Sergio sits down among a hushed audience in the top floor triangle room of the Brooklyn Museum.
"Sergio," the director says, "Help me understand this. You are saying the digital theft is a theft, but at the same time not a theft at all, but part of our museum's constantly evolving heritage."
"Esatto," says Sergio. He pulls out his iphone and starts fiddling with it.
"Excuse me," says the director, "I'm talking to you."
"Scusa," says Sergio, not to the director, but to someone on the phone, "I am in a meeting and people are talking to me." He turns to the director. "If you don't mind, I am in the middle of talking to some important collaborators about the future of this exhibition."
The director rolls her eyes. "That's what this meeting, here in the building, is for, Sergio. Didn't I make explicit that mobile devices were to be turned off during the meeting?"
"It doesn't turn off," says Sergio. He speaks into the phone, "Constantina, ciao. Have you any news?"
"This is ridiculous," says the director.
"Excuse me," says Art Guy, relating to the distress of the director. "Perhaps..."
"Speak into the microphone," someone says.
Art Guy tries again. "Perhaps this is a naive question. Is there any harm in still launching the online exhibition, with a few changes so that the thief will not have the same content?"
Everyone laughs.
"Can you imagine what the younger demographic would do with that?" says someone whose job title Art Guy can't remember.
"The younger demographic is not to be feared!" says Gus, turning in his swivel chair and sipping his espresso. "We must not fight them, but join them."
Art Guy is confused by his colleague. Gus continues, "This is an opportunity in open access. Sure, the temple is compromised, even violated, but who is to say it was ever ours to begin with, that it was not we who violated it in the first place, by ever opening those funerary vaults?"
"Esatto!" says Sergio. "Open access. The tomb is open. The dust is gone. They will see what was not meant to be seen, and all crumble before the 21st century 18th dynasty, Nefertiti 2.0, Brooknak Temple restored."
"So you've decided to join us," says the director, "and I still have no idea what the hell you are talking about."
"You must sell off the physical collection," says Sergio.
Silence falls once again over the cutting-edge conversation. Art Guy can be heard struggling with his espresso maker.
"You must," Sergio says. "For the collection is not yours anymore. Now that the content has been compromised, it belongs to the open market. Your one chance at retaining a franchise presence is to do what I suggested earlier: a heritage website, which we at DATA specialize in creating."
"So you don't specialize in catching digital art thieves at all," says the director.
"I take my work very seriously," says Sergio.
Espresso and steamed milk suddenly shoot across the table from where Art Guy is sitting, splattering the director's suit lapel and scalding Sergio, while soaking the latter's iphone. Everyone crowds around Sergio to see if the iphone is alright. They bandage Sergio's face with napkins.
"It is destroyed," says Sergio to Art Guy. "You have destroyed our opportunity."
Our hero feels the glare of many eyes.
"I didn't mean to destroy an opportunity," says Art Guy. He stands up. "I came here to investigate an art case. I am an art guy. I am interested in New Kingdom Egypt, and I find porphyry fascinating. I am very sorry to hear of your recent troubles with cyber space. Sometimes, when I visit family, I bring my laptop along so that my niece can fix it for me. I don't know much about how to solve this digital theft. One thing I do know is that Brooknak Temple is a fantasy, and the objects in your collection are real, and you'd have to be wanting in IQ points to follow this lunatic--no offense, sorry about your ipod--into his lair of lies that he calls the future, when everyone knows that the Brooklyn Museum represents the past. And furthermore I don't think a mummy-pharoah will attack you just because of your Egyptian collection, although I could be wrong."
After a few moments, Sergio says, "What is this mummy-pharaoh?"
"You know, the Mummy. Boris Karloff."
"My face is going to be scarred. Excuse me," says Sergio, standing up from the table and packing his things together. Some napkins fall off of him, and one attaches to his heel as he leaves the room.
Gus begins laughing. "He went for a little walk!"
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