Page 54 - The Perpetrations of Captain Kaga

Cooking the Cannibals of Kek-lawa

lying fallow, dwellings in shambles, and everywhere the signs of a
populace in defeat and disarray. Now he tried to regain his
composure as they entered the office.
“Now do you believe me?” asked Tchorposk.
“Yes,” replied Kaga, “and I promise you something will be done to
rectify the situation, as much as it is in my power to do so. But first,
tell me: how did it get started?”
“Long before you aliens arrived,” began the Kek, “our numbers
had grown to the point of consuming all the game on which we had
primarily relied for our diet. Of necessity, agriculture developed to fill
the gap. Unfortunately, the only thing we have been able to cultivate
successfully thus far is the Ulgalga root, which is nourishing but
bland. The taste for flesh has not merely remained in the Kek palate,
but is actually stimulated by the dullness of our daily fare.”
“It has been known for a long time that certain individuals,
unbalanced in the first place, have, on occasion, stolen corpses for
clandestine cannibalistic orgies, but the Gorzon were always
confident that these were isolated incidents of no great importance.
You must understand that we are not in direct contact with the Kek
masses; the chain of command is kept scrupulously intact. As a result,
we were completely unaware of what was going on until it reached
epidemic proportions.”
“Bezinflib, unbeknownst to the other Gorzon, was one of those
Kek who could barely restrain his appetite for meat. He also
happened to be the one chosen to deal with the alien vessel that one
day came down like a meteor upon us. He returned from his mission
with the news that all of Kek-lawa was now vassal to an alien king,
and that we would have to pay tribute. He further told us that he had
tricked the alien envoy into accepting a worthless element of our
wastelands, and took upon himself the responsibility of handling the
payment.”
“And no other Kek ever came back here to verify his story?” asked
Kaga.
“Certainly not. The word of a Gorzon is not doubted. Now we
know what really happened: how Bezinflib brought in a piece of
cooked Kek to your predecessor and arranged for the delivery of Kek
sauce. That was a fiendishly clever plan: the taste became irresistible,
and Bezinflib soon had a legion of blood-thirsty murderers to supply
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