The things that would not die

[Originally written August 8 2020]

Things began much the same as the previous entry. I flitted back and forth between Meso and Woodland, ensuring that everybody’s needs were met, encouraging Grendels to eat if needed and reminding them to take out their anger on inanimate objects (and not each other). 

Meanwhile I decided to try a little experiment with the bramboo. I took a berry from a very tall stalk in the Meso, and planted it in the Desert where it wouldn’t have so much overhead room to grow. I later found a plant in roughly the same location but I’m not certain it’s actually the one I planted due to the coloration being similar to those already found in the Desert. But also I’m not sure because I got quite distracted mid-experiment.

Because when I was checking on the Woodland, I heard sneezing. Again. Fully fed up with this nonsense, I moved all the Grendels out of the Woodland and into the containment chamber in the Workshop. I hit the food and antibacterial buttons a few times and left the girls there while I donned my hazmat suit and went to spray the entire Woodland Terrarium with bleach. 

As I needed a creature on hand in order to use the hoverdoc’s gas capabilities, I grabbed Rosencrantz the Ettin and set to work. She seemed pretty okay with being hauled about from area to area while I furiously waved the hoverdoc about like a shaman doing some fervent rain dance ritual. I’m shocked how many bacteria I was able to find. Hopefully this time I got them all.

After I’d gone over the entire Terrarium with at least three rounds of yellow and pink gas, I dropped Rosencrantz off in the Desert with a piece of cheese and an apple, as a reward for her role in cleaning up the ship. 

I then headed back to the Workshop and removed each Grendel from the containment chamber one at a time. Each one was given a lemon to eat and subjected to a thorough cleaning, and was not moved back to the Woodland until the sneezing had stopped. 

Dare I hope it’s been defeated?

At any rate, that seemed to get it under control for the time so I went back to caring for the Grendels. Laertes had joined the ranks of the elders, and some of the boys needed encouragement to eat everything they should, as some of them seem to have an aversion to seeds. Can’t say I blame them; I’ve never liked nuts either. Anyway I attempted to restart my experiment with the bramboo with a pink berry that would stand out a little better in the Desert. The source plant had 10 segments, not counting the orb at the top. The plant that grew in the Desert, due to the lack of space, had only 6. I took one of its berries and planted it out in the open in the Woodland, where it would have plenty of room to grow.

Meanwhile, I continued caring for the Grendels. I brought a few pumperspickle seeds to Viola and checked on the rest of her needs. After gobbling up the seeds, she was quite happy. Apparently satisfied with her last meal, Viola lay down and quietly passed on. I rushed to the Meso, knowing her brother wasn’t far behind. Moments later, Sebastian shuffled off his mortal coil. Laertes followed not long after. The old guard were dying off. 

I went around to check everyone’s ages, to get a good estimate of how long the rest had left. Richard and Paris, the last-born, were already three hours old, and showing their age. Oddly, though, Brutus was not only still alive and kicking, he wasn’t even gray yet! Suspicious, I checked the levels of his Life chemical, and found that it was at the bottom of the chart – as well it should be at over six hours old! Yet, there he was.

It struck me that Brutus was born before I started looking into genomes, so I cracked his DNA open and sure enough, the gene that should cause him to age beyond adulthood was completely broken. Without being able to age out of adulthood, the gene that should cause him to die of old age will never fire, even when the Life chemical reaches zero.

Receptor

Gene 192 (193 in Banshee Grendel)

Organ: “Creature”, Tissue: “Somatic”, Locus: “become old”. Chemical: “Life”.
Digital: Output = 0.502 - 1 if signal > 0.078. 

Organ: “Brain”, Tissue: “Tissue 0”, Locus: “Neuron(1) state(0)”. Chemical: “Life”.
Digital: Output = 0.502 - 1 if signal > 0.082. 

I went on to check the females. While Katherine has grayed, being just over three hours old, Ursula and Maria are still just as vibrant (and limpy) as ever, with Ursula nearing four hours. I checked their genomes as well, and they had the same mutation.

I have three immortal Grendels. That certainly throws a wrench into my plans.