Halter coughed into his telescope, squeezing his wrinkled eyelids as tight as possible to maximize his already tired vision.
"Could it be?" he asked, brushing a grey hair out of his eye. Though the tiny lens was a little dirty, he knew - or thought he knew - what he was seeing.
"It can't be. Not so soon. I must be dreaming."
As happy a dream as that would be.
Blinking his eyes a few times, he took another look. But this time the glowing ball that had flickered in the night sky, streaking towards the desolate planet, was gone, or out of view.
Halter sighed. Perhaps his eyes were going, though he'd always been a good astronomer back in the day. He took a customary scan of the sky anyway, of course, but it wouldn't have been what he was looking for.
"Blasted eyes. Always raising my hopes," he muttered, giving the curled up cat at his feet a small kick. He received an indignant woof in reply.
He strained for his cane, which lay beside his rickety lawn chair. The television was already on, but it had been another uneventful night, nothing but those stupid stories about the new senator.
"Well, my dear kitty cat, I should get you some food shouldn't I?" The old man rose from his chair and hobbled over to the counter, on which multiple cans of dog food and chili sat. "Wouldn't want you to starve, would I?"
What he failed to notice - as, after all, he was no longer looking - was a burst of light from mere miles away. And by the time he had sat back down, the dust had settled. It would be yet another silent night.
