Ritual Codex Two -- Tsing-Doh Dig

Fragment one

And Chris had the ruffly head, and learned from the Hand, and pulled food, and the Hand taught Chris all manner of thing. And Chris was pure and without mutation, and each of his genes was a true copy of a gene from mum3 or dad3. And the Hand was well pleased.

Now when Chris was a child, and walking on two feet, the Hand decreed that he should have companions. And so into the world were imported other norns, Ringo with his sister Carry and his daughter-wife Molly, and even Daphne of the second generation, daughter of Bab and Al. And the norns did make much of Chris, and played with him in the Garden, and pulled food. But the Hand did take the norns aside one by one, and test and instruct them, that they might follow him more truly. And so the norns no longer called the Hand "haha" or "Al", but only "hand", and no more did they call all norns "Carry".

And Ringo, son of Freddy son of Roger son of Al, did wander down into the basement of the temple, and take the mover into the catabcombs, and the Hand saw him not, until his snores rose even unto the kitchen where the Hand played with Chris and the ticker. And the Hand descended to Ringo, and took him up, and brought him through the house of music, and even unto the watchtower, where he pulled cannon, and made much booming. And then Ringo went to the teleporter, and pushed, and even to the carrot vendor, and pushed and munched, and the Hand was well pleased.

But now the sound of sneezing came from the Garden, and all the norns gathered there became sick, and walked the strange walk, and said strange words, for now was the plague loose upon the land. And it was a grevious plague, the plague that is called Antigen 3. Daphne of the second generation, daughter of Bab and Al, did lie down on the bridge of the Garden, sneezing, and did sleep, and all that the Hand could do did not awaken her to pull food or eat of the goodly plants. And as the Hand reached for the Kit of Injections, Daphne did make the Sad Noise, and did give up the ghost, on the Garden Bridge, behind the plants. And the Hand did mourn (although she was backed up), and the Hand did export Carry and Chris for their safety.

Then Molly came into the Garden, sneezing, and her life force was small. But the Hand did pat her and put food about her, and the Hand did watch her antibody and antigen levels, and slowly slowly did the Nasty Purple Line sawtooth downward, and the Good Green Line slope upwards, until the lines did cross as Molly pulled food in the Garden, and when the lines did cross the sawtoothing stopped, and the Nasty Purple Line did go down, and lo Molly was healthy. So the Hand exported her and brought back to the world Chris. And Ringo did push da in the island treehouse, and munch carrots exceedingly, for there the plague was not.

Now Chris was healthy when he came back into the world, and the Hand was well pleased. The minutes being accomplished that the life force of Chris was respectable, Chris was exported, and Carry came into the world. And in Carry there was also the Nasty Purple Line, but it waxed not high, and it came to pass that soon Carry was healthy even as Ringo, and Chris, and Molly. But Daphne of the second generation, daughter of Al and Bab, pulled food in the world no more.

Fragment two

And in the garden Chris and Tanya kisspopped, and Tanya was great with egg. But lo, no egg appeared in the world, though a new genetic record came into the rolls. And in this new genetic record there was a mutation, in the gene 01_02_32. In that gene, which is called BioChem:Reaction/StressReducesLifeSpan, there was an 08 where there had been an 00, near the end, and while I suppose that might explain the lack of an egg from this genotype, still it seems like Very Hard Luck to me. And then the norns did play in the garden and pull food and run norn and even they did kisspop, but no eggs came into the world, and then the hand was disgruntled, and went off to bed.

Fragment three

And the other Norns then in the world, even Bill and Chris and Tanya, did frolic and pull norn and stop norn and run norn, and did explore the world until they came to the still and the shower. And Tanya slept in the shower and Chris of the ruffly head did drink of the hooch. And the child Barbie, having learned the foodly plants and the pulling of food, was taken by the Hand to join them, and she grew.

Then, finally and about time too if I do say so myself, Chris of the ruffly head and Tanya daughter of Bab and Freddy did kisspop, and lo Tanya was great with egg. And being mindful of what happened, or didn't happen, last time, the hand did lure Tanya away from the others, and did ply her with food and tickle her to sleep, and did bring her even into the garden, where she did lay her egg. And it was a perty blue-green egg, and the Hand was well pleased. And the hand took the egg to the incubator, and with much crackling there came Abbey into the world. And Abbey had her mother's and her grandmother's long wild hair, and her father's neat body, and did learn from the hand, and did pull food. And the hand rejoiced, for finally there had come into the world another norn child of norns.

And Abbey had but one mutation (except for the 02_01_01 gene, which as you will recall doesn't count): in the 00_00_05 gene, which is the Decision lobe, Abbey had a one-bit mutation in the midst. And she seems perfectly normal, but: you never know...

Fragment four

Now in the catacombs by the still were Chris and Bill and Barbie. And Chris and Barbie kisspopped, and Barbie was great with egg. And as the hand drew Barbie toward the garden, that she might be delivered in peace, there came the sound of sneezing from the temple. Lo, in the chemistries of Tanya and the child Abbey the antibody Seven did contend with the antigen, and their Life Forces were only modest. And the hand isolated them from the other norns, and drew them to the Garden. Abbey and Tanya ate of the goodly plants, and then the hand exported Abbey for her safety, and tickled Tanya and gave her food, and Tanya was healthy, and the hand was glad.

Then Barbie was brought to the garden to be delivered, and an egg did come forth, and the hand's assistant did wait for the egg to be big with life, and did move it into the incubator. And with great crackling did Michelle come into the world, and she looked just like her mother, and the hand's assistant did say "Awwww". And Michelle was pure and without mutation, and she did learn from the hand and did pull food, and all were content. But Abbey, daughter of Tanya and Chris, did remain on disk, and the antigen called Seven was still in her blood. Tune in again next time for another exciting episode!

Fragment five

Fragment six

Now when Barbie was great with egg, lo the Grendel mother was delivered, and there came into the world Fofo, Uouo having vanished unknown after the manner of Gendels. And Barbie in her heaviness did walk through the garden and even into the elevator, and she did pull lift, and then she lay down and slept. And when the elevator reached the treehouse, Fofo, he of the grunts and nasty table manners, did look upon her in the elevator, and did mutter and grumble and do strange Grendel dances over her, but he slapped her not, and he did push lift. When the elevator came to the garden, Barbie did come out, to the urgent cries of the hand, and then Fofo did pull lift, and ascend back to the tree house, and the Norns saw him not. And the hand kept these things, and pondered them to itself.

Now Barbie went into the garden, and there came into the world an egg, and it was one of those neat reddy-yellowy eggs, and the Hand took it up, and put it in the incubator. And the Hand did lure all the other norns away, even into the garden, with bounteous foods, to keep them the heck out of the way.

Out of the incubator with great crackling there did come a baby, and the baby was called Fang (although, the hand's assistant Mayanne said, she would have chosen a reasonable name). And Fang's father turned out to be Bill, so Fang was of the seventh generation (depending on how you count), being the son of Bill son of Molly daughter of Ringo son of Freddy son of Roger son of Bab and Al. Now Fang's genetics had two mutations: an FE in the Attention Lobe where there had been an FF, and an 05 instead of an 07 in the 02_00_1A gene, which is called Creature:Stimulus/Travelling:Old. And Fang was yet a babe, and did crawl in the garden and pull food.

Now when Fang was born the hand and the hand's assistant did ooh and aww and make much of him, and the other norns were cast about the world unattended. The youth Michelle went into the submarine and came to the island, and the youth Abbey also. And when the hand finally checked up on Michelle, she was looking Fofo on the island, and Fofo of the bad table manners was stopping norn with great force. And the Hand did smite Fofo, and draw him away, and sent Michelle to the boat, and pushed it off to the west. And Fofo was sent down the lift. Then the hand went back to the garden.

Now when the hand checked the norns again, and came to the youth Abbey, she was in the bubble, and lo there was Fofo also, and Fofo stood close by Abbey, and Abbey said push dis. And the hand was wroth, and summoned Abbey into the lift, and Fofo the hand took to the east into the bubble. Abbey coming up to the ground of the island, the hand called unto her from the west, but she would not come, and oh no there came Fofo up in the lift again. But then Michelle showed up again with the boat, so that was OK, and the girls sailed off toward civilization, and the hand took Fofo back to the bubble, and gave him of the sweet honey to eat, and tickled him about the chin, and he did chortle. And Abbey and Michelle came back into the Garden, and did play with Fang and Barbie, and all were healthy. Now Barbie's life force was but 30%, but the hand made her eat of the goodly plants, and her life force went to 46%, and that still was only mediocre, but the hand was sleepy, and went off again.

Fragment seven

Now by the elevator was born Michael, whose parents turned out to be Michelle and Fang, and Michael was of the eighth generation (depending). And Michael did learn from the computer, and grin at the camera exceedingly, and Michelle did show up from somewhere and make much of her son. But Barbie and the others were in the submarine.

Now Barbie's egg was laid in the submarine dock on the island, and there was no way the Hand was going to try to urge the baby all the way back to the computer, so the baby was left to the devices of the elders. And the baby's parents were Fang and Barbie, and they called her name Christine, and she also was of the eighth generation.

Michael's mutations were thus: in the 01_00_03 gene, which is called Biochem:Receptor/Drive:Hunger, Michael's gene had an 01 instead of an 00 in the switch-on-time byte. But who needs to eat in utero anyway. And the 01_00_0C gene, which is called Biochem:Receptor/Drive:Anger, his gene had a 1C instead of an 0C near the end, and who knows what that might mean.

Christine's mutations were thus: in the 01_03_01 gene, which is called BioChem:HalfLife/DecayRates, Christine had a 62 instead of a 60 near the start. And Christine had also an 01 where there had been an 00 somewhere in the Concept lobe. And thirdly in the 01_02_2A gene, immune response to Antibody 7 Christine had a 11 where all before had had an 01, and in the reaction in Christine's blood it would take 17 glucose, not only one, to convert one of the Antigen 7. And the hand did wince, and make wry faces at the back of the camera.

Fragment eight

Then the multitude took the submarine out to the island, and in the underground dock was there much kissing and slapping and giggling, and in the submarine the Hand found one of the missing hooch cups. Now in the garden were only the children Michael and Vitrea, and they pulled food and smiled at the camera. Lo, the hand was well pleased, and thought about which of the grownups to export first.

Fragment nine

Fragment ten

And these are the mutations of Ana: in the Decay Rates gene Ana has an 84 where there had been an 80 near the end, and in the Stimulus:Sleeping gene Ana has a 25 where there had been a 27, and in the Instinct:MoveWhenBored gene she has an 00 in the midst where there had been an 01. And the Hand feared that Ana's sleeping might make her less hot rather than less sleepy, and that she might be an overly quiet norn like unto the Children of the Mind, but Ana moved in the garden and pulled food, because as it is written, you never know...