Page 64 - The Perpetrations of Captain Kaga

Settling the Strike on the Plateau

Captain Kaga had been surprised to learn that the PKU
representative he would be replacing on Oolyakoo was none other
than his old friend Lieutenant Lugo. They had gone their separate
ways after the affair on Apadat at the end of their training period, and
Kaga had not heard from him since. Now, as the Copernicus
ponderously decelerated in a trajectory toward the PKU base on
Oolyakoo, he looked forward to a necessarily brief reunion.
It was during his study of the most current report on his new post
that Kaga had discovered the identity of the resident PKU officer.
The final lines still stuck in his mind:

…and although the PKU had been trading with the Elders
for more than thirty years, it was only recently established
that the base itself was in a location which diminished the
prestige of the PKU, and which might therefore cause
problems in future negotiations. As an avian species, the
Oolyakooans have an elaborate spatially-oriented system
of values and goals. This may be summarized as a
premium on altitude, with a concomitant distaste for the
lower elevations. The Elders traditionally live in the
highest nests on the continent, carved into the uppermost
reaches of the Ligonogo Escarpment; several otherwise
desirable nesting sites remain undeveloped because of their
lack of altitude.

The implications of this ethnographic fact were ignored by
earlier PKU missions to Oolyakoo, and our base location
was chosen purely on practical criteria—ease of take-off
and landing, and proximity to the chromolith quarries. But
it would have proved a disadvantageous location from
which to pursue further contacts with the Elders. The
current representative, Lieutenant Lugo, after diligent
research into Oolyakooan customs and beliefs, realized
that the base location was undesirable and moved it up to
a plateau whose level is only slightly lower than the Elders’
nests. His intelligence and initiative in making this move
are to be commended.
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