Page 3 - The Perpetrations of Captain Kaga

Foreword

How, the student of history is invariably asked by a CompTutor,
did the relative order of the twenty-fourth century emerge from the
relative chaos of the twentieth? If the student has paid sufficient
attention to the relevant Grapholog modules, his answer will go
something like this:
Planet Earth, origin of the Protectorate of the Known Universe,
was in a sorry state in the late nineteen-hundreds. The intelligent
species, man, having largely despoiled his own living space, was
threatening to extinguish all terrestrial life in a thermonuclear war.
Technology had advanced at a steeply exponential rate, while social
organization remained rooted in primitive national entities.
At the time, it must have seemed as though the cycle of armament
and conflict could be ended only by total disaster. Those in power
would not act beyond the limited parameters of self- and group-
interest; the rest of humanity tended to behave in a similarly reactive
fashion. Many enlightened individuals saw the doom impending, but
practical means of preventing it were far from evident.
Into this matrix of despair and suspicion came Armando
Waderski, a citizen of one of the wealthier but politically impotent
nations. His name is known to us today only as a result of
historicognitive microanalysis performed in the twenty-third century,
more than two hundred years after the significant events occurred.
Waderski had amassed a fortune in commerce of an illegal sort,
the exact nature of which is still unknown. His contacts were many
and varied throughout the capitals of his world; many persons in
positions of responsibility undoubtedly owed their careers to him,
and he must have used these people in his grand scheme.
The grave of Armando Waderski was also discovered in the
twenty-third century. An autopsy of the remains indicated that death
was due to a rare and almost always fatal cancer of the inner ear. This
fact has led to the formulation of the dominant theory of his
motivation for undertaking the greatest hoax in history.
According to this theory, Waderski must have had knowledge of
his condition for several years before it took his life. The medical
science of his day could effect a diagnosis but not a cure. Research
into cell malignancy was proceeding in several locations in the

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