Page 130 - The Perpetrations of Captain Kaga

Reforming the World of Bolix

out his surroundings. The port inspector was obviously impatient,
hurrying the human through the entry formalities. Kaga presented the
packet of special documents and badges he had found on the ship,
and the Surfoid grabbed them with four limbs while resting on three;
after shuffling the papers rapidly in front of its huge eyeballs, it
handed them back. It then emitted a chorus of sounds, some
mellifluous, some grating on Kaga’s ears. He noted that the Surfoids
had to possess several larynxes in order to produce such simultaneity
of sounds.
The Languex was a bit slow interpreting; designed for single line
utterances, it took much longer to translate Surfoid language into
Galactic Standard English than vice versa. “Yes, yes, all in order here,”
came the inspector’s words at last. “Now you must excuse me. I am
late for group-individual coherence.”
That last Surfoid word must be nearly untranslatable, thought Kaga,
as he watched the heptopod scuttle off into the semi darkness. It
moved with great speed, aided no doubt by the rather weak gravity on
Bolix. That reminded Kaga of the anomalies mentioned in the report;
it did seem odd that such a large planet should have so little pull. He
peered up into the sky, looking for Y27-894, the source of the feeble
illumination present on the surface of Bolix, and was surprised to see a
few dim stars visibly in motion relative to the horizon. The day-night
cycle must be short indeed, Kaga said to himself; another oddity in a
planet this size.
His musing was interrupted by the arrival of Lieutenant Lugo,
driving up in a PKU staff car. “Welcome to Bolix!” Lugo shouted.
“Hop in!”
Captain Kaga seated himself and they drove off into the twilight. He
could tell that his old companion was excited, bursting at the seams to
tell his story. Kaga himself was anticipating the problem with some
satisfaction: it was just like old times, when the two had broken every
rule in the PKU book in order to get themselves out of a scrape.
They pulled into the PKU compound and went into the office.
Lugo’s desk was strewn with maps, charts and photographs. He sat
down behind the mess and laced his stubby fingers together. “This
planet,” he said with feeling, “is unbelievable. Are you familiar with
the results of the initial survey of Bolix?”

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