Aron, Millie and I all looked at Kai while he looked at the door.
After a few moments the door opened again. "Well come in," said the professor.
"Yes, sir," replied Kai and he held the door open for the rest of us.
"Is this…" I began.
"Normal," Kai finished with a shrug. "I have papers to catch up on so I'll see you off later."
"Alright. And thank you for this," I told him.
He nodded then left.
I squeezed and went in with Millie into the dark room, Aron behind us.
Inside Millie immediately let go of my hand and rushed forward to look at the large, glass globe sitting on a pedestal in the centre of the room. Inside it were thousands of tiny air pockets positioned to look like stars. At the base of it was an upward facing light that caught these 'stars' and made them sparkle. It was quite a breathtaking thing.
Spellbound, Millie went to touch it then let her hand drop after a moment. I went to her and crouched so that I could see what she was seeing.
"Pretty?" I asked.
She nodded. The glimmer of the stars reflected in her round eyes.
The view from her vantage point was even more beautiful.
"My students made that for me last year," said Professor Zheng from the desk to the side of the room. He returned with a large book under an arm. "Take a seat," he said, gesturing to the sofa by the galaxy globe and taking a seat himself. It was an old, squeaky leather sofa and not very wide.
I gave Millie a little push. "Go on."
She took a seat next to the professor and he opened the large book across both their laps. He flipped forward a few pages then settled on the table of contents. It was an atlas of the universe.
"What are you interested in?" he asked Millie.
Millie looked at the book then looked at him. "What do you know about?" she asked.
The professor chuckled. "Everything," he said.
I knew this discussion would quickly get into territory I knew nothing about so I decided to look around the room instead.
The place was surprisingly large, but the dim lights hid most of its size as did all the mountains of books and papers and tables. Along one of the walls, one that wasn't completely plastered by books, was a set of folding blinds covering, presumably, a long set of windows. I went and peered behind it. It was nearly pitch-black outside, and rain drummed against the windowpane.
"Professor," said Millie. Her voice sounded small in the large room but I could hear the confidence in it. "What were the Star Children you mentioned earlier?" I'd notice her react to the term earlier. What was that about?
"Actually, the best person to ask would be Moira. She is, after all, a Star Child herself."
"It's a person?" I found myself asking.
Professor Zheng chuckled. "Thought it was a fancy term for something? No, a Star Child is exactly that. A child who… may be connected with the stars."
"What do you mean, Professor?"
He scratched his chin. "Moira can give you a better explanation when she comes but I can give you a brief overview first." He cleared his throat. "Years ago, a child was found in a radar dish used for astronomical research. The place is gone now, but there are probably still a few people around who remember it. Anyway, she turned up one day, memories blank and passionate about space." He chuckled as though recalling fond memories. "It really created a stir."
I looked at Aron. Wasn't this just like…
"You said 'children'…"
"Yes, because some years before that, the same thing had happened. Going back decades, every some years a little girl would be found just like that. We never found out the reason, but we all thought it was intriguing."
That was one way of putting it.
My mind raced. Was Millie one of these Star Children? She had to be, musn't she? There was just too much of a coincidence.
I thought about what to ask the professor next but then Aron caught my eye. He was still, almost too still and his gaze was sharp.
"Ah, but that was all years ago," Professor Zheng said patting his knee. "I wasn't in the country when Moira was found and I only found out she was one of them after she became one of my students. Just mentioned it in passing, just like that. I remember I bombarded her with questions that afternoon. Come to think of it, I was lucky she didn't drop my class…"
I'd thought of something to ask the professor but I held back. I didn't know what was bothering Aron but I felt I should trust his instincts. He may be younger than me, but in terms of worldly experience, he's got me beat.
Something caught Millie's eye in the large atlas and she pointed at it, derailing the conversation. I tried at first to keep up but when they started using words I was almost sure didn't exist in the dictionary I decided to go back to the window and look at the rain.
The window looked out onto an untended courtyard. Opposite was the newer building with its large, unromantic windows, as the professor might say.
It reminded me of a similar courtyard at the university I went to, the one where Jasmine had confessed to me all those years ago and I'd said yes.
I bit my lip and forced myself to look elsewhere.
Why was everything these days reminding me of her and of back then? Why couldn't the past just stay as the past and let me move on?
I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to find Aron standing beside me. He smiled at me.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about all this was how it affected the people around me, how it affected Aron. I hadn't really meant to push him away, but it was all I could do yet it also hurt him, I could tell.
I glanced at the professor and Millie still sitting on the sofa.
"I don't get what they're talking about," I said.
Aron's smile deepened. "Neither do I."
We watched them a moment longer then returned to looking out the window.
"Hey look," said Aron suddenly. "There's a chair under here."
He crouched and I watched as he unearthed two stools from under a mountain of books. I glanced back at the professor but he didn't seem to notice.
"Do you think he'll mind…?" I asked in a low voice.
Aron grinned impishly. "I have a feeling we're going to be here a while. Come, sit." He sat on one and patted the other.
I tended to agree with him on that. I felt around the blind and found the draw string. I pulled it just enough to let the two of us see out then sat down next to Aron.
"Pretty, isn't it?" murmured Aron as he looked out.
The glow from the lights of the building opposite fractured through the raindrops on the windowpane and speckled across his face.
"Yeah."
"Do you regret not getting a degree?" asked Aron. At this point I wasn't even surprised that he knew that I'd dropped out.
"It used to weigh on me more, but I don't see that many people usually, so it doesn't bother me much now," I replied.
"See other people?" Aron turned to look at me.
"I work alone in a weather station. Who am I going to see?"
Aron looked back out the window. He folded his arms and leaned on the windowsill. "But what do other people have to do with whether you regret not getting a degree?"
I didn't reply. I wasn't sure how to.
"Because…" I started then smiled. I also leaned forward to lean against the windowsill. "I guess I just care too much about other people's opinions." I nudged Aron. "And you? Do you regret not going to university?"
"Hmm… I don't regret what I'm doing now," he said, "But coming here… makes me wonder what it would have been like to study at a place like this."
"You went straight into police school after high school?"
"Yeah, I hesitated a lot whether to apply, but thanks to your encouragement, I did," Aron grinned at me. "And I got in."
"My… encouragement?" I asked. What was he going on about?
He scratched the back of his head in a somewhat embarrassed way. "Guess you don't remember… After you went away to uni, when I was in my final year, you sent me a postcard. You said that I could definitely get into the academy. I was born premature and was always scrawny kid and no one in the family thought I could do it, just you."
I stared at Aron. "I… I don't remember this at all," I said, aghast.
He chuckled. "Don't worry about it. A life changing moment to one person is just a normal day to another. But…" He sat back and looked at me seriously. "I think, whatever it is that you're punishing yourself for, I… I think you probably don't deserve it. What you said earlier, about not bring a good person, was wrong. You are a good person, Lachlan. Me sitting here is proof."
My chest ached and I had to look away from his bright eyes.
What could I say? I couldn't tell him why he was wrong, why I was right, I didn't dare to.
"Aron," I said quietly. "I think…"
The shrill chime of a phone broke the relative peace of the room. Both Aron and I checked our phones then turned to find Professor Zheng thumbing at his.
"Ah ha!" he exclaimed. "Moira says she's just arrived!"