The first of three pure fractals made in Apophysis 2.09
Having lunch with retired fleet captain Almira Jackson was a fascinating affair – my husband, Capt. Rufus Dixon of the commercial fleet said about it, “She came to steal all our hearts today, not just Uncle Benjamin's!”
Captain Jackson and Admiral Benjamin Banneker had been cadet mates and had been friends for sixty years, actually, and we all knew her from her showing up and lighting up meetings of Sable Captains and Commanders – but at close range, it was a different thing. She could talk about something that most people wouldn't dare talk about over lunch, and yet – well, let her tell it.
“My father taught all of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to eat the right food the right way: chew it at least 32 times so it digests right,” she said. “I wasn't sure where he got the 32 times from until I saw what he had seen out in the Intearon System.
“Now, first let me say that the Intearonians had been warning their neighbors to stop raiding their fourth and fifth planets, and their neighbors didn't even listen to the end of the sentence about why. The Intearonians don't have heavy space-going weapons, so their neighbors never even imagined the trouble they were going to get in until they were in this thing here.”
Uncle Benjamin put the picture up on the screen, and I did a double take.
“Their neighbors are the Thrului,” I said, “and their ships are comparable in power to our galaxy-class ships – you mean to tell me they were caught up like that?”
“Like flies invited to a spider's parlor for a feast,” Captain Jackson said. “Now, that's a still, but imagine that whole huge web throwing and juggling those ships from edge to edge over and over again – 32 times per quarter turn, with the energy from it pulsing out in a circular manner. I ordered my ship to back up, because in order to beam the Thrului crew members off we had to have our shields down, and being up close was not going to work. We were beaming all we could and those ships were being broken down before our eyes. In an hour, things had progressed this far:
“But the best part – the part I'll always remember – is that one of the weavers of that web climbed out on a side strand to look at us, like it and its mates were thinking about a snack. Dad always said that when you chewed your food right you could make room for more, and I'm telling you that little beast was giving off all that energy!
“We finished beaming off the survivors and high-tailed it right out of there while that web pulsated and carried on – the probe we dropped recorded that all those ships were totally broken down in about the time it is taking me to chew every bite of all this great salad 32 times and finish digesting it: approximately three hours!”
The sped-up footage rolled and we just watched in amazement … only later did Rufus and I realize …
“We basically watched a whole set of communal space spiders crunch down on a whole fleet of ships – basically chewing with their mouths and stomachs open right in front of us – over lunch!” I said.
“And loved every minute of it!” Rufus said, and then made the statement that would echo in my mind about Captain Jackson's visit that day.