When you put out an all-solar-system APB in an interstellar hostage situation, you have to accept what help that comes.
I understand that, but I wasn't quite prepared for who first arrived.
The hostage takers were getting more erratic by the minute, and I really couldn't be choosy.
I knew that.
But I didn't know what I was looking at.
His voice was what we as a human would take as masculine, but he looked for all the world like as if someone had mixed up a thousand fields of flowers and the sapphires in their jewelry box all at once.
His name did not inspire confidence.
“In your tongue, I am Heliotrope Knight.”
“Okay,” I said. “How can I help you?”
“I have come to help you. With your permission, I will end the hostage situation for you.”
“And just how do you expect to do that?”
“Do you have the blueprints of the building?”
“Yeah – just right here on this tablet.”
“Thank you.”
He studied the tablet for a moment, then shuffled the crystals that made up his hands and handed the tablet back to me.
He went upwind of the building, and faced the sun … he was a big crystalline heliotrope, basically, of course, and that's what heliotropes do … but all at once he started dissolving into a thick smoke, and the blue smoke flew on the breeze toward the house and went into every opening.
Ten minutes later, we heard people start singing in the building, songs of spring and joy and happiness, and at last they came out dancing with one another … all the hostages came out, looking and feeling footloose and fancy free, followed by the hostage takers, who were trying to stay serious, but they couldn't do it and finally started running through the spring grass barefooted until we grabbed them and took them into custody.
Needless to say, the building absolutely reeked of heliotrope. Once all the people were out, the blue smoke rose and recrystallized in the shade into Heliotrope Knight.
“Was that satisfactory?” he said.
“Yes, Heliotrope Knight. Thank you so much. That was actually amazing.”
“Glad to be of service. Farewell.”
“Farewell, Heliotrope Knight.”
**This is a second rendering of the same fractal from my post in the community yesterday ... at least one more being worked on ... **