This is a scene my co-author wrote for the story. I know it may not connect to much without a story to go with it, but I do feel like I want to share it with you all just to see what everyone's reaction to it might be. So, with that said, enjoy reading it!
Garbage Chute Scene
Han tumbled head over heels, finally landing on a pile of refuse that crumbled under him.
"Argh..." He grumbled, kicking his way into the knee deep sludge, pooling at the bottom of the chute. Luke was stumbling around near the one end of the narrow chamber, fumbling around looking for a way out, and Chewbacca on the other end was pounding on a metal door under a handful of orange and red emergency lights. Leia had somehow landed on a dry pile, not even a smudge on her white dress or a hair out of place.
"The garbage chute..." Han grumbled, "What a wonderful idea. What an incredible smell you've discovered." Leia only barely managed to give him a disgusted look before, from overhead, they all heard,
"Whooooaaa!" Luke reacted first, managing to catch the falling boy before he hit the sludge, "Steven's here!" When Luke set him down, Steven looked around and noticed that all four of the other beings in the chute were staring at him in surprise. Luke recovered first and asked if he was okay, "I'm fine... uh, I'm not sure who else is coming down but..."
Steven only had a moment to look up before, right next to him, Pearl landed and only barely avoided falling over on the unstable piles of junk.
"Steven!" She cried, trying to climb over to retrieve him, and stopping when her foot plunged into the pool of garbage juice. Her face screwed up with disgust, "Oh... what were you thinking? Coming down into this... this..." She took another step and cringed again, "Awful... place!"
As Pearl finally picked her way over and pulled him out of Luke's arms, Steven guiltily avoided looking into Pearl's face. Maybe this really wasn't the best idea...
"Uh... well I was just... kinda..." He fumbled, trying to put into words what he'd been thinking – really, he hadn't been thinking exactly but he'd just known that he needed to be down here, but Han spoke up over him.
"That's what I was asking, just now." He didn't look too happy about being down here, any more than Pearl – but he also didn't seem like he was personally offended about having to wade through the sludge. At the single door, Chewbacca growled and pounded on the wall. Han scowled and waved the Wookie away, "Get away from there."
He leveled his blaster, and Steven only just saw Luke's panicked expression, "No, wait..." Before Han fired. The blasts echoed all around in the chamber, bouncing off the walls and nearly hitting them as Luke ducked out of the way and Pearl went diving for cover. After several moments of the deadly blasts rebounding, something finally took the blow and the chamber was silent.
Even Han looked spooked at the reaction he'd spawned.
"Would you FORGET IT, I've already TRIED – it's magnetically sealed!" Luke bellowed, having only barely gotten out of the way. Pearl dusted Steven off as Leia finally took it upon herself to offer some sense,
"Put that thing away – you're going to get us all KILLED!"
Steven looked over to see Han staring at Leia like he thought she'd lost her mind, "Absolutely, Your Worship." He said, sarcastically, before growling, "Look, I had everything under control until you led us down here!"
Pearl, at this point, had had enough and stood straight up.
"Stop shouting!" She commanded, bringing all heads turned in her direction, "It's bad enough that we're stuck down here with... with..." She sputtered for something to properly describe what she thought of their present company, "Ruffians like you! What we need to do now is maintain calm..." Pearl took a deep breath, and let it out, "In any case, we're safe for now – so, we should consider our next move to get out of this mess."
From the look on Luke's face, he sure wasn't happy about being called a 'ruffian', and Han looked ready to argue with Pearl giving orders again – almost as much as he'd been with Leia – before Steven interjected,
"Guys, c'mon, stop fighting!" Pearl stopped glaring in Han's direction long enough to pat him on the head, but he ducked out, "Remember what Garnet said – we'll be less likely to get caught if we're split up and going our separate ways! I'll bet that she and Amethyst and Connie are up there, right now..."
And that's when, in the distance over their heads, everyone heard a loud, bellowing laugh, the sound of something crashing, and then complete silence. Even Leia looked perplexed at what they just heard. Only Pearl seemed to recognize that laugh, apart from Steven.
"That's Sugilite!" He muttered, not sure if he should be happy that she was at least there, or if he should be upset that he wouldn't get to see her.
Pearl looked less than amused.
"Ugh..." She muttered, but quickly let go of her displeasure, "Well, in any case Steven – you had a point. Sugilite and Connie are no doubt going a different route, which will draw the attention away from anyone investigating where we went... so, when the time is right, we'll just climb back up and out the way we came in." Pearl pointed to the treads in the walls – spaced enough that, yes, all of them could climb them – but she seemed to not realize exactly how far they'd fallen. All of the other beings – even Chewbacca – were giving the distance incredulous looks, wondering how she thought they'd be able to make that climb.
"...Yeah, that'll work." Han pointed out, even as Pearl beamed at her simple solution, "Real winner of a plan you've got there." Luke was staring at the walls, also looking like he was thinking the same thing but wasn't about to say so. Pearl grumbled, wordlessly at the both of them. Only Leia seemed to recognize that, of all the ideas they'd had so far, it was the best chance they had.
"Could be worse." She pointed out, before finding a way to sit that she could wait out until the coast was clear. Then, from all around them, they all heard the clanging, clattering of something in the walls – like enormous gears turning.
Nobody spoke for a minute, before Han summed it up with,
"It's worse."
"There's something alive in here..." Luke pointed out, pushing Steven higher up onto the pile of garbage and out of the sludge he was still wading in. Steven looked around for some sign of something moving, just in case. Han dismissed it as being Luke's imagination, just as Luke insisted he felt something go past his leg.
"Pearl..." Steven called, glad that she too was climbing onto something well out of the pool of juices.
"It's going to be alright, Steven." She insisted, reaching over and putting an arm around his shoulder, "Just stay close to me..."
Luke interrupted by spotting something – Steven didn't see what, and neither did anyone else – floating through the sludge. All was quiet for just a second longer, before – quick as a flash – Steven saw something wrap around Luke's legs and pull him under with a splash. Leia screamed for him, and Han went diving, hands first, into the sludge.
"Luke!" Steven nearly squirmed out of Pearl's grip, only interrupted by the groan of the metal in the walls around them.
"Luke... Luke!" Han called, dredging the garbage sludge with his fingers, trying to find where Luke could have gone. For a pool that was only knee deep, he seemed to have vanished completely. Chewbacca moaned. Leia and Steven stared, in shock, at the spot where Luke had been pulled under. Han stopped for just a moment, wild-eyed and frantic. None of them moved or made a sound, listening for some clue of what could have happened.
Then, in a shower of filthy water, Luke's head broke the surface of the puddle as he pushed against the piles of garbage, fighting the long, thick tentacle wrapped around his body. Han was over in a second, holding him up and pulling him away from going under again. Steven shouted for him, climbing down and grabbing ahold of the tentacle and pulling as hard as he could. Luke gasped and flailed, obviously not able to see where he was going or who was helping him.
"Ha." Suddenly, the tentacle wrapped around Luke's chest went limp and released him, as Pearl pulled her spear up from the sludge where she'd impaled... something – Steven didn't even know what it was, but what Pearl pulled up had a single eyeball and nothing else attached to it's body.
In any case, Luke coughed and gasped and shook the sludge from his eyes before he noticed what Pearl had stabbed, and he asked, "What is that thing?"
"I don't know!" Pearl cried, "This is YOUR galaxy's... strange biology... not anything I'm familiar with!" She held her spear at arm's length, clearly not about to touch it if she could avoid it.
"Don't look at us – we don't know what that is!" Han backed away, giving the now limp eyeball creature the same disgusted look as Pearl. Steven couldn't tear his eyes away from where Pearl's spear had lodged, directly behind the eyeball. For some reason, it reminded him of the first time he'd seen the centipeedles.
"...Pearl..." He started, clinging to Luke's leg as Pearl turned and finally noticed what he was staring at, "...What..."
Luke's hand came down on top of Steven's head, just as Pearl lowered her spear.
"Oh... Steven, it's alright..." She fumbled for something to say, "Judging from it's shape, this is clearly an invertebrate of some sort... Uh..." Pearl glanced at the creature again, "No extra limbs... it's narrow body only having enough space to house the most basic of circulation and nerve endings... beings like this often don't have fully-formed digestion tracts... It probably doesn't even have a brain – like those... shrimp... that you and Greg like to eat back on Earth!"
This idea was greeted with silence, so Pearl continued, with unnatural enthusiasm, "Yes, that must be all it is – a big... long... harmless..." Pearl's eyes traveled over the creature, and everyone could tell that, if it had tried to drag one of them under, it was probably not nearly that harmless, "...Slimy... shrimp."
Nobody said anything as Pearl finally reached over and pried the head off her spear and let the creature sink into the sludge. Steven didn't say anything, and Pearl didn't look at him, before Luke leaned against the wall and heaved what looked like mostly water. Steven put a hand on his back.
"Luke, are you gonna be okay?" That seemed to be the question everyone else was wondering, especially as Luke spat out a mouthful of what might have been garbage juice. He didn't look okay, but he did reassure Steven that he'd be fine, sooner or later.
"Hey, kid." Han finally spoke up, even as Luke kept shaking his head to get his eyes cleared, "KID!" He reached over and braced Luke from falling back over into the trash.
After a moment of catching his breath, Luke finally asked, "Where did that even come from?" Han shushed him, reassuring that it was gone now and that Luke should just chill while they figured out what to do next.
They didn't have much time, before that whirring sound began again – and this time, Steven noticed, the trash on all sides around them started to move. Luke said it before anyone else could,
"The walls are closing in!" Leia recovered first and reached for a piece of piping and ordered them to try and brace the walls, or at least slow their movements. Pearl charged and slammed against one wall – actually sending it back an inch or two before it continued to press forward. Steven picked up the largest piece of garbage he could get his hands on and hefted it next to the piping, only to see it slowly buckle under the pressure. Luke went diving back into the trash, clearly looking for something.
"Luke?" Steven called, before he saw Luke fish out the little tube he'd been speaking into earlier.
"Come in See-Threepio. Threepio, are you there?" Luke called into the device. Pearl summoned another two spears and tried to lodge them into the points where the walls met, only for them to poof as the sides would not jam, "Threepio!"
In the main hangar command hub, the abandoned comlink sat on the desktop, a lonely voice calling out from its speaker. In a moment, the door was forced open, a contingent of stormtroopers marching through the doorway, securing the room and pulling open all other doors. When they unlocked the other compartment, a pair of droids lay, cowering inside.
"They're mad!" The protocol droid cried, "They went down the cell bay – if you hurry, you might catch them!"
The troopers glanced at each other. Should they, after everything that had happened on the station, take the word of a droid over their commander's? Surely, it wouldn't hurt if the went on the information they were being given...
"YEAH!" A shrill voice called from the ceiling overhead, "Get outta here, you CLODS!"
All of the troops glanced up, to see a tiny green being nestled between the piping, seated next to a girl in a blue dress. Whatever they were, or what they were doing up there, the green creature's smirk dropped into a look of utter panic, and the blue girl sighed as her companion muttered, "Whoops."
"It's okay, Peridot, I've got this." The girl dropped from the ceiling, and before any of them could level their blasters at her, she raised a hand and the pipes over head burst open, water rushing out in the shape of two enormous hands and rushing them all back out the doors and down the corridors.
The room cleared of stormtroopers, Threepio toddled out of his hiding place and retrieved the comlink from the desk. After a moment's pause, he glanced at Lapis and Peridot, before finally coming to an appropriate conclusion.
"Oh... thank you very much, Lady Lazuli." He bowed, jerkily, as Lapis shrugged.
"My name's Lapis." She looked down the hall, "Also... we should probably get out of here before they come back..." Peridot hopped down next to her, nodding as though it were her idea all along.
"Oh... yes, quite right." Threepio agreed, before waving Artoo out with an arm, "Come along, Artoo." And the quartet made their way out and down the corridor, looking for a more opportune place to hide.
"And that is how I learned you don't put forks in the microwave." Peridot concluded, to an unresponsive audience in Artoo and Threepio, as they snuck around the corner and found themselves at a computer panel just outside the main hangar bay. "Isn't that the most fascinating tale?"
"Peridot, you might wanna keep it down – they might hear us." Lapis reminded her, gesturing to a small crowd of stormtroopers mulling around under Falcon's hull. Peridot's grin faltered, before she sheepishly agreed Lapis had a point. The two of them peered around the corner, just enough to see that there was no sign of Steven, the other Gems, or even those humans Steven had dragged them after. "If they're not back yet, then where are they?" Lapis asked, crossing her arms.
Threepio turned to Artoo, "Artoo, see if they've been captured. Hurry." The round little droid rolled up to the computer and extended what looked like a tiny socket and inserted it into the console, whistling all the while. Peridot crawled up onto the panel and watched him, eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"...What is he doing?" She asked, mouth turned upside-down in a scowl. Threepio righted himself, and stammered for an explanation – insisting that he was a protocol droid, and not well-versed in the specifics of an astromech's capabilities – but Peridot must have seen something that she understood because she interrupted with a gasp, "You can interface with the computer directly without having to use the screen?"
Artoo beeped a response, which made Peridot go starry-eyed, "...I used to be able to do that, too..." She whispered in awe. In a moment, she turned around on the console and started pressing buttons, "Hang on – if I can figure out how to make sense of this system, maybe..." She pressed a few more keys, muttering all the while, before the screen lit up and she squealed in delight, "Ooh! We're actually able to access all the functions of this station – there's the tractor beam... and the cell block doors... and the engine repulsions... and..." She maniacally rambled off all the different computer functions she was finding, before Lapis reminded her what they were looking for.
Artoo whistled something before Peridot could formulate a proper answer. Lapis just raised an eyebrow before Peridot happily agreed, "Well, like he said – there's no record of them being captured, so it's most likely that they're just fine, or at the very least, that it hasn't been logged."
"That's not reassuring." Lapis pointed out. Threepio fretted over where they could be before Artoo hooted something at him.
"...Use the comlink? Oh my – I forgot I turned it off..."
Down in the garbage chute, everyone's efforts to keep the walls from moving were still useless. Anything that might have stood a chance of stopping the compactor had been crushed by the force of the walls, and it was all they could do to keep themselves from becoming stuck between the pieces of garbage that were slowly being mashed. Pearl had managed to keep everyone together in a spot that was more open, even as they looked for some way to avoid being crushed as the seconds ticked by.
"One thing's for sure – we're all gonna be a lot thinner." Han muttered, mostly to himself, but loud enough for everyone else to hear.
Steven's eyes darted around the chamber before he dragged Luke and Pearl over as close to him as he could, "Guys – everyone get over here!" He hollered. Leia and Han didn't even argue, and as soon as he was close enough to keep everyone together, Steven focused as hard as he could and...
"Steven!" Pearl cheered, pulling him into a hug. When he opened his eyes, the familiar pink shine of his bubble surrounded them. Luke let out a breath of relief, and Han actually managed to look interested in the apparent shield protecting them. Steven let himself relax a little, able to see how close of a call it had been – as well as how well the bubble was doing at keeping the walls from closing in any further. Outside the bubble, they could hear the gears in the walls grinding and hissing, as though angry they could not press further.
Steven felt Luke's hand ruffling his hair again, "Good thinking Steven..." He sounded not just relieved, but also as though he understood how Steven was feeling, knowing he could at least summon his bubble. Sure, he hadn't been able to summon his shield, and Stevonnie had been benched for the last few days now, but at least this much of his powers was still there.
Steven hadn't wanted to admit that he'd been starting to get scared that they might have just vanished, and for good this time.
"Okay – so, now, we just need to stay in here, until you can get ahold of Threepio and Peridot, and we can get out of this." Steven agreed. Luke kept trying the comlink, frustrated but no longer panicked about the lack of response.
The relaxed atmosphere didn't last long as Steven heard the walls stop with the clanking, frustrated hissing sound.
"...Is this bubble supposed to be doing that?" Leia asked, and when Steven looked at what she was referring to, the panic returned, full-force. His bubble had been able to withstand being crushed by monsters, blasted by a harpoon, even being attacked by the force of Garnet's fists. But he'd never seen the walls of his bubble start to bend, like they were now.
"...Uhhh..." He stammered, sweat running down his face, even as Pearl kept her hands on his shoulders.
"Now, Steven – this is nothing to panic over. It's actually a good sign that your bubble is able to develop some form of elasticity." She sounded so sure of herself, but when Steven looked up, she was also staring right at the point where his bubble was being slowly caved in, "...For example, it makes it sturdier when it bounces and... um... the fact that you can control the density is..."
"NOT HELPING US RIGHT NOW!" Han pointed out, loudly.
Steven saw Pearl's face fall, but she didn't raise her voice, "Steven, just calm down. We just need a little more time and I'm sure..."
Next to them, Steven heard a muffled voice come from the comlink in Luke's hand, "Are you there, sir?"
Everyone's head snapped in Luke's direction as he responded, "Threepio?"
"We've had some problems-" But Luke didn't let him finish, especially as the walls of Steven's bubble started to bend into less of a round shape and all of them slid towards the center, only barely keeping upright as the squeeze started to press them closer together.
"Would you shut up and listen to me – shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level. You copy? Shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level!"
"No!" Threepio frantically gestured at Artoo, even as he and Peridot stared, incredulously, at him, "Shut them all down! Hurry!"
Artoo hissed something. It didn't sound pleasant, even though Lapis couldn't understand the exact meaning.
"...What is he... telling us?" She asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer. Peridot looked disgusted, as though it was perfectly obvious.
"He's saying that he can't do that – give me that thing!" She grabbed Threepio's wrist and started screaming into the tiny speaker, "STEVEN! CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
Over the crackling connection, they heard Steven's voice, shaking with terror, "I can hear you, Peridot – we really need your help right now!" And, in another moment, they recognized Pearl's frantic plea for some way out of the mess they were in.
Peridot's face went grave.
"...I can't." Lapis stared at her – Peridot was never one to say that she couldn't do something, "You see... something's interfering with our connection to that control panel. Either the system that runs the mashers is not configured to be remotely discharged, or the remote access is down and we'd need to get in and do a manual override." She scrolled through the screen she'd managed to pull up, finding what looked like just a pattern of lines to Lapis, "...We can't even do that – according to this, something ripped the wires that would connect the main controls to the compactors." Artoo hooted something, still dialing through and bringing up images on the screen – likely from camera feeds – showing the corridors all around that level of the station. Enormous holes with sparks raining from them were evident in each shot – like something had just punched right through them.
"...Then... there's nothing we can do...?" Threepio asked, quietly. Lapis just remained still, staring at the images in shock, while Peridot sat there, doing nothing.
Luke lowered the comlink, as everyone heard Threepio's grim statement. Steven blinked, not even really believing what he'd just heard. Pearl was staring up towards the ceiling.
"...That other Gem you two mentioned – what was she called again?" Leia asked, her voice still firm and calm, and when Steven answered, she pressed, "You said that Sugilite was likely going a different direction – is it likely at all that she'd come back this way, and we'd be able to send some kind of signal to her?"
Steven didn't answer that, and Pearl was only folding her arms over her chest, fingers resting on her face like it was taking all her restraint to not bite her nails. They didn't know how to explain that Sugilite – for as much as Steven thought she was cool, and for all her power – was difficult to predict, and even Garnet and Amethyst sometimes couldn't control her outbursts.
"Miss Pearl." Luke said, snapping Pearl out of her shock for a moment, "Remember when you suggested we just climb out of here – would you be able to jump and drag the rest of the bubble with you, up to the top?"
Both Steven and Pearl turned their gaze to the point at the top of the chamber they'd fallen through in the first place. The other lights in the garbage chute had gone out, leaving only the single red light over the door, and the tiny beam of light pouring in through the hole they'd made in the grate.
On the other hand, Steven hoped, Pearl COULD jump that high... and if she managed to bring the bubble with them...
Pearl took a deep breath, then steadied herself, "I'll try." She agreed. Pearl lowered her stance, launched herself at the top of the bubble...
And was promptly thrown back to the bottom. The walls were pinched so tightly that Steven felt Han, Leia, Luke, and Chewie pressed up against the walls and nearly on top of him. But the bubble wouldn't move.
"Pearl!" Steven cried, even as he saw Pearl's gaze – focused on the disappearing light over head. The light from the emergency bulb illuminated only half of her face, and it was just enough that Steven could see tears bubbling in her eyes. He reached over and buried his face in her stomach, even as he felt the walls press against his back. Her arms rested on his head.
"...Steven..." She choked out, "...Don't worry... it's going to be... okay..." Her voice cracked on the last word. It was taking all of Steven's effort to not cry against her shirt. He felt Luke's back press against his shoulder – Luke was shaking. On their other side, Leia and Han were nearly sandwiched together, blasters in both hands even though they were completely useless against the walls.
This was all his fault – he shouldn't have told the Gems they had to come. He should have told Connie what was wrong so they could have protected themselves, instead of needing someone to save them. He shouldn't have gone down the chute. He should have listened to Ben Kenobi. He should have...
Steven's eyes opened, tears running down his cheeks. He wondered if he was the only one thinking that, down here in the dark.
Lapis slammed her hands down on the console, "Isn't there ANYTHING we can do?" She demanded, nearly reaching over and pulling the screen away from Peridot. Artoo beeped at her, as Threepio made the exact same demand, to much the same result.
Finally, Peridot wiggled away, and gave the screen one last, hard look.
"Artoo – try and find any cameras that show us where the garbage chutes would lead." She snapped, tapping away on her screen, clearly looking for something. Artoo got there first, pulling up a camera view, showing a single doorway with the corridor coordinates and number. Peridot bit her lip, before swallowing hard.
"Peridot?" Lapis asked, only just now seeing the sweat roll down Peridot's forehead. When the little Gem opened her eyes, she was glaring at the image on the screen like it was a personal foe.
"...It's worth a shot." She muttered, before screwing up her face, reaching out her arms, and grunting.
For a moment, it seemed like she was making no difference, at all. Then...
Steven held his breath when he heard a pounding on the wall – but it was different than the other noises he'd heard before. It sounded less like the walls closing in, and more like something buckling away from them. Like he was hearing something hollow being pounded on.
Then, in the dim light, he noticed what had changed – the door to the chute was buckling, like something on their side was pounding with invisible, giant fists.
"...The door!" He muttered.
With a crash, the entire panel of metal came flying off. Bright, white light from the hallway beyond spilled into the chamber. It was just close enough...
"Guys! RUN FOR IT!" Steven yelled, startling everyone back into pressing towards the door. He focused, let the bubble drop, and he ran as fast as he could, just behind Chewbacca, Leia, and Han. He could hear Pearl behind him... the walls seemed to be moving even quicker, as the door was just inches away...
Steven jumped and tumbled onto solid, cold floor, and only looked behind to see the compactor walls close with a sickening crunch, just as Luke's feet cleared the doorway.
Everyone lay still, breathing hard, before Steven started to chuckle. At first, he was breathless from having just sprinted so quickly, and then he felt tears of relief start trickling, fresh. Han recovered first, whooping, and prompting Luke, then Chewie, then Leia and Pearl, to all start laughing and cheering. Steven fell flat on his back, not able to stop, until he heard Luke screaming, incoherent with glee, into the comlink.
Over the comlink, Lapis could hear a cacophony of screaming human voices, whistling through the speaker. Peridot was staring at the screen, which had gone to static after her force to rip the door off had smashed into the camera. Threepio hung his head.
"Oh, listen to them – they're dying, Artoo..." He moaned, "Curse my metal body – I wasn't fast enough, it's all my fault. My poor Master..."
Then Lapis noticed a familiar giggle, "That sounds like Steven laughing." She pointed out. Threepio didn't seem reassured.
"They're likely in hysterics at the concept of their imminent demise..." He lamented, before a much clearer voice came through,
"We're alright!" All of them turned to the comlink, "This is great!" And then the noise devolved back into screaming cackles. Just as Luke's voice faded, Lapis could hear Steven, again.
"Peridot! Peridot – your metal powers WORKED! You saved us – that was AMAZING!" And then, Steven was muffled again, with what sounded like someone rubbing his head, and the comlink dropped again, leaving them with an awkward silence.
"...Peridot." Lapis managed, "...You pulled the door off without even being there."
Peridot was sitting, shock still, on top of the computer console. Her face looked like she'd just been hit, unexpectedly.
"...I didn't actually think that would work..." She muttered. At least Peridot sounded relieved, but it was obvious she was still waiting for the reality to set in. Lapis smiled, then reached over and put a hand on her shoulder,
"He's right – that was amazing." That woke Peridot out of her stupor. She blinked for a moment, cheeks going bright green, before she straightened up and broke into a grin. A look from Threepio, however, and Peridot glanced in Artoo's direction, then slid off the console and putting her hands on her hips.
"Well... obviously, I couldn't have done it without... a little help."
R2 beeped happily, glad to receive recognition.