A/N: And here's the first chapter, with the start of the OC's misadventure into space. To be honest, I'm really excited for this story.

I hope you all enjoy it! :)

She knew that what she was doing was wrong. She knew that she was out of bounds. She knew that she was going to get into a hell lot of trouble for this.

But she also knew that those things weren’t enough to stop her.

Not when she was this curious.

They say that “curiosity killed the cat.” Well, her father would kill her if he knew what she was about to do. And he really will kill her when her “misadventure” is over and he gets his hands on her.

What was she doing, you ask?

Well, she was currently sneaking around in a top-notch space laboratory. Her father’s the head scientist here. She knew this place well like it was the back of her hand. She had always been fascinated with her father’s work, and he had been bringing her to this facility ever since she was a young child. She was well-known to the staff here, who had been kind of like extended family to her.

And being quite familiar with the place as she was, she was now very good at sneaking around undetected. She knew all the secret corridors, passages, and shortcuts. The place was huge, and since scientists here worked on important scientific and astronomical work, work that was funded billions every year, there were of course monitoring cameras everywhere. But she knew how to get pass all those cameras. She knew their blind spots. She knew where and when to walk in order to remain undetected.

Now, don’t get her wrong, she's not about to do something horrible. No stealing, no destroying stuff, or anything of that sort.

She was just… being curious.

Curious about stuff that’s really none of her business, she’ll admit that.

For almost a year now, her father and his team were working on a top-secret project. She knew that “top-secret” sounds intriguing to others, but in her father’s line of work, doing something that was “top-secret” wasn’t exactly new. In fact, it was the usual. Their scientific projects and experiments were confidential until completed, perfected, and ready for the public to be known. Growing up, she had always heard of her father doing “top-secret” work, and eventually the adjective “top-secret” lost its spark.

So, one might ask why she's sneaking around for some “top-secret” work if she's no longer intrigued with such things.

Well, this was different.

This was something big.

Even in her father’s line of work, with him and his team doing incredible things over the years, this was something even more extraordinary.

As she's mentioned before, she first found out about it a year ago. She overheard her father talking excitedly to her mother about it. Of course, it was confidential, so he couldn’t give her mother the specifics. But he was very excited… Though that excitement soon turned to frustration. For the following weeks and months, her father became very stressed. When talking to her mother about the project, it was more of him venting out more than anything. The project, it seemed, had not been going very well.

Then, about a couple of weeks ago, her father’s team finally had a breakthrough. They’ve finally fixed the major flaws in “the machine,” as she's heard her father refer to it.

The laboratory was buzzing with excitement whenever she visited.

None of their previous projects and inventions had caught this much attention. She even spotted business men, senators, and the freakin’ president of the country himself visiting the laboratory.

She was curious. Try as she might, she couldn’t get her father to tell her what “the machine” was. Yes, confidentiality again, she knew that. But usually, her father would give some gist or hint of what they were doing, even if he was forbidden from giving out the complete details. She usually would at least know what they were aiming for. She wanted to be an astronomer as well one day, just like her father, so she was trying to learn all that she can, and he was willing to teach her. She was currently studying in university toward her degree, and for all the important things she learned so far at university, nothing can still beat the knowledge and firsthand experience that she gets from this laboratory.

Frustrated with the total secrecy that her father was suddenly doing, she resorted to eavesdropping.

Bad of her, she knows. Her mother would twist her ear so hard if she found out. And her mother would be well within her right to do so, for she had eavesdropped on her father’s confidential phone conversation with the president.

Yes, she eavesdropped on her father’s phone conversation with the president. The very top man of the country himself. Go big, or go home, right?

Late one night, her father had finished his final calculations that he was working on in their basement, which he had turned to his own personal workspace and lab. He would integrate the calculations into “the machine” the next day when he went to work, but he lost no time in informing the president.

Throughout the week, they had been succeeding in fixing the major problems, and now, with her father’s final calculations done, “the machine” was finally set to be finished.

He was so excited, and he went to their living room to call the president since there was no cellular reception in his workspace down in their basement. He even used that special, secured phone that he had for such conversations.

The phone that he used might have been very well secured, but their living room wasn’t.

As she had proven.

Her father had been so excited about finishing their project that he didn’t even notice her there in the dark, hovering by the entrance to the living room and listening to every word that he was saying to the president.

And she couldn’t believe her ears with what he was saying.

Her father’s team had invented a “machine” that would be capable of traversing across galaxies!

Her father made a scientific breakthrough that would be noted as one of history’s most important events. Sure, space travel was somewhat possible now, given that astronauts had been able to go to the moon, and scientists have long ago created satellites that went to the outer planets of our solar system. But those satellites getting to just the outer part of our solar system already took decades, forget about actually crossing and leaving our galaxy.

No manmade device had ever left the Milky Way galaxy, and there had been no device or machine capable of doing that had been invented.

Until now.

Her father and his team had achieved what was thought to be impossible. “The machine” was of incredible speed, being able to travel in light years. Distance in space was so great that it had to be measured through the speed of how fast light can travel in a year (hence the measurement term “light year”). And stars in our own galaxy were thousands of light years apart. But “the machine” could cross that distance. It would still take a lot of time, of course. But being able to travel in light years, “the machine” could reach other stars in our galaxy and even leave the Milky Way.

It could reach other galaxies.

And based on her father’s late-night conversation with the president, given that the final calculations were complete, “the machine” was ready for a test run.

Which was what brought her to where she was today.

That test run would be today. In a few hours, in fact.

And she has got to see “the machine” before the test run. She was pretty sure that they were going to launch it into space. This wasn’t the type of discovery that they would immediately tell the public. Given “the machine’s” extraordinary capabilities, it had to be secured and be well-tested. And be prevented from falling into the wrong hands.

“The machine” was only a prototype. It would be launched into space, and they would try to detect where it is for as long as they’re able. Their best guess is that they can monitor it until it reaches the edge of the galaxy. 

But that was that for “the machine.” It was not going to be returning home. Other similar “machines” would then be built after this prototype was tested and launched.

And before “the machine” was launched into the depths and darkness of infinite space, never to be seen again, she has got to lay her eyes on it. The aspiring astronomer in her couldn’t let such an opportunity pass.

She would do whatever it takes to get into to the secret, “strictly-authorized-personnel-only” launchpad where “the machine” was being kept.

She would do whatever it takes.

Even if it means sneaking around in the laboratory and breaching safety and security protocols.

Even if it means that her father will kill her later.

Her familiarity with and knowledge of the laboratory paid off. She was now at the entrance of the launchpad. She made it all the way here without being spotted and stopped. By the door to the launchpad, a scanner was placed. A scientist working on the project would have to use his or her special badge. The badge would be scanned, and only then could the scientist enter the launchpad.

She took in a deep breath… and fished out her dad’s badge from the side pocket of her body bag, which was slung over her right shoulder with the bag itself resting against her left thigh.

Yep, her father really was going to kill her for this.

She broke security rules. 

She was going to see a “top-secret” device. 

And worst of all, she “borrowed” her dad’s badge without his knowledge. Gulp.

Never mind that she was a twent