extras, little bit of a teaser: the observation deck

This isn't exactly an update - but this was an excerpt I used for my 52 weeks project this week, and it's something you guys haven't actually seen yet, so I guess that makes it a bit of a teaser ;)

A taste of stories to come! Enjoy!

"This part is my favorite," Keri says, leading her mother up the stairs to the observation deck. The room is gray and empty apart from a single row of metal chairs, just as gray as the room itself. It's quiet here, the only sound a slow whir of ventilation banks on the wall. And there, through one large pane of protected glass, is the Earth. Home in a flat black sky. "It feels better to see it sometimes," Keri tells her mother. "Then you don't feel so far away."

There's another soldier in the room, and he's quiet too. People rarely talk when they're here - not because they're not allowed, but just because it's better that way. Keri's mother stares out into the blackness, Earth in its three-quarters view. It takes some getting used to, that this isn't the moon in the sky you're looking at. It's the other way around.

"I'll show you the terrarium next," Keri says.

But her mother is stunned by the view. She's entranced. That's normal. Everyone is like that the first time. She finally turns, her eyes full of more wonder than Keri has ever seen in them, like she was a child and not the old woman she actually is. "I didn't know there was a terrarium."

"Yeah," Keri says. "There's birds and plants there too. And even rain sometimes. It doesn't smell like real rain though. I can tell the difference."