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"It's said that this bay in particular is known for the number of rare specimens which can be observed. I'm hoping we will see an emerald water snake."
Echo sighed, shaking his head as he sat sullenly on his bunk. Tech had been babbling away like this for several minutes, detailing every aspect of their vacation spot. They had some days off and wanted to do something to relax, and everyone was excited about the idea of a beach vacation.
Everyone except for Echo.
"And did you know that there is a species of bioluminescent algae which blooms only once a cycle? If my calculations are correct, we should be arriving right in the middle of this cycle's-- why aren't you ready yet?"
Tech interrupted himself as he came into their shared bunk space and saw Echo, sitting on the edge of the bunk, still wearing his blacks as well as a sour expression.
Echo crossed his arms, looking away from his brother. "I'm staying on the ship."
" What? " Tech pushed his goggles up on his nose. "What do you mean? This is supposed to be our vacation!"
"Yeah, well, maybe I need a vacation from all of you, " Echo retorted.
Tech rolled his eyes. "Your response is disingenuous, and indicative of a larger problem." He sighed and sat down next to his brother. "What is really going on?" he insisted.
"Maybe I'm just worried about all the water and sand screwing with my cybernetics."
Tech shook his head. "Wrong again. You know I applied a hydrophobic spray and sealant on your cybernetics."
Echo merely huffed, trying to turn further away from his brother. Tech responded by slowly reaching out, gently uncrossing Echo's arms and turning him back towards himself to look him in the eyes. Echo still cast his eyes down, avoiding his brother's gaze.
"I don't want to be stared at, okay?"
"Oh." Tech immediately looked away, a light tinge flushing his cheeks. "My apologies--"
"I don't mean by you , or our brothers. I mean by…" he gestured around vaguely, "everyone else. All anyone sees when they look at me now are my cybernetics. My battle. My scars . You said it yourself; I'm 'more machine than man' now, aren't I?"
"Percentage-wise, yes," Tech responded quickly, unthinking. Echo merely huffed in response.
Tech's brow furrowed in a wave of thought and emotion. It appeared his words had caused his brother pain, and he was frustrated with himself for being so callous. He was only ever trying to be factual. He sighed softly.
"That was the incorrect response. I did not mean--"
"I know what you meant. And I know what they see."
"Well, who cares what they see? I don't see you as a machine, Echo."
Echo looked up at Tech then, his eyes searching. "What do you see, Tech?" Echo was genuinely asking. Tech could be so forthright about everything but himself; you had to be direct.
Suddenly, as if guided by the force, the memory of a song came floating into Tech's mind.
"If life were a song, you're my favorite line...I wish that you could see you like I see you all the time," he sang softly. His voice was light and airy and sweet. He took Echo's scomp link in his gentle hands, fingers delicately flitting over the cybernetics, absent-mindedly making minor adjustments.
"No damage beyond a brother's delight," he continued, "I wish you knew your scars are precious too, no need to hide."
He looked Echo in the eyes then, a soft smile on his lips. "I see them like gold," he finished in a quiet, reverent whisper.
Echo watched Tech slowly reach out a hand towards his face; felt the fluttering of fingers on his cheeks brushing away the teardrops.
He hadn't noticed he was crying.
"It doesn't matter how anyone else looks at you. Because the people who matter will see you."
Echo released a breath he didn't know he was holding. "The last person to sing for me like that was Fives."
Tech's eyes filled with worry. "I apologize if I brought on any painful memories--"
"No." Echo shook his head, then smiled over at his brother. "They're good memories." He threw an arm over Tech's shoulders; Tech felt Echo's weight shift against him as he relaxed. "Thank you, brother."
They sat there together for a few more quiet moments. "Besides," Tech piped up after a fashion, "if my calculations are correct, which they are , and we are able to witness this algal bloom, I don't think anyone will be looking at you, or any of us. It's said to be quite magnificent."
Echo chuckled at the normalcy of his brother always circling back to the data of it all. And Tech grinned, pleased with himself that he was able to cheer his brother up.
"Alright, alright, I'm convinced," Echo said. "But this algae thing better be worth it."
Tech grinned wider, standing up to leave Echo to finish getting ready. "Oh, it will be. You'll see."
Echo's heart still hammered in his chest as he made his way down to the shore to join his brothers. Hunter and Crosshair were busy with getting a fire going to cook some meat over. Tech wandered up and down the beach with his nose in his holopad, presumably taking notes on all of those rare specimens he'd been talking about. Wrecker, of course, was already splashing about in the sea.
There were other people around as well--some couples, some families with their kids, some friends--but they were all so busy in enjoying the beach themselves, none of them gave Echo and his cybernetics a second thought.
He relaxed a little, silently chastising himself for being so worried in the first place.
"There you are!" Wrecker called to him, waving excitedly from the water. "Come on, let's test that hydro-whatever Tech made! The water's great!"
Hunter and Crosshair smiled at him as he came down the beach. "Food's gonna be ready soon," Hunter told him.
"Oh! Tech, is that one of your snakes? Hold on, I'm gonna try to catch it!" "No, wait, they can be very territorial--" They could hear Wrecker and Tech shouting from the water.
" Please go occupy Wrecker before he does something truly stupid," Crosshair asked Echo. "Alright, alright," Echo chuckled, making his way down towards the water.
"Haha! Got ya! Oh…" Wrecker looked up, eyes wide to see Echo completely covered with water from where Wrecker had splashed, trying and failing to catch one of the snakes. The cool water actually felt refreshing on his skin, and the water rolled right off his cybernetics without getting inside. "Looks like your hydrophobic spray is working!" he called to Tech.
"I told you," his brother responded, not looking up from his datapad, but there was a soft smile on his face.
Echo smiled too. The heat of the sun bearing down on the beach was no match for the warmth spreading through Echo, glad to be here and be himself among his brothers.
And Tech was not wrong about the algal bloom. The five clones stood together on the beach as the dusk softly descended down around them, and the beach slowly twinkled to life as the algae gathered at the shoreline began to glow with a delicate golden light.
"They look like stars," Echo whispered, admiring the way the algae dotted across the dark water.
"I told you," Tech replied smugly. Echo could only chuckle and throw his arm around his brother again. Tech pulled Hunter in with his other arm, and Echo threw his other around Wrecker, who dragged Crosshair in as well until they were all standing, arms linked, appreciating this sea full of stars.
"Oh, look, look!" Tech exclaimed excitedly as a couple of water snakes began to dance across the surface; from the shore, the brothers watched as they moved in tracks of shining light which glanced off their glossy green forms like glittering flakes when they reared. They coiled and swam and every track was a flash of golden fire.
Tech's words reverberated in Echo's mind, and he hummed softly to himself,
"I see them like gold…"