p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Segoe UI', sans-serif;"The old man had a / br / br / It was / Lying flat on the warm mud, he could only breathe shallowly, and waited for the moment when he would no longer be / Discarding all the equipment he had, dragging his one leg which would no longer be able to move anytime soon, tumbling down, crawling around... Thus he got away. And in the end of his escape, rain poured down yet / br / Soon enough, he wouldn't feel any cold, nor would he be / Perhaps he would die / Fear and the like had already disappeared long ago, and he should had no more debt left in that rotten world / However, something he stored inside the waterproof case in his pocket was throbbing just like passionate flame, not letting him stop his / br / Before long—br / There was a faint presence beyond the drizzling / It was footsteps from several / "It must be auditory hallucination", or so he thought at / He grew accustomed to despair, but he was not familiar with / br / Soon after, the footsteps approached / While he was thinking over again, one of the footsteps stopped beside / He could guess that the person was carrying a considerable weight judging from the creaking sound from the sling / br / "Right leg, crushed, eh?"br / It was a voice of a middle-aged / Then, the he felt like poked on his / It was muzzle of automatic rifle. It seems that he was presumed / Perhaps from that moment, that dead body would be torn apart...br / He moved his arm a bit, fending off himself from the rude muzzle as if it's just a small / Although he was taken by surprise, the middle-aged man came to know that he was / br / "Hey! You're... still alive?"br / "... I guess."br / He answered so. He couldn't even believe himself that he could talk, as he appeared like a reluctant / br / "Are you a junker too?"br / He was asked with the rifle muzzle remained in / It made the question even harder to / br / "No..."br / Indeed he was, when he was in the sarcophagus city dozen hours ago. But as for now, he's already out of / What followed next was another emotion / Surprisingly, it was / All those lunacy and ridiculousness were a sign that he had lost to the temptation to make his calling a / Right, he didn't mind at / After all, ever since the first idiot looked out from his cave, the same kinds also existed as numerous as the / He replied—br / "strongI am a starteller./strong"br / br / br / Decades had passed since / Although, it felt as if it happened just the other day...br / br / br / br / The reminiscence melted into the rain, and reawakened his sense to another / Another / No. This one was / This time, it was too / It was the sound from what which looks human but not human, approaching him out of pure / It has much slower pitch than the one he / But, it has the same / The old man knew what was / br / At the moment the stubborn eyelids finally opened,br / Before his very eyes was a woman with her beautiful blonde / The jet-black religious habit wrapped her well-proportioned / As she covered him who lay on his back on the bed, she smiled / Her figure really didn't resemble emthat girl/em at all, but it didn't really matter for / br / "Right, the memory card..."br / With his right hand which hardly followed his will, he explored around his / The waterproof case which should be there... wasn't / It was a box with a treasure inside, instead of the valuable cigarettes. It was a box he would never ever let go, he would never ever let water gets in— even during the long painful journey, no matter what kind of predicament he / br / With only his arm, he gradually searched around his / He felt something on his / Something which seemed to be a small / He left it open and grasped something hard from deep inside, and picked it up with his trembling / It was heavy like calibration weight. ...No. What was heavy was his arm. With that arm unwilling to follow his intention... Slowly, really slowly, he moved it up to his / The small memory card... had changed into a small / br / At the core of his muddled memory, a ray of light abruptly / That's right. Even that was a / Levi, Job, Ruth. The children who had ancient names. It was something given to him from those children as an exchange for the memory card— the mark of the / They would surely be sad. Or perhaps angry. Even though there were still so many things to teach, the teacher himself already turned so / br / But, it was / Those three would do well for sure. He, just with artificial stars, only showed them nothing more than a glimpse of truth they had from the very start. Before long, they would notice it on their own. And then, beyond their senile age, that truth will go on all the way...br / He realized it himself that he was / As if everything went just as her insight, the nun smiled as / On her chest was a holy / Then the old man wondered why she appeared / br / "...You came to pick me up, huh?"br / The old man / But, there was no / br / "...the gate, is there only one of it?"br / He immediately / br / "If there are two... Then, I'm not going..."br / He was trying to make a joke, but it still felt a little / The nun with golden blonde hair tried to move her noble / Yet, there was no voice could be heard from / Probably due to had been left for a long time, the vocal apparatus might had already lost its / br / The silent conversation lasted for about ten / Before long, the nun slowly knelt on that very / As she made a prayer, she clasped her both hands, then closed her / That gesture said more than thousands of / The old man also closed his eyelids as / Like all the power had been cut off, everything was covered in / But it was only for a short / br / His consciousness returned as white as perfect clear, along with his / Hidden in the snowy field of South America, the parlor of the underground residential area. The high ceilings with lighting embedded, and the soft bed with clean / Remained neglected in the corner of the room was a rough portable handmade / But, there was nothing to worry about. After all, it would be maintained into a better condition under the hands of the new owners. br / br / Like a kid waiting impatiently for sunrise in summer days, the old man rose himself from the / He set his both feet down to the floor and stood / The right leg -which should had already been lost- was there, and he could move it / br / From the entrance of the parlor, the bright orange light came leaking / It was a nostalgic, a very warm / The old man went close to it, simply attracted to / br / There was a large dome-shaped / The indirect light with low luminescence was spreading on the high hemispherical / The countless seats were circularly arranged as to surround the / The seats were closely packed with / br / Here and there, it was everything he knew by / There was a little girl, with a bouquet of flower roughly as big as herself on her / When their eyes meet, she waved her hand back and forth / br / The old man proceeded to walk to the / A couple of young brother and sister were sitting side by / To his curious younger sister, the big brother told everything he knows about the craters on the / br / A single step, another single step... Each time he advanced, everything returned into colorful / There were the young, but also the old / All sort of families, friends, and even lovers were / Every of them, seated comfortably, were looking forward to the show that was about to / It didn't strike him / br / The old man had already / In this dome of heart, not even time and distance would be a / Precisely because it's dark, it can project all the / br / Right at the center of the audiences, there was a large two-ball type / As if it was a brand new, just delivered from the factory, all the parts were assembled without any flaw,br / and the lenses were polished to a transparency like one of a precious / br / Next to it was a robot / With the long parted hair and large ribbon decorating it, with her appearance still the same as a fifteen years old girl, she entwined the fingers of her both hands in front of her body, and smiled to / br / The old man was no longer an old man / With the heart and appearance he had when he spent the time with her -in the forgotten planetarium, in the city sealed within the rain-...br / br / He spoke / "It's been a while."br / "Yes. It has been a while."br / She / With a steady movement, she titled her head left. The optical resin which serve as her eyes narrowed with a / br / "You look well."br / "Yes. After all, I am a robot..."br / When she was about to continue her words,br / unexpectedly her eyes became clouded, and tears flowed down her / They continued to flow down, soaking her uniform necktie and wetting the name tag on her chest...br / As if they represented the feelings which cannot be expressed by mere / br / "I see. So now you have the capability to cry..."br / He approached her, then he gently touched her / That's right. It was not so / Because, human's wishes as well as robot's wishes, they're all granted / br / "That's right, Mr. Visitor."br / That meek robot could only answer / br / "I'm not a visitor."br / He gently replied / Around them were her colleagues lining up, watching over the two like witnesses of a wedding / It should be their first time meeting, yet it felt like they're all fellows who had been working together from long / br / Then, realization dawned upon / This is the genealogy of the "planetarians" who were born and raised in this planet before one / And now he joined them in the front / br / "Come now, let's start the projection."br / He silently declared, and smiled at his female / And thunderous applause / br / ~the end~/span/p