Tomas, an Earth man who has been working straight for ten days is driving to a new colony for a party. He meets a Martian man when he stops to have lunch near a ruined Martian city. The man’s name is Muhe. Muhe tells Tomas that he is going to a festival in the city. Their conversation reveals that what Muhe sees the city is not what Thomas sees it. Muhe sees the pillars broken, the canals empty, and all the Martians dead. Muhe on the other hand, sees the pillars upright, the canals full of lavender wine, and everyone is alive. They think the other as a ghost. Before they go on their separate way, they muse they would like to get to know the other's festival, people and town.
Extract:
“Good lord, what dream that was”, sighed Thomas. His hands on the wheel, thinking of the rockets, the women, the raw whisky, the Virginia reels, the party.
How strange a vision was that, thought the Martian, rushing on, thinking of the festival, the canals, the boats, the women with gold eyes, and the songs.
The night was dark. The moons had gone down. Starlight twinkled on the empty highway where there was not a sound, no car, no person, nothing. And it remained that way all the rest of cool dark night. 引自 二〇〇二年八月 夜半的交会
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