Page 133 - The Perpetrations of Captain Kaga

Reforming the World of Bolix

“That’s just what happened. They insisted that we beak our contract
with the Surfoids and deal exclusively with them. They let me go after
I demonstrated the superiority of our technology with a signal flare—
by the way, flares are bound to become a hot trade item with the
Innerites, as I call them—but they threatened to attack any mining
operation that didn’t have their sanction.”
Captain Kaga nodded slowly. “I see. And if I remember the
wording of PKU trade agreements correctly, there is no way for us as
outsiders to adjudicate disputes over who possesses the resources on a
planet; that’s why we always deal with the chiefs only. So we can’t
break one contract to sign another, if neither has greater validity: it’s
the same piece of Bolix claimed by the Surfoids on one side and the
Innerites on the other. We are in a stew!”
“I’m glad you said ‘we’,” replied Lieutenant Lugo.
“Well , I do want that free ride you promised,” said Captain Kaga,
grinning. “Now let me get this straight. The Innerites were completely
unknown to the Surfoids, and vice versa?”
“That’s right,” said Lugo. “After I came back up to surface I made a
few discreet inquiries. The Surfoids have no knowledge of any other
intelligent species on—or in—Bolix. And yet…”
“I know what you mean,” said Kaga, looking closely at the
underexposed photographs of Innerite warriors. “There is a definite
morphological similarity: the body segments, the number and
placement of limbs and eyes. Without making a detailed paleogenetic
analysis, I think we can safely say that the Innerites and the Surfoids
have a common ancestor. Possibly a group migrated underground
during a period of ecological or political turmoil. But that really
doesn’t make much difference now; I don’t think the Innerites, from
the way you describe them, would think twice about finding a way up
here and attacking the Surfoids over the rights to the kipitite.”
“Quite true,” said Lugo unhappily, “and it wouldn’t look good for
me to have been responsible for a civil war. It really would be best to
keep the Innerites away from the surface. That will be difficult if we
set up a full-scale mining operation inside the planet. I sealed the shaft
we’ve already dug, even though the Innerites have no means of
pushing past the zero gravity point if they did enter it from their end.”

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