A dumb thing to do anywhere in the universe: mess with a mother by endangering her baby.
That thing up there wasn't a nebula, although my ship came within a few hundred thousand kilometers of being a small pile of dust by sailing between those two beings. We would have been a small pile of gray and red dust somewhere off to the side of mother and child in someone else's picture, and it was just that close.
I thank God every day for the universal translator, which is how myself and crew got home to our wives and children.
“Sorry, ma'am … our mistake … it won't happen again … oh, yes, he's a gorgeous baby … not like any space dust we've ever seen … yes ma'am … Happy Mother's Day … yes, it's a wonderful human holiday … enjoy it … yes ma'am … good-bye.”
That above is what we saw in the rearview … so sweet, so touching … in the end, we understood the situation. Good mothers everywhere are alike.
*This is the last of a LONG series of related fractals that I posted all through March ... this last was one of a kind, completely unlike all its predecessors, and perfect for this day ...