/CIA Directorate of Science and Technology, NOAA Office of Satellite Communications, NASA joint investigative force, Internal Memo RE: South American anomaly, 19.06.98: First communications from the ground team report discovery of anomaly's terrestrial locus. Anomaly appears to an area roughly spherical in shape with a diameter of 10 km, centered over a point at 17.36.42 S, 49.17.29 W, although this point seems to shift occasionally.
The region is emitting high levels of synchrotron radiation, a form of radiation that is produced when charged particles are accelerated radially through a magnetic field. Synchrotron radiation has been observed emitting from numerous astronomical objects, including our Sun, but it has never before been detected at the level of the Earth's surface. The cause of these emissions remains unknown.
Observations from the periphery include unusual bending of the sunlight to produce vibrant and vivid colors and shapes within the area, as well as what appears to be stochastic suspension of the laws of physics. CIA DST agent reports seeing stones lift from the ground with no visible cause or means of support, and rain that falls but only occasionally strikes the ground. The Brazilian report to headquarters observes that looking upon the anomaly is like "gazing through the gates of Heaven".
No animal life, including insects, was observed within the region, although atmospheric readings are normal. The team will advance into the anomalous region itself at 0500 hours local time tomorrow, for further observation and measurements./
The trip up to Wangshun Mountain was long. They had to take four buses to get across the city, then once they reached the highway, a fifth bus took them up the winding road into the mountains, chugging along placidly and coughing smoke every few miles. Because the trip took so much time and Father wanted to get there before nightfall on Friday, Tian and Xing had been allowed to miss school that day for the drive. At first, Xing was torn between missing one of her dance classes and wanting to go up to the lake. But when Tian promised to help her catch lightning bugs, she stopped moping.
They'd had a little bit of trouble getting onto the bus headed out of Xi'an. In anticipation of the stars disappearing, the whole province - and the country too, Tian thought, but he wasn't sure - had imposed a curfew in the cities at sundown, and travel restrictions during the day. A lot of people were trying to leave the city, even though the government had issued statements that it was safe. Father had to show the military men at the bus station papers that proved that he owned property in Zhangjiaping, and then they were allowed to leave.
Mother had asked the rest of the family if they wanted to come too, but Jiao-tu had come down with a fever and Aunt didn't think she should be out in the night air. And Grandfather wasn't worried about civil unrest or falling stars. Tian had never seen Grandfather worried about anything.
Tian's stomach was already growling by the time they stepped off the final bus in the main road of Zhangjiaping, the little village that was closest to the house by the lake; lunch had been a whole two hours ago.
"Are you going to make it until dinner?" Mother said laughing, as Father passed her the telescope bag so that he could pull their single suitcase down from the top of the bus.
"I think so," Tian said, though in reality fifteen minutes was starting to feel like fifteen hours. He bounced lightly on his feet, glad to be moving again after sitting squeezed onto a bus bench for so long, and gazed around at the shops and houses clustered around the narrow highway road, the only road in fact. There wasn't any room for them to spread out in any case, hugging the side of the mountain as they were.
Tian liked Zhangjiaping. The buildings were old and crumbly, but the whitewash was fresh and every holiday the residents hung bright red lanterns and decorations in their windows and from their eaves. Power lines crisscrossed the highway, and here and there one of the century-old houses sported a big modern satellite dish. Everyone knew each other, not like in Xi'an, where you were lucky to run into a person who wasn't a complete stranger if you ventured outside of your own neighborhood. Even though the Li family only visited a few times a year, the village's residents always greeted them like they were coming home.
"Look, there's Mr. Shang!"
Tian caught Xing's hand to keep her from wandering out into the middle of the street. There wasn't any traffic, but you never knew. The local grocer heard Xing's exclamation and looked up from the store's single fruit stand; he gave the Li family a friendly wave from across the way. Tian and Xing waved back.
"Up early this year, aren't you?" Mr. Shang called. "Want a lift?"
Mother hefted the telescope onto her shoulder. "That would be wonderful," she called back. "Thank you!"
Before heading up to the house, Mother and Xing bought some groceries, and Tian helped Father buy some live bait; if they were lucky, they'd have fish for every meal this weekend. Then they piled into Mr. Shang's flatbed truck - Mother, Tian, and Xing the back with some crates of cabbages, Father up front with Mr. Shang. The road up to the house wasn't long - only about three miles - but it was steep, and much more fun to drive than to walk. Plus, the faster they arrived, the sooner Tian could eat.
Xing lay on her stomach over the tailgate to watch the pavement rush by, Mother's hand on her ankle to keep her from falling out, while Tian leaned against the wooden slats of the truck's side. The fresh breeze ruffled his hair pleasantly. Xing giggled at the jolt when the truck turned off of the paved road and onto a rough dirt track, careless as usual about getting her white sun dress dirty. She loved riding in trucks.
The track curved around a ridge, offering a brief view of craggy granite peaks in the distance.
"Did Grandfather really climb to the top of Wangshun Mountain in the middle of a lightning storm?" Tian asked.
Mother looked over her shoulder at the mountain peak. "Oh, I don't know about a lightning storm; I don't doubt that he did climb it at some point, though. You've seen the photos of him and Grandmother on Mount Hua, haven't you? They used to go climbing and hiking all the time when Hong and I were little."
"But he did battle the Monkey King for the secrets of wushu, right?" Xing asked.
Tian rolled his eyes. "That's just one of his stories; you're too gullible."
"I like that story," Xing said, pouting a little as she turned back to the road. Tian felt a little guilty for making fun of her; it used to be one of his favorite stories, too. Well, it still was, even if he didn't believe all of it anymore.
The truck turned into the drive; if Tian hadn't already known that there was a little house tucked into the scrub he would have missed it completely. He jumped up before the truck had even stopped moving and leapt out. His shin gave a flash of pain when he landed, but he let the momentum roll him backwards and back onto his feet, springing up lightly.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to do that!" Mother scolded as the truck came to a stop in front of the house. "You'll hurt yourself!"
"I'm fine," Tian assured her, while Xing said, "Can I try?"
"Absolutely not." Mother handed Tian down the suitcase as Father thanked Mr. Shang and came around the back of the truck. Tian took the telescope next so that Mother could climb down.
Father held out his arms, and Xing jumped into them. "Oof!" he said as he caught her and set her on her feet. "When did you get so heavy?"
"Yesterday," Xing said brightly. "Look! The seeds I planted at the Spring Festival are growing!"
Tian trotted with her to the clay pot by the door. Sure enough, several bright green shoots were poking their way out of the soil. "I bet they'll be blooming when we come up here for the summer. Come on," he said, retrieving the key from underneath the pot, "let's go find some food."
Dust motes sparkled in the light streaming in through unshuttered windows when Tian opened the door. The house was a bit bigger than their apartment in the city, but still small. It had only two rooms: a living area with a tiny kitchen and wood stove tucked into one corner, and a bedroom that had just enough space for a double bed; Tian and Xing usually shared the sofa bed in the living room. There was electricity, but no plumbing - an outhouse and a bathhouse with a well pump were out back. Pumping water for washing had been Tian's job ever since he'd grown tall enough to get leverage on the handle.
The old wooden floorboards creaked pleasantly underfoot as Tian went into the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboards for something to snack on. Father took the telescope and suitcase into the bedroom while Mother brought the groceries into the kitchen. She gently shooed Tian out of the way, then handed him a sleeve of crackers which he tore open hungrily.
"There's still about two hours left of daylight," Father called from the other room. "Anyone up for some fishing?"
"I'll go get the poles!" Tian said around a mouthful of crackers, and darted out to the bathhouse where the fishing gear was stored.
~~~~o~~~~
After a dinner of fried fish, Mother suggested that they get out the mahjong set. It was a tradition to play mahjong on New Year's Eve. In a way, Tian supposed, tonight was like New Year's Eve: everything would be new and different tomorrow if the stars really did vanish. The thought initially settled over him like a gloomy cloud. It didn't help that Xing had been moping all evening. She'd lost her snake charm bracelet while playing in the water at the edge of the lake, and several minutes of frantic searching in the last light of the day hadn't turned it up.
Once they got playing, however, both children's spirits lifted.
"Are you sure you want to discard that one?" Mother asked with a raised eyebrow.
Tian hesitated, and looked again at the tile in his hand. He looked at the lack of tiles in front of Mother's place.
"Don't listen to her," Father said. "She's just trying to make you nervous." Father had a couple of sets laid out on the table already. He was close to winning - but then again, he always started out strong only to get defeated by another player. Xing was still learning the rules; her current strategy was to choose the suit that she liked best and collect only those pieces. Tonight, that was the bamboo pattern. Mother was the one to watch out for. When both she and Uncle played, the game became downright cutthroat.
She had that piratical gleam in her eye now. She's trying to bluff me, Tian decided, and placed down the tile.
Mother immediately snatched it up. "Ha!" she said, laying out her entire hand. "I win!"
Tian and Father both groaned in defeat, while Xing clapped.
"That's three to me! Last round - your turn to deal, Xinkun."
Everyone turned their tiles over and moved them into the middle of the table, the familiar clack-clack-clack sounds filling the small house. Once they were mixed, Father began stacking the tiles.
"Did Papa really grow up here?" Xing asked with a sleepy yawn, looking up at the row of faded, framed pictures on the wall behind Father's head.
The faces of his other grandparents were as familiar to Tian as those of his living family, but only because he'd grown up seeing these photos on their summer visits. He had the barest memory of Father's mother kissing his cheek and telling him how much he looked like his father when he was little, but that was it. She had died before Xing was born, her husband even earlier. But even though he hadn't known them, Tian liked seeing the pictures, forever smiling and happy. He could easily see Father growing up here.
Mother nodded. "Yep. He lived here until he left for college."
"Where he met you?"
"That's right." Mother grinned across the table at Father, who smiled back.
"She sat down across from me because it was the only open seat in the library, stole my textbook, and told me that economics was a subject for old men."
Like she always did when Father told the story, Mother reached over and plucked Father's reading glasses from the top of his head, perching them on the bridge of her nose. "I didn't sit there because it was the only seat," she said. "You were just too cute in your glasses and country clothes to leave alone. Definitely too cute for economics."
"But I still study economics - so you don't think I'm cute anymore?" Father said in a tone of feigned hurt.
Mother kissed him. "You're the exception to that rule," she said, and Xing giggled. "Anyway, I knew you worth keeping around after our race."
"Race?" Tian hadn't heard this story before.
"Your mother asked me to walk her home from the library; when we passed the college's track, she dared me to race her. If I won, I would be allowed to take her on a date."
Mother picked up the story, turning over her tiles to peak at the symbols. "I ran as hard as I could; I wanted him to win, but I didn't want to make it easy. But before I was halfway around the track, I realized that he wasn't even running. He was just sitting at the starting line. When I finished the loop, I asked him what he thought he was doing - didn't he want to take me out? He said that he knew he would never be able to catch me; so he would wait for me instead."
"Forever," Father said, leaning over to kiss her. Tian wished that they wouldn't do that in public so often.
Xing went to bed early after the game; she was still frustrated by the loss of her bracelet, and Mother insisted that she get some sleep if she wanted to go stargazing later. Tian was too restless to sleep. He was used to staying up all night watching the stars, but for some reason, tonight he felt that if he closed his eyes for even five minutes, the stars would vanish and he would have missed his last chance at seeing them.
Once the game was put away, Father went down to the lake to get the telescope set up. Since Xing had already gone to bed, Tian stayed to help Mother clean up the dishes from dinner. When at last she pronounced the kitchen clean, he headed out too.
"Be careful in the dark!" Mother called after him.
"I will!"
The night grew chilly quickly once the sun went down, but Tian didn't mind it; he preferred the cool, brisk air to the sweltering heat that they had to suffer by day. The moon hadn't risen yet, but there were so many brilliant stars that he had no trouble picking his way down the trail to the shore. Father was a shadowy silhouette adjusting the eyepiece of the telescope, which he had set up on a flat stretch of sand at the water's edge, the breeze-driven waves lapping gently at the sand.
"Mom sent some apples," Tian said. Father jumped at the sound of his voice.
"I don't know how you can always move so quietly in the dark," Father said, and Tian grinned.
It wasn't just talent; he practiced. The nighttime forest was shadowed and full of spooky and mysterious sounds. It had frightened him when he was younger; but Grandfather had told him once that a good martial artist was one with his environment. After that, Tian had begun spending time out in the dark woods until he learned how to see just as well with his ears as with his eyes. The sound of hungry, stalking wolves turned out to be a just rabbit venturing out of its burrow; the murmuring of restless, vengeful ghosts was nothing but the breeze in the leaves. Once he'd accustomed himself to the normal forest sounds, he lost his fear of it, and worked hard to travel through it as silently as possible so as not to disturb the other denizens of the woods.
Tian passed Father the bag of apples, then bent to look through the eyepiece. "What are we looking at?"
There was a soft slicing sound, which Tian knew to be Father peeling the skin from an apple with his wide-bladed hunting knife. He could do it even in the dark, peeling off the entire skin in one long curl, using that knife.
"What does it look like?" Father asked.
"Um…" Tian pulled his head up and glanced at the sky above them. The telescope was pointed eastwards, where Scorpius had just risen above the tree tops. Antares was shining brightly. He looked back into the eyepiece and studied the pattern of the cluster of stars in its focus. "Butterfly cluster, I think."
"Good job," Father said. "M6. When you're finished with it, see if you can find M7, the Ptolemy cluster."
"Do you have the book?"
Father passed him a little pocket-sized book, a list of all the Messier catalog objects and their locations. They'd found most of the summer sky Messier objects last year, the ones that could be seen on Father's telescope at least, but Tian loved looking at them just the same. He could stare at a single galaxy for a year straight and never get tired of it.
He found the flashlight with the red filter and switched it on so that he could read the book without damaging his night vision. The Ptolemy cluster was easy to find, just a bit lower than M6 and near the tail of Scorpius. He didn't need Father's help to focus on the group of stars. They twinkled in the eyepiece, bright blue and white with a bit of yellow.
While Father studied the cluster, Tian fished an apple out of the bag and perched on an old log that had been there for as long as he could remember. "Can I borrow your knife?" he asked.
Father didn't look up from the telescope. "Remind me why there's a bandage on your finger."
"I just want to practice peeling…"
"In the dark? Your mother will kill me if I let you try; wait until tomorrow when it's daylight. It'll be easier to find your severed fingers then."
Tian huffed, and Father laughed. "Here," he said, and passed Tian the knife handle-first. "Just cut it though, don't try and peel it."
Tian took the knife gingerly. Father's grandfather had made the wooden handle, and had carved it with characters to bring luck while fishing. Not only was Tian worried about cutting himself, but the knife carried such a weight of family antiquity that he was afraid of somehow damaging it. But he managed to cut the apple into quarters with no harm done, either to himself or to the knife.
"What time are the stars supposed to disappear?" he asked, crunching into one of the apple slices.
"A little after midnight. Moonrise isn't until two-thirty; we probably won't see it at all tonight."
"Oh." Tian stared up at the wheeling, diamond-studded sky, so vast and empty, yet full to bursting with light at the same time. "Do you think it'll really happen?"
Father looked up from the telescope and regarded the sky thoughtfully. "I don't know," he said at last. "It seems impossible to believe, certainly hard to imagine - but most of the rest of the world has seen it happen by now."
Tian had seen photos and recordings on the news of a black shadow taking over the sky. It looked fake, like something out of movie. "Does that mean we won't be able to see Almach this fall?" Almach was a multiple star system east of the Andromeda galaxy. It was too far away to see with their low-powered scope, but Father had been saving up for a Barlow lens, which would increase the magnification. He'd been planning on buying one after school started up again, and Tian was looking forward to it. Now, it sounded like they'd never have a chance to see Almach. Or to see Andromeda, one of Tian's favorite galaxies, again.
"I don't know - we'll have to wait and see." Father was smiling in the dim light, but Tian thought that he looked a little sad.
The night wore on and they methodically went through the Messier catalog, taking silent turns at the telescope. Tian found his thoughts drifting back to Na. She'd promised to go stargazing with him some time; but if the stars disappeared, then what?
"Hey Dad, can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
Tian stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked out across the dark lake, twinkling dimly in the starlight. "What will you miss the most about the stars?"
Father made a notation in the book. "Hm," he said. "Well, I have a lot of memories of going stargazing with your mother; every time I look up at the stars, it brings back those memories. But, I won't lose my memories if the stars vanish, and it won't make me love her any less. I guess what I'll miss most is making new memories about them with the people I love."
Tian wasn't sure that made much sense. How could you miss something that you didn't have yet? "How did you know you were in love with Mom?" he asked.
Father smiled at him over his reading glasses, his face lit by the red light of the flashlight. "I heard that you and Jiang have a couple of admirers visiting you at wushu practice…"
"No, it's not that!" Tian rubbed the back of his head. "Anyway, Jiang invited them, not me. I was just wondering. Never mind."
"Sorry, sorry," Father chuckled. "I won't tease you about it." He paused thoughtfully. "I knew I liked her from the first time I met her."
"I know," Tian said. "She teased you all the time, but you didn't mind because you liked hearing her laugh. Is that love?"
"Probably not, on its own. We'd been dating for a little less than a year when my father passed away unexpectedly; An offered to come home with me for the funeral. I spread his ashes here in the lake at sunset, then sat down on that log and watched the stars come out. An sat next to me and didn't say a word, just held my hand all night. I think that's when I knew that I loved her."
Tian didn't know what to say, so he stayed quiet and thought about it. That didn't really sound like love to him either; just sitting around not talking.
Presently they heard the sounds of Mother and Xing coming down the trail, Mother lighting their way with a flashlight. Xing had a blanket bundled up in her arms.
"Almost time?" Father asked.
Mother nodded. "Five til midnight. Have we missed anything?"
"No," Tian said.
Xing settled down against the log and wrapped the blanket around herself, yawning widely. Father and Mother joined her, and Mother passed around a thermos of tea.
But Tian didn't want to leave the telescope yet. He looked back down at the book. M80; it should be due south now. He located the cluster, but only glanced at it briefly before moving on. Jupiter. Low on the western horizon. He found the bright planet easily with his eyes alone first, then focused the telescope on it. Its colorful bands were clearly visible; and was that a moon, just coming around from behind it? He fiddled with the focus a bit more. There, that was definitely one moon; and maybe there was another…
He blinked, and squinted harder into the eyepiece. There was nothing there: the moon, the planet, the stars in the distance - he couldn't see them. It was like someone had put their hand over the lens. He raised his head and peered at the horizon.
"It's gone," he said softly.
"What's gone?" Father asked.
"Jupiter." Maybe it had just dipped down below the line of tree tops, Tian thought; but in his gut he knew that that wasn't what was happening. He stared at the sky with wide eyes. It wasn't just Jupiter that had vanished; all the stars along the horizon were gone. As he watched, inky fingers stretched slowly across the sky, blotting out the stars as they went. He tried to tell himself that it was just a giant cloud - but it was nothing like a cloud. It was as if someone had spilled a bucket of black paint onto the globe and it was oozing over the dome of the earth.
He stood and watched, fascinated and horrified at the same time.
"Sweetie, come sit down with us," Mother called to him. Tian took a few steps backwards, unwilling to take his eyes from the sky. Mother caught his hand and guided him down next to Xing. Tian pressed close against his sister, glad for once of her warmth. Her head lolled against his shoulder, and he finally tore his gaze away from the sky to look at her. She was asleep.
"Xing," he whispered, as if there was something in the night that might hear. "Xing, wake up - you're missing it!" He shook her shoulder, and for one frightening moment he thought that she wasn't going to wake at all. But then her eyes opened and she blinked tiredly.
"What is it, Brother?"
"The stars - look."
Xing tilted her face up to the clashing mosaic of star-strewn sky and blackest void. "Oh," she breathed. "It's pretty."
They stayed there for another two hours, watching the stars disappear into emptiness, one by one. At last the blackness crept all the way over the eastern horizon. There was an eerie silence, as if all sound as well as color had been sucked from the world. It was so dark now that Tian could scarcely see the silhouettes of his family around him, and he jumped when he heard Father's quiet voice.
"Come on. Let's go home."
A/N: revised 12-20-14