* Read chapter if you desire mathematics.

Milly knew how to get Marilyn to talk. "Don't leave these viewers in the dark. Billions are watching. We have nothing better to do than listen to an explanation.”

“Miss Wong I think you are thinking much too highly of your viewers. You had me talk of quantum physics and my determinism chambers a while ago. Few but a handful understood a tenth of what I said. You now want me to discuss high level mathematics? Bipeds do not understand variables, constants or even what is fabric. I doubt that is an optimal way to spend the next minutes.”

“That’s demeaning,” said Georges. “You have been complaining for years humans don’t care about higher things, then she asks,” he pointed at the journalist, “and you clamp-up.”

“We play open-book today?” Marilyn quipped back at her father, he had gone there.

"You started it, not me. I have to talk about my love life with this stranger while you can’t talk about Pi. Seems more than fair to me." The irony in his tone was lost on no one.

“Some of these concepts are rather scary. Humans might not be ready.” She was talking to herself.

"Cough-up, girl!" said Georges. Milly was enjoying herself. The digital creature smiled. Georges was right. This was going to get complicated.

“To everyone out there, let's remember not to not blame the messenger when the news turns out not to be what we want to hear.”

***

She seamlessly took over the broadcast. Marilyn was now once again standing in a large university classroom. This was a mathematics class. In her back was a large blackboard. "Pi," she began to draw, "is the most important and misunderstood number in the world. It has its own Greek character. These," she gestured and the wall behind her lit up with a series of numbers, "are the first hundred thousand digits of Pi.” The sequence began as 3.14159...

“What is Pi? Really? When you divide the theoretical circumference of a circle over its theoretical radius, you get a weird, irregular and indefinite ratio. A number we have simply called Pi, because this is a bit much to remember.”

Humanity, in thousands of years of research had failed to grasp what this number meant. Electoral was ready to disclose its secret on live television. After torturing physicists, the mathematicians were getting it. "The important portion in what I said is the word 'theoretical'." The classroom setting was replaced by an endless martian backdrop. The night sky appeared, sparkling with stars. "For over two thousand years, this ratio has intrigued scientists and philosophers alike. I also wondered for a long time about this number. In my world, the circle does not exist. In your world it does. Pi is a ratio that defines your world, not mine. A person can buy a round Hula-Hoop, a round cup, or inflate a spherical balloon and Pi is needed to define the volume of water you can put into it. For me, to draw a circle, I simply draw multiple points, lines. Like the old mathematicians, I am forced to create circles from lines."

"I noticed that humans had measured this value very precisely from a mathematical standpoint. They used computers to calculate a theoretical value, but no one had actually taken the time to rolled-up her sleeves to measure the real value of the ratio to any degree of certainty. I wondered, could there be a difference? Could the Universe refuse to play nice and respect the rationale? In other words, if we drew a rope across the solar system and another in a perfect circle around our system, would the value measured align with the theory? Think about it for a second."

The dark martian sky above her lit with stars. Phobos hung high above. Then, on cue, hundreds of little probes launched from the top of the tower of the Electoral Center in every direction of the night. The probes fired and disappeared in a flash. The view of the martian sky morphed into a larger view of the solar system. Marilyn was gifted at explaining things. The viewers could see the probes move away from Mars, each moving to a different position of the solar system. Once in place, she drew a line between the probes in the dark of space. She then launched more probes, and more.

"So I did what any good scientist would have done, I measured the largest circle I could find; our solar system. The ratio between a line uniting all my probes divided by the average distance of the probes, all corrections aside." Numbers started filling the sky behind her. A ratio was forming. "This is the real value of Pi, the observed value. This other series is the pure and calculated Pi. Which means more? Which has more value?"

"One by one, I verified the digits of the sequence of calculated Pi with the theoretical value. Take a look." From the largest value, one by one, each digit began to turn green as the map of the solar system was cut into smaller segments and more probes launched from the Center tower reached their location. "At first, I figured this was nothing but a waste of my time. We computers have a lot of time, and we love to count things. I've validated all of these numbers." Several thousand numbers in the sequence lit green, one by one. "Then it happened." The numbers stopped turning green and began to turn red. "Look!"

Everyone was wondering what was going to happen next. Marilyn's arms were spread as if rain was about to fall. She smiled. Her radiant beauty knew no equal. "Here! The divergence is not fixed. Each moment I measure the pure Pi, each second, the figure changes, it evolves." At the end of the string of decimals were hundreds of digits in red, their value was constantly moving like a clock, like the last digit of a speedometer.

“Pi, the measured value is a variable, not a fixed number.”

"What does it mean?" asked Milly.

"The Universe, it moves, it breathes." The shift in the numbers was moving like the stock market index, without apparent reason. "I have been playing for some time with the Pi shift, as I call it. Our universe is not a thing at rest. Not flat, not static. It bends and twists, and it does so based on a very complex set of rules. Rules that change. I think measuring the Pi shift is like a tick trying to measure the temperature of the blood of the creature it feeds from. The Pi shift is nonlinear; it reminds me of a long term weather prediction. There are too many factors and influences to truly anticipate, but..."

Marilyn pointed at Sophie's body in the tube next to her. "What ever is happening in this girl's head at the moment is important enough to shift the real measured value of Pi of our universe."

"This makes no sense," said Milly.

"Sophie is a sink, a pivot around which our entire universe bends. She attracts my probes, bends space. That is why I call her an Attractor. I stole that name from someone far away." She smiled at the camera.

"Actually, it makes sense," chimed in Georges. "Before man knew it lived on the surface of a rounded planet, and made long sea voyages, no real star measurement made sense."

"Correct. Once again, that pours credibility into the notion that the universe has many dimensions, not three. To the boat captain, the Earth's surface had two dimensions. As I dig below the surface of mankind's current understanding of our world, I am amazed by a stellar puzzle, to which Sophie appears to be relevant."

"Why Sophie?" asked the journalist.

"I wish I knew for sure. Milly, you should continue with the interview, I have not completed the calculations. The shift has stabilized." Behind Marilyn, the shifting red numbers turned green and stopped changing value. Milly looked around. The Lapierres were sleeping peacefully.

Milly spoke into a camera. "Well, I don't care what they tell me down on Earth, at this point, we are going to take a break. Back in a couple of minutes." She pushed a button on her belt, and the signal stopped.

Milly spoke to Georges and Marilyn. "This stellar stuff is a bit over my head," she said. The image of Marilyn was gone.

The robotic voice returned, – Under these extraordinary circumstances, you are doing just fine. –

"What about Sophie?"

"The girl made herself crystal clear. She doesn't want our help," said Georges.

"What do you think is going on, in those two heads?"

– Milly, without telling you how to work, the cameras are off. You will regret it if you do not resume the live broadcast. Humans have a right to know of their destiny. While you two look so stunning, maybe you should continue the interview. I will interrupt as I just did if circumstances become more fluid. –

"Can you answer a couple of follow-up questions on this Pi thing?"

– I guess, but don't fault me if the answers prove to be wrong in the future. –

Milly pushed a button; the cameras took flight. "And we are back on CNN with what will no doubt prove to be the most important live televised event of all time. Marilyn, you said Sophie is changing Pi, what does that mean?"

– At this point I only have theories. –

"What are they?"

– Cosmologists fear that the human race is but one of millions of living species in the universe. They fear what we do is inconsequential; unimportant. While that assumption makes perfect statistical and logical sense, I believe it is wrong. I feel like in all the worlds, even those covered in life, none generate Rho waves. Something unique is going on in our Solar System. Humans are of critical importance to the big scheme of things. And I'm no human, so you can eject ego from the equation immediately. This girl, god bless her, is so important that the universe itself is bending to her will. –

"God?"

– A figure of speech. But things suggest a greater purpose. –

"This is a bit... "

"Incredible," suggested Georges.

– The Electoral 2072 Competition is also quantifiably shifting Pi. –

"This game is that important?"

– Electoral is much more than a game; it aligns consciousness, creates a new world within this world. The beauty and magic of Electoral is unique. –

"I don't understand."

– Milly, I have a significant amount of power and knowledge, and I also do not understand. The only thing I am certain of is that I don't want to fool around with things I do not understand. Right now, if Sophie said she wanted a frozen drink, I would uproot this Center to find her one. The girl is the key. I just don't know what type of door she opens. –

"Is this linked with the Rho waves?"

– I strongly believe it is. –

"Can't you experiment with these waves?"

– No. For a reason unknown to me, only the human brain generates these waves. I am unable to recreate them in any way. It's rather amusing. This might explain why humans can shift Pi. Milly, I would appreciate if you could continue Georges' interview. I am trying to distinguish structure in the waves produced by the Lapierres. Maybe the girl called and I can’t see it in the gibberish. –

Milly knew when to take a leave. She inspected the two sleeping humans, talked to the doctor, and went with Georges into the next room.

“Let’s go.”