The next week went by with little incident, Steven trained with Connie, spent time with the gems and worked on the robonoids. Even though he was keeping secrets from the gems, and he knew at least Rose was keeping things from him things got better, much of the awkwardness that had melted away. They were all relaxing in the living room, Steven thumbing through a volume of unfamiliar familiar Connie had loaned him, sure he could have absorbed the entire book's contents in a few seconds with his scanning ability, but there was something much more gratifying about taking in the story the way it was meant to be experienced rather than sifting through the information after the fact. Rose and Amethyst sat together flipping through magazines occasionally stopping to mock something within. Garnet sat calmly by herself, weaving a strand of yarn between her fingers in an oddly complicated cat's cradle.

The peace was suddenly broken by a loud crash that sent reverberations through the floor. They leapt into action; weapons at hand and out the door a moment later. Concerned as he was Steven couldn't help grinning to himself, no one was pushing him behind them or telling him to get to safety, he stood on the deck gripping his katana in both hands, he realized it was the first time he really felt like one of the crystal gems. Below rolling around the beach was an oversized version of one of the robonoids. The three gems struck out as if to attack the alien device but he called out to them.

"Wait." He reached out with his will the way he did with the smaller versions trying to take control of it, but butted up against that heavy green aura he'd seen swirling around the smaller ones before. "I'm trying to take control of it." He pressed his awareness against the other aura and felt it resist. The robonoid produced its legs and started towards the temple. "Try to hold it back but don't damage it." The three of them nodded and pressed against it, garnet and amethyst managed to slow it but when Rose pressed her shield to it and hunkered down it stopped completely.

The green aura wouldn't yield to the slender tendrils of his own white tinted essence. He pressed it to different places, concentrated all his efforts on one spot, but nothing seemed to make a difference. He looked down at the sword in his hand, the thin blade meant to attack, meant to cut through defenses. He imagined his strings of aura flattening out, sharpening like blades, then struck, lashing out with them. To his amazement the other aura yielded, not completely but where he attacked the green energy faltered and failed to reassert itself, he perceived it almost as a tattered piece of cloth.

He struck again and again, widening the opening until the bare metal of the robonoid was exposed, and he struck, driving an unsharpened tendril against it. He felt his awareness blend with the robonoid's systems as it did when fully controlling one of the smaller ones. For a moment he felt another presence, similar to his own. The other aura was still in place and he could glean things from it. The kindergarten, homeworld, then the connection was gone, it was just him and the robonoid. It was as easy to control the big one as it was the smaller ones, he pulled himself back and focused on the world around him.

"It's okay, I've gotten control of it." He said wiping sweat from his forehead. "That Peridot was controlling this one too, since you guys destroyed the galaxy warp she had to send something bigger." Rose leapt over to him, catching him up just as he lost his footing.

"Is that what she was doing? Trying to restore the galaxy warp?" Steven shook his head and righted himself, giving her a thankful look as the others arrived.

"No, she was trying to get it to the kindergarten, something about the. . .the. . ." He shook his head again, rubbing his palm against his gem as he tried to put the fragments of information he had gotten together. ". . .The cluster?" He finally said looking between them all, finding each of their expressions turned confused, even Rose. "You've never heard of it?" They all shook their heads.

"Could there be something in the kindergarten itself? I was there for hundreds of years and I never found anything but a bunch of rocks and holes." Amethyst thought out loud as Garnet simply stood resting her fist against her lips. Rose looked more worried than any of them, usually it would be her laughing and telling him not to worry but there was nothing but concern on her face.

"I don't think so. . ." She said as if answering Amethyst. "I don't know what she could be after there." That fact seemed to worry her more than the attack itself.

"Well at least I stopped this one, but I'll bet she's gonna send more." Steven said looking up to the sky where it had come from then down to the now powered down robonoid. "I don't think that will fit in my gem, and I doubt peridot is going to want me to keep it." He reached out again and delved deep in the robonoid, let his awareness spread into every part of it. Not knowing exactly how to do it, he knew what needed doing, this robonoid had to be locked, kept from being used to hurt or endanger anyone again. His aura sank into the machinery, there would be no room for anything else, any other auras, then he bound it all together, imagining it the way he always imagined his password locking his computer up with chains and padlocks. There was no way to be sure he'd accomplished what he'd set out to do but he had to hope it was enough to keep anyone else out. "I don't think she'll be able to get control of this one again."

It was at that moment he realized they were staring at him as if they'd only just realized what he'd done. Rose had one eyebrow lifted Garnet's arms were crossed, and amethyst, well amethyst was picking her nose but still he felt the eyes of the other two boreing into him. Looking back and forth between them he produced one of the smaller robonoids from his gem. Commanding it to move was almost second nature now, he made it crawl along the railing beside them, balancing on one of it's disconnected digits. "I've been experimenting with these little guys, and I've pretty much figured out how to control them." Beaming, he pointed to a small crack in the quivering little spheres "I call this one crackpot." Even Amethyst perked up and gave him her full attention as he explained about the green and white auras, how he'd gained control of the robonoids and how he had overcome the one now dormant on the beach.

"That's. . .Amazing." Rose said taking hold of his arms to lift him to a height with her. "Very few gems can create auras like that on their own Steven, I'm sure the Peridot isn't able to, she must be using some kind of technology to do it." They crowded around him smiling, Garnet patted his head and Amethyst punched his arm when Rose finally set him down. The tall gem took a deep breath as if centering herself and turned to Garnet. "We need to figure out what this cluster is and why homeworld wants it. Can you tell us when the next one of those things will land?" Garnet nodded and touched a finger to her glasses for a moment.

"Tonight, no more than five hours from now." Rose nodded, adopting the tone she used when trying to seem the responsible leader.

"We'll go to the kindergarten, follow it, and watch what it does." Steven nodded as he let his sword dissolve and tucked crackpot back into his gem.

"I bet if I'm more careful this time I can access the robonoid without Peridot even knowing, maybe I can get more info this time." Rose shook her head and knelt down to face him.

"I don't know if that's a good idea Steven, after this she'll probably be more on the defensive against an attack like that. She could try to take control of you, or read your memories, and we don't know what kind of effect that will have on you." It sounded reasonable enough but there was still a sliver of mistrust for her in him. He nodded but made no promise not to try, after all he knew more about these things than any of them.

"I think I'm gonna take a nap before we go, messing with that thing took it out of me." He wasn't lying there, and didn't have to fake a yawn cracking his jaw. They agreed to wake him when it was time to go, and before long he was tucking himself into bed, and then quickly to sleep.