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Beck: Is there going to be a problem?

Isadora: Everything is a problem.

Beck: ???

Celia hands Lucinda a wad of Kleenex, and Lucinda blows her nose. Celia says to Lucinda, “Do you want to see any more?”

Lucinda shakes her head, no.

Isadora says, “Thank you for visiting. I hope I’ll see you again soon.”

“Thank you,” Lucinda says in a small voice. “Will it still be here if I come back?”

“Your room will always be here for you. No one else can visit it. You have the only key.”

Lucinda opens her hand. The key is still there. “Thank you. I’m ready to go now.”

Isadora bows her head and vanishes. The Museum fades. I help Lucinda and Celia out of their headsets and gloves. Celia massages the bridge of her nose. Lucinda looks a little dizzy; present Alba helps her to sit down on the sofa. Celia surveys us all: Beck behind her monitor, her face carefully expectant; young Alba whispering with Lucinda; older Alba sitting next to them, her chin cradled in her hand, waiting for the result she already knows is coming; me, wondering what I’ve set in motion, hoping for the best.

I’ve seen Celia in court, advocating for her young clients. She’s never at a loss for words, but now she hesitates. Finally she turns to Beck and says, “Why? What is it for? I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s impressive, it’s unbelievable. But what’s the point? There’s so much reality—why make more?”

“Sometimes you need something more,” Beck says. “When I started this project, my life was falling apart, I kept losing the people and things and places that I cared about. Some people might keep a bunch of photos on their phone, or a piece of clothing, you know what I mean?”

Celia says, “I understand what it is that you mean to do, but what about all the things you don’t mean—but they happen anyway?”

Older Alba says, “I’m here to tell you about that.” Beck turns off the system, so that Isadora can’t eavesdrop on us.

“Do tell,” Celia says.

“Isadora will never harm you, Lucinda. Whether you say yes or no, she’ll protect you as part of our family.” Alba’s expression is grave.

“Protect me from what?” Lucinda asks, timidly.

Beck frowns at Alba, who merely says, “The same things everyone else will be contending with, but especially something that will be called the Interstices. If you decide to loan Isadora your appearance, you must promise us you’ll never, ever let anyone give you bioware.”

“It’s easy to promise when I don’t know what that is,” Lucinda replies.

“When you understand, you’ll be very glad you don’t have it,” Beck says. “I don’t think any of us should get it. It’s just a way to be possessed by technology, sort of like being possessed by evil spirits.”

“Is that even possible?” Celia asks. “Putting computers in our bodies?”

“Not yet,” Alba says. “Soon.”

“That is a revolting idea,” Celia says.

Alba continues, “There’s no point in me telling you all the details. But I can give you reassurances. At the moment, Isadora is like a ghost. She can only ‘live’ inside the world Beck made her for, and she will only resemble Lucinda inside that world. But there is another version of the Museum out there—it belongs to Beck’s ex-husband, Jasper. And that Museum will eventually find its way into our world, as the Interstices. And that’s why you mustn’t get bioware.”

Celia looks startled. “Another one?”

Lucinda wonders, “How do you know what’s going to happen?”

Everyone falls quiet. Young Alba begins to explain her time traveling ways to Lucinda. I remember when Henry was my impossible secret. Now I can count the people who know in the dozens. Alba is cautious about telling people, but sometimes she needs to. I hope Lucinda can keep a secret. Older Alba concludes with, “and that’s how we managed to record your room.”

“Not magic?” Lucinda says, disappointed.

“Is time travel less impressive than magic?” Older Alba asks gently.

“No, ma’am. Can I time travel, too?”