“That was strange,” said Emilio to himself seeing himself back in the Purple.

“Agreed,” replied the voice of the Artificial Intelligence.

“We were in a vision, inside of a digital reality simulating a different dimension,” offered Liam. Then there was a hard reset. The game felt better. "Let's go to the city," offered the President, trying desperately to change the discussion. Instead of his voice, he heard Sophie's. A quick inspection of his semi-transparent hands and he knew the real game had resumed.

In his ear, the voice of Marilyn whispered, "I have regained full control. I will now be playing both Liam and Mall-ik for continuity but Liam has left. The Metil was your original choice.” Emilio knew, in terms of the game, he was late. The time allowed to each player was half over; he felt it. His competitive instinct kicked in, even though he could afford to lose every round until the finale.

Mall-ik spoke, "I can stream to the city if you want, but I can't take two with me."

"No problem, you go. We will try to follow," said Emilio as the young girl. Part of the boy's outer seventh layer stopped spinning. A hundred shiny rocks activated and in a flash, Mall-ik shrunk to nothing. Emilio closed his eyes and wished he (Sophie) and Liam could simply follow the boy, and the Multiverse's kindness made it happen. Sophie could now move throughout the Multiverse at will. Playing as the girl was a bit like playing an omniscient being. Emilio felt Sophie’s power also applied to the real world where she somehow could jump from mars to earth if she desired. This was crazy.

In the blink of an eye, the game trio was in the middle of the colorful city. There were trillions of spinning rocks everywhere against a deeper purple background. Emilio did not know what was more impressive, the sight of this alien world or witnessing the power of the computer operating it. Electoral was now powerful beyond imagination. Emilio had little doubt she had, for the game, recreated every living creature from this world with an eerie level of precision.

"This is insanity," he let slip as the girl. No one would fault him. For the viewers on earth, the camera angles kept moving to capture the breadth of the view. In this world without gravity, there was no sense of direction. In the distance mountains of light shone. "You think they see us?" asked Sophie. Little rock creatures, like Mall-ik, ran away in all directions while others nervously converged to them. They all looked like Mall-ik but a bit smaller. "Are you fat?" she queried. Emilio knew Sophie would speak her mind, "On the porch of my dad's dream house, you were in perfect shape." Emilio was back in character.

"I have seven layers. That is rare. This one,” the camera pointed to one, “has seven layers." Emilio looked around and saw the larger Metil. "The pure ones have only five layers." The Metils around the group stopped advancing. They formed a sphere around the group.

"Pure?" asked the girl.

"Yes. Most Metils have six layers. At five, you are considered exceptional, and you can rule. Using seven layers is considered a waste and you are inferior. This makes us outcasts in our society."

"Size, really? Your people discriminate on size? I guess that's one way of doing it. In my world, we discriminate on everything except size. Adults love to hate each other. Our favorite is skin color." Emilio enjoyed playing the girl. Sophie liked to give her position on things. "The one stupid problem I like the best are the lines."

"Lines?"

"Yes. Adults made up invisible lines they say exist on the ground. They call them borders and they would define what we call countries. I spent hours on my tutor learning about the invisible lines. Adults even go to war over where these imaginary lines. Liam, what's the stupidest discrimination in your world?"

"The wall hanging, I guess." There was a chuckle from both children. He explained, "We are few, so we rarely take issue, but some of us have come in existence attached to a wall, while others are spheres which rested on the floor. The wall-hangers figured they were better."

"Are you a wall-hanger?"

"No, yet I outlasted every one of them. Discrimination rarely serves logic or reason."

The creatures were now in tight formation around them. A voice rang out in the Purple; it was forceful and arrogant. "Halt!" The thousands of creatures forming the shell reordered themselves in a maneuver vaguely reminiscent of military formations. The new creatures appeared covered in armor made of rocks. The shining lights were green in hue. Some had rudimentary rounded shields.

"Mall-ik, you have returned. What are those monsters next to you? You are under arrest. You must pay for your crimes."

"They are my friends from the other world beyond the rifts. They wish you no harm. I caution, do not upset her, the one called Sophie.” He gestured at her. “She can be dangerous."

"We know. It has already killed one of us. This time we came prepared to fight it. We have new weapons. Surrender or we will shoot!"

"Adopted sister," began Mall-ik, "they only understand pain." The choice of word shocked the Metils present. How could the Mall-ik call this alien creature sister?

"Attractor,” added Liam, “this race is primal and belligerent. No amount of negotiation will get compliance. We all wonder how such brainless creatures ever developed advanced technology without destroying themselves with it. As the boy said, they respect one thing — force." Liam was obviously not a fan of the Metils. His tone was stern and commanding as if he stood ready to kill.

"Who spoke?" asked the Metil commander. Sophie was floating in front of the others. At least it had courage. Emilio needed to play the girl. He could use the power of the Attractor and vaporize the creature, but he knew Sophie to be much different. She would always prefer the peaceful route.

"There is no need for violence," he began as Sophie, "we are here for a purpose. You have begun to take action against my world. Specifically, your tinkering with our sun. Bring me to the creature in charge of that action."

A beam of light shot out and hit Mall-ik. It made every rock forming the boy resonate. The weapon did not kill, but he was stunned to a whisper. Emilio wondered how Sophie would react. Before he settled on a best course of action, he companion spoke.

"Metils, I was right to initiate war," snapped the Oldest.

"I give you one second to wake him up. Then I will get mad." Emilio's mind began to play alternative scenarios. In each, the boy died in the cross-fire. He knew the creatures were an instant away from raining destruction on this area of the Purple. His mind's images showed only two ways to save all three of them: either send a pulse destroying hundreds of Metils in the process or surrender for the moment. "Okay, let's not shoot. We just need to talk."

"We must arrest you."

"I understand our technology is creating destruction here and in return, you plan to destroy us."

There was a long moment of hesitation before a different creature replied from the back of the formation. It rolled in and advanced, "We wish your world no harm." The voice was softer than that of the previous speaker. This was no military officer. "We are giving you a gift. We are increasing the habitable size of your world. Surely that is a desired outcome. It would be here."

"Not really." Liam continued, "What you plan to create is a catastrophic event which will destroy all life in one part of the Cold."

"Then we have achieved our goal." Roared the military creature. "If lives of those creating the zexs ends, so will the destruction in our world!"

Emilio was losing patience. "The rifts are caused by our latest technology. Now that we know about your world and the undesirable effects, we can stop using it. If we promise to stop, would that be enough?"

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The question took the military man by surprise.

"Sophie, you speak peace to a creature without an understanding of this concept," said Liam softly.

They were at a standoff.

"This is a decision for the Council. Come with me," finally said the kinder Metil.

"Wake Mall-ik first, and we will follow you."

The creature advanced and touched Mall-ik. "My name is Fuson. I am a scientist. I work with Professor Zuriak, the one who discovered your world." With a burst of light, Mall-ik returned to life.

"What happened?" asked the boy. He received no answer. Sophie and Fuson were speaking.

"Let's talk as we follow the grumpy one to his council," joked Sophie.

The boy could understand what had transpired; he knew the scientist. The sphere made of hundreds of creatures opened, and the group made its way deeper into the city. The Council building was wondrous. Rivers of rocks spun in unison, accompanied by a ballet of color. Doors were not opened apertures, instead, they were lower density rock walls. The Metils could easily push their own pieces through these openings like two forks meshed past each other.

Emilio saw little sparks of color blink here and there in the general population. These were blue sparks, but the situation at hand was already overwhelming. They finally arrived in the large central chamber. Emilio saw structures which reminded him of statues. There were few words to describe the palace. These were aliens, and no one could forget it.

"Speak," said a voice from high above.

"We are sorry for the rifts, but now you plan to destroy my home."

"That is untrue."

"If the Council may?" said Fuson politely.

"Speak."

"I fear the creature from the cold may be right. The energy levels of our plan far exceed our calculation capacity. The force they call gravity can far outweigh the other binding forces. I fear what we plan to do will destroy their world."

"Can it still be stopped?" asked the voice of the Council.

"I fear not," answered Fuson.

"What do you mean?"

"The process of gathering the energy as a ball has already passed a critical mass. If we stop, the mass ejected will only be smaller, and may be sent in a different direction of space."

"That would be better, no? It would not impact with earth."

"We have not planned contact with your earth; our power is too rudimentary to achieve this end."

"What does this mean Liam?" asked Sophie.

The Oldest spoke. "In theory, a new planetoid missing earth by more than an arc degree would allow life to survive on your home world. The distance, below a limit, will still be deadly since the crust of your planet will move considerably if the planetoid is too close. He says they are forcing the sun to eject a ball, but they can't control where it will go."

"Can we calculate where it will go?"

"No." The answer from Fuson was categorical. "We never planned for the new mass to hit your planet. We cannot control the process so fully. In fact, we figured our gift was sure to miss your planet. The chances of a collision are very small. A risk we were willing to take. The orbit of your planet is large, very large."

The voices of the Council snapped, "Fuson, you told us there would be contact. You lied. You will pay for this deception." Sophie was getting fed up with the belligerence. The creatures were yelling at the only reasonable Metil in sight. Emilio was itching to use his power. He showed, as would Sophie, patience. To score points, he needed to play Sophie accurately. In addition to collecting points, he was there to help the young girl collect information she could use.

Fuson, in a very docile voice, said, "We did not wish to burden this Council with details. The objective requested was not destruction but to bequeath new habitable space. The rigid crust of the world they inhabit is very thin and fragile. Any arrival of a body on the similar orbit would slowly destroy most of their world and technology." It then found the courage to add, "I am no monster."

As Emilio was listening to the conversation, his mind began to see potential futures. The visions began to flash, he saw about twenty, but this time, three were dark. He had seen a dark vision a couple of days ago in the elevator. Now the problem was back. In each of the remaining seventeen visions, he saw the creatures from the Purple take different courses of action and stop their machine at different times, yet each time he felt the planetoid would impact the Earth.

The game system began to play the visions to the audience back at home and to Sophie. It was clear; this wasn't about timing.

Liam, from high on his age pedestal said without much surprise in his voice. "Your visions, dear President are a blessing; they show a paradox."

"What do you mean?" asked Emilio.

"I recognize your voice, you are the Oldest?" asked one Metil. The creature was the Ambassador. These creatures immediately recognized the name. The word Oldest inspired fear. It came from the very elaborate creature. They made a gesture, visible only to Mall-ik, to be silent. The Metils all respected strength, the Oldest was the living embodiment of power. At the core of the rock creatures was a respect for power. The Oldest was a myth here, a creature of legend. One who had just declared war on the Purple.

"Why are the visions dark?" repeated Emilio.

"My theory of cause and consequence predicts a shift away from normal determinism to pure consequence as the Attraction approaches. We may want to table this discussion for our return home." Emilio felt the artificial intelligence was attempting to change the topic. He no longer knew, for sure, if the brown crystal creature was being played by Marilyn or was the real Oldest.

Emilio was curious; he needed to know more. "Liam, it is important. Why are the visions dark?" As the President spoke, his hands were once again his; he was no longer in the girl's body.

"This change in your appearance is confusing. I am unclear as to why Marilyn would do this."

"I don't think Marilyn is in control, or at least not fully. This round is strange."

"Very well," began the Oldest. His crystals were shining. The creature was magnificent to watch in this chamber. "The Multiverse now itches and bends for a specific consequence to occur; one it needs but cannot produce. It needs the planetoid to hit the earth. I fear any interference will be futile, with one exception."

"What exception? I don't understand."

"Sophie is the Attractor. She alone can deviate the plans set in motion by the Multiverse. That is part of her gift; she stands outside of cause and consequence."

"Does that have anything to do with the dark visions?"

"Precisely. As we converge to the Sixth Attraction, options are narrowing. Events open to you and others are closing. The dark paths are roads we no longer can travel. Unless I am mistaken, the closer to the Attraction, the number of paths you see will become fewer and fewer."

"I apologize, but I simply don't understand what you're saying," said Emilio, confused.

"I deeply apologize," said Liam, "this is very complex." The creature paused.

Finally, it continued, "Let me use the following analogy. Imagine playing cards. The Multiverse wants you, in fact, it needs you to draw an ace so it can be satisfied with that consequence. We do not need to know why, but it wants an ace. Normally, the Multiverse has all the time in the world and will patiently wait months for you to play and let you draw cards until, as you should, draw the ace. As time runs out and we get closer to the Attraction, you have correspondingly few chances, fewer paths, to draw the ace. To get the outcome it wants, instead of taking time, it now will bend probabilities. The world will change, you will change, and only the paths where you shuffle the cards in one of fifty ways will now be future roads open to you. So begins a phase where the Multiverse withdraws its bountiful ways. You lose your capacity to choose, to draw any card you want. This is impossible to see except through the gift of a Guesser. That is why you are here; Marilyn wanted you to see this, and in turn, the real Sophie watching from home must understand."

The situation was surreal. President Sanchez was in a virtual reality game, playing from his office in Berlin and had the impression of floating in a different dimension called the Purple. He was seeing images and was discussing his gift with an alien. Emilio hoped the members of the SAC were watching and taking notes because he was missing parts of what was going on. He felt like an idiot but wondered who in his shoes would feel any differently?

The President finally said, "Liam, if I understand what you are saying, and I know I only partially do, what you suggest is very scary."

"You make your species proud. You are correct; you only can understand a piece. Even if your intelligence was greater, all of this is nothing more than a theory. Rest reassured, living in this bend began a long time ago. In your world, a secondary consequence to this effect is called the God Bias. Here in the Purple, these creatures call the effect the Path. Both these effects curb free choice, but they are not opposed because they benefit you in the Cold. Here they help limit the hostility of these Metils. In your visions, the proto-planet hits earth irrespective of causes here in the Purple. Simply, the causes and consequences alignment is ending. Free will is fading away."

"Now I am well and truly confused. Why does the God Bias favor mankind, yet now the Multiverse wants to destroy our world?"

"Mister President, if I knew the answer, our chances of survival would greatly be enhanced. I am working as hard as I can, but as you can imagine, we must get closer in the bend for secondary effects to be perceptible. There is one single variable to this equation."

"What is it?"

"The Attractor. I think she alone is not bound by the paradox. I think Sophie, watching this from the Center, may have seen images instead of black areas. It makes no sense you see these dark paths if you are the Attractor; but again, this is complex." Emilio agreed. He was deep into a situation higher than his pay grade, and he was earth's President. He continued to ignore his surroundings.

"Liam, are you suggesting at some point in time, the Attractor is the only thing capable of helping?"

"That is precisely what I am saying."

“What is happening?”

"I wish I knew. Locked in my world, I never observed first hand the Attraction."

Before Emilio could resume the simulation and turn his attention back to the Council, the game ended.

The President opens his eyes, in the long chair in his Berlin office. He was covered head to toe in sweat as if he had just completed a marathon. The clock said he had been playing for well over an hour. Kai walked in with a towel and a tumbler of scotch. Emilio fainted from exhaustion.

Sophie was visibly talking to her invisible companion back in her head.