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."
Kate leaned into my personal space. "Isn't this thing wild? It looks like a giant television satellite dish."
"Seriously? That's what it reminds you of? I'd say it's more like the most amazing structure I've ever seen," I replied as I twisted away from her, annoyed by how some people lacked boundaries. It was a display of Kate's Queen Bee-ness. Yes, definitely that.
Dr. Wilder looked at Kate and said, "You're not wrong, young lady. It is a satellite dish like the one used to receive television signals." Kate's lips twitched and I sensed how much Kate wanted to say something snarky to me. But she didn't. Too many witnesses.
He pointed at the telescope. "A great deal of engineering went into the design and building of the GBT, which has been operating since 2001. We've had several telescopes collapse here at Green Bank, so we are pleased this one is still listening to signals from space as we attempt to learn more about the universe."
Christina raised her hand. "How tall is it? Will we be allowed up?"
"It's 485 feet tall. That's about the height of a 45-story building—almost as tall as the Washington Monument. As a matter of fact, the GBT is in maintenance status, so we're taking you up right now."
Christina's eyes bugged out, and Melisse let out a soft but high-pitched whistle and said, "This will be very cool."
We rode one elevator up to about 200 feet and then another one up to the 450-foot level, the highest point we could go. The view of the surrounding area was incredible, but it was the complexity of the equipment and the magnitude of the engineering that shook me. Looking at what human beings had designed had the same effect on me as looking outward into the vastness of space. People had done it in order to seek more knowledge about the hows and whys of our existence. To look so far beyond ourselves that we might discover new worlds, new ways of thinking. New ways of existing.
I hated to leave. I could've stayed for hours.
"Hello. Earth to Savanna. Get in the car. We're going." Melisse was grinning at me and shaking her head like I was some kind of fool. I kind of was, at least for the moment. I had fallen in love with a piece of equipment. A beautiful, sublime piece of complexity, but nevertheless, steel beams and aluminum.
I slid into the backseat. I was too far into my thoughts to pay attention to anything anyone was saying and a few minutes later, we were at the observatory control room. The place that directed the magic.
Dr. Wilder spoke from the front of an unassuming, dreary office area. "I should talk to you about the sensitivity of the telescope and the controls we have in place to prevent signal noise from cell phones, wi-fi, all manner of Earth-bound electronics. We even drive diesel vehicles to eliminate interference from spark plugs. As they say on the public tours, the energy from a single snowflake is greater than the radio signal GBT is listening for. Protecting the integrity of the signals received is our highest priority. Years, sometimes decades, of research depends on preventing interference. We don't want any false positives."
"False positives?" Melisse asked. "You mean mistakes?"
"Yes. We don't want to risk anomalous signals interpreted as that long-awaited call from ET. About twenty percent of the telescope time is dedicated to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Anyone here interested in helping on a SETI project?"
Everyone's hands shot into the air. Olivia asked, "Who wouldn't want to?"
Christina's hand remained in the air after the rest of us relaxed. "But I still don't quite understand how come we can use the internet and our cell phones at the resort and not here?"
"Great question. We worked closely with Hidden Springs for months to develop a solution that allows cell phones and wi-fi on the resort grounds. It has to do with matching lower power for the devices, meaning less interference, with a higher density of antennas. But, even that solution is unacceptable here, this close to the telescope. If you notice the way the doors and windows are sealed, you'll see the extra precautions we've taken."
Liz swiveled her head suddenly and said, "Is that woman using a microwave? That can't be good."
Dr. Wilder waved us to an interior window. A woman on the other side was taking a dish out of a microwave that looked like it was inside another microwave. "We got it covered. Just to be safe, the microwave has a separate solid Faraday shield. No electromagnetic interference."
While he spoke, a door to his left opened, and Ms. Robbins stepped into the office. She said, "Shall we show them their classroom?"
"Indeed." Dr. Wilder said, and as he turned, Liz pivoted smoothly, blocking Kate and positioning herself next to Dr. Wilder. He continued, "For the duration of your Parallax classroom experience, you will be in the space we nicknamed UnderWorld because, well, it's underground." His laugh stuttered as if he wasn't sure what he'd said was funny. "As you can see, the door to the UnderWorld has more safeguards than other doors here. We'll get into the reasons later. Just follow me."
We looked back and forth among ourselves. There was a slide bar locking mechanism and a thick rubber seal around the edges of the door. It looked like a commercial meat locker from one of those serial killer shows. The possibility caused me to shiver. If I'd had my phone, I would've texted Gramp my geolocation. So they'd know where to look for my body when I went missing.
Liz, who initially seemed so eager, hesitated and asked, "What about ventilation?"
Behind her, Olivia looked skeptical and sniffed the air.
Ms. Robbins frowned. "Girls! Don't be ridiculous. I've spent hours down there. I'm fine."
Dr. Wilder said, "No worries, Susan. Questions are good."
We went through the door one by one until we were all at the top of a staircase.
I didn't know what everyone else expected, but I doubted it was the gray vault door closing with a giant sucking sound. Melisse grabbed my arm, and Christina giggled nervously. We were now sealed behind the armored door, trapped—trapped in every sense of the word. In the Quiet Zone. Down in UnderWorld. At Parallax. With Kate. In my head. Thoughts of my great-grandmother's boldness and risk-taking raced alongside.
What would happen if I screamed?
Then I grabbed Christina as her knees buckled and helped her with an assisted slide to the floor.
~~~
Dr. Wilder and Ms. Robbins bent over Christina, whose face went from ashy to flaming red in seconds. Christina repeated over and over that she was fine.
Dr. Wilder said, "Well, yes. Being sealed off bothers some people. You'll get used to it."
Christina scooted up next to me as we followed him down two flights of stairs. She whispered, "I'm totally mortified. I've flunked Parallax before we've even started."
I was afraid she might be right.
Dr. Wilder waved his arms in a wide circle. "Welcome to UnderWorld."
It was reminiscent of the hallway at my elementary school. A yellowing sheet of paper was taped to the wall: UnderWorld™. Nerd humor, apparently the same everywhere.
While Dr. Wilder spoke, two women and one man approached from a door at the end of the hall. Lanyards around their necks held ID badges they flipped over to the blank side as they neared. They nodded to Dr. Wilder and headed up the stairs. There was something beyond that door. Something that caused them to hide their badges. Dr. Wilder and the people in the control room office upstairs wore theirs openly. I had questions, though not ones I was ready to say aloud.
Dr. Wilder gestured toward Ms. Robbins, who said, "We say that when the Green Bank Observatory began listening to the universe, people weren't sure what we might hear, but it's not actually sound; it's an energy wave. Despite what film and TV would have us believe, what we are searching for are radio waves, looking in the data for a signal intentionally sent to Earth. Dr. Wilder was an early participant in that search."
"Thank you for that summary, Ms. Robbins. We built UnderWorld a few years after I arrived. We needed a place to brainstorm, to be free to be open to anything. The staff upstairs know we exist, but what we do is classified so they don't know any of the details of our work."
It sounded suspicious to me. Like the fantasized stories of conspiracies and classified activities in the spy games I played with my other grandfather. Before he died, he'd worked for the CIA during the Cold War. I wasn't as close to him as Gramp, but he had the best stories. No one ever knew which ones were true. If he'd told me about UnderWorld, I wouldn't have believed him. But here I was.
I dragged my attention back to reality. The Badge Flippers, returning with files held close, reinforced the idea that there was some kind of secret here. I kept my eye on them as they walked down the hall. I wasn't letting the lessons Grampa Southwick taught me go to waste. Weird, when his words shot into my head: "Trust no one. There's a fine line between paranoia and discovering someone really is out to get you." I wasn't being paranoid; I was being vigilant.
The door to the room on the right was closed. Across the hall was a kitchen/lounge with a sofa and chairs and another microwave in a box. Inside a box at least three times if I included the entire building in my count. It smelled like stale popcorn. Which was better than old tuna fish like at my dad's office. On the whole, bland with a hint of decor by default.
"What's in there?" I asked. The second door on the right was closed too. This wasn't much of a tour if we couldn't see what the rooms were used for.
Dr. Wilder said, "Take a look for yourself."
It was a small workshop with the cluttered effect of Gramp's shed, but the bits and pieces were electronic parts and gadgets. There was a jumble of old TVs and radios. A mobile AV utility cart blocked one corner. It was about five feet tall with black box electronic components on all four shelves.
I said, "Looks like an electronics graveyard."
Dr. Wilder said, "More like an organ donor site. Sometimes we need parts for the older control room devices, so we keep defunct devices in here." Stopping at the next two rooms, Dr. Wilder said, "On the right here will be your classroom for Parallax. And across is the aid station. The room we passed by at the bottom of the stairs is the bunk room. UnderWorld runs 24/7 and late shift staff stay there overnight."
"Why do you need a whole separate first aid station? Is there something we should know?" asked Christina.
Ms. Robbins' lips twitched when she said, "No, nothing you need to be concerned about right now. Let's move into the classroom."
I wondered if that twitch was a tell—an indication she was lying.
Then it hit me: They had completely ignored the door at the end of the hallway. "Hey, wait. What about this room? What's in here?"
At that moment, the door wooshed open and another woman walked out. She was slow to slip her ID into a pocket and she glared at me as I craned my neck to try to read it. No luck with that but I was already moving on to observing what was beyond the door. It had remained open long enough for me to get a good look.
It was empty. No people, with or without badges. No equipment. Critically, no other doors or even windows. No other exit or entry points. Only a metal plate on the back wall and some recessed fixtures in the ceiling.
"What...?" I spun around to question Dr. Wilder. "Where did that person come from? And where did the others go? What the hell is this place?"
"Savanna?" Christina reached out towards me. Her expression was quizzical and concerned. Maybe she thought I was having a breakdown.
I remembered what Gramp had said before I left—to pick my battles. I sucked in my lips to prevent myself from lashing out more. Kate began to laugh at me. And then the other girls joined in, except for Melisse, who was unreadable. Kate finally wheezed out a comment. "Jesus Christ, Savanna, have a cow, why don't you?"
Melisse exhaled loudly and said, "Oh my god, Kate. 'Have a cow'? Where did you hear that? From your grandmother?" Everyone laughed again, but not at me this time.
"Girls! Language! Settle down, please." Ms. Robbins stood behind Dr. Wilder, her body rigid.
Kate stammered, but before she found the words, Dr. Wilder intervened. "Hold on everyone. Give Savanna a little credit for her observational skills."
Dr. Wilder pressed his thumb on the metal plate. At the sound of a click, the back wall slid open to a low-lit hallway.
I knew it!
Ms. Robbins interrupted. "Dr. Wilder, we should save that for another time. We'll take a quick break, and then the Parallax competition will formally begin."
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23 maggio 1939
This Pact of Steel that has been signed, what does it mean for Italy? That we must side with that madman in Germany. If there is any good to be found in it, it is that it will ease travel for me as an Italian citizen, that they won't question me too closely.
I see less of former friends. They prefer the safety of their ignorance and refuse to educate themselves about what is happening. Not that Mussolini makes it easy. I, too, desire the peace of an unexamined world. But my parents raised me differently and taught me to question. I am envious of the blind.
And now these terrible stories of the elimination—the murders—of those unfortunate people in the insane asylums and of people with physical deformities. On my last trip, a woman seated next to me on the train wept, her body trembling silently. When I asked in my clumsy German if I could help, she broke down completely. She said her husband had been taken away, she was sure to his death, because of his club foot. The German soldier told her that her husband wasn't fit to be a shop clerk in the glorious Reich. I had no magic words for her, for any of us.
I returned, grateful to be home, but sleep is elusive, despite my exhaustion.
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