Helping Them to help Themselves

I do not own Steven Universe nor the Cthulhu mythos that pleasure belongs to Rebeca Sugar and H.P. Lovecraft

"She has been called everything from brave to cowardly, amazing to a tiny twerp, honorable to irresponsible, compassionate to callous. Nine months ago aliens called the Crystal Gems and the being known as Peridot destroyed an ancient experiment that ran amuck at the center of the Earth but not without cost. The Earth was shattered in a series of Earthquakes and tsunamis that rocked the world. And this is where Peridot came into her own. Using her robinoids to rebuild New England in an episode we called the Marble Miracle. After being rescued by her matron and returning to Earth in a Gem spaceship she disappeared. Leaving behind a group of artists and scientists and a lot of questions. In particular, where is Peridot? I'm Nigel Bascomb and tonight we'll exploring the life of Peridot," said the TV screen.

Sour Cream smiled as he watched the program. He ignored the green skinned girl as she went to get a couple of sodas from the fridge. As Peridot went back to hers and Steven's room she looked at the screen.

"Why are you even watching that? You already know more than that guy," said Peridot unbelievably.

"Because it's funny," replied the pale young man.

It was 2 am in the morning when the phone rang at the farmhouse. Pearl raced towards it hoping it wouldn't wake the baby when Amethyst got to the cellphone first.

The purple gem picked her nose as she spoke into the phone, "Yeah, what do ya want? It's 2 am no we don't need to sleep but we are taking care of a baby. No I won't tell you where Peridot is. Why don't you ask someone at the Precious Ark? Oh not good enough. Well I'm sorry, we all can't be green super geniuses. Look Peridot deserves a life of her own, good bye."

Amethyst hung up and turned to Pearl, "That was the Prime Minister of Britain, again."

"Ugh can't these people fix things up on their own? I mean honestly," Pearl wandered off muttering to herself.

When Greg woke up, the remaining two gems resumed repairs of the farmhouse. Though they had been there for over a month the farmhouse was still badly damaged. The roof still leaked and they still had no running water. Before Peridot had left, she made sure the electricity was running but that was it. She and Steven left for Kingsport and a new life.

It was late morning when the car came. Pearl was breastfeeding Malachite when she saw a car turn into the driveway. It was one of those official cars a presidential limousine. Greg and Amethyst scrambled off the roof as the car door opened revealing an older man in a suit.

"Ms. Pearl is it? I'm Mike Buchanan the Vice President of the United States. I'm here to ask for Peridot's assistance in rebuilding the United States. You may not know this but even though New England has been restored, much of the country is still in great turmoil," said the man.

As Pearl looked at the Vice President. Though his suit was expensive it hung loosely on his body. There were bags under his eyes and he appeared to be quite old even though Pearl knew him to be about 50 years old.

"Are not the crew of the Precious Ark helping you? Did not Peridot give you plans for construction robots? Aren't these enough?" replied Pearl.

Little Malachite began to cry. Pearl did her best to comfort the little gem as Greg and Amethyst scrambled down from the roof. The vice president pulled out a laptop.

"Not it isn't, the gem scientists and artists are inexperienced. It took all their efforts to repair the United Nations building in New York in a week. Meanwhile our infrastructure is in shambles and we're looking at a famine this fall. So please tell us the location of Peridot?" pleaded the older man.

"Mr. Vice President you may have not known this but my daughter in law almost killed herself rebuilding New England," said Greg looking embarrassed.

"Yeah and don't you have untouched areas in the Midwest?" said Amethyst. The purple gem was now easily 7 feet tall.

"You have been keeping up with the news. Yes, but the most populous areas are still the coastline and they have been devastated. As you can see from these pictures we're still looking at disease and hunger even after 8 months," said the Vice President.

The picture he painted was grim. Rioting and famine threatened the country. People were still dying and what measures the nation had to deal with disaster were either destroyed or depleted. The gems had seen this before from several representatives of other devastated countries. Pearl shook the old man's hand but politely refused.

"Okay I'll accept this for now but that won't stop the other callers. Please remind Peridot that wherever she is that this affects her too?"

Meanwhile in Kingsport Steven was job hunting when he saw suspicious looking people asking questions. They looked like government agents in their black suits and sunglasses as he looked on Steven could see one of the agents show a photograph of Peridot to an onlooker. Trying not to be noticed he slunk back to the house he rented with Sour Cream.

When he got back home Steven locked the door and pulled down the blinds. Quickly he sped dialed his lover's number.

"Hello Peridot, look they're onto us," said Steven.

He went onto to explain how he saw what looked like government agents in Kingsport. How they had a photograph of her and were looking for any sighting of her. Peridot thanked him and hung up.

On the other side of the line Peridot sat in the mouth of a cave while drones scanned the Kindergarten. Peridot didn't know what country owned them all she knew was their buzzing was annoying. If they caught sight of her the Kindergarten would be finished. Seeing a gap in the drones Peridot raced to the warp pad, warping herself home.

When she stepped off the mini warp pad in her home she gave Steven a quick kiss.

"Steven I need you. There were drones in the kindergarten making me unable to get any work done. I have an idea but I need your help. Can you help me set up a web page?" she asked.

Throughout the afternoon the young couple discussed their problem. Later on in the evening Pearl called them and explained what happened at the farmhouse.

"And to top it all off the farmhouse is still in shambles. Greg had to shoo away a cow from our bedroom. We'd do some more repairs but building supplies are in short supply," complained Pearl.

"I'll talk to Snowflake and see if she can help you," replied Peridot.

Then the green gem made a call to the Gem Matrix embassy located in Beach City where Steven's old beach house is located.

"Greeting Snowflake Obsidian how goes it?" asked Peridot.

"I don't have time for pleasantries. Delegates from all over this planet are pestering me to help them reconstruct their countries. I try to give them what help I can but they keep asking for you," said Snowflake angrily.

"Well I might have a solution to all this. Is the warp pad to New York city still active?"

Snowflake was all ears as listened to Peridot's plan. It was brilliant in its own way. If it worked it would mean no more pestering of delegates, no more explaining of how Homeworld was in quarantine and even the price seemed reasonable. After all Beach City was no diplomatic hub.

Steven and Peridot looked at the computer screen they had created a webpage and several ads on the web. From one corner of the world to another the languages they used varied but the message was the same:

This is Peridot Facet 5

Citizens of the Earth. Help me to help yourselves. I will be conducting a series of experiments on the compatibility of humans to gem technology. If the experiments prove successful I will teach you how to control the robiniods so that you too can repair the world. The first sessions will begin at the Crystal Temple in Beach City, Delaware, USA. May13th at 10:00am till 2pm. And will continue Tuesdays to Fridays10-2. This opportunity is free. Please provide your own meals and accommodations.

Stars appeared in Steven's eyes as he read the ad, "Peridot this is amazing. Oh this is going to help so many people."

"I hope to the Goddess you're right Steven," replied Peridot.

Two weeks later in a purple helicopter Ambassador Snowflake Obsidian landed on the roof of the United Nations building. The scene became even stranger as the helicopter glowed and became a huge purple woman. The diplomats stared as Snowflake with her bodyguard entered the hall of nations and walked up to the podium.

Snowflake began, "My fellow delegates you no doubt have been wondering where Peridot is and what she has been doing in the month since she has disappeared. The answer is simple her job.

Five thousand years ago the Earth was the site of a devastating civil war that severely damaged your planet and left the Gem Matrix reeling. In all wars there are causalities, deaths and with gems it is no different. When the Gem Matrix evacuated the planet Earth we picked what few survivors we could leaving behind thousands more wounded or as we say corrupted. Rose Quartz in one of her few good deeds gathered these corrupted gems keeping your Earth safe from them. She kept them in suspended animation until they were found by Peridot.

My fellow delegates, Peridot is a fully trained medical technician. During the two months she disappeared she was rebuilding a gem medical facility in the hopes of treating these unfortunate gems herself.

You have no doubt all seen the ads that Peridot placed on the internet. The information in them is true. Peridot will be coming to Beach City to teach a course on how to control robiniods. There are however some conditions, you will stop pestering me or any gem on the whereabouts of Peridot nor will you try and coerce Peridot into helping you rebuild. She is the apprentice of our ruler Yellow Diamond and any harm that comes to Peridot will cause great repercussions to your planet. Secondly I will be moving my base of operations to New York, my office in Beach City has been given back to the Crystal Gems who will be living in it. Lastly you will permit trade between our worlds and allow for immigration to occur. This will also facilitate the rebuilding of your world.

Peridot is right now as we speak reconstructing the neighborhood in which I will be residing. I have however observed a disturbing trend which I must share with you all. Not every inhabited region on your planet was damaged nine months ago. While most of the time I observed nations and people banding together to help out, there was a tendency for a few of these unaffected regions to refuse help and hoard their resources. This is unacceptable and greatly slows down the reconstruction effort. Those individuals or regions should be forced to give aid or else many more people will die.

This planet has over 7 billion people inhabiting vast swathes of land. Peridot cannot even hope to serve you all. You may not know it but during the event called the Marble Miracle Peridot almost died. New England is a small relatively sparsely populated region not at all like New York. My advice to you all is to proceed your reconstruction efforts under the assumption that help will not be coming. The gems presently residing on Earth are small in number and not all are trained technicians. We cannot nor should not help all of you."

As Snowflake left the podium the delegates chattered and argued among themselves. Some of the delegates tried intercepting Snowflake but Amethyst was there to block them. With her new bodyguard Snowflake left the United Nations to her new home.

The next week the remaining Crystal Gems stuffed themselves into Greg's van with what few possessions survived their adventures. When they got back to their old home they saw that it had changed greatly. No longer did they have a simple Earth style beach house but a large official looking building.

"This looks fancy, will there be any place for me to sleep or even a kitchen?" asked Greg.

"Don't worry Greg, the Precious Ark Gems have been refurbishing it for us," said Pearl soothingly.

Greg bit back a reply. He didn't feel confident with the ark gems in charge. When they opened the door there stood Steven and Peridot with fixed smiles on their faces. Peridot looked exhausted. Behind the pair the beach house looked - acceptable.

"Surprise we did some last minute adjustments to the beach house," cried Steven.

"I hope you like it. I'm going to lie down now," said Peridot as she lay down on the sofa.

While Peridot slept Steven addressed the gems, "She's really tired. New York took a lot more work than we expected. Then we came here and we had to install toilets among other things. Can we stay here until Peridot's lessons begins?"

The next few days were great. The Crystal Gems explored Beach City observing the changes in the rapidly growing town. Greg also explored the beach house. If he thought Peridot's idea of a home was strange this had nothing on what Snowflake's idea for a home should be. Once the human opened a door and found himself in a roofless chamber with benches and an airbed inside.

Pearl and Peridot also talked shop. The green gem was thinking about releasing a few of her patients and proceeding with treatment. She needed Pearl's help in identifying her patients who was violent, who was a friend or an enemy and who were the healthiest amongst them.

The big day finally arrived. Peridot stepped out of the new beach house. In front of her were a sea of faces. Easily a hundred humans. They were from all walks of life. The young, the old, the rich and the poor. Many of the faces she recognized as being native to Beach City the others were obviously from a different country. Though the faces were varied they all carried the same expression that of hope and determination. Good maybe she can get things done. She cleared her throat.

"Welcome one and all to a series of experiments to determine your compatibility to gem technology. Be warned not every gem can control robiniods let alone humans but if all goes well I will teach you how use and manufacture robionoids to rebuild your home. I will help you to help yourselves. Shall we begin?"