Lila Mae Watson is an elevator inspector living in an alternate version of mid-century New York City. In this reality, there is a pervasive and cult-like fascination with elevators, given that they enabled the construction of skyscrapers and the modern city. By extension, elevator inspectors occupy a special place in society, for it is their stamp of approval that signifies whether an elevator is safe or not. Lila Mae is the city’s second Black elevator inspector and the first to be a Black woman.

There are two competing schools of thought within elevator inspection. Most inspectors are “Empiricists” who take a traditional approach to inspection, examining cable wires and measuring response times. Inspectors like Lila Mae are “Intuitionists” who feel and visualize an elevator’s vibrations to determine its safety. For reasons no one can explain, Intuitionists have a slightly better safety record than Empiricists.

As Lila Mae waits to inspect an elevator at 125 Walker, the superintendent finally arrives. He makes little effort to hide his dissatisfaction that a Black woman is inspecting his building’s elevator. After riding the elevator and visualizing its vibrations in complex geometric shapes, Lila Mae determines that she must cite the building for a “faulty overspeed governor.