The world paused — for a short moment — between two of its breaths. Humanity needed normalcy, albeit for a short time, as a storm of epic proportions was gathering on the horizon. On earth, two men were, perhaps, able to offer a semblance of guidance as two women located on Mars entered the eye of the storm.

Martians rescued from mercury were drifting in space toward their awaiting civilization. Ronaldo, the first human to join the sand collective had been teleported to mars during Sophie's Time Pinch. No one really knew how that had come to pass or really cared since the Communion. In the distance, the sun, altered by the creatures from the Purple, was ready to remind the planets why it ruled the solar system. Emilio loved and the God Virus, fueled by the bend of the Sixth Attraction was saving lives helping the Multiverse.

But when these human events were compared with the Sixth Attraction, none seemed to truly matter. Sophie would surely disagree. The Multiverse was finally speaking and like scared children, men were powerless to act, except for one little twelve-year-old girl. Sophie, the anti-hero remained skeptic of humanity’s self-proclaimed superiority. In her heart, there was humility and respect for greater things.

She appeared to be an observers during instead of mankind’s champion, she was a judge and jury. This last decade, the twice-elected President had given himself body and soul to the people of earth. The gift of love from Marilyn was appreciated reminding him why life mattered. The Digital woman’s latest prediction to the world was that, once the seer had known true love, somehow his foresight would be neutralized.

Seers, in all fantasy books were virgins.

In the silence of the small Berlin bachelor pad, President Sanchez awoke. He had dreamt. Slowly formed a grin on his face. His lover slept, and snored, lightly. Outside was a great dark early morning day and his optimism returned. Emilio alone had seen and knew where on the horizon rolled the storm. The Mexican’s eyes were focused at an invisible point ahead. His look wasn’t that of a tired lover, instead there was resolve. This game wasn’t over, the finale was only starting, and things looked better from his vantage point. He had seen something and knew what to do.

Sophie was not only the key; she was also the path.

Gently, the man slipped from under the bed covers, careful not to awake his lover. He knew the light-sleeping Asian would pretend not to wake, but Emilio, with his gift, saw Kaï had awoken but would be sound asleep in a matter of minutes. Emilio put on a robe and walked out of the room closing the door behind him. The man’s pad was modest aside from the closest of fashion items.

Once in the living room, the President warmed himself a large cup of coffee in the microwave. He felt refreshed, different, and knew he needed to enjoy an hour of television. Berlin was still dark this early morning. With a click, the set opened to the right channel. The stage wasn’t his. On a stage stood his friend, Francois Copland. Emilio smiled again happy his friend was not the lead.

The humble mathematician was ready to show his intellectual might. Emilio sat and listened carefully. From mars, Marilyn listened carefully to one of the few humans she still valued.

Emilio chuckled. No one would recognize the CNN set, their favorite television station. For the first time in a century, CNN’s screen was humble. Gone were the colors, the numbers, and the scrolling tickers. This was basic cable television, and the stage set was dark. Two large recliners faced one another on each side of a dark coffee table. On it were two silver cups and between them a deck of cards. Today would be somber, intellectual, and respectful.

The broadcast began as subtly as the setting allowed. There were no applauds, no lights. This was grownup content, and for the first time since the moon landing, humanity was genuinely interested in something a scientist had to say.

“We are here today with the now-famous Doctor Francois Copland, recipient of the Fields Medal in Mathematics. If you recall, this man is part of President Sanchez’s Scientific Advisory Committee and last week, Francois, may I call you Francois?” The scientist nodded. “Helped introduce Round 28 of the Electoral game. We all witnessed how Marilyn and Emilio both gave you center stage and put their trust in you. They both respect your superior knowledge of science.”

“Mathematics,” he corrected.

“Yes. Well, let us start here. Last century, physics helped end World War III. For a brief moment, mankind turned to these scientists for help, and nuclear science froze mankind. Why is mathematics now more important over physics or engineering?”

“Great question,” he saluted the audience. “Instead of boring everyone here, I brought three little video clips and some cards to help illustrate things. Are you ready to show the clips?” The question was rhetorical.

“We are still on CNN. You can watch them on the monitor here,” said the host, a man named Lucius, pointing to Francois.

The first clip began, this was a sports broadcast. “It is hard for most people to understand numbers and statistics. Numbers simply don’t lie. Not understanding a set of numbers does not void them and their significance.” On the screen, players were sweating and bouncing a basketball on a court. This was the last minute of a tight game of the American National Basketball League. “Look at the final score.” It read 149 - 147. “For decades the best games were concluded with about 100 points per side, at best 120 points.” The game ended, there were cheers, and the commentators marveled at the new league record. “That clip is from four weeks ago at a time when the Sixth Attraction really began. Back then, we did not know about the Sixth Attraction and could not imagine why scores were slowly increasing. The final score here is higher not because players are better. Somehow the fabric of our world is shifting, allowing each player a higher chance of hitting every shot taken.” The clip flashed through a sequence of some truly improbable scoring shots, from half-court to a player being virtually mugged by three other players as he released the ball.

The second clip began. The timer was also close to the end of the game. But this time the score read 192 - 182. “This was a similar game filmed about a week ago. I am not sure why anyone still plays such childish games with the Attraction nearing, but as you can see, players are even more successful at shooting these balls. These players have not been made better or stronger; the element of chance has shifted. The Bias is increasing, and every action tends to be just a bit more successful. Let us now see a game from mere hours ago.” The video was shocking to watch. Players barely dribbled and took eighty-foot shots from the back of the Court. They almost seemed to be superheroes. Nothing was normal about this scene. "No special effects there, everyone.”

“What are we watching? Mathematics is about numbers, not a game. The total number of points is clearly increasing. Physicists see odds and probabilities. They also see an upper limit in the number scored. For everyone watching, this is rather fun. The Bias helps us, right? Why not enjoy the proverbial ride, right? Incorrect. We should worry. When I see this, I fear what comes next.” Francois did not intentionally create a dramatic pause for effect; a legitimate chill ran up his spine.

“The Attraction is not about probabilities, it’s about free will.” There was a long silence.

“Free will?”

“Let me explain,” added Francois as he stood from the chair. “Free will is this strange notion that we choose our destiny and that our lives are not part of a larger scheme. Here, free will is the notion players are free to decide from where to shoot, and that skill determines the outcome of the game. Men throughout history have wrestled with this notion. On one hand, man creates all-powerful Gods so great that they should be able to control the world as it unfolds. But we limit them in one important moral way. We need them, somehow require them, to give us one thing we need to love: the notion we are free to act.”

Francois knew that everyone at home was confused. Normally, as a teacher, he would repeat himself, but today was different. This wasn’t about the masses, it was about the few. He reached down and grabbed the deck of cards. Slowly he began to shuffle them.

“This deck is what we call in mathematics a 'random generator.' The deck ordinarily has fifty-two cards. Let’s say I grab only three cards from the deck instead of all of them.” He placed the larger deck on the table and "shuffled" only three. “To my dog, three cards are sufficient to confuse him and create random because he is not intelligent enough to follow the position of the cards mentally. But we humans need more cards. Magicians are not fooled by six or even seven card decks. To Marilyn, who observes my hands very carefully, even with fifty-two cards, I generate no random.”

He turned up the cards. In the deck were only aces of spades and one different colorful card. It was a nice drawing of Sophie.

“One Sophie card, fifty-one aces. Let us play a little randomizing game, one that benefits you.” He shuffled and after a minute stopped shuffling the cards and just showed them to Lucius. “I asked you to bring money, right?” The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a tall stack of gold coins. At the same time, Francois did the same and placed his stack on his side of the table. “The world is normally so simple. We live on a flat field, mathematically speaking. Half the cards in a given deck are black, the other half are red. If I ask you to guess the color of the cards and we exchange a coin each time you are right, we both know with normal odds the stacks should stay equal over time. Once you lose, once you win in average. Unless the Multiverse messes with the odds, the stacks should stay equal. We could play for months.”

“We get this bias Francois, it’s the free will connection that is harder to draw.”

“Let me illustrate.” He opened the deck up and showed the cards to the camera. Every card was an ace of spades except for the picture of Sophie. “I am no magician. I am not doctoring the odds here.” He started shuffling. “At some point, the bias becomes so powerful that let’s say, it reaches a large fraction of one percent. Today it’s closer to five percent. So if we do something many times,” he shuffled fast ten times. “So now you tell me when to stop and grab a card. You win a coin if you draw Sophie’s card.” Francois shuffled until Lucius stopped him. As expected, Lucius turned up the Sophie card and grabbed the coin. “Again,” shuffling resumed, and after a moment Lucius won another coin. “Again,” to prove his point, Francois lost all ten coins in his stack.

“What really just happened?” Francois asked. “The Multiverse’s control over the world in which we live, the Bias, has reached a number so strong, we only walk down a single path: the one it wants. You win not because you want to win, you win because the Multiverse needs you to win.” Francois extended his hand and grabbed the deck of card and began to shuffle. “But are you in control? Let me show you.” Francois pulled another ten coins from his pocket and placed them on the table. He took half his stack and put them back in front of Lucius.

“Try not to win my money, okay? Actively will yourself to lose.” Francois added with a slight smile.

The journalist waited as Francois shuffled. “Now,” said the journalist, the top card was again Sophie.

“I asked you to pick an Ace, that can’t be hard, there are fifty-one of them.” One by one, each time Sophie happened.

“That is incredible.”

“Yes. It decides, not you. Probability is the bed in which linearity and free will rests. Humans do not understand how chance and free will are connected at the hip. But let’s push this a step further to understand the Sixth Attraction. For the moment I can reclaim my free will by acting to change probabilities.” He spread the deck, found Sophie’s card, and removed her from the deck. “So now, if I ask you to do the same, to pull Sophie from this deck filled with aces, you must lose, correct?”

“Yes, of course.” Francois stopped shuffling and flipped an ace of spades.

“But think about it, if the Multiverse is in total control and wants you to pick the card, it has other ways of making it happen, right? It could have placed a secret picture in the deck, could have made the sky fall or even forced you to change the card you pick. At some point, with the increase in the bias, we lose free will. We are driving to the Sixth Attraction and as we get closer, our choices in life narrow. We, said simply, are losing free will. At some point, it will become impossible to step off the path.”

The two men looked at each other in silence. “What does this mean? I am not sure I understand.”

“We are now actors in a play, the scenario is written to Sophie’s birthday party. Slowly the Multiverse bends upon itself, and like marbles on a surface free to roll, we now spiral down the drain.

“This is grim,” said the journalist.

“Yes,” replied Francois. “A friend once explained how classical music played to livestock as they walk to the slaughter tended to calm them.” Francois wasn’t one to pull punches, but he felt he needed to clarify the answer. He raised a finger as the next question came.

“Is there a solution?”

“It’s rather obvious, no?”

“Sophie?”

“From a scientific perspective, my knowledge stops there. More would be conjuncture and outside my expertise.”

Professor, we are here today not for certainty but for conjecture. These airways will flood with self-promoted experts, and frankly, our viewers want to hear what you think. Even if you had to guess.”

“I won’t lie, I've spent my life trying to push our race away from the mundane and toward intellectualism. Today, this Attraction has achieved this purpose. I feel deep inside a great level of comfort. I do trust Sophie and the role she plays. But let me say this. As we lose free will, Sophie’s powers seem to be growing. In mathematics, we call points where an equation is undefined a singularity. At the heart of any effect is a curve. In this instance, the curve is this Bias. It increases and simply can’t exist without its own singularity. She acts like a walking random generator. No one alive is more unpredictable than this little girl. As we move down a timeline which strips us of free will, who better to reset this system than this girl?” Then he said, “She defines free will, she, clearly, is free to act while we are not.”

There was a long silence. There it was, the reason why this girl had been selected. It was as clear as the nose on anyone’s face. Sophie was free will incarnate.

“I have one more question if you do not mind, Professor.”

“Please,” he drank a sip from the cup.

“Consequences to causes, Liam’s strange doctrine. I simply cannot get my head around it. It makes no sense to me. We heard Liam explain it, more than once and thankfully Sophie seems to have understood part of it. Any chance you can shed some light, a simpler analogy?”

Francois stood up again. He needed to think and walked around the stage in silence before sitting back down. Marilyn wondered where the man would go with this. He began, “Of course. Yes, mathematics is perfectly adapted to understand this simple theory. In physics, there exists the notion of symmetry. In mathematics, we really don’t care about symmetry, we have a notion of scales. We really never care what side of an equation is on the left, what part is on the right. Take two plus two equals four. The same equation can also be described as four equals two plus two. It’s a written convention that we start with one and not the other. Physicists have a nasty habit of adding things like time to a given equation without putting it in the equation.

“Take a meal where two ingredients are mixed with two other ingredients to create a four-ingredient-something. Once you transform things in an equation, you can’t flip them back. You transform. So you can’t unmake a cake and so time blocks symmetry in the context of cooking. In molecular fission, if we add a proton to Uranium 239, we equate it to the by-products.

“So the only reason we cannot understand this doctrine of Consequences to Causes is that it is linked with time in our heads. The consequence arrives after a cause because of time. The universe flows, to humans like water down a river. I push air in a balloon, it inflates. If I slide a key in a door lock, it opens. All of that is done over time, and since we cannot unfold time backward, none of it makes sense. Liam does not change things, he only suggests the Multiverse is symmetrical as to time. While human minds see one way down the time stream, the Multiverse simply works the other way. Understanding symmetry is simple enough for me, but your real question is, how can the real world be understood with such a mindset?”

“Yes, precisely.”

“We operate like the Multiverse on a consequence to cause every day of our lives. That is actually how we operate daily, but that requires thinking about it. No one buys ingredients at the convenience store randomly and then opens the refrigerator door and decide what to cook. We set a consequence, the recipe we want, and we buy the proper ingredients. If we want to lose weight, we put in place a set of causes we want. We stop buying the desert, we start exercising with a single consequence in mind. It’s really easy to understand Consequence to Cause in our simple minds if we alter the time stream and place a consequence before the cause of a later consequence. You want to rest, you buy a vacation package, and a month later you are rested.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“Math has been managing consequence to cause for centuries as part of quadratic equations. Imagine a child learning math. The teacher says, ‘Pick two numbers that add up to four’ and let’s let them decide. So the teacher picks the consequence, say, the number four. The children will need to pick numbers. Some will grab a pair of two’s. Others will grab the obvious choices of one and three. Both choices are right, of course. Then some creative students will pick a four and a zero. In an advanced class, the kids could pick fractions or more complex numbers like a negative eight and a twelve. In a math class, we could even draw this whole range of choices as x plus y equals four. So here, 4 is the consequence and both X and Y are unknown variable causes.”

“What does the Multiverse want with this?”

“There is a strange level of frustration in our current predicament because it unfolds as a true cause to consequence. In the book Lords of the Rings, the wizard shows to a hobbit a ring and simply says to drop it in the volcano for the good guys to win. It’s that simple. The cause is the destruction of the ring. The consequence is the destruction of the evil one. Simple.”

“Then, Tolkien places obstacles in place to delay one after one to make the story a journey. In the end, the ring is destroyed, and the book is sold. Humans are designed to understand these cause to consequence-type stories. I pity the fool who ever tries to write this current situation, it would be unsellable. Our road works as a consequence to cause. We know clearly the consequence, it’s the Sixth Attraction and the saving of our layer of the Multiverse. We simply don’t know the cause or causes. Things are happening all over to confuse everything. We also have no clue as to who is the villain, the hero, or even if there is such a duality to our predicament.”

“You think there is one?”

“Of course.”

“Why do you say this?”

“Time. The Sixth Attraction is happening now. Not last year, and not next year. Nothing suggests these Attractions are cyclical or even randomly created. Something or someone is causing this. Marilyn is there now, Sophie and Emilio are there now.”

“Any suggestion?”

“For all of us, this says we have no role or power to play except patiently waiting. Emilio is one of the last men on earth who values the game of chess and sees the world according to it. He plays alone most of the time with a single exception. He has recently been playing chess with Marilyn. If I were a betting man, I would say their games are not random. Causes are moved on the board. Slowly, in what seems like chaos, they both plan structures and outcomes. He called Mister Maltais the Jester in a clear chess analogy. The fact we cannot see the order does not mean it is absent.” Francois looked directly at the screen, speaking to Emilio. “Why is he playing against her this simple game, I don’t quite understand. My bet is, he knows precisely what he is doing.”

***

Emilio was halfway done with his coffee watching Francois on CNN. He smiled and looked at the collector’s cup he was holding. On it was an old logo from the game and above it, his own smiling face. The picture was one where he was ten years younger. Below his chin was the logo of Electoral 2062. The Asian man really had a thing for him for a long time. This cup was priceless; so few were made back then.

Emilio had listened to his friend. Speaking softly over the rim of his coffee cup answered his friend’s question. Then he grabbed his phone and texted. “Want to know?”

***

The text hit the vibrating phone in Francois’ pocket. Knowing who it was, he pulled it out cameras watching and read. “It’s the President, he is watching.” He typed back as everyone waited nervously. Francois read to the world his answer, “Because, for some strange reason, the President have yet to figure out why she sucks at playing chess, that makes no sense to him. He says strangely he beat her, each time.”

Francois and the world knew had no clue but felt reassured by the strange answer.