Liam's voice deepened.
He looked at Laurent, Sophie, Mall-ik and began.
"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 her, has been my only focus of existence for more than two billion of your years. As you can imagine, such timeless survival requires a unique determination. What kept me alive is a beautiful tale told to me by an elder in my early years.
"Before my arrival to consciousness, as the Multiverse was young, in a small strange world, a unique creature was born. This story speaks how it was given immense power to save its world. The gift appeared as magic and pierced through worlds and probability. The creature I later named the first Attractor and the phenomenon the Attraction.
"I waited, locked in my world for this event to return. Since my birth, I have witnessed only four other Attractors each given this power. They were at a junction I have called the second, third, fourth and fifth Attractions. Each failed with dire consequences. Failure by the Attractor dooms worlds, including its home dimension. If the Attractor fails billions are erased. I believe we have now entered the Sixth Attraction of our Multiverse and Sophie, standing there, is the Attractor.
"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. 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.
"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.
"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 off the worlds. This very unique process I have called an Attraction.
"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 creature we call the Attractor. This creature 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 the body. Cutting it, while always a problem, does not kill the whole. This world," he used 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. Mall-ik'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 man smiled.
"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 and more importantly, I am called to play a role in the Sixth Attraction. She, it, he wants me to help you."
"Are you this Attractor Sophie?" interrupted Laurent.
"I don't think so."
"How can you know?"
"I think you are Daddy."
"Me? Why do you say that?"
"Let's wait until Liam finishes his tale."
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?"
"I already told Sophie about my theory of consequences to causes. 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."
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.”
“Great.”
"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.
"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 has limits. Once in a while, a deadly conjuncture presents itself to which no amount of normal universal sway will fix."
"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."
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
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.
"What is your point? The Multiverse wants something precisely?" asked Laurent.
"The Multiverse works in a strange reverse way. Let's imagine it wants a very specific piece of art. Instead of creating the work, it creates painters who each desire to create works, millions of them. Using the God Bias, and relying on the sheer number of painters, one day her work will appear. What is difficult to understand is that while millions and millions of paintings exist, only one is the Multiverse's bidding. That part, I have yet to understand. When you look at that painting compared to others by the same artist, the differences may be minor. I believe Sophie is that perfect painting.
"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."
"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."
"Of course," injected Sophie.
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.
"Sorry for the intrusion," said the woman, "this is too important to miss."
Liam and Mall-ik were visibly uncomfortable.
"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, is it, say hello to your fiends from your dirty slush world." He tensed.
"Continue," said Sophie to Liam forcing him to avoid the insult.
Liam came closer, grabbed a biscuit, 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. 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, so grows the Attractor's power. The bias increases. Then, as if the Multiverse's own cause and consequence system derailed, a deadly vortex of forces begin to swirl around the Attraction. 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 one and obviously the wrong door and the worlds die and disappear."
"I may be of help here," offered Marilyn. "I set the precise moment of my finale on the moment the Sixth Attraction should happen. I wanted to make sure this pesky Multiverse did not cut short my competition."
"How did you know when?"
"Sophie was born on November 21. The moment she turns 13, the Sixth Attraction will happen." Marilyn was very serene. “She was born at 21:34:44 Martian time.”
"How long have you known?" asked Laurent.
"That a very complex question. I would rather not answer." 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. I have been nothing but courteous to you sweet one, no?"
"That is true."
The blond continued, "My competition is designed in fact to help Sophie. President Sanchez has already begun to uncover and dismantle at least three different ploys to destroy mankind. My system is designed to help him save the Earth. There are other ploys he has not uncovered, but he will. He truly has my trust. The one cause for concern is this attack from Mall-ik's world. There is nothing he can do against that. 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."
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. Mall-ik 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.
Metil, your aggression and lack of respect for life is appalling. We fear your hostility as part of the energy that fuels the Attractor, the energy it needs to enable change. It feeds on such boldness to warp causes and consequences. We take great comfort in knowing that your world will be first to die unless the Attractor succeeds.
"The rest is even worse. So your friend Liam here is the one declaring war." Liam was unamused by Marilyn. He was sitting straight up as a cat about to pounce.
"Play the portion of the conversation where I ask the Metil not to attack earth. A world cannot unilaterally attack another without consequence."
"Mall-ik, can you tell us what is going on in your world that would warrant such destruction?"
Mall-ik looked at Liam. The boy needed no more. "My kind is, as you suggested belligerent. 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. 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 Sophie? Is it those waves?"
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. The first question is, why does the Multiverse pick a single living creature as its Attractor. The second question is, why Sophie? The first question is simpler actually. If you need to fold a piece of paper, you will create one angle 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, it must hurt itself. The thinner the line, the easier and sharpest the bend. 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?"
"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."
Marilyn just offered, "That is simple. Sophie is the only creature in the world who would sacrifice anything, including this entire universe to save her father."
The answer made no sense. Liam replied, "You really are a creature of pure logic. All Artificial Intelligences think the way you do." Liam was finally speaking directly to Marilyn. "I already proved you fallible once today, you want me to try again?"
"With pleasure. I do enjoy this conversation, it remains only partly defined to me."
"What do you mean by partly defined?" asked Laurent to the woman.
She smiled at Liam. The Oldest creature was trying to remain calm. "Let me answer," offered the Indian. "With computing power comes predictability. Humans like to play cards with a deck of 52 cards, they shuffle it to create a random order in the cards. A deck of three cards would have no interest irrespective of how much you shuffle the cards. You could define and guess the outcome. To Marilyn, there is no random in a 52 card deck. So to her, playing with a 52 card deck would be called defined. As computers get more powerful, they begin to see further and further into the future. Or at least a future they find most probable. We are cards to her.
"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. Do you demean me in front of her? I hold your Dot and here, it warps fully on itself. It was child’s play to grab it from a cultured of self-serving fools."
Laurent, Sophie and Mall-ik 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.