The Hierarch's Proposal
"What do we have here?"
The Amethyst guards threw the smaller Gem to the ground, and she hit the tile with a cry of pain and a sharp intake of air. Holly Blue didn't even look up from her station as she brought up the reports, swiping into the report carelessly. On her shoulder, Aquamarine eyed the Gem on the ground with the same manner that a crocodile, after a meal, might eye the last stray scrap of meat floating past.
Holly pressed a series of commands. Moments later, the summoned Peridot came through the doors behind the guards, saluting her commander.
"Remind me, Peridot…"
"Facet 1Z4A, Cut 6PG, Holly Blue Agate."
The Gem commander let out a sigh of relief, and closed the report. The Aquamarine jumped to the desk as Holly walked around to the cowering prisoner before them.
"Thank goodness, someone competent. Well, we have another defective we'd like you to look at," she said, waving at their captive. "Do your business."
The little Ruby struggled to her knees, the marks of shock batons and general roughness covering her from head to toe. Her three-fingered hand gripped the shoulder that had hit the floor, and on the back of her palm, the oblong gemstone shimmered, asymmetrically septagonal and with a perfectly circular central facet.
The Peridot snorted as she snagged the Ruby by the wrist, jerking her hand up to examine it.
"What happened to this one?" she said. "It's like she was overcooked and undercooked at the same time."
Holly snorted and took her seat once more.
"We don't care what happened. A fluke, a mistake – all the same. Figure out what we can do so we can continue some important work for once."
The engineer nodded and rolled her eyes once the commander had turned. The Ruby looked up at the blank-faced Peridot as her enhancers folded out into a grid, scanning the topography of the gemstone, instant calculations appearing before her eyes. As the sounds of the mechanism whirred in the air, Aquamarine extended her wings and hovered over, watching the process keenly.
In a moment, 1Z4A folded up her enhancers and held the Ruby by the wrist. Smugly, she cleared her throat to get Holly Blue's attention.
"This is just a readjustment process at worst," she said. "Not much that we can do about the fingers, but makeshift enhancers are easy to make nowadays. I recommend 4,000°C, maybe at five hundred meters, and then we'll have a functioning Ruby – well, as functioning as they can get, anyway."
Holly Blue nodded and crossed her legs, stretching her arms out in front of her. The Ruby looked between them, her terrified eyes widening with something akin to hope.
"I think that the Diamonds will be pleased to hear about your progress, Peridot. At least this time wasn't completely wasted. Guards?"
The Amethysts nodded and grabbed the Ruby back. This time, the smaller Gem didn't resist, picking up her feet with renewed vigor. All four turned to leave the chamber, with the directions to the nearest growth chamber already up on their radar. The doors hissed open, and in the silence after, the sound of a throat being cleared filled the air.
The guards and the engineer turned to Aquamarine with apathetic irritation. Holly Blue raised an eyebrow, and the Ruby froze in her guard's bonds.
"If I may," Aquamarine began.
The little blue gem flitted over to Holly Blue's terminal and began typing away. The commander rolled her chair back and let the Gem do as she pleased. At first, Peridot crossed her arms and glowered, but the hologram of the mechanism that popped up in the center of the room made her raise an eyebrow
It was a baton-like cylinder, but flexed into a helix to reveal the central wiring in between, all the particles and necessary components. At the very end, the inflexible figment of a gemstone fragment appeared as the display component. Everything was neatly labeled, and all made sense to the observers.
"We have all the materials save for a sustainable focus source," she continued, extending her wings as she flew straight into the middle of the diagram. "And this defect is the perfect candidate for lapidarial reconstitution."
Holly Blue didn't speak up, but she crossed her legs uncomfortably. The Peridot engineer coughed and gestured towards the Ruby.
"Considering the rarity of defects in their growth chamber, it might be more…prudent to continue the record of well-maintained Gem growth rather than – um, and the liability that comes with manual post-extraction gemcutting isn't well documented. She – "
"It. It is a defect," Aquamarine interrupted. "Had there been the opportunity for it to emerge normally, then we wouldn't all be here today. I feel it remiss to not take advantage of this situation."
"And for what purpose is this technology?" Holly asked.
The tiny blue Gem smiled back at the commander, flitting her wings with hidden excitement. The Ruby stared up in terror, her muted whimpers barely audible. If she could have spoken, if she could have screamed –
"I have it on good authority that there will be eventual missions to organic territories, and while physiostatic properties are somewhat effective on Gemkind, more malleable tissue reacts with far more promising results."
Aquamarine wriggled smugly in midair. "And I have it on better authority that when these missions commence, I will be taking a direct role under the Diamond's special orders."
Holly Blue stood with her hands resisting the urge to ball into fists. The degrees of hierarchical separation between her and this little menace were so small that only the most pedantic distinguishing that made them what they were. But oh, how Aquamarine loved to rub it in. The Diamond's pet, the tourist, the cultural explorer – nobody could deny her taste, just as nobody could deny her insidious nature.
The Ruby opened her mouth as she struggled against the grip of the Amethysts. Both guards exchanged worried glances, turning even more worried as Aquamarine came down to the Ruby, right to her face. The prisoner bit her lip.
"Mute. Deformed. Defective." Aquamarine tittered and ran one icy finger down the Ruby's cheek. "Don't worry – you'll feel every single slice, but you know that you deserve it. Don't you?"
The Peridot reflexively extended her enhancers into a scheduling form at the snap of Aquamarine's fingers. She typed furiously at the noble's orders, trying not to appear too annoyed or too fearful.
"Arrange for the cutting as soon as possible. I wish to oversee this process to my specifications personally," she snapped.
The sound of a drop filled the air, and all the Gems froze. Aquamarine's face darkened as she turned to see the weakened Ruby hanging in the guard's arms. The Amethysts looked away as their tiny captive sobbed silently, tears rolling down her jaw, unable to express any of the words that crossed her mind, any of the pleading, the begging, begging for the mercy she knew wouldn't come.
Aquamarine turned to Holly and raised an eyebrow. She knew exactly what she needed here. Holly typed into her monitor, and a small yellow circle emerged in her desk.
The prototype destabilizer floated up from the circle. Now this design was Aquamarine's proudest, and the Gem gripped her prized invention in both her tiny hands. She could feel the energy of the Peridot who had designed the prototype for her, the same Peridot who was its first test subject. She was a loss, certainly – but she had served her purpose.
The Ruby didn't bother to look up as the electrical surge crackled through the air. Nothing could be worse than what she knew was coming. No reformation was possible after destabilization, and she knew that Aquamarine would be preparing as soon as she could.
She was going to feel everything.
The Amethyst guards let go of the Ruby and let her fall to the ground. The Peridot backed away, glancing towards Holly Blue cautiously. For her part, the commander could only watch. She knew what was coming, or at least she could infer. Aquamarine let a smile creep on her face, as slick as oil as it crept up her cheeks.
"You're going to be something extraordinary," she whispered.
"You're going to be mine."