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The kitties are back where they belong!
Morty, the elder, lives with his first human again, cherished and free from the stress of being part of the multi-pet Hydes household.
And Belle was reunited with her two kittens. While Morty didn’t even seem to notice a change in his surroundings, Belle rolled and stretched at every opportunity. She looked so happy!
Although I now had control over the Durants back, the Bellamy were still outside my control and might start fights. Looking for group activities to keep them busy with, I found this in the Durant teen’s inventory - Salem, as her teacher, would of course have known about it.
Salem: “Okay, sit down... take deep breaths... you’ll feel your mind clear quickly.”
Malika: “Are you going to drug us, Salem?!”
Salem: “To the contrary. This isn’t about in-, but exhaling. The Durant - and to a lesser degree also ourselves - need to get the chaos fumes out of their system.”
Roman (thinking): How devious! They even prepared what looks like a set table on first glance. We were to get lulled into a false security, thinking we’d dine together. But their spaghetti aren’t even fully cooked.
Note: Call to meal doesn’t work, the sims can only discard the plates here. This may be a problem with importing this neighborhood, but in the light of the family feud, Roman’s assertion makes sense.
Salem: “And now we say goodbye... Is anybody willing to shake hands? You, Hunter? Thank you! Know that you may not be able to return here anytime soon, though. I’m able to stop the senseless fading into violence, but the underlying loathing remains. We all are free to refrain from tearing each other apart on sight now, however, we haven’t miraculously become friends.”
When the first fight broke out, Jorah and Salem fled the hall autonomously.
Jorah: “Principal...?”
Salem: “I know. I cannot allow grown up people to indulge in behaviour I’d punish in class. It’s time for the chalk and the key chain to get tossed!”
Jorah: “You never do THAT in class!”
Salem (to himself): “After committing murder to acquire the key, it would be irresponsible and incredibly wasteful not to use it. We had the best intentions, my friend, but good intentions are no guarantee for being right. Alright, here it goes...”
*FLICK*
Salem: “The clock stands still.”
Spoiler/Revised backstory:
Therapist: “Tell me how you feel about your divorce!”
Omar:
Yes. Looks about right.
Gavin: “Okay, I admit Salem maybe had a point there. No more talking about his marriage to Omar, Daniel!!!”
Gavin teleported back to the spys’ nest and immediately contacted Director Perkins. He relayed the killer’s identity, how Salem Bellamy had taken control over Arkhelios and that he expected to get captured again any moment.
Gavin: “I hear something at the door...”
Salem had indeed found Gavin, and he hadn’t come alone. Daniel was with his captor, but instead of aiding him in apprehending Gavin, he zapped Salem!
Gavin: “Danny! Haha, of course my deviant would break Bellamy’s mind control easily! Welco... Danny? Say something!”
While Salem was gasping, Daniel stood stoically next to his victim. He didn’t look like a freed victim of mind control. In fact, the android hadn’t gotten freed at all. Turned out control over him had transferred from one device to another!
Salem: “H...h...how...?”
Gavin: “I understand! Daniel is still logged into the servo controller, and that in turn is set to zap burglars and trespasser. So when he stepped into the servo controller’s range, that one took over and, zap, scratch one wanna-be overlord!”
The actual chain of events here was: Gavin fled from the Bellamy household - I loaded the Reed household with Gavin and Daniel - Salem walked by the lot - he wanted to kick the Reeds’ trashcan (from being furious at Gavin) - the servo controller pushed Daniel to zap Salem.
None of that was planned.
Although Salem Bellamy was able to issue commands to every single resident of Arkhelios now, he preferred to keep the FBI agent and his detective partner close by for optimal control. Gavin and Daniel thus had to spent the night at the Bellamy residence.
Gavin: “So you can pull our strings, but can you also watch everyone on the island? Like we could through the spy cams?”
Such an innocent question, and spoken in jest, too! Salem hesitated just a moment too long to answer “Of course, and my commentary would be way more thoughtful than your blabbering!”. Gavin and Daniel then knew that their captor could not sense everyone’s actions. He had to physically move into a place or at the very least use a telescope to wrestle control over the people present from them.
Gavin: “Okay, we get it, you are all-seeing and wise beyond measure. There, I said it. Will you stop making Danny do chores now?! If playing gulag overseer gives you a boner, I volunteer! Just... not Danny. It’s not right.”
Salem: “That’s not my doing. Your husband simply has a strong drive to nurture.”
Daniel: “And I hate myself for that right now. But there are urges that put to shame your mind control machine, Mr. Bellamy.”
Salem: “Yes. Parental instincts. Group dynamics. A thin crust of socialisation and...”
Daniel: “Don’t try! For all your education, you wouldn’t understand. This is ME being ME, and even though you could cancel my actions anytime, you could never stop me from wanting to do them in the first place. I’m free!”
Gavin: “So if you didn’t command Daniel, then who did you mess with this morning? Your own family?!”
Salem: “Matter of fact, yes! Omar really needs to get a grip on himself and start dating again. He’s struggling to do so, so maybe making him more attractive to the ladies will help. I therefore made him comb his hair.”
Gavin: “You could have suggested that to him.”
Salem: “Like I did to no avail the dozen times before you came to Arkhelios, you mean?”
Over breakfast Salem explained that the investigators would stay at the Bellamy residence for a while.
Omar, Malika and Roman didn’t like the announcement at all. No matter how nicely Salem phrased it, and how amiably he smiled while talking, if the FBI felt that the Bellamy needed police protection, that could only mean that they were the next on the killer’s list!
At this point Hunter already moved in with Wanda, but they aren’t married yet.
Salem: “I have to do this... Curse you, Abraham Helios, for forcing me into a “Only you can do it” role!”
Salem hesitated for a moment, when he saw the deactivated android in the corner of his eyes. Daniel Reed had clawed up his way from household device to a person with full citizens’ rights. And now he, Salem, was about to take Daniel’s freedom away. It was ironic.
Salem: “Sacrifices have to be made! Under my guidance Arkhelios can still become the utopia we dreamed of.”
Salem: “And so the reign of chaos ends! In a moment I will have full control over everyone’s actions on this island!”
Gavin and Daniel asked each household member individually about their alibis. Eventually Gavin, at a loss how to phrase this inconspiciously, blurted out about the Bellamy family apparently acting less on their whims than the rest of town.
Salem: “That may come with me being a teacher. But I’d be happy if the others acted on their whims. As things are, they give in to their instincts way too readily.”
Gavin: “Whims, instincts... What’s the difference?”
Salem: “As a detective, you have some basic understanding of human psychology, correct? Do you know the Basic Four?”
Gavin: “That pertains to how our brain takes inventory of the four most pressing needs, and then would choose one at random, if left to its own devices. If the higher cognitive functions are blocked for whatever reason.”
Salem: “Exactly.”
Gavin: “You suspect such a blocker to be in effect in Arkhelios?”
Salem: “Worse: I know for certain that it is. More pious characters will tell you about how the gods stepped out of the primordial chaos, and shaped the cosm. And that there are patches of chaos left here and there... this island being one of those. The mountains keep the chaos contained.”
Gavin: “And do you believe that?”
Salem: “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have told you. The chaos pouch, that we used to call freedom, is what drew us founders to the island in the first place. There - now you know the secret. Tell your superiors, I don’t mind anymore. I’ve lost my best friend to a freedom that didn’t really make us free. We just became pieces of driftwood getting swept here or there all our fucking lifes.”
Gavin: “Bellamy really takes the loss of Abraham hard. In his distress he spilled the whole backstory of the exodus to Arkhelios to me. Even if we fail to find the killer, that’s some major credits with Director Perkins for us!”
Daniel: “What do you mean, “find the killer”? We just learned that the MMO - motive, means, opportunity - doesn’t apply here. Everyone could have picked up the laser pistol and shot Abraham Helios, simply because they felt low on fun!”
Gavin: “More like everyone who hasn’t showered in a while.”
Daniel: “Ey?”
Gavin: “Laser pistols, like fingerprint scanners, advertise Hygiene to the reptile, not Fun. I know this because it came up in the written portion of my FBI aptitude test.”
The very same test Daniel failed in the very first chapter of this series :-(
