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America before the Europeans arrived. Angela paid attention with only half her mind, wondering what the kids were doing in those booths.
    Half an hour later, the first group came out of the booths, smiling happily as if they had been to a movie or a party or something. Angela felt a little excited as Mrs. O'Connell got them settled back at the desks and then called for the next six to go to the booths. It was dark inside. Small as a telephone booth, but instead of a phone there was a little bench to sit on and a shelf with a funny kind of plastic helmet resting on it. Like a biker's helmet, only a set of wires came out of it. The wires were wrapped in coils of metal, just like the telephone wire in a public booth. Mrs. O'Connell helped Angela put on the helmet and wriggle her fingers into the fuzzy gloves that had been inside it.
    "It will get completely dark for a few moments," she said as she slid the visor down over Angela's eyes. Her voice was muffled by the helmet's padding. "You're not frightened of the dark, are you?"
    "A little," Angela confessed.
    "It will only be for a moment or two."
    It got very dark. Pitch black. Angela heard the door of the booth click shut. She reached out with her gloved hands and touched the walls of the booth. She felt scared. "It's all right," she whispered to Amanda. "Don't be afraid." Then she saw colors. Like a sunset, only these colors shifted and swirled around and then . . .
    She was in a forest. Big trees rising all around her, their leafy canopies almost blotting out the sun. The sweet smell of grass and pine. Flowering bushes everywhere. Birds calling back and forth, flickering in and out among the trees in darting flashes of brilliant color. It wasn't like watching a movie. She was in the forest. She walked among the trees, eyes goggling. The mossy ground felt soft and a little springy beneath her feet. A deer peeked at her from between some bushes, its big brown eyes limpid, its ears twitching. It was beautiful.
    "This is the forest home of the Iroquois," said a man's voice, "as it existed more than five hundred years ago."
    The voice spoke about the Native Americans for a few more minutes. Then suddenly Angela was lifted off her feet, rising through the trees, soaring above them. She was flying! Flying above the swaying tops of the trees, racing along in the sun-warmed air like a bird, an eagle, high above the ground.
    "And this," said the voice, "is the home of another tribe of Native Americans: the Aztecs."
    From her high eagle's vantage Angela saw a mighty city built on islands in a huge lake. Streets and houses and temples built atop steep stone pyramids.
    "Mexico City," said the voice. "The largest city in the world. The year is AD fifteen hundred. Would you like to explore this city?"
    "Yes!" Angela answered. She wanted to shout, but she was so excited all she could do was whisper. "Yes!"

    "My name's Gary Chan," said the Asian-American, after he and Dan had slipped out of the dank, hot control room.
    Dan shook his hand as he asked, "You work for Jace?"
    Chan grinned. "Who doesn't? When he needs somebody to run the board for him or some other errands. He rubs his lamp and we obey."
    They were standing in the hallway outside the control room. Dan studied the youngster's face. Not quite as inscrutable as the proverbial Oriental should be. Dan recognized the eager look in his eyes.
    "You said you wanted to show me something."
    Trying to sound casual, Chan said, "While we're waiting for Jace I thought I might as well show you some of the stuff I've been doing."
    "Okay. Good." Dan followed him down the hallway.
    "Jake's doing the conflict games," Chan said. "The rest of us have been putting together the simpler stuff." He was still trying to appear nonchalant, but the excitement in his voice showed through.
    Dan knew that ParaReality's main business was to create an amusement park using VR instead of the mechanical games and rides of older parks like Disney World.
    "Conflict