經典科幻文學:《銀河系漫遊指南》第22章1

He was standing with his back to Arthur watching the very last glimmers of light sink into blackness behind the horizon. He was tallish, elderly and dressed in a single long grey robe. When he turned his face was thin and distinguished, careworn but not unkind, the sort of face you would happily bank with. But he didn't turn yet, not even to react to Arthur's yelp of surprise.
Eventually the last rays of the sun had vanished completely, and he turned. His face was still illuminated from somewhere, and when Arthur looked for the source of the light he saw that a few yards away stood a small craft of some kind — a small hovercraft, Arthur guessed. It shed a dim pool of light around it.
The man looked at Arthur, sadly it seemed.
"You choose a cold night to visit our dead planet," he said.
"Who ... who are you?" stammered Arthur.
The man looked away. Again a kind of sadness seemed to cross his face.
"My name is not important," he said.
He seemed to have something on his mind. Conversation was clearly something he felt he didn't have to rush at. Arthur felt awkward.
"I ... er ... you startled me ..." he said, lamely.
The man looked round to him again and slightly raised his eyebrows.
"Hmmmm?" he said.
"I said you startled me."
"Do not be alarmed, I will not harm you."
Arthur frowned at him. "But you shot at us! There were missiles ..." he said.
The man chuckled slightly.

他背對阿瑟站在那兒，望着最後一線光芒沉入地平線以下的黑暗之中。他的身材算高的，已經上了年紀，穿着一件灰色單袍。他一會兒轉過身來的時候，可以看到他的臉瘦削、高貴、飽經憂患但卻很慈祥，屬於那種你願意看到的臉。但此時他還沒有轉過身來，甚至沒有對阿瑟的驚呼聲做出任何反應。
太陽的餘輝終於完全消失了，他這才轉過身來。他的臉仍然被來自某個地方的光線照亮，當阿瑟尋找這光線的來源時，他看見幾碼之外停着一架小型飛行器——阿瑟猜測這是一艘小氣墊船，周圍散發出黯淡的光芒。
老人望着阿瑟，看上去有些悲傷。
“你選擇了一個寒冷的夜晚來訪問我們這個已經死去的星球。”他說。
“你……你是誰？”阿瑟結結巴巴地問。
老人把目光移開了。又一陣悲傷的表情劃過他的臉。
“我的名字並不重要。”他說。
他看上去心事重重，顯然並不熱衷於交談。阿瑟感到很尷尬。
“我……嗯……你讓我大吃一驚……”他斷斷續續地說。
老人再次望向他，輕輕地揚起眉毛。
“嗯？”他說。
“我說你讓我大吃一驚。”
“別害怕，我不會傷害你的。”
阿瑟皺起眉頭看着他，“可你朝我們開火了！我是指那些導彈……”他說。
他輕聲笑了笑。