Page 33 - The Perpetrations of Captain Kaga

Resolving the Mechanalog Ambiguity

A buzzer sounded and a light flashed, signalling the entry of
PKU personnel transport vessel Ptolemy into deepspace jump mode.
Captain Kaga released himself from his acceleration couch and
glanced up at the ETA on Mazinoza. They would arrive in six
hours plus deceleration and landing time. Kaga then looked at the
other occupant of the cabin, Colonel Krif. The slender segmented
body of the first official PKU emissary to Mazinoza lay inert in its
harness. Kaga had seen him inject an inky substance into his
abdomen shortly before take-off; space flight was an occasion for
Krif to drug himself into oblivion.
Captain Kaga, however, was wide awake and restless. He knew
he should be sleeping while the automatic controls of the Ptolemy
directed them to their destination, but this was his first field
assignment and he looked forward eagerly to its challenges. He was
accompanying Colonel Krif as a sort of apprenticeship; although he
had his commission, the PKU wanted its new officers to start out
slowly. Kaga had not met Krif before boarding the spacecraft, nor
had he any previous encounters with the natives of Hurga, of
whom the Colonel was one.
Kaga decided to run through the preliminary report on Mazinoza
once more. He had viewed it several times before leaving, but now
he wanted to be sure he understood it completely. Since they were
to be the first PKU representatives on the newly-discovered planet,
it was important to remember as much detail as possible. Just like
knowing your customers before you try to sell them your product,
the instructor at the PKU Academy had told the cadets. And
indeed it was a kind of sale: the inhabitants of Mazinoza had to be
peacefully persuaded to join the federation of civilized worlds the
PKU represented and controlled indirectly through trade and
communications.
The exploratory mission that found Mazinoza had filed a lengthy
report; Kaga called it up from the ship’s library and skipped past
the introductory remarks.

The atmosphere is not compatible with humanoid require-
ments, but other species may be able to breathe in it. It is

31