S2-17
The Message

While William was showing Vilo and Blith around Beach City, a call came through. "Emerald William, I am detecting a disturbance in the Crystal Temple. Recommend investigation." "We'll have to continue this tour another time."

They headed to the Temple and opened the door, only to have their ears blasted by some GOD-AWFUL SCREECHING!
Garnet was holding a Wailing Stone, the source of the noise! Steven was there too, but he wasn't fairing well with... that. "WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON HERE?!" William could barely hear himself over the noise.
"IT'S THE WAILING STONE!" Pearl answered, experiencing the same problem. "MAKE IT STOP!" Amethyst pleaded. "IT JUST ACTIVATED ON ITS OWN!" "IT WON'T SHUT UP!"
With that, William grabbed a couch cushion and stuffed it through the Wailing Stone's reverberating hole, nearly silencing the thing.

"My ears hurt now." Vilo groaned.
"Did you say something? Did... Did I say something?" The Wailing Stone made Blith go deaf!
William grasped his ears, covering them up as his eardrums regenerated.

"This doesn't make any sense. Ever since we found it, the Wailing Stone has laid dormant." Garnet stated. "Well, I haven't heard a Wailing Stone activate since they were used for the rebellion. On top of that, I've NEVER heard it give off THAT sound." Pearl added. "Somebody is certainly trying to send us a message, but we've rounded up every Wailing Stone on Earth, and we couldn't be sending this signal to ourselves. If it's not from Earth, then it must be coming from outer space."
"Do some Gems sound like that?" Steven wondered. "Not even the Emerald language could sound like that total catastrophic earsore. The signal is most likely too advanced for the Wailing Stone, which would explain the audio distortion." William stated, his hearing having been restored.
"Audio? My dad knows audio." "Well, Greg is pretty good with all that audio stuff. It's a logical choice." Morlax stated.

Outside, the Gems asked for Greg's help with the Wailing Stone's distorted message. "Mr Universe, we require your... assistance in decoding the signal being picked up by this Wailing Stone." William stated. "You need help with sound stuff? Well, you've come to the right retired rock star. Ahh, here it is! The Lubitz Cardioid Condenser 680! It's got warm tones without too much top-end" He pulled out a big honking microphone from the back of his van, and it was glowing.
"Also, it has a big, honking sponge thing." Amethyst pointed out. "I know! Awesome, isn't it?" "If you're into stuff that's big for the sake of being big, then sure. 'Awesome'." William replied.

Greg pulled the cushion out of the Wailing Stone, unleashing the ear-shattering screech for a few seconds before stuffing the spongy microphone in the hole. "Oww...! Freakin ears!" William groaned.
"Where's Morlax?" Pearl wondered. "He's performing a routine statistics check on the Path-forger."

"Alright, I'll add some reverb and some low octave effects, and maybe some fuzz, because why not. So if I directly input the Wailing Stone and put it through a flanger, I'm sure we'll get what you need." Greg explained. "Flangers aside, I'm not sure a signal like this is compatible with your analog devices." Pearl didn't believe that Greg could do this.
"Pearl may not trust your experience, but I do, Greg." William stated. "OK. Here goes nothing."
With the press of a button, the auditory nightmare returned, but much more intense. In response, William formed a pair of green gauntlets and slammed them against his ears, while Amethyst was screaming like a donkey past the brink of insanity.

"OH DEAR LORD! I am so sorry!" With that, Greg went back to the console and altered a few of the audio settings, lowering the intensity until it was nice and quiet.
Garnet tapped William's shoulder, letting him know that it was safe to unblock his ears.
"Is that... music?" Steven wondered. "Yeah, and it may sound nice, but this isn't what we're looking for." Gradually, the sound started to turn into a more vocal state. "OK, here we go!" Greg exclaimed. "It's... a voice." Steven noted. "Almost there...!"

Suddenly, the noise stopped. "What's happening?! Where's the signal?!" Pearl demanded. "I don't know. It just... cut off." Greg said, confused.
Garnet removed the microphone from the Wailing Stone, but it wasn't letting out a noise anymore.

It was then that one of the Freedom Shield's Scout Drones arrived, followed by Morlax. "Crystal Gems, an urgent transmission is being broadcast through an Emerald communication channel." "I thought all the other Emeralds were shattered!" William was surprised. "The sender is not an Emerald. Greg Universe, may I connect to your monitor?" "Yeah, go ahead."
A wireless jack popped out of the Scout Drone's left forearm, which Morlax took and plugged into the TV in Greg's van.

On the TV, a familiar blue Gem was shown. "Steven! William!" It was Lapis Lazuli! "Lapis?" Steven was worried.
"I just remembered I had this Emerald communicator, and I hope you're able to hear this! A Gem is looking for Steven, and she knew his name somehow! I didn't even bring him up! What's worse is that she's on her way to Earth, and she is NOT alone! Homeworld is not the way it once was! Everything here is too advanced! I can't understand anything here! Nothing on Earth could stand up to it! Don't put up a fight! It'll only lead to devastation!" With that, the feed cut out.

"That's not good." Pearl shuddered. "What Lapis doesn't know is that the Freedom Shield is fully operational, and there's more of us on Earth. I'd say payback time is closer than we think." "The protection of Earth shall be put to its first test."

William gave Lapis that communicator just before she left Earth, remember?

They... are... coming...

See you next time.