star pupil
bae, life is an experiment
A little adventure I hope you’re up for. Enjoy xo
The pearly gates, entwined with white morning glories, close behind you. No sky here. Only pink and yellow clouds billowing like lungs. Your chest tightens, breath held. How high did I climb? you wonder, though you don’t remember climbing at all.
Before you and your accompanying guardian looms a castle of grey stone, grotesque in its reaching. You crane your neck to find the top. You can’t. Turrets vanish into cloud-cover like severed limbs. Your gaze drops, you gulp.
You jolt, a little shriek almost escapes your body. Out of nowhere a smiling figure with the face of a star and dressed in a white tunic stands right in front of you. Then your eyes meet. His expression blooms with delight.
“Welcome! We’re thrilled you’re visiting Sadalsuud Atheneum. We’ve heard such extraordinary things about you. Truly. Headmaster Ganymede personally assigned me your tour. Quite the honor! Now, shall we?”
He turns and walks. You glance at your guardian. She nods.
You must have crossed a portal.
Inside is nothing like the stone shell. Everything pulses neon blue. Holographic panels, glass floors lit from beneath. Bass thrums through the walls, muffled but relentless. Somewhere, someone is definitely doing ketamine to progressive house. A celestial Berghain.
“The headmaster and administration are visionary leaders, truly cutting-edge... Sir Prometheus founded it right about the time humans received the gift of fire,” he recites, then drops it. “Look, honestly, I come here because it’s fun.”
He extends his kandi-clad arm and hands you a notecard.
“We attract the nerdiest bunch,” he says, matter-of-fact. “We work hard, but we party even harder. Am I right?” He grins. “Anyways, I know you’ll want to know what state-of-the-art equipment we have so I put this together for you.”
Star pupil hits his vape. He notices you're no longer studying the notecard. He smiles, pleased. “Let's go look at some stars.”
I. The Stellar Cartography Lab
