Doreen grumbled angrily as she waited for her cue. "...gonna take forever to clean my suit... what a joke... my talents are wasted on this stupid town..." Kyla ignored her, focusing on setting up the cameras instead. She gave a thumbs up, and Doreen affected her usual cheery smile for the cameras. "...Thanks Chet! I'm here at Rafferty farm, where Margo Rafferty has been reporting strange phenomena that she believes may be aliens! Care to elaborate, Miss Rafferty?" She pointed the microphone towards the farmer, barely managing to hide her distaste for the situation. Unlike Doreen and her perfectly pressed suit and delicately applied makeup, the farmer wore her usual dirty overalls and old straw hat, the only effort she put into making herself presentable for the cameras being that she wiped off some of the dirt and grime from herself beforehand. "Thank you kindly, Miss. And I don't "believe" it's aliens, I know it's aliens. I've been seein' lights in the sky these past few nights, and just this morning I woke up and found Trudy missin'." Doreen was shocked, and maybe a bit too excited. "Wait, you're saying there's a missing person involved now?" Margo laughed. "Nah, Trudy's one o' my cows. Right pain losin' her to those aliens just before the fair, too. I hope they're takin' good care of 'er up there." Doreen rolled her eyes, knowing the cameras weren't on her. 

"And do you have any proof at all that this is the result of aliens? There usually are a lot of lights in the sky at night." Margo glared at her. "I know what I saw, miss. Sure as rain wasn' any stars or moonlight, and I know enough to know it weren't any airplanes or drones neither. Maybe it weren't aliens, but it sure ain't anythin' normal whatever is is!" Doreen nodded with gritted teeth. "Fascinating. Well, I'm receiving word from the studio that a police chase has just developed of Route 10, so I'm afraid we'll have to cut this interview short!" She flashed a bright smile at the camera. "Back to you in the studio, Chet!" She waited until the recording light shut off before heading back to the news van. Kyla could hear her groaning inside, bemoaning her misfortune at being stuck in this small, boring town. Margo shrugged and went to go check on a few of her animals. Kyla glanced at her phone. The segment ended early enough that they weren't expected back for quite a while, and Doreen was probably going to be occupied for quite a bit complaining to herself, so Kyla felt she could have a bit of time to look around. 

Unlike Doreen, Kyla was a staunch believer in extraterrestrial life. Ever since she was a kid, she'd dreamed of meeting a real life alien. She always fantasized about an alien landing in her backyard and taking her away to travel the galaxy with them, seeing all sorts of amazing planets and other species and stars that nobody had ever seen before. As she grew older, she became a bit more rational, but still believed there was absolutely extraterrestrial life out there on some planet, even if it didn't have UFOs or lightspeed travel yet. She mostly let the interest fall into the background as she worked through high school and college, but it was always there. And then, 2 years ago... She had her own extraterrestrial encounter. 

The memories were hazy and fragmented, but Kyla knew it couldn't have been a dream. She remembered waking up to multicolored lights all around her, and floating weightlessly out of her bed... Then being in a room filled with tech and blinking lights... A strange creature with three arms and three legs observing her... The rest was too difficult to remember, but it completely reignited her childhood obsession. No matter what anyone said, she knew it wasn't a dream! And so she'd been looking for proof of alien life these past few years, and this was the closest she'd ever come.

Kyla walked into the cornfield, looking around the crop circle they'd been here to report on in the first place. She knew that crop circles probably weren't something an alien would do, but... She could still hope. She wandered through the empty space, looking for any sign of... Burning, or something. Anything that looked like it had come from a ship or beam. As she walked, she found herself becoming lost very quickly. She was used to hearing about crop circles being perfectly round and mathematically precise, but this was very curvy and wavy, and she kept having to turn this way and that as she walked through. It almost made her dizzy. She eventually arrived at the center and looked around. No sign of burning... In fact, looking closer, she could see the telltale signs of blades having cut the corn down... Her heart sank. She'd known it was probably a hoax, but... She'd really hoped...

Glad there was still a bit of service out here, Kyla eventually made her way out of the winding, whirling 'Crop circle' back to the farm. As she headed back to the vehicle, she heard a strange noise... A beautiful, wordless singing coming from the farm. She walked closer, and saw it was coming from... Margo, just singing to her horse. Obviously it wasn't going to be an alien... Margo looked over at her and smiled. "Howdy there. You're the cameraman, right? What're ya doin' back here? Your partner ready to ask me some more questions?" Kyla shook her head. "No, no, we're leaving soon... I was just looking around. Heard you singing, and wanted to... Check it out." Margo nodded. "Ahh, makes sense. It's nice and pretty, ain't it? I find it helps calm down any scared or rowdy beast... Helps them relax, and know I don't mean them no harm..." Kyla nodded as Margo gently stroked her horse's head. An idea suddenly occurred to her.

"Hey, uh, Miss Rafferty?" Margo smiled over at her again. "You can call me Margo, sugar." Kyla nodded. "Right, Uh, Margo, do you think it'd be helpful if I, uh... Stayed here overnight? To record any alien activity for proof?" Margo pondered for a while, then shook her head. "Sorry, sugar, but I'm afraid it's a bit too dangerous. I don't know what those aliens might do, and I don't want you to get yourself in trouble." Kyla looked down, dejected. "Ah. Alright, okay... I'll... I've got to head back to the station now." Margo smiled and waved goodbye before returning to singing to her horse in that beautiful, wordless melody.

-

That night, Kyla felt restless. She'd found enough to know Margo was definitely making it all up, what with the fake crop circle and the insistence she not be there 'for her safety'... But something about the way she acted made Kyla feel that she genuinely believed something was going on. And Kyla couldn't bring herself to ignore any lead, no matter how small. So she grabbed her camera, some snacks, an extra battery, and drove out to the Rafferty farm in the dead of night.

Kyla parked a bit away from the farm and walked the rest of the way on foot, wanting to lessen the risk of trespassing charges. She set up near the cornfield with the 'Crop circle' and began watching the sky. It was... Not as fruitful as she'd hoped. The sky was empty except for all the stars, way more than in the big city thanks to no light pollution. A few times she thought she saw something, but it was either an airplane or just a star she wasn't used to. She whimpered sadly. She'd come out all this way for nothing... She started packing up her things and heading back to the car. But just as she turned, she heard a strange noise faintly in the distance. She turned, expecting nothing... And saw lights.

Strange, multicolored lights spun around in the air above the field. They were clearly like nothing she'd seen here on earth, except... In her encounter... They were the lights she saw two years ago... She quickly turned on her camera and started recording, watching the lights whirl around and around, swaying to and fro. She followed them towards the center of the field, mesmerized. Finally... She had proof... Undeniable, beautiful, proof... The spaceship landed, and she checked her camera repeatedly, quadruple-checking that she was recording and that she had enough space and battery left. The spaceship opened with a soft hum, and two aliens exited. Kyla stifled a gasp. They looked just like the aliens from her encounter. They looked around, and it was hard to tell from their biology, but they seemed almost... Dazed. Sleepy. Suddenly, footsteps approached the field, and Kyla glanced over to see... Margo, casually walking towards the aliens with a flashlight. 

The aliens clearly tried to react, but they were unable to do much except wobble around. Margo gently put her hand on one's... Head, maybe. "Feeling sleepy, are we sugar? I figured y'all'd come back here for more o' my cows, and I was prepared. Pretty shape, innit? Figured if y'all were flyin around above my fields, y'all'd be lookin' down on 'em, and I don't know much 'bout aliens, but spirals tend to do somethin' to us humans and our minds... Makes us a bit dizzy... Suggest'ble." She chuckled as the aliens stared(?) blankly. "O' course, I don't think y'all speak English up there, so I doubt you're understandin' any of this. But I do think you enjoy list'nin to my voice, don't ya? It's awful pretty. Good for convincin' beasts and people to do what I want... 'Specially if I start singin'..."

Margo began singing her beautiful, wordless melody, and the aliens visibly relaxed. Their limbs grew limp and dangling, their bodies swayed softly, and their hands(?), suckers(?), loosened. The one Margo was touching clearly leaned into her touch, its eyes(?) beginning to display shifting blobs of dim colors. She gently waved her hand before their eyes(?) as she sang, evidently lulling them deeper into a trance. Her melody grew slower and softer, and they grew sleepier. Their hands(?) exuded soft shimmering mist the same colors as the shifting blobs as they swayed, entranced. Margo stopped singing and smiled at the two hypnotized aliens. "I bet that feels great, don't it? Now come back home, we gotta... Hmm, now what's that over there...?"

Kyla woke up as the sun hit her eyes, groaning. She rolled over in her bed... And quickly realized she wasn't in her room. "Whah...?" She looked around. She was definitely in the Rafferty farmhouse. She groaned. So she had fallen asleep in the field after all... Probably around the time she saw those lights... What a vivid dream... At least Margo was nice enough to bring her inside... Hopefully she wasn't too mad about the trespassing... Kyla glanced at her camera. Out of battery, unsurprisingly. She must have left it on all night. Grabbing her stuff, she stumbled downstairs to thank Margo and apologize to her, and almost tripped into somebody. "Mmm, sorry, tired, I-" She stared in complete and utter bewilderment. The person in front of her was carrying a tray of cookies... In all three of their arms.

Kyla was still dreaming. Of course. That was why she was seeing the alien from her encounter two years ago right in front of her, wearing a tattered flannel shirt and jeans while carrying a tray of cookies. As she stared, stunned, it reached out a sucker(?), hand(?) and gently placed it on her head. It latched on with a wet squelch, and a strange, buzzy feeling filled Kyla's mind. Several streams of chaotic noise flowed inside her head, and she could feel them swimming through her brain, looking for thoughts. They eventually coalesced into what resembled a chipper feminine voice, speaking in a hodgepodge of word fragments from her recent memory. 《Howdy there ! wo-udio ligh-ks Uh-lm cow-oke-ice ?》Kyla stared confused, no idea what was happening. It nudged her with the tray, and she blinked.."Oh, uh, cookies...? Uh... Not hungry, sorry..." She stumbled into the kitchen, and saw Margo sitting at the table, another alien sitting with her, its sucker on head and its body, also outfitted with old farm clothes, relaxed. Margo glanced up as Kyla stumbled in. "Ah, finally awake, sugar?" Kyla rubbed her head. "...I'm not sure... I think I'm still dreaming..." Margo laughed and walked over to her, the sucker on her head detaching with a wet squelch. "Nah, you're not dreamin', sugar. I told you the aliens were real."

Kyla's head was beginning to hurt. "What...? I... Everything is so confusing... Why... Why do they have clothes...?" Margo laughed. "Well, they always had clothes, sugar, but the pilot'n gear they got ain't good for workin' in the sun. So I salvaged a few scarecrows and dressed 'em up right proper for field work." Kyla moaned. "Whah...?" Margo smiled. "It's nothin' too complex, sugar. They took Trudy for a day, so they're my farmhands for a day. Milk the cows, weed the fields, collect the eggs, you know. Fair's fair. They're awfully reason'ble once you get to talkin' with 'em, even if they are a mite hard to understand at first." Kyla clutched her forehead. Nothing was making any sense... "Thanks for... Uh... Stuff... I... needa go sleep... back at home..." She turned to leave, but Margo gently grabbed her shoulder. "Not so fast, sugar. I can't have you tellin' anyone about this, not yet at least. Not a fan o' people tramplin' all over my fields to see my new alien friends." Kyla nodded unsteadily. "Yeah, yeah, I promise, I..." Margo shook her head. "Promise ain't good 'nough, sugar. You already disobeyed me once by comin' here when I told you not to. We need secrecy. So just... Listen." Kyla listened closely, and suddenly found herself swaying softly as Margo began singing her melody. "Whah...?" 

She began to feel very relaxed... Very sleepy... Like she just wanted to collapse into Margo's big, strong arms and fall fast asleep... "N-No... please..." She tried to protest, but Margo kept singing, her intense gaze locked on Kyla's. Everything was fading, and Kyla just wanted to sleep... Everything would be fine... Just let her eyes shut, and sleep... With the last bit of strength she had, she softly murmured, "...no... i need to know... i like aliens... wanna rember... please..." Margo stopped singing, but her voice still had a lulling undertone. "You wanna remember that bad, sugar?" Kyla nodded sleepily, and Margo smiled. "Tell ya what. When I send ya to sleep and give you my suggestions, I can give you a suggestion to come here tomorrow night and see me and the aliens. Hopef'lly I'll have somethin' figured out by then." Kyla stared at her happily. "...really...?" Margo nodded. "Yep! I just want privacy, I don't wanna deprive you of any answers you're lookin' for. 'Sides..." She laughed, "I think one o' my new friends met ya awhile back." 

Kyla felt a wet squelch on the back of her head as the alien from the stairs began communicating with her. 《rember-ber ? I ope-ers-ve-t you ! to-you Ye-ere-is a-rgo !》Margo smiled at the alien. "I think she's excited to catch up with ya. So just wait a day, and you can see the aliens all ya want, 'slong as ya come alone." Kyla nodded as enthusiastically as she could. "Y-Yeah...! I'll come alone...! I love aliens...!" Margo grinned. "Great. Now, just relax, and Listen..." Margo began singing again, and Kyla's eyes fluttered. The alien began 'whispering' into her mind.《Listen to Miss-dresse Margo ... fa-eall in'-to a Tru-answ for Miss-dresse Margo ... nice and sleep-ie for Miss-dresse Margo ... good human ...》And soon, Kyla fell into a deep, suggestible sleep, forgetting everything on the surface but deep down happier than she'd ever been...