Chapter Text
“I never noticed before,” Mingi mutters as he stares out the window of the shuttle. “But the Citadel looks like an hourglass.”
When the blazing fire underneath them and the intense force that pressed them to their seats is gone, it’s only weightless release and the gasps of excitement at the shining city that comes into view.
The Citadel lies up ahead in mid-orbit, and the light of the sun reflecting off of it is blinding.
Mingi is right, Yunho notices as he takes a closer look once Hongjoong has adjusted the glass windows to filter out harmful rays. The Citadel is hourglass shaped.
School textbooks had only ever shown the top half-- a floating domed city with the IPF maintenance and offices underneath-- but what twinkles in the distance now has an entire network of what Yunho presumes are tram tubes forming an outer structure around the dome and connecting it to the section underneath, a mirror image without a glass case, a darker and more station-like undercarriage.
“That must be the board’s chambers at the neck of the hourglass,” Wooyoung points out, shrinking back and buckling in again when Soojin shoots him a glare for leaning too far out of his seat. One push and he could be floating around in zero gravity.
“What’s down there underneath it?” Jongho asks quietly, almost as if he already knows.
“More restricted areas, everything on a need to know basis,” Soojin explains without pause. “I haven’t even been all the way down there. IPF is the crux of a network of solar systems, you know. There are governments, societies, entire planets that depend on the Citadel’s efficiency and secrecy.”
So the Citadel is more than a streamlined city with the best tech the galaxy has to offer, Yunho begins to understand. It’s practically an entire country unto itself. And it runs from afar every occupied world within a distance of several thousand light years.
He swallows and sits back as Hongjoong engages the thrusters. This job is so important it can’t be overstated.
“Are you alright, San?” Seonghwa’s voice breaks through the silence, and San gives him a watery smile and wipes the sweat off his face before it can bead up and drift away.
“J-Just a bit motion sick,” he answers through deliberate breaths. Remembering that he came prepared for this, Yunho rummages in his pockets for the nausea relief pills he hid away and accidentally loses his grip on one, reaching out too late as it floats toward San.
“San, take it!” Yunho alerts him before it drifts too far away for him to reach, risking Soojin’s attention being drawn to him.
“Is that medication?” Her voice calls out just as San swallows the thing. “Yunho, hand it over.”
Without missing a beat, she unfastens herself and floats toward him, holding her hand out to confiscate the meds.
“But… I just thought… you know, in case--”
“Outside medication is strictly prohibited on the Citadel,” Soojin warns as she collects all the remaining pills. “I know you were just looking out for your friend, but the rules are there to make sure everything is as secure as possible. The medical facilities on board will have plenty of everything you need.”
Yunho notices Yeosang go pale and glance away and wonders if he considered bringing any medicine with him as well. “Yes ma’am,” Yunho nods respectfully when Soojin is finished speaking and says nothing more as she returns to her seat.
“Hongjoong, you can pull us into Hangar B10,” Soojin instructs, and everyone braces themselves for gravity to be reapplied on entry.
The hangars are just underneath the curve of the upper half, below the domed city but above the board chambers at the hourglass neck.
Hongjoong’s eyes find their destination before anyone else’s and he smoothly pilots them in, sending out the landing gear and settling the shuttle down on the hangar floor.
There’s a collective sigh when the motion stops and San shoots Yunho an encouraging thumbs up.
“Alright,” Soojin clears her throat from where she’s already unbuckled and standing in the back of the shuttle as they slowly get to their wobbling feet. “I’ll give you five minutes to wash up in the hangar restrooms and then I expect you to meet me in the hall to head to the newsroom. Don’t worry about your personal effects, they’ll be transported to your living quarters while I present you to the citizens of the Citadel.”
It’s big moment after big moment and she knows how sweaty and stressed they look so Yunho thanks her mentally for letting them put themselves together briefly.
Stepping out of the shuttle is like stepping into a new world.
Gone are the rusty metal bunkers and fading letters on ship hulls. Everything is clean and white, pure as one would expect the Citadel to be. It puts the hangers down at the IPF headquarters to shame.
Hongjoong is looking around at it all with stars in his eyes and Yunho has to take him by the hand and drag him along in the direction of the illuminated restrooms sign.
“It smells amazing in here!” Mingi’s voice is already echoing off the tile and as Yunho enters he has to agree it’s far beyond what he imagined a bathroom could be. “There’s even a little sitting area, look!”
Sure enough, Junyoung and Jongho are already sprawled on the plush sofas and fanning themselves. Yeosang stands in front of the mirror and fishes out a brow pencil.
“Hey, let me try!” Wooyoung begs, hanging off his arm and giving him a convincing pout. “You can’t smuggle a brow pencil and then not share.”
“How did you bring that?” Seonghwa asks haltingly, and it’s unclear how he feels about it. “Shouldn’t it be with your personal effects?”
“There was some wiggle room in the suit pockets,” Yeosang shrugs and caps the pen before handing it to Wooyoung.
“We are such rule breakers,” the engineer giggles unapologetically as he leans forward over the sinks in an awkward position to do his eyebrows evenly.
“We’ll have to be more careful now that we’re here,” Seonghwa finally warns before going over to the little kiosk in the waiting area and pulling out some free wet wipes to pass around. “I know Soojin let us off the hook on Earth but I don’t think things slide by the staff here on the Citadel as easily.”
“Guys, guys, guys!” San nags from inside one of the stalls, completely ignoring the advice. “Guess what?”
“What?” Yunho humours him, panting after chugging down the rest of Mingi’s water when it was passed to him.
“We’re on the Citadel!” San reminds them all and excited squeals break out among the team, sounding more like a group of kids at a theme park than an elite division of experts in space travel and combat.
The giddy celebration is halted by the sound of a notification chime from Hongjoong’s wristband. He stops fiddling with his earrings and checks it before clearing his throat and announcing, “Our time is up. Soojin wants to meet us.”
Sighs sweep the group as they once again steel themselves to face the press.
“Is my hair okay?” Mingi asks as Yunho helps him to his feet.
There’s only one stubborn strand out of place from the launch among the faded auburn of Mingi’s hair, so Yunho fixes it and nods. “Fine. Is mine…?”
Mingi checks him over briefly before answering affirmatively and the two follow the crowd out the door.
“Wait!” The sound of a toilet flushing almost obscures San’s cry. “Wait for me!”
___
Dozens of unfamiliar faces are staring at him, but San scans them all in search of one he knows well.
After reporting their arrival for broadcast back to Earth, Team ATZ has moved up the hourglass through the glass elevator lift from the hangar to the main city dome.
It was a gorgeous view outside for the brief moment they were travelling, the distant stars just visible beyond Earth’s rounded horizon and the world directly below them with twinkling lights of its own. The members had spent most of the short ride gasping and pointing at various recognisable places on the planet, places they’d never been in person but could see clearly from a distance.
San is thrilled but simultaneously impatient, brimming with nervous energy at the prospect of seeing his sister in person for the first time in years. The team moves to the speeder station just inside the dome entrance and climbs aboard one of the fastest and most efficient vehicles created to take them to the Command Centre, buckling up and holding on tight lest they fall out and break their limbs on some lower platform.
Other citizens are making their way through the city traffic on their own hovering speeders, racing past bright advertisement holograms, shops decked out in Christmas merchandise, and skyscrapers towering above it all, reaching toward a simulated sky more convincing than any San has ever seen.
The residential dome is what people think of when they think of the Citadel; the centre of commerce, recreation, and entertainment, comfortably situated high above the dying Earth for only the most affluent and accomplished of citizens to reach.
“Since you arrived on a holiday, your coming will involve a bit more spectacle than usual,” Soojin explains as they dismount the speeder in front of the massive, stadium-like building in the middle of the city. “Essentially, you’re just being incorporated into the Christmas show. My apologies in advance for how many hands you’ll have to shake.”
“I remember watching arrivals,” Mingi hums quietly from next to San as they make their way inside, flashing their wristbands when instructed as they move through the hallways to what looks like a backstage area. “Most of the broadcast was advertisements and performances, the new Horizon team only appeared for a minute or so.”
“That’s because until this year there’s only been one team arriving annually,” Yeosang points out from ahead of them. “We haven’t watched them because we’ve been training but I imagine they’ve had another broadcast every few weeks with how frequently they’ve been sending teams up.”
Soojin shushes the conversation and shepherds them all into a dressing room. “You’re on in ten minutes and when your part is finished you’ll be escorted here. We’ll discuss what to do with the rest of the afternoon then. Remember to smile everyone and, please, if they ask you to sing and decorate the tree, just do it.”
Jongho scoffs as he drops into a seat but reluctantly they all agree. “What are we, a space exploration team or a troupe of circus animals?”
“I forgot how… public this all is,” Youngseok mumbles from next to him, and the two split off into a side conversation, so the rest of the group follows suit.
“Excuse me a moment,” San whispers to Mingi and hurries to follow Soojin out.
“You wouldn’t happen to know who will be present for the filming, would you?” He asks hopefully when he manages to catch her by the sleeve and stop her in the hallway.
Their manager adjusts her headband and sighs. “If you’re asking about the Board, they only attend when there’s a serious announcement to be made. Typically there’s just the production crew, the performers, and a few other Horizon teams under Rank 3— they like to encourage their juniors. Everyone else watches from the comfort of their own homes, even here on the Citadel.”
“Among the Horizon teams…” San tries to ask nonchalantly.
“Haneul won’t be there,” Soojin answers for him with a consoling hand on his shoulder. “She’s on assignment for a client at Byeoltower until tomorrow. I’ll make sure you can see her then.”
San’s eyes widen at this. Byeoltower is one of the most luxurious and modern condominiums in the Citadel, which means Haneul hasn’t simply been transferred, she really has been promoted.
“And she said it was only a reassignment,” he chuckles to himself as he returns to the dressing room and pops some breath mints into his mouth. Haneul must have been sure San would be joining her at the Citadel and kept it a surprise. Her faith in him brings a smile to his face, and before he knows it, they’re being summoned to the Command Centre.
San has had ample opportunity to get used to cameras being everywhere, so none of it fazes him as he lines up with the rest of the team, bows and greets the viewers alongside them, and sings and decorates the provided tree charmingly, even shooting a wink on one of his closeup shots.
Soojin greets them in the dressing room with praise and a box of donuts (a secret between them she says) before releasing them for the afternoon with instructions to report at their residence for dinner, time and address provided by wristband.
Without delay, they exit the building ready to take on the Citadel.
“Jongho, I didn’t realise you had such a nice voice!” San compliments before the gunner can get away, and he can’t help but giggle and pull the younger boy into a hug when he blushes and glances elsewhere.
“We’re not half bad,” Yunho speaks up in agreement. “Maybe we really should start a music group.”
“You know what I just noticed in there?” Wooyoung changes the subject as he licks the chocolate frosting off his fingers. “That’s not just a stage they call the command centre. It actually functions as one.”
“You mean the Citadel can move around and be steered?” Hongjoong perks up at the prospect and Wooyoung nods slowly, clearly the thought had been gnawing at him.
“It hasn’t needed to so far, but in the event of an emergency, I’m willing to bet it can.”
“20 million people on a spaceship,” Junyoung whistles as he takes in the skyline. “They should build more and transport humanity off Earth then.”
“It’s so clean,” Seonghwa notes as a street cleaning android shuffles past them. San has to agree, the shining metal platforms put even the nicest houses in his old town to shame.
“And so convincing,” Hongjoong adds. “It feels strange not to be wearing a mask, I can understand how one might forget this entire structure isn’t just another city on Earth.”
“So where should we go?” Yunho asks, stretching his arms to the stars and San’s mind races with possibilities.
Wooyoung has an idea first.
“San! Do you wanna go on a spacewalk with me?”
San blinks and turns on the holomap in his wristband. “It’s close!” He grins and takes Wooyoung’s hand. “Let’s go!”
“Can I come?” A voice from behind stops them from running off and they pause and glance at each other, unsure.
Seonghwa is standing there, perfectly innocent, biting his lip and offering a shrug when Wooyoung asks him why.
“I didn’t know you were interested in joining the engineers,” Wooyoung snarks and San is about to hush him before he says something rude but Seonghwa answers quickly.
“I may not be required to do them for work like you two will be, but I’d like to try and see how it is anyway.”
“No, really…” Wooyoung answers, giving San a warning look. He still doesn’t trust Seonghwa after everything. “I don’t know…”
San shoots Seonghwa an apologetic smile and pulls his partner aside to discuss the matter. “Woo, have you seen the way Hongjoong looks at him?”
Wooyoung shakes his head.
“He trusts him. I’m sure of it,” San insists, even though the incident in the IPF gym weighs on his mind. “It’s completely different than it was before, we put all that behind us. I say we bring Seonghwa along.”
Wooyoung shoves his tongue in his cheek and relents “If you’re certain.”
Hand in hand they hurry off to the spacewalk station and, smiling fondly, Seonghwa trails along behind.
___
Hongjoong has only one destination in mind when he learns he has a choice where to spend his afternoon.
“Anyone else want to visit the butterfly houses with me?” He offers the group once Wooyoung, Seonghwa, and San have broken off on their own.
Yunho raises his hand instantly and Yeosang follows suit a moment after, but the other four seem hesitant before revealing alternate plans.
“It sounds like fun, Hongjoong,” Junyoung admits. “But Youngseok and I wanted to check out the dorms and see if we could look around and buy a few things to make it more comfortable.”
“I think Mingi and I will join you,” Jongho adds when Hongjoong nods his approval. “Though we’re planning to make a stop at the archives to see if they’re open for the public.”
“Alright,” Hongjoong sighs, feeling responsible for them but reminding himself they don’t need supervision. “Keep an eye on your map, call if you need anything, and please don’t get into any trouble.”
The four of them chuckle but agree to his conditions, breaking off to go about their business and leaving the rest to pull up their own holomap and search for the zoology department.
“Here!” Yeosang finds it first and tracks down the nearest speeder station. “They’re in the botanical gardens.”
Quietly enjoying the pleasant weather of the day, they board a speeder and buckle in while Hongjoong takes the controls.
“Have you ever flown one of these?” Yeosang asks with a nervous cough after a beat.
“Nope,” Hongjoong responds distractedly before finally getting the thing to power on. “Ah, there we go. Ready?”
Yeosang is trying to answer that he’s not ready at all, but Hongjoong accelerates the thing and leaves the station in the dust with a playful giggle.
“Turn right!” Yeosang manages to instruct between Yunho’s breathless laughing, both of them clinging to their seats while they zoom through the fast lane. “Then go straight for a mile and a half and take a left.”
Hongjoong screeches to a halt for the red light on the traffic drone and turns to reassure his passengers, “I’ve figured out how to stop, don’t worry!”
“You’re crazy!” Yunho scolds with an amazed laugh before his next comment is cut off by the jerk of the speeder accelerating again to the next street.
The zoology department is less populated with average civilians but a little more difficult to navigate, so Hongjoong settles for parking the speeder at the closest station and walking the rest of the way. The botanical gardens are next door to the massive storage houses, places where eggs and embryos of preserved animal species are kept. There’s no public zoo on the Citadel, and the days of zoos are so far gone in the past that not even Hongjoong’s grandmother ever remembered them, the IPF instead saving creatures from going extinct by transporting them to a new planet in due course, along with the rest of humanity.
“Ready?” Yunho interrupts his thoughts, swiping his wristband in front of the console by the door and holding it open when it grants him access.
Together, the three of them enter and make occasional light conversation as they move through the conservatory. It’s strange to see the real versions of many plants they had only encountered fakes of before.
Everything is so fragile but beautiful, real fragrance emanating from organic plants, none of the plastic imitations like back on Earth.
“Over here!” Yunho is running ahead to find the insects and gasps in complete wonder when he does.
Beyond a glass door more tall plants line a dirt path, and Hongjoong can make out some small twitching movements that entice him to look more closely. “Butterflies!” He whispers reverently, watching several of different colours and patterns flit around near the taller leaves before landing and standing quite still to drink nectar from inside the nearest flower.
He recognises both the butterflies and the flowers from his mother’s books, knowing one is never far from the other. The garden is decorated with marigolds, milkweed, lavender, asters, hollyhocks, sea holly, goldenrods, even sunflowers that stand tall on the far edges of the path. It’s no zoo exhibit, with an area meant to evoke a certain landscape. Instead, every biosphere is present in a single room.
Yunho waves his hand in front of the console by the door on a whim, just to see if they might have access as Horizon team members, and is shocked when the glass slides open. “We can go in!”
Carefully, the three of them step inside. The butterflies go about their business without noticing until they continue down the path to get a closer look.
A large swallowtail lands on Yunho’s tentatively extended finger and a captivated gasp sweeps the trio. The butterfly stands there and beats its wings slowly a few times before fluttering away, and only a moment later a few more of the curious insects are surrounding them.
A small orange one is particularly interested in him, unrolling its tongue-like proboscis to have a taste and refusing to leave even when Yunho’s giggles cause him to shake.
“That’s a male angled sunbeam,” Hongjoong remarks casually, and Yunho gapes at him, impressed.
“You can tell it’s a male just by looking at it from over there?”
“They’re sexually dysmorphic,” Hongjoong chuckles, providing it a finger and frowning when it flies away instead. “It’s pretty obvious, the females are a completely different colour.”
“What’s this one called?” Yeosang asks when a fuzzy white butterfly tries repeatedly to land on his hair.
“Artogeia melete,” Hongjoong responds, holding out his arms in the hopes of being landed on as well. “It’s a pieridae, they used to be a tropical species. Why aren’t any of them interested in me?”
“I don’t know, but I must be doing something right!” Yunho laughs and turns to face them with five butterflies in total perched on him in various places.
“No fair!” Hongjoong whines. “It’s probably just because you’re tall.”
“Or maybe he just smells good,” Yeosang suggests, grinning triumphantly when one of Yunho’s butterflies defects to him instead. “Maybe I smell better?”
Hongjoong lets them argue about the niceties of scent when he spots a little round egg attached to a nearby fern. He wonders for a moment if it is alone before he is approached by a butterfly he assumes to be its parent— a small, delicate male with white-fringed gossamer wings, its reflective scales almost a periwinkle.
“A silver-studded blue!” He breathes in awe, holding out his hand and freezing in place when the butterfly does him the honour of landing on him.
“They were endangered long before most of these other species,” Hongjoong explains when Yunho and Yeosang notice him crouching by the fern and join him. “I’m surprised to see them here, but I suppose they have every species of every season living on the Citadel.”
“It’s amazing,” Yeosang agrees before the following pause, when he muffles a laugh and sits beside Hongjoong after he’s been quiet too long. “Are you crying?”
“No,” the pilot denies a bit too quickly before brushing away the single tear that managed to escape. “No, it’s just… this is our responsibility now. All of life, not just humanity.”
All too soon their time is drawing to a close, and making sure they don’t bring any hitchhikers with them, the trio leaves the gardens to make sure the dorms are still standing.
They run into San, Wooyoung, and Seonghwa a few levels down and though they look like they had fun, Hongjoong asks Seonghwa just to be sure.
“Did everything go alright?”
“We encountered a space monster there, I think it went by the name of Wooyoung?” Seonghwa smirks and raises his voice just enough for the offending engineer to hear. “Don’t go too close, it bites.”
Hongjoong has no trouble believing it and tunes out Wooyoung’s half-laugh, half-scream as they walk inside. “Did he behave for the most part?”
“He was fine and the outing was fun, I have to admit,” Seonghwa sobers as he kicks off his shoes in the entryway as the door slides open and admits them. “It’s impossible not to love him.”
“That is true,” Hongjoong affirms quietly with a fond smile of his own. “Hello? Anyone home?”
He’s struck when they walk in together how much more cramped this space is than their previous housing. In fact, it’s more of a military base than a dormitory, with bunk beds lined up on both sides and only a few containers built into the wall for storage.
Mingi stands atop a ladder attaching a small disco ball to the metal ceiling and nearly falls off when he sees the six of them enter. “Welcome to our new home!” He greets, carefully stepping down with a watchful eye on the disco ball. It gives Hongjoong the impression the thing must have fallen a few times. “Unfortunately, there is no kitchen.”
“You mean fortunately ,” Wooyoung corrects him as he searches for a bed that hasn’t been taken. “Finally I won’t have to cook for ten people every night.”
“But cafeteria food…” Mingi counters, pushing his lips into a pitiful pout.
“I’m sure the food they serve here is better than Earth’s,” Hongjoong comforts him, trying to be optimistic, before sitting down on the single bed left for him, one in the back with a window view to the space outside.
So many stars twinkle from far away, just as they did in his view on Earth, but the consuming vastness of outer space is much more present when it’s the first thing he’ll be seeing every morning.
“Where are the others?” San asks, checking inside the storage unit that their personal effects truly have been transported ahead of them.
“Jongho is still in the archives and Junyoung and Youngseok are…” Mingi’s voice lowers into a whisper and his eyes glance out the octagonal door, still slid open while Yeosang stands next to it confusing the motion sensor. “They’re buying junk food. For the last time ever probably.”
Hongjoong opens his mouth to remind Mingi that partying on the Citadel is probably not the best idea but he counters before the leader can get the words out Mingi offers an excuse, “Our neighbours are Team SVT, so I checked with them and they’re fine with us having a little late night get together as long as we keep the noise to a minimum. Their leader said they won’t tattle.”
“SVT?” Wooyoung nearly shrieks, sitting up from his bed so fast he almost hits his head. “I want to go see them!”
Before anyone else can speak, he’s out the door with San running after, and Yunho expresses his interest in joining which causes Mingi to trail out as well. Yeosang decides to take a nap until Jongho returns which leaves Seonghwa and Hongjoong to sort through their things and reminisce about how familiar it all feels.
“We were such idiots back then,” Hongjoong laughs, organising his paints by colour and searching for his brushes.
Seonghwa chuckles in return, shifting to sit on his hands and rock back and forth just like he did on their orientation day on Earth. “We really were. I remember being so nervous you’d be upset I got to pick my bed before you came.”
“Well, alright, maybe I was a little jealous,” Hongjoong admits, pulling out his sneakers and continuing to paint them. He’ll probably be able to finish it tonight. “But it didn’t matter ultimately because I know you would rather have roomed with anyone else, at least anyone who wasn’t on calls as frequently as I was.”
“Calls? I’d say your untidiness was more annoying,” Seonghwa snorts a little too honestly and Hongjoong flicks some paint at him to shut him up, colouring part of his cheek green. “Case in point!” Seonghwa yells before remembering the neighbours and silently running to get a wet paper towel to wipe it off with. Yeosang sits up in bed and watches him go before falling back down with a groan.
“Everyone has to deal with your complaining now!” Hongjoong calls after Seonghwa before quieting for Yeosang’s sake and working on his shoes again.
It’s a peaceful evening and a decent dinner at the cafeteria until the party begins.
“Seokmin loaned us the karaoke machine,” Wooyoung explains before Hongjoong even has a chance to ask as he carries it in and looks for somewhere to set it up. Sighing, the pilot flits around from helping him establish a maximum permitted volume to positioning the lights to hit the disco ball properly to getting out bowls for the honey butter chips so they don’t end up as crumbs on the floor.
It’s a mellow side to leadership he knows won’t last, but he enjoys it while he can.
Despite Wooyoung opening his big mouth and inviting several other teams, the affair remains with just ten of them and Hongjoong knows it’s because they mean to give Team ATZ a special night of their own, not because they’d rather not come.
No one bothers them while the music plays and the cramped space is filled with dancing.
Hongjoong loves his loud, embarrassing, crazy talented family, so he lets them have a night they’ll never forget.
___
Breakfast on the Citadel is not what Jongho and his father always joked it would be.
Instead of fancy waffles and sugary coffee or whatever rich people eat, it’s a low-fat balanced diet for the Horizon teams consisting of yogurt, fruit, and some dry grainy mush resembling cereal.
Some of the others complain but Jongho doesn’t. It’s still more abundant than what he had a lot of mornings growing up. And it’s also free of charge.
“Anything interesting in the archives?” Junyoung asks from across the table where he’s pushing the eggs around his plate. They must not be the same as the way his mother makes them.
“Most of the good stuff is restricted access,” Jongho admits with a sigh. “ Again .”
“What qualifies as good stuff?” Yunho joins the conversation, plate already clean.
“Anything significant about old astronauts, new Horizon objectives, or publicity incidents.”
“Well why bother researching old astronauts when most of the really old teams live right here on the Citadel?” Yunho points out like it’s obvious and Jongho opens his mouth to tell him why before coming to the realisation.
“You’re right! Why didn’t I think of that?” If he can’t read a secret report about his grandmother’s fate, he can at least try to talk to someone who worked with her.
Just as he’s standing to return his tray, a message lights up all their wristbands with a notifying ping.
Team ATZ please report to Briefing Room 3.
Gritting his teeth at the inconvenience, Jongho resolves to continue with his plan later on and follows the group to the Horizon Management Centre.
It’s yet another sprawling building positioned in the lower half of the top dome, perched on the many platforms that taper down to the neck of the hourglass to house maintenance crews, equipment, and active Horizon teams. There’s no simulated sunshine down there, just brightly lit hallways separating them from the cold dark of space.
“It’s been bugging me since we got here,” Yeosang mutters next to Jongho as they take their seats at the conference table and wait for someone to appear with instructions. “Everyone on Earth always said there was something wrong with the Citadel, and that explained all the launches this year. But I don’t see any problem here, so why do you think they were in such a hurry to send us?”
“Good point,” Jongho sighs, sitting back in his chair. It makes him very uneasy that what he had expected— the Citadel in chaos from some serious malfunction or alien uprising— was nothing close to reality. Everything looked fine. “If there isn’t anything wrong with the Citadel, then it must be an issue with one of the planets we’re stationed at.”
The door slides open with a chirp for Soojin’s entrance, and all the members are polite in greeting her.
“Good morning, how did you sleep?” She asks while she projects the holographic image on her wristband for everyone to see.
“Surprisingly well,” Youngseok answers when no one else seems to have anything to report. “Although it was a bit jarring when the sun wasn’t where I expected it to be out of habit.”
“You’ll get used to it eventually,” Soojin reassures them as she pulls up an image of a planet. “But not for very long, because your first assignment has already been confirmed. On New Year’s Day you are to depart for Mu Ryool.”
In the silence, Jongho thinks he hears everyone’s hearts speed up.
“N-New Year’s Day?” San finally laughs nervously. “That’s at the end of the week… no Horizon team has ever departed that fast.”
“Then you get to be the first!” Soojin cuts him off with a forced smile and directs their attention to the projection. “Though I’m sure you remember, I’ll give you a crash course on the planet.” She zooms out from the cloudy grey giant to get a better view of the system.
“Mu Ryool is circumbinary, orbiting a red dwarf and a brown dwarf, and it has three moons. Missions to the planet were discontinued when it was discovered to be plagued with acid rain for half the year and too hot to comfortably sustain life above ground for the other half, due to the suns it orbits. While it’s not primed for relocation, the natives pay a significant amount of money for a Horizon team to remain with them during the acid rain season to maintain order and since we just retired the previous team that was assigned, now we’re sending you.”
“That was urgent enough to shorten our training time by half?” Jongho mumbles to himself, blushing and glancing away when Soojin hears him and shoots him a look.
“What will we be doing in the week leading up to departure?” Hongjoong asks, much more diplomatic, and Soojin sends them all an information package via wristband as an answer.
“Research, prepare, train. You’ll have a language to review, a climate to account for, and a ship to familiarise yourselves with. Your schedule has been sent to you, work starts today. Dismissed.”
Without argument, the ten of them bow and make their way back to the dorm to change into the correct attire.
“Strange,” Seonghwa voices all their thoughts as they kick their shoes off and rifle through their compact closets. “We all thought it would be the Sigi Cluster.”
“SVT is going to the Sigi Cluster,” Wooyoung points out as he pulls on a shirt.
“Already?” Yeosang asks, scrunching up his eyebrows. “They didn’t arrive long before we did.”
“No, they leave in the spring,” Wooyoung barks out a dry laugh. “Soonyoung told me, it’s a weird order for us to be sent in just a few days of being here to Mu Ryool of all places, especially since the acid rain season doesn’t start for a couple more weeks. There’s some prime real estate in the Sigi Cluster and three or four other teams are being sent out there to negotiate for it.”
Yunho sighs and zips up his jacket, a forlorn look in his eye. “That could’ve been us.”
“It could have,” Jongho agrees as he shoves his feet into his shoes with more force than necessary. “And instead we’re stuck on annual alien babysitting duty.”
“At least it’s only incumbent on us to be there for half the year,” Hongjoong tries to reassure them, eyes drifting towards the window and all the distant planets hidden in the velvety black. “We might get better assignments in the other seasons.”
No one complains much after that, all going their various ways according to their schedule, and for Jongho that simply means his allotted time at the gym, so off he goes to duel one of the special data integration punching bags while he thinks his way around the problem; there’s no more time for investigating.
___
It’s been awhile since that nauseating feeling of helplessness invaded Seonghwa, but the ping of his wristband going off after dinner is enough to violently jolt his heart into his throat.
Having fun up there? The message reads, and Seonghwa wishes he could just ignore it, pretend it’s not there so he doesn’t have to respond to it.
An image pops up next to remind him what will happen if he doesn’t.
There’s his father standing in his classroom, teaching the students something about orbital mechanics from the looks of it.
Seonghwa stumbles to his feet and exits the cafeteria. He’s worked so hard to keep up his calm appearance around the team ever since he and Hongjoong made amends, he can’t ruin all that now.
Go to the public bathrooms on B level.
Almost like Source Unknown knows he’s trying to get out of sight. He obeys and keeps his head down the whole way, until he’s locked in a stall away from cameras and other employees.
Send the rest of the code.
Again the message arrives just as he’s shut himself in, and a shiver snakes its way down his spine as he types it in with shaking fingers and waits.
Received. Thank you for doing business with us.
Seonghwa chokes from the force of his exhale and goes to the sink to splash some water on his no doubt flushed face, switching off his wristband and entering the hallway. He can’t help but laugh at the fact that Source Unknown is treating this like just another transaction.
He’s stopped in his tracks by another ping and glances at the device. Maybe he just imagined it…
Not so fast. Prove you deleted all evidence of the files.
Seonghwa breaks out into a sweat and stiffly walks back to the dorms, mind churning a mile a minute to find a way out of this situation.
Another image, this one of his mother looking at alien plants in the Seoul xenobiology lab, lights up his wristband as he turns the corner into the barracks and before he can react to it, Hongjoong’s voice comes from the other side of the room.
“Seonghwa, are you alright?”
Seonghwa clasps his hands behind him quickly in what he hopes is a natural movement. “Y-Yes…”
When did Hongjoong get here? He hadn’t been on the floor painting when Seonghwa received the first message, he’d been laughing with Mingi in the cafeteria. Had he really spent that long having a panic attack in the bathroom? He’s lucky no one else is in the dorms watching him freeze up in terror.
“You look sick,” Hongjoong mentions with a frown, standing and approaching quietly. Seonghwa is sure he can hear his heart beating out of his chest.
“I’m not, I-I just… I’m just… I was going to—”
“It’s alright, you can tell me,” Hongjoong encourages softly, placing a hand on his forehead to check for a fever and leading him to his bed to sit and have a chat when he finds none.
Not at all Seonghwa’s intention.
As Hongjoong goes for his arm to lead him there, the photo pops up again for both of them to see. Thankfully only the photo, none of the messages he already viewed. Seonghwa doesn’t think he would take the truth as well as San did.
“Is that your mother?” Hongjoong finally says when they’re seated and Seonghwa has been silently fixated on the image for a good five seconds.
“Yes,” he gulps and turns away, trying to figure out what to tell him. There are precious few ways to throw the other off the scent. “I was just… thinking about her. I never got to say goodbye.”
His voice breaks on the last sentence, not completely intentionally but Hongjoong is wrapped up in every word, an outpouring of sympathy emanating from him as he rubs his roommate’s back gently and nods along.
“I miss mine, too.”
Seonghwa wants to vomit. He can’t believe himself, taking advantage of Hongjoong’s own weakness to spin a tale of woe and escape the situation without admitting himself. Sure, everything he said has been true, and it’s Hongjoong’s own assumption of the events creating a misunderstanding between them, but the guilt pounding at his senses is too much, and soon guilty tears are flowing down his cheeks.
They only add to the pity.
Hongjoong pulls Seonghwa into a hug and lets him soak the collar of his uniform as he releases all that pent up tension.
“I can’t imagine staying 50 light years away from her for a season,” Hongjoong is saying as he rocks from side to side gently. “But you’ve already been living apart from your family since before the Project. You can do it, Seonghwa, I know you can. You’re a very strong person.”
No I’m not, Seonghwa is tempted to argue. I’m using you for cheap comfort while I lie to your face and put you in danger.
He doesn’t know how much longer he can do this, masking his emotions behind that suave and confident persona he’s crafted as a defense. That mask is already breaking, and it’s dangerously close to exposing him.
It feels ironic that before he had thought his roommate was a threat, and now he’s afraid of hurting him. Seonghwa can laugh in the face of a kidnapper, but seeing his mother being stalked like prey breaks him to pieces.
He’s ashamed of himself.
Finally raising his useless arms to cling to Hongjoong and ride out the sobs shaking him, he tries to breathe through the wave of vulnerability.
He just has to get a hold of himself and decide how to respond to Source Unknown’s threat.
When the episode has dissolved into broken hiccups, Hongjoong pulls back slowly and takes Seonghwa’s tear-stained face in his hands, looking at him so warmly with the universe in his eyes.
“Better?”
Seonghwa nods, but he can’t meet his gaze and settles for tracing the edges of the blanket instead.
“You needed a good cry. I think you’re the only person who hasn’t had one yet. How about I go get you some water and we just take it easy tonight? There’s been enough training today.”
Seonghwa agrees shakily and rubs any leftover tears out of his eyes as his roommate leaves before pulling up the files on his wristband and hovering on the delete button.
If he trashes them, he loses his bargaining chip. The reason he made it to the Citadel in the first place.
If he doesn’t, his parents’ lives are forfeit.
So it’s Seonghwa or them… and he already knows what choice he needs to make.
He watches the code blink away as it disappears and sends the proof to the unknown ID.
You made the right choice, the last message says in response before the entire conversation and all previous ones are deleted like it never happened.
Seonghwa has no chance to ask for proof his parents will be left alone, but he quiets his trembling and lays back on Hongjoong’s bed, waiting for him to return.
He was always in over his head to begin with. That he’ll spend every waking minute looking over his shoulder for an officer threatening to arrest him for being a fraud is appropriate.
There’s no more Seonghwa the secret keeper. Now it’s time to be Seonghwa the navigator.