Andrew Watson has been stargazing all his life. As a boy, he spent long periods of time looking up at the night sky with rapture. Now Professor Watson is observing distant objects in the vast cosmos through the largest telescope on the entire planet. Roque de los Muchachos rises above the clouds. It is here that Andrew comes in the evenings to spend the night observing. One day, young assistant Criss asks to go to a party, and the professor is left alone in the observatory. Closer to midnight, Watson hears mysterious footsteps in the corridors of the building. What does the night guest want to tell? What secrets of the universe does he want to tell? The story “3.5 Parsecs” took a place on the long list of the 2021 Bradbury Cup competition