Serena fumbled with the laser pointer in the dark, twisting the casing open so she could replace the batteries. She clicked the play button to continue the show.

“The sun travels across the sky on a path known as the ecliptic plane. Over the course of the year, the ecliptic plane will seem to move higher or lower, depending on our view relative to the tilt of the Earth’s axis.” The script fell easily from her lips as she tipped the old batteries out and shoved the new ones in.

“Does anyone know what else falls within the ecliptic plane?” she asked, buying time for her to get the laser pointer to work. She pressed her thumb hard on the button on the end and grimaced as it didn’t light up. A headache tickled the back of her eyes as she started the process over again—this time flipping the batteries the other way. After doing this thousands of times before, why couldn’t she ever get it right the first time?

The planetarium stayed silent, aside from a cough on the third row that echoed against the dome. Tough crowd. She clicked to the next part of the show and the sky spun to the early evening.

“The planets also fall on the ecliptic plane, as well as the zodiac constellations!” she said, the enthusiasm in her voice purely coming from her triumph over electronics.

She clicked the laser pointer on and used it to point out the planets. “Now, we’ve been doing a lot of talking about the sun. Do you want to see it up close?”

Silence. So, they were going to play it hard, huh? No problem. She’d get them into it by the end. And she had the perfect way of doing it. “Why don’t you give me a countdown from ten?”

The audience started with a weak, “Ten . . . Nine . . . Eight . . .”

Serena joined in to help build up the energy with “Seven . . . Six . . . Five . . .”

By the end the planetarium filled with shouts of “Four . . . Three . . . Two . . . One!”

“Blast off!” Serena pressed the next button with relish.

The software crashed.

Serena resisted the urge to throw the laser pointer at the computer.

***

After letting the last patron out of the dome and wiping down the handrails, Serena sat in the crow’s nest and laid her head on her arms. She took a few deep breaths. The show was over. She had done the best she could. It didn’t have to be perfect. But the next show would be different. It had to be. With a sigh, she sat up to check the system over for bugs. The shrill beep of a keycard scan registered in her ears, but she didn’t look up from her work.

“Rena, you were supposed to meet me in the lobby.”

“You know that you don’t have to wait for me.”

Victoria climbed the steps two at a time, her dark hair dancing in coils around her shoulders. “But I want to. Besides, I don’t like walking home alone after dark, and neither do you.” She swept into a chair next to Serena. “I thought you were through with working late.”

“Sorry, Via. The system crashed in the middle of a show again. It only seems to happen when I’m running it, but I’m going to find the problem.”

“Do you have to do it tonight?” she whined.

“No, but I don’t want to leave it for Sharri to find next week while I’m gone.”

“It’s not like the planetarium is going to burn down while you’re at astronaut training.”

“It’s not training. I still need to get my pilot’s license before that.”

“A fancy tour then.” Via pushed some hair out of her face, and it sprung back into place. She glared at the insubordinate curl. “And to think I was excited for a good curl day. It’s everywhere!”

Serena pulled a hair band off her wrist and offered it without looking up. Via laughed and shook her head. “I broke the last one you gave me. I should have just worn a headscarf today.”

She nodded. Her friend’s blue blouse really made her umber complexion pop. “Your white, blue, and gold one would have gone well.”

“Oh! I could have worn my gold frames too!” Via fingered her glasses and leaned over the desk. “Have you finalized your plane tickets yet?”

Serena nodded. “I’m leaving Monday. Think you could drive me to the airport?”

“Sure.” Via shrugged before her mouth quirked up into a mischievous smile. “You’ll be gone all of spring break, right?”

“Yeah?”

“But you’re free tomorrow?”

Serena angled herself away from her roommate and pulled out her planner. “I’m not sure I like where this is going.”

“Well, I heard one of the freshmen talking about doing a midweek party, and I could really use another chaperone.”

Serena sucked in a breath. “I should be focusing on packing for my trip. And those scholarship deadlines certainly creep up on you . . .”

“Come on! You said last time that you’d come to the next one.”

“Did I?” Serena stopped on the page for the next day. Blank, aside from a few homework assignments she had already completed.

“Yes. You did.” Via crossed her arms. “Please?”

She jutted out her lip and Serena sighed. Maybe it would be good to get out with other people. Take her mind off things.

“Fine.”

Via settled into her seat and leaned on the desk, entirely too pleased with herself.

“How was your lecture?”

“Boring. Two hours. No break. I think the professor is in love with his own voice. A regular Narcissus, minus the reflective pool.” She sighed and tried to blow a wispier curl out of her face. “It should be illegal to have lectures after seven.”

“Agreed.” Serena sat back, reviewing the data. Nothing to indicate that there was anything wrong with the system. It just went on strike with no rhyme or reason.

Via leaned in to examine the lines of code. “Finding anything?”

Serena shook her head. “What if the problem is me?”

“Electronics don’t hate you, things like this just happen.”

“But why do they always happen to me?” Serena groaned and pulled her dark hair into a ponytail with the abandoned hairband.

“Correlation doesn’t always mean causation!”

“But since I haven’t found any other explanation . . .”

“You don’t always need explanations for things, Rena. So, are we leaving outright or doing the Milky Way special?”

Serena tilted her head to the side. “Well, I should test the system again, right?”

“That would be the responsible thing to do.” Via grinned.

Serena reached forward and dimmed all the lights. Not just the normal show lights, but the chair and emergency lights too. The only visible light came from the computers in front of them and the hazy, alien glow of the exit signs through the curtains. She pulled up the night sky and let the stars overtake the dome. Then she increased the brightness, so the milky way was visible.

“This never gets old,” Via said in awe.

Serena leaned back so she didn’t have to crane her neck as hard. “What do you think it would look like from the ISS?”

“You’ll have to tell me once you get there.” Via knocked her shoulder into her.

A cold feeling settled in Serena’s gut as she attempted to settle in beside her roommate. They’d only known each other for three months. She had years before they would even consider her for astronaut training.

“That’ll be a long time to wonder.”

They sat in silence, just existing in the darkness of the universe. After a few minutes, Via spoke up.

“I bet it’ll be worth the wait.”