Page 9 of Atlas: Colony: Nyx #5(Intergalactic Dating Agency)
NINE
As the snow gave way to the kind of plascrete covering the floors in all the other parts of the Nyx Dome, Peri expected the temperature to warm up, but her breath still clouded the air, colder than ever. The lights on the ceiling of the dome were almost close enough to touch, if she jumped. Atlas probably only needed to reach up. Yet when they reached what looked like a wall, a previously hidden door slid open, with more lights illuminating a curved passageway beyond.
"You can go first this time," she said.
Atlas didn't argue, just stepping in front of her, filling the whole corridor as it sloped upward to what had to be the very top of the dome. She knew the Colony was big, but she hadn't expected it to hold a whole mountain...and then stretch higher still! That definitely hadn't been part of the FarmStars briefing package. She wondered what else was in the Colony that she hadn't seen yet. Apparently, there was a working replica of the Rome Colosseum where they actually held sporting events. One of the girls had said the gladiators battled a real dragon, which Peri found hard to believe. Surely if there were any animals in the Colony, they would have started with chickens or something more practical. At least, that's what she would have done. She hadn't met the Colony administration, who might think dragon slaying was more of a priority than providing real food for people. She was willing to bet they hadn't spent the last year subsisting on ration bars, like the girls in Star Farm.
"We're here," Atlas announced, palming open another hidden door.
In a star system part way across the galaxy, far from home, Peri stepped across the threshold into a room so familiar, she might have been back on Earth. If only her father would walk through that doorway over there, the one that would have led to his office, then she'd know she was dreaming.
"What is this place?" she breathed.
"It's the Colony Observatory. I am the Director here, and I need your help to document a new dark comet that tripped the sensors on the outskirts of the Altan System this afternoon. We'll have to take observations in shifts, to make sure we don't miss anything, and I can't do it alone."
Peri wasn't sure whether she was going to laugh, cry, scream, or all three. She spun in a circle, her eyes on the ceiling. No, on what she could see through the ceiling, because this was an observatory, after all, and all she could see was a whole universe of stars.