The Electoral 2072 logo flashed before a warning.

“All characters and events are purely fictional, any resemblance to any living individual is purely coincidental... or is it....”

Then the Chairman from his home in Vienna dropped his cane watching what came next. He was on the screen, every screen in the fucking universe sleeping in his luscious bedroom. His breathing was very slow, almost one breath a minute and at a glance appeared dead. The room was identical down to every spec of dust. There were no personal objects or frames on the walls with one exception of the picture of Takeda, the only man he respected. The camera panned as if she was recreating the reality in his bedroom from minutes ago. Priceless original paintings from the Louvres lined these walls. He knew there were no cameras in his room. The computer could do this.

His butler, dressed in black pushed the door to his bedroom was holding a tray. On it was a large glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, a shot glass with a white liquid and the bowl with a handful of the pills he had just swallowed. The butler pulled from his vest a folded card and placed it against the shot glass. On it was a different word: Visconti.

The old man watching this farce in his expensive house looked around and grabbed a small trinket on the table next to him. With all the force in his frail body, grabbed a little Chinese horse and threw it at the screen. Thanks to his frail swing, he missed and the horse broke on the floor in many small pieces.

On the screen was an identical reproduction of his morning routine. Everything was identical as if it was filmed earlier. In the broadcast, the man opened an eye. His pupil was blood red. The man was full of hatred and as he grabbed a cane to move himself out of bed, he ate the pills in a single scoop and drowned them with the shot. It left a bad taste in his mouth he washed down with a couple of sips of the juice. He was ready for the day. He unfolded open the card and read.

As if to send the Ghost an additional message of absolute power, as she panned out on the screen, on the other side of the bed, pieces of the broken horse were placed on the nite stand.

Then, there was a change on the screen. He saw himself open the card. The inscription was different, it read: “We have a ball from Round 24, it is in the foyer.” On the screen, the man walked quickly with the help of his cane to the room where Nick and his directors were now watching the game. This was still the introduction of the game.

The game was simple, the Ghost was a monster in charge of a group of degenerates forming a secret society named the Visconti. They were planning the destruction of the world and after touching the globe, visions came to Nick confirming he needed to eradicate the human race on the day of the final of the game. The players each took the role of an action character in charge of killing this man and dismantling the secret society.

Sophie cared very little about the game and quickly logged out. She looked around the hangar and all but a handful were lost in the game. A short woman was walking her way.

“How do we get onboard?” asked Sophie as she got closer. She then read the name tag. She was the captain.

“Miss Lapierre, it is quite an honor to see you.” She extended a hand. “My name is captain Arrigoni. I will be commanding this tall bird. I wanted to make sure as my youngest guest, I could answer personally any question you may have before we board. I am very excited to have you and your wonderful father on board.” Those were the right words to warm the girl’s heart. The captain cared about her father.

“Very kind. How long is the trip?”

“The orbits are very favorable, mars and earth are relatively close at the moment. A bit more than a week. About nine days to be exact.”

“That’s long.”

“Not really. The fastest trip between both planets was done in twice as long. With the new Lightdrive of Marilyn, we will fly. Everyone will be busy practicing this obsessing game. The crew can’t connect to Electoral so the good news is, we will get to know each other. Your seat is right upfront next to the cockpit. You will have all permissions to visits your dad in his world. You can also come in the cockpit. I hope you do.”

“Why do people care so much about all of this?”

The Captain bowed down and whispered in her ear, “Unlike us, they are bored.”