“Okay, here we go.” A hand reached past the camera and hit Enter. An app started up and filled the computer screen with a single grey window. The outline of a playing card was drawn, but left blank. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, almost simultaneously, the girl spoke and a card appeared.
“Jack of clubs,” she said, and on the computer appeared a J and the black club symbol. “Six of clubs.” The card outline blanked to white and the six of clubs appeared. She was right again. “Six of diamonds. Ten of hearts.” She kept on naming cards, one after another, with hardly a pause, and every card she named appeared on-screen half a second later. I discovered my mouth was hanging open, and it seemed I had forgotten to breathe for a while. There she was, this exquisitely gangly creature, reeling off the future.
