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Ianto was sitting back taking notes as Jack spoke…I mean the Captain..Ianto scolded himself for getting personal with his thinking, something frowned upon and he glanced up to find J…the Captain looking at him as if having asked a question. Ianto's brain caught up with things and knew he had so he rose and politely handed him the file he was holding hoping it was this he had requested.

Jack swing back to the table and Ianto breathed a sigh of relief at guessing right. After all, why else would he speak to him?

Then refreshments came and Ianto felt light headed as the butter on the scones was a pale yellow not the regulation white. Shit, shit, shit.

The Captain noticed as well, quipping that the artificial lights needed tiring down as their cheerful glow was starting to get subversive. Everyone laughed and accepted that as the explanation even as Jack glanced at Ianto who nodded to show he knew the chef needed a talking to.

After the meeting as they were making small talk a delegate slid over to Ianto, "Can you show me to my berth?"

Ianto accepted the key card and picked up the luggage so the diplomat might walk without problem and look around at the ship without the hindrance of the bags. He found the correct cabin and opened it, placing the bags down and turning to leave but finding his way blocked.

"Pretty aren't you. Shades. What colour are your eyes?"

Ianto knew this was a test and he answered politely "I do not know my lord. I have never checked and my wife has never admitted to knowing."

"You do not show yourself to one another?"

Ianto looked horrified, "My lord, that is forbidden!"

"Mister Jones"

Ianto jumped and spun to find the captain in the doorway, "Come on, let her settle."

They moved along the walkway, Ianto glancing at his boss "Thank you sir, that was awkward."

"Do not ever go into the quarters with one of them, did I teach you nothing!" the Captain snarled and Ianto felt shame as he saw that it had frightened to the man to find Ianto there, "Do not do it again."

"No sir" Ianto said woefully.

Jack turned to face him in the quiet point of the corridor and hissed, "That's how they trap you. A word, a gesture. That's how they decide if you are subversive, do you hear me?"

"Sir"

Ianto returned to his home and felt more than slightly slapped down for something that had not been his fault. Had he refused to do the bidding he would have been marked as subversive by way of denial.

"Ianto?"

He looked up to find Rhiannon standing there, her hair in rollers as she prepared for the afternoon shift … it was a work day for her. Three times a week she served in the galley and her hair was placed up in a hair net. Like most of the women on board, they found a life without colour impossibly horrid and had resorted to hairstyles and such to show their uniqueness. As he watched her smile and offer him a seat she told him that she had to leave soon for the afternoon snacks.

"Rhia… that style. Anyone else doing it?" he asked softly.

She turned to look back at him, "Elsie showed it to me. There are three…four of us now."

"Stop"

She looked at him and then sank into a chair, "What?"

"The delegation on board will notice. They are already searching. It is becoming a style. All you need is one more to copy it and you will have a quorum." He said gently as she pulled back with alarm. "It is not regulation. Sweetness, remember we must push gently. A little naughty here and there so they don't suspect. If we slip up it will be seen as another game. We cannot choose a side, not if one is being seen to be forming. You will get the vessel full of shaved heads or something if the Powers smell a trend. You know how they are. Please. Maybe every second or third day so it is not obvious that you are copying one another."

"Gods. Even our hair" she slumped as she saw his reasoning was sound "They would. They would implement a regulation hairstyle if they thought we were trending."

"I don't know about you but I do not think I would suit a buzz cut. I mean … Harvey would look like a slug!" Ianto grimaced and she laughed as he defused her alarm. Poor Harvey the dog looked up from the basket with interest as he heard his name, the long flop of black fur flicking back to show brown eyes.

Regulation pet.

Black and white. Brown eyes so dark they were blck in the lights.

Any born with splashes of colour to their pelts were euthanized at birth. Even this was being controlled now and Ianto fears that food might be next as the bright vegetables had been engineered to be mute but some like peas and carrots still slipped into the colour wheel of negatives. You were only allowed one or the other on your plate.

I know.

Pea and carrots separated forever.

The world had gone mad.