Spiderweb
Chapter Two
Note: So news! My health, which regular readers of my stories know is in a constant state of tanking and recovering, is tanking again, which means I'm going to be housebound for a while and that means I get to update more often. Every cloud silver lining etc.
I have not seen the latest episodes though, and as always this is going to spiral away from canon in a big way.
…..
"I have half a quadrant and then I need to be crosstown," Orthoclase said, walking out from behind the surgery curtain.
Her pearl handed her a chemical wipe and she draped herself across the low couch across from Slim. The pearl perched neatly on the end.
"This won't take long," Slim assured her. "I just need to pick your brain about something."
"Let me guess...some gem boosted some pearls and some other gem got shattered in the process?" Orthoclase drawled. "I haven't heard of any new merch on the black market..."
"No. A gem lost her life but her pearl was untouched."
Orthoclase's eyebrows shot up. Even the pearl looked a little stunned, if that was possible.
"It happened in bright midcycle, in the quad by the Silverdene. Lots of witnesses who didn't see anything. Whatever it was, it attacked from the circulation mesh without damaging it. Pretty strange stuff."
"I'd agree," Orthoclase hummed. "But what do you think I know about it?"
"The victim's pearl," Slim continued. "At first I thought it was injured in the attack. It was missing some fingers. And I got the feeling it wasn't telling me the truth."
"Pearls can't lie," Orthoclase said.
"I didn't say it lied," Slim retorted. "I just think it was keeping some information from me. It knew more than it was letting on."
Orthoclase sighed, rubbed her temple.
"So what do you want me to do about it? There's no programming or procedure in the galaxy that could get a pearl to disclose something it's ordered not to...their privacy intra-programming is too broad. The only way around it is to just learn to ask the right questions."
"I'm done questioning it. I just want to know about the missing fingers. The pearl said its owner did it," said Slim. "Why would she do that to her pearl?"
Orthoclase sighed again, and made some vague gesture to her pearl. The pearl rose and retrieved something from a nearby shelf.
"It happens a lot more than you might think," she began, holding out the object for Slim to look over. "You can get these on the black market easier than a barrel of filler."
"Alum shears?" Slim queried. She'd seen them in the course of work before...
"Modified," Orthoclase explained. "There's a different charge current loaded into the barrel, it reacts with the pearl's spike. Normally, if you cut off parts of a gem's body they'll retreat into their gems and the body part will reform, right?"
"Obviously," Slim drawled.
"The charge from this makes the alteration permanent. It only works on pearls, and it can only be reversed by an underground remodeler."
Slim's brow gently furrowed as she stared down at the shears. Why would anyone intentionally damage their own pearl?
"It's an acquired taste," Orthoclase said, knowing exactly what she was thinking. "Most gems who buy these things try it once then bring their pearl in for repairs and never do it again. There's a few sick pebbles out there though, it becomes a habit."
"I don't get the appeal," Slim mused, gingerly picking up the shears.
"Hey, Ginger," Orthoclase called to her pearl, who slid across the couch to her side in response. "Let's say I put one of your fingers in this contraption. How would you react?"
"Crying and screaming," the pearl answered, deadpan.
That was curious. Slim hadn't been around many pearls, but from the little she did know she gathered they didn't show emotion of any kind as a rule.
"And why?" Orthoclase prodded.
"I'd assume if you were going to cut my fingers off outside of surgery, you'd want me to cry and scream," the pearl responded.
"So...there are gems deliberately destroying their pearls but want them to react badly to it? Isn't that kind of going against a pearl's nature?"
"Pearls do what they're told to do," Orthoclase shrugged. "If I told Ginger I wanted her not to make a sound while I cut her fingers off, she wouldn't. But it doesn't really start there...what kind of gem was shattered?"
"An Emerald."
"Zoatox war veteran, am I right?"
"Yes, as it happens."
"And have you ever known an Emerald to keep only a pearl for company? Especially a wealthy war vet? Look up her last few hangers-on, I bet you'll find plenty of gems that wanted her gone."
"That's incredibly helpful," Slim said sincerely, although internally she squirmed at the idea of having to go talk to any other gems. "Thanks."
"No problem. But before you go..."
Orthoclase rose and grabbed a sack, rummaging around in it before finding what she was looking for.
"Consider this a gift," she said, handing the object over.
A pearl.
"No thanks," Slim retorted, trying to hand it back.
"I mean it, just take it," Orthoclase insisted. "It might come in handy for your investigation."
"Hm...and where did you get it?"
"It's untraceable, if that's what you're worried about. Just keep it away from checkpoints."
"No, I think I should leave it here..."
"Please."
The sudden sharpness in Orthoclase's tone stopped Slim in her tracks.
She knows something.
But trying to get information Orthoclase didn't want to give would take orbits that Slim didn't have the patience for.
"All right," she mumbled, taking the pearl. "My apartment is small, you know that?"
"Pearls aren't picky. And you're a decent sort for a slag-picker."
As she walked Slim to the door, Orthoclase called back for her pearl (Ginger) to start packing for their next job.
"You named your pearl?" she asked with a low chuckle.
"I see a few hundred pearls every orbit," Orthoclase explained. "Had to tell her apart somehow."
"Okay, but ginger? What in Core's name is a ginger?"
"No idea," Orthoclase shrugged, pushing Slim out into the street. "By the way, yours is named Lavender."
…..
Slim had originally met Orthoclase on one of the rare occasions she had gotten caught with stolen property. Unlike most Amethysts, Slim had a grudging respect for Homeworld's seedy underground characters, and that respect was mirrored back at her. She often managed to get information out of gems that had withstood imprisonment, bribery and threats of shattering merely because of this mutual respect.
Orthoclase was let go in return for hinting, indirectly, that a group of Rubies had been responsible for hijacking a lost-and-found station and attempting to pass off the stolen pearls as the newest series on the market to make some hefty cash. She never officially gave anything away, but Slim knew how to connect the dots and they found the culprits within a few cycles. Without Orthoclase, it might have taken orbits.
Since then, Slim had made a habit of pretending not to know what Orthoclase was doing, dropping by her workshops every now and then for a 'friendly chat.' If she happened to get some gossip about some other gem doing something illegal, then that was a pleasant surprise.
It struck Slim as grim but funny that the criminals she associated with in the course of her work got along better with her than her so-called squad-mates. Still, those same squad-mates often did things on the job that were considerably worse than the criminals (in her opinion, anyway.) So perhaps it wasn't so strange.
…..
The Larimar had a weak, wavering voice when she answered the holo-com, and when Slim was ushered in she took notice of how she trembled at the slightest noise.
"I assume I'm not the first Amethyst that's stopped by here?" she began.
"Actually, you are," Larimar replied with a shrill bark of laughter. "They called my holo-cast to tell me. Half a quadrant ago. After nearly three hundred orbits, all I get is a holo-cast. Sums up our entire relationship, really. I always figured she'd get herself in trouble some time, but shattered? She still manages to surprise me...I mean, she did surprise me, I mean...she used to, sometimes..."
Slim slowly held up a hand to slow down Larimar's babbling. She was on the edge of hysteria, Slim could always tell when an interview was about to go south.
"I'm sorry you weren't told in a more empathetic manner, my colleagues aren't known for their sensitivity..."
Larimar snorted, and smiled weakly.
"...but I'm here to try and find out who's responsible for it, and I think you can help me. Could you tell me about your relationship with Emerald?"
Larimar sighed deeply, took a bracing sip of her compound mix, and began.
"We met when she came back from the zoatox war...she was with a Carnelian back then, but she used to stop by the store I worked in all the time. She was so charming, and funny...she invited me to all these parties but I never had time to go...And then one cycle she marches in and tells my supervisor I'm quitting and moves me into her apartment, and I'm like, what about Carnelian..."
Slim listened intently to Larimar's long rambling musings on the relationship, trying to pull out little details about Emerald that might have been important.
Outwardly charming but callous. Domineering. Played mind games with her partners.
"...it was pretty great, she took me everywhere with her, even though Carnelian was still singing at the Silverdene and it was awkward...and she bought me anything I could have wanted, she was so good to me..."
Deliberately flaunting new partner in front of old partner. Buys affection from gems.
"We had our problems, sure, but what couple doesn't? It wasn't anything really that bad..."
At this point, Larimar stopped. Slim knew she wanted to say something but was holding back. It seemed like she had been trying to convince herself more than Slim that it had been a good relationship with a pleasant gem.
"Did Emerald ever hurt you in any way? Physically, I mean," Slim asked bluntly.
"No, of course not!" Larimar gasped. "Why would she? I did everything she wanted me to..."
She trailed off. Slim simply stared at her, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"...well, okay, there were a few things that happened..."
Here we go.
"...but it's not a big deal, okay? She was a commander in the zoatox war, for Core's sake, she saw some really messed up things. She kept it all bottled up, so it was bound to come out in some way, right?"
Slim said nothing.
"It happened mostly when we were...you know, intimate. She grabbed me a little too hard, you know how it goes when you get carried away with something..." Larimar continued. "And a few times she'd be teasing me, just joking, right? And she'd go a little bit too far, but she was so big, she didn't really know her own strength."
"She was ex-military," Slim suggested. "I'd say she knew exactly how strong she was."
Larimar mumbled to herself uncomfortably, grasped the material of her shimmering blue-and-white gown.
"Okay, there were a few times when it seemed like she was getting a kick out of it," she finally admitted. "She said I was beautiful when I'm crying...I thought it was a joke, you know? She stopped when I said I was going to leave. And she never, like, made me retreat into my gem or anything..."
"Did you leave her?" Slim asked.
Larimar laughed bitterly.
"No, I didn't have to. I got her a pearl for her hatchcycle. She spent all her time with it. I don't even think she noticed when I packed my bags."
…...
Slim was on her way back to her apartment when her holo-cast rang. She let it ring three times and then read the message that came up.
We've got another one. Upper west quadrant, building G5, apartment 10G.
Answer your Core-blasted cast!
She made her way there leisurely, stopping for a sulphide package along the way. By the time she arrived at the apartment, the supervising Amethyst looked ready to shatter her.
"No sign of forced entry, same kind of attack as the last one. Get on with it so we can get out of here, okay?" she growled.
Slim nodded, and then took her instruments out of her bag and slowly tinkered with them, pretending to adjust them. The supervisor had no idea what they were even for.
The blood spatters across the floor leading to the remains of the victim indicated that the attack had once again come from above, but when Slim looked up all she saw was smooth marbled ceiling. There was a vent that lead to the main air circulation system, but it was on the other side of the room.
As was the victim's pearl.
Ignoring the victim entirely, Slim approached the pearl as all the other Amethysts started gathering up their evidence to leave.
I just have to ask the right questions.
The pearl smiled faintly as Slim sat next to it.
"I don't suppose you saw anything?" Slim began.
"I did not," the pearl replied.
"Was there anyone else in this apartment besides you and your owner?"
"No," the pearl answered.
"Even during the attack?"
"No. There was no-one."
"Did your owner have any enemies?" Slim asked, switching the subject.
"I wouldn't know, she did not talk to me and she did not bring me outside."
Great. Even if I do ask the right questions, this pearl has no information.
"I am sorry I cannot be more helpful," the pearl said quietly.
"That's okay, it's not your fault," Slim assured it.
The pearl moved her hand a little to the side, and in this small movement Slim caught a flash of discoloration on her arm. A long, deep furrow had been dug into the pearl's skin. Slim gingerly took hold of the arm to inspect it.
"Did your owner do this?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because she enjoyed it."
Even though pearls weren't real gems and couldn't really be hurt by such things, Slim felt bad for it.
"She used one of those black market alum shears?" she asked.
"To make the cuts, yes. She also used hydrochloric acid to make them stay."
"How many do you have?"
"Sixteen."
Sure enough, when the pearl pulled up the hem of its skirt at Slim's request, its legs were covered with similar furrows. Slim barely suppressed a wince.
…..
When she finally arrived back at her apartment, Slim had forgotten all about the pearl Orthoclase had given her, so when it regenerated while Slim was stacking up her evidence folders it scared her nearly into her gem.
"Don't do that," she gasped in the newly reformed pearl's direction, clutching her chest.
The pearl blinked slowly at her, standing in the middle of the room with a stillness that had always struck Slim as eerie.
"Okay," she began, gesturing to the pearl to sit down on the edge of the rest pod. "Look, Orthoclase insisted that I take you, I've never had a pearl before so I have no idea what to do with you. Any suggestions?"
The pearl said nothing, just stared at her.
"Great," Slim grumbled. "Why in Core's name did she want me to take you so bad, anyway?"
It was meant to be a rhetorical question.
"She intends for me to protect you," the pearl answered.
"Protect me?" Slim barked out a laugh.
The pearl was a head taller than Slim, but less than a third of the width of her. Its skin was white with a purple tinge to it and it had long curls the colour of the night sky. The dress it was wearing had three layers of stiff ruffles and loose fluttering sleeves. Even for pearls, it was the definition of dainty. What could it possibly protect Slim from?
"She said your name is Lavender," Slim said, wiping the tears of mirth from her eyes. "What in Core's name is a lavender?"
"I don't know."
"Then who gave you the name?"
"A visiting quartz. He knew what it was, but he forgot to tell me."
He? What's a he?
"Right, okay," Slim mumbled, rolling her eyes. "I'll find some use for you. Since you're here to protect me, how about you keep guard while I work?"
The pearl complied, and after a little while Slim forgot it was even there. When she did turn around, she half-thought the pearl was shirking as it had its back turned to her and was about to scold it. But then she noticed what it was looking at.
The air vent.
That's interesting.