It was afternoon, a pretty sunny day.
But it didn't feel like a sunny day.
The group had stopped about 3 miles from Beach City and camped nearby a junk-yard.
Speaking of junk-yard, they were inside the junk-yard.
Pearl was frantically searching through the metallic pile, speaking to herself and every now and then throwing a piece of metal to a specific pile.
Steven and Greg sat in some old armchairs, watching her search through.
Even Amethyst looked down, barely touching the junk around her.
Steven noticed the tension. Nobody had shared a word in hours.
And Steven was feeling heavy from the situation. "Okay! If nobody's gonna say it, fine, I'll do it!" He began, raising his voice. The others turned around. "Garnet's not here. We all miss her. None of us can function without her!"
"But we don't know where she is! And we don't have the access to the temple anymore!" Pearl replied helplessly.
"Then why are you looking for junk?!" Amethyst shouted.
"Because I don't know what to do!" Pearl shouted. "I don't know what to do! I'm just a pearl!" She shouted angrily, drying away a quick tear. "I'm just a pearl! I'm useless on my own! I need someone to tell me what to do!" She shouted. "Why aren't you looking for junk?!"
"Because I miss G! Okay?!" Amethyst blurted out.
"Hey, hey, guys. Let's calm down." Greg stood up and tried to calm the situation. "We all miss Garnet. That's a fact. But we need to keep it together."
"Keep it together?" Pearl began laughing. "That remind me of another thing! What if Garnet's not 'Garnet' anymore, hm? What if she is separated?!"
"No, I don't think so." Steven shook his head. "Jasper said something about some Morganite wanted a fusion to some... collection." He thought out loud.
"The morga-whu?" Amethyst asked.
"That's not something I recall." Pearl hummed in thought. "Must be new." She thought.
"Is there some place that can help us? Huh? Think, somewhere that has a clue of where they could have taken her." Steven told them.
"Well, there is one place. But it's impossible to get there without a ship." Pearl explained.
"What place is it?" Amethyst asked.
"Well, it's a place where we could track the coordinates of the ship. But it's on..." Pearl looked up, covering the top of her forehead to see through the light.
The trio looked up as well and saw the small silhouette of the moon in the daylight.
Steven gasped. "The moon!"
"Yes, Steven the moon." Pearl crossed her arms.
"Yeah, great. We got a plan." Amethyst muttered. "Then how do we get there?"
"The closest space station is in Florida." Steven shrugged.
"P, is there a warp pad nearby?" Amethyst asked the tall gem.
"I think so. At least not that far away." Pearl thought loudly and put a hand to her chin.
"Wait, are you serious about this?" Greg cut in confused.
"Then let's do it!" Steven exclaimed, clenching his fist. "Let's steal a space-ship!"
The next thing they knew they were inside the space station, hiding like spies from the people around.
They could see the ship, and the astronauts had not arrived yet.
Pearl was first to to the entrance, waving the other two to hurry over.
Steven and Amethyst rushed inside before Pearl shut the door.
They hurried to the control-room and Pearl was quick to the control seat, pushing all the buttons on the control-bridge.
"Uh, P. Have you ever controlled a ship like this?" Amethyst asked her.
"No. But it can't be harder than driving a car." Pearl hummed as she pressed one specific button.
"Launch in 10...9..."
It was now everyone else on the lower floor noticed their ship had been occupied and started panic.
"Earth to 11-P9! Have you completely lost your m-." Pearl shut the radio off.
Amethyst and Steven sat down in one of the seats and put on their seatbelts.
"3...2...1."
"Hold on!" Pearl shouted.
And the ship launched.
Steven looked completely terrified, Pearl looked concentrated and Amethyst-
"Whooo-hoooo!" Waved her arms in the air like she rode a roller-coaster.
The ship soon exit the earth's atmosphere and calmed down in speed.
Pearl pressed a button with a smile.
"Anti-gravity un-locked." A voice spoke
Steven and Amethyst let un-buckled their belts and started to slowly soar in the air, both grinning and laughing.
"Whoo, so cool!" Steven laughed.
"Hey Steven! Look!" Amethyst put her hands behind her head. "No hands!" She grinned.
Steven laughed and then floated over to Pearl, busy with controlling the ship.
"Pearl. What you said earlier. Did mom make you feel that way?" He asked her as he sat down beside her. "That you're useless?"
Pearl shook her head. "No. I made me feel that way." She sighed. "Pearls are so dependent in others that they can't decide for their own lives." She explained. "Your mother was the only one who ever made me feel like I could make decisions of my own." Pearl continued. "But I always feel like I always have those tiny, invisible reins that somebody else is holding."
"But today you didn't have those reins, right? You did all this, all on your own." Steven encouraged her.
Pearl chuckled. "Yes. I guess you're right." She then took a hold of a lever on the control-panel. "Now hold on." She warned and pulled it.
And just like it launched a second time, the ship dashed through space.
The next thing they knew were that the ship gently landed on the moon's surface.
The door opened and Pearl proudly stepped outside.
Amethyst walked after.
Steven practically jumped down the stairs, laughing.
"Whoo! Cool!" He laughed as he jumped down the stairs and onto the ground. "Look at me! I'm a moon-boy!"
"Yeah! Go Steven!" Amethyst laughed and jumped, only to fall flat against the ground. "Hey! Why can't I be a moon-boy?!"
"We're gems, remember? We are immune to any planet's gravity type." Pearl explained.
"Ughh, lame!" Amethyst hissed in boredom.
"Come along Steven!" Pearl called as she headed for a great town not fair away.
There was a tower, really big in height.
"Whoaa." Steven gasped in awe.
Pearl walked over to the entrance and typed something on the screen beside the gate.
The gate opened and they stepped into a big, circular, gray room.
"Now, let's find the control-panel. I believe it's somewhere on the upper level." Pearl explained, her gem lighting up to be used as a light.
"Roger." Amethyst nodded, doing the same thing, creating a purple light.
Steven took a big jump and landed lightly. "What is this place anyway?" He asked, looking up at a big painting on the wall, featuring a big, yellow lady.
"The moon base was mostly used for the diamonds to keep in contact with their colonies." Pearl explained as she walked over to a spot beside the wall. "But this place has been deserted for centuries."
"Who are…." Steven suddenly stopped when he noticed a similar painting another wall, only this one was blue and wore a veil. Steven stopped his sentence and frowned uncomfortably.
Pearl hummed as she stood by the wall, gazing at the floor.
"What is it?" Steven asked as he jumped over to her.
"The floor pattern is different from the rest here." Pearl hummed and went down to her knees, placing her palms on the floor. "But I think if I do this-." She dragged her hands along the floor, and a long stair-way appeared against the wall.
Amethyst had unfortunately stood on the wrong spot and become a falling-victim of the raising stairs, sending her up and falling to the ground. "Hey!"
"There we go." Pearl hummed proudly and waved the others to come along as she walked up the stairs.
It was a vert long stairway and every now and then they passed different paintings of more colorful ladies.
At last, they had reached a room with what looked like to be a throne in the middle of the room.
"Whoo! Check it out!" Steven cheered and ran over.
"Steven! Be careful!" Pearl gasped.
Steven used the anti-gravitation on the moon to jump up and sit on the throne. Amethyst laughed too and ran over and sat beside him, leaving Pearl thinking 'of all the people I could travel o space with."
Once on the throne, Steven looked rather disappointed. "Hey! It didn't do anything!" He whined.
"It's because it's not auto-control." Pearl explained as she walked over. She looked over the chair until she pressed a button on the arm-rest.
A big, yellow screen appeared before them.
"Whoa!" Steven gasped.
Pearl moved her hands across the screen and pressed a few buttons on the arm-rest until a picture of the green ship from a few days ago. "Here we go. These are the coordinates of the ship. Mission to: The Morganite Facility?" She hummed in thought.
"There it is again. What's the deal with Morganite-what now?" Amethyst asked, crossing her arms.
"Jasper said something about a collection." Steven reminded them. "Maybe it's some kind of zoo?" He asked.
"Whatever it is, we have the coordinations." Pearl then smiled and clapped her hands together. "That's it! Mission accomplished! Now let's head over to the base's reserve ships!" She shut the screen and began to walk towards the the exit.
"Finally! This place gives me the creeps." Amethyst muttered as she jumped off the chair and walked after Pearl.
Steven remained where he sat, staring out into he room.
Soon, they were sitting in a red ship, which looked way smaller from the outside, and on their way through space.
Pearl steered, as always while Amethyst slept loudly in one of the chairs.
Steven stood beside Pearl, watching her as she typed on the control-panel.
"There. I have typed in the coordinates." Pearl spoke determined.
"When will we get there?" Steven asked.
"In our current speed…." Pearl calculated the time of the control-panel "We'll arrive at the facility in approximately…. 12 hours."
Steven nodded and gazed out the window. Watching the lights in the darkness.
"We're coming Garnet."
"We promise."