Chapter Text
It can be difficult to tell when a Pacifican is laughing, but there’s no question they’re laughing now. They close their eyes and cover their mouths with their hands and their shoulders tremble softly as they lean in towards one another.
Captain Grey can’t really blame them. The Spectrum uniforms are unlike anything any of them have ever worn before, all stiff and heavy fabric that wouldn’t last a moment underwater. No doubt they think they look ridiculous.
“All right, all right,” says Grey, signing along in ASL with his words. The Pacifians can speak to one another telepathically, but the human staff of Cloudbase will have to rely on morse code and sign language to talk to their new allies and he’s determined to set a good example. “Is everyone ready?”
The silver-eyed Pacificians all nod.
Grey honestly never expected to see Pacificans on Cloudbase. Occasionally young subterrarians will join WASP for a while, but most prefer to remain with their own kind. Back in the early days of Spectrum, Colonel White had apparently reached out to several different undersea races for recruits but they’d all turned him down. Grey understands why. Leaving the ocean for the surface is a frightening enough prospect. Leaving the ocean to live in the sky must be downright unthinkable.
But recent events have demonstrated they are all Earthmen in the eyes of the Mysterons. The Pacificans have been the first to reconsider White’s offer.
He doubts they will be the last.
There are four of them in all. Captains Azure, Cobalt, Cerulean, and Turquoise. They look very nearly human. Their eternally-closed mouths are a little too big (their entire heads are a little too big, to be frank), and the green-tinted hair is a dead giveaway, but from a distance it’s impossible to tell.
Are all subterrarians so good looking? Ochre had whispered to Grey the first time Captain Cerulean passed by.
Absolutely not, Grey had replied.
Scarlet brushes up on his ASL but doesn’t approach any of the Pacificans. He has no idea how they’ll react to him, and doesn’t want to make them uncomfortable. Blue tells him not to be ridiculous, that he’s not a Mysteron and he certainly wasn’t responsible for the attack on Pacifica, but Scarlet isn’t sure if their newest recruits will see it that way.
They hang around the pool when they’re off shift, even though they reportedly hate the chlorine and have already started petitioning for a saltwater pool. Their civvies are made of light, shimmering fabrics, and they reportedly have webbed feet.
Most interestingly, they’re almost never seen in the mess hall. They all take their meals in their private quarters. Grey becomes a bit awkward when anyone raises the subject, and all he’ll say is the Pacificans are funny about their mouths.
About two weeks after the Pacificans arrive on Cloudbase, Scarlet passes by Captains Cerulean and Turquoise in the hall. He is leaving the Control Room, and they are walking towards it. Ochre’s right, the two women are beautiful, with their enormous silver eyes. They give him closed-lipped smiles as they pass and he nods congenially.
Then he hears the words.
Isn’t that the one they told us about? The one that doesn’t die?
He hears the words, despite the silence.
I think you’re right. This is a different voice. Still feminine, but different. Poor thing.
Poor thing, agrees the first voice.
Scarlet stops short and looks back over his shoulder. Cerulean does the same. Their eyes meet. She grabs Turquoise by the arm.
I think he can hear us, she says.
Captain Azure’s real name is Riptide, or so he claims. It doesn’t exactly fit with Pacifican naming conventions, and Scarlet suspects Azure gave it to himself.
Scarlet doesn’t need to be told that Azure is unusual by Pacifican standards—everything about him, from his aggressive swagger to the lightning-quick way he taps morse code messages into his radiocap’s mic advertises it. The other three are so elegant and enigmatic that Azure, who spends hours of his free time in the gym every day, almost seems like he might be a different subspecies.
When Scarlet finds Azure in the officer’s lounge, he is sitting in a chair, facing the door, and wearing an expression that suggests he’s been waiting for hours and his patience is wearing thin, though Scarlet knows for a fact it’s barely been fifteen minutes.
So, you can hear me, Azure says. He does not sound impressed, and silver eyes regard him warily.
“Yes,” confirms Scarlet. Then he thinks, Can you hear me?
Azure does not respond to the inquiry, so Scarlet takes this as a no.
After overhearing the conversation between Turquoise and Cerulean, Scarlet had immediately reported the incident to Dr. Fawn, who had described the development as unsurprising, given what they knew of how the Mysterons communicated.
Then Colonel White had ordered Scarlet to work with the Pacificans to determine the extent of his abilities, and deliver a full report to him by the end of the day.
Stand further back, instructs Azure. We will test the limits of your abilities.
There’s something refreshing about Azure’s lack of cordiality. It’s certainly an improvement over the pity he’d received from Turquoise and Cerulean. As Scarlet moves back to the doorway, he wonders if perhaps he feels he deserves to be treated as though he’s potentially dangerous.
Can you still hear me?
“Yes,” confirms Scarlet.
Move into the corridor.
“Should I close the door?”
It will not make a difference.
That’s interesting. “Physical barriers don’t interfere with telepathy?”
Of course not.
You are so unkind, Riptide, chides a new voice, so unexpected that it makes Scarlet jump. This is Captain Cobalt, no doubt. His calm but powerful presence is unmistakable. Do you wish for Scarlet to think poorly of us?
I hardly care what he thinks of us.
“It’s all right,” calls Scarlet instinctually, only to realise how foolish this is. He has no idea where Cobalt is located, but the Pacifican is certainly too far away to hear him. “Azure, please tell him it’s all right.”
Azure does no such thing. Move down the corridor, Scarlet.
Are you testing his range? another mind-voice joins the collective. Cerulean, Scarlet thinks.
The colonel has ordered it, says Azure tersely. Now please, allow me to complete my task in peace.
Cerulean’s gentle presence withdraws from the conversation, but Scarlet can still sense Cobalt watching and listening. It’s as if the Pacifican is standing right on the edge of his mind, hovering in the doorway of his consciousness.
We can hear one another from nearly anywhere on Cloudbase, Cobalt informs Scarlet. I see no reason why you should not be capable of the same.
“We should find the furthest two points on the base, then,” says Scarlet, speaking into his radiocap. “That likely requires one of us to go up to the landing pad.”
Where are you now, Aestus? Azure asks.
The pool, naturally, replies Cobalt.
Then we know his abilities extend at least that far. Ora, where are you?
I shouldn’t say, drawls Cerulean. I would simply hate to prevent you from completing your assignment.
Scarlet hopes he’s far enough down the corridor that Azure can’t hear him laugh.
Make your way to the landing pad, then, Scarlet, says Azure tersely. Inform me if I fall silent.
“All right.” Scarlet walks along in awkward silence. “Are you still there?”
Yes. Can you hear me?
“Yes.” This is going to be hideously awkward. Scarlet tries to think of something interesting but inoffensive to say. “So, you Pacificans can hear one another from nearly anywhere on Cloudbase?”
Yes.
“That must be convenient.”
Yes.
Not to be deterred, Scarlet asks, “Can you have private conversations with one another, or is everything you say audible to everyone at all times?”
We are capable of private conversations, though we are not naturally inclined to them.
As Scarlet continues to walk the familiar path up to the landing pad, he decides to try a different approach. “Cloudbase must be quite the change. From Pacifica, I mean.”
Azure is quiet for so long that Scarlet believes he must have wandered beyond his telepathic range. Before he can confirm this over his radiocap, Azure says, It could be worse.
“Some of us were afraid our technology would be challenging to adapt to. But your city is actually very advanced, isn’t it?”
Yes.
“I can’t imagine what it must be like, going from the sea to the sky. I hope you’re not unhappy here.”
I am not unhappy. Another pause. Even if I was, it would be well worth the cost. My people must be protected.
“I understand,” says Scarlet. “I feel the same way.”
Something in Azure’s demeanour shifts. They’re rooms apart by now, and Scarlet can’t completely describe what he’s feeling, but the Pacifican is significantly less closed-off than he was a moment ago. There have been no threats since our arrival on Cloudbase. You have fought the Mysterons for several years now. Do you believe a new plot will be announced soon?
“No doubt about it,” Scarlet says. “Any day now. Any moment now, really.”
Pacifica was largely without crime. This constant state of anticipation that you surface men exist within is alien to me.
“Were you involved in law enforcement?”
I was the captain of the royal guard.
Scarlet’s eyebrows rise. “Impressive.”
I did not deserve the title.
“I’m sure that’s not true,” says Scarlet. “What makes you say that? The attack—”
Let us speak of other things. Azure’s tone is abrupt, but not angry. I would like to leave those memories behind me.
Scarlet doesn’t need to be told twice. He continues his walk to the landing pad, but never once loses contact with Azure.