Having that shape become more important to a civilisation than the circle because it has something to do with the geometry of hyperspace seems like it could be an interesting conceit for a sci-fi setting.
This somehow reminds me of Egyptian mathematics where they refused to admit to the existence of any fraction with a numerator other than 1 (except for 2/3).
Learning how to expand e.g. 3/7 into 1/n + 1/m + ... using their methods was a fascinating experience.
I wouldn't want to suffer under such constraints day to day but it was one of the most memorable parts of the History of Mathematics course I took alongside what was other a mostly pure maths degree.
Egan would probably be my first thought of somebody who could take a concept like that and make something well worth reading out of it.
Second thought would probably be Derek Künsken. (no claim he's necessarily the second best option but he's definitely the second author I've read recently enough to have the name of in brain cache to come to mind as "could almost certainly pull it off")
Bob Shaw's Night Walk has something like that as a major plot point.
It's not aliens but humans, and it's not an 8-loop geometry, but without spoiling it too much it's safe to say that discovering how hyperspace works is the central concept guiding the story.
