Callie’s dad is going to meet us at the base of the telescope to give us the clearance we need to see it up close, so we follow her to the back exit of the lobby. As soon as the door opens, we see the satellite dish towering above us.
“Oh my God,” I say, immediately overwhelmed by the sight. It’s not like any kind of satellite I’ve seen before, and it’s more massive up close than I could ever have imagined. Rather than a solid piece of equipment, the structure is built with LEGO-like pieces assembled to create a modern structure.
“I know,” Callie says. “My whole life I’ve lived in this town, and it never gets old.”
I glance over at her, and it’s true. She’s as struck by the sight as I am.
“It seems to go on for miles,” Gavin observes, just as taken with the sight.
“Two acres of surface area on that bad boy,” Brennan says with his eyes fixed on the satellite dish.
Something behind us catches Callie’s attention, and she turns around to wave. “Hey, Dad,” she says. When I turn to see a man in denim overalls and a trucker hat approaching us, I suddenly remember that I’ve met Callie’s dad before. And under less-than-desirable circumstances, to say the least.
“Calamity.” Officer Hartford walks over to us, giving Callie a side hug and a kiss on the top of her head.
“You remember Gavin and Elena, right?” Callie motions to us, and I instantly turn bright red.
“How could I forget?” Officer Hartford nods at both of us.
Gavin stiffens. He sticks out a hand and gives him a firm handshake. “Uh, hello, Officer Hartford,” he says, reverting to the stuffy persona he usually puts on in front of Dad—and all dads, it would seem. Though I can’t say I blame him. Meeting the father of the girl you like would be intimidating for anyone.
I manage to mutter a hello with a wave.
“And you know Supernova, of course.” Callie motions to Brennan.
“Good to see you, my boy,” Officer Hart says affectionately. No wave, no handshake. They give each other a hug. “You both making the new residents feel right at home here?”
“Oh, no.” I shake my head forcefully. “We’re not residents here, not permanent, at least.” Though we’ve been informed our stay here is going to be longer than initially expected, I’m not ready to admit this is my permanent residence. Not now or ever.
“Brennan and Callie have graciously offered to show us around,” Gavin says, nudging me.
“Oh, right. They’re the best,” I say, fumbling with my words to make up for my honest mistake. Even though I can’t understand why anyone would choose to live here, I should be more conscientious about how others feel about living here.
“There’s no one better than these two to give you the tour. They live and breathe this stuff,” Officer Hartford says, thankfully not following up on my comment about being temporary residents. Since Officer Hartford is still on duty, he leaves us to resume his job. Now that we have the clearance we need, Brennan leads us up the metalstairway to the satellite dish. When we reach the surface of the telescope, we stand in silence, taking it all in.
“I know it’s a radio telescope, but I still don’t understand how it works,” I say, shielding my eyes from the sunlight bouncing off the bright white surface.
“I’ll let Callie take the lead, since she’s a bigger nerd than I am.” Brennan smirks at her and takes a step back beside me. Callie gives him a playful eye roll but seems to take the jab as a compliment.
“Think of it as a bionic eardrum.” Callie puts a hand up to her ear and cups it. “It can hear things far beyond what we can see through the strongest ocular telescope,” she whispers, leaning into us.
Gavin is the closest to her, so she’s practically whispering in his ear. It would be the perfect opportunity for the two of them to have a moment, except I notice Gavin shying away from her. Guess that’s my cue. If it were up to Gavin, he’d never have a moment with her, so instead of stepping back to give him clearance, I lean against him, preventing him from doing so.
Gavin notices. But more importantly, so does Callie. Her eyes are clapped on Gavin’s, even though Brennan and I are standing right behind him.
Gavin clears his throat. “What’s it listening for?”
“We send a signal out, and when the radio wave hits something, the waves sends the signal back to the satellite, where a machine in the lab prints out the findings. The higher the frequency of returning waves, the closer the object. Conversely, the smaller frequency waves suggest the object is farther away. With that information scientists can create a map of an area in space without even seeing it.”
“Oh, that’s cool,” Gavin says, effectively letting the conversation die out between him and Callie.Amateur.
“What else can the telescope tell us?” I ask.
“The telescope is also like a time machine,” Callie says. “When we look into space, we’re seeing what happened light-years ago, so in essence we’re looking into the past. How our universe assembled itself, how the solar system was formed. Even the big bang.”
“That’s fascinating, right, Gavin?”
His head pops up like a Whac-A-Mole. “Uh, yeah. That’s really fascinating.” Smooth, Gavin. Real smooth.
