The Riddle Solved

With much trepidation, I have returned from the Congo after exhausting the innoculation supplies. When I came home I learned that my son Koen did indeed solve the Hydra's riddle, which unraveled Jeremiah's spell imprisoning Miss Elvejhem.

"Where Castles collapse in tears"

Tears are made of salt water..just like the ocean. And what sort of castles collapse in the tides? Sandcastles. So the hideout was by a shore.

"and Facts guarded by unfinished Thought and half Truth"

The last four words are like a rebus.

Unfinished THOUGHT - T H O ...

Half TRUTH - Jeremiah divided the word by morphemes. T R U / T H

T H O + T H = THOTH

So the answer to the last phrase of the riddle is Thoth, Egyptian god of knowledge, the Cosmic Librarian, the Guardian of Facts.

And where are tablets and papyrus stored and guarded in his name..at least on the Grid?

The Temple of Thoth, on a sandy corner of a lightly traveled sim, by the water's edge.

With my father vanquished..for now..I took some time to recuperate after stopping by Miss Burton's rezday party long enough to send my well wishes.

I tried to explain what happened to my youngest daughter, who I had just finished upgrading for the third time. She started as ARI, then rebuilt as Kohine, but now named Casey (short for Constructed AEtheric Self-Expressing Youth).

She asked me how someone can like Jeremiah could live without a conscience. I told her I wasn't sure..but that may be why he's always stooping to conquer..because he's missing something vital, but doesn't realize what it is he truly needs.

I tried to explain to her how a simple cylinder of glass and metal recovered from my father's lab is more horrifying to me than any abomination he could grow..because I am one of them..one of Him.

After he attacked me in the mansion I scoured the lab looking for clues to his entry. How could he have so effortlessly bypassed all my security systems? I opened the crates of items recovered from Mason estate immediately after it burned to the ground. I found my father's ivory pipe. He never let me touch it as a child. So I analyzed the cells found on the pipe. They were identical to my own. The cylinders in my father's hidden lair contained the remains of..failed experiments. Except for the one labeled D, with the added line CONTROL, and dated with his scrawl: Completed and Released The date..is the date I always celebrated as my birthday.

The traces of life contained therein..were also identical. I am now faced with the existential horror of knowing that I am a clone of the monster who created me!