32. For Your Entertainment

I had used the energy of the Lite Ring a number of times in the dark. With no sun for power I hoped the Lite Ring would work one more time…to open the gates. “There have been some significant additions that extend your power source.” The letters quickly formed on MY cape. “You now have Nanobots that can generate power from the moisture in the air. No light is required…darkness is now your friend.” I summoned the Lite Ring….we drove the vehicle with MY army into Black Swans.

There were few buildings in the amuesment park, as Stan had called it. A lot of open area with some metal structures, broken and rusting, scatered around. As Stan drove the vehicle down the narrow road the lights fell upon a large metal building with the same metal figures that were on the now destroyed gates.”Hey boss!” I looked at Stan. “That’s a maintenance shed with a door big enough to swallow up this deuce and a half. What do you think?” I looked at Stan and pointed at the large opening. “Gotcha boss.”

The inside of the building was dark.  Moon light coming through a small opening in one wall cast a shadow on the floor. We needed light so I thought about the Lite Wrapping. Instantly the metal support beams became illuminated…we had light. The lighting was low level..enough for us to see…but hopefully not enough to draw attention to us from the enemy above. “That is so cool”, Stan was very animated, “what else can you do?”

In the vehicle Stan told me the meaning of “amusement park” and the reasons humans came to Black Swans. “People like to have fun and be entertained,” he had said. I thought about MY collection of humans, 13 of them being a lot less animated than Stan. I wondered what they did to amuse themselves….perhaps I could modify their current state and make them more like themselves without having them run away. Or worse yet..try to attack ME. “YOU have finite control over the humans.  Try minimizing the hold you have on them now.” I looked at MY cape..the Lite’s idea was worth a try.

I told Stan to stay ready if I needed him and had the 13 humans stand in a line in front of me. I thought of the Lite Ring, projected it toward the humans and slowly released them from their semi-sleep “zombie” trance. If I could gauge their reactions correctly I could bring them close to normal and still maintain some control. Slowly they began to look more alert and looked at ME…eyes blinking, mouths opening silently. They started to look around and at each other and then I stopped the process. This was close enough for ME.

I thought about Stan’s comments on entertainment and his reaction to the illuminated metal beams. I projected a number of Lite Wrappings on various sections of the inside building walls. On one section I had the moving image of our first encounter with the hunters. On another I had the image of our first interaction with Stan. “Man, I was kinda goofey when we first met.” I looked at him and wrote “Was?” on MY cape. He found that amusing. On the last Lite Wrapping section I showed the recent encounter with the enemies flying machine. I looked and saw Stan staring at it with his mouth open….five of the group also looked. The other 8 started walking toward ME.