He was interrupted by a sharp crack of thunder. He glanced up apprehensively, and in response to a sudden thought quickly started to rummage through the large plastic shopping bag, which he now discovered had a hole in the bottom. It had large characters printed on the side which read (to anyone who could decipher the Centaurian alphabet) Duty free MegaMarket, Port Brasta, Alpha Centauri. Be Like the Twenty-Second Elephant with Heated Value in Space – Bark! – Hold on! – the figure called, waving at the ship. The steps, which had started to fold themselves back through the hatchway, stopped, re-unfolded, and allowed him back in. He emerged again a few seconds later carrying a battered and threadbare towel which he shoved into the bag. He waved again, hoisted the bag under his arm, and started to run for the shelter of some trees as, behind him, the spacecraft had already begun its ascent. Lightning flitted through the sky and made the figure pause for a moment, and then hurry onwards, revising his path to give the trees a wide berth. He moved swiftly across the ground, slipping here and there, hunching himself against the rain which was falling now with ever-increasing concentration, as if being pulled from the sky. His feet sloshed through the mud. Thunder grumbled over the hills. He pointlessly wiped the rain off his face and stumbled on. More lights. Not lightning this time, but more diffused and dimmer lights which played slowly over the horizon and faded. The figure paused again on seeing them, and then redoubled his steps, making directly towards the point on the horizon at which they had appeared. And now the ground was becoming steeper, sloping upwards, and after another two or three hundred yards it led at last to an obstacle. The figure paused to examine the barrier and then dropped the bag he was carrying over it before climbing over himself. Hardly had the figure touched the ground on the other side when there came sweeping out of the rain towards him a machine, lights streaming through the wall of water. The figure pressed back as the machine streaked towards him. it was a low bulbous shape, like a small whale surfing – sleek, grey and rounded and moving at terrifying speed. The figure instinctively threw up his hands to protect himself, but was hit only by a sluice of water as the machine swept past and off into the night. It was illuminated briefly by another flicker of lightning crossing the sky, which allowed the soaked figure by the roadside a split-second to read a small sign at the back of the machine before it disappeared. To the figure’s apparent incredulous astonishment the sign read, “My other car is also a Porsche.” 他被一道淒厲的閃電打斷了。他擔心地望着天上，突然間想起了什麼，開始快速地在那巨大的購物塑料袋裏踅摸着，結果他發現袋子底部有個洞。 那個袋子的一面上印着巨大的文字（專門給那些熟悉半人馬座字母表的人看的）寫着：超巨型免稅店，布拉斯塔空港，半人馬座阿爾法星——就像炙手可熱的第二十二隻星際大象——吼！ “等等！”那個身影喊着，朝飛船揮手。 那段本來已經打算把自己折回去的臺階停住了，又伸展了下來，讓他跑回去。 幾秒鐘後他再一次出現了，揣着一條又皺又破的毛巾，死命地把毛巾往袋子裏塞。 他再一次揮手，把袋子用胳膊夾起來，開始向林中跑去，在他身後，飛船已經開始爬升了。 閃電劃破天際，讓那個身影愣了一下。隨後他繼續向前跑，不斷地修正自己的奔跑路線以使自己和樹之間保持着安全距離。他迅捷地穿過空地，不時地滑倒。他把身子弓起來以迎接傾盆大雨對他越來越濃厚的注意。 他的腳沾滿了泥。山的那邊電閃雷鳴。他毫無意義地抹了一下自己臉上的雨水，突然發現—— 更多的光亮。 這次不是閃電，而是更加散落和模糊的光，那片光亮緩慢地飄過地平線，最後黯淡下來。 那個身影再次停了下來，盯着那光，隨後加快了步伐，直接衝向地平線，衝向光亮出現的地方。 現在路變得更加崎嶇了，開始有了坡度，又過了兩三百碼，最終碰到了一個障礙。那個身影停下來審視那個障礙，把袋子扔過去，隨後自己開始翻越柵欄。 那個身影剛剛碰到另一邊的的地面，一個機器大模大樣地從雨中向他移動，燈光穿透了雨幕。身影退回去的同時機器開始向他飛奔。那個機器是低矮的球根狀，就像一隻乘風破浪的鯨魚，灰色而圓潤，擁有可怕的速度。 那個身影本能地把手舉起來以保護自己，可最終當機器經過時，他只是被一股水流衝過，而那個機器也消失在夜幕中。 那個機器被另一道夜空中的閃電短暫地照亮，使得那個路邊的落湯雞在機器消失前的霎那間可以辨識出機器背後的一個小牌子。 他顯然非常驚訝和疑惑，那個牌子寫着：“老子的另外一輛車也是保時捷。”
