Page 117 - The Perpetrations of Captain Kaga

Fasting the Plastiphage

Kaga grabbed his Languex and hurried out behind the rapidly
departing priest. They ran down the stone steps to the Hall of the
Plastiphage. A dozen priests were milling about the gallery, talking
excitedly among themselves. Stimgage called for silence, and Kaga was
able to hear a low chirping sound coming from the center of ‘the
chamber. He aimed the Languex at it and activated the translation
software.
“This is it,” he said to Stimgage, “The break I’ve been waiting for.
The Plastiphage can speak. In a few moments I will be able to
converse with it directly. You must realize by now that this device can
only interpret one language at a time into another, so none of you will
understand what is being said. I am going down on the floor now: just
give me a hand—I’m not as spry as I look. Tell the High Priest that I
am obeying a command of the Plastiphage to approach it.”
Once in the pit, Captain Kaga walked slowly toward the Plastiphage.
He stopped several meters away from it and made sure the Languex
was ready. Then he said, “Greetings.”
The creature responded immediately, a shrill hooting that came out
of the Languex as a tense contralto. “Human, I am at your mercy. Do
not torture me anymore. Please kill me quickly instead of starving me
to death.”
“I wish to help you, not harm you,” said Kaga. “You have been
denied food in order to cure your illness. You would not speak, so I
had no alternative. The others cannot understand what we are saying.
I am from another world whose technology is far advanced from that
of this one. You must trust me.”
The creature was silent. Kaga held his breath. Only the Plastiphage
could save the situation now, for itself as well as everyone else in the
Great Temple. But it had to keep talking. Finally it made a great
hissing and began to speak.
“I’m sorry about that human I injured. It just couldn’t be helped.
He was covered in the most delicious plastic.”
“That’s all right,” reassured Captain Kaga. “He is almost completely
recovered. What of yourself? How do you come to be here and what
is the nature of your metabolic disturbance? I must know more about
you in order to help.”
The creature shifted in six places, finding new centers of gravity. “I
suppose it is time to reveal the truth. My origin on this planet occurred
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