The other Mei

Chapter 1

Mei

Time is one of the most valuable things in existence. Time is the borders within which we conduct our love, experiences and journeys. It is the one factor we are incapable of manipulating. My family came to truly appreciate this when my Dad lost the use of his legs in a car accident, and then even more so when I had to decide between the best night of my life and my future.

My father, who always sought to stretch the boundaries of his wheelchair, adopted the immovable wall of time as his new challenge early last year. He conducted this project in the garage beneath our house, using the chair-lift he insisted on installing, and locked the door. Nobody was allowed down there but him and the occasional colleague. He spent entire days down there, constructing tests and performing experiments, lugging with him the legs he wished to regain.

Before the time manipulation project, he built Pioneer- an exploratory satellite with one of the most powerful telescopes available. It takes photographs of extraordinary stuff beyond earth and relays them back to us. Once Pioneer was launched, he began spending more time with Mum, my brother and me, and he was part of our dinnertime conversations once again. It didn't last long, though. Time had been jeering at him ever since he became a paraplegic, and wouldn't stop until he could tame it.

He locked himself downstairs with his new project, and we rarely saw him. Yesterday, Pioneer sent us a picture of a red storm on Mars.

Then it all came tumbling down.

Dad wheeled into the room in a rush, tablet in hand, and turned on the TV. He remained still as he flicked across to our local news. I clicked my phone to sleep, in the middle of planning my best friend's hen's night. A reporter was saying that the space program is struggling to maintain the connection with Pioneer, and that its orbit of the earth was already degrading. Dad pulls himself alongside the sofa arm beside me and begins kneading his brow, shoulders tense. He had been working on that bloody thing for years, with one of the biggest science departments in the world. It was his ideal job, and he had placed all of his hope on that carbon fiber insect when it was launched into orbit a year ago.

The female reporter, having just spoken with the mission director, relayed to us,

"The exploration satellite Pioneer has just sent us extraordinary images of Mars' surface. As of three hours ago, however, Pioneer has ceased its primary function and has lost contact with mission control. Mission Director Les Theta says that it is very likely that the mission will have to be aborted and the satellite returned to earth for repairs."

Dad's shoulders sagged and he let out a frustrated breath.

I hated seeing him like that, his creation of Pioneer - the height of his career.

My eight year old brother, Alfie, was on the other side of me, gazing longingly at the Lego space shuttle in his hands. On the floor lay the little astronaut Mum had made for him out of fabric and stuffing. He was named Luke, after the dork from Star Wars. I picked him up between my fingers. He's the same size as his Lego companions and has wire in his limbs. I bent him so he was dancing and handed him back to Alfie.

My phone buzzed, and I left the room to check it. My friend Iris and I were organising a hen's night for our bestie tonight, and were waiting for the indoor skydiving place to get back to us.

Iris had sent- 11/7/17 4.28pm: Skydiving it is!!

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