>>5411358>>5411360>>5411361>>5411362The extreme aggression of the Flounder Feeder’s immune system was fundamentally unsustainable. At the predator’s then-current level of advancement, there was no question of refining it to a near-atomic precision, only of whether the autoimmune scourge would drive them to extinction before they could dampen its impact. In the swiftest adaptation of the Flounder Feeders yet, fifteen generations of cutthroat natural selection reduced the frequency of deaths from a flood to a trickle and held onto much of its benefit as well. Painful, but manageable, and no worse than the cancer that burdened millions of generations before them. In defiance of the odds, the Flounder Feeders have fumbled their way back from the brink of extinction once again.
Autoimmune disease is no longer the leading cause of death for Flounder Feeders but the second, after heavy metal poisoning. Cancer remains inevitable and comes in at a close third, though it’s no longer a death sentence, as a hypervigilant immune system targets and dismantles tumors almost as quickly as they form. Occasionally, the Flounder Feeder’s body isn’t able to stop targeting cells that are superficially similar to cancer but harmless and this almost invariably leads to escalating tissue damage, gradual loss of function, and a miserable death. The worst has passed the Flounder Feeders over, however, and the overall result is a higher life expectancy, bringing them back up to an expected six Terran months despite the toxic waters. The Flounder Feeder population has begun to recover, though their numbers will take time, trial-and-error, and no small amount of suffering to reach their former heights.
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