A pure fractal made in Apophysis 2.09, mirrored to make the Nhellfant Arch
Fleet security for admirals, especially ones about the business of safeguarding humanity's leeway in space, is a no-nonsense business with sometimes hilarious results.
The above, above the arch of Admiral Benjamin Banneker's door in his home in San Francisco, probably came nearer to assassinating him than any other attempt, because he laughed so hard about it.
“Is this what we have come to in the 23rd century, Cmdr. Wilberforce? Can't shoot a phaser or a photon torpedo through, so we are sending heavy bone garden display pieces in the hopes that they will fall on old men?”
Cmdr. Wilderforce was not as amused, being in charge of my uncle's security and knowing only half the story.
“It's a fair sight more than that, Admiral, although, granted, once we have checked it out and the trial is all over for those who delivered and paid for it, if you want us to put it in your garden, we will.”
“I'm going to return that thing to Ghrigori 5 where it belongs in its natural habitat – the fact that it is here is a colossal misunderstanding a century old!”
I smiled, because I did know the story … a century earlier, a delegation of Bhuteellians were visiting their trading partners when a fierce hurricane had blown up. Ghrigori 5 is still known for its ability to spin up massive storms with relatively little warning even given the most up-to-date technology, but a century ago, storms almost seemed to drop out of clear blue skies. The Ghrigorians had given their friends shelter, and then along the shore they had found the skeletons of Nhellfants that had cracked off the top of the arrays they make in death that keep the bulk of the storm surge off the shore.
“When a Nhellfant is ready to die, and there is a spare piece of sand available,” my uncle explained to Cmdr. Wilberforce, “it will lay itself down. Another Nhellfant who is ready will lock in a guarding position over the first, and then a third will come and stack over the second. When they die, their bodies fuse in that array, and provide shelter for the sea gardens of Ghrigori 5 and also a wonderful surge break for their storm-ridden coasts.
Original photo by Tabby Cat from Pixabay, with pure fractal made in Apophysis 2.09 inserted in Paint 3D
“It is always the third Nhellfant in the array that breaks off, and by counting how many there are, the Ghrigorians can tell how severe the storm was. What usually happens is that they will take the Nhellfant skeletons washed ashore and lay them down on the sea bed, and the whole process will start over, just like other Nhellfants will come and top off the broken arrays left behind.
“The hurricane in question, Commander, was a very strong one – in Earthly terms a Category 5 making one wonder if there really should be a Category 6 – and a lot of Nhellfant skeletons were pushed ashore. The Ghrigorians thought nothing of this, and neither did most of the Bhuteellians – they were all grateful to be alive, and they could see how, even broken off, the Nhellfant skeletons had interlocked and formed another surge break on shore. So, Nhellfant skeletons are actually a blessing – keep that in mind, Commander.
“But some of the Bhuteellians knew they also traded with the Khaili, and the Khaili would pay them huge sums for those skeletons. The Khaili observed, without ever needing Newton to tell them, that there were two laws of thermodynamics: matter is neither being created nor destroyed, and useful energy is running toward entropy that cannot be used, all the time. That is to say, the “energy” of death and decay is expanding all the time – the effect it has on others before even claiming them is powerful – but there are things that can resist and harness that energy in their belief system, and can move its flow toward and away from different living entities. So, understand, Commander, again: from the Khailien general perspective, a sturdy skeleton like a Nhellfant one is again a blessing, because it is slow to decay, and in death holds off the power of death toward others.”
“Wait, what – this isn't a security risk?” Cmdr. Wilberforce said.
“It isn't, but I haven't gotten to the funny part yet,” my uncle said. “Anyhow, the Bhuteellians told their Ghrigorian friends that they had other trading partners who really would appreciate the way Nhellfant skeletons held off death, and asked if they might have the skeletons the Ghrigorians did not need for their own habitat. The Ghrigorians were glad to do this, and so that is how tens of thousands of these got to the planet Kahal, where they are dried and are presented as you see over my door.
“But, enter humanity, about 50 years ago … .”
Cmdr. Wilberforce put his head in his hand.
“I see where you are going, Admiral … do you ever feel embarrassment, sometimes, just being a human?”
“I would if I didn't study,” my uncle said. “There is too much going on Earth, to say nothing of the galaxy, to not be constantly getting caught out ignorant if you don't actually do the work to understand what other people and sentient beings believe – which is how we get to some of the members of the first human settlement on Kahal misunderstanding the Khailien religion through the lens of how we generally view skulls and skeletons as reminders of the mortality that we desperately try to deny and fend off, and skulls and the like therefore are more like death and fear attractors – the exact opposite of the Khailien view.”
“Wait … isn't that like the common misunderstanding of hoodoo and voodoo on Earth?” Cmdr. Wilderforce said.
“It is,” my uncle said, “just three degrees deeper in interstellar misunderstanding.
“So, we have a population of human beings established on Kahal, worshiping the energy of death along with their hosts, but having the use of things like skulls, bones, and fossils exactly reversed. The Khailiens still do not suspect that the humans in question are enacting revenge moves when sending those items out to other people, because it has neither occurred to them, the Bhuteellians, or the Ghrigorians that you can just turn a blessing into a curse because your silly human self wants to. I only need to say here that the multi-trillionaire who is mad at me for wrecking his investments the other day is descended from those Kahalis, as the term goes to distinguish humans settled there.”
“So, this is an act of attempted murder …. just a really stupid one,” Cmdr. Wilberforce said.
“Yes, sir, that is it,” Uncle Benjamin said. “I mean he went top of the line, because a century down the line, finding one of these that isn't in a temple somewhere on Kahal is a tough job. This is an investment of at least a million of any major currency we work with in the human-led consortium … to bless me.”
Cmdr. Wilberforce's brown eyes became very bright and his face turned bright pink from the effort of not busting out laughing on duty.
“But that's not even the funny part,” Uncle Benjamin said. “The funny part is going to be in court, when a charge of attempted murder gets brought all the way down to misdemeanor trespass after I tell this whole story and this multi-trillionaire realizes he's going home, but all this is going onto the public record.”
“Oh, my – let me go start the process of having him picked up, because we all are going to have a good time laughing that day off of this!” Cmdr. Wilberforce said.
We had to go back up to the Amanirenas that night while the investigation continued at the house, but that allowed the Amanirenas's command staff to have a good laugh as well, although my first officer, Cmdr. Helmut Allemande, had a piercing comment.
“I suppose when you worship entropy these things happen, since by definition, entropy is not doing anything for anyone,” he said. “You are left to your own foolish devices that much faster because foolishness is itself a form of spiritual entropy.”
“See, we were having a good time, and here you come, Commander!” Lt. Cmdr. James Doohan said.
“But the point is well-taken,” I said as their captain. “We love life, and so come together and have a good time with that purpose. We don't come together plotting evil and we don't engage in foolishness for every reason that Cmdr. Allemande said.”
Because the fleet takes all religious practices seriously, he who had paid for the Nhellfant skeleton arch to be put over my uncle's door would be charged with attempted murder initially, and then my uncle's testimony would have the charge brought down as he said … with the associated complete humiliation of his foe, who learned a hard lesson about how you don't come up against Benjamin Banneker unlearned and unready!
“People need to realize: you can't take what was meant for a blessing and make it into a curse,” Uncle Benjamin said to the news media about the matter. “That's not how any of this works in this galaxy!”
After the brief trial, Uncle Benjamin had the Nhellfant skeleton arch returned to lay down on its native sea floor on Ghrigori 5, and within a year, it provided the foundation to another of the great Nhellfant skeleton towers that provide habitat for their home planet's near-shore flora and fauna and a break to all storm surge.
Original photo by Tabby Cat from Pixabay, with even more pure fractals by me in Apophysis 2.09 inserted in Paint 3D to make a fully fleshed out undersea scene
“Back at work being a blessing,” I said upon seeing the picture.
“Let that be our watchword, Khadijah, every day in all that we give our strength to do.”
“Yes, sir, Uncle Admiral.”