On our way out, I could hear a few of the techs saying they were told not to speak about what happened, but I don’t think this is something that should be kept quiet. We were starting an internship at the Graham Hess Observatory. A place I had hoped to one day become a permanent employee. The house I grew up in is just down the road and I could see the massive telescope and looming satellite dishes from my backyard as a kid. I saved my allowance for a junior scientist kit, and by using my own telescope, would stare at the stars and plot the astronomy in the sky. I knew one day I would be able to step inside the observatory.
The internship started this morning. Hailey, Reggie, and I met in the parking lot. I didn’t know them too well, nor they each other, but we connected quickly during the few classes we had together. Excited to enter the observatory. We got out of our cars and chatted briefly in the parking lot.
“I didn’t sleep at all last night. I guess I’m nervous”, I said to Hailey.
“Same. I woke up an hour before my alarm went off.”
Reggie fumbled the crinkly foil of a pop-tart in his hands, guiding the pastry to his face with the same arm weighed down by his patch-covered backpack.
“I didn’t sleep at all. I don’t think. I was playing Galaxy Rouges until, well, the last time I saw the clock it was three A.M. so, late.”
Hailey hoisted Reggie’s backpack up, the sudden weight shift forced the pastry quickly into his mouth.
“You stay up every night playing that game. What we’re doing today is real, Reggie!”
Dry pop-tart peppered the air as he retorted ironically.
“Hey, what I do for the citizens of Nebulos is very real, okay? Oh, did you two see what we’re doing today?”
Did we see what we’re doing today? Of course, we knew. This was beyond my expectations for my first day. Today, we get to send out radio frequencies! I can’t believe they’re allowing us to do this already! I feel like I need more training or something. The introductory email said we would be debriefed this morning. Yes, the word ‘debriefed’ was written. Once the last shred of frosted aluminum treat was scarfed, we headed inside.
We were greeted by our professor, and a man sporting a nice sweater vest and thick-lensed glasses.
“Hello, fellow planeteers! Welcome to the Graham Hess Observatory!” He raised a finger, sliding his glasses back up the bridge of his nose as our professor scrambled through her notes.
“So! Today we will be joining Mr. Thatcher for a quick tour of the facility. We’ll learn a little bit about his every day, and then we’ll continue with our assignment. I hope everyone is excited!”
“I am! I can’t wait to find an alien!” I said, trying to be enthusiastic.
Mr. Thatcher paused and chuckled slightly. “Well I don’t know about aliens, but hopefully we can successfully transmit signals into space.”
Great. Apparently jokes about aliens are taboo around here. Now he thinks I’m an idiot. Hailey grabbed my arm and offered a reassuring smile. Mr. Thatcher turned, signaling everyone to follow. I held my bookbag close to my chest. My eyes, ignoring the sleep deprivation, stayed wide; fixated on the white and grey decorated main lobby. A tan-colored rug lined the entryway, and a collection of space-themed posters lined the hallway. We headed toward the end of the hallway, toward a set of double doors with a sign reading, ‘Employees Only’. I glanced over at Hailey, who I was relieved was just as giddy as me, though simultaneously swatting Reggie from opening a second packet of pop-tarts.
“I see you’re all eager to learn about the mysteries of deep space! Fortunately for you, I am a long-time veteran of this, and I can assure you! …We might not find much more than interesting specs of dust. But! Don’t let that discourage you from today’s tour and assignment!”
“Uh, you know…” Reggie declared, grabbing everyone’s attention. “Space dust is pretty important, actually. If we find enough, we can trade it for galgulon currency!”, he said inquisitively, raising an eyebrow while taking a bite out of pastry number three.
“Uh, Reggie? I don’t think your video game is going to apply here.” Hailey said.
“Oh, Galaxy Rouges is no game. It’s a way of life!”. Hailey and I stared at Mr. Thatcher in disbelief.
“Yes sir!”. Reggie raised a hand and the two high-fived. Everyone continued walking toward the double doors.
“I can’t believe it. Reggie is the favorite, and Mr. Thatcher thinks I believe in aliens.”
Hailey laughed, “I think Reggie is an alien”.
The group followed Mr. Thatcher into hallways and rooms, striding past people in lab coats and business attire. I was so enthralled that I was inside the observatory that I barely heard what Mr. Thatcher was telling us. Every so often Hailey or I would tap the other’s arm, pointing excitedly at a chart, interstellar photo, or scientific workstation. The bland smell of manilla folders and numbing hum of fluorescent lights washed over me. I adjusted my glasses, reassured it had been a good idea to pay extra for the blue light-filtered lenses.
“And here’s where you’ll be working today!”
Like a nerdy rockstar, Mr. Thatcher opened the pair of double doors. Light burst from beyond, transforming him into the silhouette of a man revealing his scientific playground. I swear, his lab coat fluttered like a cape for just a second. We all stepped inside the giant spherical room. The echo from the metallic dome reverberated Mr. Thatcher’s voice. In the center of the room was the biggest telescope I’d ever seen.
Hailey turned to me, mouthing the words, oh my god. Our professor, grinning from ear to ear, leaned toward us.
“I just know you two will see this room many more times”. Her words of encouragement nearly brought me to tears. As I took a deep breath, I wondered if I could see the house I grew up in from one of the windows.
“What about me?”, Reggie held his hands up in confusion.
“Oh! Uhm, well I’m sure you… Reggie, I can’t wait for you to see the cafeteria!”
His face lit up, like how ours did, first walking into the observatory. “Now we’re talking! When’s that tour?” Hailey and I burst into laughter.
“For the assignment today, I will leave you in the hands of our trusty senior instrument system engineer, Scott!”
“Uh, sir I really don’t have time today to- “
“Nonsense! These fine young students would, frequent, learning frequency broadcasting!”
“That… doesn’t even make sense. Look, we have something on our hands here and we’ve got to be careful what we- “
“Perfect! we’ll leave them in your capable hands!” Mr. Thatcher laid a supportive slap on Scott’s shoulder and walked away with our professor.
Scott, pinching the bridge of his nose between his eyes, proceeded to show us a series of computer programs on equipment I could only imagine seeing in a sci-fi movie. Frequency translating software, azimuth and elevation levels, electromagnetic wave modulators, coordinate inputs for broadcasting; enough stuff that I felt overwhelmed immediately. He began by showing us the three most important parts of the process: the transmitter, receiver, and coordinates. Hailey and I looked at each other, baffled about how to do anything Scott had just described. Reggie took a confident step forward.
“So this one here adjusts the X and Y coordinates of the signal we’d be broadcasting? According to the azimuth levels, of course.”
Reggie’s burst of intellect was masked only by the leftover crumbs of pastry in the corner of his mouth.
Scott’s face erupted with surprise. “Er, yeah that’s correct. We can adjust the levels here or enter them manually into the software. Have you done this before?”
“Oh, I’ve seen my fair share of intergalactic travel.”
I rolled my eyes as Hailey and I chuckled. “See? An alien!”, Hailey whispered to me.
“Okay, well this isn’t a video game,” said Scott, adjusting his tie. “I don’t want you guys sending any frequencies beyond the levels I’ve chosen for you, but you can aim the antenna in any direction you want. It will take some time for the antenna to rotate, so you could probably give the program a try five or six times today before lunch.”
“But that’s in another four hours.” Hailey said.
“And it takes the antenna about forty-five minutes to complete one 360-degree rotation. You could send out more signals, if don’t move the antenna very much.”
Scott looked at his watch and grabbed a clipboard off the table.
“Okay, you guys should be set. I’ve gotta’ run. Have fun!”
We each looked at each other, our excitement extinguishing, and took our seats at the control board.
“Well at least we get to push a few buttons! …For the next four hours.” I say, trying to lighten the mood.
The morning went by rather uneventfully. We each took turns entering a coordinate for X, then a coordinate for Y; changing the direction slightly so we didn’t have to wait too long before trying again, then sending a signal. We didn’t really understand the point of sending out a signal that would reach halfway to the moon, but Scott wouldn’t let us extend past that. We’d send out a frequency, wait a few moments, and watch as the decibels in the receiver stayed exactly as they’d been since the first time we sat down. Luckily, we had only an hour left until we could go to lunch.
I couldn’t believe it. I was finally in there. Inside the building I looked at since I was a kid, and I couldn’t wait to go eat cafeteria food. I leaned my head on my hand and rested my elbow on the control panel. I changed the Y-coordinate from 34.004 to 34.007 and hit ENTER. A hum from the massive antenna rotating outside rumbled the window next to us. We waited a few moments, but again, nothing. I had never felt so defeated.
“You okay, Layla? I thought you were super stoked for this stuff!” Reggie said, moving into position as it was his turn next.
“I was stoked to learn something. Not do this- busy work.” Reggie perked his lips for a moment and grinned as he turned to the monitor.
“Do you guys want another turn at this? Or can I just keep…”
“You can do this for the rest of the day for all I care, Reg.”, Hailey said, putting her feet up. “Just wake me up if you see the professor coming. I might as well catch up on the sleep I lost.”
I felt guilty, but I too was tired. Sitting back in my chair, I leered around the giant spherical room. The room I once dreamed about being inside of- and closed my eyes.
*
My eyes peeled open. The familiar sound of an alarm clock pulled me out of my sleep. I woke up to see that I was still in the observatory and Reggie, was clearly panicking.
“Uh-oh Reggie, what’d you break?” Hailey said, rubbing her face and lowering her feet.
“Uh- guys…”
Reggie pointed to the receiving transmitter. A light indicating that a signal had been received was lit. Once the recording finished, it would play back the audio feed.
“Okay, I did something bad. Scott said we couldn’t send out a signal past what he programmed, but like, I did…a lot further”
“Dude. We’re going to get in so much trouble. Why would you do that?!”
“I don’t know! This was just so boring! So I thought we could have our last signal be a big one. I programmed a frequency that would transmit for an hour. But that’s the thing, how did we get a response so fast? Wouldn’t it take like, half an hour to reach us or something?”
“No”
From behind us, the voice of Scott, even less welcoming than before, made us all sit up straight.