Page 28 - The Perpetrations of Captain Kaga

Persuading the Zookeeper of Apadat

untouched. Your own status as leader can only be enhanced by
making a deal for the benefit of your citizenry.”
The admiral’s eyes were beginning to bulge; this was observed by
Kaga, who was ln a position to see the Saldemesan’s profile. The deal
was not going to be made so easily, that was certain. Kaga wondered
to what lengths Borjug would go to get his hands on Apadat’s
gorkalon.

“…Apadat has no desire to establish relations…”

Lipopotom gave no sign of being either upset or impressed by the
admiral’s protestations. “Yes,” he said, “I understand you perfectly.
But you must understand that we represent a level of development
considerably higher than yours. Our ancestors developed extremely
complicated technical and social systems; they were at least as
superficially clever as you appear to be. The result of their
achievements was disaster: only the most intelligent and far-seeing
individuals escaped the chaos following the inevitable breakdown of
the artificial world that had been Apadat. It is probably useless to try

26