"So, have we managed to make contact with these people?" I queried my rather eccentric brother who was busy writing down notes on his data slate. Probably doodles of himself as some kind of local messiah whose own miracles and guidance would fail to impress a four-year-old.
"Yes we have! I've imbedded several signs into their lands as a symbol of peace and brotherhood," he said with a soothing notion at the end which, according to my experiences, indicates that he's done something foolish on a grand scale, yet again. Sparing him the whiplash, I have asked him politely, in simple words, "What signs did you make and where did you put them?"
"All kinds and everywhere," he replied.
"What kinds?"
"Well, like these." He showed me our words for "peace" and "brotherhood" on the screen of his gadget.
"Ah, such simple words to express a simple request. I'm assuming that they now understand, write and speak our language then?"
My brother licked his lips and replied nervously, "Well, you see I figured that I could show them our words before teaching them."
"You just forgot to teach them in the first place, didn't you?"
"I've forgotten. Yeah."
"And you thought that by making such giant markings; these people, who cannot speak, read or write a symbol of our language in the first place, would understand them?"
"Yeah."
I inhaled and exhaled deeply and told him that he could have a lunch break. If there's one good way to stay away from rage, it's to push the problem away. At least this buys me some time swear loudly into my pillow.
Considering all the preparations that he had to have made in order to make these markings in the lands of this planet, it's kind of hard to believe that an average being would ignore such a vital step. Of course, my brother is an exception. Saving my venting for later, I went to the console to bring up the locations and images of the markings.
There was an oddity in the images. The markings seem to be made on some kind of a bizarre looking texture with streaks going around in circles. The resolution was low so I bumped it up a bit and the surrounding area was moving! The mysterious landscapes seem to be moving like a golden wave on an ocean tide. However, this wasn't water. I then bumped up the resolution to its maximum and then, after a minute of severe finger nail biting and eye twitching of course, I soon realize the hazard that my brother had made.
No amount of pillows could cure me. There was only one option. A demonstration for him. I walked to my brother's cabin and found him getting ready to eat a loaf of soft, undercooked bread. "That's an interesting dish." I said to him as I picked up a drinking glass with an odd bottom to it.
"Nothing much to it. Just add flour, salt, butter, yeast and cook it for an hour or two."
"You're forgetting one thing."
"What's that?"
I gestured him to look the other way and soon after his glance was away from his food, I slammed the glass bottom into the bread making an indentation while crumbs were flying away. His senses were quick than I thought and he winched his head away from the flak while barely covering his face with his hands.
"Oh...my." He picked up the remains of his lunch, looked at it and started to bite his lip.
"Our stamp of peace and brotherhood."
"My lunch!"
"Tell that to the poor bugger's farms down there that you've ruined!"
