Page 51 - The Perpetrations of Captain Kaga

Cooking the Cannibals of Kek-lawa

Rem Fildop and his single small suitcase were ready to go when
Captain Kaga drowsily made his way into the central office the next
morning. They got into the staff car and glided swiftly out to the
Aristarchus. Its bulging opaque hull was bathed in red-orange light
from Fraung, newly risen. Vindelgan and human parted; the landcraft
returned to the base and the spacecraft lifted off the planet with a
great whining roar.
Well, here I am, thought Kaga, as he entered the building. I’d really
like to get outside this compound and visit the Kek, but first I’d
better check over the trade agreement and review the ethnological
reports.
He opened a wall cabinet in the storeroom and rummaged around,
looking for library modules. They were not in their standard location,
he noted, but one shelf down. In their assigned cubbyhole was a
compact device Captain Kaga had not seen before. He turned it over
in his hands until a stamped impression became highlighted. It was
the hardware for the Mungghi-Swallop Gustatory Preference Test.
Kaga examined it briefly, remembering the part it had played in
finding a suitable trade item for the Kek, who had need of nothing
else. Then he replaced it, found the DataCards he sought, and carried
them back to the ComSet in the office.
On impulse he inserted the module giving background on PKU
officers’ home worlds. He wanted to know if Rem Fildop was a
typical Vindelgan. It turned out he was. The patient intelligence of
the higher gastropods was accompanied by a lack of curiosity and a
desire to spend long periods of time sunk in deep meditation. Social
behavior could be turned on and off at will; it was not one of their
basic needs.
So that explains Rem Fildop’s response to this situation, thought
Kaga; now to fill in the Kek side of the equation. He keyed in a
request for details on the negotiations Fildop and Bezinflib had
carried out in the early days of the PKU mission of Kek-lawa, and
learned that the taste test had been performed on the Kek emissary
himself; no other Kek had participated. Bezinflib had brought in a
sample of the Kek staple food, Ulgalga root, which was used in the
analytic procedure. The Kek’s responses to simulated combinations
led to a taste of maximum delicacy. Thus the formula for the
condiment had been determined and the agreement signed.
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