Cyan Falling

Reprieve Part 2

Jaesong didn’t remain seated on the bottom bunk for very long. As soon as Cyan was sleeping, he made his way to the desk, visor and his equipment in hand. It was a fiddly job, one that required a fair amount of concentration. It was why he always felt better working at night.

Everything was quiet, there were no loud voices or vehicles wandering the streets or echoing from adjacent buildings. It was all just the ambient sound of water undulating around the outside of the dome with the movements of the current, the calls of whales sounding quietly through the deep blue.

Jaesong thought to himself that he could get used to life in a place like this. One where it was peaceful and ambient and the people might just believe him if he pretended that he was something other than a changeling.

He shook the thought from his mind. Even if they believed him, it would never change the truth. He wished, instead, that life could be easier for him as he was, that he could live without judgement over something that he was born as, something that was beyond his control. He should have been allowed to exist in the same way that everyone else was.

He wasn’t short-sighted enough to believe that he was the only species to experience this kind of discrimination, but still, he wished that it was different, he wished that it was different for anyone who had ever felt the way that he had been made to feel.

He thought, as he worked on Cyan’s visor, that he would very much like to take him up on his offer to visit the place that he now calls his home and the people that are important to him there. He wondered what it would be like, and wondered if the people there would be more willing to accept him. Maybe someone like him could find a home there too, somewhere that he would want to return to, somewhere that he would miss when he was gone.

As it was, Jaesong did not miss the sands and jungles of Yandraven. He would be perfectly content to never lay eyes on it again and that was something that he was slowly making peace with. Even the beautiful parts of it he did not miss, for even they were tainted with memories of scorn and rejection.

He worked quietly by the window, lit only by the glow of the equipment that he was using and of the visor itself, sending smatterings of orange, white and green dancing across his hands and face. It was not beyond repair, thankfully. Getting their things dry as soon as possible had probably been the thing that saved them.

By the first ray of artificial daylight that filled the dome, Jaesong was almost done with Cyan’s visor. Just a few more adjustments and a little re-boot and it should be fully functional again.

Cyan, who woke to the continued sound of tinkering, rolled over on his bunk and sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his left hand before looking down at Jaesong where he sat at the desk.

“Have you been working on that all night?” He asked, somewhat astonished at the dedication.

“Yeah, it was sort of an accident. Once I got going, I just didn’t want to stop until I was finished. It almost is, by the way, finished.” Jaesong replied happily, if not also tiredly.

“Aren’t you exhausted? You haven’t slept.”

“Of course, but I won’t have to worry about that until I stop and it catches up with me.” Jaesong, kept on with the visor while he spoke, not even sparing a glance away from the project.

“Right, well, I think I’m going to go and freshen up, maybe see if I can find us some breakfast” Cyan said, jumping down from the ladder.

While he was gone, Jaesong continued his task. He enjoyed it, savoured it. He didn’t get too much work on Yandraven, despite his skills, because he was a Changeling, but it was truly his passion, it was what he loved to do. It fascinated and enchanted him. Maybe he could be respected as a professional in the place that Cyan called home.

Now that the idea of it was in his head, it was hard to stop thinking about it. He had never had a friend before, let alone someone who wanted him to stick around after his usefulness had run out. But it was true: Cyan wanted to keep him around even after the mission was over.

He smiled to himself as he worked.

A few moments later, he was finishing up and Cyan walked back through the door, hair damp and in a fresh set of clothes with a small towel hanging over his shoulders to catch the drips. He was carrying two glasses of orange liquid and had a remarkable grin on his face.

“Syd has gone down to the laundromat already, but she said that we can stay here for another night, the door locks itself when it closes. She left us both a clean set of clothes in the bathroom and guest towels, oh! And there’s orange juice! I haven’t had proper orange juice in years!” He exclaimed, looking utterly gleeful.

“What’s it like?”

“Try it, try it!” Cyan passed him one of the two glasses and he immediately took a sip, enjoying the sweet citrus. “It’s a fruit native to Earth, the refugees who came to this planet after… Well, after Callus destroyed it… they brought samples of some of the plants and some of the animals, too and they have whole orchards of orange, lemon, apple and pear trees all around the different domes!”

“It’s really good.” Jaesong smiled, enjoying Cyan’s happiness.

“I know! Maybe when all this is done we can stop here properly on the way back and take some samples back to Neron 12. Maybe I can grow my own orange tree. They have cats here, too, you know, maybe I’ll adopt a cat as well.” He sipped on his orange juice, closing his eyes as he committed the flavour to memory.

“That sounds really nice,” Jaesong agreed.

“It does, doesn’t it? I usually don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Make plans for the future.” Cyan smiled at him, a little lopsided.

“I think it’s good. You should have things that you look forward to.” Jaesong said.

“It’s dangerous, you know, I could just be setting myself up for disappointment.”

“I don’t think so.”

“You don’t?”

“No. I think you’ll get to have all of that.”

“You do? Well… I really hope so.” Cyan’s smile softened as he took the final sip of his orange juice.

“Genuine happiness is a good look on you, Cyan. I hope you get to feel it more often.” Jaesong said, finishing his own glass and placing it onto the desk next to him.

Cyan looked bashful for a moment, he could feel a little bit of warmth travelling up to his face. It struck him that he hadn’t been so genuinely excited or joyous about something in far too long.

“Yeah, I hope we both can.” He replied. “How’s the visor coming along?”

“It’s all fixed up, just recalibrating and then it should be good to go.” Jaesong grinned triumphantly.

“That’s brilliant, Jae, thank you. Once it’s done recalibrating, we should have a much better shot at finding Callus’ trail again.” Cyan’s smile turned determined. “For now though, I think we should have a well-earned break from everything. We can’t do anything for the mission until my visor has recalibrated anyway, so I say we enjoy the city while we can.”

Jaesong easily agreed to the suggestion, as, like Cyan had said, they couldn’t really do anything until the visor was fully up and running. It would be nice to spend some time somewhere and not have anything threatening their lives.

They didn’t waste any time hanging around. Jaesong went to shower and change and found Cyan in the kitchen, waiting for him. Soon enough, they were heading out through the laundromat, telling Syd that they’d be back later.

The streets of the dome were, once again, a lot to take in, lined with street vendors and little hole-in-the-wall type places. Restaurants bustling with people of too many species to count, cafes wafting the scent of coffee, convenience stores with flickering fluorescent lights, antique shops filled to the brim with knick-knacks and bric-a-brac. There was almost too much to take in as they perused the roadsides.

Then, to the right, there was an eatery of sorts, one with a familiar smell wafting from its doors like the call of a siren.

Pancakes.

Without thinking too much about it, Cyan pulled Jaesong along with him into the store. There were humans inside, many of them were sitting in the little booths and at the little tables that were places scattered about the establishment. They sat and talked and ate breakfast food and it was the most normal thing Cyan had seen in years. He had almost forgotten the ambience of an all-day breakfast.

“I can show you to a table, sir, and would you like to see a menu?” A voice asked from next to him.

His head snapped to attention and he locked eyes with the waitress. She was short and quite plump and she was wearing a shirt tucked into some black trousers with a dark blue apron tied around her waist. Her name badge read ‘Claire’.

Her hair was honey blonde and pulled back into a tight ponytail, she had brown eyes and a pair of thick-rimmed black glasses resting on the bridge of her slightly upturned nose.

The most remarkable thing about her, though, was that she was absolutely, undeniably, human. She was a human being. The only other since the captain of the strange ship that had kept them prisoner.

“Yes…um, yes please, I’d love to see the menu.” He said after realising that it had been a weirdly long time for him to have remained so silent and staring.

“Right this way.” She gestured forward with a polite smile and then turned to show them to their table.

The lighting inside was warm and everything was clean and homey. The tables were dark wood, as well as the chairs, and the cushions in the booths were cotton and had thin dark blue pinstripes running across them.

Claire, the waitress, gestured again for them to sit and then placed two small laminated menus on the table. It was odd to have anything printed on paper in a business, but Cyan assumed it was most likely for nostalgia’s sake.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes for your orders, or you can give me a wave. I’ll just be over there by the counter.” Said Claire. She was bubbly and cheerful in her whole demeanour and it really did seem to be genuine, beyond the expectedly strained customer service smile that most people had.

“Are these all people from Earth?” Jaesong asked, once Claire had returned to her post to greet customers by the counter.

“Yeah… yeah they are.” Cyan said a little breathlessly. He hadn’t been around his people in… well, since the Earth Apocalypse.

“Hey, are you okay?” Jaesong looked concerned after another moment of silence.

“Yeah, I’m alright, just a little bit overwhelmed. I’ve not seen so many people from my planet since my days in the USF.” Cyan replied, ending with a brief but deep, steadying breath.

“You’ll have to recommend something to me. I’ve never tried any Earth food before, well apart from the orange juice from this morning.” said Jaesong as he looked back down at the menu.

“Get a full English breakfast and I’ll order a stack of pancakes for us to share.” Cyan suggested. “What do you want to drink?”

“Definitely some more of that orange juice.” Jaesong was smiling again and the array of freckles over his nose and cheeks was glimmering again.

Maybe happiness did look good on Cyan, but he thought that it looked better on Jaesong, the way his eyes lit up and his freckles glowed across his cheeks like starlight. How anyone of any species could think him unattractive was mystifying.

“Wow.” Came the quiet voice of Claire, who was standing by their table again, this time staring at Jaesong.

“Excuse me?” Jaesong shrank in on himself under the scrutiny and the glimmering faded.

“No no, sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just.. I mean… sorry if this is inappropriate of me to say, but the way your freckles sparkle is amazing. I’ve never seen anything so pretty. It’s like having natural body glitter or something.” She rambled and immediately the glimmering was back and the tips of his ears were tinged pink.

“Oh.” He was so happily surprised that he didn’t know how to respond.

“Sorry, I’ve just never seen anything like it. You’re so pretty.” She was definitely still rambling, and Jaesong was getting redder and redder.

“Thank you.” He whispered, smiling to himself, unused to being given compliments, especially so freely.

“Can we get two English breakfasts, skip the black pudding, and a stack of pancakes with maple syrup, oh, and two large glasses of orange juice please?” Cyan placed their order, unable to contain his own smile at the situation.

“Would you like the toast to be white bread or granary?” She asked.

“White bread please.”

“Of course! Coming right up!” Claire exclaimed and then marched cheerfully over to the counter to pass the order to the kitchen.

“You alright there, Jae? Your face is looking a bit red.” Cyan teased.

“I am, I’m just really not used to receiving compliments. You know that.” Jaesong replied, obviously trying not to let any bitterness taint his tone at the end.

“Yeah, but it seems humans, at least the ones that made it here, have good taste. I told you, you’re stunning and I’m just glad there’s proof now that I’m not the only one who thinks so.” Cyan answered.

“You know, I really don’t know how to respond when you say things like that.” Jaesong said, something soft and contemplative in his expression.

“What do you mean?” Cyan asked, tilting his head in question.

“...Nothing, really, I suppose, just thinking out loud. You’re a good friend, Cyan.” Jaesong smiled.

And before anything more could come of the moment, Claire was back with their drinks and their food, balanced on two trays that she was carrying, one in each hand.

Immediately, the smell of it was intoxicating. It had Cyan’s mouth watering and he knew that once it was placed in front of him there would be no more conversation until the dishes were clean.

Which was exactly what happened. Claire grinned at them as Cyan dug into his meal like a starving man and Jaesong slowly savoured the new flavours that he was experiencing.

The orange juice was perfectly sweet and balanced the savoury flavours of the breakfast. The pancakes, though plain but for the glorious drizzle of pure Canadian maple syrup, were luxurious to his taste buds.

He could have almost described it as a therapeutic experience.

Once they were done eating, they sat for a while, they chatted, Cyan divulged some information about Earth, feeling more open in the atmosphere of somewhere that held such fond memories. Nothing had a positive influence like breakfast food. It was sacred no matter where you happened to be from.

When they were done, they walked the streets for a while longer, trying some of the street food here and there as they went, taking their share of the free samples that were on offer (of which there were many).

They gazed at the seascape beyond the glass of the dome, the deep ocean that wrapped around it, the fantastical aquatic life that inhabited it. It was incredible to see how life was lived under the water. They had never really finished exploring the Earth’s oceans and Cyan wondered if there was anything like what they were seeing now, hidden in its murkiest depths.

As they went, Cyan found himself opening up, bit by bit. It was nothing too deep, no names mentioned, but he divulged a few pieces of himself, a few pieces of his history to Jaesong while they walked. It was such a natural thing, something that he did without overthinking it for once. The longer they were friends, the less reservations he had about sharing his life.

Of course, he kept it simple, for the time being. He didn’t want to overshare, but he released a few tidbits of information, things that he would later suppose were normal to discuss with a good friend, with the people that he trusted. In a way, it was freeing.

It felt good to relive some of the brighter moments from his past. He told Jaesong of his mother and her garden of lavender, why the scent of the flower had surprised him upon their meeting. He told him about his father making the three of them scrambled eggs on toast on the weekend, when he wasn’t deployed. He told him the things that inspired him to go into training to join the USF.

“I wanted to meet some sort of expectations that I set upon myself, I wanted to make my parents proud and I wanted so badly to feed my craving for adventure, to see what was out there, to experience something beyond my native planet. I’m sure everyone there had similar reasons to me. Maybe some were there for power or through nepotism, but the vast majority of us just wanted something more and we were willing to work hard and fight for it.” He had explained.

“I met some of my best friends in the USF, they’re why I’m here today and I suppose, in a way, they’re the reason I’m on this mission. We were all there, you know? We all saw it happen. That’s why I have to finish this mission, it’s why I can’t fail. I have to stop him and I have to avenge all the people that we lost, all the people who weren’t on the evacuation ships, the ones who never got the opportunity to end up here, where they could have re-made their lives and built something new.”

When Cyan finished, he found himself with renewed motivation to track down Belvarrian Callus and complete his mission, to make sure that that evil, twisted creature could never hurt anyone the way he had hurt the people of Earth.

He could have almost described it as a therapeutic experience.

Once they were done eating, they sat for a while, they chatted, Cyan divulged some information about Earth, feeling more open in the atmosphere of somewhere that held such fond memories. Nothing had a positive influence like breakfast food. It was sacred no matter where you happened to be from.

When they were done, they walked the streets for a while longer, trying some of the street food here and there as they went, taking their share of the free samples that were on offer (of which there were many).

They gazed at the seascape beyond the glass of the dome, the deep ocean that wrapped around it, the fantastical aquatic life that inhabited it. It was incredible to see how life was lived under the water. They had never really finished exploring the Earth’s oceans and Cyan wondered if there was anything like what they were seeing now, hidden in its murkiest depths.

As they went, Cyan found himself opening up, bit by bit. It was nothing too deep, no names mentioned, but he divulged a few pieces of himself, a few pieces of his history to Jaesong while they walked. It was such a natural thing, something that he did without overthinking it for once. The longer they were friends, the less reservations he had about sharing his life.

Of course, he kept it simple, for the time being. He didn’t want to overshare, but he released a few tidbits of information, things that he would later suppose were normal to discuss with a good friend, with the people that you trusted. In a way, it was freeing.

It felt good to relive some of the brighter moments from his past. He told Jaesong of his mother and her garden of lavender, why the scent of the flower had surprised him upon their meeting. He told him about his father making the three of them scrambled eggs on toast on the weekend, when he wasn’t deployed. He told him the things that inspired him to go into training to join the USF.

“I wanted to meet some sort of expectations that I set upon myself, I wanted to make my parents proud and I wanted so badly to feed my craving for adventure, to see what was out there, to experience something beyond my native planet. I’m sure everyone there had similar reasons to me. Maybe some were there for power or through nepotism, but the vast majority of us just wanted something more and we were willing to work hard and fight for it.” He had explained.

“I met some of my best friends in the USF, they’re why I’m here today and I suppose, in a way, they’re the reason I’m on this mission. We were all there, you know? We all saw it happen. That’s why I have to finish this mission, it’s why I can’t fail. I have to stop him and I have to avenge all the people that we lost, all the people who weren’t on the evacuation ships, the ones who never got the opportunity to end up here, where they could have re-made their lives and built something new.”

When Cyan finished, he found himself with renewed motivation to track down Belvarrian Callus and complete his mission, to make sure that that evil, twisted creature could never hurt anyone the way he had hurt the people of Earth.

When their excursion came to a natural stopping point, they headed back to the laundromat and waited for a quiet moment so that Syd could let them both back into the apartment.

It took about twenty-five minutes before she went up and opened the door for them, but once they were inside, there was only one thing on either of their minds: the visor.

It had finished recalibrating.

Cyan dashed over to the desk where it was still sitting, orange screen activated and fully operational. He placed it onto his face, over his eyes and watched it come to life.

There was a slew of notifications waiting for him and all of his applications had been updated, including his maps, the database and the universal translator. It was everything he needed and everything he had been missing.

He turned to Jaesong with a grin, “You are a magical man, Jaesong Moon.”

“How is it? Is everything up to spec?” Jaesong asked, reflecting Cyan’s expression.

“It’s perfect, in fact, it’s better than before, just like when you modified it back on Yandraven.” Cyan replied and then he noticed something.

“Wait.” He said, “There’s a message notification here. I think it’s from the anonymous person who contracted me for the mission.”

“What does it say?” Asked Jaesong as he took a seat on the bottom bunk and waited for the answer.

Cyan looked at the screen in front of him, eyes scanning each sentence of the message carefully. There was an attachment to the message at the end as well. He needed to get through everything before he could find out what it was.

The message read:

Cyan,

It appears to me that you have gone off track. I hope that you are still taking this mission seriously as it is of the utmost importance. If you want the reward, you had better make sure that it remains your top priority until it is completed.

Belvarrian Callus is on the move. I have included in this message a word-by-word recounting of the information on his whereabouts given to me by one of my informants and the documentation you will require in order to be permitted access to the planet.

He has taken up residence on Serenox and will remain there until the Battle Mechanicus has its victor. This could be one of your only opportunities to take him out.

Remain vigilant. PRISM takes residence there and may prove a hindrance to the mission. Do not underestimate her under any circumstances. She is formidable.

[Attachment.File]

“Get your things together, Jae… We’re going to the Battle Mechanicus.”