Magic
    
Alkzã sighed as she disconnected the wires from her temples, struggling to bring herself out of the fantastical world she had been submerged in. Her head was still up in the fantastical land her book was set in, with the protagonist, Mary. What a strange name it was, so old-fashioned and out of date, so unique and beautiful. It must have been quite a few millennia since someone was named that.
    
Alkzã looked around and, seeing nobody to chide her for reading, reattached the wires. Immediately, her world was whisked away and replaced by the one in her book. How strange and wondrous it was! She was surrounded by things that were completely out of her world—trees, flowers, grass . . .
    
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mary, in an exotic costume. It was pink, made in a strange material that was never used in the modern day. Mary called it cotton.
    
Alkzã leaned her body toward Mary and glided over, following her into the place she worked, a building called a factory, with smoke billowing out the top. She eagerly followed Mary in, but the moment she entered, she heard a voice calling her name. A voice from her world.
    
Alkzã disconnected the wires to see her metal guardian standing before her, staring disapprovingly down at Alkzã. “Reading. Again.”
    
She’d been caught.
    
Alkzã hid the wires behind her back, subtly parting the air and pushing them into her secret cubbyhole. When she took her hands out, the robot was giving her a scrutinizing look, almost as if she were thinking of skewering her with the powerful lasers her eyes contained, or maybe scanning Alkzã’s mind. They rarely did that, but when they did, they dug through every part of her brain. And it was painful.
    
But even with the threats hanging over her, Alkzã couldn’t keep her thoughts still. Flowers, cotton, trees . . . as her sofa molded itself into the chair Alkzã normally worked in, she wondered if there could be anything more magical.