Zara Okonkwo-Bloom

Star Counter (Senior)

Counting stars. Current total: I'll let you know when I finish. (I won't finish.)

I count stars. That's my job. I count them. The Universal Census Bureau has been conducting a comprehensive stellar census since 1947. I joined as a Junior Star Counter in 2016 and was promoted to Senior in 2021, which means I count the harder stars — the ones behind other stars, the ones that might be two stars, and the ones that blink out right when you're about to count them. Our current estimate for the observable universe is approximately 200 sextillion stars. That number is, scientifically speaking, a guess. My job is to turn that guess into a slightly more accurate guess. I've personally verified 847,000 stars. That's 0.000000000000000423% of the total. At my current pace, I'll finish in approximately 47 trillion years. People ask me if I ever lose count. Of course I lose count. I lost count at star number 12. Everything after that has been a heroic exercise in faith and tallying. But I keep counting, because someone has to, and because my pension vests in 2034.