Daughter of the Skies

“When we look up at the stars we see the secrets in the skies that are reflected in the eyes.”

What a bunch of crap, I thought. Secrets are only kept by people, not eyes or any celestial bodies. And the stars don’t reflect anything back at us. I know that much.

I rolled my eyes and nudged my best friend, Kaiyata James.

“Kai, he’s officially lost his mind!”

She looked over at me and shook her head.

“He’s fantastic,” she exclaimed, “Now shush!”

She was always quick to protect her favorite teacher who had made this entire trip possible. Meanwhile I was looking forward to spending tomorrow canoeing in the lake and zip-lining through the trees. My teacher pointed back up at the sky with his laser pointer and I returned my gaze to the stars that apparently were hiding secrets.

After another fifteen minutes of listening to lectures on nearby galaxies and the Messier Objects and I had had enough.

“Is he almost done?” I complained to Kai.

“Sounds like it, but I really want to see these objects up close.”

“Not really,” I replied with a laugh. “All I really want to see is my bed,” I said yawning. It was already past eleven o’clock at night and I was exhausted.

“Now, students, I have specifically set up eight telescopes for you all to take a look at some of these objects.” At this announcement, Kai’s face lit up and she clasped her hands together.

First, we visited Mars. It was a red splotch that wasn’t all that exciting. Next, I viewed Jupiter, and it had pretty swirling storms. Third, was Neptune in an astonishing deep blue hue. Pluto looked like a rock. We saw something called the Ring Nebula with a bright orange and blue perimeter cloud. Then, the Crab Nebula that looked like a tangled net. Additionally we viewed a cluster of hundreds of thousands of stars called the Hercules Globular Cluster. Finally, we saw the Andromeda Galaxy.

When I looked in the telescope I was astonished. The blue and purple hues hosting millions of bright white-yellow stars blew me away. Towards the middle the colors developed into oranges and reds and then to a white hot center that the galaxy rotated around. The longer I looked the more details I saw. The colors that stood out against the black backdrop of space were astounding.

Once everyone had had a look we returned to our seats and Mr. Carter began to tell a story. He told of a Greek royal family and their majestic lands, but one day, the queen boasted of her beauty to the local gods. When the local gods destroyed her land to teach her a lesson, the asked the Oracle how to stop the destruction. He suggested sacrificing their daughter Andromeda to a monster. They left her chained to a rock to die a horrific death, except she was rescued by the Greek hero Perseus. They were married and the goddess Athena honored the princess by placing her among the stars next to her husband and mother.

“Since then, millions of astronomers through the ages, professional and amateurs, have viewed her constellation and galaxy in the sky. We live in the Milky Way Galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy is the closest major galaxy. In roughly 4.5 billion years both spiral galaxies will collide. They will merge and over time form one giant elliptical galaxy whose bright core will dominate the night sky. If we make it that long, it will certainly be a sight to see,” Mr. Cohen concluded, “Now, let’s all get some sleep tonight before our adventures tomorrow.”

26 years later…

I looked at the images again. I squinted. Then, I closed one eye to double check what I was seeing.

“Are you seeing this too?” I asked the short man in front of me. He had graying hair and a permanent tired expression, but his eyes conveyed the love he had for his work.

“That’s why we brought it to you, director. We couldn’t believe our eyes.”

The next thing he knew he was chasing after me in the hall as I rushed to my most trusted associate.

I knocked on the door once before pushing it open. “One minute, pleas-” said the person inside until they saw me standing in the doorway. “Oh, director-”

“Camlo, please call me by name, I’ve known you long before I got this job.”

“Ah, Annika, good to see you. I have a guest at the moment so if you could wait-”

“This is really important-”

“And so is my guest. I insist, you must wait,” he said firmly.

“Doctor, please introduce us,” called a deep voice from the connecting room.

“I wasn’t supposed to be bothered today,” muttered Camlo next to me as a tall man in a suit walked into the room from the other doorway. “Director, this is President Meyers of the United States. Sir, this is the Director of NASA, Annika Berns.”

“A pleasure, sir, to meet you,” I said reaching out to shake his hand.

“The pleasure is mine, Director,” he said firmly shaking my hand. As he was recently elected into office, he had not met me yet to discuss the administration’s goals for the coming years.

“I am sorry for the intrusion, but could I borrow Doctor Garcia. You must know I would never disrespect your time as such if it wasn’t of the utmost importance to the Administration.”

“Of course, director. I understand.”

“Thank you,” I said leading Camlo into the connecting room the President had just vacated.

I laid the infrared picture out on the table in front of him as we took a seat.

“Have you seen this?”

“Not yet, but…is this real?” He said taking a closer look.

“We think so. It would be historic if it was. There is no other evidence of extraterrestrial life. This must be-”

“What of the ‘Explorer?’” He interrupted. I had not thought of that yet. We had a mission en route to Mars, the location of the photo, at the moment.

“We have limited contact and what should we tell them? We only have a few low res images,” I responded already brainstorming the possibilities.

“We need to bring them in. A discovery like this changes the whole mission. We are not just colonizing an uninhabited rock, we are co-existing with another species. If we missed something like this we need to reevaluate the entire mission. There might be others out there.”

“But they are 5 months into the mission. If we abandon the mission now we would lose 6 BILLION DOLLARS!” The astronauts had been training for the past 20 or so years and NASA, SpaceX, and Japanese engineers have been working for four decades on the science behind the mission. Our six astronauts are slated to stay on human’s first planet other than Earth for 26 months with limited resources. Plus, the trip to Mars takes six months at best. Abandoning them now would be letting our astronauts, our team, and our country down. Plus, heaps of criticism would be brought down on my leadership abilities and my administration. I did not become the first female head director of NASA to make a bad impression over a short stint of time.

“Let’s take tonight to think it over and recheck our findings,” said Camlo, always the voice of reason. That’s why he is one of my closest and oldest friends, he knows what to do in tough situations to calm me down enough to make rational decisions.

Camlo and I politely apologized to his important guest and I bid ado to the President.

I walked into work the next day hoping to discuss the situation with my board of directors to reach a decision. I had called an emergency meeting the night before and was anxiously deciding what to say to introduce the topic. It is my decision to make, but I wanted to hear what my trusted circle has to say. As executive director of NASA, I make the final call, I approve projects, and I see all the classified information.

I was standing outside the conference room awaiting my guests when Camlo rushed around the corner.

“Ah, you’re still here,” he said as relief washed across his face, “I have even more urgent news for you.” He gestured towards the empty room across the hall and I followed. If I knew anything, it was to trust Camlo. Whatever it was that could make him so flustered, it must be extremely important.

“So yesterday, when we met—”

“Yes, I am about to discuss that,” I replied quickly.

“No, not about that,” he says reluctantly, “When the President was visiting. Didn’t you wonder why the President, of the United States, was having a private conversation with me?”

“No…” I answered, “Should I have?” It didn’t cross my mind. I always believed actions speak louder than words rather than being politically minded. On a normal day, yes, I probably would have wondered why Camlo was having such a high level meeting, but yesterday was not normal. I was preoccupied with ground-breaking news and decisions that weigh heavy on my heart.

“The president came to me to ask about you,” he added following with a long pause for effect. “He asked about my views on you, your board, and the administration.”

“So…” I added encouraging him to get to the point.

“He was interviewing me because he wanted to appoint me as the next director!” He quickly added as if he couldn’t keep it in anymore.

“Well, what did you say?” I questioned, happy for my friend. If anyone was to take over for me after the big decision I was about to screw up, I could choose no better person for the job.

“What do you mean what did I say!” he yelled. “I want you to keep the job. You are so brave, smart, and organized that I know I couldn’t do any better!”

“Oh,” was all I had to say. My friend stood up for me. He believes in me. He sees me as brave when I always feel like when everyone else is more courageous than me.

I hugged Camlo, long and hard, until someone knocked at the door.

“Are y’all okay? We heard quite a lot of yelling and ma’am, the board meeting is about to start,” said my assistant.

“Does this mean you yelled at the president?”

“Oh heavens, no!” replied Camlo as his face went as white as a porcelain plate. We both laughed together and headed towards the board meeting. I knew that whatever decision we came to, I would stand by it, my friend, and my mission to make the world a better place. And if that was getting criticized by the masses or berated by the president so be it. I will run this administration right, and I will give it everything I have.

Now I think back to the little girl who looked at the planets with wide eyes who took a liking to Andromeda and her story. She was honored for her bravery to withstand her punishment, and honored among the stars. I won’t get my own constellation, but I can see myself in hers every night when I look up towards the stars.

The night before, once the moon had risen and the sun set, I positioned my telescope not over my favorite planets or galaxies, but over Mars. The red splotch has captured my attention for the last seven years of my career. At first, it had no interest to me, but soon I learned that a lot is hidden under the surface if only we dare to look. Like the people who will be angered by the decision made today, there is always more going on than meets the eye. If only we dare to look many could see us prioritizing the safety of our astronauts, not just our budget, reputations, or ourselves. When challenges are thrown at us we must adapt while still standing by our morals. If not, we change into someone we don’t know who thus makes decisions we don’t trust.