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The video ends and my family erupts in applause, while I sit, slightly disappointed that they cut everything I had to say about the actual job.
“Wonderful, Allegra! You did wonderful,” my nonno says.
“Dad and I are so proud of you, sweetie,” my mom adds.
“You did it,” Grandma tells me.
“I can’t believe you were on national TV,” Zia says, shaking her head. “And with that dry hair.”
“Yup. I certainly was.” I was on national television, and what’s more, Hudson Finch—an A-lister if ever there was one—just said my name on TV. A hot, rich, charming-as-hell, lying-his-ass-off, A-list celebrity who can have any woman he wants is going to spend the next six weeks with me. And it is going to be almost impossible not to fall for his act, even if I can see right through him. If there ever was a man to keep at arm’s length, it’s this man.
9
I See Crazy People. Walking Around Like Regular People…
Hudson - Three Days Later
Okay, so when Dr. Allegra Cammareri wants to avoid someone, she does one hell of a job. She’s had me whisked off every morning by a different staff member first thing when I walk in the building, each one keeping me completely busy all day, only to find her gone when I finally manage to make my way to our office. The first day, it was an engineer named Edward, who although a nice guy, is obsessed with measuring the symmetry of people’s faces and got me to pose for some app. Apparently, I got a 93%, which is the highest he’s seen. Whatever that means. I honestly didn’t learn a thing about SETI research or engineering, but I’m a whole lot more knowledgeable about the science of attractiveness.
The next day, I was greeted by Gwen, who roped me into helping lead an early morning tour of a group of insane women who call themselves Moms and Bright Babies or something like that. They were the worst—privileged, plastic, and smug, not to mention highly competitive and obsessed with getting photos with me. I felt bad for Gwen because they didn’t listen to a word she said the entire time. I don’t think those babies did either. I’ve also got news for those women because as far as I could tell, they’re just normal babies who suck on their fingers and drool. At least I got to watch a video about Frank Drake, the father of SETI research, during the tour. Fascinating guy, and someone I definitely want to study, because he’s exactly the type of inspiration I need. Gwen spent the rest of the day explaining what an astrobiologist does—well, in between long pauses while she texted her boyfriend, and to be honest, I didn’t pick up much of what she said because it was every bit ‘over my head’ as I thought it would be.
Yesterday, I was paired up with Virgil, an astrophysicist who is super jealous that his arch nemesis (some guy named Carl) has been given a position as the facilities manager at the Green Bank Telescope in Virginia. Apparently, it’s not only the world’s largest fully-steerable radio telescope in the world (like, taller than the Statue of Liberty), but it’s also a big deal in the SETI world. Or at least for Virgil, who spent the entire day showing me videos about it and giving me all the reasons Carl has no business running a facility of that stature. And here’s the kicker: Virgil didn’t want the job. He didn’t even apply for it. Has no intention of ever applying for it or moving to Virginia to work there. Why he’s so angry is beyond me. So, what did I learn yesterday? I suppose you can say I learned that geniuses can be every bit as petty as the rest of us.
Other than that, I haven’t had a chance to get Allie alone so I can fess up, I am no closer to understanding what I need to know to become Dr. David Peck Todd, and at this point, I’m not even sure if I will be by the time I go back home. So tomorrow, I’m going to try a new strategy. I’m going to come in an hour early, so I can meet her in her office before whoever she’s got me set up with arrives. And I’m going to come bearing gifts.
10
The Nasty, Hairy Surprise…
Allie
Well, this week has been one hell of a roller-coaster. Not just meeting Hudson, and having it all recorded and shown on national TV. And not just finding out Hudson’s a big fat liar (which he totally is). Not just pawning him off on whoever will take him for the last few days (which is not-so-surprisingly easy due to him being famous and charming AF). But the biggest rush came just before midnight last night when Frank and I had a little breakthrough. Well, actually, it might be a really big freaking breakthrough, to be honest. I don’t want to get my hopes up (too late—they’re stratosphere-level high), but he may have detected a Black Widow Pulsar, which is a neutron star that shoots out pulses of radiation that are so regular that back in the day, they were originally thought to be actual aliens, and in fact, were nicknamed Little Green Men, or LGMs. (See? Scientists can be funny.) Anyway, this one is located approximately 6,500 light years from Earth, and if Frank really did find it, it means he’s figuring out how to capture actual signals from outer space, which is really the whole damn point.
I was so excited, I could hardly sleep, so I’ve been back at the office since six. I gave Frank ten thousand recordings to listen to—all of which have pulsars on them. It’s been over an hour and I’m still waiting for him to get through them all to see if he’ll key in on the pulsars, and only the pulsars.
And as to Hudson Finch, I’ve managed to successfully offload him all week, which has served two very important purposes: a) allowing me to continue full-speed ahead on my project, and b) keeping me away from Prince Charming, who, let’s face it, is exactly the kind of asshole I fall for. He’s charming, popular, and a total liar.
I’m just about to text Tina to ask her to ‘watch him for the day,’ when I get a message from Keenan.
Keenan
Allie, I’ve noticed Hudson has spent the last several days with people on the team who are not radio astronomers. I thought I made it clear that he is your responsibility. Please make him your first priority going forward.
Damn. He caught me. But I can’t stop now. Not when I’m so close (for real this time). I glance at the list on my desk of ways to keep him out of my hair. No problem. I’ll just hand him my Astronomy 101 textbook, a pad of paper, and some pens.
I text Keenan back:
Me
I thought it prudent to start Hudson with a high-level overview of what various team members do in order to provide him with the big picture of our work, but if you want him to stay with me, I’ve got lots for him to study here.
My phone pings, but instead of being a response from Keenan, it’s an email that makes my stomach drop instantly.
Email from [email protected]
Subject: How’s Frank?
