Chapter Three: Light Sent Seven Years Ago

The passengers noticed nothing. They watched aurora videos on their phones, whose dark screens sometimes reflected unfamiliar faces. “They truly see none of it?” Shen Yan asked. “They saw it and forgot. Your city calls whatever it cannot explain an illusion. Repeat the name long enough, and the illusion has nowhere left to live.” The announcement named the next station: Municipal Observatory. The real Line Two had never stopped there. The doors opened onto a dust-covered platform. A seven-year-old poster still proclaimed, THE STARS BELONG TO EVERYONE WHO LOOKS UP. Shen Yan had often waited here for Xingyao to finish work. He remembered the meteorite in the lobby and the blue lights after planetarium shows, but nothing about his final visit.