Page 47 - The Perpetrations of Captain Kaga

Cooking the Cannibals of Kek-lawa

…following analysis of the preliminary report filed by the
exploratory mission, a veteran PKU officer was assigned to
Kek-lawa. After brief negotiations, a long-term agreement
was signed providing for the exchange of Kek-lawan
erglonium for alimentary products to be synthesized in the
biovats of Gnur. The Kek arrived at their choice of
condiment by means of the Mungghi-Swallop Gustatory
Preference Test, administered by Rem Fildop, the first PKU
representative. Fildop has remained on Kek-lawa since then,
having found its climate similar to that of his home planet,
Vindelga.

The report ended and Captain Kaga lay back in his acceleration
couch with a sigh. He was the sole passenger on the Aristarchus, en
route to Kek-lawa for his first totally unsupervised assignment since
becoming a full-fledged officer in the PKU. After several years of
continuous service, Rem Fildop was retiring. Since there had been no
reported irregularities during his long tenure, the PKU had decided to
replace him with a young inexperienced officer who would be able to
make an easy transition into a smoothly-running operation.
Captain Kaga looked forward to a straightforward task following
an unusually tumultuous education at the PKU Academy and an
unexpectedly complicated post-graduate training period. It would be
pleasant to settle in at a post for a couple of years and get to know an
alien species first-hand. The outgoing representative would be able to
fill him in on any special things he might need to know about Kek
culture, though Kaga would not be able to spend very much time
with him: Rem Fildop was scheduled to leave on the Aristarchus
within a few hours of its arrival.
The ship landed on Kek-lawa and Kaga oversaw the hydraulic
freight handling from the bridge. In a few minutes all his gear was
neatly stacked on the landing pad. He made sure his Languex was in
working order, tucked his orders into a pocket of his uniform, and
descended to the surface of the planet.
As he had learned from the official report, the temperature and
atmosphere of Kek-lawa were well within the limits of human

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