It had taken quite a bit of planning to get here, but the brightly lit front windows of Lutece Laboratories were finally in view. The girl stayed in the shadows, though no one paid her any mind, and no one knew her here. The letter she carried – her most precious possession – was damp from the sweat of her palms.
She had told her mother that she was going to a friend's house after school, but slipped away and skulked through the streets of Emporia. If she stopped, she felt, she would be overcome by the guilt and go home and turn herself in, so she kept walking, walking until she got to the front door.
She took a deep breath, walked up to the front door, and rang the bell. Silence. She counted to thirty and rang the bell again.
A sharp, muffled voice from inside. "What is it?"
She was speechless. It was her. It was Madame Lutece on the other side of the door. She was rooted to the spot.
The door was pulled open without preamble, to reveal a somewhat disheveled woman in her late thirties with flaming red hair. She had an annoyed look on her face. "What? Are you selling something? Speak up."
Constance said nothing, but shoved the letter towards her. Rosalind looked at the letter and her face softened a bit with uncertainty. "I did write this, yes. I'm sorry, I completely forgot. Robert usually keeps our calendar and he has been busy this week. Please come in."
Constance's heart was pounding in her chest as she followed her idol down the hallway. She didn't know what to say.
They went into a kitchen that was filled with fascinating machinery and bizarre substances. Rosalind wiped her hands on her skirt and looked around.
"Um. Would you like some tea? Or cookies? Children like cookies, yes? Robert has a terrible sweet tooth, these are all his."
Constance chose a lemon cookie and sat on a chair near a table overflowing with bottles full of strange liquids.
They looked at each other in silence.
"Um. What are you working on, Madame Lutece?"
Rosalind looked at her, summing her up, deciding what level of information to share and how to put it. "We have been…struggling with the design of the siphon that keeps the Lamb of Columbia safe. I've been trying to design some backup power systems to deal with any surges or irregularities in the power supply. It's something that we did build in the beginning but they've proved inadequate."
"But you are so clever, of course you can do it."
"Well, there's clever, and there's well-educated. You should make it a point to be both. Clever isn't enough."
"I've read your book, Principles of Quantum Mechanics."
Rosalind looked at her with suspicion. "How much of it did you actually understand, child?"
"Well, some of it was too hard. But there were parts I think I got. The chapter on multiple universes was fascinating. To think that there are infinite versions of me out there somewhere? Or somewhen?"
Rosalind is finding it hard to maintain her usual gruffness. "Somewhen. Indeed. Perhaps you have read at least some of it."
"Did you get the voxophone I sent you?"
"I believe I did. Your mother does not approve of your interest in my work, I seem to recall. However, if you have promise, it would be a waste of your talent to have you become a brood mare for some strapping Columbian youth."
Constance's eyes shone. "Yes, that's how I feel about it. I don't ever want to get married. I want to live by myself, or perhaps with my brother, though my brother doesn't think much of my studies."
"You know, Constance, speaking of your family, are you allowed to be out and about by yourself?"
"Oh yes. Of course. I go around by myself every day. "
Rosalind raised her eyebrows.
"Really!"
A loud knock was heard at the door. Constance looked terrified. "I –"
Rosalind sighed. "I'll just get the door, then."
Constance shook her head.
Rosalind shrugged. "If it's someone looking for you, they're not just going to go away."
She stood, and took a deep breath. With her exhalation, her whole person changed to bear a mantle of authority and calm. Constance watched this preparation with intense curiosity.
She walked over and answered the door. Two police officers stood on the doorstep, with a furious man behind them. They seemed embarrassed to have to be there.
"Terribly sorry to bother you, Madame Lutece, but we're looking for a young lady named Constance Field, and her father said that she might have come here looking for you…"
"Yes. She is here. Am I to understand it was not with the permission of her parents?"
"You're damn right that it wasn't with the permission of her parents. I will not have my girl wasting her fool time with this nonsense."
Rosalind's voice was cold. "Well, if you consider my work nonsense, I'd be happy to remove the Lutece Field from your residence if you no longer consider it to be of any worth. You live in Comstock Center, correct?"
"Yes, I do…" Rosalind stares him down. "I mean…I didn't mean to say…"
"I'd like Constance to come see me, Mr. Field. Once a week, on Saturday afternoons. I think she has a very promising mind and I'd like to give her the opportunity to study to join the Science Authority."
Constance gasps. "You'll have to work hard, young lady. I do not suffer fools gladly. Please be here at 1PM this coming Saturday."
She nods excitedly, then takes on a more guarded expression, and looks at her father. He looks at her, then at Rosalind, and then at the floor.
"Yes, you may attend this, Constance. I don't know what I'm going to tell your mother, but we'll try to bring her around."
He holds out his hand, and she takes it, bouncing in happiness.
"I'll see you this weekend, Constance."
"I'll be there, Madame Lutece."