Page 59 - The Perpetrations of Captain Kaga

Serving the Chocolate Eclipse

himself against the wind, so Kaga had to lean close to hear his reply.
“I am Zunok, son of Portoz, grandson of Bibo. They were priests,
and learned the secrets of time and space, of light and dark, of sun
and wind. I, too, would have become a priest, but a grudge was borne
between my fatherland and the high priest. Having no land or
livestock, I became a wandering vendor of timepieces. For you,
today, since you are a guest among the Mula, and I have had no other
clients, I can let you have one for the insignificant sum of one
hundred quampa shells—or one-tenth of a chocolate bar.”
“A sun dial!” Kaga exclaimed. “So you Mulos do have clocks. I
didn’t know that. How does it work?”
“Ah,” said the other. “That is a secret known only to the inner
circle of the priesthood. But all that I, or anyone who purchases a
timepiece, needs to know is how to use it. By tradition, our day is
divided into ten units, as are all rightly formed things. You, I see,
have ten sublimbs. That is good. Other aliens have had six or nine or
twenty-two; I would not have shown them my wares.”
Kaga remembered from his studies that every numbering system in
Somogo had ten as its base, from measurements of mass and volume
to calendar divisions. Now, it seemed that the priests had developed
an even finer gradation of temporality. Kaga realized he would get no
further information without buying one of the objects; that
transaction completed, the old Mula showed him how to read it.
“Here you see ten lines incised upon the face of the stone. Each
space between them corresponds to one of the ten hours of the day:
post-sunrise, early day, middle day, late day, pre-sunset, post-sunset,
early night, middle night, late night, and pre-sunrise. Only the spaces
above this central line are of use, however, since Blorath must be in
the heavens for the device to register. It is said that the high priest
has a way of telling time at night—but how can this be, if Blorath is
not there?”
“I cannot say,” replied Kaga, truthfully; for PKU officers were not
allowed to spread their own technology among alien populations
without very special permission.
After receiving instruction on setting up the gnomon, Kaga
returned to the PKU base with his souvenir. He immediately began
researching Mulo astronomy. Little was recorded: the priests
practiced many arcane arts and sciences known only to them.
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