Late at night, Juliette finally leaves her office after hours of reading case notes and neglecting dinner again. On her way to the kitchen, she notices a teenage couple leaving and reflects on how young people are quietly allowed small freedoms that adults are not. She also notices the same lone man she had seen the night before sitting near the wall screen, motionless and watching the dark outside, which heightens her growing suspicion as a new sheriff.

Juliette gets cold stew and juice from the kitchen, then sits in the dark cafeteria and studies the stranger while she eats. He never looks away from the wall screen, but she hears charcoal scratching on paper and realizes he is drawing or recording something. Curious, Juliette approaches him, and after a brief exchange, the man invites her to sit and watch what he is watching.

The man points into the darkness and tells Juliette to wait. When a tiny flash appears through the clouds, Juliette is startled and rushes closer, only to learn that she has seen a star for the first time. Using a red-filtered flashlight so his eyes stay adjusted to the dark, he shows Juliette a chart covered in dots and notes and explains that he has been trying to map the stars, even though their positions shift over time and the work will take far longer than one lifetime.

When Juliette bluntly asks what the point is, she briefly offends him, then realizes she has reduced something that matters deeply to him. He introduces himself as Lukas, a computer worker from the upper mids who comes up only when cloud conditions are favorable. Lukas says he hopes to pass his obsession on to some future shadow who will continue the work, and Juliette leaves the encounter intrigued, newly aware of a hidden world above the silo, and personally affected by Lukas's warmth and attention.