21-Dec-2003
Title: Tetractys
Author: Sol, but archived as Zefyr on FF & MM
Genre: Semi-AU, AU-in-AU, Drama, Sci Fi
Pairings: Wait and see.
Rated: R for the time being
Archived: fanfiction.net and gwaddiction.com
Warnings: Violence, language, adult situations, butchered scientific theory
Archiving: Ask permission for each story separately, please.
Critiques: Always welcome, especially constructive.
Disclaimer: I just like to take them out and play with them. I promise to
put them back where I found them.
Author's Notes: This is currently only a teaser, as I won't continue the story until I've
finished Dancing, at the very least. Consider it an early yule present.
If you're wondering where this insanity came from...well, the truth is, I
had this dream last week, and it rolled out the whole first half of the
story. I kid you not. Crazy minor details and all. Woke up at 3 am and
couldn't get back to sleep for an hour while I pondered it all. And since I
had to suffer from it, now it's your turn. Hah! Evil author strikes again.
The older man shifted in the chair, the high collar of the required court clothing itching at his neck. He frowned, trying to concentrate on the minister currently droning on about shuttle paths between the LaGrange Points, and checked the agenda notes on the table in front of him.
The emperor was young, only in his mid-thirties, and his ascent to power had raised a number of comparisons to emperors in the past that had risen and fallen with mighty swells.
Only I'm not in my twenties anymore, he thought, a little amused. And I 'm not short, either.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs was clearing his throat. "Emperor Krushrenada, if you'd be so kind as to review this document." The tall man stepped forward, handing the document to the Imperial Administrator, who crossed the distance to set it before Krushrenada. The Emperor leaned forward to accept the document, and the administrator's amused smile, returning it with one of his own before scanning the document quickly. The sunlight through the arched windows glinted off his copper-colored hair as he reviewed the paperwork.
Minister Darlian was already pontificating on its importance, and Krushrenada wasn't surprised to hear protests from Minister Noventa. The young man was a firebrand, but he took the agricultural export issues extremely seriously.
How much longer of this drivel, Krushrenada thought wearily. I'm tempted to lock them all in the hall and leave them there until they agree. Then maybe they'll leave me alone. He leaned back in his seat, just barely able to see the Imperial Rose Gardens from his seat above the mass of delegates at their tables.
Busy little stagehands, he thought. Always hoping that some day they'll have a chance to stand up before the audience. He sighed, and paid attention with only half his mind to Minister Noventa's explanations about the agro-economic damage from Northern Europe's drought the year before.
Idly he sorted through the documents, his hand pausing over one neatly written request for time off. Krushrenada barely stifled a smile, thinking of his five men-at-arms, as he liked to think of them. The sixth, of course, was nearly always at his side, and the emperor spared a quick smile for the tall blond who was diplomatically steering the debate away from a discussion on fixed prices in the Pan-Pacific regions.
The first signature was always Heero Yuy's, Krushrenada thought, and shook his head at the thought. The de facto field leader of the team, the young man had grown into an awe-inspiring soldier, his abilities finely honed over the years of practice in Krushrenada's service. He'd never grown out of his boyish handsome looks, though, with that messy brown hair that refused to settle for a military appearance. Krushrenada snorted at the idea. He had no problem with Zechs', or even Duo's, appearance, so Heero's rebellious hair was the least of his worries.
The emperor glanced over at Minister Darlian, who had taken his seat to allow Minister Schweig, in charge of interstellar economic development, to answer Minister Noventa's comments. Pity, Krushrenada thought. If Darlian's daughter had survived, she would have been the same age as his men-at-arms, and there would have been yet another young woman added to the many already clamoring for Yuy's attention. Not like he was going to give it to anyone else, being too devoted to his partners, Krushrenada reminded himself.
Like Duo Maxwell. Krushrenada couldn't help but smile. That young man had spent the first two years giving the emperor a wide berth before gradually accepting friendship. Even now the thief and assassin preferred to stay in the background, letting his quick jibes be the limit of his conversation. He had no problem letting his partners talk for him, when it came to more serious issues, although Krushrenada had been on the wrong end of Maxwell's political diatribes once or twice.
The emperor winced good-naturedly at the memory. Maxwell was probably the savviest of the five, when it came to politics, and his temper could be fierce if provoked. Krushrenada sighed, glancing up to see Marquise watching him closely, and gave the blond a pointed look.
Move it along, the look said.
Marquise nodded and called for the next presenting Minister to take the floor, and Krushrenada accepted several more documents, signing off quickly on two before allowing debate on the third. His mind, however, wandered back to his men-at-arms.
He'd never expected Maxwell to get so tall, he thought, amused. The young man was still the most slender of the five, but somehow his height was still no impediment to moving freely through the Imperial palace, even in areas theoretically off-limits. He'd taken to leaving a single strand of hair as his calling card in the most unusual of places, and given that he was the only one with chestnut-brown hair easily a yard long, it was never hard to determine the culprit.
I think I made a mistake insisting he improve his talent, Krushrenada told himself, amused. He corrected that thought quickly, however, knowing he wouldn't trade the man's abilities for a corps of trained soldiers.
Thinking of Maxwell and Yuy always raised thoughts of Barton, although it had long been known in the palace that Barton wasn't the man's real name. Krushrenada had had extensive searches done, only to discover that Barton's entire family had died as a child, excepting one surviving sister. She'd died in an attack on Northern Europe during the Nine Day War, and Barton had decided to keep his assumed name rather than deal with old ghosts.
Auburn-haired and tanned, Barton was the tallest of the pilots, an inch over Krushrenada's own height, muscled but in a lean gymnastic way. Yet he had an amazing affability, such that it never seemed as though he were looking down on another person. That compassionate nature was only one of the two reasons he was the team's point man for all operations, going in alone before his two partners followed.
"Your Excellency," Minister Schweig was saying. "I'd like to present my associate, Assistant Minister Aczel. She's the representative of the Siberian region..."
Krushrenada listened, nodding politely and offering his congratulations automatically at the appointment. Assistant Minister Aczel replied with a short but flowery speech about her position and goals.
I think someone writes these and sells them, the emperor mused. Insert your name and position here, he thought, and could barely keep a sly smile from his face. One glance at Marquise told him that his assistant was probably thinking the same thing.
Winner should be here, Krushrenada thought. The fourth of his men-at-arms, the blond once-heir, Quatre Winner's talent was indisputably one of the most powerful of the five. Rivalling Maxwell in height, Winner was a favorite among the court, with his broad shoulders, blond hair, clear sea-blue eyes, and classic good looks. Like Yuy, however, he was devoted to his partner. Unlike Yuy, Winner knew how to let his pursuers down gently, a single smile to soften the blow.
But the men and women would still rush back to Quatre's side, Krushrenada thought, tickled by the memory of the soldier being swamped by dance requests at the last Imperial ball. The man is too much a gentleman for his own good.
Too bad none of it's rubbed off on Chang, the emperor mused, and grinned despite himself. Of the five, Chang was still the most fiery, with no problem speaking his mind where even Maxwell would hang back to listen. Each time Krushrenada had ruled on particularly controversial situations, Chang was the first in his office, demanding an explanation if the ruling didn't seem logical and just to the spit-fire Chinese man-at-arms.
Another talent I might've have done better to suppress than encourage, the emperor told himself, and just as quickly changed his mind. While Chang and Winner worked predominantly on providing contact for the three point members of the team, Chang also had duties attending the Imperial court, the few times each month it was in session. The emperor was often exempt, except for cases of high treason, which had thankfully died down over the past five years.
This is peace, Krushrenada thought, and pulled Winner's handwritten document from the bottom of the stack. His gaze studied the graceful but powerful hand, the loops of a G, the hard downward stroke of an I. It's peace, and they're bored.
I'm not surprised, the emperor told himself, nodding as Marquise called the morning's meeting to a close. I'm pretty damn bored, myself.
The two men looked up from their work as the study's door swung open. The first man nodded and dropped his head again, his black hair swinging down to cover his face as he turned the page in the large text under his hands. The second man closed the laptop in front of him and smiled at the newcomer, brightening the room momentarily.
"Maxwell," he said. His blue eyes crinkled in amusement when the person entering simply shrugged.
"Like you'd have to ask," the newcomer replied with an easy grin.
Duo was dressed in his usual black jeans and black shirt, a tall shadow in the otherwise cheerful library. The tall windows brought in plenty of sunlight, but it never seemed to reach any corner he occupied, despite his cheerful smile.
"I'm beat," Duo continued, dropping with a sigh onto the loveseat in the corner. Turning sideways, he slouched down, catching a nearby chair with his foot and dragging it closer. "How many more days?" He propped one booted foot up on the chair, and slung his other leg over the arm. Pulling his long braid out from behind him, he began playing idly with the tip, brushing it against the palm of his hand while he waited for his partners to arrive.
"Nine, unless there's an emergency." The young man at the desk leaned back in his chair, shaking his head to get his white-blond hair out of his eyes. "Chang's double-checking now," he explained. "We've been reviewing the reports from Chile. So far three people have gone missing."
"Another search and rescue?" A deeper voice could be heard in the doorway, and the man stepped into the room. He tapped on Duo's knee, waiting until the leg was moved before he sat on the arm. He rested his hand on Duo' s shoulder for a minute, and his green eyes brightened in surprise. Looking up, he raised an eyebrow at the blond. "How soon do we ship out?"
"As soon as we can get permission. Winner and I finished interviewing the third hiker this morning," the second man at the table said, finally looking up from the books spread out in front of him. Pulling off his glasses, the Chinese man rubbed the bridge of his nose and replaced the glasses.
"And?" The taller man glanced down at Maxwell, who shrugged.
"Their reports are true, Barton." Wufei replied. "As crazy as it sounds."
"Or they simply believe what they say to be the truth," Duo said, and shrugged when the Chinese man glared at him. "That's right," the longhaired man drawled happily. "I'm just here to keep you from getting too self-important."
"I think we can get clearance," Quatre said, interrupting yet another stand off. "Where's Yuy?"
"On his way," Trowa told them. "He had to drop off some reports at the main office."
"What did I miss?" A fifth man, with messy dark brown hair, stepped into the room, shutting the door softly behind him. Nodding to his partners, he stepped to the table, glancing down at Wufei's books with a frown. "More myths."
"Not this time," Quatre said. "Chile, in the mountains. Search and rescue's failed, but five of the rescue team came back with some curious reports."
"And?" Heero leaned against the table, studying the open texts with idle curiosity. His white shirt was open at the collar, and the sleeves were rolled up past the elbows. He turned, resting a hip against the table, and crossed his arms as he waited for an explanation.
Quatre's answer was interrupted by a groan from Duo. "Shit, does anyone want to talk to Zechs right now?"
"Not particularly," Wufei answered, with a smirk.
The vid-phone on the table rang once, and fell silent halfway through the second ring.
"Bless you, Yuy," Duo drawled. "Knew there was a reason we kept you around." He was rewarded with a smirk from the dark-haired man, and Quatre grinned momentarily before he began to explain the plans.
"They hung up, your Excellency," Marquise reported, smirking. "Duo and Heero must be with them."
The Emperor laughed and stripped off his formal coat, handing it to his valet, who shook it out before hanging it up. "I keep reminding myself their hatred of vid-phones is a small price to pay."
Zechs' smirk grew wider as he leaned against the table, watching Krushrenada undo the cravat and drop it on a chair. "Should I go down and get them? Quatre was supposed to have the reports on their last mission done by now."
"Let them alone for now. I'd expect they're plotting what to do with this year's time off." He grinned, sitting down to pull off his boots.
"They've done mountain climbing, and space walking, and deep sea exploration. I wonder if they'd ever contemplate the value of taking a long, relaxing time on the beach."
"Those five?" Krushrenada snorted, amused by the visual of the five pilots actually relaxing. "I don't think they know the meaning of the word. Speaking of which, what are you doing on the anniversary?"
There was a long pause, and the younger man's face was still for several minutes before he spoke again. "I thought I'd head to Borneo this year. She'd always talked about the deep dark mountains of Borneo, when we were at the academy."
The emperor nodded. "What are you going to do," he asked softly, "when the list of what you could have done, is gone?"
"What are you going to do?" The question wasn't impertinent, but simply one they'd repeated too many times.
Krushrenada turned to look out the window, down on the Imperial Rose Garden. "I don't know," he whispered. "Find another world to conquer, I suppose. She would have liked that."
Marquise nodded, and the two men were silent as the servants delivered their midday meal.
"It's the packing part I hate," Duo said, flipping the wooden chair around to straddle the seat. "Sure we can't have someone else do it?"
His question was greeted with two pairs of eyes, and one raised eyebrow. Duo snorted and lowered his chin to his forearms laying on the back of the chair. Trowa gave him a little smile and ducked his head to study the shopping list again. Heero was chewing on the end of his pen as he ran over the list of supplies they'd be taking, revising as Wufei had suggested, given the environment.
"It's not really the most scientific conclusion," Duo said after a few minutes, pulling his braid around to the front, absentmindedly brushing the tip against his chin. He stared off through the windows, watching several people meeting out on the grounds. "The theory's been around for four hundred years and it's still just a theory. Hell, just getting close to a singularity would slow down time, along with space. It'd take an infinity just to get up next to the damn thing."
Heero rolled his eyes at Trowa, who shrugged. "It's a theory," Heero said. "While that specific theory may not fit the situation, the anomaly is worth investigating."
Duo snorted. "The only situations to compare are ones Chang's dragged out of books that predate the Space Age, let alone the Colony Age. He's a great scholar, I'll be the first to admit, but he sucks at quantum physics."
"Another concept debunked two hundred years ago," Trowa pointed out quietly, without pausing as he jotted down more items to purchase.
"Only the mathematical basis," Duo retorted cheerfully. "The mechanics are sound. You really should read the Selway papers on it."
"They're nothing like any mechanics I've ever seen," Trowa replied under his breath. Heero shot him a tight grin, and the two steeled their faces into impassivity as Duo continued, his eyes still on the scene outside.
"Face it, black holes are still, well...one big black hole in our understanding of the universe. For that matter, the whole north-south designation is ridiculous, now that I think of it," Duo mused. "It's not like the universe has a top and a bottom." He shook himself and grinned, his eyes roving around the spare apartment they shared on the top floor of the Imperial Palace. "Worm holes are a notion you can still find in science fiction, but it's still just fiction. Assuming you could even get to a black hole - what with the time and space issues - getting through it would mean you'd be squashed down to an infinitesimal point of infinite length."
Duo pulled a strand of hair from the end of his braid and played with it for a second, holding it up between his fingers. "I don't know about you, but I have no interest in being stretched out like a strand of hair just to see what's on the other side of a black hole."
"The rest of the universe," Heero answered flatly.
"Which wouldn't do you much good, now that you're nothing more than a long, thin string of molecular matter. Beyond molecular," Duo corrected himself. "Down to the quark. And this is ignoring the fact that you can't have a mini-black hole just show up somewhere. It just doesn't work like that."
Heero slammed his hand down on the table. "Maxwell, shut up. Some of us are trying to get ready for this trip. Go see if Chang or Winner needs you."
"Not my problem you're a packrat and have to take your whole life everywhere you go," Duo retorted, getting up from the chair. In a smooth motion he flipped it around and shoved it back under the table. Heero looked up, and Duo's eyes flashed as he scowled. "Don't even try it, buddy."
Without a backwards glance, he stomped out. The apartment door shut behind him, clicking softly into place.
Trowa sighed and put down the pen. "You shouldn't provoke him by making decisions so far ahead."
"I wasn't." Heero smirked, and held out his fingers for Trowa's pen, which rolled across the table and into his grasp. "He's just easy to bait."
"It's your night tonight. You fire him up, you'll be sleeping on the sofa." Trowa reached over and snagged his pen back, brushing Heero's fingers at the same time. He raised his eyebrows and grinned. "Oh, is that the way it goes?"
Heero smirked, and bent his head to his list again.
"Pre-colony, about two hundred years," Wufei reported, removing his glasses and cleaning them on the hem of his white shirt.
"You're going to scratch them if you keep doing that," Quatre said without looking up.
"You keep that up, and I'll start to wonder about your friendship with Maxwell," the Chinese man said wryly. He put the glasses back on and pulled another book closer, frowning at it for a second before looking up. "The one I want is always on the top shelf."
"No, you cannot call Yuy." The blond smiled, amused by Wufei's pout, and shrugged. "You're getting lazy."
"I didn't see you calling me lazy this morning."
"How could you have seen anything? Your eyes were closed the whole time."
"Were not." Wufei made a face and bent back to the text for several minutes. Quatre smiled to himself and leaned forward to type, his brow furrowing as he watched the calculations scroll down the screen.
"There's no correlation," Quatre said quietly. "Maxwell had a point. The symptoms may be similar, but there's simply no precedent for such a phenomenon on this small a scale." He sighed and leaned his elbow on the table, resting his chin on one fist. "I'm no use here, I'm afraid."
"You're every use," Wufei replied calmly. "I can't plan this without your help. Those hikers knew what they saw and they were telling us, as best they could, what it was," he added emphatically.
"They were terrified. I'm not sure how you could get past that overwhelming feeling." Quatre shuddered, his face paling from the memory.
"Focus on the task. There are histories and word-of-mouth contemporary reports that mimic what they found," Wufei reminded him. "But it's not until a year ago that we had any reports this century."
"Aliens," Quatre muttered. "Maxwell reads too much."
"He's carnivorous when it comes to books. It's just your bad luck he reads only fiction."
"My bad luck?" The blond raised his eyebrows, then scowled lightly. "You think this is funny."
"You know it's true," Wufei said, smirking, then sighed. "Perhaps we should have just asked them to go hiking with us."
"In Chile."
"Sure."
"Where three hikers have already disappeared."
"We could have gone with a search-and-rescue mission."
Quatre rolled his eyes. "Even Barton wouldn't believe that one, given that the hikers have been gone for a month."
Wufei shrugged. "Whatever excuse Maxwell brings up, it's still a singularity. The compression and slowing of time, the change in weight, the shift in light and sound..."
There was a knock at the door, and Duo stuck his head in. "I was sent to find out if you need anything from me. Like...help, or something."
The Chinese man raised his eyebrows. "Not sure. Will we?"
Duo screwed up his face in concentration, then grinned. "Maybe yes, maybe no, and not worried about it, but there is a pie down in the kitchen that's not going to end up on Treize's table if I have any say in the matter." He grinned again and waved, spinning in the doorway, his braid flying out behind him.
Wufei glanced over at Quatre, who was struggling to keep from laughing. The Chinese man shook his head in disgust and slammed the book shut.
"Come on," he said, standing. "There's no way I'm letting Maxwell hog the whole pie."
"After all the effort he'll go through? I'd say that's a fine reward." Quatre leaned back and propped his feet up on the table, grinning at his partner.
"I can't let him head into a mission, however impromptu, without backup." Wufei dug in his pockets, finally finding a hair-tie. He pulled his hair back and snapped the tie around the ponytail as he shot his partner a disgruntled look.
"This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the fact that you adore apple pie," the blond mused, interlocking his fingers behind his head. Wufei grunted, and Quatre's grin grew even wider. "Yeah, I thought so. Well, go on. I'm sure he's waiting just around the corner for you."
The blond leaned forward again, clicking on the laptop and waving his partner away with a dismissive hand. Wufei gave him a quick bow and a private smile before heading to the study door. He stepped into the hallway, and Quatre's words drifted towards him as he pulled the door shut.
"Bring me back a piece..."
End Part 1
(:./sol/tetra1)
