Try as she might, Maria found that sleep was almost impossible. There were no lights to keep her awake, and the sounds of the guards outside as they changed watch were barely audible.
No, it was the situation that kept her awake.
After a few hours she decided that a brief walk in the cold night air might help shake off the constant thoughts and fears that wouldn't allow her to relax so, as quietly as she could manage, trying not to disturb the others, she carefully and slowly opened the front door.
It was far colder than she expected, so she pulled the blanket tightly around her shoulders, stepped down into the sand and gently closed the door behind her.
For a moment she stood by the bus and stared up into the pitch black sky, The sight that greeted her took her breath away. There was a myriad of silver stars filling the darkness as far as her eyes could see. It was one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen and for a few minutes her mind was filled with the glory of the Galaxies.
She didn't know very much about the heavens, but she remembered things she had been taught at school, and as she stared, she could see the shape of the constellations her teacher had shown them.
Their names she couldn't remember, and she wished she had paid more attention. On paper, the stars hadn't interested her much but now, staring up and seeing how beautiful they were in life made her heart pound with joy.
A small streak of light appeared and disappeared high above. She watched enthralled as another and yet another shot silently across the darkness. Something else she had never seen before, shooting stars. Again she remembered her teacher telling them about the small pieces of rock, debris from far, far out in space which, when reaching Earth would burn up in the outer layers of the atmosphere.
Maria wondered if her teacher had ever actually experienced the sheer wonder of the display she was now seeing because his description conveyed nothing of the breathtaking beauty of what she was now experiencing.
There was one star which was brighter than all the others and this one she did know the name of, Jupiter. It was about the only thing she remembered from her lessons that she could put a name to as it was one of the nine planets of our own solar system.
So taken was she with this magnificent vista, that she failed to notice something moving not three metres away from where she was standing, something that was watching her intently.
The silence was so complete that the slightest movement could be heard and Maria became aware that she was not alone when she heard the almost inaudible shift in the sand so close to her.
She froze and then, very slowly looked down from the stars and across to where she thought the sound had come from. Her heart felt as though it had stopped as she strained her ears because now she was sure that someone was watching her and her first instinct was that they were about to be attacked.
Still straining to see into the darkness she could see nothing, but then, another sound, another tiny movement and she saw him!
She knew he could see her and so she moved very slowly and turned to face him.
What she saw made her jaw drop, not with fear but with wonder. Facing her, just metres away was a small dog-like creature but not like any she had seen before. It was about the size of a cat but in the gloom she could see it had a very thick furred tail. What struck her the most though, were its ears. She had never seen ears so big for a such a small animal!
Without moving a muscle she stared at the small fox which, equally still, stared back at her. She knew that the slightest movement would frighten it and she was so enthralled by it that she wanted the moment to last a little longer.
