Frozen Sea

16. Breakdown

Chapter 22 will be the last one!
*********

The lights continued to stay off for a whole day. Since the blizzard outside was not yet ready to move on the team took another day off and spent their time inside trying to introduce Waddles to Yohan in the most diplomatic way possible. The Snow Stalker was not too fond of the little bundle of teeth and fury that now crossed his paths regularly, but he accepted it as a minor inconvenience pretty quickly.

Hongjoong was bored. He had spent the morning lazing around in bed with Seonghwa until the indignant screams of Wooyoung and San, who were in a fight about pickles with Mingi had risen them.

Jongho and Yeosang had also decided to sleep in, so Hongjoong soon found himself curled up under a blanket with a cup of coffee in his hands while he babysat the kids. Seungyoun was there, too, for the damage control and played in some corner with Yohan and Waddles.

From how the morning had started Hongjoong expected a slow day that they would spend leaning over databases and samples of DNA. He had wanted to ask Seungyoun about the Shadow Leviathan, too, but all of these things were put on hold when Seonghwa emerged from their weather observatory with a frown on his face.

Hongjoong was the first to notice, lifting his chin towards the man worriedly.

"What's going on? Trouble?"

Seonghwa nodded slowly, thus gathering the attention of the rest of the troop, too. San finally quietened down in his place on the threshold between the living room and the pool area. The silence was a blessing to Hongjoong's still sensitive ears.

"After our call with Eden yesterday, he sent me some data on when he was planning to come here. He said he wanted to depart today, but had yet to figure out if he would be able to. I wanted to inquire about it just a few minutes ago, but I can't get any signal. No matter what I try."

His frown looked distressed, so Hongjoong worriedly got up to walk over and wrap the man with him into his fluffy blanket. Distractedly, Seonghwa pulled him close while he was still trying to get a signal.

A tense second passed, then he shook his head while biting his lips. He was oozing frustration about the failure in the system but tried to dial it down for all of their sakes.

"Nothing. San, could you try, please? Maybe my comms are damaged, it wouldn't surprise me. Sometimes my body parts experience fallout." He was rambling to make himself feel better, and Hongjoong supplied him with supportive arm rubs so that the man could calm down again. They watched as San's eyes became glassy, and he searched his databases.

A few seconds later, he shook his head.

"I can't reach them either... What's going on?"

Hongjoong guessed that waking Yeosang would be fruitless. It seemed as if the problem was elsewhere.

"How does our connection with them work? A satellite?"

San slowly nodded, coming back into focus. He exchanged a glance with Wooyoung, both frowning.

"Yes. The signal gets sent from us to the Communication Tower on Delta Island, then up into the void to an Alterran satellite and back home."

Hongjoong nodded pensively, still leaning against Seonghwa's body. The man was distracted by his tries to get through still, but he didn't forget to gently run his fingers over Hongjoong's skin in an adorable attempt at offering comfort either. Hongjoong didn't know who he was trying to calm. Himself, or Hongjoong.

"Maybe the satellite took damage? There are a lot of meteor showers around this planet, after all."

Not a day passed without Hongjoong seeing one of the fiery projectiles in the distance. Some were near; others were far. Some even hit the planet somewhere in the ocean. They were easily able to destroy a satellite.