“I’m not sure what my mom is planning to do. How sad is that? I never invited her. That’s sadder, right?”

No one responded, not because the answer was clear, but because the answer was complicated. Like everything for all of them right now.

Lucy sighed as she sat on Delia’s bed, shifting the computer to make room. “Hey, what is this, Dee?”

“Nothing, it’s silly, don’t even—”

“I didn’t know you were into playing video games.”

“It’s not a video game. Not exactly. It’s just something I work on sometimes.”

Lucy set the computer on her lap. “You created this? Hedy Lamarr? The actress who had something to do with creating Wi-Fi, right?”

“Ultimately, yes,” Delia said, feeling increasingly self-conscious as Maddie perched herself beside Lucy. “The graphics aren’t great. It’s more what elements of the coding it’s teaching.”

“This teaches coding?” Maddie said. “Is this the kind of stuff you did to learn on your own? So cool.”

Delia’s cheeks burned, and she moved to take the computer. “We should really get back to Demo Day.”

Lucy scooted deeper into the bunk. “We are.”

“No, we’re talking about my silly game.”

“One and the same. Because this . . .” Lucy tapped the screen. “This is how we stay in it. We pivot, just like Nishi did when she had to plan her boss’s wedding.”

“What?” Maddie said.

“Never mind. Point is, we need an app for Demo Day. We have one. Right here.”

“But the games aren’t fancy or anything. And they’re based on female coders and mathematicians. Hedy Lamarr and Grace Hopper and Dorothy Vaughan and Joan Clarke. Women who did amazing, smart things that most people know nothing about. People won’t care.”

“You do,” Lucy said.

“But I’m into this stuff. Because I’ve got some robot brain or something.”

“Robot?” Lucy tapped the screen. “Uh, no, I don’t think so. This whole thing is super creative.”

Delia could only think of her mom onstage. “No, it’s not. It’s just code.”

“Made fresh and fun. That’ll appeal to kids. We both know how rare that is, Delia.” As Lucy paused to gather her thoughts, she looked up at the bottom of the bunk. She read the Ada quotation as she removed it. “‘Imagination is the Discovering Faculty, preeminently. It is that which penetrates into the unseen worlds around us, the worlds of Science.’ If this is your goal, this is how we achieve it. Together. Because including women? Historical women? Who are total badass screen queens? I could pitch the hell out of this.” Lucy ratcheted her enthusiasm down a couple of notches, turning more serious. “Which isn’t why I’m saying this. It’s just a great idea.”

“Teaching kids how to code,” Maddie said. “That’s perfect. And kicks that tap-dancing porcupine’s ass.”