"Are you going to just sit there?"
"As compared to what, standing?"
"Not standing, rowing."
Booker tuned out the Luteces' incessant banter as he opened the cigar box. His attention was drawn to the grainy photo of a girl.
His little girl.
Anna.
She was the spitting image of her mother: raven-black hair and a strength in her eyes.
Although Booker didn't like admitting it, she appeared to be well cared for. The office of a degenerate drunk in the bad part of town was no place for a little girl to grow up, Booker thought. Who knows where she would have ended up when the loan sharks ran out of patience. Heiress to a city in the sky was a world away from a squalid life in the streets. Perhaps it was for the best. Maybe he should be thanking Comstock for saving both his life and his daughter's.
Booker's train of thought was interrupted as the rowboat came to a stop next to a weathered pier. The lamp of an old lighthouse was visible straight ahead through the fog and rain.
"We've arrived." Rosalind stated.
"Now hold on a second," Booker began, "I'm not getting off this boat until you answer some questions."
Before Rosalind could protest, Booker continued.
"First of all, a city in the sky. How does that work?"
"From this picture of Monument Island," Booker produced the picture of Monument Island from the cigar box and waved it for emphasis, "it appears to be constructed of metal and on the same scale as Lady Liberty. You would need an impossible amount of helium to keep that afloat."
The Luteces glanced at each other.
"This is quite awkward," Rosalind said, "we're not used to being asked insightful questions."
"I suppose some background information wouldn't hurt," she continued, "it is public knowledge after all. The buildings in Columbia are supported by quantum particles suspended in space-time at a fixed height."
That explanation made no sense to Booker, and he wondered if it was a phrase the Luteces had invented to simplify a complex phenomenon for laymen. But he decided it was not a topic worth pursuing. He had more pressing concerns than debating the principles of quantum architecture with two ghosts. Speaking of which...
"Second question. What are you exactly? How are you able to open stable Tesla tears without machinery? How is it you're a ghost when I try to hit you but are able to interact with the world physically when you decide to?"
The Luteces glanced at each other longer this time. The former detective in Booker sensed this was a delay to allow construction of a half-truth.
Rosalind finally relented, "To summarize a long story, we were quite careless during an experiment and now exist outside space-time. As a result, we are able to project as much of ourselves as we desire into any version of reality as well as create links between realities."
Booker considered the consequences of such an existence. "So you have the power of gods. You can end worlds by opening a tear to the core of the nearest star. You see every possible permutation of the multiverse from its moment of creation to its heat death. Omnipotence. Omniscience."
"Omnipotence perhaps," Rosalind countered, "omniscience, not quite. Although we exist outside space-time we are still entities in a higher dimension. This means we cannot simultaneously occupy more than one space-time, and simply by observing a specific reality we cause the future of that reality to become rather uncertain.
"We call that the Lutece uncertainty principle." Robert interjected proudly.
"But yes," Rosalind continued, "despite some limitations we have a frightening amount of power. It's quite fortunate for you we are simply curious scientists."
"Alright, so if you can open tears at will, why don't you just open a tear to where Anna is?"
This question was met with heated argument.
"We can't tell him that," Rosalind began, "it would cause dreadfully unacceptable variance in the subject's decision-space."
"I don't see the harm in it, he'll figure it out soon enough. He's not simple like the others."
"Fine, this entire thought experiment was your idea anyway. If you insist on telling him go ahead, But I won't be a party to experimenter bias."
With a flash of lightning Rosalind disappeared.
After apologizing for his sister's abrupt departure, a slightly flustered Robert fiddled with the buttons on his raincoat as he answered Booker, "It's not that simple. There is a device on Monument Island that prevents us from opening tears."
"What sort of device? How does it work?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that."
"What? Why not?"
"It is something you must discover on your own. If you were to understand the nature of the device at such an early juncture it would alter your decision-making and cause this version of reality to go down quite a dangerous path."
"As it stands we are already courting disaster by discussing this. Now off you go!"
And with that a second bolt of lightning blinded Booker. When he regained his vision Robert had vanished as well, along with the boat oars.
Left with no other option, Booker climbed the wooden ladder and began the walk up to the lighthouse. He had caught the Luteces off guard this time. No doubt they would be better prepared should they decide to reappear to him.