Chapter 4: Stuck in the Middle
A man dressed in a floor length pastel robe stood like a granite statue outside the Esthar International Biomedical building. A shiny little double helix rotated on the sign, complete with glowing balls to represent base proteins. The only sign that the man in the robe saw Seifer and Quistis approaching was a slight arch to one of his eyebrows. The couple stopped in front of him, not quite sure what to do.
"Um…hi," Quistis offered.
He nodded curtly, his head snapping up and down like toys soldier's.
"We have a sample that we need to drop off for testing," she explained.
Around them, Esthar was humming softly with the sound of hydraulics and murmuring voices. The pace of life in Esthar, despite all of their technology, had always been more leisurely than other places. Transportation was swift and simple — one had only to find the nearest hover station and punch in a destination. These were especially busy now, early in the morning, but no one waiting around them seemed to be in any hurry.
"You can drop it off at the desk," the man said.
Quistis nodded and motioned for Seifer to follow her. The building's automatic doors slid open as they approached and a wave of cool air wafted out to mingle with the warm morning. Seifer had insisted that the building wouldn't be open so early, but nothing in Esthar ever seemed to close. The city had been isolated from the outside world for a long time, and the normal nine to five workday didn't exist. Laguna Loire, not being one of the most ambitious men on the planet, had tried hard change that. But in the end, there wasn't much he could do. Esthar wasn't willing to change.
"This is a nice little dig," Seifer said as they walked inside. The lobby had a high, arched ceiling supported by elaborate columns, and the floor was made of shiny, marble tile. One man was sitting behind a huge, wrap-around desk, humming happily. He was wearing a pair of thick glasses that practically vanished underneath his dense mop of curly, dark hair.
"Hiya," he said with a grin. "How may I help you?"
Three large pins were stuck to the front of his robe. One of them displayed his name, Harold. The second proudly proclaimed that he was the Esthar International Biomedical employee of the month. The final pin, bigger and flashier than the other two, had a double helix with the words "Esthar International: A New Era in Technology" printed along the edges.
"I'm with Balamb Garden," Quistis explained. "We sent in a DNA type earlier and got inconclusive results, so we've brought a sample to be analyzed."
"Your name?" Harold asked.
"Quistis Trepe."
Harold nodded, squinting his eyes, and typed something into the computer. His teeth worked at his bottom lip, finding a fitted groove that showed it was something he did out of habit.
"Okay." He printed off a label and took the sample container from Quistis. "Your case is going to be handled by Aaron Neperin. We should have results for you within a week. We're usually a little faster than that, but we've been pretty booked lately. Will the two of you be staying here in Esthar?"
"Yes. We can be reached at Esthar Hotel Left."
"Great." Harold smiled brightly and handed them a card he'd filled out. "Enjoy your stay, and thank you for using Esthar International."
They walked out together, the humid morning a shock to their systems after leaving the air conditioned building. Quistis rubbed her arms which were tingling with gooseflesh at the temperature change and still aching from casting. She and Seifer had spent most of the flight combating one another. But the pain was worth it; she'd kicked his ass.
"What are we going to do stuck here for a week?" he asked.
"Hopefully it won't take that long," Quistis replied and looked around at the luminescent city surrounding them. There had to be plenty to do here. "Are you hungry? We could get something to eat. Check-in at the hotel isn't until eleven."
"Sure. I'm starving."
They found a restaurant that wasn't too busy and sat down together. Seifer ordered more than Quistis thought he could eat — a stack of five pancakes, hash browns with gravy, a heaping side of scrambled eggs, and several strips of sizzling bacon.
"You could have ordered more, you know," he said when he noticed her looking longingly across the table at his plate. The plain oatmeal with fruit she'd ordered had seemed appealing until she'd started eating it. Now her stomach was rumbling, demanding something of more flavor and substance.
"I guess I'm not that hungry," she lied.
Gamely, she ate the rest of her fruit and dipped her spoon again into the gelatinous goo that was forming as her oatmeal cooled. Seifer raised a doubtful eyebrow. Then, without a word, he pushed his plate to the middle of the table. Quistis didn't immediately recognize the gesture. So when she continued to stir the contents of her bowl, he waved a hand over his hash browns and snapped, "Eat!"
There was just enough for the two of them. He'd already drizzled blueberry syrup over all of the pancakes, and though it wasn't usually Quistis's favorite, it tasted delicious.
She sighed as they left and patted her stomach. "That was really good. What was the name of that place? We should go back tomorrow." Checking her watch, she saw that they still had over two hours before check-in time at the hotel. "We've still got some time to waste. What do you want to do?"
"With you?" he asked, arching an eyebrow. "I don't know. First, you beat me up. Then you eat my breakfast. How about you tell me?"
"We could visit Rinoa and Squall up at the Presidential Palace," she suggested after some thought.
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah. Why?"
Seifer scoffed. "I don't know what irritates me more: watching Puberty Boy cry over the fact that his daddy left him, or watching Laguna fall all over himself trying to impress Squall."
"Okay. What do you suggest, then?" she asked.
"Something low impact. I'm tired. And I'm full." He looked around, then pointed across the street at a movie theater that was just opening for the day. "How about we catch a matinee?"
"Okay." Quistis followed him across the street, curious. Balamb didn't have a movie theater. And she'd never had much spare time to watch any of the films the Garden library kept stocked. So she had no idea what might be playing in a big city like Esthar. There weren't any framed posters hanging outside, just a truncated list of titles and ratings that told her Esthar liked its movies clean — almost everything playing was suitable for children.
Inside, the theater was empty except for the people working there, kids mostly in their late teens, not much younger than Quistis and Seifer. Popcorn was popping, filling the lobby with the smell of hot butter and salt.
"Hey." Seifer approached the kid behind the ticket counter. "Anything good playing?"
"Everything on the wall," he said and pointed to a string of posters behind him. Quistis glanced at them and had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing. Every single movie on the wall was well over twenty years old. And all of them, from Clash of the Behemoths to Wendigo, starred Laguna Loire. He was in various costumes and a lot younger, but still perfectly recognizable as the President — as Squall's father.
Seifer stood in silence for a moment, then glanced at Quistis. "How about The Sorceress's Knight?"
She was surprised. "Really?"
"Sure. Have you seen it? I really liked it as a kid. It's a classic."
She had to shake her head. "Can't say that I have."
"We'll take two for Sorceress's Knight," he said to the kid and pulled a few gil out of his pocket. They bought soda and popcorn as well before heading into the theater where they sat alone for several minutes until the lights went down.
The movie wasn't very good. Laguna's acting was stilted, the costumes were historically inaccurate, and plot was contrived and full of holes. But Seifer never glanced away from the screen. It surprised Quistis that a story about romance and self-sacrifice would appeal to him since she'd always seen him as too self-centered to appreciate either. She tried to imagine him as a little boy sitting in his dorm room at Garden, watching this movie, and wondered if that was what had driven him so hard early in life. He'd been the best gunbladist at Garden by wide margin for several years before Squall had finally eclipsed him.
"Just as good as I remember," he said when the credits rolled.
"I had my doubts," Quistis admitted. "But it was sort of endearing."
"The end, right?" he said. "And the dragon. That just fucking floored me as a kid. I saved some of the hide from the first one I killed. Had a wallet made out of it." He fished it out of his pocket and showed it to her.
Exhaustion was beginning to set in when they got to their hotel. It was still half an hour before check-in time, but the woman at the desk told them their room was ready and gave them the key anyway. It was on the fourth floor with a balcony that overlooked the mall. Quistis walked in and pulled the curtains against the bright sunlight streaming in.
"Holy Hyne," Seifer said and flopped down face-first on one of the beds. "It's about time. Been waiting for this all day." He drew one of the pillows up under his head and kicked off his shoes.
Quistis wanted to say something before he fell asleep, something like I had a nice time or I really enjoyed our day together, but the day was only half over and everything that came to mind sounded too much like what you'd say to someone at the end of a date. Still, she had genuinely enjoyed spending time with him: the battle on the Ragnarok, breakfast, and the movie. She was surprised how much.
She pulled back the blankets on her own bed and sat down with her back to him.
"Seifer?"
He didn't reply, asleep already.
She pulled off her boots and SeeD jacket, wriggled quickly out of her skirt, and climbed into bed with just her underwear and the white tank top she wore under her uniform on. Although she wasn't sure she'd be able to sleep during the day, it wasn't long before the sound of his steady breathing faded and deep slumber overtook her.
0 0 0
Only a day and a half into their stay in Esthar, Quistis and Seifer found themselves once again standing in front of the Esthar International Biomedical building. They company's secretary had left them a message at the hotel desk that morning saying that their sample had been processed and a report was ready. It had been completed several days early, and Quistis had to call Laguna to cancel her lunch date with him, Squall, and Rinoa. She wasn't entirely regretting it and was glad that they were going to get back on the mission. Seifer was already running out of things to keep him occupied, and as he got more restless he also became more difficult to be around.
A woman was sitting at the front desk this time.
"Dr. Neperin has been waiting for you," she told them once Quistis introduced herself. "Wait right here. I'll page him for you."
"I thought we were just picking up a report," Seifer said as they sat down in the comfortable waiting area and the woman's voice crackled over the intercom. "Now we gotta meet with some idiot? I thought this was going to be quick and we could get out of here." The long pauses in their investigation were beginning to wear on him. They hadn't been trained for these kind of missions. As mercenaries, their schooling had been comprised mostly of how to enter a situation that had already gone critical. Seifer liked to run in and take action. Unfortunately, that wasn't always possible anymore.
He sighed.
"We can't do anything until we find out the facts," Quistis pointed out, knowing it would do little to ease him. "I don't know that we're ever going to get anywhere with this mission. If Kelly doesn't find something in the autopsy or we don't get much from the scientists here…then there won't be anything else we can do."
"Then what?" Seifer asked. "The case is just pushed under the rug?"
"We'll hand it over to Winhill to take care of," she replied.
"So, we're not going to even bother to see if there's anyone who wanted this guy dead?"
Quistis shook her head. "Garden isn't in this to act as police officers."
Seifer grunted and turned his face away. He didn't have to like it — the decision wasn't hers to make. Sascha Maurden's death was as tragic as it was puzzling. But he was only one man. And in Garden, one man was an erasable, acceptable number. If they hit any major dead ends, Garden would recall them rather than lose more money on the mission.
A man approached them. "Are you Miss Trepe?"
"Yes. You must be Dr. Neperin. This is my partner, Seifer Almasy."
The two men shook hands and Neperin motioned for them to follow him. He was a little homely with a small, sickly build and limp, brown hair. The pallor of his skin made it obvious that he rarely left his lab. Quistis walked behind him, watching the sway of his bleached white lab coat.
Seifer elbowed her. "Reminds me of Instructor Brecht," he said.
"He does not," she whispered and rolled her eyes.
"So, where exactly did you get this sample?" Neperin asked as he stepped into a cluttered office. Seifer and Quistis found two chairs in amongst the rubble and Quistis crossed her legs primly when she sat down.
"We were told that you have a report to give us," she said, ignoring his question. "When we first sent in a type, we got back inconclusive results."
Neperin hesitated. "They're still inconclusive, unfortunately. But I do have a lot that I can tell you about this…very extraordinary sample." He turned on his computer and brought up several images that looked like blurry barcodes. "These are DNA sequences of several different monsters: t-rexaur here, ruby dragon, snow lion, blue dragon, hexadragon. This one here is the DNA we managed to pull from the sample you sent us." He pointed to each of them, using his middle finger.
"So it's animal tissue," Seifer said.
"Yes. Definitely animal," Neperin replied. "That's not what's interesting about it. You see, usually we don't compare the entire DNA code. Normally, we're able to make a match by just looking for a few, very specific sequences that are individual to certain species. The reason I can't give you a precise match is because I got more than one."
Quistis frowned. "What's that mean?"
"This sample has gene sequences identical to those in several animals." He gestured to the monitor. "All of these. They're monsters from all over the world. And we're not talking about a passing similarity…some distant cousin. This sample seems to have genetic material that was directly lifted from all of these different species and stitched together. It almost looks engineered."
"You're sure that it's not just something rare?" Quistis asked. "There's a lot of dragons in there. You're positive this isn't a kind of dragon?"
"Yes. Absolutely. I cross checked this every way that I know how." He shook his head. "This is definitely something new. We're still working on completely decoding many of these monsters's genomes. So I can't tell you exactly what sort of traits this thing would even have. But it looks extremely resilient."
"Resilient to what?"
"I don't know exactly. But the sequences it has from these other animals are all ones that are very important — shared by every single member of the species. Dr. Odine has a theory that these bits of genetic code are what give these monsters their immunity to certain types of para-magic."
He paused, looking at the two stunned SeeDs.
"Really, it's quite remarkable. Where did you get this?"
