One Wish Away (7 page)

“Touché.” He runs his hand through it and adds, “Though my accessory is practically a necessity. I mean, look at this mess.”

I like his hair without a hat. It's how he wore it when I first met him, since we weren't allowed to wear hats in middle school. But I like him with the hat too. He glances at me expectantly, and my stomach does that tightening thing. A mixture of, I-have-to-puke, and butterflies hatching like crazy.

When we get downstairs, there's a note on the counter.

Had to go to work tonight. Call me when you get up and are ready to go. I'll come get you.
Dad

Darren rolls his eyes, when he reads the note. When he looks at me, he must register my confused expression because he says, “What's so important that he can't wait until morning? You practically went to jail yesterday, and have your first day of work today. Seriously, what's more important than making sure you're okay after all that?”

“I messed up, Darren.” I shrug and grab an apple out of the basket on the counter. Without asking, I throw one to Darren. “If he could have it his way, I wouldn't be working with him until at least eight years from now when I have the appropriate eight million diplomas.” I try to make my voice light and smile around my apple.

Darren takes an aggressive bite out of his and stalks toward our door. “Let me know how the first day goes,” he shouts. I hear the door open and run through the kitchen, to the living room.

“Thanks!” I yell, before he's fully left. The door pauses and his head pops back in. He tilts it to the side.

“Thanks,” I say again.

He takes another bite of the apple and his hand relaxes on the doorknob. “Good luck,” he says before walking out the door.

*

I focus on the landscape, wondering what was so important that Dad had to go back to the office last night. It takes all of fifteen minutes to get from SEAD to our house, but it still seems like a lot of needless driving.

Dad turns slightly in his seat and uses his happy, joking tone. “Isn't this nice? Spending time together? We don't do this nearly enough.”

I'm not sure how to answer this. Because, no, we don't spend enough time together. But I clear my throat and try to be a good daughter.

“This is going to be really cool, working together. I'll be learning from the best.”

Dad's smile grows.

The SEAD building looks the same from the front as it does from the rear. Every beam of light reflects off of it. The closer we get, the more I have to close my eyes to protect my corneas from frying.

Nothing on the outside hints as to what's behind the doors and when we enter, I'm rather disappointed.

“David, how are you doing today?” an older lady with white perm hair asks from behind the desk in the middle of the room. With its grey walls and oak desk, it's a very boring, typical lobby. It actually looks like the Visitor Center.

“Fine, Bonnie.”

Bonnie points to the binder sitting on the counter. My dad fills out the sign-in sheet, only half looking at it. “I don't believe you've ever met my daughter, Lyra.”

I force a smile, which I can feel is awkward, slightly higher on one side than the other.

“Hi.” I manage, nodding my head.

Bonnie's grandmotherly cheerfulness never wavers. “It's so nice to meet you, Lyra.” She shakes my hand and then gestures to the book. “You're in here as well. Fill out your information. Name, time entered, and then make sure you sign out when you leave.” She glances at Dad. “Your father will remind you. Even though, half the time he forgets to sign out.” Bonnie tries to force a scowl on her wrinkled face, but the grin is still there.

“Luckily this place can't operate without me or I'd be in real trouble.”

Bonnie laughs and stands, shuffling through some papers on her desk before handing me my badge. I thought when they took the picture yesterday in HR I was going to look horrible.

Horrible doesn't even begin to describe it.

If you look closely enough, you can see the scrapes covering my thin arms. My tank top is torn and dirty. Strawberry blonde hair is a complete disaster. And even though they tried to photoshop my black eye, the job is by no means professional.

Dad snorts and shakes his head, trying to suppress his amusement. “Let's go.” He waves to Bonnie and heads to the back of the lobby.

“You've seen this room before,” he says as he pulls a door open.

Now this is more like it.

We step into the universe, and while yesterday I was in utter awe, I am beyond ecstatic today. I work here.

“To maneuver around the universe you have to remember what spacemarks are located by each door.” Dad turns around. I can barely see him amongst the glow of the stars.

“The North Star is right above the entrance to the lobby. This is the most Northern part of the building. Since you've already got some key landmarks of the universe memorized it shouldn't be difficult for you to remember where the rooms are.”

Dad lets me walk amongst the cosmos. I feel his eyes following me and the excitement on his face. His daughter is working at SEAD. Though I'm sure he imagined that my interview process would have been slightly different.

Once again I hold the Sombrero galaxy in my hands. Take in the constellation Virgo.

My father stops behind my shoulder and I ask, “Why is Spica gone?”

“Might as well start with the largest secret first.” Dad sighs. “Though you might find the rest of this place disappointing.” I hear the smile in his voice.

“I'll let you know after I've seen it.”

“Then follow me to your constellation, Lyra.”

I follow the sound of his footsteps, occasionally seeing his silhouette in front of a galaxy or planet.

“You put the greatest secret in the room next to the constellation I'm named after?”

“It's my greatest accomplishment. The thing I'm the most proud of.” Both his hands find my shoulders as we stand under my constellation, outside the door. “Aside from you, of course. I wanted the machine in this room.”

My throat tightens at his words.

“You ready?” Dad whispers.

“Yes.”

He pushes the door open and we're soaked in light. It takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust. Then I rush to catch up to my father walking with a strange confidence across the room. He's different at SEAD. Not authoritative. He could never be that. But he walks like he knows every secret in this strange part of the world.

As if this place really couldn't operate without him.

The beautiful woman from yesterday stands in front of the glass dome, clipboard in hand.

“Let's recalibrate the system and run some diagnostics. Make sure everything is set to go.” There's extreme excitement in Aunt Steph's voice. She turns to us, the largest smile stretched across her face.

“Hi, Lyra. Ready to see what all the fuss is about?” Her frizzy hair sways back and forth when she glances over at Iris. “You can do the diagnostics after the grand tour.” She pats my shoulder as she walks by and then says, “I'll be trudging through my mountains of paperwork. Oh!” She turns around with a finger in the air. “David, you
have
to get your paperwork done. That's how we justify our budget.” Her eyebrows rise as if she's scolding a kid.

Dad nods. “Okay, Steph.” Once she's out of the room he mumbles, “They give us whatever we want anyway, but it's easier just to say ‘yes' to your aunt.”

My laugh comes out more like a snort.

We finish our walk across the room to stand next to Iris, my intrigue totally piqued. A knowing smirk appears on Iris' face when we reach her side.

“You must be the infamous Lyra. It's very nice to meet you.” I take the hand she offers and shake it.

“Lyra, this is Iris. Iris just graduated with her PhD. Well, I guess perhaps not just. It's been what—”

“Three years now, Dr. A.”

“Really?”

“Lyra was still in middle school when I started. Remember, on my first day you asked about that boy she was hanging with?” My eyes grow at what I assume must be a reference to Darren. I thought Dad didn't even know, or care, who I was hanging out with. Apparently he noticed enough.

Iris winks at me. “Men, you know? They're so clueless. No worries, honey. I told him you were thirteen years old. Lay off a little!”

I bite my lip. I'm sure my freckles have disappeared behind the warming of my cheeks.

“Well…” Dad clears his throat, stealing glances at both of us. “I asked Iris to meet us here because she's the best at explaining things on a beginner level.”

I open my mouth to protest. I wouldn't say I'm a beginner when it comes to space. But Dad raises his hand to stop me.

“This isn't only about astronomy, Lyra,” he states matter-of-factly. “And I tend to forget everyone hasn't worked on this for more than half their lifetime. Iris understands which points are relevant and how to phrase them.”

“And how nice it was of me to come in on a
Saturday
.” Iris leans toward Dad to emphasize the last word, then looks at me. “But I love introducing our baby to new people, so I really don't mind at all.” She takes my hand in hers and leads me around the glass dome, my father following closely behind.

I can't believe this is happening. It's possible Dad can hear my heart pounding even though he's ten feet behind us.

Iris pulls me through the opening in the dome and heat immediately surrounds us, moisture burrowing into my hair, finding my scalp. It's hard to breathe. Iris releases my hand and moves to the other side of the chair, as my father positions himself at the head, next to the helmet. I can't help but touch the cloth covering the chair, feel the warm metal underneath. I look up and find Iris's eyes on mine.

“This is the StarCatcher,” she says, motioning to all the equipment in front of us. “It can make dreams come true.”

“Excuse me?”

The StarCatcher?

No offense to the geniuses in the room, but they could have picked a different name for the “top secret government project” they're working on.

“Have you ever seen the movie
Pinocchio
?” Iris rests her hand on the chair and cocks her head, a grin playing on her lips.

“The Disney movie?” I ask, shaking my head in disbelief. “I think so. A long,
long
time ago. Why?”

“Do you remember the song, ‘When You Wish Upon a Star'? The one sung by the cricket?”

This is the
strangest
conversation I have
ever
had. I lock gazes with my father and feel my fists clench at the look of amusement on his face.

“Well?” Iris asks again.

“Yes. But I have no idea why any of this matters.” I almost went to jail and now these scientists are talking about Disney movies?

“You could say your father has taken that song to heart. He wondered if all the energy a star possessed was focused on one thing, could it alter the world? For the past twenty years he's been developing a way to capture a star and turn it into a wish.” Iris again flourishes at the contraption in front of us. “The StarCatcher.”

I blink. And then blink again. Take a deep breath. I start this half laugh, chuckle thing. But when both continue to look at me with excitement and anticipation, everything whooshes out of me when I continue to cackle.

“I can't believe this.”

“Just listen, honey,” Dad says, rubbing my shoulder. “Keep going, Iris.”

“Great.” Iris claps her hands together. “Your father sits here and puts on the helmet which connects to the neurons in his brain and uses a program to translate his thoughts into a physical action.” She gestures to the chair and then points at the armrests. “He places his arms here, a finger in each spot. The machine is directly calibrated to the DNA of a person. Due to the early stages of the project, so far the program is only able to work with your father and aunt's genome. But all the StarCatcher needs is a drop of blood from your father or aunt and the wish they desire is granted.”

I cross my arms over my chest, the smile long gone from my face. This is absolutely ridiculous. I will
not
indulge them with questions about this nonsense.

My father has always had crazy ideas. Most having to do with space travel or what he imagines inhabits the great unknown. But I never thought he was
actually
crazy.

I bite my lip as I realize they both must be.

Iris laughs after taking in my stance and continues. “Okay, we'll go over it again.” She clears her throat.

“Your father thinks about a precisely worded wish, which the computer program translates into code and then, using some parameters we plug into the system, calculates the exact amount of energy needed to alter the reality. For example, if I wanted to wish for a designer dress,” Iris raises her eyebrows in excitement, “I would inform the machine this wish only affects a handful of people.” She shows me the touchscreen as she walks through the scenario. “That it is a material wish. And that it is localized within one hundred miles of the StarCatcher. Using these inputs, and the code created from the thoughts in your father's head, the StarCatcher calculates the approximate energy, or star power, needed to execute my wish. Which would be very little.” Iris smoothes out the outfit she's currently wearing, a dream dancing in her eyes.

“How does the machine pick a star?” I can't believe I asked anything.

“Good question, Lyra.” Iris gestures to the machine and then the ceiling above us. “Within the program, we've created an algorithm for the StarCatcher to be able to calculate the energy within a star, based on distance, luminosity…the list goes on. Suffice it to say, it's complicated. Once the StarCatcher has calculated how much energy is needed to alter the reality, it then searches for a star that fits the need. Of course within the code we've included stars that the program is
not
allowed to use. Like our sun, or another planet's sun, for instance. We make sure that removing it from the solar system won't negatively affect the balance of things.”