Dr. Payne marveled through the aperture of the giant eye gazing into the universe at the spectacle falling from the constellations. She thought this rare celestial event could boost attendance at her shoestring operation. The lookout station had a picturesque view of an ocean inlet. The observer watched the shooting star fizzle to a sandbar exposed only during low tide knowing that she didn't have much time before the tidewater would flow back in.

The optimistic stargazer thanked Janaki for the "Alpine Meadow" pizza topped with a mind-blowing variety of edible flowers and paid her on the way out the door. But then the astronomer discovered her sabotaged vehicle with an expressionless stare as if a metaphor for her entire life. A flurry of sparks flashed from under the upright hood, engine components were strewn on the ground, all the tires flat, broken satellite dishes dangled by cables, even the open-air dune buggy hitched to the back had been wrecked. Then Dr. Payne and Janaki heard the surveillance van pull free from Ora and glimpsed the shadowy vandal hop in as it sped away.