Their flight through the Purple resumed.

~ Sophie, how old are you? ~

"Twelve." The number proved rather useless without additional data. He did not want to burden her.

~ How do you measure your age? ~

"These are years, we have seasons. Four seasons in a year. Why?"

~ We need to find the age of this Mall-ik creature. it is possible you both were born at the same moment. The Multiverse loves these types of non-coincidences. Was there any important event in your world on the moment of your birth? ~

"None that I can recall. Boring day, November 21. Why?"

~ The Multiverse stacks alignments. Each time it does anything, timing is always very fortuitous. The last four Attractions were driven by dates. Maybe I am seeing too much in this. ~

"I'm more of a spur-of-the-moment girl. I like to flow with things. But this year my birthday will be special."

~ How so? ~

"The finale of the Electoral 2072 simulation, run by Marilyn. It will be on that day."

~ The creature which used you to grab the Dot? ~

"Yes. Is that important?"

~ Most definitely. ~

"How so?"

~ That, I do not know. But I promise, it is important. ~

As they approached the deeper zone in the Purple, the rock formations increased in complexity. size, both individually and numerically. If they were in one of Electoral's made-up game worlds, and this was deception, she had outdone herself. The capital of the Metils was more complex than the most creative imagination. She felt like some creative artist, with a very unique mental state had dreamt of this place. The artist loved to build structures with millions of little rocks. Everything here was formed by hundreds of pieces, orbiting other pieces and exchanging flashes of light.

This was no simple city. It stretched for leagues in every direction. There were massive houses and castles that felt like beehives or underground ant colonies. Here, the living creatures were formed by thousands of orbiting rocks between which, hundreds of little flashes of color were jumping back and forth. The light resulted from rocks gently rubbing against each other.

As they arrived, Sophie expected resistance or security forces, but everyone moved aside and remained silent as they travelled slowly into the largest alley of the city. She was in awe of the place. On earth, streets were flat, and generally located on the ground. Here, everything was in every direction. In this nest, the small creatures heeded way as the pair made its way. Sophie had no clue what the creatures saw, but it was a sight hard to ignore by these locals. She knew the stable rocks were some type of dwellings for the Metils.

With time, they passed what were probably suburbs, to arrive in the heart of the city. There were millions of little blocks of different shapes and sizes forming these structures. Sophie knew her father, or even the blond computer, could not dream anything this weird. At the center of the city was some type of large palace. A structure made of hundreds of millions of rocks. Sophie felt she was in downtown New York, at the heart of a Macy's parade going on in every direction.

"This is so crazy," said the girl to her companion.

~ Truly a sight to behold. You cannot know how long I have waited to see this. Sophie, I owe you so much. ~

"What is that?" she asked, slowing down in front of the large structure.

~ They call this place the Palace of the Continuum. Here is where their governing body works. You must know, this race kills and dismantles their own rather casually. In the Lower, life is rare and highly prized. Here, life is rather less so. ~

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"They eat each other?"

~ No! No! No! ~ Her friend's reaction was one of sheer horror. ~ They have other species with lesser intelligence, they eat those. ~

"In my world we do the same. We do have vegetarians, though. We eat animals."

~ You eat life? ~

She knew he was uneasy. "Yes, I am sorry. Is that okay?"

~ Not really, but I always figured that life, if it exists in your world, would be rare, like in my world. ~ Sophie wanted to change the topic, she knew he tried not to be judgmental but disapproved. She pushed on.

As they moved deeper into the city, the world around them became more frequently animated and agitated. Someone or something had given orders not to engage them and move aside. Sophie began to notice order in this chaos. Some of the structures were vehicles moving creatures of this world around. Other structures helped regulate traffic. This was a real world, with real individuals, like ants in a colony. The only difference was the intangibility; many portions of these creatures were transparent, like pure energy. They moved back and forth between rocks, and once absorbed by a rock, produced a colorful gem. She was no scientist, but clearly she had to try to memorize what she saw. One day she would have to describe this.

She was in a three-dimension jungle of small rocks, orbiting other rocks pushed aside by flashes of colorful energy.

"Here," said Sophie. Their movement toward the center stopped.

Liam saw a structure in front of him. It like every other. The dwelling was made of millions of little bricks and blocks, some of them were spinning. Sophie got closer and stopped in front of what seemed like the entry door.

~ Why are you stopping here? ~

"I saw a flash of blue. Look at that color. Do you see it?"

The house was made of rocks spinning in different patterns. Most of the shades were red hues, some were yellow, orange.

"Right there in the back." She was unable to point at anything in particular.

Liam looked closer. There was so much to look at. The rocks, as they touched and gently came into contact with each other and released little bursts of colored lights, like energy bursts.

~ Sophie, what should I look for? ~

"There, the color blue."

~ I do not know blue. ~

"Who is in there?" yelled Sophie at the wall of rocks. "Come out."

Outside in the city there was silence. The fear in the streets was palpable. Hundreds were hiding in fear. She barked the order again. Slowly a Metil floated out. At first it appeared like the others, made of thousands of little rocks orbiting.

"Why are you different?"

“I... I am not different,” said the scared female voice.

"You are."

“No, no, I am not different.”

"Yes, there... You have a little portion shining a different color."

“I do not understand,” said the scared little creature. She was very upset.

"That rock. It keeps moving. Each time it touches something, it shines in a different color."

A different voice came from behind. "Enough!" It was a male voice. Sophie recognized the voice of the rude military man who first made contact.

"You again?" she said forcefully and with annoyance.

"Leave this creature to be. Follow me. The Council wants to speak to you." This creature was seriously getting on Sophie's nerves. She hated being bossed around. "Arrest her," said the voice. They were referring to the individual with a spark of blue. Sophie knew the creature she just discovered was unique in some way, and because of her intervention, she now was in trouble.

"You are arresting no one," said Sophie to the floating rock bully.

"She has an inversion, she belongs to us. The Council," began the creature.

Sophie reacted instinctively. She just yelled in the direction of the creature.

"Enough!"

What came next was unexpected.

As if she just had released a wave of energy, every little rock forming the annoying Metil was hit and reduced to the smallest of powder. Her words had just killed it. There were gasps all around. People here were beyond panic, they were gripped with fear unable to move or talk. Each creature’s vibrating energy increased like it was shaking.

"Oops," thought Sophie to herself. She could hear in her head Liam think, 'well deserved.'

Then the colors around her began to fade.

The world disappeared slowly.

Sophie opened her eyes and saw the doctor's face.

"She's back!" The doctor exclaimed. "Finally!"

She was in a thick bed. There was no tube around her was a comfortable hotel room.

"Why am I here?"

The voice of Marilyn Monroe replied, “Did you think about Oscar, the white dog?” asked the blond woman smiling on a screen ahead of her.

"Yes, a while ago."

“I am sorry, I saw a peak, a signal. I apologize. I pulled you out immediately but you just arrived.”

"I never entered my father's mind," said Sophie. Georges, her father, the doctor or even and Milly were not in the bedroom.

“Did you see anything, did you find him?”

"I saw something different. How long was I gone?"

“A little under a week. I was nervous. You were in a place with a much slower pace of evolution of time.”

Then there was a voice in Sophie's head.

~ Amazing! ~ said the voice of Liam.

Sophie smiled. Liam, her friend, was still with her.

“Marilyn, did you just hear another voice?”

“No,” she answered.

~ Perfect, ~ said Liam.