The Homeworld Diaries
Chapter One:
Kyanite, Entry 1
The blue Gem woke up in a tent next to another Gem, which was reddish-pink. Getting out of the device, he greeted her.
"Morning, Kyanite," she said.
"Good 'morning,' Rubellite." He went outside, blinded by the light of the morning sun. It stained the sky pink and orange, the reflections dancing in the ocean below. Among the green grass were purple flowers, still blooming. Picking one, he took off one of his gloves, placing the stem between his ring finger and middle finger, admiring its beauty.
Several more tents dotted the hillside, and even more Gems were down by the shore. He went down, greeting them, his gem, which was on his neck, glowing each time, responding to theirs.
Rubellite followed him, walking toward the ocean. "Rose is still looking for Lazuli, isn't she?"
"No doubt."
He walked into a small house, carved into the hill. Calling for the Pearl, he sat on a cushion, putting his glove back on and slightly leaning on the low table.
The Pearl peeked out of an alcove. "Yes, Kyanite?" She walked out of it, holdng a blue-white bubble which held a corrupt Gem.
"Hey. Is Rose still looking for T12?"
"T12" was a code name for another Gem. It consisted of a "T," which stood for "target," and a number, which indicated what number the target was in a line of hundreds more.
In this case, "T12" was Lapis Lazuli, a blue Gem that was known for her wings, power to manipulate water, and the fact that she was aggressive at random times.
"Yes, she is. Why?" She asked.
"I need to ask her something. I'll just wait for her."
"Are you sure? It'll be a few more Earth rotations before she returns. I could make tea, if you want."
He put his hands in front of him, making a gesture. "No, no, it's okay. I'll wait it out. Any missions from the Wailing Stone?"
"Let me check." She guided him into the alcove. There, they had a system set up. At the heart of it was a Wailing Stone. Plugs were stuck into the patterns that this particular one had. Many of them ran into power sources, while some were left unplugged.
Pearl pressed one of the buttons on the ring at the top. A holographic screen flashed to life behind the Wailing Stone.
On it was a web – at the center of the web was the first mission they took on. From there, that Gem's acquaintances would have a mission, and those would have more friends that would have more missions. It would go on for quite a bit, expanding the web. There was always something to do.
"Hm..." He approached, taking a stylus from a small cannister on his belt. He tapped on the gem, a rectangular-faceted purple and gray gemstone. Once tapped, a picture of the Gem in need appeared in a bubble on the far-left. Her name appeared next to it and a description of the mission on the center of the screen.
A pop-up saying "Confirm?" in bold appeared on top of it. Tapping it, he sighed. "Okay. Hopefully I can take on some more jobs in the next couple of rotations. But now, I need to help T-tur... you know what, I'm not going to try to pronounce that."
Pearl let out a short genuine laugh. "Good luck on your mission."
"Thanks. Have a good one!" With that, he walked onto the Warp Pad, teleporting away in a beam of light.