The legs were silent, the only sound coming from the air being moved out of the way, and even that was brief. Very soon, the pilot came over some kind of crystal intercom, "You are now free to move about." The voice belonged to an individual called "Facet-413 Cabochon-12", Steven's personal pilot. That was, at least how she introduced herself. Steven called her "Centi" and regaled Dexter with the story of how they met.

Steven was from Beach City, Delmarva, a tiny beach town on the complete other side of the country from Townsville, California and Dexlabs. Still Dexter had seen the other boy during surveillance, and of his species, the Gems, Dexter knew one thing, whether it was Providence or the Plumbers telling him, "do not interfere", and he hadn't. It was quite surprising then that the Gems came calling for him, nearly immediately after the battle had ended, and not Steven's friends either, though there were many, and they were an eclectic bunch to be sure. The request had come from the Great Diamond Authority itself, to speak to Dexter about the destruction of Lord Fuse. Dexter was still preparing for the event, pouring over his notecards for any eventuality.

His companion and by many metrics, best friend, was Benjamin Kirby Tennyson, known through the galaxy as "Ben10". He'd been assigned to Dexter shortly before the Fusion War and never looked back. In spirit, they were very unalike, but if one could cut away the rest of the matrix, polish them, and cut away a few imperfections, they were pure diamonds indistinguishable from one another. Video games, action figures, movies, music, all loves the two shared and so too, did their host, Steven Universe.

Steven was the youngest of the Diamond Authority, and the explanation was complicated but effectively, he was his mother, and she was the youngest of Homeworld's rulers. He was largely the reason for Era 3 and the beginning of Homeworld's outreach to "inferior organic lifeforms."

"Wow," said Steven, that's a lot of aliens, and you can turn into any of them? Can I see one? It wasn't that he didn't watch the news, but he wanted to see it himself.

"Well, the Omnitrix," the device which gave Ben his powers, created by Asimuth ,the great thinker, "tends to be a little particular. I just scanned a new alien, so it'll default to that for a while."

"New alien? Oh you mean us, right? Well, why don't we see that?" Steven asked

Ben loved showing off and did so with aplomb. "It's hero time!" he dialed in the new alien on his watch and smashed down the face. Every cell in his body rearranged and what was left was, well, a bit of clay stuck to the Omnitrix. In a matter of sections from the clay emerged a humanoid form, gray and tacky, "Bentonite!" he said.

Dexter barely looked up from his notes to address the change, "Ben, don't be racist."

Steven chortled a bit, "Actually, we own your planet so it's technically assimilation."

It was kind of funny, but also true. Dexter had been briefed on the Diamond Authority several times before this trip, and no one failed to mention that the Gem Homeworld considered Earth a colony. It was important, therefore, to never assert Terran independence, and Dexter's audience with the Diamonds wasn't just a diplomatic visit. He was, essentially, being subpoenaed by the rulers of his planet. At least, he thought, that included Steven and whatever was decided, he'd been assured Steven would have final say.

Dexter put down his notes and reoriented his glasses and sighed, "You know who I wish were here?"

Bentonite, without missing a beat, replied, "Nigel, right?"

Dexter's expression immediately changed from his usual frown into a sulking frown. "I was going to say Magister Tennyson."

"It's okay man, I miss him too."

"Wait," Steven asked, "Who is Nigel?"

Dexter, Steven could tell, clearly didn't want to think about this longer than he had to, but said, "He was the leader of the Kids Next Door. Numbah 1. He was also our friend, and saved both our lives during the Fusion War."

"Oh," Steven said, "I'm sorry for your loss. Um, who is Magister Tennyson?"

"My grandfather," said Bentonite, "He's a Plumber like me, but couldn't go. These ships are so fast he didn't think his body could take it coming out of warp. Our fastest ships would take years to reach another galaxy and this place is a few galaxies away, I hear."

"You'd have to ask my friend Lars, took him months to get back from Homeworld, so he's seen everything. Every time I go, it's just in some windowless ship like this."

A screen appeared in what looked to be an ordinary and empty wall. The face on the other side was an Indian girl, about the same age as Dexter but easily several inches taller, "Hey guys, you wanna get something to eat before we land?"

"Yeah, Connie," said Steven, "I'll be right down. You guys wanna come?"

The omnitrix made a strange sound and Ben returned to his original form. "Oh heck yes. Come on, Dexter, you need to eat too."

Steven approached a wall with a handprint on it. Touching it opened a door, and somehow, that door was an impromptu mess hall. Dexter would have sworn that was the way to the bridge though, but wrote it off as a kind of Gem technology, that was only the tiniest bit ahead of his abilitity.

The pale woman in the blue jacket was setting up place settings. Dexter knew her as Pearl, and she even had one on her forehead. Gems sort of assigned functions to their beings and pearls were the servants of statesmen of a sort, making sure everything was done properly and in the correct order, flawlessly. Pearl herself, however, Steven mentioned, didn't like eating, even though she could, because digesting disgusted her. Whatever the case, she was an expert at food preparation, and had made sure to prepare Dexter's favorite foods, broccoli and liver and onions. She had not prepared Ben's favorite foods, and so his appetite suddenly fell away. He could not, for the life of him, find the stomach for liver. So he filled a plate full of broccoli.

"I hope you enjoy it. Dr. Tartofsky was sure to send your family recipe." Pearl mentioned.

"Yeah, I hope I enjoy it too," thought Steven and Connie, to themselves.