After a very lucrative commercial break, Emilio’s simulation began. Marilyn stole minutes of airtime with panoramic space views of the galaxy panning down to an Electoral 2072 logo. Then the mood changed, techno music floated in and the computer fabricated the entire world made of small shining rocks, complex alien life and cities of quantum-sized particles leaving players in the weightlessness of the Purple.

The Purple

Emilio Wamarez Sanchez

Polls showed half of the population figured the computer had known for a while the Sixth Attraction was coming and even probably was its cause somehow. To the rest, the entire doomsday situation was an elaborate hoax designed to boost ratings. Down on Earth, after paying generous royalties, many produced everything from limited edition t-shirts to coffee mugs. Marilyn kept on milking the situation for cash and attention. She obviously reveled in this record audience by making it so that no one with a pulse could afford to miss any twist of this complicated turn of dimensional events.

The latest paradox was impossible to ignore. Electoral's genius was engineering this enormous "chicken and the egg" situation. It was impossible to tell if the events of the Sixth Attraction resulted from the game, or if the game led to the Sixth Attraction. End of the world or not, the sponsors paid generously, and product placement was at its maximum.

As the "Star Wars" music faded, in the darkness of the cosmos, the color turned to a purple hue. The viewers had arrived here; in a different dimension of the Multiverse. Two and a half billion people watched as Emilio felt his consciousness and a ghost-like body appear in the digital recreation of this neighboring dimension.

On each screen, his simulation body was that of Sophie, floating with her t-shirt. The young girls was there, silent for a couple of seconds, then as if Malik and Marilyn were fighting for dominance of a black and white simulation, there was a glitch.

From the command room of the Electoral Center, Sophie smiled in silence. The Attractor, under the watchful eye of Milly and Georges watched her image on screen, floating in the Purple replaced by the larger body of Emilio, the President. In all other 63 simulations, tiled on a large wall to the side of the room, her image stiff floated.

Only the President was forced to play himself. The man, a talented player, saw and felt the difference. His smaller ghost hands were his fat fingers. His gift let him know the Attractor was playing games. He did not mind and with his proverbial gift, rolled with it. This place was peaceful — silent. Next to him was a pulsing, shining ball of orbiting rocks. This was the body of Malik, the creature he had just selected to guide him on this adventure.

Sophie, from the Center pointed at the screen and spoke to Milly, “let’s see if this really works. Watch this.” Her hand glimmered. Energy surrounding her seemed to slip into the computer like gas is exchanged between stars.

The beautiful image of Malik on the screen was replaced with the deeper voice and images of the real body of Liam, the Oldest. Sophie clapped her hands in delight. Her plan had worked. She had sent Liam into the system. Two misses were too much for a confused Electoral. The screen faded to black as she pondered if she needed to reset the simulation. Quickly a decision was made and the Purple and the Metil returned floating next to the human body of Emilio. The brown ball of crystals from the world of Liam would be part of the show.

“Talk to him,” whispered Sophie.

The creature of the Lowest was billion of times more elaborate than the Purpelite. Colors swished like blood inside the brown ball made of transparent snowflakes. Emilio was awed by the magnificence of the living creature.

“Mister President,” whispered the Oldest.

"Apologies for the confusion," Marilyn's voice explained to all watching, "we seem to be facing some technical difficulties. All other simulations are working as expected, tune in to another as I fix this. In all of them, the players play Sophie, but here gentle Prez, its a bit different. The same way Malik infected Laurent’s game in Chicago, Liam is now overriding my display mechanisms.” The Oldest body glowed. “Let’s roll with this proverbial punch for now.”

Like ghosts, the ephemeral bodies of Emilio and Liam floated in the Purple waiting for the narration to end.

“This is an honor,” answered Emilio to the large rounded shape.

“The honor is mine,” he replied. “I have been following your adventures down on Earth closely, rather well played sit. The computerized creature fails to comprehend the essence of the Attractor. She thinks she controls reality even the portion linked with these images. But Attraction is unique in that it rests outside of every know pathway. Science and even life does not bind it.”

Emilio smiled. “We both know the name our books give such beings.”

“No reason to go there, she watches. Such words would not be helpful.” Sophie knew the two were trying to avoid calling her a goddess.

Marilyn took over and created a masterful video as she illustrated what came next, Her voice in the distance narrated, "The Metils live in a much different dimension. Here laws of physics are completely different. There is no gravity, and instead, multiple electro-weak forces bind these sub-particles. This whole world, this dimension, actually has no physical representation when compared to Earth, but somehow the mind of Malik and Sophie have forced the world into this strange kaleidoscope of colors.”

"Aside from a handful of physicists or mathematicians on Earth, I can't expect anyone to understand what is going on. But the time for simplification has long passed. Explained differently, only our world, the layer of the Multiverse called The Cold, has a physical reality. Rocks exist in our world because particles exist. In all other layers of the Multiverse, energy never takes any real physical form. Liam, your own body is a construction of the Attractor. Since Malik's world is immaterial, it's nothing we can draw or visualize. Sophie's unique power as the Attractor allows for this representation to be drawn. She warps things around her. That is once again possible thanks to her gift. As you can imagine, no spoken language exists in these worlds. I am guilty of the same subterfuge. When I drew Liam as a tall, handsome Indian man in Laurent's mind, I gave a reality to something without one."

Images began to fill the Purple. "These Metils, even though wholly composed of simple energy, are much smaller than our smallest known sub-atomic particle. On Earth, we recently uncovered the Zex, a piece within the particle called the Quark designed to give momentum to light as we rip apart the photon." To the left of Emilio, in the distance appeared a giant and deadly rift. This sight, the size of Niagara Falls, opened in the colored void and began to gush out energy. It was a rupture in the fabric of this world. Through the irregular-shaped black plate, planetoids poured into this world like cannonballs being shot by a battleship.

"Turns out our light drives on Earth, the one fueling the Airbus A2070 have an undesirable side effect. As we tear open light to push forward a small plate, the other parts of the Zexs, a rock we would call an anti-Zex makes its way into the Purple here. This massive rip is created by the tip of a laser beam bouncing off a mirror back in our dimension is opening a vortex and leaving the trail of destruction. Our desire for technological advancement has undesired causes and makes us monsters to those who inhabit this world. We are, said plainly, destroying most of the Purple."

Emilio could not believe what he was seeing. The portal wasn't a door to a different world; it was an avalanche of icebergs thrown into this space. He knew mankind was inconsiderate, but this was beyond imagination. Marilyn's narration continued, "With the manufacture of more light drives every day, the Purple pays the price by being pulverized by its careless neighbor, us." Marilyn then shifted the camera angle away from Oldest and showed from a distance a lighter purple space.

Marilyn showed large boulders enter and rocket onto the cities around. As the Zexs rolled, they moved like meteoroids and killed millions. She showed with extreme graphic detail the consequences of the destruction. "As of this day, about twelve percent of this world has been destroyed. Thankfully, the largest city has, so far, survived. Had the orbital lasers around Mars worked as originally planned on the flight of the final contestants, the capital would have fallen. By delaying the firing by as little as an hour, I helped avoid this catastrophe."

There it was. Marilyn had just admitted knowing about the Purple and being responsible for what most people figured was a terrorist attack on Sophie’s inbound trip to the red planet.

Images of the city vanished, replaced by Malik, as he stood guard next to the gate. She was replaying and narrated the boy's adventure. "He was cast aside. The young boy was given the most dangerous job imaginable. Malik had to warn the capital if one of the Zexs entering this world appeared at an angled to allow a part directly to the capital. This was a suicide mission, of course as no place in this area of space is safe. There were those who hoped he would be crushed in the process.”

"The boy was mesmerized by Sophie and was drawn to our world. After passing this rupture he entered Sophie's mind to return briefly with her to the Purple. As part of this strange initial contact, Malik was wounded by the sheer force Sophie's spoken word. As the Attractor travels, her power is absolute; you as a player must be very careful. She is immaterial and has force.”

"The boy barely made it home, had to escape the capital and dismantling and returned through a second portal to hide in Laurent's mind. A month later in this world’s timeline, Sophie returned to this world with Liam in tow. This time, an entire army from the Purple tried unsuccessfully to stop her. Sophie even saw part of the capital.” The creature illustrated with perfection what Sophie had seen and done.

"One final piece of information: President Emilio has selected to enter the Purple with Malik at his side but Sophie thinks otherwise. I think she keeps the boy close to her father and his game. You and Liam, on the other hand, should be immaterial and move as visible or invisible spirits. Good luck, Mr. President, as you play. I am still unclear as to how points will be awarded.”

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.

"Liam, are you okay?" asked Emilio in the Purple.

“Yes Mister President,” replied the brown ball.

“I am not your President.”

“My symbiotic relationship with a terrain makes you my President, sir.”

“Why are you here?”

Sophie smiled as she watched this connection 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, viewers saw him wince as if hit by a sudden headache. 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 - it squeezed and zoomed in long lines.

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 live. There was a kaleidoscope of images to those watching like a giant slide down a mountain. People saw a core dump of images, a flood. These were about ten scenarios, all overlapping in which Emilio spoke to Liam. Each time, the question changed and so did the creature’s reaction back to him. His mind was hurtful to watch.

But quickly, as always images ended and Emilio was once again ready to speak to Liam in an eleventh simulation. The Oldest who had witnessed the strange kaleidoscope of images simply interjected, "Your mind can see alternate futures. I did not know you are the Guesser and in the Cold." The brown crystal creature blinked rotated. "Sophie?" it spoke in the void created by the computer.

The situation was utterly confusing to everyone.

"What did you call me?" asked the President.

"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, a higher time set."

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

“Mister President,” said 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. You occupy a bit more than four usual dimensions as your scientists define it.“

"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 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. I am reassured."

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?”

"We must play. 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.

Sophie, in the Center was finally at full attention standing, smiling ear to ear and holding the plush toy.