In light of the Biolizard incident, Gerald and his colleagues searched for why their promising prototype crashed and burned so prematurely. After hours of theorizing and debates among themselves, the A.R.K. researchers realized one crucial detail: the Biolizard was an Earth lizard, the Chaos Drives were made from the Chaos Emeralds of this new planet. The differences between the alien energy and the normal lizard could have resulted in unforeseen errors in the experiment. No one could prove it, but it seemed to be the only plausible explanation. Thus, the conclusion of the discussion was that the new plan would be derived entirely on the objects of the new planet, not Earth.
Gerald went back to the photos of the stone slabs with hieroglyphs to find something he could use to keep this operation going. Hours went by before something caught his eye; A picture of a blue monstrous looking thing being bowed to by little things. The primitive illustration seemed to show that the blue monster was made of water and judging by the way the other figures bowed to it, it must have been their god. The only words that he could decipher that matched with the picture were, "Chaos, God of... Guardian... Chaos Emeralds and... Chaos, God of... Worship or..." Despite the ambiguity of the text, Gerald decided that the Guardian of the Chaos Emeralds should have no problem containing and controlling Chaos Energy, unlike the Biolizard. This specimen should have no negative side effects if its based on the god and guardian of the Chaos Emeralds.
Right after presenting the idea to his comrades, they agreed to start on it immediately. After months of successes and failures alike, the A.R.K. scientist finished another prototype, the Artificial Chaos. After testing them, they realized they had hit a dead end. Even though the Artificial Chaos had all the desired traits, with no side effects, they still couldn't call this a "success" in the immortality and curing Maria aspect. The Artificial Chaos was just that, artificial, not really alive. So of course they were immortal, they weren't really alive. They were made up of a robotic core and trillions of nanobots that made up their liquid bodies; they weren't even close to what they were originally going for.
Gerald flung papers across the room in irritation. How could he have wasted all of that time on something that was never going to work from the start? He felt so stupid. His fellow scientists tried to console him, reminded him that the Artificial Chaos were incredibly impressive despite not being able to help Maria and they could be a lot more helpful for further research on the planet. But he wasn't willing to listen to them. He stormed out of the lab and walked down the long metal hallways that constructed the A.R.K.
Silently, he walked forward, trying to get as much distance away from his failures as possible. Why was nothing working? This planet's rich energy showed so much promise. He was sure he would only be on this giant metal ball for 2, 3 years at the most. He thought it would be just a little easier than it was. Why... why couldn't he save his wonderful little girl? The depressed old man continued to question himself as one foot monotonously shuffled in front of the other. For a time that felt like forever, he just dragged himself across the massive space colony, not even waving when other staff members greeted him. To be honest, he couldn't even see them, he was too busy looking inside himself, trying to find an answer for all the hard questions he continued to pester himself with.
"GRANDFATHER!" the sudden joyful voice burst through his shroud of self-loathing and forced him to see who was in front of him. It was her, his sweet little princess, running to him at full speed. Before he could blink, Maria had launched herself face first into Gerald's chest like a runaway train.
"OOOMFF!" he grunted on impact and came towering down, his back now on the cold metal floor. Maria laughed and held his torso in her smaller arms. Gerald half-wanted to scold her for nearly giving him a heart attack and a concussion in the same second, but he just couldn't.
"Hello sweetheart" Gerald managed to squeeze out of constricted lungs. Maria lifted her face up to look directly at his face. She beamed her beautiful smile at her beloved Grandfather.
"What are you doing out here? I usually have to come see you in the lab. Did you make something wonderful?" she asked him sweetly. Gerald sat up as she uncoiled her arms from his ribcage.
"Well my dear, I don't really think so, no" he said with an uneasy smile.
"That was a trick question!" Maria giggled loudly.
"Eh?" Gerald confusedly grunted. "How does she even know what that means?" he thought. Immediately, he remembered the time she was 4 years old, drawing something with crayons and he asked her was she making something beautiful. Before she could answer Gerald picked her up and told her it was a trick question, everything she drew was beautiful. And since then, whenever he caught her drawing he would ask her his trick question.
"Everything you make is wonderful!" she exclaimed happily. Without him knowing it, Gerald grinned at Maria. Like he wasn't even in control of his emotions, Maria was making him happy. Without even trying, she cleared up his cloudy skies instantaneously. She sat up and remained in his lap, her white dress covering her thighs and his alike.
"Grandfather, is everything alright? You looked kind of sad when you came this way." she asked, concern written on her face. Gerald rubbed the back of his head and exhaled loudly.
"Well, things are getting a little difficult in the lab. The experiments aren't exactly going as well as I had hoped they would" he said a little miserably.
"Well... what did you want them to do?" Maria asked, her shoulders shrugging.
"I wanted them to... well... cure you, Maria. And they... they can't" Gerald struggled to say. Maria blinked in slight surprise, but gathered her composure.
"Ah well, that's okay, Grandfather" she said with a smile. Gerald gaped in surprise.
"How is it okay, Maria?! I failed you! I keep failing you! I'm supposed to be the smartest man on Earth, but when it comes to protecting the people I care about most, I always fall short, I-" Gerald stopped himself. He had unintentionally raised his voice at the sweet girl. Maria's eyebrows were curled in confusion.
"But, you haven't failed. I'm still alive because of the treatments you give me everyday. I was already supposed to be dead a long time ago" Maria said solemnly. Gerald immediately clammed up at her surprising statement.
"Maria... who told you that?" Gerald finally asked sadly. She was never supposed to know that. How could anyone tell a child they should have been dead earlier in their already short life? Maria stayed silent for a moment, almost regretting telling her grandfather that she knew something she was never meant to.
"... I... I overheard... a couple of the nurses... when they were talking... I know you didn't want me to find out..." she admitted slightly begrudgingly. Gerald gently grabbed her shoulders and leveled his eyes with her's.
"Tell me who they are and I'll make sure they never-" Maria quickly interrupted his hasty words.
"No, that's not necessary, Grandfather. They weren't being mean about it or anything. And it's okay. I know you'll figure something out. You just need some time, that's all" she grabbed his hands on her shoulders. Gerald looked her in the eyes, her crystal blue eyes, full of confidence and faith. She believed in him. After all his failures, her faith in him hadn't wavered. Not even a little. He sat there staring in her sapphire eyes for a couple seconds and finally snapped out of his stupor.
"What am I doing? Maria hasn't given up, so neither can I. I will figure this out... For her..." he thought to himself as he stood up and Maria shuffled to her feet after him.
"Sweetie, as always, you're right. I won't give up, I'll keep working" he smiled. Maria breathed a breath of relief. Finally, he was smiling for real again. Gerald's hand patted her head lovingly, and he continued to walk forward, with Maria in tow.
"You still haven't told me what it is you've made Grandfather" she reminded him as she gently grasped his hand.
"I suppose I haven't. Well, it's quite a fascinating invention. We based it off the mural on the ancient hieroglyph stone's depiction of this planet's water-like god being" he explained.
"Wow! You made a water god?" she asked, amazed at such a feat.
"Ha ha, well, robotic copies of it anyway. They can freely control the Chaos Energy from the Chaos Drives and since they're made of trillions of nanobots, they can take any shape we tell them to"
"And since they're made of water, they can breathe underwater, right?" Maria asked enthusiastically. Gerald paused for a moment in thought.
"They don't really breathe seeing as they have no respiratory system or any such thing. And they're actually made of a hydrogenated poly-chlorofluorocarbon that is-" Gerald stopped himself when he saw that Maria's face had gone blank from his complicated explanation.
"They're made of water and can breathe underwater, yes" Gerald comically simplified.
"So you can send them to find sunken treasure!" Maria exclaimed happily. Gerald turned his head at her statement.
Looking at her intently, he asked, "What did you say?"
"You know, treasures at the bottom of the sea! There's always some in my deep sea books!" Maria explained happily. "Maybe they can find some really cool stuff on the ocean floor. Like pirate gold! Or jewels and precious gems!"
Gerald froze on the spot. He had been so blind. How could he have overlooked that?
"... That's it. Maria, THAT'S IT!" he shouted. He picked the golden haired girl up and twirled her around. They both laughed loudly, attracting some of the A.R.K. staff's attention.
"I know what we can do now! It's a long shot, but we might be able to find something new! Something that can get this project moving forward again!" he exclaimed putting her on her feet again.
"Thank you, honey!" he said before he kissed her forehead lovingly. She giggled, still kind of dizzy from the twirling. Gerald immediately walked her to her room and ran back to the laboratory. He commanded everyone to get ready to take the Artificial Chaos to the jungle and prepare them for a deep sea excavation. Gerald was always bothered by the way the ocean suddenly approached the jungle area. There was no beach, no sign of natural separation, which led him to believe that something happened, something unbelievable happened, to the rest of the continent the jungle was on. Meaning something of value, anything of value, could be in the water surrounding the jungle...