Light From Uncommon Stars(44)

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The following Saturday, practice was interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

Katrina heard Miss Astrid leading a group of people coming downstairs. One was Mrs. Tran. There was a guy, a little older than Katrina. He was kind of cute, but something about him made her uneasy. There were also two kids, a boy and a girl.

“These are my children, Markus and Edwin and Windee.”

“Edwin and I are twins!” Windee shouted.

Katrina nodded reflexively.

“So … where do you want the recording studio?” Markus said.

“R-recording studio?”

“If you are going to make videos, you’ll need a proper recording studio,” Miss Satomi said. “I have noticed that well-produced videos invariably get more views. So I asked Lan if she could help.”

The donut lady? What help could she be?

“I’ll explain later,” Miss Satomi said.

Miss Satomi led the visitors to a room Katrina had not yet noticed. “I’ve been using this room for storage, but I think it will be perfect.”

“We’ll start clearing it now! Come on, Edwin!” Windee said.

Markus, Windee, and Edwin began carrying boxes out of the room. Soon, the room was empty, and the three began preparing it for … something?

Edwin frowned. “That’s all the power these outputs have? What kind of technology runs off of this?”

“That’s why we have the minireactor, silly,” Windee said.

Windee picked up what looked like a pulsing blue Thermos and tossed it to Markus.

“Windee!” Lan said. “You be careful! Earth buildings are fragile.”

“So-rry!”

“Miss Satomi?”

“I’ll explain later,” Miss Satomi said.

“Miss Katrina, remember, these are the same people that got us our Wi-Fi,” Miss Astrid added.

“Is it working well?” Lan asked.

“Yes—by the way, who is the provider?”

“Oh, whoever.”

Miss Satomi put her finger to her lips.

This, she did not have to explain. No matter where you live, if you have an Asian friend who can set you up with free Wi-Fi, you go with it and don’t ask questions.

“Now that the room is prepared, we can start installation. Um … it might be safer if you wait upstairs? I promise this won’t take long,” Lan said. Lan and her family waved at Shizuka and Katrina and closed the door behind them.

A recording studio.

First the Wi-Fi, and now Miss Satomi was installing a studio? That meant when Katrina had said she wanted to make videos, Miss Satomi had believed her. She had taken her seriously. Which meant …

Miss Satomi also believed in her?

Two cups of tea, a cheese plate, and some explanations later, Lan called them downstairs.

“What do you think?”

Katrina entered the room. Except it was not a room. It was a forest. An entire freaking breezy, sun-dappled forest.

“It’s a hologram,” Windee said. “We used one of our spare projectors from the ship. But the projector requires more power than your home can deliver, so we brought a minireactor.”

She pointed to the glowing Thermos-looking thing.

“If you lose power, just spray it with some distilled water,” Lan said. “You should sprinkle the Wi-Fi cube from time to time, as well.”

“So we’re done. Let’s go,” Markus interjected.

“Don’t you want to see her play?” Edwin asked.

“We need to get back to work. Windee! We’re going back now.”

“Okay, Markus!” Windee said.

Lan frowned as she watched them leave. Markus was right; there was a lot of work to do at the store. Still, it would have been nice if he and Windee had stayed a bit to help Katrina and Shizuka learn to use the studio.

Then Lan had an idea. The reactor should provide enough power, and there seemed to be adequate data bandwidth …

“Shirley? Are you there? Try projecting yourself here.”

“Yes, Mother.”

Who was that? Where had that voice come from?

Katrina’s questions were answered almost immediately. Above her appeared a glow that brightened, sparkled, then seemed to take solid shape.

Katrina tried to remain calm as a figure, an entire person, materialized out of nothing.

Maybe Miss Satomi will explain later.

“This is Shirley,” Lan explained. “She’ll help you get started with the projector.”

“Shirley, you look different outside of Starrgate,” Miss Satomi said nonchalantly.

Shirley. Yes, Miss Satomi had mentioned her before.

“Your daughter?” Katrina ventured. Lan glanced away.

“This menu makes the projection immersive,” Lan said, quickly moving to the control panel. “Show them, Shirley.”

It happened so quickly, yet Katrina caught it easily. Lan’s expression was one she had seen in her parents far too often.

Shame.

Katrina glanced at Shirley; their eyes met for an instant before the girl motioned to the projector and opened a control screen.

“You control the scenes from this menu,” the girl said evenly. “And once we calibrate your brain waves to the presets, you will be able to change scenes by thinking about them.”