Alternative Directions: Options

Chapter 52

Sanc

Sanc Palace

Date: 1st March AC 198

Time: 21:35

Heero

The only sound that disturbed the quiet was the occasional click of keys as Quatre used the laptop. They were steadily making inroads into the refreshments Pagan had delivered to them before retiring for the night. Heero was killing time considering the matters that had so changed their lives over the past days, while Quatre browsed through the information they had found in Romefeller's files on the Gundam Pilots. The former pilot of the Wing Zero watched as Quatre's scowl steadily deepened the more he read, and Heero wondered just how long it would be before Quatre exploded with anger.

He had felt like exploding when he had gone through the files, and he had not studied that information as yet to the degree that Quatre had. The blonde Arabian was positively glaring at the computer, occasionally snarling quiet comments under his breath.

"I don't believe this." Quatre finally sat back and glared at Heero, blue eyes intense. "How did they get their hands on this information? Some of this I have not even seen, and I am the head of Winner Enterprises."

//Ah. He's into the section of his own files, where Romefeller have the information on his genetic details and birth. No wonder he looks angry.//

Heero shrugged, not with indifference, but with helplessness. He had no idea where Romefeller found their information. They had succeeded even where he had failed. His own search into his past had failed to turn up even a quarter of the information he had read in those files on his own past. What ever their sources were Romefeller would make for interesting investigation.

"It says here … that … that I am genetically altered. My files at Winner Enterprises genetic laboratories do not say that, Heero. I've viewed the Winner family records. The records of the conception of all twenty nine of my sisters, and myself. Yes, some were modified, but I was not. According to the records that are available to the family I was conceived and implanted into the Raberba, my mother, because she had difficulty in conceiving. As it was, she died when I was born. My records state there was no genetic alterations performed in my conception, either before, on the basic ingredients, or after, during the cellular stage, before implantation occurred."

"What about the empathy?"

Quatre's scowl deepened and he glared at the lap top before shaking his head in angry denial. "I've seen parts of this file before, Heero, but not this middle piece. Some of this information is identical to that contained within the Winner files, but this other information … This new section is not contained in the data bank that I have access to. If it is legitimate, then it's like a page was deliberately missed out of the original report. When I took over Winner Enterprises I made a point of accessing the information on all of my sisters and myself, as well as that of my father and my mother. I'm not the only Winner with psychic potential. I probably have the most developed ability, but I am not the only one to show it. I have two sisters who have empathic responses listed in the family files. Neither of those sisters was listed as being genetically altered. I … it was … I thought it meant that there was empathy running in the gene lines of the Winners or the Raberba's. Now I begin to wonder."

Heero leaned back, stretching his back against the arm rest he was using as a back rest, stretching slowly and carefully, half of a mind to fling aside the blanket and walk around the room. Or rather, pace across the room for a while. Sitting still bored him, and having Sally Po confine him to boredom for a week or more did not sit well with him.

"Romefeller could always be wrong. It is possible they could have been supplied with erroneous information as a diversion by Winner Security Services. If your company's security service realized the attempt to hack into the records, then perhaps security picked up on Romefellers investigation and fed falsified information to the Romefeller agent."

Quatre glared first at Heero and then at the laptop. Finally he shook his head in denial. He knew as well as Heero that explanation was reaching a little too far left of field for an explanation. While it was possible, he supposed, he very much doubted that it was probable.

"It's possible, I suppose, but I'm not too sure, Heero. What did you make of the similarity between my file and Duo's?"

Blue eyes widened and Heero sat up straighter, blinking in surprise. "Pardon? What similarity between your file and Duo's? I never noticed any similarities."

With a small sigh Quatre rose, carefully gathered the laptop and moved it to the side table set beside the couch, and then settled himself beside Heero, wriggling his butt to gain some room. Heero grunted and hauled himself to sit straighter from the slouch and recline he had effected for the last hour, giving Quatre a few more precious inches in which to get comfortable. After a few minutes of typing at the key board Quatre had achieved a split screen effect, the left of the screen showing his file and the right depicting Duo's. Scrolling down, first his report and then Duo's file, he highlighted a section that consisted of a series of numbers and looked expectantly at Heero.

Sensing he was supposed to notice something about the number sequencing Heero shrugged and sighed. "You recognize that? I thought it was a serial number for the files." Heero looked curiously at the numbers, aware he had missed something that could be important.

Quatre nodded slowly, eyeing the screen and then met Heero's expectant gaze. "It is a serial number, yes, and yes, I do recognize it. I recognize it because Trowa and I recently have had cause to deal with these people."

Heero peered closer at the screen and the numbers displayed. The only similarity he could discern between the two was that the first four numbers in the sequences on both files were identical, 5397. He scowled, glancing quickly through the other information on the screens, but finding nothing that really looked as though there could possibly be a link between the two files.

"These people are… ?"

Quatre hesitated for a moment, slowly colouring into a light blush. He ducked his head so that he need not meet Heero's quizzical gaze. "The serial number 53974 is the registration number for the Artificial Insemination Corporation on L4. The four in the number identifies the colony the branch is located on. So the 5397 is the AIC and the 4 denotes L4. If you look at Duo's records, you see that the number begins with 53972. The number two identifies the colony as L2. The other numbers in the sequence would be the link files for the individual records pertaining to these individual files."

Heero nodded slowly, agreeing that that was an appropriate assumption and then frowned, struck suddenly by Quatre's previous comment, and the fact that Quatre would not meet his eyes. "You said you and Trowa had seen these people recently?"

He was treated to the sight of Quatre turning a flaming red and ducking his head, turning away from him. After a moment Quatre rose, walking over to the window overlooking the darkened grounds of the palace. He stared fiercely into the night, eyes bright in a flushed face and it was a few minutes before he drew a deep breath and responded to Heero's question.

"Trowa and I … Well …We have … a sort of …" The blush deepened, if that was possible and Quatre squirmed.

Heero blinked in surprise. He could not ever recall Quatre squirming. Or blushing such a deep red before. While he usually looked as though butter would not melt in his mouth, Heero knew the blonde far better than many others. There was a steel core in Quatre.

"You and Trowa are seeing each other?" It was a statement more than a question, though he did imply it was a question that needed confirmation. At Quatre's small nod he grunted softly. "I knew that. It was a bit obvious during the war you had a certain regard for each other. It's not like you to be so shy, Quatre."

"It's more than that." With a deep breath Quatre turned from the view and faced Heero, his blue eyes liquid with emotion. "I know that during the war you guys thought we were just taking comfort in each other when we had the opportunity, but it developed after the war. It developed to the stage where we decided we needed to know just how serious we wanted our relationship to be. To test the waters, so to speak, we decided for a while we would split up, going our separate ways, determined to see if it was just … well … To see if it was as strong as we thought it to be, I suppose."

Heero nodded faintly. "I would not expect either of you to make a rash decision. Certainly not on a subject as important, and personal, as this."

"It wasn't right, Heero. When we split it felt so wrong. To me at least. From the very first hour I felt it a mistake for us to separate, but I was determined to give it the time we had agreed to. I had a lot of work to do after the war. There was the rebuilding of Winner Enterprises to be overseen, after the Colony Representatives under Oz basically disbanded half the company, and liquidated many of the assets. When the war ended and I took my place at the firm, Winner Enterprises was less than a quarter of what it was when my father was in control. With the help of those people I felt I could trust, both family and company directors, I have managed to return it to about half of what it was, which is far better than I had expected to in so short a period of time."

"I have no doubt given another few years you would have regained what was lost, and considerably enlarged on the assets available to the firm."

"I think you need to know that I am not in very good standing with my family, Heero, despite the successful rebuilding of the Corporation. Trowa and I tried it apart, but neither of us was happy, and when we saw each other again …" For an instant an almost dreamy look entered into previously serious blue eyes. Quatre came to himself with a faint blush and sighed. "Well, suffice it to say that we knew it was real, and that we both wanted the relationship to work. We had sorted out how we felt for each other, but there was a problem. Is a problem."

"Something wrong with Trowa?" Heero guessed.

"The problem is that my relationship with Trowa is against my religion. Homosexuality is more than just frowned on on L4. It's banned. It is against the law there. I have never been a very good Muslim." He blushed, sighed and shrugged. "I am tired of apologizing for what is a part of me that I can not change. I can live with their anger over my life style and my personal preferences, but their turning on Trowa has worried me. They will turn on him, of that I have no doubt. One of their biggest arguments against allowing me to continue in our relationship is that I am the head of Winner Enterprises, and the head of the family. I am the only adult male in the family."

"I thought four of your sisters had boys now?" Heero watched as Quatre began to pace, long strides, avoiding the furniture but sweeping the length of the room rapidly and then returning.

"They do, and that is part of the problem. They are keeping my perceived fault secret, Heero. They can not afford to have it become public that The Winner is a homosexual. That would ruin the company. It has come to my attention that certain people are starting to divide up the company into pieces. There has been infighting amid my sisters, over who will gain the controlling interest in Winner Enterprises. Which of the boys should be the heir is beginning to become the catch cry around the family. Which of the boys should they designate as my heir and be trained to be the next CEO. If I am to remain in a homosexual relationship then I can not do my duty to the family and provide an heir. It's bad enough that I am a sinner by being homosexual, but …" He winced, thinking of the repercussions to his sexuality becoming generally known. "Sometimes I hate my family, Heero. I don't know them very well and they seem such devout Muslims. Everything I say and do lately is wrong according to them. Some days it just gets to be too much."

Quatre made another circuit of the room, stride lengthening the longer he walked. Heero sat in silence, watching, allowing Quatre to walk and hoping it would allow him to calm some of his aggravation. He had the distinct impression that Quatre was about ready to lose control of his temper. While that would not be a repeat of the rage and despair Quatre had shown under the effect of the Zero System, it still would not be pretty to witness.

"Do you know why I like going on tour with the L4 representative, Heero? It allows me to get away from them. From my sisters. I never knew even half of them before the war, and now I can't get rid of them. All of my sisters and their families seem to have decided to move into the houses we keep in the colonies, and here on Earth, to keep an eye on me. Wherever I go, within twenty four hours of my moving into one of the houses, at least three sisters and their broods appear. I am so fed up with the morality lectures, and how I must be a true Winner and think of the stability of the family. I am an insult to the Winner Line and a raging disappointment to the line of the Raberba. I must not be a bad example to the children." He sighed, shaking his head at the vivid memories. "They drove Trowa out of three of the houses by making it hard for me to cope, and I won't stand for that closed minded attitude much longer."

"I thought Trowa had been with the circus for some months now, when he hasn't been doing work for the Preventers. He's avoiding you?"

Quatre blushed. "No. I see him regularly. I, ah … It's a secret, Heero, but I can tell you. You would not tell anyone. I bought the circus and kept the purchase secret from the company. I bought it with my own money. There was no Winner Enterprises financing involved, and I asked Trowa to manage it for me. Well, to train as manager under the old one. He enjoys learning he assured me. It will be ours, together, when the time comes. I stop by regularly to see how things are going. Amongst other things."

Heero could see just how uncomfortable this topic was for Quatre, and he wondered why the blonde continued on with it. Quatre had a point, he was sure. He would just have to be patient and wait for him to get around to it. He looked to the laptop and then back to Quatre, who had finally moved over to sit on the couch with him again.

"Your sex life is your own, Quatre. As is how you live your life. It's no concern of mine what you and Trowa do. It's your decision to make, whatever you do about your feelings for him and the loyalty you have for your family. I'm sorry your family is giving you trouble, but, I have to ask just what has this to do with these files?"

Grateful that Heero turned the subject to what he classed as business, Quatre nodded at the screen. He had not intended to get too personal and involve Heero with his personal problems, but to fully explain meant he had to make it clear just how serious he and Trowa were. He and Trowa had the matter of their future well in hand, and he knew that the time when he must make his move was swift approaching. For now though, he needed to attend to this business.

"The Artificial Insemination Corporation has been in existence for some two hundred and thirty odd years. It was founded well before the Colony Era. They were, and are, the foremost leaders in artificial insemination. About fifty or sixty years ago, they devised a means to splice the gene sequences of two people together to produce a viable embryo. Their success rate has risen now to be the highest in the Earth Sphere. Eighty seven percent. With the aid of a surrogate mother they can give a gay couple children." Quatre drew a deep breath and then met Heero's gaze. "Trowa and I were investigating the prospect of us having children."

Heero's eyes widened and he considered Quatre in silence for a full minute. "You are that serious about your relationship?"

"Yes. Yes, we are." Quatre shrugged, reaching to pick a strawberry from the diminishing platter. He was not in the least bit hungry, but it gave his fingers something to do, rolling the fruit continually. "We are also engaged to be married, though that is known only to you, Trowa and I at this time. When the board of directors and my family discover that I have no intention of parting from Trowa and, worse, that I am intending to actually marry him, I will undoubtedly be disinherited and forced out of Winner Enterprises. I can not be permitted to taint the future of the company or the family. I have been preparing for that eventuality for some time now, and when I go, I will go on my terms. It is almost done, now, Heero. Trowa and I have our own corporation in the founding stages. There are no ties to Winner Enterprises, not even a single stock invested in that company. I am also thinking about accepting the position as assistant to the L4 Representative. It was offered to me a week ago and I have told them I am considering their offer. I have to make up my mind soon, but first I need to investigate the likely reaction I would get when they discover I am involved in a homosexual relationship. I fully expect the offer to be withdrawn when they discover that."

Quatre tilted the lap top toward him and stared at the numbers on the screen with a gloomy air about him, before he sighed and turned away from Heero. It actually felt good to talk to someone about the troubles in his life at this time. He had needed a neutral sounding board. Someone not involved with the disaster looming in his very near future. He had not spoken to Trowa beyond a quick good evening and a chaste kiss at a reception at the palace in the last month. They had been interrupted before they had a chance to exchange more than that kiss and a quick squeeze of fingers in reassurance.

Soon he could remain with Trowa and damn the entire Earth Sphere if anyone objected. He would disinherit himself, and he would not regret the need for such action. Trowa was worth it.

"Trowa and I have set up our own equivalent of Winner Enterprises with the credits we … gained … during the war. All legal and legitimate, and in no way tied to Winner Enterprises, and all finances accountable to any investigator. I fully expect that Winner Enterprises will demand a full investigation of our funds, accusing us … me … of embezzling the funds from their coffers. My days at Winner Enterprises are numbered, but we can use the new corporation and its resources to help in this investigation, just in case my split with WE happens to come sooner than I think it will."

"Your resources could come in very useful." Heero quietly agreed, studying Quatre as the blonde tortured the strawberry.

"I suppose that … Well … Thinking of it, I suppose it is possible I might have been genetically altered. I suppose it is possible that the records could have been altered at some stage."

"Winner Enterprises have their own genetic laboratories and insemination clinics. Why would this other company be listed in your records? Why would your father go to them? Why did you go to them instead of to your own people?"

Quatre shrugged, but he gave the matter careful consideration. The problem was that he had not really known his father very well. He had largely been reared away from the Winner himself, undergoing training in seclusion to one day succeed as the head of Winner Enterprises. Then, of course, he had defied his father by becoming the pilot of Sandrock. The CEO of Winner Enterprises had been furious when he had discovered the secret project being funded by Winner money, he being a confirmed pacifist. Learning his son was being groomed for the role as the pilot had come very close to permanently breaking any relationship that existed between father and son. It was not a time that Quatre could remember without becoming upset.

"I don't know about my fathers thinking, Heero. We never really knew each other very well. Trowa and I chose the AIC because it has nothing to do with Winner Enterprises, and I do not trust my family to interfere with my getting an heir that could usurp one of their choosing. Trowa and I talked a lot about having an heir, and we decided that AIC would be the better option for this type of service. Of the limited choices that are available, they have the best record. Also, during the war, all but two of the Winner clinics were destroyed, and it has not been a huge priority to have them rebuilt to date. You must not forget, Heero, the WE is a company with some deeply religious ties. It was only in the last sixty or so years, that Winner Enterprises began to enter that field. I have no doubt that I will be forced out soon, and I was not having the chance that any child Trowa and I might have would be dragged into a religious debate either."

"Understood." Soft assurance. "Your life is your own. I am not going to tell you how to live it."

Quatre sighed and shrugged. "It feels so right, Heero. When Trowa and I are together, it just feels so right. We belong together. Soul mates. So what if we both have the same sexual equipment? Just because we are both males doesn't make our love any less real."

Heero hesitated, uncertain what he should do or say. Not knowing what would be received well and what would only make Quatre's melancholy worse. His past did not allow for him to have developed much in the way of an opinion on emotional ties. He was having enough trouble trying to understand why Relena made his blood sing. He was really going to have to get the time to sort out his own perceptions on that young woman. He was no longer the Perfect Soldier and he refused to place himself once again in that frame. He knew now that he had never been intended to be a soldier, and that thought sparked an entirely different train of thought.

He hesitated a moment, and then shrugged. He doubted that Quatre would throw the theory out without considering it. He was too much the strategist to do that. "Quatre."

"Yes?"

"All I can say to you is to do what you feel is right. I can't tell you what to do. No one can do that. You have to sort out your own needs and how you can live with them. I … I have to come to terms with what I feel. It's all new to me, and what Relena makes me feel …" He sighed, at a loss for words. "I don't even know where to start with developing a personal relationship, so I can't be of much help to you. I … I don't mean to belittle your personal problems, but I … I think we should get back on subject. I do want to say, though, that I personally have no problem with you and Trowa being a couple."

//Accept that, Quatre. I really don't have a problem with it. You two look good together and you would never enter into a relationship without being certain of your emotions. Your empathy would not allow the other person to lie about their feelings. It is an advantage that you should not forget about.//

"Thank you, Heero. It means a lot to me, that it doesn't cause you problems. Yes, we should return to the subject. We have a lot to do, not the least of which is to sort out why Duo and I both have the same company mentioned in the files. Oh, I know that his parents may have had fertility problems, and that they are a huge organization with many outlets, but … It is a coincidence, isn't it? Too much of a coincidence, maybe? I think we need to go into the data banks of the AIC and find out what is there."

"Quatre." Heero motioned to the lap top, barely hesitating. He would need to tell Quatre. "It's more than you think. Much more. Yes, we do need to investigate the AIC, but I think I know already a part of what we may find."

Quatre seemed to deflate, golden lashes lowering to cover blue eyes. "You think that AIC is a Romefeller based corporation, don't you?" He sighed. "I have already thought of that, Heero. How else do we explain how they managed to get these records? Winner Enterprises jealously guards it records, and I really can not see even Romefeller breaking into the archives. Not with the protections I know that guards this type of information. I don't understand why my father would have gone to them when he had the Winner Labs and Clinics at his disposal, but it could offer an explanation for why the records for my birth at Winner Enterprises were different from these records here. It makes sense as to why these records differ to the Winner data base. If it was Romefeller, then they could have given edited records to Winner Enterprises and kept full records in their own data base."

Heero nodded his agreement. That had been his thought and he was pleased Quatre seemed to accept the possibility without becoming unduly aggravated.

"If AIC is a Romefeller institution, it would explain why they have Duo's records, and how they got them. It would explain so much. If it's true. Heero, these records say I was genetically altered. We need to access the AIC data base and pull Duo's full records. This code here …" he indicated a sequence of numbers below the code he had preciously explained to Heero. "It is possible that in a sealed file somewhere we could discover I was not the only one genetically modified at, or before, conception took place. If that code is a key to a genetic enhancement or alteration sequence, then I wonder what his genetic alterations were?"

"Hnnn." The beep of the vid watch alert silenced any further comment he might have made, and he glanced at the device, activating the message screen. "Word from Preventer Earth." He informed Quatre, tilting his wrist to better read the scrolling message.

"They have received more word from Mars?"

Heero sucked in a deep breath, expelling it as a curse that reflected his past as an assassin on the street, before relaying the message to his companion.

"There is reason to believe the ESUN Wellington may be en route to Mars to take the children off planet." He watched as the message continued to scroll. "It is now suspected the Dakkar III Satellite System has been compromised, and the accuracy of the messages received from Mars is in doubt. Possible false messages may be inserted into the system. Possible delay on the time taken to relay the messages to Earth. Will advise when more information is available."

Quatre whistled softly. "I don't think Lady Une will be too happy about this."

"Neither do I. While you continue to review the information we have on Romefeller, I will set up another computer and link to the Dakkar III system. I'm curious as to what is happening with the array."

t.b.c.

Karina Robertson 2004