15 Days to the Sixth Attraction

“Daddy,” spoke the Attractor. The large Louisiana colonial house was there, in a warm and humid summer day. It floated in the digital world powered by either Marilyn’s servers or Mall-ik’s alien gift. Sophie materialized as every day this past week and stepped into the edge of her father’s digital reality, walking up the road. Behind her was her mentor, Liam. “How are you today? People keep telling me how fantastic we were in Round 29. It was a blast. Electro is so cute; she put it there for me, but that’s fine. People are so nice to me. She wants me to keep her around.” Liam smiled, unable to bring up how Marilyn had stolen bucketloads of her waves with the subterfuge.

“Hi sweets,” he answered without looking back.

“Are you ready to play Round 30 tonight, excited? You will be great — as always.” At this point, the images and sensations in her father’s world, this digital world at the edge of nowhere, were flawless. The barriers between dream, reality and this electronic world were long gone. Boundaries that defined dream from reality were merging, and Sophie felt comfortable with this new reality.

The Oldest felt blessed: each passing moment alive was overtime, as far as he was concerned. Finally, it all made sense. The pair appeared at the edge of the bayou on the gravel road leading to her father’s Bed & Breakfast. This was Laurent’s safe place, a large white colonial house where he had conceived the Attractor. Laurent now lived here, in a computer memory flanked by an alien boy Sophie called brother. The same way Liam was ready to end his existence, so were Laurent and Mall-ik, the latter of which had begun his short life in the Purple. The road ahead was a one-way trip for the quartet. No one cared about the impending end. They were happy.

Sophie loved the large wooden porch, it was part of the house, yet was open to the lush outside. On the left, Laurent was sawing a piece of wood placed firmly between his knee and the edge of the staircase. The 4x4 was the post of a sign being painted by the young blond alien from the Purple. Holding a long brush, Mall-ik was splashing red paint on a white background. As any alien escaped to a different reality, he was doing a poor job at being precisely human. Still, what he lacked in nuance he made up for in exuberance; the sight was adorable. Sophie’s adopted brother managed to put paint all over himself, even on the tip of his nose. Red streaks colored his hair.

“That last game was a lot of fun,” answered Laurent without looking up. “Mars is incredible, I wish I could really see it. Come sit down while I finish this. Shouldn’t take more than five minutes.”

“Do you need any help?” offered Liam as he extended a hand to help Sophie climb onto the porch. Liam walked over to read the words painted on the sign.

— Hotel at the End of the Multiverse —

“It's named after my favorite book,” offered Laurent. “In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, there was a place called the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. The book was brilliance, people traveled there and enjoyed a meal while watching nothing less than the Big Bang. As in our current predicament, as I sit here on this porch awaiting the end of the Multiverse, I find the humor of the mundane meeting cataclysmic forces.”

“Tres a propos,” Liam replied. Sophie’s father was brilliant, no wonder the daughter was exceptional. “The metaphor cannot be stronger with the Attraction now only fourteen days away. That’s assuming Sophie will not make us jump ahead further in the time stream.” Laurent continued to work as the pair simply walked around trying to be helpful.

“We are almost done.”

Sophie simply blurted it out to her father. “What do you think is going on? What’s the Attraction?” Liam and the boy paused, waiting for the father’s words. They felt he would deflect and avoid the answer. He didn’t.

“Well, it all seems rather simple to me,” he said without taking a pause.

“Is it?”

“If you ask me, and you are, all of this is a massive diversion. All of it. The martians, mercury, the game, the virus, the sun, Marilyn, and even us. All of it, it’s crap.” The words were spoken by a man who kept sawing.

“Why do you say that?” asked the daughter.

“You really don’t know?”

“Maybe, but I want to know what you think.”

Laurent looked at the pair walking closer. “Well, as your father, Rho waves or not, I love you so damn much,” he almost choked but continued as he removed his gloves. He was done. “A father can't be unbiased. You are the world in my eyes, the best thing this stupid world has ever seen. So frankly, I agree with the Multiverse. Whatever she needs, I would trust you above anyone else.” He was emotional and looked down so as not to cry. “You remind me so much of your mother, so stubborn.” Sophie was still expecting a real answer. Laurent served his guests lemonade. “One of the things you learn when you shop for a car, a house, or anything worth real money is that the best deals do not need to be sold. If a salesperson offers you candies, talks loudly or fast, they are just trying to obfuscate the fact that their car is more expensive than the one next door. The more hype, the worse the deal. This Attraction thing, the end of the world, it’s all a diversion. Something important and simple is going on, and it’s not the best deal.”

“What’s the deal?” asked Sophie.

He shook his head. “You really want to know?”

“Yes. Please, Daddy.”

Laurent pointed at Liam as he poured himself a glass of lemonade. Laurent offered, “The Multiverse doesn’t need a decision from you. It needs nothing from you. I think this power has to be placed in the hands of someone but it should not be used. It gave it to you to help you.” Laurent looked up at the wise traveler from the Lower. “It wants to give you our family back. That makes no sense, but I am right.”

Sophie turned around to her companion. “Is that right?”

“Apologies to Laurent, but that is doubtful. I do agree with the first statement. The Multiverse does not seem to need anything. You are a consequence of the Attraction.” Liam was always composed and mature. He saw her eyes next to her father’s and turned to avoid her gaze. Each time he saw both, he was touched.

She kissed the back of his neck.

Liam saw her kind touch and his hand went to the corner of his eyes. “What are these?”

“Tears,” said Mall-Ik nonchalantly. Liam was trying to stop the flow of emotions. He was like a stoic man watching a drama at the movies and failing miserably to hide his emotions. He was not the subject yet here he was. The more he tried to calm himself, the more he was overwhelmed. He turned and walked a couple of steps back, finally looking back at the Lapierre family. “I don’t know,” he finally blurted out. “That’s not what I mean. I don’t . . .” Sophie raised her hand as if she was going to stop him. Laurent gently pushed her hand down. This was important for Liam. “This hurts but feels warm at the same time.”

“Pride,” said Laurent silently. “For another you love more than yourself. Welcome to who we are.”

“You are wise,” said Liam, grabbing the tissue offered. “Sophie, this entire thing is about you, not me, not him, and not the human population. It’s about you?. It’s very complex, but somehow you are the heart of this.”

Sophie wasn’t satisfied with the kind displays of love. Again, she asked her question to her father. “What is it, the Attraction?”

Her firm and forceful tone helped the two adults recompose themselves. Liam offered, “It simply cannot be explained. So far humanity has made, thanks to you and Marilyn, quite a lot of progress in understanding the way life evolves in the Multiverse. Weeks ago, mankind was still focused on itself. There were races and species, and that was pretty much it. Now, you all understand life is varied, exists in all dimensions of the Multiverse. But the Attraction is not that simple, it cannot be explained, it must be felt. You must live it to understand. I now understand pride. Most important things are the same. A simple cold, a headache, or even sleep must be felt to be understood. Everyone knows about fear or love, but no one knows about the Attraction.”

“Why?”

“Because our minds can’t understand higher dimensional objects. You need to grasp this notion to understand the Attraction. I think you alone, Sophie, have the capacity to get it, but that will happen in two weeks, not before. Remember that when we went to the Underworlds with you, you felt something very different.”

She sat on the swing. “What do you mean?”

Liam looked at Laurent and Mall-ik, who both smiled. Magically, a flat sheet of white paper appeared in his hand. It was perfectly square. “Imagine you are this sheet of paper: flat.” Like an origami master, he began folding the sheet in a very precise way. In moments, he had folded it into a detailed looking bird. “Remember, you are the sheet. As the sheet, you can’t see this three-dimensional structure. All you know is that along lines, the world is bending. Look what happens when I unfold it.” He did, revealing precise crease lines which lit in bright red, as if also by magic. “Life in our simple world is nothing more than crease lines. When the Multiverse bends, at that edge, life is created. You, Sophie, are this!” He pointed at the center of the page. At the point, most lines converged. “We are lines, you are the flexion point of life. You are different yet identical. You are more yet the same. You are the Dot of the Nexus in human form if that makes any sense. You fold higher dimensions.”

Everyone was silent for a moment. Liam continued, “Intelligence alone works for certain things. Sometimes, a dog can evolve and understand human speech. That’s possible. But if you are a map of paper with two dimensions, you simply can’t understand a globe or a three-dimensional object, even if the map is about that object. Our world is three-dimensional; the Multiverse has many more dimensions. We simply can’t understand it. We can’t. I am old, really old, and that is the one thing I have never wrapped my mind around. Remember the theory of Consequence to Cause? It makes sense only when seen from a multidimensional aspect.”

“That is not helping.” Sophie’s tone was still kind.

“I know.”

“What can we do?” she questioned.

“Imagine a door. Behind it is a different world, light, and sound. What happens when you simply crack open the door?”

“You get a glimpse, some weird sound, and light.”

“Life, believe it or not, is that energy which creeps in at the edge of things. The Multiverse is beyond comprehension. What we call life, death, is nothing more than this light and sound which creeps out at these creases.” Liam reached into his pocket, knowing what he next needed would be there. It was a little figurine made of crystal. It was carved beautifully. A sun-ray fell from the sky between the clouds. It hit the object, and hundreds of specks of light flew in every direction. “We, Sophie, are these specks of life. Life as we know it is simply this splatter of energy. Look how the crystal disperses the light. Marilyn is sufficiently intelligent by now. She has surely reconstructed a structure from how life is distributed. That’s what she is doing. If you map my creases on the paper and understand folds, you can reconstruct the structure.”

Of all the questions she could ask, Sophie simply asked, “Why would she care?”

“All of it must make sense on some level. We can’t think the Multiverse is just a big worm and we are a subpart of it. None of it makes any sense. We see size, time; both of these things make no sense in the context of the Multiverse. Why are things so big? Who created such a large space? What came before time started? Using our fingers, our eyes, none of it makes any sense. But we all know it must all make sense. How is that possible?”

“This is very complex.”

“Your father is correct. The Attraction is simple. Very simple. You just need to do something, but none of us know what. One creature, on the other hand, knows what is going on.”

“Who?”

“Marilyn. Her sheer computational power allows her to understand all of this. For example, think about how she sees our world. She lives in a network. She can’t see size, shape, even a curve. She sees a network of energy. She must be able to abstract other dimensions and must get how that works. I would not be surprised the Attraction is not about her somehow. She wants the Attraction. Her game is designed to power her need for Rho waves. I think she wants to use the finale and the power of these collective waves to do something.”

“What?”

Laurent replied, “What everything living wants. To expand and grow in power and dominance. You, my little daughter, are the only human I know who refuses power, influence, comfort, and will always do what is right.”

Sophie smiled. “What about him?” she pointed at Liam, “What’s his role in all of this?” No one even tried to answer. “But you know what?”

“No,” answered her father.

“You guys are right. I don’t really care. I feel in my heart none of this matters. I think it’s clear what is the Sixth Attraction. I need to care. I think in two weeks, Daddy you will win or lose, it will be my birthday and LO will even be there. I should be excited, but I am not. Does that make sense?”

“Pokémon was fun.”

“Yes, it was tops.”

“We all share your emotions, and at the moment, you are distant.”

“You know what I would like?” said the girl shuffling her legs from the bench.

“Please say.”

“Can we play a board game? Remember game night with mom?” Laurent alone knew this was the first time since the fatal accident Sophie had invoked her. She still did not use her name, but mom would do just fine. He smiled, and a table appeared with a complex game on it. It was made of fragile plastic pieces.

“How about Mouse Trap. I know Mall-ik will love. It was your favorite at his age.”

There was, in this little paradise, now pure happiness. Liam’s eyes were slowly drying up. He still was unable to look at Sophie but he was invited at the table. The four played, laughed, and enjoyed each other’s company. They rolled die, moved little plastic pieces, and reveled at the face of Mall-ik as the red mouse trap fell on his mouse. He bounced on his chair. The boy’s emotions were genuine, he had never been as happy. In fact, it was simply impossible to be happier. This, simply, was what life truly was about for Sophie. To Emilio and Marilyn, life was about the Rho waves. To Sophie, life was about joy. Her energy blasted out of her body into the real world. The waves poured out and amplified down to earth.

Millions smiled. For a moment, there was planetary blissfulness. Men laughed, couples made love, and animals ran wild. Invisible to all was the way her power passed earth, escaped the solar system, and like a beacon, spread through the rest of the Cold. She shone like a beacon. Men always figured this was about them. Sophie was an anchor in the sea to which a boat was tied.

This, whatever this was, certainly wasn’t about mankind.

Once the game ended, they played again, and again.