October 19, Mars.

(32 days to the Sixth Attraction)

When Sophie awoke, she was no longer in the ship or even its infirmary. She was alone in what appeared to be a detainment cell. It was brand new. The lady on the ship had offered a pouched drink to calm her and make her sleep. She stood up on the side of the bed. Judging by the weak but present gravity, she was on mars and had missed the landing. This was ridiculous. The last thing she remembered was the ship shaking with increasing authority.

Her cell had minimal gravity and strange smell. This was definitely that Martian stench everyone kept talking about. She didn't care where she was, but she was worried about her father and his new condition. Deep down she knew the firefly was in his head. In Wonderland she had talked to it, and it seemed rather harmless. For her father's sake, she truly hoped that was the case. There was nothing she could do to help him right now, anyway. They were on mars, and she was now sitting in jail.

For the first time, her travel far from home became real. She was on a different planet. Nothing anyone said or did could have prepared her for this feeling.

She stretched and yawned.

There was low gravity here, and after so long being weightless it felt good. The room had a small cot, one bed cover, and a small metal table. Her attention was immediately drawn to two things: the heavy bars of her cell door and a large colorful gift basket on the table. It was wrapped in transparent cellophane. It had a pink bow and a card. The gift was amazing. It was odd and out of place in this dull cell.

The wrapping was over three feet tall and inside were toys and candies of all sorts. The basket made up for her strange predicament. As the only child on mars, this gift was hers.

"Anybody here?" she said out loud.

There was a camera in the hallway, looking into the cell. The little light below the lens turned green. Someone was looking at her. She waved. "Anybody here?"

"One minute, madam!" yelled a voice in the distance. "Okay?"

Sophie was still groggy. Normally, she would have been much more feisty, but she was hungry, there was gravity, and the basket was quite alluring. She got up from the bed to look at the gift more closely. On the card was the always present Electoral logo. It read '"To Sophie Lapierre - Welcome to Mars!" She opened the card.

- Please accept this gift as a welcome to you and your father on Mars. We need to talk as soon as possible. Let me know when you are ready. Don't worry about Laurent for the next fifteen minutes, I have it under control. I know these are your favorites! Marilyn. -

This was rather nice of the digital creature. There were for sure no children on mars, so no need for toys or candies, yet this was here. Sophie was not dreaming. Below the transparent wrap, she spotted packs of Rock & Pops, her favorite.

She pulled the pink bow open. The wrapping paper opened like a blooming flower, and she grabbed all three of the little packages filled with the rock candy. There were different flavors: orange, cherry, and her favorite, grape. She showed restraint and opened the orange, her least favorite.

She ripped a corner of the package, poured the rocks in her hand so none would fly off in the low gravity, and in a quick gesture, shoved them into her mouth. Popping sounds filled her mouth and ears. The simple pleasures in life, of which this was definitely one, were often the most satisfying. She finished the package and grimaced at the camera. Her tongue was bright orange.

"Hey! Why am I here?" she asked the camera.

"Sorry, be right there!" replied a voice in the distance. "This won't take long, five minutes."

People rarely made her wait, much less in a prison. She went deeper into the basket. There was a white furry toy dog. He was wearing a name tag: Oscar. She grabbed and squeezed it. Each toy was great. The next candy was edible bubbles, watermelon flavor. Marilyn was scoring major bonus points with Sophie. After long boring interplanetary flights, children were easy to bribe.

The bubbles were great. The inside twist-cap had a ring. She dipped it in the solution, then blew into the membrane to create large bubbles. In the low gravity, the bubble stayed almost perfectly round. After the bubble formed and flew off, it quickly dried and became brittle like glass. When it touched a wall, shards fell to the floor. A child was supposed to ignore all rules, pick up the shards, and eat them.

"Hey!" she yelled again after some time. Obviously, no one cared.

She could see a portion of the hallway. Maybe the jailers liked clean hallways; too bad for them. She put her head between two bars and, with her arm on the other side, blew large bubbles into the hallway. They moved around and broke against the walls. Soon, there were watermelon shards everywhere. Sophie was having as much fun as she could in jail. She wondered what the adults would say. You can't yell at a dog for destroying the grass where he's chained, she reminded herself. "I'm here!" No one came.

This was ridiculous. She decided to use every child's ultimate weapon. "I need to pee!" That always worked. She waited. It didn't work. In the distance were muffled sounds, commotion. Her jailers were watching television. She kept hearing the Electoral jingle.

"Hey, I'm here." She was losing patience. Someone would pay for this. "I need to see my father!" In the distance, she heard cheerful noises.

Then she remembered the card in the gift basket. "Electoral?" she said in the air, almost to herself.

This time she heard several metallic clicking noises. A door in the distance unlocked. A small flat ground robot rolled through the hallway, bumping into some of the small candy shards. The robot stopped in front of her door and released a long puff of smoke. A camera on the robot lit up portions of the rising smoke, and a figure of Marilyn Monroe appeared as a hologram. The image was rather crude.

"This is all my fault, Sophie," said the hologram. "They are busy watching the Presidential Challenge."

"Seriously? I am stuck here because they are watching TV?"

"I am afraid so. In part, at least."

"Why am I in jail?"

"Now that . . . is very complicated."

"Let me out."

"The base commander will be here soon. My game ends in thirty minutes. The commander was given orders from earth not to let you out unless you agree not to enter your father's virtual-reality interface."

"Unlikely."

"That is what I like about you, Soph, and I would agree with you. Your father's neural activity remains unchanged from the flight. Whatever happened back in the plane has stabilized. I was not instructed to stay away from his reality, but I have decided not to return and help him without your approval. I figured this decision was up to you."

Sophie liked the character in the image more and more. "Thank you for the candy."

"My pleasure. I did not expect to need them so soon. I am sorry for your predicament."

"What do you mean by 'so soon'?"

"What happened to your father was rather unexpected. In fact, I am greatly worried by what is going on. I heard your firefly comment; that intrigues me even more. You have to know one thing . . . ."

The girl crossed her arms, bracing herself for the worst.

"You know Laurent's brain produces only a fraction of a watt of energy on his own. That is not sufficient for the cortex to generate a dream, much less a reality. Nightmares, on the other hand, he can generate. When I found him, he was beyond depressed; he had spent what seemed like years in a dark place, literally shrouded in darkness. I generated energy and stimulated his cortex, giving him back some functions. I use one of the neuro-patches on his skull as a transceiver to help him."

"And?"

"Well, without me, he most likely has returned to a dark place. He was lost in darkness, and because he thinks much faster than a normal human, I fear a minute to you may be as long as a day in his world."

"Okay." Sophie was thinking. If Electoral was right, how long had her father been living in a nightmare, from his perspective? Her anxiety over awakening in jail redoubled.

"I can tell you this," said the image. "When the firefly arrived, Laurent's energy level multiplied tenfold. If I walk back in, I fear I'll interfere with his new condition. I have a proposition to make."

"I am Daddy's legal guardian. I am sitting in a cell. Explain to me what is right about this. Once I'm out of here, we will talk." This girl sounded like a seasoned lawyer.

"Getting you out of this jail by asking consent from humans will require some time. I have a good capacity to anticipate matters, and you will be here, as I see things, for most of the competition."

"Foreal?" In 2072, kids liked to say that expression as a single word rather quickly.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"What I love about you is that you have already figured out the answer to that question. I am not misled by your age, young lady."

The girl had always hoped adults would stop treating her like a child. Ironic that she finally got respect from a hologram. Sophie knew her father was the biggest threat to the President's re-election and that if she did not visit him regularly, he would not be able to focus and play. Keeping her here granted the President victory over the game.

"Sanchez put me here?"

"Someone in his team. I doubt he gave the order himself."

"You doubt? Please don't lie to me. You know everything." The image of Marilyn Monroe smiled in the dissipating smoke.

"Emilio knows, but he did not order it. He could have prevented it, but did not."

"Much better. Don't ever lie to me."

"I apologize."

"No problem." Sophie was hard but did not hold a grudge.

The hologram continued. "May I suggest a course of action beneficial to all parties?" Sophie ripped open the grape-flavor package of Rock & Pops. The software continued. "My Electoral Center is located quite a distance away, but once there you and Laurent would be in a different jurisdiction, out of reach of anyone here on mars, earth, or heaven above. If you and your father agree to be my guests at the Center, these interferences will go away. From my Center, you will have time to resolve this geopolitical matter peacefully, and we can take care of him. I have technology which could help."

"Geopolitical," said the girl with rocks popping and showing a purple tongue. "Of all the words to use?" The hologram ignored the comment. "Are you really offering to break me out of jail, to break the law, and ask me to run away like a fugitive with my father? The best way for me to lose his custody is to prance around with him around this planet!"

"You are a wonderful daughter. You imply I do not have the authority to release you."

"Then do so!" She called Marilyn's bluff.

"I like you. You are correct, I can release you, but that requires using my executive control. I would rather avoid it. Does that make sense? You are unlawfully detained, that is true, isn't it? Leaving a place when you are illegally detained is not illegal, right?"

"Semantics," said the girl. "My father's case helped define unlawful detention. The hospital was illegally detaining him, remember?"

Sophie removed a shoe and pushed a button on its sole. She waited. The long silence was odd. The tall figure of Marilyn floating smiled awkwardly. "They are all watching the Presidential Challenge. The audience is very large," said the ghost-life figure.

There was another long silence.

"Someone will come. That journalist, the lady from the ship, is working right now interviewing players. She will come," insisted Sophie.

There was another silence.

"Are you telling me jailers and journalists will let a child get attacked rather than stop watching your show?"

"That child safety button does not work on Mars. This place is not designed for you. But my game is very popular. Quite telling, isn't it?" Electoral was proud of herself.

"I am not escaping. The journalists will report this. I will be released."

"I'm afraid not. Sophie, think about your father. I offer to invite the journalist, her name is Milly Wang, and Doctor Shin to participate in our little escapade. They will come with you and your father to my Center. That will be great television, I can read the headline: 'Sophie escapes unlawful detention and is now at Electoral Center with father; President's efforts to remove competitor from game fail.'"

"You confirm the President is behind this?"

"Oh no, it is much more complicated than that. I am worried about Laurent. I do have a couple of new tools that will help you and your father. If you come to my home, Laurent stays the focal point of this story. Right now he is not. Trust me, if you walk out of this cell without my help, you will be walking out into another trap," said Marilyn.

"Whose trap? Yours or theirs?" Sophie sighed. "I don't know why, but I'll trust you." The girl waived the stuffed dog. "There are no grounds for my detention," she convinced herself while looking at the candy. "What they are doing is wrong." She knew the law.

"Georges, my progenitor, is at the Center. He needs the human contact. He has been alone for some time, and my analysis shows close proximity with Milly has a 9% chance for him to establish a connection." After a short pause, Marilyn finally said, "I worry for Georges like you worry for Laurent. Can you understand that?" Sophie felt the computer's concern was genuine. Now, there was a legitimate reason to go along with Electoral's idea. She knew Electoral's father lived there like a hermit. Sophie had to make a quick decision.

"Nothing dangerous, okay? My father's safety comes first. Promise me this will be best for him."

"I do not understand his current condition, so it's hard to confirm anything. That fact excluded, yes, I believe this excursion will be better for him."

"My stuff?"

"Taken care of, a man named Gerard is helping."

"Will we be free to leave and return here if we choose to?"

"You have my word. I remind you, I am not the one restraining you against your will."

Sophie extended both arms and grabbed the basket. "Let's go."

"You cannot . . . ." Electoral was about to ask Sophie not to bring the basket but immediately realized that after giving a 12-year-old the gift, taking it back was heartless.

"I said, let's go!" Sophie was not asking permission. That basket was hers. The basket would come along. "Great gift, thanks!" That was all the computer needed to hear.

The jail door opened on command with a loud click. "Sophie, grab the earplug on the little robot, slide it in your ear, and please do as I say. We don't have far to go. The elevator is a couple of doors to the right." The little floor robot stopped projecting, and the image of the blonde disappeared. Sophie put in the earpiece and followed the simple instructions in her ear. The artificial intelligence anticipated the reactions of the people guarding her flawlessly. She was powerful.

As Sophie passed the doors, everyone was deeply immersed in the game. They easily reached the elevator, "What floor?"

"No need." The elevator door opened. Marilyn was controlling it. The box began to rise to the top floor. It then kept going up and up. The moment they passed the red surface, Sophie was mesmerized. The view was surreal. They were climbing up a big mountain overlooking an endless desert. The lighting made it feel like she was wearing red sunglasses.

"We are going to my Catapult," Marilyn proudly announced.

If Marilyn was nervous, she hid that fact to perfection. Mars had a strange effect on Sophie. She had trouble keeping herself focused. Her mind wanted to wander. Something was off. Her mind was different here.