Ranma was cooling his heels, lying on the roof gazing at the stars above. The waning crescent moon was low in the sky and only wisps of clouds veiled the night sky. Like jewels, the stars twinkled merrily, adorning the raiment of Night in all his majesty and splendor. Drifting with the distant suns as they drew lazy circles around the polestar, Ranma’s thoughts floated unguided along the currents, making port here and there briefly before setting of into the river of imagination and dreams once again. Lost as he was in the large grandeur of the firmament, dreaming of the possibilities scattered among the galaxies, he nearly missed seeing a shooting star limning a fiery line across the sky. A heavenly firework presaging the coming meteor shower.
“Ranma?” Kasumi called out from the engawa. “Ranma? I’m closing up for the night.”
Ranma shook off his stupor. “Coming Kasumi, be right down.” Ranma sat up, stretched his arms out, and dropped off of the roof, startling Kasumi.
“Sorry, Kasumi,” Ranma apologized sheepishly.
Kasumi blushed. “It’s all right, Ranma.” She then followed Ranma’s gaze skywards in time to catch a trio of shooting stars sketching streaks across the celestial page. “Beautiful,” she gasped.
Ranma smiled. “Make a wish, Kasumi.”
“Oh, I don’t even know what to wish for. What would you wish for?”
Ranma shrugged. “To be rid of this curse, of course.”
“Not something like world peace?” Kasumi bit her lower lip.
Ranma hesitated in responding, watching a duo of meteors playing chase across the velvety black sky. “How could I enjoy any peace if I’m still cursed?”
Kasumi meant to scold Ranma, but the haunted look in his eyes held her tongue fast. Over Ranma’s shoulder Kasumi could see a star come out twinkling a pale yellow. “Is that the wish you made?”
Ranma returned his attention to the sea of stars in the night sky, watching another shooting star flash across, playing peek-a-boo behind an indistinct, lonesome cloud, all shadowy and vague. “Naw,” he replied after a moment’s silence, “I stopped wishing long ago. Where do you think the stars shoot off to? What’s out there? Do you think anyone is looking up and making a wish on the first earth of the night? Do you think someone could find a fallen star and keep a piece of it in their pocket? Why? What’s the point of life when we are so small and insignificant and the stars continue burning irregardless of us. Nothing I do would make any difference, ever, would it?”
Kasumi had no reply, so she watched the yellow star glow brighter. “I don’t know, Ranma. I just don’t know. What is the point of life? Was I meant to do nothing but care for this house? Sometimes we can be so small in the face of all creation, and yet our lives can mean so much in the face of a child. What is life?” Kasumi noticed something odd, the star was getting bigger.
Ranma sighed. “Sometimes, I like to look up and dream about being up there, among the stars. Sailing, searching, visiting all those worlds and looking up to watch Earth from afar.” Ranma followed Kasumi’s gaze when he noticed she seemed to be paying him little attention. “Say, that isn’t a star!”
The star, growing steadily as it began to illuminate the night around the pair, shifted from a stationary position in the sky as it began to streak across their vision.
“A falling star!” Kasumi gasped as she brought her hands to her mouth.
Ranma nodded. “I think it might land close by.”
The two watched in amazement as the star made its progress, approaching closer and closer.
“Looks kind of erratic,” Kasumi commented.
Ranma grunted. “Never seen one do that before.”
As they continued to watch the light blaze grew and tracked across the nighttime heavens, the celestial object began to turn the night into day bringing the world out into stark relief.
By the time it passed over their heads, they could see it was fiery metallic ball. A ball that was, surprisingly, slowing down its descent.
“They don’t do that for sure,” Ranma remarked. “Something is not right here.”
The object passed out of sight, sinking into the distance. Ranma pulled Kasumi into a tight embrace, expecting a large crash to rock the ground. No explosion was forthcoming, however.
“Where’s the Earth-shattering Kaboom?” Kasumi said in her best Marvin the Martian impression. The reference was lost on Ranma.
“I don’t know. I got a very bad feeling about this. I’m going to go take a look, looks like it landed somewhere out past Furinkan High.” Ranma gently released Kasumi.
Kasumi tugged on his sleeve. “Not without me you’re not. I want to see too.”
Ranma nodded. Kasumi ran in quickly to grab a coat and house keys. Locking the door and gate behind her, Kasumi joined Ranma as he left to investigate.
Bundled tightly in her coat, Kasumi wordlessly followed Ranma as they trekked towards school. The night was oddly quiet, it seemed as if they were the only two in the world. Occasionally, they would pass a house that gave off sounds of inhabitants oblivious to the strange occurrence of the night. The duo managed to make it to the crash site without any incidents or obstructions. However, instead of the steaming, smoking furrow in the ground that they expected, thanks to anime and movies, they only found some damaged trees and a strange globe-like ship resting lopsidedly on the ground on three legs, one of which was bent.
“Ranma? Is that – is that a ...” Kasumi asked fearfully. “Is that what I think it is?”
“I don’t know, but – uh – yeah, I think it is.”
Kasumi hid behind Ranma’s shoulder. “What should we do?”
Suddenly, a green spotlight issued forth from the downed spacecraft, highlighting them. The two got the feeling that someone, or something, was watching them. The light that seemed to be like a green eye winked out. A tingling passed over there bodies. A loud hiss of escaping gas accompanied the release of a billowing cloud of cold nitrogen, helium, methane, and ammonia vapors from the bottom of the ship. Something silver, viscous and thick, glopped down onto the ground like falling honey. Kasumi and Ranma stood there, too shocked to react, as something rustled around in the grass. Suddenly, a silver blob rolled out to stop near their feet. A long, thin stalk grew up from the body, forming a teardrop like shape at the end. The teardrop on the stalk seemed to be contemplating them for a moment.
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(Posted Sun, 19 Oct 2008 23:00)
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