - The Perpetrations of Captain Kaga

Fasting the Plastiphage

engines were probably ruined, and the survivors must
have quickly realized that they were stuck for good.
Burdleim evidently organized his friends and employees
into a new social order based on communal farming.

Now the screen showed a procession of robed men walking
solemnly out of the huge stone edifice, several carrying oddly shaped
plastic objects.

Political and religious authority on Burdleim rest in the
hands of the Hierotechs, a small group of men who
control the rudimentary plastic injection molding
devices concealed within the walls of the Great
Temple. It is not clear why the machinery was originally
set up. None of the PKU representatives has been
allowed to examine the factory, so it is not known
whether the equipment was carried on the yacht,
possibly for Burdleim’s amusement, or his engineers
later constructed it of parts and material salvaged from
the useless spaceship.

Large pools of oil once were found on the surface of
the planet; all have been drained, their contents used to
produce what the Burdleimians call plastikons. These
objects are treated with reverence by the rural folk, who
view their seemingly miraculous production as proof
that the Hierotechs have the blessing of Burdleim, their
deified founder. However, there is no trace of
subsurface oil; the only mineral resource of interest to
the PKU is pendulite, which could be profitably mined.
The Hierotechs refuse to enter into any agreements and
have limited our presence to a single representative
who is restricted to a small area within the temple
complex.

At this point a new voice continued the commentary, without video.
Kaga immediately recognized it as belonging to Lieutenant Lugo, his
old companion in misadventure. He listened with growing
apprehension to his friend’s addition to the report.
105