Pearl couldn't help but be amazed when she and the rest of the group followed Liddicoatite to his work station. Several gadgets were strewn about through the whole room, some of which weren't functioning anymore or were just inactive for some time now. Nevertheless, Liddicoatite took pride in every single device he put out, even if it could ever only be useful for the most perilous situations.

"So what exactly is it you want us to see, Liddicoatite?" Pearl asked curiously.

"Like I said, I was working on a few things when you came by," Liddicoatite replied. "One of them will probably come in handy on this expedition, but I'll let you decide. The rest are just gadgets I've been working on extensively every day for the past two weeks to try to keep my mind off my daughter."

"Well... can you tell us what they are?"

"Sure. Just let me get them out first." Liddicoatite eagerly walked over to his storage cabinet and pulled out, among many things, an egg-shaped device, a laser cutter in the shape of a compact, a robotic spider with a camera on top of it, a drone in the shape of a dragonfly, and lastly a tiny robot in the shape of a horseshoe crab that could track down organic life-forms through electrical currents. "Well, there you have it. I need your honest opinion."

Pearl squinted at the gadgets before her. "Hmm... I suppose they could come in handy along the way, but they seem a little, eh, lackluster."

"Well, they are only prototypes." Liddicoatite picked up the egg-shaped device from the pile of gadgets he'd gathered. "Would you like me to show you what this little egg can do?"

Bloodstone vigorously nodded his head. "Something tells me that thing explodes!"

Liddicoatite chuckled slightly. "Well, let's see about that." He pressed a button along the side of the metallic egg and quickly shoved it into the compartment of his desk. A few moments later, a small explosion went off and the desk shuddered slightly from the impact inside. Aside from that, no other damage had been done. "Well, what do you know? It works."

"With all due respect, Liddicoatite," Garnet began. "Grenades probably won't help us against the Sikudzakhalanso Mafumu. In fact, if anything, they'll probably use weapons that will prove to be more powerful than even our own. They do have a Gem-Vapora hybrid in their ranks after all."

Liddicoatite was rather aghast by this. "W-Wait a minute, how do you know they recruited a Gem-Vapora hybrid into their ranks?"

"Garnet has future vision, Liddicoatite," Pearl explained. "She can see every possible future there is."

"Ah..." Liddicoatite took a little bit of time to muse what next to ask. "Well, can she see a future where we get both your children and my daughter back safely?"

"Yes, she can. Rest assured, sir, we'll do everything we can to stop the Sikudzakhalanso Mafumu once and for all."

"Oh, I sure do hope so. Only Amber knows what they're doing to them right now..."

Chalcedony was talking with Lady Phantom Quartz, daughter of a Phantom Quartz and a Neon Vapora, and Priestess Neptunite, one of the priestesses from the Temple of Orthoclase and Hackmanite, over how exactly they could present themselves as better alternatives to a monarchy. As they delved deeper into their discussion, things were getting just a little heated between the three of them.

Lady Phantom Quartz was a Gem-Vapora hybrid whose body looked exactly like two pears stuck together and whose gem was positioned squarely on her sternum. She had a purplish tint to her whole being, down to the hair and eyes, but due to her Vapora ancestry, she also had a tendency of emitting aura that was necessary for her to live so she had to wear a metallic suit to keep herself together.

Priestess Neptunite, on the other hand, was 100% Gem. She had a deep red-brown hue to her that was noticeable in both her hair and her skin, but her eyes were as rusty brown as could be. Her body was rail-thin, thin enough that she could easily slip through tight spots with enough lubrications, and her face was as pointed as a spear, Her gem was on her left cheek.

"Are you mad?!" Neptunite sputtered out. "This is supposed to be a chance for us to show that a government doesn't have to be a monarchy! And you want to present that by shattering two innocent babies?" She abruptly got up and started pacing the room while uttering "No" over and over again.

"Maybe she's right, Chalcedony," Phantom couldn't help but pipe up. "I get that you want to show that monarchies are terrible and all that, but are we sure we want to go about murdering innocent Gems to prove it? Why don't we just torture them into accepting our ideology instead? At least that way, it could help bolster our chances that we might be taken seriously."

"Hmm... you might have a point, but I still think we should go with shattering... just in case," Chalcedony said. "We might need a bit of time before we can publicly do it, though."

Phantom could only roll her eyes. "Shattering won't do anything but ruin our image, though." She got up and started heading for another room. "Maybe Tabby can tell us what she thinks we should do."

"I doubt you'll get anything from her," Neptunite said. "She hasn't spoken a word since we abducted her from her home. No doubt it's because she refuses to be indoctrinated into our rhetoric."

"Well, I can certainly try," Phantom replied. "And so what if she doesn't want to cooperate with us? We could always use her brother against her. Everyone knows who he was and what he did, after all."

Phantom proceeded to trudge down a corridor lined with steel doors which undoubtedly indicated that prisoners were being held captive inside the rooms. They were all practically identical from one another, and Phantom often found herself confused whenever she had to go down this corridor to search out one of their hostages. It took her a bit of luck before Phantom finally stumbled across the room where they were keeping Tabby Quartz and the royal Chalcopyrite children inside.

"Hey, Tabby, it's you-know-who," Phantom beckoned to the older prisoner.

No words escaped from Tabby's mouth. She refused to speak even in Phantom's presence and especially in her presence.

"Tabby, I know you don't feel like talking, but I would like to hear what you think we should do with the twins," Phantom ventured on. "Otherwise, well, I might have to start reminding you that you share your genetic material with one of the most genocidal maniacs in this realm."

Tabby gasped and started begging her not to bring up Zoisite in her presence. Finally, Phantom had managed to get her to drop the silent treatment.