Liam's voice deepened.

He looked at Laurent, Sophie, Malik, even the dog and began. Marilyn used her power to enhance the viewing experience by layering some semi-transparent images.

"My race does not age but we are far from immortals. We die because of wars, famine, and most often boredom. Your daughter Sophie, without knowing of who she was, has been my only focus of existence for more than two billion of your years. I waited for the Attractor and she has exceeded my greatest expectations. As you can imagine, such timeless survival requires a unique determination. This beautiful tale told to me by an Elder in my early years kept me alive past numerous forays into folly and depression.”

Somehow Marilyn knew what to illustrate.

"Before my arrival to consciousness, as the Multiverse was young, in a small strange world, a unique creature was born. It was given immense power to save its dying world. The gift appeared as what seemed to be pure magic and allowed... “ he paused as if his words entered his mind for the first time, “her.... to pierced through worlds and probability. The creature I later named the first Attractor and the phenomenon the First Attraction. I cannot know if other Attractions predate it. The story is quite long and simply tells of wonder, god-like power and saving.” Sophie did not ask for the full story so he continued.

"I waited, locked in my world for this rare event to return. Since my birth, I have witnessed only four other Attractors each given this magical power over reality itself.” Speaking to himself, “Only four Attractions. They surfaced at a junction I called simply the second, third, fourth and fifth Attractions. Each failed with dire consequences. Failure by the Attractor dooms worlds, including its home dimension. Billions, even Trillions perish. I believe we have now entered the sixth Attraction of our Multiverse and Sophie, standing there, is the latest Attractor.”

Laurent knew the Oldest, this creature was correct. His daughter was more.

Liam continued, "The rarity alone of these attractions should stress their importance. The fact I have yet to see one succeed in billions of your years should tell of their danger. We cannot conceive of the power poured into her to complete or fail at her task. But patience has always been my greatest virtue and that is why over the eons, I have assembled in my mind the collective knowledge of all the known worlds forming the Multiverse. The Multiverse has purpose, the failed attraction lacked, in my humble opinion a guide able to reach Multiversal physics.”

The terminology wasn’t improvised, Liam looked deep into Sophie’s eyes, she received the message loud and clear. "To understand Attraction, we must understand our Multiverse itself. It, what ever it is, is formed of thousands of worlds layered next to each other and sharing boundaries. Since each world is built on different laws of physics, nothing but pure energy can pass the boundaries between worlds. We call this the law of impermeability. Nothing but information and raw energy can travel between worlds like neighbors can only yell at each other through a thick fence.

"The Attractor's most unique power is its complete immunity to science, logic, and physics. The Attractor is free of the Multiverse's own rules, to the laws which bind us. Sophie can travel between worlds. Very little is known, even by me, of the Multiverse. Sophie wanted me here, therefore here I stand. She needed Laurent, here he stands even if his existence challenges the laws of life and death.” The father’s head twitched as he digested this fact, Sophie and not fate had kept him around.

The Oldest continued, "What I do know is that once in an eternity, before our Multiverse casts off and destroys hundreds of dimensions into oblivion, it appears to give these worlds one last chance to redeem themselves or to correct a personal reason why it needs to cast them off. The word attraction comes from the fact that at the epicenter of the problem, in one small part of one small world, things converge upon a single living creature. Each is always rather ordinary in appearance but exceptional in many other ways. Sophie is this Attractor, I am certain of that.

"Many of the worlds of our Multiverse appear to be minor. They are to the Multiverse what is this finger to my body. Cutting it, while always a problem, does not kill the whole. This world," he waved his arms to illustrate, "we call simply the Cold. The name originates from our observation that energy or matter when it becomes too cold to remain elsewhere in other worlds, flows out of each world's boundary and arrives here. Your world is unique in one important aspect; it borders every other world a bit like the skin on this body touches all the parts of my body.

"You are in a world, which until very recently, most out there did not know existed. Malik's world, we call the Purple is next to this one. Our wildest equations did not predict the force you call gravity. No one imagined life here, much less that you world would be so vast." Thinking of the colors he had just seen, he added, "so beautiful. Your universe is the size of our entire Multiverse the same way this skin covers the whole body. Most worlds are actually very small." He looked at the group and asked, "Should I continue, it gets complicated."

Sophie smiled at her father and the boy, they both wanted Liam to continue. The Indian returned the courtesy. "Very well," Liam stopped rocking his bench, "the real question is, what can a thing as large as the Multiverse ever want from something as small as Sophie? Why would one creature matter in the vastness of the Multiverse. This question stomped me for a long time. Today I have only a part of the answer. The fact that our Multiverse sent you to me suggests my theories are correct."

"Are you this Attractor Sophie?" interrupted Laurent.

"I don't think so but he is convincing."

Liam and Laurent smiled. Sophie was the only being capable of forming her own opinion irrespective of what the oldest creature of the universe was saying.

"What do you think the Multiverse wants with my daughter, or with me?"

"My theory of consequences to causes may help. I think it is the key." Liam looked around waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. He then continued. "Unlike what we think, the Multiverse does not unfold in the future because of present conditions. The Multiverse does not react to causes to form consequences, it works the other way around. It forms consequences to which causes align."

Liam saw his audience was completely lost.

Sophie jumped up, "Want me to tell you how I see his theory?"

"Would love to,” said the young boy.

She grabbed a glass of lemonade and held it at an angle over the ground. “Liam says we see the world too simply. If I pour this lemonade on the ground, I am the cause and the consequence is the ground being wet. He says the universe wants the ground to be wet, maybe because it wants a plant right there,” she pointed. “to be killed by the lemon juice. So it desires a consequence first and I follow as the cause.”

“You are a fantastic student,” offered Liam.

She continued, "He explained that if the universe needed us to be here on Mars today, it created the conditions which forced us here. It created Marilyn, got my father to be handicapped, and even forced Marilyn to be expelled from the Earth. We can't think of today leading to tomorrow but instead of today made possible because of yesterday."

The girl's understanding was solid.

"Well said, but respectfully it's a bit more complex. What you describe, many call theology or destiny. That is not how the world works. Our Multiverse uses one fun parameter to make sure we keep our free will and independence: numerosity. If what you need is to get to a precise consequence, you can force one cause to follow one path or you can bend billions so slightly to the right general area. If you need Sophie, you create millions upon millions of humans each evolving slowly. In her lemonade example, millions of people get to spill their glasses just to kill one plant.

"Numerosity explains why our Multiverse is so big and why we are so many in it. For example if the Multiverse wanted me to be gone, everything around me would start to be slightly more dangerous. Everything I eat would be more likely to be poisonous. Every place I go more hostile to me. The Multiverse is a large thing swaying and moving things around ever so gently. Like a bias created by god or destiny.

"This is where you Sophie come in. While the Multiverse is powerful at getting things its way, using causes and consequence and numerosity has limits. Once in a while, a deadly conjuncture presents itself to which no amount of normal universal sway will work."

"Sway?" asked Laurent.

"The Multiverse pushes gently things in ways it alone understands. We call it sway in a seven dimensional space."

"The God Bias?" asked Laurent.

"As good a name to describe it as I can find. Yes, the God Bias." Sophie smiled at her father. His mind was still sharp. Liam continued. "I read much about your world. I read that a man named Einstein defined space-time. Hopkins defined the God Bias as a constant. You must mix both these laws. The God Bias is not a fixed constant, it changes with time and space. In Sophie’s lemonade example the Multiverse wanting this spot to be wet would make it more likely it will rain, that a dog pees here, or that a car radiator leaks on this spot. Numerality."

Laurent was trying the best he could to follow, "Marilyn used the ratio Pi to measure some changes over time."

The young boy was lost and so were most people down on Earth watching the broadcast.

"The Multiverse wants something precisely?" asked Laurent.

"Sophie warps reality, she creates around her impossible things. Laurent should be dead, yet here he is. We both should not be here, the barrier between world's cannot be broken. I came here in her mind, I have no body, that makes no sense. Nothing around Sophie makes any sense. You,” he pointed to Malik, “also are here in violation of even common sense." The boy smiled proud of him somehow.

"So what does the Multiverse want my lovely daughter to do?”

Then there was a ring, it came from Laurent's pocket. He pulled out a flip phone, opened it and listened before talking to the group. "It's Marilyn, she does not want to intrude but would like to be here for the next part of Liam's story. She says she can help."

Sophie stood up guilty, "Of course," she quickly injected. “It was rude not to invite her to begin with.” There was so much sweetness from the Attractor, the three men were proud of her inclusiveness. Seconds later the front door of the house opened and a southern version of Marilyn walked out holding a tray of warm oven-baked biscuits. They were thick and smelled wonderful. She was wearing an apron with the Electoral 2072 logo on it.

"Sorry for the intrusion," said the woman, "this is too important to miss."

Liam and Malik were visibly uncomfortable. She blew a kiss their ways.

"May I sit?" Sophie slid to the side closer to her father making a place for her. The young girl was visibly happy to see the artificial intelligence.

"This is your digital world and we are on Mars in your center,” offered Sophie to cut some of the perceptible tension in the air.

"They don't like me." Marilyn pointed at the two aliens.

Sophie smirked back, "A small price to pay to be so secretive all the time."

"Touché! We are on the air as we speak. I even connected us to the repaired Nexus. So Liam say hello to your fiends from your dirty slushy world." He tensed. The creature was, he was sure at the heart of the problem.

"Liam, can you continue," said Sophie to Liam shielding him from having to respond.

Her new mentor just grabbed a biscuit from the tray, took a bite and his mood changed. How could anything be so good. He handed one to the boy. "Try this!"

"Wow. You sure can cook," conceded the boy.

Equilibrium returned to the group as Liam continued under the watchful eyes of Marilyn. "I don't know how to make the Attraction succeed simply because I cannot guess what the Multiverse wants. What I do know is how the Attraction failed each of the last four times. Each time, I witnessed the same pattern, as the Attraction grows nearer in time, so grows the Attractor's power. The bias in the world, this force that pushes us in a direction increases. Then, as if the Multiverse's own cause and consequence system was derailed, a deadly vortex of forces begin to swirl around the Attraction. The pivot is given choices, many of them as if the Multiverse. Was sabotaging her own Attractor’s chances of success. As the Attractor stands in the eye of a tornado, it is left with multiple overlapping choices which confuse the Attractor. Each time, the Attractor chooses the wrong door and the worlds die. Multiverse’s own defense mechanisms pop up many confusing doors. Strange.”

“Easy,” corrected Marilyn.

“Why?” asked the Oldest directly to the creature.

“Very easy.” She smiled. “It’s the bedcover rule.” Liam was confused.

Laurent added, “When you pull a cover to cover yourself, it uncovers the person next to you in bed. Someone has to be cold.”

Liam was unconvinced.

Marilyn added, “She places all the power in her and you think what happens around her? A lack of power or odds that specifically converge against the desires of the. Multiverse. This is where I come in. I may be of help," offered Marilyn. "I did set the precise moment of my finale, on the girl’s birthday on the moment the Sixth Attraction will happen. I wanted to make sure this pesky Multiverse did not cut short my competition or rob Sophie here of one last birthday with Laurent."

“Doubtful,” spoke Liam.

“Fair enough, I also insulated the Attractor away from all these pesky other doors. Emilio is down on Earth right now cleaning the way. Somehow everything that can go wrong seems to be concentrating on that same day. Electoral elected a Champion able to save mankind, he is helping cutting brush around what Sophie needs to do. Unlike the past Attractions, we are rather insulated.”

"So you knew of the Attraction? How did you know when it would occur?” asked Laurent.

"That a very complex question. I would rather not answer for the moment, just to keep the game interesting." The secretive computer personality was back. "I can also help with one other important matter. As you can imagine, it is rather easy to conclude I somehow am to blame for all this. In fact, if our world ends, I end. So logically I also want Sophie to succeed, no? I have been nothing but courteous to you sweet one, no?"

"That is true." The girl grabbed a biscuit. “And somehow I don’t feel you are to blame here.”

“Who is?” asked the boy to his big sister.

“I don’t know yet, I don’t think it’s that simple.”

The blond woman smiled and continued, "My competition is designed to help Sophie and mankind. President Sanchez has already begun to uncover and dismantle at least three different ploys to destroy everything. What is happening on Earth is incredibly complex and had Sophie and Laurent been stuck there, the news would have populated doors and paths around you two. I will take the blame here keeping the President on Earth to handle the mess and bringing you here. On Mars the problem is uncluttered. There are other ploys he has not uncovered, but he will. Today he got a hint. The one cause for concern is this attack from Malik's world. There is nothing he can do against that. They are sending a planetoids of magma our way. I think Sophie must take care of that problem. She alone can help. If my plan works out correctly, Emilio and Sophie should have saved the world by the time we get to the finale."

"Then what?" asked Laurent.

"Your guess is as good as mine. We are too early here, people at home must digest the first notions of Multiversal dynamics before we move to greater things. That should happen between Rounds 30 and 31. Really fun stuff about time itself, size. What’s up with size, why really small and really big.”

Marilyn turned to look at the camera and said to every person watching. "I suppose there is nothing wrong in releasing the premise of Round 27. I know all contestants are watching. As you have personally witnessed, the Purple is a small but beautiful world. Malik is from a race called the Metil. Their government is belligerent. Liam actually declared a war on these poor creatures for daring to fight for survival and against sure extinction." She then raised a finger and in the air played a recording of what Liam had said on the Nexus to the Metil ambassador. "The rest is even worse. So your friend Liam here is the one declaring war." Liam was unamused by Marilyn.

"Malik, can you tell us what is going on in your world that would warrant such destruction?"

Malik looked at Liam. The boy needed no more. "My kind is violent. I will not dispute that. But we only strike against this world in an effort to survive. This world is the place where destruction comes from. By the time I escaped, hundreds of millions had been killed by large Zexs pouring in from giant space rifts. A tear in the fabric opens and energy destroys and kills. We believe human technology is the source of these rifts. One opened next to your ship. I was tasked to guard it. Thanks to Sophie, I was able to enter your world and hide from the military from my world. If I go back, I will be dismantled."

Marilyn smiled to the home viewers, "In two days, on October 29, the last 64 players will travel to the Purple and play Sophie, the magical attractor. Next week's story will center around these giant rifts, tearing the fabric between worlds apart. If you are patient enough, you will see on television what to do to save our world from the Purple. Tune in next Wednesday."

The generic of Electoral 2072 played. On the screen scrolled.

Round 27 - 64 players (October 29)

Round 28 - 32 players (October 31)

Round 29 - 16 players (November 3)

Round 30 - Quarter finales (November 7)

Round 31 - Semi finales (November 15)

Round 32 - Final (November 18)

Round 32 - The Sixth Attraction. (November 21)

Marilyn now referred to the last game of her competition as the Sixth Attraction. Before the screen went dark, Laurent just asked Marilyn, "Why?" Marilyn looked at Liam. The man wanted to answer. "On this question, Liam and I might not agree. Liam, do you mind."

"Not at all.”

“Let me. The best way to explain Multidimensional constructs to a human, an analogy... got it. A piece of paper is two dimensional but really three, it’s thin, right?” A piece of paper appeared in her hands. “So we could argue it’s two and a half dimensions.” She folded it along the middle. “If you need to fold a piece of paper, you will create one angle, a ridge in the paper. A flat two dimensional piece of paper, if it desires to transform itself into a three dimensional work of art, must change itself and at a very precise location,” she opened the sheet and showed with detail the ridge. “It must hurt itself. The thinner the line, the easier and sharpest the bend. The paper, like the Multiverse must change along this line.” She then folded the paper one more this time along another side. It created two fold lines crossing each other at the Center. “Two folds, the point right there, in the Center is further weakened. It is a pivot, it attracts. Today the Multiverse wants to change, like the piece of paper, the bend will happen around the Attractor in what I called The Great Curvature. The smaller the bend, the lesser the power needed to change. So each time it selects one single creature to whom it gives this power."

"So the Attractor could be my father and I?"

"I guess."

"Why us?"

Liam continued, "I think my theory of cause and consequence can help unveil this mystery. The Multiverse wants something, it needs you to do something it alone or that all of us combined cannot do. My guess is, if we find the one unique thing you alone would never do or would do and that no other human being would do under the same set of circumstances, we will have the answer.” There was a longe silence.

Marilyn smiled and offered, “Sophie is the only creature in the world who would sacrifice anything, including this entire universe to save her father. She also is the only anti-hero possible. She genuinely could side against her own species or dimension and favor greater things. Sophie, if convinced our end will heal the Multiverse will not hesitate in pulling the curtain on all of us including herself." There was a silence, everyone had to agree.

"I corrected one of her equations earlier today. She immediately had to completely recalculate the future. So at the moment, while she speaks to us, she must be busy redefining futures and pathways. As every good logical machine, she cannot conceive that our Multiverse is non-linear. My poor creature, I can confirm it. “ His jaw muscles were tensed, “We live in a non-linear world. You cannot see or predict the future, irrespective of how powerful you ever become. Irrespective of what you think."

Marilyn smiled and replied, "That is not what your latest research paper said back in the Lowest. I hold your Dot and here, it warps fully on itself, you alone know what this means. It was child’s play to grab it from you culture of self-serving fools."

Laurent, Sophie and Malik looked at each other. They did not understand the verbal match. Liam simply added, "You think these waves are important and the key to the Attraction. I confirm, they are not."

"How can you say that?"

"One answer for one answer. If you find my answer satisfactory, you must promise to answer Laurent's earlier question about how much time you have known about the Attraction."

"I promised the girl I would not lie and I will not answer that question to keep that promise." There was a silence. The computer concluded, "I guess some things are better left unanswered, see you at Round 27." She winked, blew a kiss and several billion screens went dark.

In two days, Round 27 would be played in the Purple.