"Since a prime number isn't divisible by any other number, if you're transmitting a grid-type pattern--say a picture or a chart--and its size is the product of two primes, then there are only a couple of possible arrangements for the numbers in the grid. If either number were not prime, there'd be a very large number of possible arrangements, and that would mean you wouldn't be able to figure out what the picture was a picture of."
@Unixbigot @mcc
skip a few paragraphs
"Has anyone tried to assemble the pictures yet?" Lori asked.
"I thought you'd never ask," Jiro said. "I have a feeling that everywhere on Earth people are showing this to each other, but they don't have quite the nerve to display it publicly."
excerpt of page 95 from "Encounter with Tiber", by Buzz Aldrin & John Barnes