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Song Lan checked the GPS coordinates on his phone, making sure he was in the right place. It had been a hike, and he'd had to go off trail. But he knew these woods like he knew the back of his hand, even in the dim, lavender light of early morning.
The unidentified lights in the sky were gone by the time Bobo woke him up, so Song Lan didn't see them himself. If something really did land here, it was likely long gone by now, but there may be signs. Tears in the earth, scorched grass and broken tree branches, that sort of thing. Maybe the visitors had left something behind. It was also possible his uncle was wrong, and it was just a plane or a flare lighting up the sky. But he trusted him. He didn't know if he believed in visitors from other planets, but he did believe in his Bobo.
He didn't expect to hear the sound of radio chatter and see men in military fatigues making their way through the woods, guns in hand.
He backed away as silently as he could, back towards the trail. There was an old family cemetery nearby, hidden away in a clearing. If they spotted him, he could claim he was looking for it. There weren't any signs pointing to it, and park rangers usually discouraged guests from looking for it without a trail guide. He still had his focus on the fading sound of soldiers moving through the brush when he stepped through the broken gate that enclosed the cemetery.
"Did you get a gun waved in your face too?"
Song Lan startled, then gritted his teeth. Xue Yang was leaning against a headstone, backpack beside him in the grass, cutting up an apple with his pocket knife.
It was a small cemetery, overgrown with grass. It hadn't been tended to in a very long time. Most of the headstones were illegible, and some didn't have names at all, just "baby" and the family's surname. The dates were from the mid to late 1800s. There used to be a cottage nearby, but it had long been torn down, the area completely overgrown with tall grass and bushes.
"I don't think they saw me," Song Lan said.
The fact that Xue Yang was already here was frustrating. Xue Yang himself was a deeply frustrating person. But he was also usually right when it came to alien sightings. Xue Yang's presence combined with the military was just proof that Song Lan was chasing something legit.
"So there's definitely something in the woods this time, yeah?" Xue Yang asked, sliding an apple slice between his lips.
"Maybe," Song Lan said. He resigned himself to sharing information and picked a grassy spot to sit down. "Who's your source?"
"Mr. Yao down at the bar. He ran in after last call. That's probably who the feds heard it from too," Xue Yang said, rolling his eyes.
"He sure does like to talk," Song Lan agreed.
The whole town had heard Mr. Yao's alien abduction stories. Supposedly they'd taken him a dozen times since he was a kid. It was all bullshit, of course. He drank too much and he liked attention. But that first time, back in the mid-1960s, he appeared in the middle of a local farm after being missing for two days, and his family was nowhere to be found. The military had come out then too. The owner of the farm claimed nothing was found, but he also sold the land to the government and left town.
"I assume your old man told you about it?" Xue Yang asked.
Song Lan nodded.
"He saw the lights," he said.
Bobo wasn't his biological father, and Xue Yang knew that, but he was the closest thing Song Lan had to one, so he never corrected people when they referred to him that way. They were related, but distantly enough that he hadn't known who he was until he had been shipped off to West Virginia to live with him in fourth grade.
Song Lan was about to ask Xue Yang what his next move was when he heard a rustling behind him. They both turned just as someone entered the clearing.
"Oh," he said, softly, when he saw the two of them sitting in the middle of the small cemetery.
He wasn't military. He wasn't even particularly dressed for hiking. His hair was long and flowed around his shoulders, not even tied back, and he was wearing all white clothing, loose and draping over his tall, slim figure. He stood just beyond the broken fence line, blinking at them.
"You here for the aliens too?" Xue Yang asked.
"Aliens? I… no," the stranger said, though he stumbled over the words.
There were two types of tourists in this town: nature lovers and extraterrestrial enthusiasts. Strange that he didn't seem to be either, but Song Lan supposed it wasn't totally unheard of. Maybe he had family or friends nearby.
"You should go back through the trail heading east. The military is out here roping off part of the woods," Song Lan suggested.
The man still stood, staring at them. He looked deeply out of his element.
"Are you lost?" Song Lan asked.
"Yes. Yes, I don't know the area well," the man said, looking almost relieved to be asked.
"I'll take you back," Song Lan said, starting to stand up. He addressed Xue Yang. "They're not gonna let anybody through there. Might as well come back in a few days after they're cleared out. I'll keep an ear out in town. Maybe one of the old timers will get a soldier to say something."
"So we're working together on this one then?" Xue Yang asked, a little lilting smile on his face.
"Not if you're gonna be a shit about it. I'll text you later," Song Lan said, turning his back to Xue Yang and walking towards the stranger.
"Be still my heart," Xue Yang called after him, laughing.
The stranger was watching Xue Yang, a curious look on his face. Seeing his face up close, Song Lan almost stumbled over a headstone, but caught himself. He was striking, almost otherworldly so, his features somehow sharp and delicate at the same time. Song Lan wasn't sure he'd ever seen a man so beautiful.
"Come on. It's this way," Song Lan said, mentally shaking himself. He stepped over the broken fence, walking through the deer path back towards the main trail.
"Thank you very much for your help. I'm Xiao Xingchen," the stranger said, moving alongside him down the path.
"It's no problem. I'm Song Lan. Good to meet you. What brought you here if not the aliens?" he asked.
"Oh, I don't know. I needed a change of scenery, and I'd heard it's beautiful here," Xiao Xingchen said.
"It is," Song Lan agreed. And they weren't as big and expensive as the major cities or the ski towns, so they managed to keep the quirky, small town culture. "There's a lot of nice hiking here."
"Yes." Xiao Xingchen paused. "You and that other man, you both mentioned aliens. What do you mean?"
"It's kind of what this town is known for. Alien abductions. There were a couple in the mid '60s, and again in the '90s. We're about due for another set of them," Song Lan said. He realized as he was talking that it probably sounded insane to a person who didn't come for the curiosity of it all, so he backtracked. "I mean, if you believe in all that stuff, anyway."
"Do you? Believe in aliens, I mean?" Xiao Xingchen asked.
Song Lan looked at him. His eyes were soft and questioning, without a hint of mocking. He also hadn't broken a sweat and wasn't out of breath, despite the uphill climb back to the main trail. His eyes were almost piercing, like they were looking into his soul.
"Well, uh," Song Lan stuttered, not sure if he wanted to answer, but unwilling to lie. "My great uncle, he owns the Space Oddity and Curiosity Shop. I work there most days. You should come by sometime."
If Xiao Xingchen noticed that he didn't really answer the question, he didn't say anything. He tilted his head slightly to the side and smiled.
"All right. I'll stop by while I'm here," he said.
They came to the end of the deer path, opening up from the brush and into a large, dirt trail, going east and west.
"I assume you parked in the main lot by the visitor center? It's about three quarters of a mile uphill. It's kind of a pain, so if you want to come downhill for a mile, you can take the tram back up. The military might have blocked off parts of it, though, if you'd rather avoid them. If you came in through the scenic overlook, the downhill trail splits to the south halfway down," Song Lan said.
"I think I'll go back uphill where I came. I wouldn't want to get in the way or get lost again," Xiao Xingchen, with a soft laugh at the expense of himself. It was a lovely sound, one that sent a jolt of nervous energy through Song Lan.
"Yeah. You can't miss it if you stay on the trail. You gonna be okay? I can come with you, if you need it," Song Lan offered. It would take him out of his way, since he parked on the scenic overlook above the river bank, but it wasn't like he had much else to do. He'd planned to spend at least a few hours here, but that was ruined.
"I think I can make it from here. Thank you again. I'll come by the shop. Maybe I'll see you there?" Xiao Xingchen said.
"Yeah. I should be around," Song Lan said.
They said their goodbyes, and Song Lan watched Xiao Xingchen's retreating back going up the trail for a moment before turning around and heading the opposite direction. He hoped the stranger would indeed stop by.
"Bobo," Song Lan called as he entered the shop. It was unlocked, so he had to be puttering around somewhere.
Space Oddity and Curiosity Shop was a mixture of things, part museum dedicated to the alien abductions, part oddity and gift shop selling things like crystals, fool's gold, and all the same types of trinkets you'd expect from a souvenir shop. There were little displays for local wares by artists and farmers. It was settled on a few acres of land at the crest of a hill. Bobo owned the building and land outright, so they didn't have to worry about landlords and the like. They'd both lived in the loft upstairs for most of Song Lan's childhood, until Bobo decided Song Lan needed his own space, and they had built a small, one bedroom house out back. He still spent most of his time in the store and in the loft.
Bobo appeared from the back shelves, carrying an empty box. He walked slower now, his glasses thicker and his hair salt and pepper gray. He talked more and more about retiring and giving everything to Song Lan soon. Song Lan wasn't convinced. The man was going to work until he dropped dead, hopefully when he was at least 100.
"What did you find?" he asked.
"The military beat me there," Song Lan said, setting his backpack down on the counter.
Bobo raised his eyebrows.
"It's been just about 30 years, you know," he said.
"I know," Song Lan said. "Xue Yang and I are going back in a few days. He's gonna keep an ear out at the bar. When you go visit Jack's tomorrow, maybe you can ask around?"
"Mn," his uncle said, nodding. "How is A-Yang?"
"Seems fine," Song Lan said, shrugging. Xue Yang was always fine. Always smiling, always cracking jokes. There wasn't anything different about him this time around.
Bobo was looking at him with a glint behind his eye, a knowing something. Song Lan pointedly ignored it.
"I'm gonna get cleaned up and I'll be back to help you. Don't do too much," he reminded him. He wasn't supposed to be doing any heavy lifting or climbing ladders alone.
Bobo looked exasperated by the warning, but he said nothing and just nodded at him, so Song Lan made his way out through the back of the store. He saw a few alien plushies askew, so he stopped to put them back in order, and continued through the shelves. The back of the store was where they kept the strangest of things, like a wall full of newspaper clippings from the last hundred years of UFO and alien sightings, a laminated scrapbook full of photos from locals of lights in the air and strange, blurry figures in the woods. There was a shelf of books about abductions, not just the ones that took place here, but from all over the world.
In a display all by itself, locked and behind glass, was an oblong object, a dark, slate gray that seemed to sparkle in the right light, like it was full of finely ground blue diamonds. There was a thin, hairline crack from top to bottom. The display read, "unknown object gifted to this shop's owner by a visitor, 1965."
Song Lan had handled the elongated metallic oval many times over the years, and he couldn't make heads or tails of it. Bobo thought it was broken, thus the crack, or perhaps it just wouldn't respond to human hands. Once or twice, Song Lan had suggested sending it in for testing, to at least find out what material it was made of, but Bobo refused. He didn't trust anyone else with it. So Song Lan had let it go.
Song Lan stepped out the back door and onto the stone path leading to his house. Owning the land outright helped, but the shop barely made enough to support itself, let alone to support the two of them. Bobo's full time job was the shop, but he would do little odd jobs for people around town as needed. He could fix pretty much anything, though he took fewer of those handyman jobs in the last few years. Song Lan had been working at the shop since nearly the day he moved in, and he also got a job at the local grocery store as a bagger as soon as they'd hire him at 14 years old. Now he worked as an overnight manager at one of the hotels in town. It wasn't glamorous, but helped make ends meet.
"Diner tonight?" Song Lan texted Xue Yang, once he was in the privacy of his home.
He got a series of emojis back, including a winking tongue out emoji, which he assumed was affirmative.
"What's up, Pops," Xue Yang said, addressing Bobo and sliding into the booth next to Song Lan. Song Lan shifted to make room for him as Xue Yang pulled out his laptop and set it on the table.
"Xue Yang. How's the car?" Bobo asked, his eyes twinkling with fondness.
"Killing me, actually. Do you know how expensive batteries are now? Tell your friends to tip better later so I can afford brake pads too," Xue Yang said.
"I'll pass on the message," Bobo said, chuckling. He started to slide out of the booth. "I'm gonna go visit with Cheryl."
"Ask her to bring me a slice of peach cobbler," Xue Yang said.
Bobo nodded, and meandered over to the counter, where Cheryl was behind the counter talking to another patron, another older friend. Song Lan was pretty sure Bobo knew everybody over 50 in the entire town.
"I've got reports of a traffic stop out of town off 70. Everybody leaving has to go through," Xue Yang said.
"Military or cops?" Song Lan asked, frowning.
"Both. I heard the cops on the scanner complaining about how they don't know what the fuck they're looking for. It's not a drug stop or anything, and no Amber alerts in the county," Xue Yang said.
"Do they think someone's smuggling something out?" Song Lan asked.
"That'd be batshit. It'd have to be someone from the outside, because everybody here knows to go to your dad," Xue Yang said.
Song Lan nodded. He was about to say something else, but Cheryl arrived with Xue Yang's cobbler.
"Here you go, hon. You boys getting up to no good?" she asked.
"Never. You know us, ma'am," Xue Yang said, shooting her a grin blazing with charm.
She rolled her eyes and gestured to Song Lan's cup.
"You need a refill, honey?" she asked.
"Not right now, thank you," Song Lan said.
She nodded, and retreated to check on her other tables. Xue Yang pushed his laptop to the center of the table and clicked around, then pulled the cobbler closer to him and picked up the fork.
"Look at this. Nevada, last week," Xue Yang said.
The page was open to Xue Yang's website, a blog he'd been running since they were teenagers, starting on Blogspot and expanding out to something more professional. He reported on and debunked alien and UFO sightings. He'd even done guest spots on podcasts and YouTube channels. He got invited to conventions regularly, which didn't pay much and were often a huge waste of time in Song Lan's opinion, but he usually went anyway. Sometimes he came back with new information, but most of the time he just ranted to Song Lan about the other guests being fake ass losers. The Reddit attached to his content was really active, and regularly got crossposted to the main UFO subreddits, though to mixed reactions.
The article, with sources and photos, was about sightings in a small town in rural Nevada, and a similar road closures and barricades. Song Lan skimmed the article while Xue Yang devoured his cobbler.
"You think someone's leaving on their own?" Song Lan asked, eyebrows furrowed. The thought unsettled him for some reason. The ships appeared, they took people, and then they left. They didn't stick around, and they certainly didn't leave their own to go gallivanting around Earth. That was the whole thing. That was why it was so difficult to prove.
"Why else are they blocking all the roads?" Xue Yang said, shrugging.
"You've never been a 'they walk among us' person," Song Lan argued.
"They didn't leave anything in '95. Maybe they did this time," Xue Yang said.
Song Lan chewed on the wall of his cheek. 30 years. '95, '65, '35, maybe even before that.
"The visitor," he murmured.
"Exactly, dude," Xue Yang said, hitting his shoulder in excitement.
There were rumors in the 1960s, sightings of little gray men, that sort of thing. It was nonsense. But there was also a strange man who came into town, tall and pale and smiling, barely a day after the alleged UFO landing. He stayed for a little while, asked a lot of questions, observed everyone closely, and then disappeared, and no one ever saw him again. He was only notable because his clothing was strange and he didn't seem to know how to socialize. Song Lan felt like there were a lot of explanations for poor social skills, none of which added up to a visitor from another world.
Bobo met him, briefly. He had been 12 years old at the time. The strange man gave him the metal object that was now displayed in the Space Oddity and Curiosity Shop. Song Lan had heard the story so many times, he could quote it by heart, with all of Bobo's little asides and intonations. The man had a strange way of speaking, he smiled too much and too wide, but the he had been kind. And, delighted by his answers to his questions, had chosen to leave him with a parting gift. Bobo was the last person in town to see him. He disappeared immediately after.
"So if you meet and tall, weird dudes, tell them not to leave town through I-70," Xue Yang said.
"Noted," Song Lan said quietly. He caught Cheryl's eye, and he lifted his coffee cup for a refill. He had a long night ahead of him.
The bell above the shop door tinkled.
"Welcome in," Song Lan called, automatically, before he'd even looked up from straightening the jars of local honey displayed by the counter.
Standing there, just inside the door, was Xiao Xingchen. He smiled when he saw Song Lan, a bright smile that lit up his face like the stars.
"Song Lan!" he said, his voice as bright as his smile.
"You're here," Song Lan said, surprised. He was used to telling people about the shop, receiving an "oh, cool," and nothing else.
But here he was, Xiao Xingchen, approaching the register where Song Lan was still clutching a jar of honey. He was wearing a flowing, chiffon pantsuit in a dusty pink with floral patterns on it. He also had on a wide brimmed hat, and his long hair was pulled into a low ponytail that draped over his shoulder. Song Lan swiftly put the last honey jar back in its place and turned fully to Xiao Xingchen.
"You went to the vintage store?" Song Lan asked. He recognized the hat from a display in the window. Truthfully, it had been there for so long, he hadn't been convinced it was even for sale.
"I did!" Xiao Xingchen said. "The ladies were so nice. Everyone's very funny and very nice. I'm glad I came."
Song Lan couldn't help a smile too. It was infectious.
"Would you like a tour?" he asked.
"Oh yes, please. I want to see everything," Xiao Xingchen said.
He was indeed very interested, asking questions about nearly everything Song Lan showed him, and listening with full attention to all of the stories that went along with the displays. Song Lan wasn't sure if Xiao Xingchen actually believed in all the alien stuff, but he listened like he did.
Then they got to the piece of metal, on display in the back of the store. Xiao Xingchen's eyes widened, just slightly, and he touched the glass lightly with his fingers.
"My uncle, uh, this was given to him when he was a child," Song Lan said. He usually said it was a gift from a visitor associated with a UFO landing. That was the story. He didn't know what stopped him from giving the whole spiel this time.
"Your uncle?" Xiao Xingchen asked, turning to look at him. His eyes stayed on Song Lan's face, but he seemed to be scanning him, analyzing his face.
"Yes," Song Lan confirmed.
Xiao Xingchen turned back to the object, and his eyes seemed to sparkle, reflecting the dark, glittering light of the metal back into his eyes.
"He must have been a very special young man," Xiao Xingchen said, quietly.
Song Lan didn't respond, just watched. He didn't know what to say. Most people glanced over the display and moved on. It was just a piece of metal, after all, not dissimilar to the kind of metal you'd find on a phone or laptop. It was just a little more shimmery, reflecting light in a way that felt more unique. After an unnaturally long stretch of time, something that felt like forever but was probably more like 30 seconds, Xiao Xingchen pulled back and looked to Song Lan again, his eyes bright and sparkling, a smile on his face.
"The plushies at the front are so cute. I think I'll get one," he said, and he started towards the front of the store.
Song Lan followed, unsure why his stomach was in knots.
The military cleared out of the landing site earlier than either Song Lan or Xue Yang expected, which likely meant there was nothing there, but they met up on the trail to check it out anyway.
"They trampled all over everything," Xue Yang said, his face twisted in displeasure.
There were footprints and vehicle tracks everywhere. There wasn't enough space for a jeep, but they'd brought four wheelers and bikes down, and the wheels had destroyed the grass. Shrubs and trees had been cut down and removed, and there were broken branches everywhere. Song Lan hated to think of the wildlife they'd probably killed or displaced amidst it all.
"Fan out. Maybe they missed something," Song Lan said, though he knew it was unlikely.
They circled out from the perimeter, looking for anything they might have left behind or missed. Song Lan wasn't exactly a wilderness guy. He hiked, he had gone deer hunting and fishing before, but it wasn't his expertise. Even he could tell that they had taken things. Pieces of the downed trees were missing. Some of the earth had been dug up, and removed, leaving empty pits in the dirt. Evidence, he supposed, taken to a lab somewhere for testing. They weren't even subtle about it.
It was a strange place for a spacecraft to land. There were clearings that would have been better suited and more isolated. Granted, he wasn't sure how big the thing was. Mr. Yao claimed to have seen a dozen lights in the sky, but that couldn't have been right. There simply wasn't enough space between the trees for something that big. More than likely, he saw one or two lights, which corroborated what Bobo said when he woke Song Lan up the morning of the sighting.
"Song Lan!" Xue Yang called, from somewhere else in the forest.
Song Lan turned and followed his voice. He was a few yards away, in the middle of heavy brush that looked largely untouched.
"Look at this," he said when Song Lan approached. He plucked something from a branch of one of the thorny shrubs, and lifted it so Song Lan could see. It was a small scrap of white fabric, torn away from its source. "Remember that weird guy from the cemetery? Who the hell wears a cardigan and knockoff Vans to go hiking?"
"He wasn't weird," Song Lan said, bristling.
Xue Yang tilted his head to the side.
"You're one to talk, big guy," he said.
Xue Yang turned to rifle through the brush. His eyes widened and he kicked his way into a bush, cursing at the thorns as he bent down towards the ground. He returned with something else in his hand. A small, flat piece of metal, rounded and around the same size as an old dollar coin.
"Dude, this is the same shit that's in your museum," Xue Yang said, holding the metal close to his face to examine it. "Oh, this is weird."
He held it out to Song Lan. Reluctantly, Song Lan took it. The moment his fingers touched it, he felt a sort of pulse, like haptic feedback, but it disappeared so quickly he wasn't sure if he'd imagined it. It was cool to the touch, despite being outside in the sunlight for, presumably, days. It was the same color, it had that same sort of diamond-like shimmer, but he didn't think it was the same thing they had in the shop.
Xue Yang made his way noisily out of the brush and held out his hand. Song Lan happily handed the fragment of metal back. He didn't like the feel of it.
"That way's to the cemetery. He could have stumbled through here once he heard the military closing in on his shit, and dropped this on accident," Xue Yang said, excitedly.
"He got lost. Maybe he's from California or something. I heard their hiking trails are paved," Song Lan said. Xue Yang barked a laugh, but Song Lan continued. "Plus, he's not anything like Bobo said they are."
"Well, maybe they've spent the last 60 years getting better at imitating us. Maybe that's why they keep taking us," Xue Yang said.
"You make it sound so sinister," Song Lan.
As soon as he said it, he knew he shouldn't have. Xue Yang's face went dark, and he closed in on Song Lan.
"If it's not sinister, tell me why they took my mom and left my dad to drink himself to death," he snarled. "Just because your Bobo got lucky doesn't mean these sons of bitches are shit. Why's your family more important than mine?"
"It's not," Song Lan said, quietly.
He hadn't heard from his parents in long enough to make that clear. He'd received regular phone calls for a few years, and presents mailed to him on his birthday. The presents stopped first, then the phone calls slowly petered out too. He'd accepted it a long time ago.
Xue Yang's face softened ever so slightly. The flash was there, the anger still there. In high school, Song Lan would have gotten punched, and they would have started scuffling until an adult broke them up or one of them started bleeding. Growth. Or maybe they were just 30 and too old for it now.
"Do you think he's skipped town yet?" Xue Yang asked, his voice still sharp, but it was no longer directed at Song Lan.
"Only if he got past the roadblocks. They're checking everybody now," Song Lan said. He'd had to run through one to get to the big box hardware store the next town over. Everyone was talking about it, and at this point everyone knew they were looking for something related to the lights.
Xiao Xingchen couldn't have left yet, unless he had some secret way out through the mountains, or had some sort of ability to make himself invisible.
"Keep an eye out. Even if he isn't an alien, he was here. He must have seen something," Xue Yang said.
Song Lan wasn't surprised when the police showed up at the hotel early into his shift. Xue Yang had already texted him, "heads up 🐷 at the xtended stay & 🎄 inn."
"Officer," Song Lan said, nodding. The girl working the front desk made herself scarce as soon as she'd called him, so he was the only one in the lobby at this time of night.
"We need a list of who's staying here, starting on the sixth of the month," Jin Zixun said. He had another officer with him, who was browsing all the pamphlets on the wall across from the desk.
"Do you have a warrant?" Song Lan asked.
"We've got orders from the FBI," he said, his face curling in anger already.
"Do they have a warrant?" Song Lan asked.
Song Lan knew most of the people who worked in the local sheriff's office. Jin Zixun was an exception. He hadn't lived here long. He'd been quietly transferred from somewhere else a few years ago, and while Song Lan had never gotten a straight answer of exactly why he'd been transferred, he'd heard gossip. After a handful of interactions with the guy, Song Lan was inclined to believe the nastiest of rumors.
"This'll be a lot more difficult for you if you don't comply," Jin Zixun said, and that was all Song Lan needed to hear to know that he didn't have shit. Song Lan wasn't giving up the privacy of his guests for any cop, least of all this one.
"I'll wait for it to get difficult, then. Come back with that warrant," Song Lan said.
He expected a little more arguing, but Jin Zixun nodded to the officer behind him, and they stepped back outside. Song Lan made a mental note to notify the day manager. She was unlikely to cave either, but she deserved a heads up.
"They must really be looking for someone," said a voice from the corridor.
Song Lan turned, and Xiao Xingchen came around the corner from the elevators. Song Lan blinked at him, trying not to stare.
"Xiao Xingchen. I didn't know you were staying here," he said.
"I didn't know you worked here," Xiao Xingchen countered, stepping fully into the lobby. He had a cold can of soda from the vending machine in his hand, starting to drip with condensation. "Is this related to the blockades?"
"Probably," Song Lan said. "Sorry. It'll be a bitch to get out of here when your vacation's over."
Xiao Xingchen hummed in response, looking at the doors where the police had exited. They were probably still out there, sitting in the cop car.
"Who do you think they're looking for?" Xiao Xingchen asked.
"I dunno," Song Lan replied. Again, he was trying not to stare. Xue Yang's voice was in his head, looking for signs.
It was ridiculous. Xiao Xingchen just looked like a regular, normal guy. A really beautiful, like, really, really gorgeous, regular guy. A normal guy who had an eclectic fashion sense that somehow made him look like a runway model.
Xiao Xingchen sighed.
"I'd rather not deal with it all if I don't have to. I thought I'd wait them out, but if they're starting to do sweeps like this, I don't know," he said, his brow furrowed, clutching the can of soda with both hands.
"Yeah. I understand," Song Lan said.
A totally normal guy who just happened to show up right next to where the spacecraft landed, right after the sighting, and who was actively avoiding the military.
Then again, Song Lan argued with himself internally, he and Xue Yang had also been right there right after the sightings. They too had been avoiding the military and the cops at all costs. Everybody in this town was complaining about them and either avoiding or antagonizing them. None of Xiao Xingchen's behavior was weird. None of it, Song Lan insisted to himself, and to the Xue Yang in his head.
"It'll probably be fine, though. I mean, unless you're running from something back home," Song Lan joked. He tried not to visibly cringe as he said it. There were a lot of reasons not to want to go through a checkpoint, especially nowadays.
Xiao Xingchen's smile was tight.
"I'll just wait it out, I think. Could you… ah, never mind. Good night," Xiao Xingchen said, and he started to step back into the hallway.
"What is it?" Song Lan asked.
"It's not your job, and you barely know me," Xiao Xingchen said, shaking his head.
"What is it?" Song Lan repeated.
Xiao Xingchen's eyes went to the glass doors again, then back to Song Lan.
"If you hear that they're coming back, would you let me know? I'll just go to town square or go for a hike, maybe. I just don't want to be in their way," Xiao Xingchen said.
"Yeah. I can definitely do that for you," Song Lan said.
Xiao Xingchen said he didn't have his phone with him, but he'd given Song Lan his room number, so Song Lan could call his room if needed. He was turning the conversation over and over in his head, burning it into a space in his brain. He hadn't told Xue Yang about the encounter. When Xue Yang had an idea about something, he could be… volatile.
Instead he went to Bobo, who had just bid goodbye to a plain clothes officer of some kind. Not anyone Song Lan recognized, so probably one of the feds.
"What did he want?" Song Lan asked.
"They always want to know the story, even though they never believe," Bobo said, shaking his head. "Are you all right, baobei? You look troubled."
Song Lan hesitated. He wasn't sure how to phrase the question. His uncle waited patiently for him to find the words.
"When you met the stranger, how did you know what he was?" Song Lan asked.
"I didn't. Not until others told me," Bobo said.
Song Lan furrowed his brow.
"How do you know now? He could have been just a person," Song Lan said.
"Well, he was just a person. A person who wasn't from here. Besides, he gave me the gift," Bobo said.
"You weren't scared of him?" Song Lan asked.
"Of course not. Why would I be?"
"What about the abductions?" Song Lan asked.
"I can't explain that. I always hoped he'd return, so I could ask him." He paused, and studied Song Lan for a moment. "Why are you asking questions about this all of a sudden? You know all the stories."
"I don't know. Xue Yang got in my head, I guess," Song Lan said. Lied. He didn't want to express his suspicions out loud yet. He didn't know how his uncle would react, and if anything happened to Xiao Xingchen just because he talked too much, he'd never be able to forgive himself.
"That boy's always riling people up with conspiracy theories," Bobo said, not without fondness. "Do you remember how you two always argued?"
"Used to?" Song Lan said.
Bobo chuckled.
"You seem to get along just fine nowadays. You know I wouldn't mind one bit if you brought him around more," he said.
Song Lan clenched his jaw against the heat rising in his face. It wasn't the first time Bobo had suggested such a thing. Sometimes he referred to Song Lan's future wife, or future husband, casually, like he was saying it as an afterthought. It was pointed enough that Song Lan understood, and he knew he should be grateful for the acceptance, but he did not want to talk about it. Maybe he'd meet someone someday, but that someone definitely wasn't going to be Xue Yang.
"Has anybody else seen anything since the lights?" Song Lan asked, pushing past the subject.
Bobo shook his head.
"I've been asking around. None of ours were taken this time. Doesn't mean no one was taken."
"Maybe a tourist, who's already been told to keep their mouth shut," Song Lan said.
Bobo nodded once in agreement. Song Lan sighed. That meant they might never know if anyone was abducted this time around. There were always gaps. There was always information he couldn't get his hands on.
Song Lan didn't usually go to the local dive bar. He didn't care for some of the people who hung out there, and he wasn't a particularly social person to begin with. He was content to have the company of of a select few rather than a crowd. But it was one of the best places in town to get gossip, especially if you timed it so that people were just starting to get drunk and talkative but not yet too sloppy to hold a conversation. It was an art.
Xue Yang grabbed a beer for him as soon as he saw him walk in and leaned forward across the bar to give it to him. He cocked his head over to one of the four tops by the pool table.
"Yao and Ouyang have got him cornered," Xue Yang said.
Xiao Xingchen was sitting with his hand on his chin, listening as Mr. Yao and Mr. Ouyang talked, gesturing animatedly and egging each other on. He was smiling at them, his attention fully taken, but his forehead did have a small crease of confusion.
"They smelled fresh blood. They haven't had anybody new to tell their abduction stories to in forever," Xue Yang said.
"Ouyang was never abducted," Song Lan said, handing Xue Yang the cash for his beer.
"They got taken together two years ago. Didn't you hear?" Xue Yang said, rolling his eyes and punching numbers into the register. He handed Song Lan back his change, but Song Lan left it on the bar.
Song Lan sighed, but his gaze drifted back to Xiao Xingchen, who was still listening intently with his head cocked to the side. He replied, asking a question that Song Lan couldn't hear over the music and the chatter of everyone else around him. There were a couple of guys playing pool, groups laughing in another corner, and Xue Yang chatting up everyone who came back to order another drink. Xiao Xingchen stuck out like a sore thumb. He had a purse with him this time, a bright yellow thing with a snail hand stitched onto the side, and he had a matching bright yellow headband holding back his hair. Honestly, he'd be surprised if Xiao Xingchen hadn't been showered with compliments all day. It was a weird town, with a lot of eccentric people. They had to get used to it, what with extraterrestrial enthusiasts who visited, who were generally a weird bunch. Why not color your hair or start a boutique for handmade jewelry?
"You know, if you stare too long, people are gonna think you're a weirdo," Xue Yang said.
Song Lan snapped his eyes back to his half drunk beer and took another sip. He really didn't mean to stare. Xue Yang laughed.
"Man, you're not subtle," Xue Yang said. He looked at Xiao Xingchen too, and Song Lan watched him take the stranger in, raking his eyes over him. "I mean, I get it."
"Don't you think he needs to answer for the crimes of his people or something?" Song Lan asked.
"I never said that," Xue Yang said.
Song Lan squinted at him, mentally replaying their last last in person conversation. None of that anger was there now. It had been replaced with a little smirk and a twinkle in his eyes. Song Lan had known Xue Yang long enough to know exactly what that fucking meant.
"He flirted with you when he got here, didn't he? You're so predictable," Song Lan said.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Xue Yang asked, the smile curling into a frown. "Are you jealous?"
"Jealous? Of what, a random stranger and the guy who pisses me off every time I look at him? No," Song Lan said, though the accusation made him feel prickly. He was going for unbothered, but it felt like static underneath his skin, and he was pretty sure it came through in his voice.
He didn't even know Xiao Xingchen, and he knew Xue Yang far too well.
Song Lan could see it happening, see the tendrils of an argument starting between them, Xue Yang ready to roast him about this or something else, when the door opened with a slam.
"10 of those military trucks are on the way, so y'all better get the fuck out if you got warrants or don't have IDs," the new patron yelled into the din.
"Motherfucker," Xue Yang said, straightening. He pointed to a young person at the end of the bar. "Out, now, and tell John to get the kids out of here too."
Song Lan knew the boy who silently disappeared behind the employee door. He'd been hanging out since he graduated high school, never drank, never caused a problem, so Xue Yang never kicked him out. The owner's kids were usually around somewhere too, though not allowed out front after a certain time.
The bar became a flurry of noise, people grumbling and moving out. The men playing pool continued their game, and Yao and Ouyang stayed put, but a few others headed out to the parking lot. Song Lan wouldn't be surprised if some of them were going out to hide guns they shouldn't have in their trucks.
"Song Lan."
Xiao Xingchen was at his side, his eyes wide.
"I didn't drive here. I hate to ask, but…" he said, his voice fearful.
Song Lan was about to say yes, absolutely. He would take him wherever he needed to go. But Xue Yang interjected first.
"They're looking for you, aren't they?" he asked.
Xiao Xingchen's eyes were wide when he turned to Xue Yang, his lips parted slightly. He didn't speak, seemingly at a loss for words.
"I'm parked out back. We can take the service road," Xue Yang said.
Xiao Xingchen looked up at Song Lan, a question in his eyes. How he had become someone trustworthy, someone who could vouch for a stranger? But he trusted Xue Yang too, especially with something like this. So he nodded.
"Go to my place. I'll follow in a few minutes," he told Xue Yang.
"Heard. Come on, starman," Xue Yang said.
Xiao Xingchen gave Song Lan one final look, then he followed Xue Yang towards the emergency exit in the back.
It took more than a few minutes. The military forced everyone out of the bar. Mr. Yao and Mr. Ouyang were both drunk and arguing with a soldier on the sidewalk, demanding to be let back in. The owner of the bar was more tense than Song Lan had ever seen him.
He was able to get out when they seemed to decide he wasn't worth interrogating. He wondered how much they knew about past visitations, whether they knew about what happened to his uncle. He was sure there was a file somewhere. They didn't seem interested in Mr. Yao either, but Song Lan suspected they had already gotten every bit of information they could out of him many years ago and decided his tall tale spinning was just that.
He arrived home to find Xue Yang's car parked in the gravel out back, hidden from the main road. The windows of the shop and loft where Bobo lived were dark, but Song Lan's glowed with warm light. Xue Yang knew where Song Lan kept his emergency key, so he must have let himself in. Sure enough, Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen were sitting on his couch when he entered.
Xiao Xingchen stood up immediately, rushing towards him. He reached out as if to touch, maybe to hug, but he pulled back at the last moment.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"They're not interested in me. I don't think they even know we've met," Song Lan said. He glanced at Xue Yang, who looked subdued, lost in thought. Song Lan had only seen him look like this maybe once in their lives. Song Lan turned his gaze to Xiao Xingchen. "Why are they looking for you?"
Xiao Xingchen inhaled, his chest rising, seeming to steel himself for what he was about to say.
"It's all fucking real, man," Xue Yang said from his position on the couch. "All this shit I've been writing about since I was 15, it all really happened."
Xue Yang usually hid his emotions behind a smile and a wink. Song Lan wasn't totally convinced he even had feelings until they were well into their 20s. His face was a map of them, of something like awe with a touch of grief. He was gripping one of Song Lan's throw pillows so hard his knuckles were white.
"Xue Yang's mother," Song Lan said.
"I told him I don't know what happened to her, and that's the truth," Xiao Xingchen said, regret in his eyes. "I'm from a very small sect. Our leader, she doesn't approve of the way the others treat Earth and its people."
"Why are you here then?" Song Lan asked.
"I wasn't lying when we met. This seemed like a nice place to visit. My eldest sect brother, he came here once. He never returned, so I thought I'd never see a trace of him again. But he met your uncle. I'm grateful he kept the receiver, and that you showed it to me. It brought back pleasant memories," Xiao Xingchen said, with a small wistful smile. He blinked, and his smile faded quickly. "I was supposed to return to the ship last night, but your authorities are everywhere. I can't even contact the ship. I lost my receiver almost as soon as I landed, so surely they have it now."
Song Lan locked eyes with Xue Yang.
"Xue Yang," he said.
Xiao Xingchen turned to look at him too. Xue Yang sighed, but he reached into his pocket and pulled out the piece of metal he'd found in the woods. Of course he still had it on him. Song Lan couldn't have been less surprised.
"Oh my," Xiao Xingchen said, returning back to the couch.
Xue Yang held it out to him, although Song Lan thought he looked slightly reluctant to let go. His curiosity about how it worked must have won out. If Song Lan knew anything about Xue Yang, he knew that he'd spent every free moment he'd had trying to figure out if it did anything at all.
As soon as Xiao Xingchen took the metal from him, it responded to his touch, letting out a soft, brief hum, and lighting up, the whole surface turning blue.
"Oh, she'll be so relieved. I'm sure she's been wondering where I am," Xiao Xingchen said, placing the glowing metal in his yellow handbag.
"Wait, so you can't, like, talk to the mothership with that thing?" Xue Yang asked, sitting up, looking more alert than he had since Song Lan entered.
"No, it simply transmits my precise location to the ship," Xiao Xingchen said.
"It's an AirTag?" Xue Yang yelled. "Light speed space travel technology and you're telling me you got sent here with a fucking AirTag?"
"I don't know what that is," Xiao Xingchen said, blinking innocently at him.
"Oh my God," Song Lan said, stepping forward to intervene before Xue Yang decided he wanted to strangle Xiao Xingchen after all.
As soon as he did, bright lights flashed through the windows, and a voice on a megaphone pierced through the air.
"Come out with your hands up!"
Xue Yang cursed.
"They must have followed you. Or someone fucking ratted us out. You got a shotgun or anything in here?" he asked.
"Why in the hell would I have a gun in here?" Song Lan demanded.
"Everyone's got one," Xue Yang said. "I dunno about you, but I'm not letting him get taken to some detention center to get experimented on or tortured."
"Of course not," Song Lan said. But he had no idea what they were supposed to do. They surely had someone covering the back door, and there wasn't anywhere to go from there except the face of a mountain anyway.
The voice on the megaphone continued to yell at them, more insistent. Xue Yang was looking around for a weapon, as if they had any chance of fighting their way out. Xiao Xingchen wasn't listening. Instead he was looking up at the ceiling.
"This is your last warning," the voice yelled.
Xiao Xingchen smiled softly, and he stood up. He smoothed out his clothing and slid his bag onto his shoulder.
"The fuck are you doing?" Xue Yang asked, grabbing his arm.
Xiao Xingchen touched his hand, looking at him with a smile.
"Thank you for your help. It'll be all right," he said.
He gently removed Xue Yang's hand, and Xue Yang let it drop, staring after him. Xiao Xingchen touched Song Lan's shoulder briefly, looking into his eyes.
"Thank you for everything you've done for me. It'll be all right," he repeated.
He passed through to the door, stepping out into the yard. Xue Yang and Song Lan locked eyes, and they didn't have to speak. They both followed, coming out of the house on either side of Xiao Xingchen. They weren't gonna let him get disappeared without witnesses, at least.
Amidst the squad of soldiers with their guns pointed at all of them, Song Lan's uncle stood back in a housecoat, flanked by soldiers holding him back. Song Lan saw his lips form his name, but couldn't hear over the cacophony of sound, from the soldiers, the trucks rumbling, and a soft but persistent hum that seemed to have taken over the air.
"Bobo, go back inside. It's okay," Song Lan yelled, but he wasn't sure if he was heard. Xue Yang reached over and tapped Song Lan insistently on the shoulder. Song Lan turned, looking past Xiao Xingchen's calm, serene face and to his childhood friend.
Xue Yang wasn't looking at the guns or the lights. Instead he was looking up at the sky.
Song Lan had never seen the lights that people talked about, the ones that preceded every visitation. He'd arrived too late for the last one in the '90s, and by the time Bobo had woken him up to investigate this time, they were gone. He'd always assumed they would look like airplane lights.
There was no mistaking this for a plane.
The lights were bright white, but they didn't shine and glow the way the headlights on the trucks did. They were perfectly contained in a series of rotating circles, without any type of halo effect. They got bigger and bigger, closer and closer, and they suddenly changed, the rotation slowing and stilling, and the lights turned a pale blue, the color of the sky on a clear day. The hum was louder now, drowning out all other sound.
A beam of that same blue light shot from the center and projected in front of them. A figure appeared within the circle of light. A woman, with long, dark hair pulled up in an intricate updo, and a white coat with long, billowing sleeves. Whoever had been at the megaphone had gone silent, and the soldiers were looking at the beam of light with awe and trepidation. Xiao Xingchen, on the other hand, smiled.
"You didn't leave me," he said.
"I'll always come back for you," she said, her voice clipped.
"Hands where I can see them!" came a shout from the megaphone again.
The woman visibly rolled her eyes. She didn't even turn to face the arsenal behind her. She waved her hand, and the light expanded, moving to encompass Xiao Xingchen, Song Lan, and Xue Yang as well. It was like walking inside from a cold winter night into a warm room lit by fire. All noise outside the bubble of light ceased. Everything ceased. All of the soldiers had gone completely still, some of them mid blink or mid movement. Bobo was still too, his eyes wide with awe.
"Bobo," Song Lan said, starting to lurch forward, but he felt Xue Yang's hands on him keeping him back.
"It's all right, this isn't harmful," Xiao Xingchen said. He pointed to Bobo amidst the din. "He's the last one to have met Yanling Daoren."
The woman turned to follow his pointing. She seemed to examine him for a moment, taking him in. Then she nodded and turned back around.
"This is your kin?" she asked Song Lan.
"Yes, ma'am," Song Lan said.
She examined him as well, looking him up and down. Xue Yang's grip on his arm tightened. She turned to Xiao Xingchen.
"These two have helped you?" she asked.
"Yes," Xiao Xingchen chirped, happily.
"Good. You have my gratitude. Once we have gone, these people will leave your home and will not return," she said. "Come now, Xingchen."
Song Lan didn't know how that was possible. If she and Xiao Xingchen disappeared, he was pretty sure he and Xue Yang were getting arrested and interrogated.
"Actually…" Xiao Xingchen said. He glanced at Xue Yang and Song Lan, and hesitated. But he turned back to the woman. "I like it here. I like the people very much. I thought I might stay a while."
The woman cocked her head to the side in surprise. She squinted at him.
"We will not be able to return for another 30 Earth years," she said. "The window is closing as we speak."
"I know," Xiao Xingchen said.
Song Lan expected her to argue, or perhaps to force him to come with her. But she simply looked at his face, and her shoulders seemed to relax slightly.
"If you're sure," she said.
"I'm sure," Xiao Xingchen said.
"Understood."
She turned away from them, towards the soldiers. She pulled some kind of device from her sleeve, made of the same kind of metal in the receiver they'd returned to Xiao Xingchen. She gave it some kind of command, a series of words in a language Song Lan had never heard before. A wave of light expanded from the bubble, passing through all of the people outside of it. Song Lan couldn't see how far it went.
She turned to face them again. She gave Xiao Xingchen one final look, and she nodded. Then she disappeared, her figure dissolving the same way it had appeared. The light around them shrunk again, and retracted up into the spacecraft above them. The circular lights started rotating again, turning back from blue to white, and with a hum, they leapt into the sky, fading into the stars.
Everyone around them started to stir, the metal of guns and gear clanking as they moved. No one looked confused by what had happened. Instead every single one of them turned to their vehicles, their eyes glazed over, and the jeeps and trucks started to roll out, back through the grass and down to the road.
"Bobo," Song Lan said, watching as his uncle, with the same glazed over look in his eyes, turned around and walked back to the shop.
"He's okay. He's just going to go back to whatever he was doing before this," Xiao Xingchen said. "He won't remember."
"Did she just wipe everyone's memory?" Xue Yang asked.
"Yes. And told your invaders to leave," Xiao Xingchen said.
"She mind controlled them?" Xue Yang asked.
"Well, in a way. It's more like a very strong suggestion," Xiao Xingchen said.
Bobo had safely entered the back door of the shop, and Song Lan watched as the light to his bedroom in the loft turned on for a moment, then turned off again. He would check on him first thing in the morning. He turned to Xiao Xingchen.
"What will you do now?" he asked.
"I don't know. I'd like to stay here for a while. But if you two would prefer I leave, I will do as you wish," Xiao Xingchen said.
"No," Song Lan said, and Xue Yang's voice echoed his own, with just as much severity.
Song Lan looked down at him, and Xue Yang seemed to realize he was still glued to Song Lan's side. He took a huge step away. More than was strictly necessary, Song Lan thought.
"You're welcome here. I'd like you to stay," Song Lan said.
"Yeah," Xue Yang agreed. "Though I feel like we're really glossing over the mind control thing."
Xiao Xingchen laughed, his eyes glittering like diamonds.