A Trip Into the Black Hole

summary:

A trip with Pink… sounds fun right? I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

'Can you believe it?' Yellow's irritated voice filled the control room as she paced back and forth. 'Even if they are Era 1 citrines, it's simply idiotic.'

'Yellow, it'll be alright.' Blue sat in Yellow's chair, legs crossed. Her arm supported her head, while she watched with amusement.

'How can this be alright?' Yellow threw her hands up in a questioning questure. 'I'll have to reschedule my whole schedule to fix this problem.' She crossed her arms and stared to Blue. 'For stars sake, a Peridot could do it!'

'They are new. Give the overseers some time to teach them.' Blue stood up and walked to Yellow. 'You work too hard, Dear. You're too important. Your time is too precious to waste on some young Critines.' Her calming voice caused Yellow to relax and when Blue wrapped her arms around her, she gratefully returned the gesture.

She sighed. 'You're right, what would I do without you?'

'Foolishness, probably.'

For a moment they stood in silence, letting go of all the work they still had to do. Yellow buried her face in Blue's hair, which was soft and smelled like the fresh waters from her bath's. They enjoyed each other's company as the peace and silence enveloped them.

'Uhm, hello! I've been here for like 15 cycles.'

Of course the peace didn't last long as a high pitched voice suddenly cut through the silence. Yellow tilted her head and looked down at the pink gem beneath her. She stood with her arms crossed, and accusingly stared to Yellow.

'Yellow, you promised we would go on a trip together today!' She said.

Blue turned to pick Pink up. The peaceful moment was gone and reality sunk back in as Yellow remembered her promise.

'Ugh, is it today already?'

'Yeah it is!' Pink said, who now sat in Blue's hands. She pointed at Yellow. 'Don't you dare back down on your promise.'

'Pink is right, Yellow.' Blue said.

'I wasn't planning not to honor it.' Yellow moved her arm to Pink. 'Come, we'll go with my ship, you can sit on my lap while I drive.' With an excited yelp, Pink jumped onto Yellow's arm and climbed up to her shoulder.

'Have fun, you two.' Blue waved them goodbye as they warped to Yellow's ship.

Once inside, Pink took a seat on Yellow's lap.

'Can I steer the ship too?' She asked.

'No.' Yellow responded.

'You never let me steer it.' She pouted.

Yellow started to power up her ship and it flew away, into the galaxy. They passed planets and stars, before Yellow put Pink down.

'Come.' She said.

Yellow led Pink to another room on the top of the ship. It was small and there stoof no appliances like in the others, but what was so special about it, was that the walls were made from glass.

'Wow.' Pink murmured. She watched with disbelief as she saw stars and planets as far as her sight could reach.

Yellow let Pink get used to the view, before walking over to her.

'Do you like it?' She asked.

'I love it!' She responded.

The corners of Yellow's lips turned up, but the smile became a surprised frown when Pink wrapped her arms around her.

'What are you doing?'

'I'm hugging you, silly.' Pink giggled.

'Yes, but why?'

'As a thank you for keeping your promise.'

'Of course.' Yellow patted Pink on the head, which made her giggle, then she pointed at something behind her.

'Do you see that planet?' She said. 'That was the first one I colonized.'

Pink turned and curiously she searched through the galaxy, eventually settling on a brown planet.

'This planet is called Exoplanet 55,' Yellow continued, 'and here I made my first gems.'

'That's awesome! How old were you?'

'Hm.' Yellow put her finger on her lips. 'I think I was around your age.'

'So that means I can get my own planet now!'

Yellow sighed. 'Pink, you can't get your own planet yet. You won't take it seriously.'

'Yes I will!' Pink pouted. She put her hands on her hips. 'You didn't even give me the chance to pilot your ship.'

'Listen,' Yellow rubbed her temples, 'You need to understand that this is not a game. You're a Diamond and you need to act like one.'

Yellow expected to get an angry response, but instead she was met with silence.

'Pink, are you even listening to… me?' Yellow stopped abruptly when she noticed that Pink wasn't here anymore. 'Pink?' She scanned the room, trying to find that one particular Diamond. Where could she be?

Suddenly, the ship took an unexpected turn, causing Yellow to stumble and she crashed into the wall.

Yellow grunted. 'What in the name of Homeworld?'

The ship started to rumble before taking another sharp turn. This time however, Yellow maintained her balance, leaning against the wall.

'Oh no, please tell me she's not…'

Yellow stormed into the control room, where, as expected, Pink was steering the ship.

'Pink what are you doing?' Yellow yelled.

'Proving to you that I can drive this thing!' Pink said, while taking another sharp turn to avoid space rocks.

'No, wait! Watch out! Don't go that way! That's a black hole!' Yellow said, as she sprinted to Pink.

Unfortunately, the warning came too late. The ship was already too close to it. With one last attempt from Yellow to get the ship turning, they were sucked in. Then there was only the darkness and the strong gravity force that stretched their body's out. Immense pain cursed through their bodies and the ship got torn apart. Alarms blared, red appeared on the screens and the ship shook heavily. Yellow had trouble maintaining her balance, while Pink held tightly on the chair, tears streaming down her face.

Yellow stumbled to the control spot. She furiously began typing on the screen, trying to install the emergency button to get the ship to turn and power up, but with no success. There was suddenly a heavy rumbling and Yellow lost her grip. She fell forward almost crushing Pink. Yellow picked her up and put her on her lap. She concentrated and with her mental connection with the ship, Yellow got it to turn. With the ship in the right direction she only needed to get them out of the black hole, which was for most ships impossible. Once you're in, you can't get out. Luckily, this was a Diamond's ship installed with the newest technology. Yellow pressed the black hole accelerator, and the ship began to vibrate. Metal plates surrounded it, giving the ship extra protection.

Once that was done, the pain eased and Yellow could concentrate better. She started to power up the engine, but it still wasn't enough. the gravity pulled them back and was tearing the metal plates of. Yellow grunted, she needed to act fast now. Special current conductors appeared and Yellow put her hands on it. Electricity flowed from her gem and went to the engine. With a lot of shaking and rumbling the ship moved at last.

Yellow felt her sweat streaming down her face as she tried to keep it moving. She was exhausted but had to keep going. They were almost out. Yellow roared as she send another burst of energy through the ship. It flew forward, escaping the grasp of the black hole.

The ship continued barreling forward, keeping a safe distance from the black hole. Yellow collapsed into her chair, panting heavily.

Meanwhile, Pink opened one of her eyes. The alarms had stopped blaring and the ship wasn't shaking anymore. She opened her other and turned to Yellow, who was more or less laying on her chair. Carefully Pink moved from Yellow's leg to her shoulder.

'Yellow?' She asked softly, poking her face. 'Are you ok?'

Yellow groaned and moved her head to escape the poking, but Pink wasn't about to give up.

'Come on Yellow, wake up.' She said more loudly this time. It had effect. Slowly, Yellow woke up and let out a heavy sigh, before going to slumber again. This, Pink did not accept. Losing her patience, she moved close to Yellow's ear.

'YELLOW!' She yelled, while giving her one firm smack on the cheek. Yellow jolted awake and shot forward, almost causing Pink to roll off her shoulder.

Yellow sat up straight and rubbed her head, which felt like it was about to explode and her body screamed in pain from the sudden movement.

'Remind me to never take a trip with you again.' She groaned. This made Pink look down.

'I'm sorry. I didn't know it was a black hole.' She said.

Yellow sighed. 'You've got a lot to learn. This is why you can't have a planet on your own. You're too impulsive, too childish, and too young.'

Yellow's harsh tone made Pink shrink even further.

'And then the fact that you almost got us killed! What were you thinking?'

'I was just.. just…' Pink bit on her lip.

'Speak up, I can't hear you.'

'I just wanted to prove to you that I'm not a child anymore! I can drive a ship if you only let me!' Pink bursted out.

Yellow slammed her fist on the armchair.

'How dare you speak to me like that!' She growled. Furiously, she stood up, but immediately regretted it as her body heavily protested. She fell back on her chair, clutching her pounding head. An awkward silence fell. Yellow took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down, while Pink awkwardly stood there. Eventually, she broke the silence.

'I'm really sorry.'

Yellow mumbled something, Pink couldn't quite understand.

'Look,' she sighed, 'what you did was reckless and unforgivable, but I suppose you got a point.'

Pink tilted her head, hope grew inside her chest. 'You're a Diamond,' Yellow continued, 'and I think it's time to properly teach how to behave like one. Including how to fly a ship… and how to avoid black holes.'

'Really?'

Yellow nodded.

'Thank you!' She wanted to threw her arms around Yellow, but Yellow stopped her mid-way.

'First rule of behaving like a Diamond: they don't give hugs.'

'Oh, right.' While blushing, she stepped backwards, but then realized something. 'Wait a minute, you and Blue hugged when I walked in.'

This time it was Yellow's turn to blush. 'T-that's different.'

'Why?'

'Well… it just is!' Yellow sputtered.

'Well that's not fair!' Pink pouted.

'Ugh, do you want a hug that badly?'

Pink nodded.

'Fine, as long as you promise not to get us into situation that can get us killed.'

'Promise!' Seconds after she said that, she wrapped her arms around Yellow's neck, who eventually returned the hug.

'Let's go home before the ships runs out of energy.' Yellow warned as she started to power up the engine. With a lot of rumbling and creaking, the ship started to move and brought them back to Homeworld.

Once they landed, Blue hurried to them.

'Oh my stars! What happened to your ship? Why is it so damaged?'

'Let's say that it was an adventure I haven't had in a long time.' Yellow said, while patting Pink on the head. She giggled as they walked past Blue, who stood there questioning what happened.