Episode 56: Control
Takes place July 16-21
Short version
Paul captures Larfleeze and returns the Orange Central Power Battery to the Controllers.
Longer version
Paul locates some Darkstars pinned down on a Reach-controlled planet, and destroys the Reach forces. The Darkstars liberate the planet, then in gratitude, give him passage to Maltus to meet the Controllers.
On Maltus, he learns that his original ring was forged and thrown into the Bleed by Hinon Hee Hannanan, who has been in a coma ever since, waiting for someone who could wield it. Paul revives her, and after examining his capabilities, she tentatively agrees with his plans to found an Orange Lantern Corps. She also helps to design a device to paralyze Larfleeze.
Paul's stealth systems allow him to sneak into Larfleeze's cave and capture him in his sleep. However, on the way out, Paul is ambushed by a group of Orange Lanterns wielding some of the construct-rings, and led by the First Citadelian, progenitor of the entire Citadel Empire. Despite the First's substantial intelligence, he is less experienced at wielding the orange light, and Paul kills the group and recovers their rings.
The Controllers build a housing for the Orange Light Fountain, turning it into a proper Central Power Battery and reducing the corrupting effects of the orange light. Larfleeze is put into rehabilitation.
The title refers to the Controllers, and presumably to Paul's discussions with them about how a Lantern Corps might operate.
- Anticlimax: Once Controller Hannanan has built a device to stop Larfleeze from focusing on any of his desires, Paul sneaks into his cave in maximum stealth mode, finds him asleep, puts the device on him...and Larfleeze is thus neutralised and carried back to Maltus for therapy.
- Convenient Coma: Controller Hinon Hee Hannanan, who made Paul's ring, has been unconscious ever since (billions of years). Paul wakes her by giving her his second ring.
- Empty Shell: Once in the Blue Cell and with the orange light drained, Larfleeze is left empty and staring. Paul is hopeful about eventually rehabilitating him.
- Exposition Beam: Paul sends Controller Hannanan a data packet from his ring to bring her up to date with everything he's done since obtaining his ring. Interestingly, she didn't actually ask him to do that, instead indicating that she was going to perform painful and invasive scanning to learn more about him — because she wanted to test his ability to give things away, after using the orange light.
- Indentured Servitude: The "Clickers" all work for the Controllers for part of their lives, as payment for the Controllers altering their biology so that reproduction doesn't make them mentally degenerate and die young. They consider it a fair exchange.
- Lesser of Two Evils: Honour Guard Lantern K'ryssma isn't thrilled to see Paul at the border of Reach space, but she's happy to let him go cause trouble for the Reach.
- Lobotomy: The Reach are fond of modifying species' brains to have improved reasoning ability, but feel naturally subservient to the Reach.
- Mundane Solution: Paul spends 30 seconds debating the merits of warping vs FTL transitioning to approach the Reach, with different detectability and uniqueness — then realises he's being silly, as he's quite happy to just kill all the Reach he finds, and his usual concerns about stealth don't apply.
- Organic Technology: The Reach habitually dissect captured species to build organic computers and other such technology.
- Psychoactive Powers: The First Citadelian didn't fully understand how orange rings work. Specifically, if you get frustrated and shout your rage to the heavens, thus losing your avarice focus, then your ring will shut down.
- Sapient Steed: Paul rides the Ophidian down to Maltus for his first visit.Ophidian: Let them never forget our arrival.
- Sink the Lifeboats: After wrecking the Reach ship over Urrigen, Paul snipes the escape pods it launched.Paul: Ordinarily I'd try picking them up and either handing them over to a competent authority or marooning them. In this case, however… The only authorities in the local environment are the Reach and their suborned governments. And I don't have the time or inclination to take them to Maltus. And if I let them land they'll be back in action in a few days. Guess they're out of luck then.
- Terraform: The Controllers are able to reshape planets in order to evacuate populations ahead of the Reach advance, although it's slow and difficult.
-
Ugly Cute: When Larfleeze has been neutralised and can't focus on anything, the one thing he still reaches out for is the Orange Light Fountain. Paul hands it over, since he's shipping them out together anyway, and Larfleeze curls up with it like a teddy bear.
