[Originally written August 10 2020]
My first order of business was to deal with the immortal Grendel situation. I decided the best way to do this was to manually force-age them past adulthood so that they could live out their lives normally; but some of them, particularly the unnaturally long-lived Brutus, had such low Life levels that they would simply drop dead as soon as their natural aging process resumed. Thankfully, Katherine had aged naturally, so provided me a baseline. Using the biochemistry kit, I measured how much Life she had, and injected the same amount into Ursula, Maria, and Brutus, then used the CAOS command line to force-age them into the next life stage. For the girls, entering old age fixed their gait problem, and Maria celebrated her newfound mobility by taking a trip into the Jungle.
I briefly saw something I’d never seen before – rain in the Jungle! I didn’t know that it was scripted to occur here, as I’d only ever seen it in the Woodland and the Desert. I wonder if it occurs in the Aquarium room as well?
At any rate, Maria didn’t get to enjoy her trip for very long – I heard a slapping noise, which at first I assumed was the Kobold, but it just kept happening, quite frequently, and Maria kept going “ouch!” So I moved her back to the Woodland (and scrubbed her down with Pink Fog for good measure). The Ark really is haunted!
Meanwhile, I reached the conclusion of my bramboo experiment. The original plant had 10 segments, and its berry was planted where it only had room to grow 6. The berry from that plant was planted out in the open in the Woodland – and it grew to a height of 10 segments! Interesting.
While I was tending to the girls, I heard the dreaded sneeze. However, this time I’d caught it just starting, and immediately fogged the entire area around Ursula. This, it turned out, would be the last hurrah of the bacteria. There would be no more plagues.
Maria wasn’t satisfied with her Jungle adventure; old age wouldn’t stop her from enjoying her newfound mobility while she could! She went on a portal tour to the Capillata, where I let her look around a bit before I took her back home. She was, of course, too old to be out wandering the ship’s halls unattended.
I then spent some time with the males. I suspect that Richard must have had some kind of brain lobe issue that I hadn’t understood the significance of, since he was continually trying to eat inanimate objects like doors, dispensers, and gadgets – especially when I tried to instruct him to eat food (or fruit, or seeds). His hunger drives were nearly always full, and I often had to remove all inedible objects from his presence before he’d try eating actual foodstuffs. Still, I managed to tend him well enough.
My focus on feeding him, though, came to an abrupt halt when a notification popped up. Maria, having lived it up in her last days, had passed away. Since the other immortals had been shored up with the same amount of Life, and they’d all been based on Katherine,
I knew this meant they were not far behind, and it was the beginning of the end. Moments later, Katherine passed in her sleep, right by Maria’s side. Ursula was not far behind, and then Brutus, after over six hours of life. All died with smiles on their faces.
With Richard and Paris the only remaining Grendels, I moved them to the Woodland, and deleted the Grendel Mother to prevent it from replacing them when their time came.
Sadly, Paris’s time came quite soon; as a standard Jungle Grendel, his lifespan was shorter than that of a Banshee Grendel. Only two minutes after moving into his new home, he passed on, leaving Richard alone for the first time in his life. I gathered up toys, gadgets, and food that had been scattered around the Ark and the Capillata to pamper Richard with. There was no need for them elsewhere. Forty minutes later, he too breathed his last.
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