Chapter 1: Meteor Shower
Steven and Connie set up the telescope by the lighthouse in hopes of looking at the meteor shower tonight. It's only slightly windy, but Connie is as cold as can be. She wears a thick jacket and boots. Her glasses are in her inside coat pocket. The two lay out a blanket and snacks they brought. The moon is shining brighter than it ever has; it almost looks like you can reach up and touch it.
"This is going to be great!" Connie exclaims, looking through the telescope. "Haley's Comet is supposed to pass by here with the meteor shower! This is like a once in a lifetime opportunity!"
"What's Haley's Comet?" Steven asks. He's sitting on the blanket, looking up at the moon, eating a moon pie.
"It's a comet that comes around the planet every seventy-five years, Steven" she explains. "Oh my god, this is going to be so awesome!"
"That's cool," Steven replies. "But do you wanna know what's cooler?"
"What?" Connie looks up from the telescope with curiosity.
"This!" Steven rummages through his pants pocket and takes out a flat, circular object that has the pattern of what looks to be the solar system drawn on it, with a metal disc in the center representing the sun. "Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl found this on their last mission. They said you can see all of space with it." Steven closes an eye and looks through it with the other. He giggles.
"Really? Let me see!" Steven hands Connie the thing. She looks through it and gasps. "Steven—this is incredible!" The silver disc acts like a mirror: when you look closely through it, you can see the galaxy. Connie can see the moon as if she were on it herself, the sun, the Earth, Mars, and all the rest. A comet flies pass her range of sight. Then another, and another. Connie slowly lowers the object from her face. The sky is alight with the passing comets shooting by. It's a beautiful sight.
"Look!" Steven points to a large comet passing through the shower. "Is that Haley's Comet?" It turns and starts getting closer.
Connie's eyes widen with frightened astonishment. "No… Steven get down!" The two duck and cover as the large comet flies over them and lands on the beach in a fiery explosion. The rumble of the impact attracted the Gems who come running out of the temple. Pearl is crying out for Steven in the distance.
Steven and Connie stand, looking in the direction where the meteor had landed. The air has gotten slightly warmer around them. As the dust clears on the beach, the comet sits in a crater of hot, newly formed glass. Unlike most space rocks, which are just that, rocks, this particular one is made of lustrous, rainbow colored crystals, though the moonlight doesn't give off its full and colorful vivacity.
There's a person trapped inside.
Steven and Connie run down the hill to the beach, completely ignoring the meteor shower overhead. The fallen meteor has attracted their attention. At the sight of the meteor crash, they are greeted with the presence of the Crystal Gems. Pearl snatches Steven up immediately, hugging him tightly and crying, "Steven! Are you hurt!"
"No…I'm fine, Pearl," Steven gasps. "Can you…put me down please. It's really…hard to…breathe."
"Oh, sorry," Pearl says, putting the boy down, dusting his shoulders off, fixing his hair, his jacket, his pants, everything.
"There's a Gem in there," Garnet says, hands on hips. She fixes her shades with a scowl playing across her face.
"What, you mean like Lapis?!" Connie exclaims. "Is this one going to take the ocean again?!"
"Yeah, probably!" Amethyst shouts. She's been jumping on the meteor, trying to crack it.
"No, Connie," Pearl says, "we all have different abilities. For instance, I can manipulate sand, and Garnet can manipulate electricity. Lapis's control over water is probably something unique to her." Connie says nothing. She just looks at Pearl with stargazed amazement.
Garnet clears her throat. "As I was saying, we shouldn't do anything to the meteor. But we should move it to the Temple. It's too big to bubble."
"Yes, I agree," Pearl says. Pearl looks at the sky, wondering why the meteor came here. Could it have come for them? Or could it just have been chance? "Steven, why don't you take Connie home? Amethyst stop jumping on the meteor! We don't know what might happen!"
"What? I wanna stay!" Connie says.
"No," says Garnet forcefully. "This may become too dangerous for humans." Connie sighs.
"It's okay, Connie," Steven says, "we can hang out another time."
"Okay," Connie says, walking away with Steven with a low head.
Steven comes back later with a sad look on his face from having to say goodbye to Connie. He finds the meteor surrounded with police tape. "Guys," he calls, ducking under the police tape, "I don't think this is going to work."
Pearl looks at Steven walking towards she and the Gems with a confused look. "What do you mean, Steven? The police tape?" Pearl chuckles. "Sure it will. I told you last time that once the humans see the police, they'll know to turn back."
"Actually…when we put the police tape up where my mom's moss grew, Lars and his friends tore the police tape we put up and almost got eaten by the moss."
Pearl throws the tape to Garnet. "Hmm, well I'm sure they won't do that here. This meteor is dangerous, and I'm sure the humans will understand this."
Steven looks past Pearl at the rainbow colored meteor. "I'm not sure they will," he mutters. He shoves his hands in his pockets and walks up the hill to the temple. "I'm going to sleep, guys." The Gems don't hear him. Pearl's screaming at Amethyst to get down from the meteor. Steven walks up the hill to the Temple, still wanting to hang out with Connie a little more.