A mixed media piece with a big fractal, two pieces from The Met, and two from Artvee -- more details later, after even more art!
Part 1: Two Admirals Confer, and Capt. Copperfield Arrives
“It is extraordinarily convenient that you should have run into Captain Copperfield's daughter, Admiral Banneker – shall we say that blessing was arranged by One greater than a mere full fleet admiral such as myself? Now while he is on mandatory leave, he will actually do his 4-6 week course of rest and counseling because he has time to get caught up with not only his family, but you, his former commander, who is setting a magnificent example for the fleet on how to do mandatory leave.”
My uncle laughed gently at what Admiral Chenggis Chulalaangkorn had said.
“ 'To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven' – tell Capt. Copperfield I'm looking forward to seeing him, and that I've already scoped out the good fleet counselors in the Ventanan region.”
The full fleet admiral – two steps in rank above the rear admiral he was talking with, and essentially regional military governor until one was appointed for the consortium on the Ventanan frontier – smiled.
“I'm glad you're back in the fleet, Benjamin,” he said. “Your presence as elder statesman, even more than your work on securing the future of humanity in space through not doing stupid warp things, is making things better for all of us. There is talk of opening a second spot for a full fleet admiral from the science track.”
“Give that to a younger man,” my uncle said. “Be content that I will personally walk with Capt. Copperfield to our appointments, and that he will have my ears also if he wants to talk about the Vheiridan Incident.”
Capt. Andrew Copperfield wanted to talk about it – he took a few days getting settled in with his daughter and son-in-law, a few days coming by and catching up with Uncle Benjamin and meeting me and hubby Capt. Rufus Dixon, and a few days of us fleet officers all heading out to counseling together, but then, it happened.
“Capt. Biles-Dixon, I don't hold it against you that you are just entering your second year of being a captain, because I have read up on how you held things down as base commander on Aqiiuibi. You're a magnificent leader, a chip off your uncle's grand block. That means both of you are fitted to really understand my situation. I can't progress talking with people who have no idea what command is, and what the stakes are. Now, these professionals are great at what they do. Their techniques – state of the art for the 23rd century. But they don't know what they are talking about when it comes to helping a wounded commander, because they aren't commanders!”
“It's a common complaint, reflecting reality,” Uncle Benjamin said. “And this is why it was arranged, by a Power greater than Adm. Chulalaangkorn, that we three commanders, old, middle-aged, and young, be here to help each other. Let's get the knowledge, and then talk about how we apply it in light of our actual command experiences.”
Capt. Copperfield had quite an experience to talk about, when he was ready.
Part 2: Capt. Copperfield's Unexpected Journey
“All of us now have adopted all that about boldly going,” he said when he finally was ready to describe what had happened to him. “Everyone knows that's the shorthand for everything we are doing out here. So imagine minding your own captaincy business and meeting a group of aliens who just laugh in your face and tell you – you who are ever so many light-years from home out here pushing the edges of the Ventanan frontier – that 'humanity has never gone anywhere that it has not already been.' ”
“That's a bold statement from a civilization just getting to know humanity, this far out,” I said.
“Oh, the Vheiridans rank with the Organians for power and insufferability, and with the Melkotians for equally insufferable hospitality,” Capt. Copperfield said. “I used to think that Admiral Kirk was padding it just bit in his accounts of his captaincy – no more.
“What do you even do at a moment like that? Our whole reason for being out here – exploring, adding to our knowledge, wanting to make good relationships – along with all our accomplishments, just put into the dustbin like that! As a captain, you know that your whole bridge crew is feeling disrespected and disoriented and is looking to you to set things right – and then the Vheiridans picked THAT UP, and decided to run a little test of me, on behalf of my crew's life!”
“We've lost a lot of ships in that area,” Uncle Benjamin said. “Now we know what is going on.”
“All at once all the klaxons started blaring and we lost control of navigation and speed – we were being drawn forward into a structure that appeared like something out of a Greek undersea fever dream with naiads and mermen, complete with an ancient archway:
A pure fractal made in Apophysis 2.09 ... the next two are magnifications of the same ...
“We got the shields up but there was nothing else to do but hang on as we were drawn up to --
" -- and through that gate.
“Once inside – with shields up, mind you – I still got beamed off my own bridge into a great room like what you would get if the Romans had actually built a movie theater, and the nearest Vheiridan spoke to me from where he was standing: 'Choose what you will have, Andrew Copperfield.'
A zoom of a different region of that same pure fractal made in Apophysis 2.09
Part 3: Capt. Copperfield's Decision, and How He Made It
“Mind you I'm on the stage, looking at the screen, and all these Vheiridans are watching me watching that screen … and mind you, that screen has a burst of pink light and soft fireworks out of which are pouring two different cups with all the things that go with them … one was golden, and out of that cup was coming all the dreams of avarice, all the things men have striven to obtain across all time and space, and one cup was green with age, showing the mere common realities of life, birth, and death that man gets and nothing more unless he strives!”
“But then I thought of my daughter, and how I would have much preferred – at that moment and many others – to have been with her and my son-in-law. He's a rich man and I've kind of been feeling inadequate since he came along because fleet captains make good money but not like that. It's silly, and stupid, but, yeah: I know that if I make some big discovery, if I can just get one star system open and maybe to come into the consortium, I can level all that up … those scenes of men doing ordinary things are not it, and are never going to get it … but on the other side, we all get what we really want: the respect and unquestioned admiration of humanity, maybe a bit short of kingship and worship, but not really!”
“But then I remembered that I was Capt. Copperfield, and what was at stake – my ship and crew, all 434 of us. I had to reconsider the question from that viewpoint. It wasn't just about me.
“Then I remembered that one line – remember, Adm. Banneker, when on the weekends we had opera and movie night on the Argent and the opera Parsifal and that third ancient Indiana Jones movie was on – the one when they were looking for the Holy Grail?”
“I do,” Uncle Benjamin said. “I thought that was a nice juxtaposition from our life enrichment coordinator.”
“There's only one line from that whole opera that I remember: '*Gesegnet sei, du Reiner, durch das Reine!' It is just the most beautiful line, and that cadet – handling a role far beyond his years – was singing it beautifully!”
(Cadet Allemande is fictional understudy to the actual bass who sang this role better than any man in the 20th century -- the recording is in the Process section of this post!)
“Oh, that was Cadet Helmut Allemande because the bass who was supposed to sing it got sick – he was the understudy,” I said. “He's now my first officer.”
“Really – Commander Allemande, is he now? – is he recording for the fleet chorus?”
“That man has a library of recordings,” I said. “I'll call him and get the links to his collections.”
“Here's what stood out about that immense cadet understudy, beside his absolutely amazing voice and acting as Gurnemanz,” said Capt. Copperfield. “He was that ready, with no assurance that he would never see the stage – that's humility and dedication of a type rare in a man that young. But then, the line he sang means, 'Be blessed, pure one, through purity!' He had pure motives and his moment came … but even if it not, even if he had done nothing but sang that for rehearsal, he would have blessed everyone who heard him because his voice and his manner just shone through.
“And then I thought about how Indiana Jones finds the Holy Grail … the holy cup is the humble cup … Jesus was a carpenter … so the true Holy Grail was made of wood, not gold.
“Then I thought of my best commander, a man who gave up half his body for the lives of his crew, a man about whom I would at least not laugh about his devotion to some Carpenter from 23 centuries ago, because he epitomized the lifestyle … my captain, through whom the teachings my father and grandfather gave me finally began to get into my head and to my life … my captain who gave up his career for service to his niece in need, but has been exalted above all his peers, not so much in rank, but in the loving admiration of those who love science across the sentient worlds. My captain … who has it all now … through the pure path of humility.”
Adm. Benjamin Banneker sat quietly, but a tear rolled down his cheek.
“I did what my captain would have done, to save my crew – I chose the old green cup, and a humbler path for me as a man,” Capt. Copperfield said. “Turns out, that old green cup was the cup of prosperity – but we learned that from Indiana Jones!”
“Those who paid attention, anyhow,” Uncle Benjamin said as another tear rolled from his eyes. “You were a handful in the old days, Lt. Copperfield, but, you were a good student. I never told you this, but the vote was close on your promotion to captain because of your temperament. I was asked. I recommended you without hesitation, because I knew: you had learned.”
“Whoever is cutting onions in the kitchen needs to stop it,” I said, and we all three laughed before Capt. Copperfield continued his tale.
“So, then, all at once, I was back on my bridge -- I had never left! The chronometer and the sensors said there had only been a half-second elapsed until those Vheiridans and their insufferable laughter and their insulting statement about us as humans having never gone anywhere but where we have been before was followed by, 'But, Captain, on the path that you and humans like you are on, you may pass through our space.' It was all in my mind!”
“But truly, you have opened new access to the galaxy for humanity!” I said. “You see, that humble path gets things done!”
“The only path available, though, for although your trial was telepathically induced,the consequences ” my uncle said. “You have not been briefed on this, my niece, because you are not in command in this region, but as even a rear admiral I have to hear everything, wherever I go. We have lost nine ships to massive photon bursts of unexplained origins that are enough to overcome a flotilla.
"Since Adm. Chulalaangkorn has been assigned – that is, there is a full fleet admiral coordinating – there has not been a loss, but he also has retrained all commodores and captains to send out a full beam of communications with clear intentions in the most respectful possible terms. We suspected there was a lifeform on at least the Melkotian level in one of the three systems in question, and now we know – it is the Vheiridans.”
“And you are the reason we know, Capt. Copperfield,” I said. “You made the right decision, for yourself, your crew, and humanity.”
“You certainly did, Captain, and commander,” Uncle Benjamin said, and reached his hand out to the protege he didn't realize he had until just then.
Capt. Copperfield reached his hand back and the admiral and captain shook, a handshake that turned into a warm embrace.
“Thank you for everything, Admiral,” Capt. Copperfield said as he drew back. I think you would want to know that, just like my daughter and my son-in-law know the Carpenter, I squared that up on my way here, too.”
“Ah, then, we can rejoice from the Ventanan frontier all the way across the universe and join the rejoicing of the angels,” my uncle said. “Quite often I get to be the happiest admiral in the galaxy, and this is another such day.”
That caused a tear – of joy – to roll from Capt. Copperfield's eye.
“Don't get excited,” Uncle Benjamin said, “because Capt. Biles-Dixon and I are still dragging you to counseling tomorrow.”
“Well,” Capt. Copperfield said, “in the end, if I gotta drink from an old green cup, I guess counseling is the same kind of path item.”
“You always were a good student, Captain – now, you're really catching on,” Uncle Benjamin said, with a smile that reflected the rejoicing going on, clear into eternity.
My Process as Author and Artist
I watched the third Indiana Jones movie as a child, and encountered the libretto of Parsifal for the first time as a young adult. I did not contrast them in my thinking then, but in reconsidering Parsifal this summer, there were some things that struck me. First, the beauty of the score ... the role of Gurnemanz has some of the most beautiful music for bass ever scored, and Kurt Möll (1938-2017) is my favorite bass of all time ... but he was particular about his roles ... follow him around and you will realize ... he rarely sang a villain role in which he did not either turn the villain into a comedy relief or, if that was not possible, found a way in the midst of the music to tip the audience off: "It SOUNDS GOOD, but WARNING: this is the voice of EVIL." For good reason: he was born in 1938, near Cologne, Germany. He knew better than to let evil just get by and be admired. He knew what it could do to any person, group, or nation. He learned that before he was even eight years old.
It therefore makes equally good sense that where Herr Moll shone, to the utmost, was in the role of good, and "Gesegnet sei, du Reiner, durch das Reine" is just the first of two lines into which he pours his whole soul and glorious voice. "Du" is also the more intimate word for "you" ... that is the word you use for one whom you know and love ... so, in the opera, old Gurnemanz the faithful at last meets Parsifal, who was kept from all evil by his mother, discovers evil in adulthood, and resists temptation -- he goes through many trials, but is destined to be the one to set things right for his whole kingdom, and when Gurnemanz realizes who Parsifal is, he sings out: "Be blessed, you pure one, through purity, and may it put all guilt and worry from you!" Enjoy the most beautiful 35 seconds in Parsifal -- and, listen to all the rest if you want, too!
Now, being a dyed-in-the-wool Protestant, I am just as inclined to take Parsifal and all its concern about the power of one ancient cup making a man king-priest as fictional as I am Indiana Jones ... but I remembered while listening to Herr Moll's singing about how Indiana Jones succeeded in finding the Holy Grail ... the penitent man will pass through a trial that requires kneeling to keep from being cut in two ... he will walk by faith, not by sight, onto a path that blends in perfectly with the chasm below, and he will remember that the Holy Grail was the Savior's cup ... but the Savior in his earthly journey was a carpenter ... so the Grail is a big WOODEN cup, something Wagner himself overlooked in his libretto. Wagner himself would have made the choice of Jones's opponents -- and died, for in the choice of a grail of great finery, it turned to poison in the body of the one who presumed at power and glory and sought a golden, bejeweled grail for that purpose.
By the way, since Indiana Jones's opponents were generally Nazis, and since, sadly, the Nazis took so much inspiration from Wagner, I'm sure the writer of the movie also knew of Wagner's misstep .. and of course, Kurt Möll spent the bulk of his life watching his beloved Germany pay a long and terrible price for that misstep of reaching for power and glory by the imperial path (he was about 52 when the Berlin Wall at last came down ... he was about 11 or 12 when it went up).
Now that misstep is much, much older than the 19th and 20th centuries ... the story is told elsewhere that a man, having all good already given him, gave all that up on a lie that he, a mortal man, could be like God. You'll find that story in Genesis 3, also called, "The Fall of Man."
Sometime after Genesis, a great king named Solomon wrote, "Before honor is humility," and also, "The way of the wise goes upward, that he may depart from hell beneath." These two passages gave shape to my main approach to this art challenge ... Captain Copperfield is presented with man's oldest test ... a golden cup and the path to kingship, a humbler cup and the good commonalities of life ... but notice the subtle directional and color clues ...
I painted the canvas first with greens and blues on on side, gold, and red on the other. The fractal of my choice, made as ever in Apophysis 2.09, provided misty and mystical-seeming elements while neatly dividing my canvas into four regions:
Then for actual fine art, the Met provided me both cups:
The Met: Stem cup
China (Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Central Asia)
7th–9th century
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/60787
The Met: Bronze cylindrical cup
Roman
ca. 1st–2nd century CE
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/60787
Artvee provided me my two beautiful scenes:
Artvee: A market scene with a river landscape beyond
Peter Tillemans (English, 1684–1734)
https://artvee.com/dl/a-market-scene-with-a-river-landscape-beyond/
Artvee: The salle du trone in the Palace of Fontainebleau (1910 - 1911)
Edwin Foley (English, 1859-1912)
https://artvee.com/dl/the-salle-du-trone-in-the-palace-of-fontainebleau/
Now as for Captain Copperfield's journey through the gates, I just zoomed in on the bottom portion another fractal made in Apophysis 2.09 ...
... and if you look carefully at the top left corner of that fractal, you will see the figure of the Vheiridan who gave the captain his choice!
Finally, I wanted to do some finger-pointing to give more sense of choice and directionality of consequences, and wanted them to look just a bit alien, so I found a wooden hand on Pixabay for the final touch, with the gold and orange light reflecting off the hand being perfect for my color scheme, too!
Image by kirill_makes_pics from Pixabay
After all this, I had my elements to bring all the ideas together ... a third take on the search for the Holy Grail, with all of mankind's possibilities laid out in a single piece of art ... along with the ways people are led into deception and to the wrong decision ... and the ways that lives of those of pure testimony are indeed a blessing through their example on all those that come after them. Kurt Moll was the right man, given the record of his life, to sing, "Gesegnet sei, du Reiner, durch das Reine," and I strive daily to leave the right testimony to back up the message of the humble path being the true path of exaltation.