Chapter Fourteen: Bad to Worse

Grand Spymaster Maxixe arriving and catching all of them in the act of breaking into Sublevel X was not something Cairngorm had anticipated. Then again, neither was being attacked by Interlopers, but that was neither here nor there. She tried to use her status to her advantage: "So, seeing as I am your favorite spy, would you be at all interested to know why I snuck three-technically four Gems in here without your knowledge?"

"I would be very interested to know," said Maxixe, with all the anger of a mother confronting her disobedient child.

Emerald's hair bristled as she glared at the armed guards aiming their weapons at the group. The Blue Quartzes seemed to pick up on this, most of them aiming at her. "Pearl, could you…?" said Heliodor, her tone saying what she did not.

"Oh, right, of course." Pearl placed a calming hand on Emerald's side, slowly making her way to the corrupted Gem's gemstone. "It's okay, My Emerald. They aren't going to hurt us." Just as she had done before, she placed her hands on Emerald's gem, a pink glow surrounding it. Soon, Emerald's physical form had retreated, her gem now placed within a pink bubble, which Pearl placed inside her own gemstone.

Regarding this sight with indifference, Maxixe refocused her attention on Cairngorm. "Please, continue." The Quartzes lowered their weapons, but remained vigilant.

Cairngorm slowly nodded. "Er, right, well...it all started a few months ago. I was down here one day, and I...may have overheard the Science Minister talking about something I probably shouldn't have…"

Heliodor turned pale. "What? What did you hear!?" She sounded like she already knew."

"N-nothin' much," said Cairngorm, trying to calm her down. "Just the name of something. Something called Project: Giganova."

Heliodor looked like she was about to pass out. Maxixe looked similarly grave. They shared a look, before the former continued. "And...you came down here to learn more about this project?"

"That was the plan," Cairngorm said. "We just wanted to do something to help, y'know. Wanted to do something to help Goshenite. If it counts for anything, we didn't find much. Just a location."

This wasn't enough to dissuade Maxixe. She looked behind the gang at the pile of destroyed Interlopers. "And was it really necessary for you to destroy all the research subjects?" she asked.

Onyx nudged Tanzanite. "That, I can explain," said the latter. "In my attempt to search for more information on Project: Giganova, I attempted to interface with subject B-18. Unfortunately, this resulted in waking it from hibernation, after which it reactivated all of the other subjects."

"I knew keeping that thing here was asking for trouble," Heliodor muttered.

"Fortunately, we were able to halt their efforts to learn more about Mieren-VII," Tanzanite continued. "Cairngorm destroyed the Raptor unit in time."

Onyx thought for sure that Maxixe and Heliodor couldn't look any more worried than they had. She thought wrong, as they both turned so pale, she almost thought White Diamond had taken them over. "In time for what?" said Maxixe, her voice almost a monotone.

"It was trying to access the servers," said Cairngorm. "I think it got a little bit of the info, but I killed it before-"

Heliodor quickly ran up to Cairngorm, startling her and the others. "What did it learn!? What did it learn!?" she asked, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"I don't know!" said Cairngorm, trying to shake herself loose. "Some coordinates or something, I didn't look too closely! I think it was for a star, or…" Heliodor let go of her, running over to the computer terminal beside which lay the destroyed Raptor. "What's the big deal?"

"There's a reason that Project: Giganova is being kept a secret," said Maxixe. "It could change the course of the war as we know it. If the Interlopers find it and disable it, what could very well be our best opportunity for ending it would be gone."

"But that shouldn't matter, we destroyed it!" said Onyx. "Even if it did find something out, we busted it up before it could tell its buddies."

"Don't you get it?" shouted Heliodor, hurrying back to them from the other side of the room. "It didn't need to tell its friends, because they already know! The Interlopers are connected by one big network-a hive mind-linking every single one of them to the Oculus and back. That Raptor back there was able to find out that Project: Giganova is located somewhere in the Mieren system. For all we know, their armies are mobilizing as we speak to tear the whole solar system apart!"

"A...hive mind…" Tanzanite seemed genuinely shocked, something Pearl and Onyx didn't often see from her. "I had no idea…"

"Yes, that was one of the breakthroughs we made down here," said Heliodor, heading for the elevator. "Maxixe, take care of these four, I have to go fix this mess!"

"And how," asked the blue Gem, "do you intend to do that."

Heliodor stepped into the elevator. "I...have no idea! But my workers need to know that Project: Giganova is in potential jeopardy. I'll check in with them privately, and get back to you later. Hopefully, the Interlopers haven't mobilized yet-stars help us if they have." The door closed; the elevator ascended to the floors above, leaving the four Gems alone with Maxixe and her guards.

"So…" said Cairngorm. She tried to sound casual, not that she succeeded in doing so. "What happens now?"

It took a while for Maxixe to answer. She was deep in thought, contemplating these events. "If you were any other Gem, Cairngorm, I would be seriously considering having you shattered," she said, not meeting her eyes. Cairngorm gulped. "Coming down here without my express permission, even disregarding that you brought unauthorized Gems with you, is borderline treasonous. But as it stands…" She was quiet for a long time again. "Come with me." Maxixe gestured for the group to follow her.

Escorted by the armed Quartzes, the four Gems plus Maxixe filed into the elevator. "Miss Maxixe?" asked Pearl. "Where are you taking us?"

"Somewhere more secure," she answered.

"More secure than this place?" asked Onyx.

"Seeing as Sublevel X was recently infiltrated, not only by a group of rogue Gems but also by the Interlopers, I'm beginning to reconsider how secure it really is…" Maxixe said.

The elevator doors closed. Sublevel X was empty once more.

Gozyos-IV, Horizon Outpost.

"This...feels a bit weird," said Tenrit. "And not like the 'I can't find my keys even though I know I left them on the table' kind of weird, the 'something is rooting around in my brain' type or weird."

"That's probably because that's exactly what's going on," said Nines.

Indeed it was. Eager to run some tests on the former organic, Zoisite had hooked him up to several wires, running several diagnostic checks and the like through his mechanical mind. While this was going on, she was also examining his robotic body, comparing it to data obtained from previous encounters with the Interlopers. Nines stood nearby, making sure nothing Zoisite did hurt her friend.

"From what I have gathered so far," said Zoisite, "it seems to me that your construction is near-identical to that of a regular Interloper shock trooper. Not counting any differences in shape, it is ninety-eight-point-seven percent identical, in fact. How were you able to achieve this form?"

"It's kind of a long story," Tenrit said. "I'll give you the short version: a couple thousand years ago, I got abducted by the Interlopers 'cause I know so much about Gems. I tried to blow up one of their bases, but they got me out before it blew. Then, they hooked me up to this big ol' think tank, where they kept me alive for all that time while they rooted around in my head for the stuff I knew." He trailed off, staring at nothing.

"You okay, Tens?" asked Nines.

"Yeah, I'm alright," he said, shaking his head slightly. "So, after a few millennia of enduring...that...Emerald shows up. With her help, and by using some bio-venom to...clear some room, so to speak, I was able to download my mind into this body. It even sorta looks like my old one!"

"Yes, I did notice it shares the rough silhouette of a Valurian," said Zoisite. "How were you able to craft it to such specifications?"

"To be honest, I don't really know," said Tenrit. "I was thinking about my old body, and this is the one the machine built for me. Must've been reading my mind or something."

"It was most likely mental, yes," said Zoisite. She pressed a few buttons on the screen in front of her, and the cords connected to Tenrit's head retracted. "I think I have obtained all the information I can for now. You are free to-"

At that moment, all three of them noticed a slight vibration in the floor. It was subtle, but definitely there. "Anyone else feel that?" asked Nines.

"Yeah, I did," said Tenrit. "What's that about?"

Another vibration. "Troubling," said Zoisite, pulling up another screen. "Let me see if anywhere else in the base is-"

Whatever she saw made Zoisite stand bolt upright, almost knocking Tenrit out of his seat. Quickly dismissing the screen, she ran out the door. Nines gave chase, with Tenrit following close behind.

"Hey, what's going on?" Nines called after Zoisite. "Don't just leave us in the dark back here!" The vibrations were becoming much more violent now the further aboveground they got.

"It is the Interlopers!" Zoisite called over her shoulders. "We are under attack!"

Tenrit stuttered in shock. "Wh-the Interlopers!? How did they find us again!?"

"Easy, maybe it's just a coincidence," Nines tried to reassure him. "This planet's right on the frontlines, they could just be attacking this outpost by chance."

"Even so, that's no reason to be calm!" cried Tenrit. "Zoisite, how bad is it?" But by that point, Zoisite had travelled too far ahead to hear them. The two travelled in her general direction, arriving at the lookout room. They saw her conversing with Goshenite, when they ran into Topaz.

"You two sure got here at the right time!" said the red Gem. They weren't sure if she was being sarcastic or not. "They're really comin' down on us this time!"

"We heard. How bad is it?" asked Nines.

"See for yourself!" Topaz pointed them towards a window, where they made their way over to.

Given a view of the planet's surface, the two saw that the situation was just as bad as Zoisite had made it out to be. Numerous Carnivores trudged across the landscape towards Horizon Outpost, accompanied by at least three Apexes, though there were probably more. A ship larger than any Nines had known the Interlopers to possess hovered above the ground, several more Apexes attached to it like the smaller Interloper dropships. Further back, a titanic Broodmother watched, more and more units pouring from its body. The Apexes pounded away at the outpost with their cannons, though the shield held, the impacts creating the vibrations from earlier.

Goshenite and Zoisite stared out this window as well. "This should not be possible," said the latter. "This outpost is cloaked-there is no possible way for the Interlopers to determine our location!"

"And yet, they did," said Goshenite. "Like I said before, they have some way of finding us." She turned to Zoisite. "How bad is this?"

"Quite, but not extremely," Zoisite answered. "Our defenses should hold long enough to repel this attack. The keyword here is 'should.' I cannot accurately predict just how long this assault will go on for…"

Goshenite looked at the chaos outside, before returning her attention inside. "How much longer should repairs on the Xenocide last?"

"Assuming they are not interrupted by the attack? Thirty minutes, roughly," answered Zoisite.

"Right," said Goshenite. "What should we do until then?"

"I recommend you stop any Interlopers that slip through our shields from entering the base," Zoisite said, heading for the exit. I will shift the outpost into defense mode." She left the room, heading back underground.

"'Defense mode,' huh?" said Tenrit. "Let's hope it lives up to its name."

"Yes, let's," said Goshenite. "Come on, we're going to the ground level. Topaz, Citrine, Tenrit, on me!" The four of them hurried to their destination.

"Hey, Goshenite?" asked Nines. "How do you think they keep finding us? A tracking device on the Xenocide, or something?"

"I wish I knew," said Goshenite. "As of right now, we can only guess."