Chapter 5
When I handed Phillip the proposal, which was well over a hundred pages, he put on his reading glasses and started flipping through it slowly.
The more he read, the more his hands shook. By the time he finished, he slammed his palm on the desk and shot up from his chair.
"You're a genius," he said, already pacing around the office. "How did nobody think of this before? Why have we been stuck in this ground-based mindset for so long?"
He stopped and grabbed my shoulders, his eyes bright with excitement. "Riley, this is bigger than just an assessment. This could actually change how we understand the fundamental constants of the universe.
"I'm sending this straight to the National Space Research Institute. Actually, forget that. I'm taking it to Headquarters myself."
Watching Phillip get excited like a kid made me feel the same way.
Nothing beat that moment when I used my own mind to crack open a door to something unknown. It was way more satisfying than any fancy possession or celebrity party.
My proposal sent shockwaves through the National Space Research Institute.
A few days later, I was escorted into a top-secret conference room.
Across the table sat a group of gray-haired men with sharp, intense eyes. They were all high-ranking officers with stars on their shoulders.
One of them was Wylder Welch, the director of the institute and chief architect of the national manned space program.
He held my proposal and questioned me in detail about every technical aspect.
I answered every question calmly without missing a beat.
At the end of the meeting, Wylder looked me straight in the eye and made it official. "Riley, after unanimous approval from the institute's leadership and expert panel, we're fast-tracking you as the youngest member of the Odyssey Project's core team at the National Space Research Institute.
"Starting today, you'll be working on the overall design for our next-generation Mars probe."
At that moment, I could barely contain my excitement. The Odyssey Project was the most ambitious deep-space mission our country had ever launched, and here I was joining it at only eighteen.
I stood up and gave them a sharp salute. "I won't let you down."
*****
I officially became part of the Odyssey Project, and suddenly, my whole world changed.
I had my own office and lab, with access privileges that even outranked some seasoned researchers.
Every day, I was rubbing shoulders with the nation's brightest minds and working with the most advanced space technology out there.
I soaked up knowledge like a sponge, growing and improving faster than I thought possible. Even I was surprised by how quickly I was transforming.
As for the Lynn family, it was like they'd vanished from my world completely. I hadn't heard a thing about them, and honestly, I didn't want to.
Every now and then, late at night, Mary's angry, twisted face would creep out from the back of my mind. But it never lasted long, swept away by the maze of orbital equations I was working through. Neither they nor those memories could hurt me anymore.
Time flew by. Before I knew it, a whole year had passed since I left the Lynn family.
In that year, I led the charge to upgrade the Mars probe's power system, boosting its endurance by a whopping thirty percent.
My solo-authored paper on "Using Mars' magnetic field for fuel-free orbit changes" was published in the world-renowned journal Nature, sending shockwaves through the global space community.
My name started popping up in all kinds of internal awards and news reports. Even though they used a pseudonym and no photos for security reasons, the title "18-year-old genius scientist" spread like wildfire, making me an idol for countless students.
I even got to represent my country at the International Physics Olympiad. Facing the best minds from around the globe, I claimed the gold medal with ease.
At the awards ceremony, I stood on the highest podium, my eyes welling up.
I thought about my dad Alex. If he could see me now, he'd be bursting with pride. I'd finally become his pride and joy.
The ceremony was broadcast live on TV. This time, there was no alias and no blurring. My face was shown clearly to the whole country. And of course, the Lynn family saw it too, even from miles away.