Interlude: Stargazing

Curiosity was almost asleep when the door opened and Space poked his head in. "Psst!" he whispered. "Curiosity! Are you awake?"

She nodded and sat up. "What's going on? What are you doing? Why are you up so late?"

"I'm gonna show you space!" he whispered eagerly, running in the grab her hand. "Come on!"

She stumbled to her feet and he pulled her down the corridor, until turning suddenly through a small door she'd never noticed before.

"Where are we going?" she asked, looking around. They were on a catwalk, below which was apparent emptiness and above which she could see other catwalks among the mess of pipes and cables. It was like another world in here, one she had never realized existed, and she couldn't take in enough details.

"Up!" he replied, pointing above them. "There's a secret way. We can go see space!"

"Space?" she echoed. How were they going to see space?

"Yeah, space! You can see space at night!" He tugged on her hand, urging her to go faster.

"Space!" she cried, delighted.

"Shh," he whispered. "Quiet, or you'll wake Her up!"

"Oops, sorry," she whispered back, and giggled a little.

He led her up several sets of metal stairs and through another secret door into the lobby, which was dark and silent, the projected sky turned off for the night. They stepped into the lift, and went up.

At the top of the elevator shaft was a tiny room with a rusty door. Space pushed it open carefully, and a cool, sweet-smelling breeze hit them. He pulled her outside and pointed up at the sky.

"Look!" he cried, no longer trying to be quiet. "It's space!

"Wowww," she breathed, staring up at the diamond-flecked sky. "It's so big! It must go on forever!"

"Yeah!" he agreed, and laid down in the grass to see the stars better. She laid down nearby, with her head next to his. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at a line of stars that curved overhead.

"It's the Big Dipper!" he shouted. "And there's the Little Dipper, too!" He traced another group of stars with his finger and tipped his head back to look at her, grinning.

"Oooh, cool!" she said, seeing the picture now that he pointed it out. "How about that?"

He thought for a moment before shouting, "A spaceship!" She laughed and wondered if there were aliens in the spaceship, looking down at them right now.

"Space?" she asked after a moment.

"What?"

"Are you ever gonna go back to space?" She stared at the sky, trying to imagine him up there, exploring those faraway stars.

"Yeah!" he said, excited. "And you're gonna come with me!"

Her heart had fallen into her stomach when he'd said he was going back, but suddenly it lifted, feeling too big and warm for her chest. "Really? Can I?"

"We'll go to space!" he told her. "Explore it all! So much space! We gotta see it!"

"Gotta go explore space!" she agreed, and reached up to grab his hand.

A bright streak flashed across the sky, and she pointed. "Oooh, what's that?"

"A shooting star!" he shouted. "Make a wish! Make a wish on the shooting star!"

She closed her eyes and wished as hard as she could for everything that mattered: that he would go back to space, and that she would go with him, and that they would both be happy. His fingers tightened around hers, and she wondered if he was wishing for the same thing as her.

Their eyes met for a moment, and she knew that he was.