Escape Velocity

Chapter Eight

Melisse was like a border collie, making sure she and I were in the lobby early, even before Ms. Robbins. I had to give her that, so another in the plus column for Melisse.

Ms. Robbins rapped her pen on the edge of a notebook and peered down the hall. "Where's Christina?"

As we all exchanged nervous looks, Christina bounded into the foyer. "Is it nine o'clock already? Am I late?"

Ms. Robbins reacted as a clock chimed the hour. "Almost." A frown flickered. "Follow me. We'll be taking two cars to the observatory." With a long stride, she started down the hall.

Kate scurried to catch up and began chatting with Ms. Robbins, who listened as they proceeded down the hall together. The other girls walked in pairs, me dragging behind.

If I joined up with them, it might prevent gossip about me, but in the end, I was more comfortable in my head, observing. If I was last, I wouldn't have to worry about any shuffling that determined who got to sit where and in which car.

Ms. Robbins herded us toward the cars where two drivers waited. She stood near the front passenger door of the van, the one I'd ridden in yesterday. Kate climbed in the back, along with Liz and Olivia. Melisse yelled, "Shotgun!" and jumped in the front seat of the blue car. That left the backseat for me and Christina. Patterns were locking in. If it kept me away from Kate, I was okay with it.

We drove through Green Bank, past the Church of God Chapel, the Amazon Dollar Store, the Quick Stop Gas'n'Go General Store. And two old-fashioned payphone kiosks. We turned left at the National Radio Quiet Zone Reference Point sign, but before we did, I spotted the mast of the telescope over the trees, its white steel beams creating a latticework effect.

Melisse said, "Hey, isn't that where we're supposed to go?" as we drove by the operations center.

Our driver said, "Dr. Wilder wants to show you the telescope." He smiled. "The big one."

Melisse beat her hands against the dashboard like a drummer. "This is exciting. The largest radio telescope in the world."

He corrected her. "The largest fully steerable radio telescope."

I saw it directly ahead. I tried to gauge the distance but I didn't have anything to help me calibrate. Maybe a half a mile away.

We passed the sign that read, "US Govt Private Property. NRAO Authorized Vehicles Only. You are entering the Radio Astronomy Instrument Zone."

Suddenly we were right next to it. "Oh my god. It's huge." Not one of my most scientific observations.

A man in a blue polo shirt stood near a building at the base. He looked tiny relative to the telescope that rose above him in a massive parabolic trellis of steel beams and aluminum panels. A humongous sculpture with a scale just right for the surrounding Allegheny Mountains. The man waved as we pulled into a parking area.

A rush of anxiety hit me as we got out of the cars. I hoped no one noticed my breath was coming out in these weird little puffs. This was it. Parallax was about to happen.

We clumped in a tight group as the man approached and said, "Susan, good morning."

With her hand outstretched, Ms. Robbins said, "Hello, Alex." The man smiled and shook her hand. She turned to us and said, "This is Dr. Wilder, our tour guide today. He'll tell us a little about the Green Bank Telescope."

"So, you young women are the Parallax entrants? Welcome to the GBT, or as it is fondly called around here, the Great Big Thing." He combed his fingers through his hair. "There's a lot of science going on right above us. We thought you should see our biggest attraction up close and personal before we show you around the Science Center and the observatory research offices."