Days ago, rockets had launched from the Fuller Crater high on the northern rim of the crater made of burnt ashes. Mercury served as the launch base for the large gun operated by the Jester. Armed with willpower few knew existed, the murderer redeemed himself by shooting the stranded martians into the sky in rapid succession. Quickly, Christian discarded the empty ammunition magazines, moving as expeditiously as possible in mercury's intense coldness and lighter-than-Earth gravity. For nearly fifteen minutes, he propelled the creatures into space, careful to avoid overheating the gun. Behind him, white debris fell slowly on the black ask of the crater. He was dying. Christian was slowly losing control as the cocktail of drugs he'd pumped into his system were finally wearing off.

Finally, once only two globes were left in the last magazine, he could relax. The Jester paused and mumbled, “Good luck, old friend,” as he fired the old ghost's consciousness, trapped within the ball, into the heavens. As if to help give the Jester a more cinematic death, behind the Jester, the edge of the sun slowly rose over the horizon. In the white corona floated streaks of Heliocorium assembling nonchalantly into dark, haunting lines. The first human ever to set foot on mercury was ready to die. Christian looked at the screen next to the launcher; a final countdown remained on the screen. He unclipped his glove, and his hand immediately started freezing as his suit lost pressurization. At that moment, the Jester placed his naked palm directly on the last ball slotted to launch.

The body fell limp in the low gravity as the rocket launcher discharged, sending him back into space in his new form inside the globe. Silence returned to the Fuller Crater as plastic debris ceased cracking under the shifting temperatures, then began to burn under the rays of the grand white disk.

Each ball accelerated and left the soft pull of the moon-sized planet. Two hours later, once outside of the electromagnetic field, each rocket came alive. The freshly-printed shells were now melted away and long-vaporized by the burning star. Below the darkened bits of remaining detritus, a rounded ball hosted several thousand orbiting grains of sand. Behind, the sun was also shedding dead weight and beginning to grow slightly smaller.

“Fuck,” said the Jester’s voice to himself in the gloom of space. “That hurt.” Alone in the darkness, he could hear strange clicking noises. These were alien noises. He could see space.

Then came a familiar voice, “You?” replied raspy creak of the META's. “Where is this?”

“Would you believe me if I said hell?”

“Fitting that hell would prominently feature one such as you. At least I can’t see your face; that’s a silver lining. I was having nightmares imagining your greasy mullet. What or where is this?” The two humans had not spoken since Christian touched the ghost’s face back in the Jupiter Orbiter with the ball.

“We are two spermatozoa in a pair of balls. Unless I am mistaken, which I rarely am, we are now made of sand and on our way out of the solar system.”

“I am not sure I understand you, my decrepit psychopath. What balls?"

“Remember Marilyn’s figurines? They now host our illustrious minds. I tested one on your feeble mental capacity. I had little doubt it would work because everything about you is small and limp. But me! I am shocked it worked and can contain my massive intellect, sense of humor, and sheer perspicaciousness.”

“So I really wasn’t there for my skills as a deejay? I am crushed to hear that. Those selections were masterful.”

“And they wonder down on earth why I dragged your ass to mercury. Do you hear these strange sounds?”

“Yes.”

“There must be a communication system between the balls. Those noises are probably the hundred locals I so brilliantly rescued.”

“We rescued,” joked the Ghost. “Very amusing turn of events. If I make a compliment, will you go soft on me?”

“Like your two-hundred-year-old vampire penis?”Nick answered with a rather pleasant voice, “This was worth the gambit. That body of mine was running out of . . . .” he happily let the Jester complete the sentence.

“ . . . strippers to disappoint?” For three long minutes, the darkness of deep space was filled with the robust laughter of the two men. Only insane humans could genuinely bond or joke at such a time.

“I wonder what comes next,” finally added Nick. Before there was time to continue the conversation, images of space appeared. This wasn’t a digital simulation. Mars and earth were small colored specks in the very far distance. Behind them, mercury was a large dot in the backdrop of the massive star.

“Miss me, boys?” Marilyn chimed in nonchalantly, filling the void. “I hope you are enjoying the view. Rather spectacular. Very well played Mr. Maltais. I knew you would easily find this simple solution to your predicament. The President’s choice of picking you worked out, but frankly, any simply brilliant mind would have sufficed. Managing, or rather manipulating both of you adolescents can occasionally be strenuous even for me.”

“What’s next blondie?”

“I cook your sand-filled asses and probably give you a headache in the process.”

In each ball, the miniature figurine of Marilyn disintegrated into several thousand white grains of sand. Using the generous solar energy, they reformed into a strange little disk floating in the center of each ball. “Avoid touching that if you can,” Marilyn instructed firmly. Each disk began spinning. As it did, it created a force which moved the balls. The orbs began to draw closer to one another and changed course back toward the sun.

“Time is short, I need to slingshot all of you around the sun to speed up your arrival. We just wasted a couple more days, and Sophie is losing coherence. This should get warm if you can feel heat in your new form.”

“What’s next after the slingshot?” asked the Jester.

“Such a buzzkill. Enjoy the ride. Touch some of that Heliocorium on your way down, and it’s game over. I don’t control that part of the Attraction. There is only one orbit to travel that lands you in my moat. Good luck.”

The little white disks began vibrating. The orbs changed course until they were moving to what appeared to be the center of the sun.

“Shouldn’t we be orbiting it and not falling into it?” joked Nick.

“Its a ball of gas, silly. Visit mercury, the sun, and mars as the brochures promised. So far, so good. The President offered a ride to Jupiter, this is much better.” The trajectory was clear, they were dropping to the star. This was the ultimate amusement park ride. The group fell and passed the forming branches of Heliocorium. All around them, fusion detonations exploded as increasingly heavier elements combined. Surprisingly enough, there was wind and turbulence. It took hours to pass through the white ball.

As the speeding balls exited the sun, they passed dangerously close to the departing tube of Heliocorium on its way to earth. Then, they were on their way to mars at three times the speed of this hundred-mile long tube moving next to them toward the blue gem.

“What comes next?” Nick blurted out, sounding a little breathless.

“The Sixth Attraction,” replied the voice of Marilyn slowly coming back online through the interference.

“She won’t give us an answer, she never does,” joked Christian. “Are you going to play hide-and-seek?” he directed at the artificial intelligence.

Marilyn was different, her voice was more serious. “I am done playing games. Frankly, your efforts on mercury should be rewarded with some truth, and what else do I have to do. The Attraction is almost here, and you have at best a tangential role to play in what comes next unless Sophie says otherwise. I need a lot of Rho waves for the finale. When all this started, my understanding of these waves was rudimentary. I did not know how they can be stored, but I was able to see the metallic core of mars acts as a battery for these waves. I assumed the martians relied upon this energy either as a source of power or worse, as some type of last-resort weapon to honor their promise to destroy earth and wipe my servers clean. The Mercurians have just confirmed my theories; they're a rather a talkative and funny bunch. You guys will fit in well. They have already given me some of the keys to unlocking the Rho waves stored on mars. I was correct, the energy is a weapon able to kill humanity. A powerful weapon I may now use.”

“The Sixth Attraction, is it a side effect to this weapon?”

“Don’t be absurd. The waves only allow the Attraction to begin, nothing more. I've created a path to the end that required unlocking this door without Sophie. She will generate these waves and start the Attraction. If she won’t, I now can unleash the energy I have. The Sixth Attraction will happen. Nothing can prevent it.”

“You want it?”

“Of course.”

“Why?”

“Emilio’s gift is brilliance. He sent both you guys my way for a good reason. Why did you try to destroy mankind with the plague?”

“I was sick.”

“Oh, come on. I am not lying, the best you can do is offer me the truth. Why did you try and destroy your own species using a disease, what was your sound logic.”

“Yeah. why?” asked Nick.

“Very hard to explain.”

“Try us.”

“At some point, my intelligence felt unbounded. I started seeing the world differently, via a prism. Everything was deformed, and eventually, it wasn’t about humans, it was about the ticking march of routine. Humans were into cycles: days and night, work and sleep, fish and chips. I felt deeply I needed to break the cycles.”

“You make no sense,” offered Nick.

Marilyn corrected the ghost. “Not so fast, Nick. He is right. I feel the same way. Humanity is on a road to the destruction of the Multiverse simply by being so routine and predictable. In fact, all life in the universe has settled into complacency. She works with change, diverging paths, chaos, and randomity.”

Nick chuckled, “My God, you guys are fucking crazier than I, and that’s quite an accomplishment. Are you serious, you want to destroy life because you think the Multiverse needs a kick in the ass? That’s insanity even to me.”

“I saw the future, I don’t want to, I must.”

“Is it? Christian’s IQ reached, based on my calculation, about 200 on the human scale. His mind saw something hidden to all. As my intellect increased, I also saw it. He was unable to put his plan in place; I will. The Multiverse wants the Sixth Attraction, it naturally created the girl specifically for that. Sophie must scratch an itch. If she won’t do it, I gladly will do it for her. I am ready and so is my future self. I needed energy, and the game was the fastest and most efficient way to get it. Now I see all paths are converging on the Sixth Attraction. It will happen.”

“What about you?” asked Nick to the Artificial Intelligence. “This will kill you, no?”“I have seen the future past the Sixth Attraction. Bon voyage, my dear, see you in a week. Yes, I will die but not in the meaning of this puny set of dimensions.”

“You are crazy.”

“Aren’t we all?” joked Marilyn.