Milenka and Igor follow a strange blue light into an abandoned observatory and are swept into a shifting maze of stars, signs, and hidden doors. Something is waiting in the dark.
Ever since they were little, Milenka and Igor had dreamed of space. On the edge of their town, beside an overgrown old park, stood an abandoned observatory no one visited anymore. Most nights it looked dead and grey, but one evening a round, dusty window flickered with a blue light.
Curiosity won over caution. Milenka gripped her torch and pushed open the creaking door, with Igor right behind her. Inside, the air smelled of dust and metal. A telescope loomed in the shadows, and maps of the sky hung from the walls, yellowed with age. Then Igor froze.
In the corner, a console glowed as if it had just been switched on. Its screen pulsed softly, and the numbers on it began to move, slipping into a pattern neither of them recognised.
"Maybe it’s some kind of code," Igor whispered.
Milenka reached for the biggest button before he could finish. The floor lurched beneath them. The room spun in a whirl of light, bright enough to make them shut their eyes.
When the light faded, they were no longer in the observatory.
They stood in a long, twisting corridor whose walls shimmered with every colour of the rainbow. Images raced across them too quickly to follow: planets with rings of fire, strange creatures with too many eyes, symbols that seemed to change whenever they looked away.
A voice rolled through the maze, low and echoing.
"To return, you must solve the riddle of the Universe. You have only one chance."
Three doors swung open in front of them. From behind the first came the rush of wind. From the second, a burst of wild laughter. From the third, the soft chime of bells, clear as glass.
Milenka turned to Igor, her face pale in the shifting light. "Which one do we choose?"
He opened his mouth to answer, but the corridor went dark at once. Something moved beside them, quick as a shadow, and a cold breath brushed Milenka’s cheek.