Then there was finally silence — the game could start.

Emilio floated alone in the Purple. On his side, Liam pulsed. The President was puzzled by the computer's unusual politeness; in four years, she'd never referred to him as the President or even simply Prez. For some reason, Marilyn cared about today's performance more than usual.

Emilio knew billions of eyes were on him, yet as usual, he was able to immerse himself in the world, forget his real body was far away and he felt oddly alone in the vastness of the purple space. His gift was acting strangely. This place was new to him; he had no residual feelings on which his visions could attach. Because of the importance of the game, he'd agreed to use the neuro-patch. The blond bimbo explained the game would be in weightlessness and if he used his usual screen-lenzs he would become disoriented and distracted. Emilio agreed; at this point, extraordinary measures had become the norm. The patch connected his mind directly to the game; it bypassed his five senses. That process also maybe allow the broadcast of his gift and visions.

Both were now floating in the Purple.

"Liam, are you okay?" said the voice of Emilio in the Purple.

“Yes Mister President,” replied the brown ball.

Sophie smiled as she watched this strange situation from the Center. She had forgotten Liam's beauty in his original form. There were two creatures on the screen. Emilio's mind in the game began to strain. Ordinarily, images would flood his consciousness at the speed of light, but instead, here in the Purple his mind was at a loss. He had no clue what to expect, and like entering a dark cavern, his mind almost went blank.

As the computer ran quintillions of software simulations, images began to flood into Emilio's overactive mind. His gift finally kicked in, but because of the strange direct mental connection with the game, the visions as they poured in his single mind, were also broadcasted. There was a kaleidoscope of images to those watching. People saw a core dump of images. Then about ten scenarios in which Emilio spoke to Liam. Each time, the question changed and so did the creature’s reaction back.

As the images ended and Emilio was ready to speak to Liam, the Oldest who had witnessed the strange kaleidoscope of images simply interjected, "Your mind can see alternate futures. I did not know there were Guessers in the Cold." The brown crystal creature blinked. "Sophie?" it asked in the void. Liam spoke out loud; he was wondering where the girl was or better yet, he was asking permission to the Attractor to speak.

The situation was utterly confusing to everyone.

"You called me a what?" asked the President.

There was hesitation. Liam did not know why he stood in this place, next to this man. "Sophie, are you here?" he asked again out loud. There was no answer. Somehow he had left the consciousness of the girl. There was no time to wonder as to the reason of this latest predicament. Liam, aka the Oldest replied to Emilio, "The Attractor desires full disclosure of all information. I see no reason to ignore her wishes even if she is absent and we are in this strange setting." Back in the Center, Sophie was watching her new friend. She smiled. He was right. She had already become very fond of him. "Sir, President, you are what is called a Guesser. It is a well-documented, yet rare state of mind in the Multiverse. In every dimension, there are a handful of individuals born with a mind having a slightly different connection to the timeline of the Multiverse. You see the bias."

“Call me Emilio,” he said immediately wishing he could take it back.

“Mister President,” began Liam, “Emilio, time appears linear to most. That is common to creatures of the Lower and all other worlds. The same way a song cannot be heard in its full entirety but only a single note can exist, that does not mean the song as a whole does not exist. Our minds hear only one note but yours can reconstruct a couple more.“

Oldest continued, "Let me try to explain with a different analogy. Non-linearity is simpler to understand in the physical world. Imagine two fish in a different location of a river. They can see each other. Both fish see only one fish: the other. If you place a mirror next to each on the side, they will now perceive two fish: themselves and the other. If the mirror is located at the half way point between the two, they now again see one; themselves."

"Okay, I get that."

"Time works the same way. In the typical mind's construct, we view things and people as they exist in one time only: the present. Guessers see today and reconstruct part of the future. In your world, they would be called seers or fortune tellers. You alone see a mirror placed at your side by the Multiverse." Emilio was at a loss for words. "Since my world has few living creatures, no Guesser has ever been born there. But Guessers are one of the many gifts and mysteries our Multiverse creates in very infrequent times. They are more frequent than the Attraction but not much. No two Guessers have ever existed at the same time. When he or she dies, another is immediately born in another world. We have documented only part of the Multiverse, so we commonly lose sight of the Guesser. I have many theories as to why they appear, just theories. Your presence here at this time, next to the Attractor is a very positive turn of events."

Emilio felt uncomfortable with Liam's very public explanation of his inner-workings. He now knew Marilyn could see his visions. He preferred to change the topic.

"Liam," he whispered.

"Yes?”

"Where is the city, our destination for this game?"

"Over your left shoulder, I believe," offered Liam. "The deeper and more energetic purple zone. You see it as a lighter shade of purple, almost a pink.”

The game was, to Emilio, normally rather simple. He saw a cascade of images, links to the future, and walked the best path. At this point, he knew the duo was supposed to go to the city, find the people in charge of creating the planetoid ready to destroy earth and scare them into changing their plans. The only question was one of causality. As was always the case with altering possible outcomes, there was the question of being the cause of the desired consequence. Emilio knew if he disturbed the work and postponed the release of the deadly missile maybe he would, in fact, be the reason why the missile destroys the earth. That was how time worked.

His job was to prevent the creation of the planetoid, not postpone it or worse be the cause of its untimely release.

He looked in the direction of the city.

***

Then his mind opened.