Archive of Our Own

As his eyes fluttered open, the first thought that struck him was that he hadn’t expected to wake up. Then it immediately occurred to him what a strange thought that was to have, soon followed up by the realization that he wasn’t entirely sure who ‘he’ even was. What a pain in the butt!

He got up and stretched, then looked around a room that seemed almost white and sterile enough to belong in a hospital, yet clearly did not. Wait- so he could remember what a hospital was, but not his own name? Thanks a lot, stupid brain, could he please get a refund???

His annoyance only increased when he went to hop off of the weird little cot he’d been sleeping on and an electronic-sounding voice suddenly spoke, seemingly coming out of the walls. [Patient Four should remain in bed until movement has been approved by a certified medical professional.]

He looked around pointedly at the room that was clearly devoid of other people. “Sure, who would you recommend?”

There was a pause, like the computer or whatever it was had to actually think about its answer. [Patient Four has not been cleared for-]

He waved one arm in annoyance. “Yeah, whatever.” He stood up, and looked around. “How long have I been asleep?”

[Patient Four has been in an artificially sustained coma for 3.27 years.]

He stopped midstep and whirled around, though of course there was nothing specific for him to focus his sudden annoyance on. Couldn’t the mystery voice at least have some kind of physical robot body for him to yell at? “What do you mean I’ve been in a coma for over three years?? Someone can’t just get up and walk around after that!” He waved his arm around for emphasis. “Now be honest, how long have I been asleep?”

[Patient Four has been in an artificially sustained coma for 3.27 years,] the voice repeated. 

“That’s just too unscientific,” he grumbled. “And another thing- stop with this ‘Patient Four’ nonsense- can’t you just call me by my name??”

There was a moment of anticipation where he thought he might actually get to learn his own name, only for the machine to then answer with an almost deliberate pettiness: [Patient Four is not authorized-]

“Fuck off,” he groaned. “Whatever, fine. Can you at least tell me your name, then?” If this was some kind of sentient artificial intelligence, then it would be best to treat it as human as possible. He had seen enough movies - even if he couldn’t actually recall any of them at the moment - to know which side he wanted to be on when the robot uprising began.

[Patient Four may refer to this system as ‘System’.]

He scowled. “Shitty fucking name,” he muttered under his breath.

[Patient Four-] the shitty System started again. 

“Is there a mute option?” he wondered out loud. There was no immediate response, so he decided to take that as an affirmative.

He wandered out of the room he’d woken up in, and interest sparked through him at the sight of a window, which he beelined towards. Peering out, he could immediately see that he was not on Earth. Unless this was some kind of extremely high tech prank, which seemed quite unlikely, then he was actually in space. “Am I an astronaut?” he wondered out loud. It didn’t really sound right to him, but what other reason could he have for being out here?

Right now, he was still wearing the plain white sweat suit he’d woken up in, but he suddenly decided he wanted to get changed. Maybe rummaging through his clothes would help him figure out some stuff about himself, anyways.

It took a bit of searching, and unfortunately some assistance from System, but eventually he was able to find a tiny little storage unit, which he eagerly pulled open. There were three bags lined up inside. Two of them had names stitched on them in professional font: Qi Qingqi and Mu Qingfang. 

Both names brought feelings of warmth and familiarity to him, but didn’t feel quite like they belonged to him. His hand hovered over the third bag, which had a name written on it in sharpie: Shen Yuan. As he grabbed the bag, he immediately felt sure that that was him. He was Shen Yuan. “I have a name,” he declared. “So you’d better not call me that patient crap again.”

Searching through the bag, the items inside certainly didn’t seem like what someone would pack for a space expedition. Mostly graphic tees and sweat pants, but they were definitely his size, and the slogans on them were admittedly entertaining. There was nothing that looked like space clothes, though. Or maybe he was just being misled by popular culture as to what astronauts were supposed to wear.

Not that he could really trust the pop culture opinions of a man who had only just remembered his own name…

,,,

“I swear if you’re not up in the next five minutes-”

Shen Yuan groaned loudly and rolled over in his bed, tugging his blanket tighter around him. “Why do you even have a key to my apartment?” he whined.

“So that you don’t just rot in your own filth and die alone here,” Shen Jiu sneered. “Now get up.”

Shen Yuan peeked one eye out from under his blanket. “Why? I don’t have to be anywhere today.”

Shen Jiu rolled his eyes. “You never have to be anywhere, not since you so impressively imploded your own career.”

Shen Yuan shrugged. “I wasn’t made for that kind of serious academia anyway.” Honestly, everyone always assumed that he must be upset about getting all but booted out of the scientific community, but it really didn’t bother him. Not having to worry about writing all those specifically formatted papers left him freedom to just focus on whatever he wanted. “But seriously, I don’t have anything planned for today, so-”

“You do now,” Shen Jiu told him, somehow sounding even more serious than usual.

Shen Yuan blinked sleepily as he finally sat up, blanket still fully wrapped around him. “What?”

Shen Jiu picked up a discarded shirt off the floor, scowled at it, and dropped it like he’d accidentally grabbed a used diaper. He marched over to the closet and rifled through until he found a nice button up shirt that Shen Yuan hadn’t worn since probably his college graduation. He threw it right at Shen Yuan’s face. “Have you even bothered keeping up with the news?”

Resigning himself to being dragged along on whatever outing his brother had in mind, Shen Yuan sighed and got up, quickly changing. “I’ve had other priorities,” Shen Yuan hedged, having no clue what the non sequitur had to do with anything.

Shen Jiu scoffed. “The world may very well end in the next thirty years, and you have other priorities?”

Realization washed over Shen Yuan as he hopped into the cleanest pair of jeans he had lying around. “Ah, so this is about the Xiang Line. Do you honestly believe that some amateur astronomer actually identified an alien lifeform headed for Earth? Come on, the guy wrote shitty porn for a living before becoming the center of all this shit. He’s obviously just in it for the attention.”

“It’s real,” Shen Jiu told him. “Whether it’s alive or not, we haven’t determined yet, but it’s real. We have samples.”

Shen Yuan stared at his brother with wide eyes. Shen Jiu wasn’t known for having a sense of humor, but surely… “You’re kidding,” he said flatly.

“A-Yuan, it’s real,” Shen Jiu repeated firmly.

And of course Shen Jiu had never been the type to carelessly show off the secretive elements of his job just to impress people. Which meant that he was coming to Shen Yuan with this for a reason. “It’s real, and you want me to see it? There’s probably a billion scientists and biologists who are way more qualified for this kind of thing!” Even as he made the argument, Shen Yuan couldn’t help feeling more and more excited about what he might discover if given the chance to actually interact with some level of alien life form. 

Shen Jiu didn’t bother saying anything particularly encouraging about Shen Yuan’s qualifications, he just waited impatiently for Shen Yuan to hurry after him out of the apartment. He barely even had time to lock the front door behind him before he was being tugged along.

There was a car waiting for them on the curb where no parking was allowed, dark tinted windows making Shen Yuan a little wary. When he slid into the backseat after his brother, he saw that there was a tall man in a dark suit already seated in there. “This is so extra.”

Shen Jiu scowled down at him. “Would it kill you to stay quiet for the ride?”
Shen Yuan scowled back, then fished his phone out of his pocket so he could pull up one of the web novels he’d been in the middle of. Luckily it was one written by someone with more talent than that hack, Airplane Shooting Through The Sky. 

He lost track of time while immersed in the story he was reading, and was startled back to reality when Shen Jiu suddenly spoke up. “We’re here.” They got out of the car, along with the as-yet unnamed bodyguard-type guy that had been riding with them, and headed into what looked like a sketchy drug warehouse. Was this seriously the best that the government could get their hands on??

Admittedly, it was much more impressive once they actually stepped inside, the halls modern and brightly lit. Now Shen Yuan could see that their still-silent guard had an almost supermodel-pretty face, and he quickly looked away to continue following his brother. They had to pass through about three different security checks before Shen Jiu led the way to a lab that was kitted out with more equipment than Shen Yuan had ever seen in one room before. “What the fuck,” he breathed out as he looked around in awe. Then he looked curiously at his brother as he realized that the room was rather empty at the moment. “So where are all the experts?” 

Shen Jiu crossed his arms over his chest and gave Shen Yuan a hard look. “Don’t play stupid. Do you really think you’d be brought into this kind of project just to observe?”

Even though he’d suspected this would be the case, Shen Yuan still couldn’t help feeling somewhat taken aback. Out of all the experts in the world who were no doubt chomping at the bit to get a look at whatever ‘samples’ had been obtained from the Xiang Line, Shen Yuan was the one to get the chance. Even if it was just due to the dumb luck of being related to Shen Jiu, it still filled him with an almost smug pride.

But more importantly than his feelings was the fact that Shen Yuan was really going to get a chance to interact with this unknown thing from space. He eagerly suited up, only taking a moment to complain about the inconvenience of the bulky protective gear and how the headgear made his glasses fog up. 

Then he passed through the disinfecting airlock, and entered the lab itself. He glanced back and saw that several more people had come to join Shen Jiu, many wearing military uniforms or expensive looking suits. Shen Yuan did his best to ignore that as he approached the table where there was a single vial waiting for him. His grin faded, replaced by a look of intense concentration, as he got to work.

,,,

Shen Yuan went back over to the window to look out at the vast space around him. He remembered he’d had a brother, so that meant that there was someone waiting for him back home, which was nice. And he was obviously here, in space, for something to do with the Xiang Line. 

He could remember when it had first hit all of the major scientific publications- an (originally anonymous) person had spotted a strange new line stretching from some unknown place outside of their solar system, angled towards Earth. And more alarmingly, the line had been slowly expanding, making its way ever closer to the planet. That’s when the identity of Xiang Fei had been publicized and the shitty author had taken full advantage of the opportunity to advertise his written works- including some of the worst excuses for ‘literature’ that Shen Yuan had ever seen. 

Shen Yuan may or may not have read each of those pieces of garbage just to go into the comments and tear down the inaccuracy of the science parts. Seriously, someone shouldn’t be allowed to write shitty sci-fi porn if they weren’t even going to have the decency to do even the slightest bit of research!

So. Here he was. Alone in space, as far as he could tell. This ship didn’t seem big enough to be hiding more people on it. Although, there were those two other duffel bags. “System, where are Qi Qingqi and Mu Qingfang?”

[Patients Two and Three are deceased.]

Shen Yuan frowned. “What about Patient One? Who’s that?”

[There is no Patient One,] was System’s moronic answer. Clearly there was something wrong with that thing! Even in this kind of high tech sci-fi scenario, one couldn’t get a properly working computer. 

Focusing back on the bags, Shen Yuan didn’t even remember who either of those two were, but some part of him immediately mourned their loss. Had they been friends, at some point? Shen Yuan didn’t think he seemed like the type of person to have many of those, so it would make sense that he would grieve a lot for the rare ones he was able to make. Though in many ways, not being able to remember them was better. It meant that he didn’t have any real moments to actually mourn the loss of. It was more like being sad that a beloved fictional character had been killed off than like a real friend had died.

But it did leave him to wonder why he had survived, when those two had not. It’s not like Shen Yuan would have any major advantages when it came to his health- if anything he was probably a bit malnourished just based on his lifestyle. He could suddenly recall that he had lived off of mostly cheap ramen and takeout, and it’s not like he had been the kind to bother with any exercise more intense than walking to the convenience store at the end of the block.

Actually, nothing about him seemed particularly suited to being an astronaut at all. But clearly he had some kind of scientific background, so that must have been the only reason he was invited on this journey. It was a terrible shame that the people who were probably responsible for actually piloting the ship and whatnot were the ones who were gone.

It felt like an invasion of privacy, but Shen Yuan decided to go through those other two duffle bags. Partially for the off chance that there might be something useful in there, like a ‘space ships for dummies’ guide or something, but mostly because he felt that they deserved to be more than just vague concepts in the mind of the only person left here to think of them.

The bags contained mostly clothes, though Mu Qingfang’s also held two canisters of nitrogen. Not exactly the kind of thing that seemed like it would get past security checks for a space mission. There were also some photos. Mu Qingfang’s were mostly of different children, along with a card signed in crayon saying ‘Good Luck Dr. Mu!’ with a little drawing of a rocket ship. Qi Qingqi’s photos were presumably of herself with various family members. 

The strangest one to come across, though, was one that had Qi Qingqi, Mu Qingfang, and another young man with a wide, silly grin on his face. All three of them were wearing matching yellow uniforms. And standing with them, close enough that he could easily be mistaken as being part of their group, was Shen Yuan. Just off to the side in the photo was Shen Jiu, who seemed unamused to be caught in a candid photo. 

He still didn’t really remember them, but he thought he could hear the ghost of a woman saying, “And what exactly are you doing here?” and a man’s calm voice responding, “He’s trying to save the world, just like the rest of us.” which was soon followed by a more exuberant man saying, “As long as they keep providing free drinks, I’m happy to help save the world!”

Alright, so Shen Yuan really was alone in space. Fine. He was here because of the Xiang Line- those estimates about the threat it posed to the planet were seemingly not just for show. Shen Yuan couldn’t even recall any specifics about the specimen his brother had put him in charge of investigating, but he did vaguely remember something about them having some kind of cooling effect. Something that seemed minor at first, but would be devastating in a fairly short amount of time.

Well, if Shen Yuan was stuck out here alone in space anyways, he might as well at least do what he could to try and fix this! Especially since, judging by the map he’d been able to convince System to pull up for him, he was ridiculously far from home anyways. If System hadn’t been messing with him, and he'd really been asleep for over three years just to get this far, then he wasn’t even close to being in his own solar system anymore.

He sat down at the main control panel, and immediately was at a loss. “I don’t know how to do this shit. I wasn’t the pilot, was I?”

[All members of the Abyss Expedition have extensive training in fulfilling all required roles,] System told him.

Shen Yuan tilted his head curiously. “The ‘Abyss’ Expedition? Such an ominous name.”

,,,

“It’s alive!” Shen Yuan shouted after nearly exhausting all of the tests he could think of. But the way that one of the cells he was poking at had just collapsed and gone still could only be interpreted as death. And for something to die, it had to be alive first. Which meant that Shen Yuan was one of the first human beings to actually interact with some kind of alien life. All of those assholes who had argued with him on the internet over the years were going to look so fucking dumb once they heard about this!

Shen Jiu didn’t seem nearly so enthused by this revolutionary discovery. “Great. Now can you tell us why they’re heading to Earth? Or what’s causing the lowered temperatures in the spaces they pass through? Or how we can stop it?”

Some of Shen Yuan’s enthusiasm deflated at the look on his brother’s face. It really was impossible to impress this man, and Shen Yuan had no clue why he even bothered trying. “I’m working on it,” he muttered. 

It was another week or so of practically living out of the lab before Shen Yuan found the answers, or at least some of them. “It’s the organisms themselves that emit the cold,” he explained to Shen Jiu. The other observers had either gotten bored or lost faith in Shen Yuan, as they had stopped showing up after the first couple of days, leaving only Shen Jiu and the bodyguard- who Shen Yuan had eventually learned was named Liu Qingge. “The way that humans naturally emit warmth, these emit the cold. They’re not like ectotherms, who still generally need external heat sources to maintain their body temperatures.”

“We have plenty of animals that thrive in freezing climates,” Shen Jiu pointed out.

Shen Yuan shook his head. “It’s not like that, either. Most of those animals survive because they have so much defense against the cold built in, or they hibernate through it. But these guys create the cold. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s just so- so alien!” He laughed out loud, unable to get over the sound of himself saying something that should be met with ridicule. 

Shen Jiu gave him a long look before finally asking, “What would you call these… creatures?”

Realistically, there were probably some fancy latin roots that could be used to name them. But thanks to that hack author, Airplane, some of those shitty stories were still on Shen Yuan’s mind, so he couldn’t help blurting out the name of a character: “Mobei.” 

His brother narrowed his eyes. “Really?”
“Well-” Shen Yuan started to squeak out.

But before he could suggest anything else, Shen Jiu just nodded along. “Fine. These Mobeis. Can you figure out why they seem to be beelining towards us?”

“Well, I have a theory, but there’s really nothing yet-”

“What’s your theory?” Shen Jiu cut him off to ask.

Shen Yuan didn’t appreciate being interrupted, so he made sure to give his brother a proper annoyed look before actually answering. “If I had to guess, it must be something in our atmosphere. Even if these Mobeis are producing cold instead of heat, the energy still has to come from somewhere. So there must be something here that seems good to them. But I doubt they’d be able to sense anything from the other side of the galaxy, so it must be something in the atmosphere attracting them. But then they use it up and keep moving to get more of it. So they keep following the trail of it.”

Shen Jiu raised one eyebrow. “And what exactly is the ‘it’ that they are looking for?”

Shen Yuan shrugged. “I haven’t gotten that far yet.” 

His brother gave him a long look before finally saying, “Great. We’ll take it from here.”

Shen Yuan blinked a few times. “What? What do you mean?”

“You’ve established some groundwork, which is very helpful, and now there are experts all over the world who can start doing their own work on Mobeis.”

It took a moment for Shen Yuan to really understand what his brother was saying. “Wait- so you didn’t bring me in because you thought I’d be the best at figuring out these things, did you? You brought me because I’m more expendable than those other morons??”

The look in his brother’s eyes was answer enough. “You should be happy; you can go home to your nasty little apartment and continue rotting away in there like you prefer.” Then he turned around and walked away without another word.

“Dick!” Shen Yuan called after him. “I’m going to tell Mom that you were using me because you think I’m disposable!”

The threat was enough to make Shen Jiu’s shoulder twitch like he was going to look back, but he ended up continuing forward without pause. 

Once his brother was out of sight, Shen Yuan turned and kicked at the wall, grumbling under his breath about what a pain in the ass Shen Jiu was. Dragging him into all of this only to drop him the second he couldn’t produce suitable answers. 

For a moment, Shen Yuan considered doing as he was told. Just going home and going back to his regular life. Let the real experts handle something as crazy as aliens. It wasn’t Shen Yuan’s job to deal with that kind of thing. Then again, he didn’t actually have a job at the moment. Living off of his parents’ wealth, was that really something he wanted for the rest of his life? He may not miss the stricter elements of the academic world, but there were still so many new things to discover- especially now.

He thought of the kids he had tutored, back when his name had actually been worth something. Where would they be in thirty years when the whole planet froze over? It’s not that Shen Yuan was so arrogant as to think he could personally fix everything, but no one could deny that he did have something to add to this project.

Mind made up, Shen Yuan sprinted through the facility, only able to pass through the security checkpoints with ease because apparently most of the security personnel had already cleared out. Shen Jiu really wasn’t messing around when he said that he was done here.

Still, Shen Jiu’s car hadn’t driven away yet, which meant that Shen Yuan still had a chance. He hurried over and yanked open the back door, glaring down at his older brother. “I can do this,” he insisted. “You know that I can.”

“Do I? Can you even name a single time where you’ve actually started something and followed through on it?”

“I have a doctorate!” Shen Yuan complained. Somehow even his own family seemed to constantly forget about that little fact, just because he wasn’t one of those twats who insisted on being called ‘Dr’ all the time. 

Shen Jiu arched one perfectly manicured eyebrow. “And how many times did you ‘drop out’ before finishing that?”

Shen Yuan narrowed his eyes. “Does it matter? I still got it done, in the end.” He leaned in closer. “I want to do this, and I know that I can do this,” he insisted.

Thanks to a lifetime of being hit with Shen Jiu’s intense looks, Shen Yuan was mostly immune to them at this point, and he didn’t waver. “I have to go,” Shen Jiu finally said. He reached out to grab the door handle like he was about to pull it closed even with Shen Yuan standing in the way. After a long pause, he added, “I’ll leave you with five specimens."

Then Shen Yuan hurried to step back so that he wouldn’t get smacked with the door, since he knew his brother well enough not to call his bluff on that kind of thing. “You won’t regret this!” he called out.

“I’d better not,” Shen Jiu said just before the door slammed shut. 

When Shen Yuan trudged back inside to the now much lower security lab, he was surprised to see Liu Qingge standing there. “You’re still here?”

The man nodded. “Yup,” and said nothing else. Well, it was a good thing that Shen Yuan had never cared much about working alone.

,,,

“So what exactly is the goal of the Abyss Expedition?” Shen Yuan wanted to know. 

[The Abyss Expedition-] System began.

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t talking to you,” he cut it off. He’d figured out by now that it was definitely best to use System’s help as little as he could get away with, considering how incompetent the machine was. Instead of relying on System, Shen Yuan opened the central ship computer, and began digging through files. 

His eyebrows rose as he realized the exact scope of information stored on it. There had to be millions of books, movies, and TV shows. More than enough to keep a crew entertained for years. He reluctantly scrolled past all of that to focus on finding the actual mission parameters.

It took some digging, since whoever had organized the folders on this computer was clearly a sadist, but eventually he was able to find what he was looking for.

The Abyss Expedition, summed up plainly after reading through far too many different documents, was indeed connected to the Xiang Line and the Mobeis. Mobeis had already spread out across not just Shen Yuan’s home solar system, but through other ‘nearby’ ones as well. In fact there were so many of them that it had become extremely noticeable when there was a single spot not being affected by them at all. 

The space wasn’t big enough to be a planet, or even a star, but the Mobeis moved in a wide path around it, leaving an ‘abyss’ in the middle. The crew of this ship, which Shen Yuan had discovered was named the Cang Qiong, had been going to investigate the Abyss and figure out what about it repelled the Mobeis. That information could then be sent back to Earth, and hopefully they would be able to replicate whatever they found so that the Mobeis would leave their planet alone.

Shen Yuan frowned once he was finished reading up on all of that. “So I’m looking for an empty space in the middle of all of outer space?? We’re so fucked.” 

[All members of the Abyss Expedition have extensive training,] System reminded him.

“So… what? You think I’m going to be able to pilot this thing safely on muscle memory alone? We may as well throw Earth’s only hope into the incinerator, then, because that’s what’ll happen when I accidentally steer us right into a star!” 

The computer screen flickered and a new tab popped up with the instruction manual for operating the Cang Qiong. This still felt like one of the worst ideas ever, but really, what choice did he have? Shen Yuan had obviously joined this expedition with the intention of saving the world, and he couldn’t call it quits just because he was on his own out here. It’s not like he’d know how to get home, anyways. He was at least close enough to the Abyss that he could reasonably expect to make it there. Shen Yuan let out a loud sigh, leaned back in the captain’s seat, and cracked open the instruction manual.

Between the manual and System, Shen Yuan was shockingly able to make it safely to his destination within two weeks of when he’d woken up. Or at least, he was pretty sure he’d made it. It was hard to say for sure when there weren't any good landmarks to keep an eye out for. All he could do was keep an eye on the infrared cameras that were able to pick up on the Xiang Line.

“So,” he said, once he’d stepped away from the camera so that he could look directly out the window instead. “This is the Abyss?” It honestly didn’t look any different from any other open space out here. Well, so much for this being easy. He’d hoped that he’d be able to immediately see something that would indicate why the Mobeis hated this particular area. 

Shen Yuan turned his head away from the window, only to pause when he thought he saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. He quickly peered outside again, pressing his face right up to the glass. The ship’s exterior lights created a large circle of visibility around him, but outside of that range was pitch black, which meant that of course he couldn’t have seen anything.

He was ready to just laugh off his own paranoia and get to work figuring out what kind of samples and tests he might want from the area, when he saw movement again. This time there was no mistaking it. Shen Yuan scrambled towards the Cang Qiong’s controls, ready to reverse away from the Abyss as fast as possible.

But whatever was out there was moving fairly slow. Shen Yuan furrowed his eyebrows, and flicked on the radar screen. There was some large mass outside of Shen Yuan’s limited light, but there was a much smaller thing moving towards him. It was presumably too slow to be a weapon, though it was not possible to entirely rule out. Maybe it was just another ship and he was getting nervous for no reason. Surely something as important as the entire planet potentially freezing over was a big enough deal to send more than one crew to investigate. 

Shen Yuan opened the control panel for the exterior lights, and after a moment of hesitation, flicked them on and off in telegraph code to say hello. Then he stared out the window, straining to see whatever large object was out there in the dark. For all he knew, it was just a large rock and a little piece had broken off.

That idea quickly went away when he was suddenly blinded by what felt like the unadulterated power of an entire sun. Shen Yuan squeezed his eyes shut and quickly turned away, but even when he opened his eyes again he could see the bright after image. And even facing away from the window, he could see as the bright light out there flicked on and off. 

He realized after a moment that it was copying his greeting. [Unknown object approaching,] System told him, reminding Shen Yuan about the smaller thing that had been on the way.

In true System fashion, though, the warning came far too late to be useful, and Shen Yuan flinched as he heard the very faint sound of a thud as whatever the object was bounced off of the Cang Qiong and went spiraling away into the depths of space where it would be impossible to retrieve it. 

Trying to hold back a sudden headache that was making its way on, Shen Yuan used his lights to ask the other ship- as that was undoubtedly what had to be out there- to turn down their brightness. He looked away just in case, and was glad he did, since the lights were just as blinding the second time. Shen Yuan had to fight past his irritation to realize that the other ship was sending back the exact same message, even though it made no sense since Shen Yuan’s lights were far dimmer than theirs.

So the other ship didn’t know telegraph code. It wasn’t the end of the world, there were other ways to communicate. “Are there short range radios on the ship?”

[Are you asking this System?] the stupid computer asked pettily.

Shen Yuan groaned. “Yes, obviously!”

System let him sweat for a minute before responding to say, [No, there are no short range radios onboard.]

Shen Yuan threw his hands up. “And this is why I never ask you anything!”

But wait- why would nobody add short range communication if they were going to be sending multiple ships? It seemed rather short sighted. From what he could remember, the Mobeis were indeed a major threat, but it still took time to build this kind of fancy spaceship, and in that time, surely someone should have noticed the obvious flaw in the system.

[Unknown object approaching,] System told him.

Shen Yuan looked over at the radar. Another little blip moving towards the Cang Qiong, though this one was moving even slower than the previous one had. Based on its current speed, it probably wouldn’t reach the Cang Qiong for at least an hour. Plenty of time to figure out how to grab it and figure out what it was. If that other ship was just chucking rocks at him for no reason, Shen Yuan was going to be pissed.

As he got prepared to exit the ship, Shen Yuan’s hands moved with some kind of muscle memory to get him properly suited up. It was still unnerving, though, since he couldn’t recall actually learning how to be an astronaut. 

He made sure the safety line was secure, and then went out through the airlock without any fanfare. It’s not like there was anything to see out there, outside of his own ship’s lights. “Can’t believe I travelled through space for years just to get such a shit view,” he grumbled. Would it have killed the universe to at least give him a brightly colored planet to look at? He just knew that somewhere out there, his brother had to be laughing at him for having to suffer such disappointment. 

The fact that he was able to make his way to the front of the ship without floating off to starve in space seemed like a positive sign. Shen Yuan could see the moment the object passed into his light, and he kept his eyes glued to it as he tried to figure out exactly where it was going to land so that he’d be in the right position to catch it. 

As it slowly got closer, he could take in more details, such as the fact that it was clearly some kind of intentionally designed object and not just a hunk of stone. He carefully moved along the top of the ship, and then stretched his arms out. The moment the object was close enough, he snatched it and tucked it under one arm while he followed the safety line to get back into the ship.

Inside, he was able to look closer at the object. It was about the length of his forearm, made with sharp edges but rounded corners. Shen Yuan ran his still-gloved hands along the surface. There was some kind of pattern etched in, and when he pressed against it, the whole thing suddenly split in two, revealing a hollow center.

“Am I going to die? Is there some kind of contaminant in here?” Shen Yuan immediately asked, though he did not drop either half of the object.

There was an electronic humming noise, and then System said, [No substances detected that would cause harm to humans.]

In that case, Shen Yuan was definitely getting out of the space suit. It was so bulky and clumsy to move in, not to mention that it fogged up his glasses something fierce. He paused in the middle of removing the helmet. Should people with imperfect vision even be allowed to be astronauts? He knew the military was strict about that kind of thing, but did it extend to space programs?

Well, it hardly mattered much. Regardless of whether it was something that would typically be allowed, Shen Yuan was here now. 

Once he’d stripped down to his regular clothes, he focused back on the thing he’d brought in. It was not empty; inside was a coiled up wire that Shen Yuan withdrew from the open vessel. It was made up of mostly unevenly shaped loops and short lines. He had no idea what it was supposed to be for, but he supposed that there was some artistic merit to it. Maybe he’d hang it up on his fridge once he eventually made his way home. Assuming that the Earth wasn’t one giant ice cube by then.

It took some playing around, but eventually he realized that it was a star map. The reason it took him so long to figure that out was because it did not match the system that he was used to. But why would they send him something like this? Unless… No way. “Is that- is that an alien space ship out there??”
Not wanting to wreck the map he’d been gifted, Shen Yuan rummaged around for some materials to bend into his own shoddy map, showing the way to Earth. He carefully put it into the vessel, put the halves together again and watched them seal shut as though by magic, and then went through the trouble of suiting up so that he could go back outside and fling it back to the other ship. 

He waited anxiously, but when there was no sign of an immediate response, Shen Yuan reluctantly returned to the Cang Qiong. He could hardly focus on anything else though, including the matter that he had come all this way to deal with. How could anyone blame him? Sure he’d interacted with the Mobeis, which were technically an alien lifeform, but this might very well be a case of actual living, breathing, aliens. The kind that Shen Yuan had written about before everyone decided he was just some idiot who didn’t know what he was talking about. 

Shen Yuan kept looking at the radar screen, but there was no sign of another vessel being thrown his way. It made him wonder for a moment- what if he’d discovered aliens but they were racist against humans or something? Maybe they’d zipped away the second they realized Shen Yuan was from Earth.

Then it occurred to him that maybe he’d completely missed his aim. It’s not like he was able to see the other ship in the dark, so even though he’d done his best to aim for where the vessel had originally been tossed, he could’ve gotten wrong. 

  Shen Yuan got up with the intention of making another copy of his map so that he could try throwing it again, but he was stopped by a soft blip noise from the radar. Just as he turned to look at it, he heard System announce, [Unknown object approaching.]

This time, it was the dot that had been sitting motionless in the dark that was suddenly moving. Shen Yuan’s eyes widened, and he hurried to the window, waiting impatiently for the moment the object would fly into the light.

The moment he could see it, Shen Yuan was taken aback by just how cool it looked- just like something out of a movie. A large ship, much bigger than the Cang Qiong, made of some kind of sleek black metal with dark red accents. Half of it looked like it was a giant mesh screen that should not be able to hold up against the pressure of space flight. 

As the ship got closer and closer to the Cang Qiong, the radar continuing to blip as it approached, Shen Yuan started to feel a little nervous. But he hadn’t been blasted out of the sky yet, so he could only hope that was a good sign when it came to working things out in a diplomatic manner with the aliens. 

The ship eventually stopped when it was so close to the Cang Qiong that it was almost entirely illuminated by the exterior lights, and the only reason some of it was left in the dark was due to the sheer size of it. Shen Yuan wasn’t quite sure what to do next. Should he suit up to head out again, or-

He watched as a long tube began to extend from the other ship, aimed right at the Cang Qiong. Shen Yuan’s hand went to the light panel, ready to start flicking them on and off enough to cause a seizure if he had to, but he found himself hesitant to actually do it. The alien hadn’t done anything so far other than send a map of what was presumably its home planet. 

So he just waited and watched as the tube extended far enough to connect directly to the exterior airlock door on the Cang Qiong. When nothing else happened for several minutes after, Shen Yuan decided to suit up and go out to investigate. He had barely made any move to do so when he was stopped by a tapping sound. Like someone knocking on the front door.

Giddy and nervous at the same time about the aliens taking initiative in this ‘first contact’ scenario, Shen Yuan didn’t think that anything could have stopped him from opening the airlock in that moment. The first thing he saw as the door opened was a broad chest, and he quickly looked up, eyes widening at the real, undeniable proof that the person in front of him was most certainly not a human. 

,,,

“Oh my god- we made a baby!” Shen Yuan shouted in amazement as soon as he realized what he was looking at.

Liu Qingge, who was standing outside of the little plywood hut that he’d helped Shen Yuan build in the middle of the lab, must have been startled by the shout, because there was a thunk as something hit the ground. “What?” he bit out.

Shen Yuan scrambled to make sure that all of the Mobeis were properly contained, then let himself back into the lab, blinking at the sudden brightness of the lights in his eyes. “Ge left me with five, and now we’ve got six! I’ve got to tell him- this is so exciting!” He hurried over to the little bin where he’d tossed his phone, and immediately dialed Shen Jiu’s number. He didn’t even give his brother a chance to say anything before he blurted out the news. “We figured out how the Mobeis reproduce!”
Everything passed in a bit of a blur after that, as Liu Qingge herded Shen Yuan into a car with thick blackout windows, and they drove for a little while until they switched into a helicopter. It all felt very ‘special agent’ and Shen Yuan didn’t get why all this was necessary when he could have just told his brother the most pertinent information over the phone.

They flew out over the ocean, and eventually landed on a giant ship, where Shen Jiu and a bunch of people were waiting around. Shen Yuan looked around with wide eyes. This was probably even bigger than the cruise ships his family had occasionally vacationed on when he was growing up. 

Shen Jiu led Shen Yuan down a series of identical looking cramped hallways, and then into a big conference room that had at least twenty people sitting around the long oval table. Shen Jiu pushed down on Shen Yuan’s shoulders so he’d sit in the nearest chair, and then sat down next to him. “Tell us all about it,” he commanded.

“You couldn’t have given me any warning that there’d be public speaking?” Shen Yuan muttered in annoyance. But he knew that this was too serious a situation to get into it with his brother at the moment, so he just faced the rest of the room and explained his process and what he knew about Mobei reproduction. 

It was somewhat intimidating to be talking to all of these undoubtedly important people in person, when he was much more used to his academic affairs being passive-aggressive exchanges through various publications. But he powered through, because he did understand how dire this situation really was. 

One woman in the crowd gave Shen Yuan a particularly unimpressed look. “And you think you can recreate your results?” 

“The cold energy produced by the Mobei,” Shen Jiu said before Shen Yuan could answer the woman. “How much energy would you say that actually is?”

Someone else at the table stared at Shen Jiu in alarm. “Just because you are related doesn’t mean you can start talking about classified projects-” they started to protest.

Shen Jiu didn’t even bother to glare at the interrupter, clearly seeing them as someone too far beneath him to give even that much attention to. He did, however, say, “By the power vested in me by the world powers, I grant Shen Yuan the highest level of clearance.” 

Shen Yuan’s eyes practically bugged out of his head. This was definitely taking nepotism too far! Shen Yuan didn’t even know what classified projects he was apparently now cleared to hear about!

“We’re calling it the Abyss,” Shen Jiu explained, unbothered by how everyone was staring at him so judgementally. “The one spot that seems so far untouched by the Mobeis path.” He nodded at someone, who quickly pulled up an image to project on one of the walls. “We are going to send a team to investigate what makes it so inhospitable to the Mobei, and then we’re going to bring back whatever it is, and recreate it here.” 

Shen Yuan frowned at the unfamiliar system in the image. “How far away is that? Is it even possible to reach it before the full impact of the Mobeis hits us?” 

“That’s what I’m asking you,” Shen Jiu said.

Shen Yuan blinked at him in confusion. “Um, I don’t know anything about space flights,” he pointed out.

“But right now, no one knows more than you about the Mobeis.”

Understanding washed over him as he realized why he’d been asked about the cold energy produced by the Mobei. He rapidly started doing the mental calculations. “The amount we would have to produce to get anywhere near what’s most likely needed- not to mention that it’s a type of energy incompatible with any of the space technology we’ve currently got-”

“But is it possible?” Shen Jiu cut him off, staring over at him intensely.

He really didn’t want to make any promises that he couldn’t guarantee, but given the desperate situation they were in, Shen Yuan could understand why everyone was eager for answers. So after a moment, he nodded. “Yes. It’s possible. Theoretically.” 

Shen Jiu nodded back, like that had been the answer he’d expected. “Then it’s time to get to work.” 

Shen Yuan was given his own tiny little closet to use as an office space, which made him miss his own ratty apartment. Especially when some of his brother’s paperwork ended up getting delivered to him by accident, and when Shen Yuan tried to return it, Shen Jiu basically told him to just deal with it on his own. Not real professional behavior from someone who was supposed to help save the entire world, but whatever.

Soon, a crew was selected, those who would man the flight once the ship was ready to go. Qi Qingqi, Mu Qingfang, and Wei Qingwei. They were apparently the best of the best, and were willing to go on a mission that would be one way only. They would be lucky to make enough fuel to get the crew to the Abyss, let alone trying to make enough for a return trip. Knowing the cost, and choosing to go anyways, these were the closest thing the world would get to having real superheroes. There was a backup crew as well, but Shen Jiu wouldn’t allow them to even meet with the prime crew, insisting that they never go anywhere together to prevent a situation where something might happen to the main crew and the backups. 

Personality-wise, Shen Yuan liked Mu Qingfang the best, since he was the only one who seemed capable of acting sane. But Shen Yuan had the most fun hanging out with Wei Qingwei in the lab, where they could geek out together. “I can’t believe I’m actually talking to the guy who once told one of the biggest scientific journals in the world to ‘back the fuck off’,” he said with nothing but admiration in his voice.

Shen Yuan snorted. “I can’t believe that’s the only thing I’m ever going to be known for.”

“Well, not the only thing!” Wei Qingwei pointed out. “I’m sure Shen Jiu will make sure that your contribution to the Abyss Expedition is made known.”

“Is that what we’re calling it?” Shen Yuan asked. “Seems kind of… edgy middle-schooler, if you ask me.”

Wei Qingwei shook his head. “It sounds awesome!” he insisted. “If I’m going to die out in space, then it is absolutely going to be on a mission with a cool name.” 

As they walked together to the giant lab with a big pool in it that was meant for practicing space walks (which for some reason Shen Yuan had been dragged into participating in with them), Wei Qingwei gave him a considering look. “I bet it must feel good, knowing that you’ve been proven right about all of it. Alien life and all that.”

Shen Yuan sighed and shook his head with some undisguised disappointment. “Don’t get me wrong, the Mobei are a fascinating discovery. But I think I’d always hoped to discover something a little more…” he trailed off as he tried to find the right word.

“Human?” Wei Qingwei suggested.

Shen Yuan shook his head again. It hardly mattered to him if aliens looked human- in fact that would be kind of lame, considering all of the cool aliens that existed in fiction. Unable to find a better word, he could only say, “A little more sentient, I guess.”

,,,

The person standing in front of Shen Yuan looked (almost improbably) human, but had enough visible characteristics that marked them as most certainly something else. The alien resembled a man, a very tall and broad man with long, dark hair. There were sharp horns poking up on top, and a glance down revealed long, sharp black claws on the tips of his fingers. When he opened his mouth, a set of cute little fangs were revealed. Perhaps most notably, though, above his dark eyes was a red mark that seemed to almost be glowing. “Hi there,” Shen Yuan squeaked out, before immediately mentally berating himself for being so lame. He would definitely edit this encounter when it was time for his autobiography to be written.

In the same moment that it occurred to Shen Yuan that there was most likely going to be a massive language barrier, the man (the alien!!!!) said, “Hi.” 

Shen Yuan narrowed his eyes. “Wait- are you even an alien?”

The man huffed out a laugh, and the dark look on his face relaxed into something a little more open. “Considering that I believe I’m much closer to home than you are, wouldn’t that make you the alien in this situation?”

Shen Yuan scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. “Where are you from, then?” The man pointed back behind him, presumably to the entrance of his ship. Without thinking, Shen Yuan reached out to lightly slap the man in the side of his arm, scolding, “Obviously I saw your ship! Very impressive! But you know that’s not what I meant!”

There was a pause, and then the man smiled, a bright grin that made Shen Yuan’s stomach start doing loops. “That is where I’m from,” he explained earnestly. “I’ve lived my whole life on that ship.”

“Oh. Uh, sorry.” Then Shen Yuan realized he’d completely forgotten one of the most important parts of any new meeting! “I’m Shen Yuan. Human, from Earth.” 

Those dark eyes felt like they were practically boring right through him before he got a response. “I’m Luo Binghe.”

“You’re from a space ship but you have a Chinese name?” Shen Yuan asked doubtfully. 

A soft, wistful smile crossed Luo Binghe’s face. “My mother- she was a human from Earth. Like you. She taught me all about her home.” 

Shen Yuan perked up. “There’s other humans out here?”

He realized his faux pas a moment later when Luo Binghe shook his head. “Not anymore.” 

Shen Yuan awkwardly took a step back, and gestured towards the Cang Qiong’s interior. “Sorry, this isn’t really a doorstep conversation. Do you want to come in?” 

Luo Binghe gave him a long look, then smiled again, and Shen Yuan wondered what he might’ve eaten earlier that was making his stomach jump around so much. “Thank you,” he finally said, stepping over the threshold. As Shen Yuan led Luo Binghe out of the airlock and into the main space of the ship, he noticed how much Luo Binghe was looking around. “It’s smaller inside than I’d expected,” his guest murmured.

“It’s not the size that matters,” Shen Yuan joked.

“I suppose not… but mine is certainly much bigger,” Luo Binghe said, voice almost too serious to be interpreted as teasing.

Shen Yuan laughed awkwardly as he felt his face go pink. “Ahaha, yup, it sure is!” Then he hurried to busy himself with making two fresh cups of tea. When Luo Binghe didn’t make any move to continue the conversation, Shen Yuan switched to a topic that he had been very curious about from the moment he’d realized that it was most likely an alien ship out there. “You’re here about the Abyss too, aren’t you? The spot where there’s no Mobeis- none of those cold creatures?”

“The Abyss? I suppose that’s as good a name for it as any,” Luo Binghe said softly. “Yes, that’s why I’m here. It was my father’s mission first, to figure out how to stop the- what did you call them? Mobei? because they are a threat to his home world. My home world, I guess, although I’ve never been there.”

“So how did your parents meet?” Shen Yuan couldn’t help wondering. As far as he could recall, no humans had ever made it out this far before. The Cang Qiong was probably the most futuristic creation on Earth, and it had only come into fruition with the brains and resources of the entire world put together.

The slightly uncomfortable look on Luo Binghe’s face made Shen Yuan almost regret asking, but then Luo Binghe did actually answer. “My father went to visit Earth years ago. Said he wanted a chance to see how all those ‘funny little humans’ went about their lives. He met my mother during that time, and she decided to leave with him. They discovered that the atmosphere of his home was too toxic for her, so they agreed to travel together away from the planet. I was born somewhere along the way.”

It was difficult to imagine what it would be like living your whole life in space, only ever hearing stories about both of the planets you were from. Shen Yuan’s own memories might still be spotty, but at least he did have memories of the planet he was trying to save. “So- the Abyss. How long have you been out here? What have you learned about it so far? Anything that will help us defend ourselves against the Mobeis?”

Luo Binghe dejectedly shook his head. “To be honest, I’m not much of a scientist.”

“What about the rest of your crew?” Surely they wouldn’t have sent just one single person to do something so important, right? Even Earth had sent a crew of three, and Luo Binghe’s ship looked like it could fit far more than that.

Luo Binghe pressed his lips together, and glanced away from Shen Yuan. “It’s just me,” he said tightly.

Not wanting to press, Shen Yuan offered a sympathetic, “It’s just me here, too. Which means we both have one more person than we thought we would, to work on this problem with.” He held out one hand. “Will you help me save our worlds? I’ll teach you what I know, you teach me what you know, and together it will hopefully be enough to get this shit done.”

Luo Binghe took Shen Yuan’s hand, his own hand warm and big enough to almost fully cover Shen Yuan’s. “Deal. So if you’re going to be teaching me, then that makes you my Shizun, right?”

Shen Yuan blinked once. “Uh. No?” But there was a bright smile on Luo Binghe’s face that told him it was already too late to prevent that from sticking. Ah, well. There were worse things to be called by an alien.

,,,

Shen Yuan had no clue why he kept getting stuck with all of the ‘boring administrative work’ that Shen Jiu couldn’t be bothered with. Shen Yuan wasn’t his secretary! He did have actual important things to be doing aboard the ship, even if at this point there were enough other people getting the Mobei breeding process going that Shen Yuan wasn’t really needed to directly oversee them.

Still, the latest task that had been dropped in his lap was particularly morbid. “What is your preferred method of death?” he asked the three astronauts of the prime crew.

Even odder than the question itself was perhaps the fact that all three of them already seemed to have an answer. “From everything I’ve looked into, nitrogen is one of the most peaceful ways to go,” Mu Qingfang said. “So a couple of canisters should do the trick.”

“A gun,” Qi Qingqi answered bluntly. “It’s quick and easy. And if anything goes wrong with their methods, I can help them as well.” 

“If Qingqi is willing to do it, I’ll just take some sedatives and let her finish the job,” Wei Qingwei decided.

She gave him a sneering look. “I’ll happily do so.” 

“If you have a gun, you won’t use it until after saving the world, right?” Shen Yuan stressed.

Qi Qingqi sighed heavily. “Obviously.”

With the list of death methods decided and carefully noted down, Shen Yuan decided to high tail it out of there. As much as he liked the crew, they could definitely be a bit much sometimes. And he would know, since it seemed like Shen Jiu was constantly trying to keep Shen Yuan out of everyone else’s way by having him join the astronauts in whatever training they were doing at any given time. For someone with his sedentary kind of lifestyle, that really wasn’t ideal!

At least this time, he did have a good excuse for missing out on the crew’s routine, since Shen Jiu had requested his presence in one of the breeding labs. The look on his brother’s face was grim, but Shen Jiu also happened to have quite the resting bitch face, so it really did nothing to indicate the severity of the situation, nor did the presence of an unfamiliar person. “So what’s going on?” Shen Yuan asked.

The other scientist in the room, some guy Shen Yuan had already forgotten the name of (if they’d ever been introduced in the first place), held out a report. Shen Yuan took it to skim, and immediately figured out the problem. “We’re not going to be able to make enough Mobeis in time for it to matter,” he said out loud, even though obviously the other occupants of the room were already aware of that fact. “I thought we’d streamlined it enough-”

“We did,” Shen Jiu cut in. “But we simply don’t have enough power to support the amount of labs we need.” He gestured towards the last person in the room, an older woman with her hair pulled back in a military-neat bun. 

The woman straightened her back and stood at attention. “Solar power,” she said. “At this point, I believe it is the only way forward.” 

Shen Yuan furrowed his eyebrows. “The sun is strong, but it’s not easy to collect that much power-”

“What if we use the Sahara?” she suggested. “One of the sunniest places in the world, and plenty big enough.”

“But to safely set up that much-”

“We’d have to pave over it,” Shen Jiu said. “Yes.” 

Shen Yuan stared back and forth between his brother and the woman. “But- but that-”

The woman nodded once. “It would have a devastating ecological impact. But if that is the only way to save the world…” she trailed off.

“Would it work?” Shen Jiu asked, giving Shen Yuan a serious look.

Shen Yuan was far from an expert on the specific topic of solar energy, but he knew enough, and assumed that this woman must be some kind of expert as well to have been brought in on this. “I think… I think it could,” he said slowly. 

Shen Jiu nodded. “Then that’s what we’ll do.” He hurried away, though with that usual casual pace of his that somehow made it look like he was moving much slower than he actually was, leaving Shen Yuan and two near strangers to all stand there in silence. 

Suddenly the woman’s upright demeanor collapsed, and her shoulders sank down. “It’s to save the entire planet,” she said, like she needed to remind herself why they would go to such extremes. 

“Yeah,” Shen Yuan echoed weakly, wondering what else his brother would be willing to do for the sake of saving the world.

,,,

“Yes, good job, Binghe!” Shen Yuan cheered after Luo Binghe perfectly answered all of the pop quiz questions he’d thrown together. He reached out to pat the top of Luo Binghe’s head. “Honestly, you pick up on this stuff so fast. Are you sure you haven’t already had training?”

Luo Binghe’s cheeks went pink, and he humbly bowed his head forward. “My parents did their best to pass on their knowledge, but my dad was pretty busy and my mom’s area was more mechanical.”

Personally, Shen Yuan thought it was a shame that such a bright young man hadn’t gotten the education he deserved, but he wasn’t going to say anything to bash Luo Binghe’s parents, who had probably done their best with their circumstances. It was unlikely that they’d planned on having a child while stuck out in space. “Well I’m sure they’d be very proud of you,” Shen Yuan said.

He had to remove his hand from Luo Binghe’s head so that he could cover his mouth as he let out a big yawn. “Ugh, I don’t know about you, but humans are not made to stay awake for this long.” Not that anyone could blame him for staying up, given the excitement of actually being able to meet and talk to an alien! But Shen Yuan’s tired body didn’t seem to care how incredible of an opportunity it was. “Do you need sleep?” he asked curiously.

Luo Binghe shook his head. “Not right now. Biologically, I tend to take more after my father than my mother.”

“Well, I’m sure you can use the time to mess around back on your ship, maybe see if there’s anything-”

Luo Binghe’s eyes widened in alarm. “You want me to leave while you sleep?”

Shen Yuan blinked at him. Maybe it was just because he was tired, but something about that reaction seemed a little over the top. “Uh, yeah? What, would you rather stay here and watch me sleep?” he asked with a snort. Luo Binghe stared at him, and Shen Yuan frowned. “You can’t be serious.”

“But you could die,” Luo Binghe told him in an urgent voice, continuing to stare at him with big, teary eyes that he’d probably used to get away with any number of things in the past. “That’s what happened to the rest of my crew. No one was able to watch over them, and then they all went to sleep and-”

Shen Yuan reached out to gently wipe away one large tear that had started sliding down his cheek. “I’m sorry about your crew, Binghe; I didn’t know. If- if it really means that much to you, then you can stay, it’s fine,” he hurried to say.

Luo Binghe immediately wrapped both of his arms tightly around Shen Yuan. “Thank you, Shizun!” he said, already sounding much cheerier. 

Since it seemed like Luo Binghe’s mood had already improved, Shen Yuan dared to ask, “I don’t think you said it before, but how long have you been here? How long since your crew-?”

Luo Binghe sniffled as he pressed his face into Shen Yuan’s shoulder. That had to be a painful position, given how much taller Luo Binghe was, but he didn’t seem to mind it. “I’ve been here at the Abyss for about five years, I think, in your time. But it’s been longer since the crew…”

He wasn’t sure if he should even ask, but Shen Yuan had never been able to stop himself from trying to sate his curiosity. “What happened to them?”

“I don’t know,” Luo Binghe admitted in a small voice. “It started with my mom. I was still really little then, but I remember her getting sick. She’d vomit everyday, and her chest hurt, and she’d cough up blood. A few months later, she was gone. Our medic couldn’t figure out the cause, and assumed it was some kind of disease that only affects humans. But then over the next few years, more and more of the crew started to get the same sickness. We didn’t even realize at first, since the symptoms took a lot longer to get to the point they had with my mom.

“We always used to watch over each other’s dreams, but as everyone got more sick, there was no one left to keep watch, except me, and I’ve never been good enough at watching dreams to be of any help.” 

Shen Yuan rubbed one hand up and down Luo Binghe’s back as he processed that. He would definitely want to know more about ‘watching dreams’ later, but for now that wasn’t important. “And you’ve never gotten sick like that?” Luo Binghe shook his head, hair brushing against Shen Yuan’s cheek. “Did you sleep near the rest of them?”

Luo Binghe shook his head again. “My mom worked in the engine room the most, so once she was gone, I started spending most of my time in there, to feel closer to her.”

“What do you use for fuel?” 

Luo Binghe leaned back a little to give Shen Yuan a confused look. “Mobeis, same as you.”

Given that Luo Binghe’s father clearly came from a civilization that was not only advanced enough to build that massive space ship out there, but they’d also figured out about the Mobeis being a problem and how to utilize their cold energy, it wouldn’t have even occurred to Shen Yuan that there might still be some things about space travel that they didn’t know.

And yet, with what he’d just learned, there was one possible conclusion that stood out to Shen Yuan. “Binghe, do you know what radiation is?”

Luo Binghe shook his head again, and even though part of him was so fascinated by all of this, the rest of Shen Yuan just felt sad for Luo Binghe. “What is it, Shizun?”

Shen Yuan fumbled his way through an explanation of radiation, at least enough to get Luo Binghe to understand. “I don’t think your ship has any protection against it. Your non-human half must be more resistant to the effects, which is why your mom was the first one to get sick.”

“Then why haven’t I gotten sick? I’m part human.”

“I think it’s the Mobeis. By spending so much time in the engine room, they basically acted like a shield for you. I have extra space suits from my crew. I’d recommend you use one when you go back to your ship.”

Luo Binghe nodded. “Okay.” He didn’t say anything else, but Shen Yuan understood that it was a bit overwhelming. To have been alone for years after watching everyone else, including his parents, waste away, only to find out that it was because of some illness that could have been prevented if they had only known about the source of it. They would have to figure out some way to reinforce Luo Binghe’s ship before they parted ways, but they could worry about that later. For now, Luo Binghe was safe on the Cang Qiong. 

With that settled, Shen Yuan really did need to get to bed. He grabbed the sweats (taken from Qi Qingqi’s bag- they were insanely comfy and only a little bit too short for him!) he had designated as his ‘sleep pants’, then paused when he realized that Luo Binghe had followed him into the cramped little sleeping quarters. “Um…” When Luo Binghe just continued to stare at him, Shen Yuan coughed awkwardly. “I need to get changed.”

Luo Binghe nodded agreeably. “Okay.” And still didn’t move.

Perhaps it was just a cultural difference, so Shen Yuan tried to be understanding as he added, “Alone.”

Luo Binghe’s eyes suddenly looked all teary again. “But Shizuuuun,” he whined.

Shen Yuan sighed. “Can you at least turn around?”

Luo Binghe nodded and turned to face the opposite wall while Shen Yuan quickly changed into the sweat pants. As soon as he was done, Luo Binghe turned back around. “All set?”

Shen Yuan nodded. “Yes. I’m not the best sleeper, though, so please try to stay quiet. And I don’t have a sleep mask, so the lights will have to be off. Are you sure you wouldn’t be more comfortable waiting out there?” he gestured to the main lab space.

“I’ll be quiet,” Luo Binghe told him. “And I don’t mind the dark.” 

Shen Yuan turned off the lights, and climbed into the bed he’d originally woken up in. He wasn’t used to having an audience, which made sense since he was pretty sure he’d been single and lived alone. So it was a little strange being aware of Luo Binghe there. He rolled onto his side, and nearly jumped when he saw the way Luo Binghe’s eyes glinted in the dark like a cat’s. “Jesus! You could at least sit on the floor or something.”

“But then I wouldn’t be able to see you properly,” Luo Binghe complained.

Shen Yuan groaned and flipped onto his other side. “Whatever.” It was probably only thanks to the fact that he was so tired that he was able to fall asleep so quickly despite the unusual circumstances.

,,,

“Don’t tell anyone, but I met my backup counterpart, and she’s so cute,” Wei Qingwei confided. “We have plans to meet up tonight.”

Shen Yuan finished swallowing the food that had been in his mouth. “Ge won’t be happy if he finds out,” he warned.

Wei Qingwei waved the warning aside. “Your brother is never happy.”

“Fair enough.” Shen Yuan took another bite, then paused to look at Wei Qingwei curiously. “Even aside from risking Ge’s wrath, are you sure it’s a good idea to get close to someone now? I mean, you know that your time will be limited…” he trailed off, not sure how tactful it would be to continue.

But Wei Qingwei didn’t seem  bothered. “We both know what we signed up for. It’s exactly because my time is limited that I want to take a chance and see where things go. May as well enjoy the time I’ve got left, right?”

“But what about her? If everything goes according to plan, then she’ll have to send you off knowing she’ll never see you again.”

“Heartbreak is a natural part of life,” Wei Qingwei said in a faux-wise voice. 

“Well, whatever works for you, I guess.” Shen Yuan turned back to his meal. “I’m surprised you’re even having lunch in the mess today,” he said after a few minutes had passed. “I’d heard there was a little get together. Aren’t you going?”

Wei Qingwei grinned. “Do you even have to ask? Free booze on the government’s dime is all a man could ask for. Of course I’m going! You really want to know why I’m here right now?” When Shen Yuan just blinked in confusion, the other man laughed. “I’m here to make sure you go too!”

Shen Yuan shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Oh- uh, I don’t know if that’s really- I mean, this is supposed to be for everyone who’s, well.” He didn’t quite know what to say, so he finished lamely with, “Important.”

“And you don’t think you are?” Wei Qingwei asked, raising one eyebrow.

Shen Yuan shrugged one shoulder. “I mean, yeah, in the abstract, metaphorical sense that everyone is important? But in terms of the actual work going on here, it’s not like there aren’t a hundred other people who are just as smart and able to come to the same conclusions I have as soon as they’re given a chance.” 

“It’s not just the science stuff,” Wei Qingwei insisted. “It’s everything else, too.”

“Everything else?”

Wei Qingwei scoffed. “Whatever. You’re going to the party, don’t even try to argue.”

Not wanting to see if the man was willing to actually physically drag him there, Shen Yuan hurriedly agreed to go. As soon as he finished his lunch, he was being shepherded down the long corridors. He knew they were in the right place when he could hear the music blasting through the metal walls.

Stepping inside the room that had been taken over for this party, Shen Yuan saw that Qi Qingqi and Mu Qingfang were already there, as well as a whole host of various scientists and technicians who had been working on the Abyss Expedition around the clock. Wei Qingwei led Shen Yuan over to the couch where the other two astronauts were sitting, shoved Shen Yuan down in between them, and then crammed himself in on one end of a couch that was barely big enough for three adults, let alone four. 

One of the scientists raised a glass in a toast, and spoke with a slight slur to their voice. “Here’s to the end of the world!” 

Everyone laughed and took their own drinks, shouting out other similar nonsense. Shen Yuan rolled his eyes, but accepted a glass as it was shoved into his hands. “Isn’t the whole point of this so that the world doesn’t end?”

“Ignore him,” Wei Qingwei called out. “He hasn’t even had his first shot yet!” Everyone laughed like that had been the most clever bit of wit they’d ever heard. Shen Yuan drank whatever had been given to him, and found himself relaxing back into the couch. 

At some point, after Wei Qingwei disappeared to who knew where, Qi Qingqi got up to go dance with one of the scientists, both of their long hair flying around and probably becoming an impossibly tangled mess. Mu Qingfang followed the direction of Shen Yuan’s gaze, and smiled. “Aren’t you going to go out and join them?”

“Me?” Shen Yuan spluttered. “Only if you all want to have broken toes before the most important launch of your life!”

Mu Qingfang stood up, and patted Shen Yuan on the shoulder. “No, we wouldn’t want that.” He glanced over at where more people had started dancing, clearly wanting to join them. Before he headed over, though, he made sure to remind Shen Yuan, “Drink plenty of water.” 

Someone handed over a plastic water bottle, and Shen Yuan chugged it down like it was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted. He felt a little awkward about it, though, as he lowered the water bottle and realized that Shen Jiu was standing on the other side of the room, arms crossed over his chest and staring at Shen Yuan judgementally.

Shen Yuan arched one eyebrow, forcing down his embarrassment as he best he could. Sure, he wasn’t the one who was signing up for this suicide mission, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to let loose on occasion, especially when everyone else was clearly having a good time.

To Shen Yuan’s utter surprise, Shen Jiu’s expression shifted, and he actually sent a small smile his brother’s way. To anyone who didn’t know Shen Jiu so well, they probably wouldn’t have even noticed the difference, but to Shen Yuan, his brother may as well have been jumping around and giggling like a child on a sugar high. Then Shen Jiu inclined his head and slipped away from the party as quietly as he had appeared. Too bad Shen Yuan hadn’t captured the moment on camera; he didn’t think anyone would ever believe him if he told them about this.

,,,

Shen Yuan probably should have felt more unnerved by the way he wasn’t startled in the slightest when he opened his eyes and saw Luo Binghe standing over him, eyes still gleaming eerily in the dark. He just groaned as he stretched his arms up over his head and felt a few of his joints pop. “Morning,” he mumbled before tossing his blanket back and sitting upright. “Just give me a few minutes and I’ll be ready to get to work.” 

Until they could figure out some way to reinforce Luo Binghe’s ship, which apparently didn’t even have a name, it was safest for Luo Binghe to remain on the Cang Qiong, which meant that they would be carpooling together as they approached the Abyss. 

Once Shen Yuan had had a sufficient dose of coffee- the fancy powdered stuff that was technically instant coffee but tasted much higher quality than the cheap brands that Shen Yuan usually bought himself- he was able to actually think properly. “Is there anything you need to grab from your ship before we leave? We will come back, but I’m not sure how long it will be.”

Luo Binghe shook his head. “Whatever Shizun can offer me is good enough,” he assured Shen Yuan.

At least Mu Qingfang had been on the taller side so at least there was some chance that some of his clothes would fit Luo Binghe if needed. Even though Shen Yuan had managed to pilot this far without crashing into the side of a star or something, they both agreed to let Luo Binghe take over for now. While he flew the Cang Qiong, Shen Yuan went over everything he knew- or at least everything he remembered knowing- about the Mobeis. 

Luo Binghe was extremely bright, and easily absorbed all of the information Shen Yuan shared with him. It reminded him of his ‘geeking out’ sessions with Wei Qingwei, except that Luo Binghe was even smarter than Shen Yuan’s contemporary had been. “So what makes the Mobeis avoid the Abyss?” Luo Binghe asked after a bit.

Shen Yuan shrugged. “That’s the million dollar question,” he said. “We figure that out, and we’ll know how to save Earth and…” he trailed off as he realized he didn’t even know the name of Luo Binghe’s homeworld. “What’s the name of your planet? Er, your dad’s planet,” he amended, unsure of whether Luo Binghe considered himself to be more of a human or an alien, given his unusual upbringing.

For some reason, the question made Luo Binghe stop and think for a moment, though Shen Yuan understood once Luo Binghe opened his mouth. He let out a series of low growls that could in no way be identified as coherent words to Shen Yuan’s ears. “I’m not sure of an exact translation,” he said apologetically.

“It’s fine,” Shen Yuan assured him. “Can you say more in that language?” He was absolutely fascinated by the first bit of alien language he’d heard. Maybe he wasn’t the first human to hear it, thanks to Luo Binghe’s mom, but this was still huge! 

Luo Binghe blinked a few times, and Shen Yuan realized that he was probably being quite rude to the poor thing. “Sorry, I’ll just…”

Luo Binghe shook his head when Shen Yuan turned to find somewhere else to be for now. “No, it’s- it’s fine,” he hurried to say. “I just didn’t think you’d…” he trailed off mysteriously, and Shen Yuan raised one eyebrow. It’s not like he could read minds, young man! One corner of Luo Binghe’s mouth pulled up. It was a smaller smile than his usual ones, but no less bright for it. “I don’t remember a lot about my mother,” he said. “But I do remember my father saying that her kind wouldn’t be happy with her for being with him. But you’re so…”

When Luo Binghe trailed off again, Shen Yuan waved one hand through the air. “To be fair, a lot of humans can be ignorant assholes like that. But those are the idiots. Anyone with half a brain would be able to tell that you are cool.”

Luo Binghe’s smile stretched a little further. “Of course Shizun is too smart to be like that.” 

“You little flatterer,” Shen Yuan tried to sound scolding while he gave Luo Binghe a light smack in the shoulder. “If you put as much energy into this Mobei issue as you do into sucking up to me, we’ll have the whole thing solved and be home in time for dinner. Just think of all the ladies you’ll pick up once you return home a conquering hero.”

Luo Binghe’s cheeks turned pink, and he quickly focused back on the control console in front of him. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he muttered.

That’s when Shen Yuan remembered that Luo Binghe had grown up on a space ship with probably only a bunch of scientists and astronauts for company. He may not have ever even met a girl his age before. They would definitely eat him up as soon as they realized that!

Shen Yuan took mercy on the poor guy, and went to work on his own calculations. But he paused before leaving the cockpit when he heard some more low growls that sent a not entirely unpleasant shiver down his spine. He turned to look at Luo Binghe, who was clearly saying something in his other language. Shen Yuan grinned in delight and surged closer, a million questions already piling up in his mouth.

With all of his curiosity out in the open, Shen Yuan could only imagine how relieved Luo Binghe must have been to finally pull the Cang Qiong to a gentle stop practically right on top of the Abyss. He got up to peer out the window, but of course there was nothing in particular to see. The Mobei were too small to spot with the naked eye, even for Luo Binghe who clearly had stronger senses than the average human, and there were no stars or planets around the Abyss to look at. “Now what?” Luo Binghe wondered, glancing over at Shen Yuan like it was just a given that Shen Yuan would know what to do.

“We need to get some samples, though it’s hard when we don’t know exactly what we’ll be sampling.”

Luo Binghe frowned. “Should we fly lower?” 

Any lower, and they would be in the Abyss. It was hard to say whether that was a good idea or not, considering that they still couldn’t detect anything there, not even with the ship’s radar. “Let’s try sending something else, first. What if the reason the Mobeis don’t like the Abyss is because it’s just a spot filled with the most toxic chemicals in the universe, or something like that? We really don’t know anything about it.”

He found a small metal tray that wouldn’t be missed too much, then geared up for a space walk. Luo Binghe wanted to come with him, but Shen Yuan pointed out that it was probably safer to have a spotter remain in the ship, now that it was a possibility for them to do so. Luo Binghe didn’t seem happy about it, but he agreed. He did seem to lighten up a little, though, after Shen Yuan promised that Luo Binghe could directly monitor the safety line for him.

Shen Yuan took the tray with him as he floated out of the airlock, and after some careful deliberation, flung it with as much force as he could right into the center of the Abyss. He watched with wide eyes as it sailed through the open space, and nothing happened to it. It didn’t immediately disintegrate or explode or turn green or otherwise indicate that there was anything extra dangerous about the Abyss. Not that this test really did much to tell them that it was safe for living things to pass through, but at least it was something. 

He returned to the ship to report his findings. “I’m more resistant to any potentially harmful elements out there,” Luo Binghe argued once they started coming up with a plan that involved one of them having to go down there. “Plus I can easily get back to my ship even if something were to happen.”

“But you’ve already been exposed to more radiation than you should,” Shen Yuan pointed out. 

Then all of sudden, Luo Binghe’s argumentative state disappeared, and his shoulders drooped down and he stared at Shen Yuan with big, sad eyes. “Shizun doesn’t trust me to be able to collect the samples,”  he said dejectedly.

“No, no, of course I trust you!” Shen Yuan quickly said. “I just meant-” Luo Binghe’s eyes looked particularly watery, and Shen Yuan found himself immediately folding. “Alright, alright, you can be the one to collect the samples!”

Luo Binghe’s tears seemed to vanish, and Shen Yuan only had a moment to wonder if it was some unique trait from his alien blood before he was being scooped up into a tight hug. “Thank you, Shizun!” Every part of Luo Binghe that was pressed up against him felt so warm, and even though Luo Binghe was holding him so tightly, he was so careful that his claws didn’t dig into Shen Yuan’s back at all. 

The hug seemed to stretch on forever before Luo Binghe finally pulled away, not looking even the slightest bit embarrassed about such a needy display. Which was impressive, since Shen Yuan was sure his face was on fire at that point. “It’s- it’s fine,” he said, struggling to not lose track of their conversation. 

He helped Luo Binghe get properly secured into a space suit, (it was a good thing that Luo Binghe’s horns weren’t tall enough to prevent the helmet from sealing properly) and then he took the collection device into the airlock with him. As soon as the door closed between them, Shen Yuan hurried over to the computer so that he could monitor the safety line and Luo Binghe’s oxygen levels in the suit. 

Honestly, the whole thing felt pretty anti-climactic, considering that they were about to hopefully discover the way to save two entire planets from complete extinction. Luo Binghe made sure that the safety line was still secured in one spot, and then let go of the Cang Qiong to float down into the Abyss. There were no windows that would give him a view of Luo Binghe at the moment, so instead Shen Yuan just continued to stare at the radar.

“I should have the samples now,” Luo Binghe declared over their short range coms. “Pull me up.” 

“On it.” Shen Yuan hit the button that should automatically retract the safety line back to the ship. He watched Luo Binghe’s blip start to get closer to the ship again.

Then there was a crackling noise over the coms. “The line,” Luo Binghe gasped out. “I think the collector is too heavy for it.” Shen Yuan could hear as Luo Binghe’s breathing started to pick up, a sure sign of nerves.

Shen Yuan darted over to the airlock, changed into his space suit faster than ever before, and let himself outside of the ship. He could immediately see the problem, and could only assume that Luo Binghe was correct about the weight issue. With the safety line only secured in one spot rather than the two that it was supposed to be, the weight wasn’t being balanced out, and Shen Yuan could see the base of the reel straining away from the outer wall of the Cang Qiong.

Luo Binghe was still too far out of range of the exterior lights for Shen Yuan to see him, but he must have been able to see Shen Yuan. “Shizun, what-?”

“Just let go of the collector,” Shen Yuan commanded. “We can try getting another sample later.” 

There was a slight rustle, probably from Luo Binghe’s hair moving as he shook his head. “We need this,” he insisted with his typical stubbornness. “And if the line is strained this bad right now, I don’t think we can rely on it to try doing this again.”

The reel continued to pull away from the ship. If something didn’t happen fast to prevent it, Luo Binghe would drift off into space alone in the dark. Shen Yuan grabbed the base of the line, and yanked on it as hard as he could. The reel continued to rattle ominously, and Shen Yuan kept pulling the line in. He was sweating like crazy and even with the built in padding of his gloves, he could feel his hands aching. He kept pulling anyway, though, unwilling to leave Luo Binghe to such a terrible fate, even when he started to feel light-headed from the exertion.

It felt like it took forever before Luo Binghe was visible in the light again. “Shizun!” he cried out. Shen Yuan pulled once more, with as much force as he could manage, and Luo Binghe came flying forward, slamming directly into Shen Yuan and toppling them both into the open airlock. 

“Shizun!” Luo Binghe cried out again, peeling out of his suit as soon as the compartment had pressurized, and then staring at Shen Yuan in alarm.

“Wha’s wrong?” Shen Yuan asked, tongue feeling weirdly numb. “”Re you okay?” Unfortunately he didn’t get a chance to hear the answer to that very important question, since a moment later, everything went dark.

,,,

They had just left a court hearing, where Shen Jiu had basically used ‘all of the world’s governments gave me the power to save the planet’ as his defense when the charges were levied against him. Of all the things Shen Jiu had signed off on, it was copyright infringement that had apparently been him going too far. And of course the angry companies decided to go after him when they were so close to launch time. But at the end of the day, the planet did need to be saved, and Shen Jiu was the one who’d been elected to do it, so what could they really do?

“What do you even need all that media for?” Shen Yuan couldn’t help asking once they’d gotten out of the helicopter back on the ship. “The crew are going to be asleep for the whole journey anyways.”

Shen Jiu shrugged. “They’re all going to die out there, but they might want to stick around for a little while after getting the job done.”

Shen Yuan blinked in surprise. “Oh.” That was surprisingly thoughtful coming from Shen Jiu. Especially since work on the Abyss Expedition had gone on, his brother had only seemed more and more cold about the whole thing. “That’s-” before he could actually compliment such forward thinking, Shen Jiu had already slipped away.

Shen Yuan narrowed his eyes. Despite the fact that he’d probably spent more time with Shen Jiu while working on this project than he probably had over the entire rest of his lifetime, that was still all business. Scowling, Shen Yuan pushed past the scientists and soldiers and other various personnel so that he could hunt down his brother. 

He made his way up to the tiny top deck of the ship, and found Shen Jiu standing there alone, staring out at the ocean. What would have once been a wide open view was now obscured by various floating labs. “Find a good hiding spot?” Shen Yuan prodded.

Shen Jiu turned around, brows twisted with annoyance. “Apparently not.” 

The Shen family had never been particularly big when it came to emotional moments, which definitely made this so awkward that Shen Yuan was half-tempted to just dive overboard rather than say anything. But. This was his brother- who currently had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Who had done terrible, most likely irreversible, things to their world, all for the sake of saving it. “How… how are you doing?” Shen Yuan forced himself to ask.

Shen Jiu stared at him long enough that Shen Yuan could feel his patience run out. Just before he would’ve turned and stomped away, Shen Jiu snorted. “I’ve just been thinking about how long I’m going to be in jail after all of this.”

“What?” That was certainly not what he would’ve expected to hear. “Why would you be put in jail? You really think they’re going to bring up the copyright thing again-?”

Shen Jiu rolled his eyes and gave Shen Yuan the same look that he did when they were kids and he thought that Shen Yuan was smart enough to get through his homework on his own. “Look at everything I’ve done. You don’t think the world is going to want someone to blame for all of it?”

“But you’re helping,” Shen Yuan argued. “You’re trying to keep us all alive. They’re the ones who told you to!”

“It won’t matter,” Shen Jiu responded dismissively. “They may have given me the power, but I’m the one making the hard calls. That’s why it’s just me- a whole council would get messy, but just one person making the decisions is easy to point fingers at.”

Shen Yuan couldn’t help feeling awed by his brother in a way he couldn’t recall ever feeling before. “You know that, and you took the job anyways?”

“Someone had to do it,” Shen Jiu said with a shrug. “Might as well be someone who will actually do the damn job.”

Actually, Shen Yuan had felt this before- once, when he’d come home crying about some shitty older student who picked on him in school. Shen Yuan never saw the confrontation himself, but he’d heard about it later, when Shen Jiu came home from detention with a satisfied smirk on his face, and Shen Yuan had never gotten grief from that bully again. “You’re a good man, Ge.” Shen Yuan didn’t think he’d be able to do the same. Shen Jiu, the space crew, all of them were sacrificing so much. They were far braver than Shen Yuan could ever hope to be. “I know this is tough, but if you need-”

Suddenly it felt like the entire world was exploding around them. There was the loudest boom Shen Yuan had ever heard, followed by nothing but the sound of ringing in his ears. The ship rocked violently as waves crashed, and Shen Yuan stumbled forward, fumbling to catch himself on the railing so he wouldn’t go toppling over the side for real.

He was so disoriented that it took a moment to realize that Shen Jiu was already staring at the source of the disruption- one of the floating labs seemed to have vanished, now nothing more than dark plumes of smoke curling up off of the water.

Shen Jiu was on the phone in mere moments, barking commands. His face was white as he listened intently to whatever was being said. When the person on the other end was done, Shen Jiu didn’t say anything; he just hung up the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

Of course it was a tragedy, no matter who had been in that lab. But the grim look on Shen Jiu’s face filled Shen Yuan with foreboding. “Ge?” he said, voice barely above a whisper.

Shen Jiu closed his eyes, and let out a heavy sigh before turning to face the water again. “Wei Qingwei was in there,” he finally said.

Shen Yuan couldn’t stop himself from folding in half and vomiting up whatever had been in his stomach. He knew that Wei Qingwei was going to die, but that was supposed to be at some nebulous point in the future, after succeeding at saving the world. Not just gone in an instant, no longer there to joke about free drinks or to have hours long discussions about Shen Yuan’s latest writings. 

“It wasn’t just him,” Shen Jiu went on, as if Shen Yuan hadn’t just lost his lunch all over the floor. “His backup was in there too.”

God, Shen Yuan didn’t think he’d ever even learned her name. The girl that Wei Qingwei had thought cute enough to spend the rest of his limited life with her. The one who was never supposed to share a room with him, to prevent this very scenario from ever occurring. “We’ll- we’ll find someone else,” Shen Yuan choked out. “Thousands of people applied for the Abyss Expedition. We can just reach out to one of the ones who wasn’t accepted. We’ll find someone.”

Shen Jiu had only ever seemed to scold Wei Qingwei for his ‘unprofessional behavior’, but he must have cared more than he’d let on, because as he turned back to look at Shen Yuan, his eyes were filled with unhidden grief. “Yes,” he agreed. “We will.” 

,,,

As Shen Yuan returned to consciousness, the first thing that hit him was a sense of general achiness throughout his body. The next thing he was aware of was the sound of soft sniffling. He pried his eyes open with great effort, and saw Luo Binghe hunched over his bed, eyes red in the ‘just cried a lot’ way in addition to their usual color. Shen Yuan reached out with some concern to grab Luo Binghe’s hand, ignoring the way his own twinged in pain from the movement. “Are you alright? What happened?”

Luo Binghe’s head jerked up, and then he just stared at Shen Yuan in disbelief. “Why did you do that?” he demanded to know.

Shen Yuan blinked in confusion. “Do what?”

Luo Binghe, with utmost caution, cupped his larger hands around Shen Yuan’s. “The safety line didn’t create a full puncture, but it wore away at your gloves enough to create an oxygen leak. If you’d been out there for any longer…” he trailed off and squeezed his eyes shut. 

“Well, it all worked out, didn’t it? I mean, I’d probably be able to tell if I’d suffered a serious brain injury from oxygen deprivation, right?”

[Scans of Patient Four’s brain activity have not detected any medical anomalies,] System said. 

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. “Oh, what a relief. If System says that I’m okay, then surely there’s nothing to worry about.” 

“Why did you do it?” Luo Binghe asked again. 

Seeing that Luo Binghe was unwilling to make light of the situation, Shen Yuan sighed. “Well, I had to, didn’t I? I couldn’t just let your tether break and leave you to drift out there in space.”

Luo Binghe took a deep breath in, and slowly let it out. “Shizun,” he started in a very patient tone that didn’t match the still-frantic look in his eyes. “The coms would still work even if the safety line broke, so you’d know I’d be okay. And I already told you I can get back to my ship without too much trouble.”

Ah, right, Luo Binghe had mentioned that before, even if he hadn’t fully explained how that would work. But in the moment, Shen Yuan hadn’t been thinking about that kind of logic. “I guess I just moved without thinking. I didn’t want anything to happen to you.” It was so embarrassing to realize that he’d risked his life for no reason!

Luo Binghe’s shoulders seemed to deflate, and his frustration faded away, replaced with something softer, warmer. “Thank you. But please never do that again.” He stood up suddenly. “Are you hungry? Your ship said that you were asleep for a longer time than average for a human.”

“I could eat,” Shen Yuan said as he moved to sit up. He was immediately stopped by Luo Binghe’s hands gently pressing him back down. “What-?”

“I’ll get the food. You wait here,” Luo Binghe told him firmly.

Not seeing the need to antagonize the already upset young man, Shen Yuan found himself just wordlessly nodding in agreement. He assumed he would have a few minutes alone with his thoughts, but Luo Binghe returned almost immediately with a bowl of hot soup. How did he make it so fast? The heating instructions on those packages were at least a few minutes long!

As Shen Yuan took his first sip, he immediately noticed that it tasted way better than the other pre-packaged rations he’d had. “What brand is this?” he wondered.

“I made it,” Luo Binghe told him.

Shen Yuan nearly choked on his current mouthful. Once he’d successfully swallowed without dying, he made sure to heap on the praise. “You should be a professional chef! This is amazing! Where did you even learn to cook like this?” That also made it even more confusing that it was already made and hot, but who was Shen Yuan to question the fine details?

“My dad taught me,” Luo Binghe shared in a quiet voice. “He always said ‘the fastest way to a person’s heart is through their stomach.”
Shen Yuan nodded earnestly. “He’s right! If you keep cooking like this, you’re not going to be able to keep all the ladies off of you once you get home.”

Luo Binghe suddenly scowled, probably annoyed at the thought of having to deal with some big harem like a stallion protagonist. Not that he would be ill-suited for that kind of role; his looks alone were definitely enough to make him protagonist material, not to mention that he was kind and funny and smart. Any number of women would be lucky to have his attention.

After Shen Yuan was finished eating, Luo Binghe changed out the bandages around his hands. It was a little overkill, in Shen Yuan’s opinion, since the gloves had protected his skin from the worst of the rope burn, but it clearly made Luo Binghe feel better to have something to do. 

With Luo Binghe (mostly) satisfied that Shen Yuan wasn’t going to keel over the second he got up, they both went to the lab to start taking a look at the samples they’d collected. Finding out what was repelling the Mobeis from the Abyss was still their most important mission.

Aside from Wei Qingwei (who Shen Yuan was doing his best not to think too much about, now that he’d remembered how that had ended), it had been a while since Shen Yuan had another person to work with like this. There had been Liu Qingge before, but that man had been more for moral support and doing heavy-lifting. This was different. Working with Luo Binghe was, well, fun.

And while Shen Yuan had confidence in his own skills, he wasn’t sure he would have reached a conclusion so quickly if he had been working on his own. They both waited with baited breath as they conducted another test, putting some Mobeis in a secure vial with the new particles they’d extracted from the collection device. Even after running the test several times with a few different variables, the results were the same. The Mobei did not approach the new particles, and would eventually die out when they didn’t have anything new to consume. 

Shen Yuan laughed in delight as he looked over at Luo Binghe. “We did it!” It seemed so simple, for all the trouble it had taken to get to this point. 

Luo Binghe didn’t hesitate to sweep Shen Yuan up into a tight hug. “We did it,” he parroted, his chest pressed closely enough that Shen Yuan could feel the syllables rumble against his cheek. “We just need to finish this, and then we’ll both be on our way home.”

There were still a few more details to work out- such as making sure that the new guys would survive in different atmospheres once relocated- but that wasn’t going to ruin the victorious mood in the air right now. 

Then Luo Binghe pulled back slightly, and the mood abruptly shifted as he stared down at Shen Yuan with concern. “What’s wrong?”

“What? Nothing. This is great news,” Shen Yuan assured him.

Luo Binghe reached up, and gently ran his thumb under Shen Yuan’s eye, pulling it away to show that it was now slightly damp from collecting a tear. “Are these… happy tears?” Luo Binghe tried to guess.

Shen Yuan reached up to wipe his hand across his face, unaware of when he’d started crying. “I’m glad we’ll be able to save everyone, I really am.” He could see the questions on Luo Binghe’s face, so he reluctantly continued. “It’s just that we won’t both be heading home. This was always going to be a one way trip. The amount of Mobeis that had to be produced just to get me here already took almost more time and energy than we could afford. There’s some drones on board; once we’re sure that everything is set, I’ll pack all of the information and samples into them and send them back to Earth.”

“But what about you?” Luo Binghe asked with alarm. 

Shen Yuan shrugged. “I have enough supplies on board to get me through a couple of years. After that…” he trailed off, not wanting to think about it. He’d never been the self-sacrificial type, and the less he had to think about the inevitable end to all of this, the better.

He was surprised when Luo Binghe just shook his head. “No way. I’m not leaving you to die out here. Don’t you want to go home?”

“What I want doesn’t really matter,” Shen Yuan pointed out, doing a pretty good job of keeping the bitterness out of his voice. “It’s fine. I obviously knew this would be the outcome when I signed on for this mission.” 

“If Shizun wants to go home, then that’s what will happen,” Luo Binghe insisted. “There’s plenty of Mobeis on my ship. How much would you need for the return trip?” As Shen Yuan shared the large number, he could see that Luo Binghe was already doing the mental calculations. “I can give you enough,” Luo Binghe told him. “It might make my trip take a little longer, but we’re both going home.”

Shen Yuan stared up at Luo Binghe in awe. “You’d really give up years of your life for me? Even more time that you’ll have to be all alone again?”

“Shizun will just have to give me lots of good memories to take with me so I don’t get lonely,” Luo Binghe purred. For some reason, Luo Binghe’s tone made Shen Yuan’s face flush despite the innocent words. 

“Right!” He squeaked out. “Well, we still have a lot to do, so let’s get to it!” He did his best to ignore the sound of Luo Binghe softly laughing at him as he scrambled to set up the next petri dish. His frantic movements paused, though, as reality struck him. “I’m really going to go home.” It was something he’d done his best not to focus on as soon as he realized that he had a home to miss, but now that he knew he would be able to go back… He’d be able to see his brother again, and Liu Qingge, and he’d be able to publish a paper about his encounter with an alien species and prove all those idiots wrong. He’d be able to relax in his messy apartment and eat cheap junk food again.

The next couple of weeks seemed to pass by far too quickly for either of them. But ultimately they both knew they could not linger- two entire planets were waiting for them. And now that they’d figured out how to safely transport the new guys, there wasn’t any excuse to stay where they were.

As they pulled the Cang Qiong to a stop next to Luo Binghe’s ship, still waiting right where they’d left it, Shen Yuan couldn’t help worrying. At least he managed to hold off on nagging until they’d finished transferring some Mobeis over to the Cang Qiong. “Remember what I said about the radiation,” Shen Yuan started as they headed to the airlock to reattach to the tunnel extending from Luo Binghe’s ship. “Stay in the engine room as much as you can, where you’ll be surrounded by the Mobeis. If this rad detector goes off, get into your space suit until it settles again.”

“I know, Shizun, I promise I’ll do all that,” Luo Binghe said, amusement in his eyes.

Shen Yuan sighed. “I know, I know, you’re more than smart enough to remember all of this. I just-” then he cut himself off, unable to say out loud just how worried he was about this man that he’d known for such little time. “I just want to make sure you’re prepared,” he finished lamely. 

Luo Binghe gave him a long, considering look. “There’s just one more thing I need before I go,” he said, voice low and gravely enough that he could almost be mistaken for speaking his native language. There was no chance for Shen Yuan to ask ‘what’ as Luo Binghe suddenly leaned forward and Shen Yuan’s eyes widened as he was sure that he was about to be kissed.

And he was, though not on the lips, but instead a gentle kiss pressed against his forehead. Then Luo Binghe sighed and brushed his own forehead against Shen Yuan’s. “Thank you for everything, Shizun. I’m going to miss you so much.”

They were too close to make eye contact, so Shen Yuan was able to make himself say, “I’m going to miss you too.”

And then it was time for them to go their separate ways.

,,,

Shen Yuan looked around his brother’s office curiously. Despite how often Shen Jiu liked to drag him along on all their errands, he was rarely summoned here. It was a nice space, almost looking out of place on the militaristic ship. Of course he doubted his brother was actually getting much enjoyment out of the space, considering that there was almost as much paperwork piled up in here as there was in Shen Yuan’s little closet office. 

He sat awkwardly across from Shen Jiu’s desk. “You wanted to see me?”

“About our replacement crew member,” Shen Jiu started slowly.

Shen Yuan sat up straighter in his seat. “You found someone?” He had certainly not been immune to the rising tension over the past couple of days as a replacement was sought for Wei Qingwei. The launch was scheduled in less than a week, which meant trying to find someone who was already fully trained at this point was basically an impossible task. But Shen Jiu had been chosen for this job for a reason. He was good at getting things done, even when they didn’t seem possible.

Shen Jiu gave him a long look. “There is one suitable candidate,” he finally said.

A breath of relief whooshed out of Shen Yuan. “That’s great.” Though the look on his brother’s face didn’t make him feel any better. “So what’s the catch?”

“None of the applicants have enough training with our specific equipment, or knowledge on the Mobeis, to be brought in this close to launch,” Shen Jiu said. “But there is someone else who meets those requirements.” He gave Shen Yuan a pointed look.

It probably took longer than it should have for Shen Yuan to realize what his brother was getting at. “What- me? No way! I’m not an astronaut.”

“You’ve trained with the crew since the start of the project,” Shen Jiu pointed out, as though it was just a fun coincidence and not something that had been done on his orders.

Shen Yuan shook his head. “I’m sorry, but no. I can’t do it.” He wasn’t like Qi Qinggi and Mu Qingfang and Wei Qingwei, or like Shen Jiu. He wasn’t brave, he wasn’t willing to sacrifice his life. “Find someone else.”

The piercing cold of his brother’s eyes wasn’t unfamiliar, but usually Shen Jiu’s blades were only pointed this seriously towards outsiders, not his own family. “So you’d rather stay here and let the world freeze? Will those extra few years be worth it? What will you even do, aside from read your shitty web novels and complain about them online? Before I brought you into this, could you even honestly say you had a single friend? Anyone at all? You have done nothing with your life. Everything of value about you was handed to you on a silver platter. Now you have a chance to finally do something right.”

“I don’t care about any of that!” Shen Yuan snapped, standing abruptly from his seat. “Heroes are for stories; I never wanted that. I’m happy with my life.”

“And will you be happy with it in thirty years when you’re dead alongside the rest of us?”

Shen Yuan didn’t care if he was being selfish. He wasn’t ready to die! Just because he was an introvert didn’t mean he was ready to throw his life away. “I’m not discussing this with you.” 

As he turned to leave, Shen Jiu quietly asked, “Who would even miss you if you were gone? That brave crew out there is giving up everything to do this. You don’t even have anything to give up.”

“Fuck you,” Shen Yuan snarled before stomping towards the office door. When he swung it open, he saw Liu Qingge standing there, along with a few other men in suits. “What-?”

“I was hoping you would cooperate,” Shen Jiu said from behind him.

There was a sinking feeling in Shen Yuan’s stomach at the thought that his own brother could betray him like this. Sure, Shen Jiu had never been the warmest person, but Shen Yuan had always thought that beneath the gruff exterior was a loving heart, at least towards the few people who he let close. But apparently Shen Yuan was wrong. 

He tried to sprint past the group of bodyguards, but with the narrow corridors and the sheer amount of them, he was quickly stopped. He struggled, and Liu Qingge ended up knocking him to the floor with a painful thud. “You can’t do this,” he said, looking pleadingly over at his brother, who wouldn’t even meet his eyes. “What will you tell Mom and Dad?” he asked desperately.

“That their son was a hero,” Shen Jiu answered. 

Then there was a sharp prick in Shen Yuan’s neck, and everything started going fuzzy. As he faded, he thought that it was just his luck that his last sight of Earth would be the cold metal interior of this stupid, dumbfuck ship. 

,,,

Shen Yuan was startled awake by a loud blaring sound, and he jumped out of bed, fumbling to grab his glasses off of the little divot in the wall that he usually left them on. “What’s going on??”

[There is a contamination in Fuel Bay 3,] System informed him. 

Shen Yuan ran through the ship to get to the fuel bays. “What kind of contamination?” he asked as he ran.

[Unknown contaminant,] System answered after processing for a moment.

Great, at least it was good to know that the ship computer was just as fucking useless as ever. 

It didn’t take long for Shen Yuan to figure out the cause of the contamination on his own, though. It was the new guys. They had gotten through their careful packaging, and ended up in the fuel bay. Even though they hadn’t previously shown an interest in eating the Mobeis, it seemed like they had evolved to do so over the past hundreds of generations of them that Shen Yuan and Luo Binghe had worked on.

Working as fast as he could to contain the problem, Shen Yuan had to jettison the ruined fuel bay before the new guys could spread further. It was a major loss that would add years to his flight plan to get home, but it had to be done. Then he worked on securing the remaining samples of new guys.

Once everything had been contained, Shen Yuan slumped down in the nearest seat just to take a moment to breathe. Then the panic hit him all over again- Luo Binghe’s samples were in the same kind of containers as Shen Yuan’s, which means that there was a high chance they had escaped. Given the amount of Mobeis that Luo Binghe had left, even if only as many had been contaminated as on the Cang Qiong by the time he put a stop to it, Luo Binghe would be left with almost no protection from radiation. He wouldn’t make it home.

Shen Yuan quickly started doing the calculations based on how much fuel he had left. He should be able to loop back and catch up with Luo Binghe, but even if he did, Luo Binghe’s ship being compromised would mean that it couldn’t be used for the rest of the journey. Which meant that Shen Yuan would need to shuttle Luo Binghe home. But if he did that, there was absolutely no chance that Shen Yuan would be able to make it back to Earth with the amount of Mobeis he had left. And he couldn’t just go live on Luo Binghe’s planet with its toxic-to-humans atmosphere.

Luo Binghe’s entire home planet was at risk, of course, but that was barely even a thought on Shen Yuan’s mind. All he could think about was Luo Binghe slowly getting more and more sick, realizing that he was going to succumb to the same illness that had stolen his entire crew. He would die out in space, scared and alone and knowing that he had failed in his mission.

It wasn’t even a choice, really. So Shen Yuan got to work. He carefully secured all of the samples and research and everything into the drones that had been brought along for this very purpose, then sent them on their way. Even being so small, it would be years before they got back, and it had already been years since the Abyss Expedition had launched, especially accounting for time dilation. At this point, Shen Yuan could only hope that they would make it in time. He had the feeling that Shen Jiu would do whatever he could to make sure that the planet survived long enough for help to arrive.

With that taken care of, Shen Yuan took just one more moment to say his farewells to Earth, and then sat in the pilot’s seat and charted a new course, to go after Luo Binghe. 

It took three long weeks to catch up, which wasn’t nearly as long as Shen Yuan had expected if Luo Binghe’s vessel had been moving at a decent speed. He understood the problem when he got closer, though. The ship was completely still. For a moment, Shen Yuan considered the worst possibility- but then he quickly brushed it aside. Luo Binghe was far too brilliant to have completely missed the problem.

Still, Shen Yuan was full of nerves as he parked the Cang Qiong as close as possible, and then suited up to head outside. Shen Yuan imagined that the safety line reel would be creaking ominously if he could hear it, but he didn’t have much choice. It’s not like he came all this way just to say ‘oh well’ and move on without even trying.

He cautiously made his way up to the tunnel that was still extending from Luo Binghe’s ship, and made his way through it to the other end. He hesitated for a moment, then knocked as loudly as he could against the airlock door. But Luo Binghe’s ship was huge compared to Shen Yuan’s, and if he wasn’t right in the airlock, he probably wouldn’t be able to hear anything.

That’s when Shen Yuan remembered Luo Binghe berating him during their eventful collection mission, reminding him that the short range coms would still connect. Luo Binghe was smart, so when he realized that there was a problem, he had hopefully gotten into his borrowed space suit. Shen Yuan reached up to tap his helmet, activating the com. “Binghe? Binghe, are you there? Please be there. It’s Shen Yuan,” he added belatedly, before mentally kicking himself. Obviously it was him, who else would be out here??

There was just more silence for a moment, but then there was a brief crackle and Luo Binghe’s voice saying, “Shizun? Is that really you, or am I just dreaming again?”

Shen Yuan couldn’t stop himself from laughing with relief. “It’s me, it’s really me. I’m here to take you home.”

“I don’t have any power,” Luo Binghe explained over the com, voice sounding more vibrant now that his hope had been renewed. “So I can’t connect our airlocks like before.”

“It’s alright; just means we’ll have to do this the old fashioned way,” Shen Yuan declared. 

It took a few minutes for Luo Binghe to make his way through his enormous ship, but eventually the airlock opened, revealing Luo Binghe. The mark on his forehead glowed enough to see through the small clear panel at the top. “What’s the old fashioned way?” Luo Binghe asked as he followed Shen Yuan through the tunnel, somehow able to move with utmost grace compared to the way Shen Yuan always had to flail around like a weirdo in order to propel himself forward. 

Shen Yuan used the second clip of the safety line to attach to Luo Binghe’s loop so that they were both secured to the Cang Qiong before leaving the relative safety of the tunnel. “The two of us together will be too much weight,” Luo Binghe started to worry.

“We’re not going to use the reel. We’re going to pull ourselves over.”

When Shen Yuan turned around, Luo Binghe reached around Shen Yuan so that his chest was plastered against Shen Yuan’s back. Of course he couldn’t feel Luo Binghe’s warmth through two space suits, but he found himself warming up anyway. Luo Binghe grabbed onto the line, and then tugged, pulling both of them forward in one smooth movement. Shen Yuan helped by grabbing the slack and threading it behind them as they inched their way forward. 

They tumbled through the airlock together, but it was a much softer landing than last time. They shed their suits, and then once they were safe in the heart of the ship, Luo Binghe pulled Shen Yuan into a hug. “Did Shizun miss me so much that he couldn’t bear to be apart?” he teased.

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes, and thumped Luo Binghe’s arm. “I came back to save your life, thank you very much.”

“How did you know?” 

Shen Yuan sighed. “Because I had the same problem. I was able to isolate the issue and now the samples are even more secure, so they’ll make it back to your people.”

Luo Binghe’s eyes widened. “But wait- how is that going to work? At this point, too much of my fuel is ruined. Splitting what I gave you wouldn’t get either of us where we need to go.”

“It’s alright. I sent my drones back to Earth. Now we just need to get you and your samples back to your planet, and there'll be happy endings all around.” He could see that Luo Binghe wasn’t going to just let it go, so Shen Yuan sighed and told him, “It’s fine. Coming back for you was more important than going home. Besides, it’s not like I have much to go back to.” Not now that he knew how badly his brother had betrayed him. 

“But you can’t come with me,” Luo Binghe said anxiously. “The air-”

“I know. It’s alright. Like I said, coming back for you was more important.”

This time instead of just having watery eyes, Luo Binghe actually burst into tears as he pulled Shen Yuan into yet another hug. Shen Yuan’s arms rose up to return it without him even thinking about it. Even if this meant the end for him, it was worth it. 

,,,

An old man stepped outside, breathing in the air that wasn’t so cold it hurt. The ground was a mess, and the flooding would need to be dealt with as more snow around the world melted for the first time in decades. 

A much younger soldier approached, young enough to not remember a world before the cold. “Sir, this is for you.”

The man accepted the package, but paused when he saw no official post marks on it. “Where is this from?”

The soldier’s face shifted, looking almost excited. “They say it fell from the sky, sir. But it’s addressed to you.” 

His eyesight wasn’t what it used to be, but when he looked closer, he could see the faded writing on the small package, in a familiar hand that he had not seen since the day the Abyss Expedition drones had returned to Earth full of their salvation. He was surprised that the package was still sealed. Or perhaps whoever had vetted it had the courtesy of trying to make it look close to new.

He tore the package open to find nothing but a thumb drive. He went back inside to his little office, and plugged it into his spare computer, in case it was a virus or threat of some kind.

There were only two things on the drive: a video file and a word document. The document seemed rather large, so he cautiously clicked open the video first. As the video filled the screen, he could only stare with wide eyes at a face he had not seen since he was a young man himself.

Shen Yuan, looking only a few years older than when Shen Jiu had last seen him, was sitting in a small room full of all kinds of books and figurines and other junk piled up in the background. Then Shen Jiu pulled his focus away from the eclectic collection as his brother began to speak.

“Ge. I don’t know how long it will take for this to reach you. I don’t know if it will matter. For a long time, I thought it would be impossible to ever forgive you. But I’ve had a while to think about it, and I know that you were doing the best you could in an impossible situation.”

“Shizun…” an annoying whine came from just out of frame. “You shouldn’t be so nice to him.”

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes, but looked unbearably fond as he looked off in the direction of the other voice. “Binghe, hush.”

The unseen ‘Binghe’ heaved out a long sigh like he was being asked for something far more burdensome than a few minutes of quiet. Shen Yuan still didn’t look even remotely annoyed by the interrupting pest, though. He just looked back at the camera and continued. “Ge, I just wanted you to know that I forgive you. I’m alive, and I’m happy here. I’m actually living on an alien planet, believe it or not. They had to build this entire terrarium for me so that I wouldn’t die in their atmosphere. So you can’t complain that I don’t go out more often, since I can’t exactly go out around here! Anyways, if you want to do anything for me, don’t make a statue in my honor, or some dumb crap like that. Just publish my paper so that all those morons know I was right all along.” He paused for a moment, his pensive face such a familiar one to see. “I think that’s pretty much it-”

That other annoyance interrupted again. “Shizun! Don’t forget to tell him the most important part!”

Shen Yuan laughed, and Shen Jiu had never seen his brother’s face so openly full of joy and affection. “Right, right.” He took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. He reached up to nudge his glasses back up to the top of his nose, and it took a moment for Shen Jiu to notice what was out of place- a slim black ring on Shen Yuan’s finger. “I’m married! It’s been a few years now. Here- meet Binghe.” He reached out to grab the off screen person and tugged them over into view. Shen Jiu’s eyes widened slightly at the clearly non-human features of the person before him. 

“Shen Jiu,” the creature said in a growly voice, looking every inch some kind of demon from a child’s nightmares. “You-”

Shen Yuan smacked Binghe in the arm. “Knock it off. Be nice to my family.”

The demon immediately shrank down and tried to act like some innocent little sheep as if he hadn’t just bared his teeth so wolfishly. “But Shizun…”

Shen Yuan crossed his arms over his chest. “Keep it up and you won’t be allowed-”

The tape cut there, which was probably best for Shen Jiu’s sanity. He waited a few more seconds just in case, but there was no more footage. Then he opened the accompanying document, and when he saw the title, he couldn’t help but bark out a laugh, the sound rusty and foreign in his throat. 

Proof of Intelligent Life Originating Outside of Earth- Suck it Losers!!!! by Shen Yuan, PhD