The little pebble in her shoe had managed to create a sore spot by now. She limped along for a few steps before attempting some acrobatics balancing on one foot. When that didn't work out she sat down on the sidewalk.
She looked upward at the sky. Stars were plentiful around here because of the low light-pollution, which was the reason for her being at this remote desert-cornered location in the first place. She directed her gaze at where her celestial namesake should be right now; asteroid (191323), or "Lia", an icy rock remarkable in no way apart from it bearing her name.
Her father named it after her and even presented it as a birthday present. It wasn't quite what she was expecting at age 7, but now, eight years later, she appreciated how back then he actually managed to remember her birthday even if lacking in his role as distributor of ponies.
She was going home, returning from a sleepover at her friend Jennifer's. There had been some girls from her class, Jennifer and her.
She really didn't like sleepovers, or any of the girls apart from Jennifer, maybe. But with her dad being reassigned to bases all over the country ever so often and her tagging along with his relocations, she couldn't afford to be picky regarding friends.
She had tried to play along; putting on make-up, gossiping about everyone not present, talking about boys, the whole tiresome charade. Over the years she had become quite good at the "cute and sweet" routine, and at times she could even pretend that was her actual persona there, having fun and interacting, but in the end it always ended up feeling hollow.
She finished tying her shoelace and made back for her house. By now she was quite used to walking everywhere. She had given up trying to persuade her father to come pick her up a long time ago. It wasn't that he wasn't willing to do so, it was just that he would forget as soon as he hung up the phone.
***
The walk had made her hungry, so she went straight for the kitchen to fix something to eat. The smell of beans and ketchup indicated her father had already had dinner. Not feeling very much like cooking elaborately for just one person she set out to make a sandwich.
"Mimsy", she yelled out her cat's name. That and the smell of tuna should have sent it rocketing into the kitchen, but it remained quiet. Carrying half a can of tuna she sauntered towards the open door that led towards the basement which lodged father's home laboratory. With lots of warm confined spaces it was Mimsy's favourite spot in the house.
As she reached the concrete floor she saw her father lying on a couch. His heaving chest indicating he was soundly asleep. At the other end of the lab she spotted something that resembled her cat.
Trying not to trip over the bundles of cable that were strewn across the floor she moved towards it.
It was silently sitting there, bathed in a blue light that seemed to radiate from an enclosing open sphere.
She lowered herself next to it and sat down, eyes fixated on the blueish figure.
As she reached out and touched its nose lightly, a painful sensation made her pull back her hand. A very thin layer of skin resembling a fingerprint quickly turning white and brittle marked the spot where she had touched it. The pinkish skin where her finger had made contact stung a little.
Apparently she had screamed because she became aware of her father stirring behind her on the couch.
"Don't touch it" he said loudly as he was raising himself upright reaching for his glasses on a nearby table.
"It's beautiful", she said dreamily, suppressing an urge to touch it again.
"It's looks so ..."
"Ethereal?" her father, who had kneeled next to her, interjected.
"Eternal", she corrected him.
"It should be" he said, but she didn't hear him. The chiseled intricacies absorbed her, again tracing the delicate lines with her finger as close as she dared approach it.
Snapping out of her revery she suddenly turned
her head around.
"You did this" she said. It was more of a statement than a question but her father nodded in answer anyway.
"Can you do this to me ?"
He started apprehensively, "I"
Putting her hands on his shoulders and looking him straight in the eyes she smiled at him.
"You can, can't you!", she stated, her smile widening.
Now he sank his head, took a deep breath, and smiled in turn.
He looked back up and nodded.
***
"Your clothes", he said.
"What about them ?"
"Take them off"
"Why ?"
"Frostbite". He explained, "all the metal bits, they will settle right before you do and probably fabric as well. It might chafe or even tear into your flesh."
As she started unbuttoning her shirt he starting fiddling around with some controls. About a minute later he looked up and seemed to be a little surprised to find his daughter standing there naked.
"Right", he exclaimed as he seemed to remember what had happened. With the cordiality of a maitre d' he gestured her towards a metal plate in the middle of the blue sphere.
Looking over the rim of his glasses he seemed to be examining her. After a while he pushed his glasses back up with his index finger and said, "You certainly have grown up to resemble your mother". Her father smiled again and seemed lost inside a happy memory for a second or two before his eyes snapped back into focus.
Involuntarily she blushed and tried to cover herself with her hands. She shyly looked back up. There was a bright flash.
***
"Eternal" this girl, his daughter, had called it and she had been right. She was magnificent, glorious even. She had managed to become the embodiment of perfection. The blue light seemed to radiate off her marble body giving the laboratory the ambient lighting of an ice palace.
Even if not a man of ceremony he managed to produce a bronze plaque with the hastily inscribed words,
****** Created to honor the most beautiful daughter a man can have ******
****************** My Olivia at age sixteen *****************
As he installed it at her feet the smell of tuna hit him. He picked up a half empty can of tuna fish and went upstairs to make himself a sandwich.