I puzzled it over in my head that afternoon, shutting myself in my room and reading the file I had been provided with. I was amazed. I found it hard to focus on my meal that evening, I was too distracted.
"Are you alright, honey?" my dad asked, tilting his head on one side.
I looked up from my mashed potatoes and shrugged.
"I'm fine." I replied.
I looked back at my plate, allowing my eyes to slip out of focus. My mind was on the file, my mind was on Atlantis.
"If there was a chance that I could have the best job I the world, but I could never come home, do you think I should go?" I asked.
"What's brought this on?" Dad asked, piling more carrots on his plate.
"I was just thinking."
"Are you hiding something from us?" Mum said with a mock frown.
"I applied for this job, thing. I got it, it's… abroad and its intensive and um… there's a good chance I could be there a long time."
"Honey, you follow your heart, we've always told you this. Don't let us hold you back. You got a job, we couldn't be more proud! When do you start?"
"If I take it… I start on Friday."
The table fell silent, that killed the conversation dead. Mum looked at me in shock and dad had frozen with a fork full of pie halfway to his mouth. My little brother Dylan had ripped his eyes away from his book and had fixed me with a glazed look.
"Mum, dad?" I said in a small voice.
"Our little girl is flying the coop and with a big hotshot job!" dad said his face splitting into a grin.
That night I lay on my bed, reading the files for the third time. There was a gentle knock on the door and I hastily shoved the file under my pillow. My little brother poked his head round the door.
"What do you want?" I asked in a typical big sister way.
"Why are you really leaving?" he asked.
He closed the door behind himself and glared at me.
"I told you I-I got a job." I replied hesitantly.
"That's a lie. It's something more. I can tell when you're lying."
"Dylan, believe me when I say I can't tell you." I replied.
He moved towards the bed and as quick as a flash he pulled the file from under the pillow. I attempted to snatch it back, but he was too fast. The contents spilt onto the floor and we both froze. Dylan leaned down and picked up a photograph of the Stargate.
"What the hell is that?" he asked, a deep frown on his face.
Well there was no going back from there. He'd seen it, I couldn't just ask him to forget it.
"It's called a Stargate. It's a stable wormhole in space, from there I can travel to other planets, solar systems… even other galaxies in the blink of an eye. The job I been offered is… is… I'm helping to find the lost city of Atlantis." I explained.
I looked down at my little brother and he staggered back, dropping the photograph. He made for the door but I grabbed him by the arms.
"Dylan, you cannot tell ANYONE about this." I growled through gritted teeth.
"You've finally cracked haven't you?" he said laughing.
"What?"
"You always have to be the centre of attention, the best at everything, the top of the class. And now you're making things up just to get more attention! It's sad. You're already mum and dads favourite child, stop digging for affection."
"I'm not digging for affection, look at the photographs, Dylan, this is REAL."
"You think because you're cleverer than me-"
"Listen to me Dylan, I'm going to do this, and I may never come home." I yelled tears welling in my eyes.
Dylan frowned at me and pulled free of my grip. I backed up towards the bed and sat down. I was furious and upset he didn't believe me. Dylan didn't leave though. He just stood there glaring at me. He frowned and picked up a picture off the floor and looked at it closely.
"You must've got someone with serious Photoshop skills to make these. They're pretty good." he says peering at it closely.
He scoops up the file and tucks it away neatly.
"Holy smokes you did a lot of work to wind this up." he says puzzled.
I looked up at him, his face was troubled.
"You're not making it up are you?" he mutters in a low tone.
"No. I'm really not." I replied.
"Oh god," he sighed, sinking onto my bed, "Explain it."
"I don't really understand it all myself, it's quite literally out of this world. But it's true, they work out, every last calculation, there's no holes or gaps. This thing is real and so is Atlantis. Ten thousand years ago the Ancients evacuated Atlantis, we don't know why but they settled on several different worlds in the hope that by doing so, their way of life and culture would carry on. Earth was one of them and we are direct descendants of them. The Ancients built the Stargate's placing them on thousands of planets as a means to get from one settlement to another and to build ties with alien races. Ours lay forgotten for thousands of years. It's only recently since Stargate Command was formed and frequent gate travel has been happening that we collected information about Atlantis. We've even found an Ancient outpost in the Artic where we're close to finding the correct dialling sequence to dial Atlantis," I paused and took a deep breath, "But… I'm not even sure if I can do this job."
"You can do this."
"What makes you so sure?"
"The entire time you were explaining it, you were saying 'we', not 'they'." Dylan replied.
I looked at my little brother, taking in everything about him. The messy blonde hair, the little scar above his eye from when he'd fallen off his first bike, every single freckle on his face. I hadn't realized it was going to be so hard to leave home. I hugged my brother tightly.
"You'd better bring me something cool back if you find a way." he whispered into my ear.
"Oh you'd better believe it." I replied.