隨筆11 (接上回)
The deep blue sky, like a sea knowing no bound, in the status of absolute calm, was about to turn dark and would be like this when the westering sun collected its last ray of the day. However, constellations were all too anxious to wait for their shift in the firmament which was at this very moment already star-studded by the shining dots of embellishment, to which pious people said their silent prayers and, as it was rumored, it would be terrifically efficacious to make a wish when they saw a meteor falling down from the heaven with its glittering tails tapering away, leaving in the sky a long trail resembling a contrail of a jet. A woman in her early twenties or at least right across the threshold of adulthood said her prayers to the gorgeous sky of night, wishing for a romance with a true hero, which would be long etched on her memory though there were no trace of meteor this evening. It was not the first time, perhaps the ninety-ninth, if not the one-hundredth, that she did so to no avail for no appearance of what she was in want of and when she firmly believed that it was one more time of unavailing pray and upon realizing it, she turned around to get back to her quarter of the base area, from the farthest sky where her sight reached its full range, it poured down rains of meteors downwards in all directions, at the first sight of which, the stupefied young woman was made motionless with her eyes agape, and mouth wide open, her hands involuntarily going to clasp as they were nearing each other but the next instant, her natural vigilance as a warrior and guard dragged her out of reveries even before she managed to say her critical prayers about her romance. Having a strong sense of foreboding that something apocalyptic, she spoke to the chef of the base by dint of telecommunication---a watch-like device worn about her wrist that a potential intruder had arrived on earth from the space and a painstaking investigation was necessary.