A pure fractal made in Apophysis 2.09, mirrored and overlaid three different ways
“So, what have I missed, Commodore Allemande, while away proving why Cepheid-class starships really did need to be retired just like we do?”
Admiral Benjamin Banneker-Jackson was back on the task he and even older Cdre. Allemande were still in the fleet to do: figure out what things had been overlooked – much like the design flaws in Cepheid-class starships – from decades ago that were about to have humanity all kinds of messed up in space.
“These were a whole situation,” the commodore said as he passed across the tablet. “In fairness, the team assigned to terraforming Fhonix 6 did raise a flag, but because the exoskeletons of these are much used across the Ventanan frontier like we humans use Velcro, and the meat is eaten like crabs in from the mature specimens, the flag was not honored at first. We just figured we would do what the locals do.”
“You know, I have eaten Fhonix crabcakes while on the Ventanan frontier – my niece Captain Biles-Dixon made some while we were out that way,” Adm. Banneker-Jackson said. “They are delicious and do taste something like king crab from Earth – much more complex in flavor, though.”
“It's all well and good when they are that size, or even the button size in which they are used to fasten things,” the commodore said, “but the problem was that nobody understood why the native inhabitants of the Fhonix system harvest crabs on Fhonix 6, but haven't settled there.”
“Now that's a flag all by itself – it is not like there are just empty planets waiting on humanity to come and settle them,” the admiral said.
“I am so tired of younger humans not getting the memo that the universe literally does not revolve around them!” the commodore said. “But, Admiral, I contacted the locals, and they said that if they had known we were thinking of settling Fhonix 6 they would have warned us: the crabs spawn six times a year in fresh water and their offspring take about three months to go through three moultings on their way to the sea or the lakes that are brackish. The planet's year is 18 months, so there is never a time when these beings are not in the water at small sizes.”
“Ouch,” Adm. Banneker-Jackson said. “Bathing and drinking Velcro – I think not!”
“That's not even the main problem,” Cdre. Allemande said. “With a bucket and strainer with some patience, we could get past that if we wanted to go to other worlds to live hauling and manually treating water. But we've got to have plumbing before we can get water any distance from the source – do you have any idea what happens when these hooked beings get into the piping by the thousands, and how fast they would clog any filter we can use?”
Adm. Banneker-Jackson considered this, and then shook his head.
“That's a hard no,” he said. “One has to also think of not only water in, but water out, and those kinds of possible backups.”
“We would be back to chamber pots and outhouses in a week,” the commodore said.
“Well, that tells us something, Commodore! Hauling water for drinking and bathing, and chamber pots and outhouses – settling Fhonix 6 is an occasion for time travel!”
“You were right the first time, Admiral. That's a hard no.”