Page 37 - The Perpetrations of Captain Kaga

Resolving the Mechanalog Ambiguity

wearer started to inhale, and delivered air until he stopped. The
device was so unobtrusive that a few minutes outside the base Kaga
forgot he was using it.
The Mechanalogs inhabited several of the buildings near the PKU
post. Other units were deserted and falling into disrepair; Kaga
remembered from the preliminary report that the Mechanalogs could
not use many of the facilities of the original inhabitants, and had
abandoned them. He thought it would be interesting to poke around
in the ruins; perhaps a lot could be inferred about their builders’
biological characteristics and cultural habits.
Kaga’s archaeological reveries were interrupted when they came to
the entrance of one of the structures still in use. It was a long, low,
single-story building with skylights and windows on all sides. Colonel
Krif approached a large metal door and pressed a button on the wall
next to it. After a moment, a voice came to them, amplified from a
speaker just above their heads. Their Languexes immediately
rendered the stream of sound into GSE.
“Who’s there, please?’’
“This is Colonel Krif, PKU representative on Mazinoza. With me
is my assistant, Captain Kaga. We request entry to discuss matters of
mutual interest.”
“Come in,” said the voice, and the door slid open. Kaga and Krif
went inside.
A Mechanalog rolled up to greet them. It resembled other multi-
function robots Kaga had seen: the turreting head, flexible limbs, and
four-wheeled body were inevitable features of generalized mobility in
a flat environment.
“Welcome to Mazinoza, and to my residence, Colonel Krif and
Captain Kaga. I am Flobonda, king of this territory and, I suppose, of
the entire planet now. Before the Great Transfer, I was the latest in a
series of hereditary monarchs. Now I have the job indefinitely, with
no chance of a successor. Won’t you have a seat? I had some chairs
built after the first PKU group paid me a visit.”
Kaga and Krif sat down; Flobonda took up a position in front of
them, and turned his head back and forth, surveying his guests.
“We saw your ship land, so my ministers agreed to meet here as
soon as you came over.” A buzzer sounded. “That must be them
now.”
35