アスター

I laid under the starry sky. Down in the city, all the light pollution always made the night look like a mushy blue, not a dot of light surrounding the moon. Yet up here, seventy stories into the air, the stars could shine in all their glory.

Across the roof, a tiny astronomical station whirred as I mentally activated each system. There wasn’t too much to it. My bronze telescope, a few old word monitors, and a stack of notebooks half my height lined against the chain link fence that trapped us between the roof and the long winding fall below.

Kat stuck her brown eyes out from under the telescope’s lens, walking over and joining me on the cool ground. Her brown eyes glimmered in the starlight. Blueberries filled my nostrils as I rolled over, burying my head in her sweatshirt.

Kat had convinced me during our freshman year to set this up. On campus, the radio tower shot way above everything else by a few dozen floors, easily twice the height of anything within a few miles. There wasn’t a better place for stargazing in all of Iero. Sure the teachers didn’t exactly permit us, but better to ask forgiveness than permission.

“Did you see anything interesting tonight?” She asked.

“Not too much… Look over there, those three stars in a row. Sky’s bright enough to see all of Scorpio.”

“Seriously? Pretty early in the season to see it.”

“Today's the first day I’ve gotten a good view.” I reached over, grabbing a cheap old-world portable telescope, the cheap steel cool to the touch. “Lighting feels great for the first time in forever.

Whenever I was down, this was my place of refuge, my sanctuary. Not a single professor could confront me for missing homework. And that, that was a victory in itself.

“The police say anything useful?” Kat asked.

“Nothing. The second I mention my name they give me the same generic talk and hang up. My only hope now is Sky decrypting that message.” He’d glanced at it once before immediately tossing it aside. That sure was Sky, one project at a time or bust. I’d have to hope whatever bullshit he was currently hyperfocused on would solve itself soon, or we’d have a second member of the Vista club missing very soon.

“Why trust the police, not like it’s their job or anything.” Kat scoffed, grasping the telescope from my hands and looking up above. “Still, I don’t think it's time to think the worst just yet. It's been a day. You gotta give them some time.”

“I know but… forget it. I came up here to think about anything but that.”

“Have you done your homework yet? That’ll distract you well enough.”

“Do I look like the kinda girl that does her homework on time?” I’d actually gotten my work done for the next week and a half, but screw admitting that. I had an image to keep.

“Protel and its mysteries never cease to amaze me, and you're the greatest of them all. Never heard of an astronomy major who doesn’t do their homework.”

“Astronomy’s not about looking at boring math problems, it's about looking at the stars; Their movements, their shapes, even the way they interact with each other in the night sky. If anything, I'm more efficient than everyone else in my department.”

“And architecture’s just about throwing bricks together until you get a skyscraper.”

“Exactly! I’m glad someone else gets it.” Kat just rolled her eyes, still glancing up toward the midnight sky. “Hey, Kat, what do you think I should do now?”

“Go to class for once?”

“Ew no,” I said. “I mean, normally Caspian would go on a rant about how I need to get my life together, now that he's missing…”

“Did you guys talk after your argument at the race?”

“Other than what you saw in our club room, no.” I rolled back over, resting against Kat’s outstretched arms. “I can’t leave things like that Kat.”

“Hey now, like you said, that's a sprawling labyrinth down there, and you know the police are working on it. We just gotta have faith he tripped and hit his head or something.” Kat smiled, her free hand reaching out towards the sky. “Only think of the best outcomes, for those are what's most likely to happen.”

“I guess… wait, look there, next to the plane.” I pointed up towards a particularly bright section of stars. “Big Dipper, the brightest I’ve seen it in years.”

“What’s with your luck? Every night you bring me out here the sky’s always clear and stars bright.”

“What can I say, I’m an astronomy major. Look at the stars enough and you tend to figure out when they don’t wanna hide.” Actually checking the weather report from time to time didn’t hurt either.

“Maybe the stars aren't for me,” Kat said, stretching her legs before leaping to her feet. “You can look at them, I’ll just build something tall enough to reach them.”

“Damn, now you sound like Caspian, and just when I thought I’d gotten rid of him.” I joined her on the ground and walked over to the railing. From up here, the cars looked like toys, buildings like dollhouses. People walked along the city streets–safe under Iero’s cover.

“So, are you heading to class tomorrow?” Kat asked.

“Maybe…”

“I’ll see you there then, don’t be late.”

“Did you even–” Kat gave a wink, heading towards the stairs. “Fine, see you then.”

I glanced back up, starlight glowing against my skin. Most of my classmates always used their enkes to tap into telescopes, not bothering to ever take thirty seconds to glance up towards the starry sky. Cowards. What was the point of spending your entire life looking at photos of something when all they had to do was look up. Enke, full dive VR, all of it was great, but no tech could ever hope to replace the elegance of the night sky.