Page 20 of Atlas: Colony: Nyx #5(Intergalactic Dating Agency)

TWENTY

Peri considered going back to bed, as sleep certainly hadn't been her priority last night, or in the early hours of this morning, but the computer seemed to be silently calling her. Well, she was awake now, so she might as well see what the observatory had captured. Before she'd tangled with Atlas, it looked like the observatory's systems were all targeted on the comet, filling the servers with more data than she knew what to do with, but anything could have gone wrong while they'd been busy.

Peri tugged on her clothes, then shrugged into one of the heavy uniform coats, before detouring to the kitchen for a coffee. Cradling the hot cup in her hands, she ambled back to the observatory on legs that were still a little weak after such an incredible night. Much like the village girls in the past, she wasn't sure she'd want to sleep with another man after that. More orgasms than she could count from his huge, magical dick that just seemed to want to milk her of as much pleasure as possible, and stamina that would rival...well, a comet, actually.

Which is what her mind should be on. Comets and not cocks, she told herself as she slid into the desk chair.

The comet on the screen now, in fact, which was flying past a blue ball of a planet whose name she couldn't quite remember. Based on the colour, it looked like it might be a tropical paradise, but it could also be the ice planet. Whichever one it was, it didn't matter. The skies looked clear as anything. She bet if she was standing on that planet's surface, she'd be able to see the comet as it soared overhead.

She glanced up at the ceiling, and the stars on the other side. If she'd only known about this place, she might have been tempted to stay here. Now, in the awkward morning after a one night stand, she was pretty sure Atlas wanted her to leave as soon as possible.

All she had to do was check the computer had recorded all the right data, and she could be out of his hair...or fur, headed back to Hercules on the next available aircar to claim her favour from him and finally set foot planetside in a place where she could see the sky.

She flicked open the data folder with yesterday's date. Today's folder would still be populating, and if the computer's calculations were correct, then the closest picture of the comet would have been taken last night.

There were video files, but it was the stills she wanted – some of them composites the computer had put together, and others just single shots taken using a small range of the spectrum. From the previous comets she'd observed back on Earth, she knew the most visually stunning images would be composites that included infrared wavelengths, and she wasn't disappointed.

Flipping through the infrared composites gave her exactly what she wanted, though hardly what she expected. A peanut shaped dark mass, haloed by its own coma, set against the dark pinpricks of a million distant stars.

Peri sat back and sighed. Then she took a screenshot and sent it to her tablet as a souvenir. She only wished her dad could see it. Well, she couldn't do anything about that, but she could hold Atlas to his deal. And he'd said she could help decide what to name that speeding peanut. Something she should do before she headed back to Metropolis City to claim her favour from Hercules.

Awkward or not, at least she could be professional, no matter what Atlas's feelings on the matter were.

Peri marched to the orchard, but the door was now shut, and no amount of waving at the palm scanner changed that. So she pounded on the door instead. "Atlas? We had a deal. It's time you let me go." A coil of loss curled about her heart as the words left her lips, but she did her best to ignore it. They'd had a one night stand under the stars, and she'd never forget it, but it was time to move on to the life she'd promised her father she'd live, even after he was gone. And no yeti or dikar was going to stop her.