A few nights later, I laid in bed, awake, thinking. Damn, I've been bored. It's not like I haven't been looking for things to do, either. I've checked out relationships, plans, complicated shit, and it appears my practice of annihilating people who get in my way (Sarah just came back from killing another one) is paying off. They're being relatively kind to each other, usually not fighting like vultures, usually not wasting resources where resources should not be wasted: in internal disputes. Whether that was out of fear of me or because they're actually choosing to work together, I don't know. In return, I've been kind to them- the other day, I spent an hour or so in sheer pedagogy, teaching a newly-recruited fifth level the ins and outs of why and what. Unlike other people I've talked to, he hung onto my every word as if I was speaking the purpose of life and he had to memorize every little bit of it. (I was, and he almost did have to.) And, of course, the kinder we are to each other, the less extra space we leave the normals to squeeze in, and the less kind we are to them as we gradually squelch them into the ground whenever we feel like it.

But none of that happy crap alleviates my essential boredom. I need something to kill, or at least something to think about. Video games get old fast, research gets tedious and stays that way, and the more places I think about vacationing to, the more I don't want to go anywhere. Sigh. This would be even worse if I were alone. A year ago, I could not envision life with servants; now I cannot envision life without. Looking back, I find myself asking myself, how the hell did I stay sane?! Technology, that's how. Technology and.. what else did I use? Mind games, got into the learning too far to care.. hmm.. no, I didn't do that..

Oh, there we go, that's what I did. I have an amazing capability for imagination. It's like running a program- I just put some variables in and run it loose. Being the techno-monger I am, I have plenty of sources to draw imagination from. I found myself having detailed, imaginary conversations with computer opponents at the age of seven. Sometimes I extended them to other areas, sometimes I made up people out of thin air. Fantasizing is especially effective when your mind is powerful enough to do two things at one time. I really should have asked Daddy for some humans- but then again, back then I didn't understand the concept. Having people in the same house as I am was a concept I didn't even really consider. I was the Master, sheeple were not fit to associate with me, I saw examples of that, and, of course, I still believe that. Illuminati, and their children, were also out of the question- no corruption of the Inheritor and all that. But I made a huge error in logic and thought that they were the only possibilities. Of course, Daddy did manipulate me- even as he was building my defense and offense to the entire subject in general- then he stepped out of the picture altogether, gave me what I wanted, and allowed my own momentum to keep me going. And now I have a replacement for all those imaginary friends.

These are much, much better. Billy and Paul do not disappear every time I stop thinking about them- Sarah might, but that's just an effect of her profession, and she always comes back on command. They can anticipate me, instead of always the reverse. They will think of things I won't. I am not psychokinetic (oh, would that I were..); imaginary friends do not get one hot chocolate or random snacks when one is in a particularly comfortable position and does not want to get up- using Enforcers for such things is a violation of all \'e6sthetics and I don't like mechanical half-people hanging around me unless absolutely necessary anyway. And on the rare occasion that these do start begging for mercy, I know that this is the real deal instead of some twisted part of my mind having some fun again.

Shit, they really are like my imaginary friends- I can predict what they're going to say in advance. For most things, I know how they're going to react to the point of being able to predict their next move in fights. (And it definitely helps- we don't target the same guy simultaneously at all anymore.. not even Paul. Visible in electronic games, and I know it'll carry over to the real world.) I use them for what they're designed for- extensions of the self. And they can still act as independent agents- the efficiency of my setup in critical situations has caused some members of my organization to take notes, especially after watching the recorded raid on the power-greedy asshole implanting the normals in the ranch. So, from a purely objective standpoint, I'm using them well to accomplish my goals.

But as every Illuminatus knows, there is no objective standpoint. Everyone has their hand in it somehow. A variation of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, this rule simply dictates that no one can watch something without somehow being interested in, and thus affecting, the results. And chaos theory- a similar unbreakable rule- dictates that everything affects everyone in some way, large or small. Which is why almost all Illuminati at least half-consciously recognize their place in the scheme of whatever they're trying to judge before they judge it- the ones who don't are either making a mistake or know they are very far from what they're judging. And I am hardly 'very far', quite the reverse. I realized a large disparity between the future and the past: I used to always command them to do things, now they often know what I want. The only time they complain is if it really does disgust or frighten them, or if they see something I don't. They act towards me almost exactly like I act towards them. And I've encouraged them.

It's probably the obvious. I've been with them too long, and I know that getting them upset won't help anything much, and at this point it won't feed my ego any. I'm a purist. Most Illuminati get off on, purposefully live with, and enjoy the presence of crying, helpless people in a special Ming the Merciless way that the organization has been promoting. After all, if everyone thinks they're powerful already (which they are, but it's relative), business is good. The pseudo-Epicureans and the Satanists promote it, and most other people nod their heads and say 'Yes, this is a good way to live.' while going on with their business of world domination. It's utterly anathema to me; I'm not going to abuse them because I don't believe in it. With Sarah, half the fun is hearing her moan in ecstasy. And since the answer to the question 'Will my attitude cost me things I don't want to lose?' isn't 'No' or even 'Boool-sheeyit!' but 'Bwaaaahahaha!!', I can rest in peace without having to worry about resting in pieces.

Come to think of it, I think I could use Billy's company right now. Should I wake him up? Yes, hell, he probably hasn't even began whatever nightmare he'll have this night. And even if he does wake up screaming next to me, oh well, I'll just flop back down same as him. So I pressed the intercom and told him to come to my room.

He screamed so loudly and with so much echo that he could have sent the whole house into resonance. Wow, I had really bad timing. "Billy.. dude, that wasn't a nightmare. He really did call you.", Paul said.

"Whaat?! I don't believe this shit...", he said, as the realization of the command carried him from there to here. Something else is going on here- he shouldn't be reacting like that.

"Howie..", he started as soon as he opened the door, "if I wasn't..", he continued, then gestured to his forehead and finished, "you would never believe this."

For a brief instant I pondered shrieking at him with 'Can't you even choke out the word 'implanted'?!' Nah. Instead I said, "Believe what?"

"Paul and I were talking about you doing something like this before I went to sleep."

"Paul, how long ago was that?", I called. He replied that he had fallen asleep as well and didn't know how long for. "What else were you talking about?"

"Imaginary friends, us, and you. I'm not sure how to explain."

"Oh FUCK!", I shouted instantly. "Okay, this telepathy shit has gone from interesting to strange to all-out weird." He half-consciously rolled his eyes, reminding me that to the normal world, this is already very much all-out weird. "If I really believed in that shit, it would be time to break out the Zener cards. But if you've been thinking the same things I have, you already know what I'm going to say. I'm lonely as hell, Billy, and Sarah's jetlagged, and as you have probably guessed, I don't want to be alone. Come here, dude. Lie down. I know you won't scream again tonight." He did, and he looked into my eyes, I looked into his, we both chuckled a bit and we fell asleep simultaneously, with me secure in the knowledge that there is someone else on this planet to help me with everything. About an hour after that, I heard a skritch-skritch-skritching at the door, and found Fido wanting to be let in. I let him in and fell asleep again, this time with my dog and Billy in my arms. To an outside observer we would have looked like a solid lump of white hair and flesh..