Time has progressed since Steven's birthday, and so has progress on the drill. The group already has the entire structure of the drill completed. All that's needed is to finalize some pieces, circuits, and the controls
It's pretty much been a nonstop grind to get the drill working once Connie and Greg left. With it in its current state, everyone decided to take a moment, relax, and enjoy the peace. While Steven is lying down with Lion, strumming his ukulele, the three gems were further down the hill.
Jason was sat with Lapis on the silo giving her a much wider view of everything. They could see Peridot walking over to Steven with a drill in hand. After a bit of this, everyone picked up Steven singing drawing their attention.
Steven: Life and death and love and birth,
And peace and war on the planet Earth.
Is there anything that's worth more
Then peace and love on the planet Earth"
Oh - Whooah, come on and sing it with me...
Peridot: Sing?
Steven: The words relate to the key...
Peridot" Key?"
Steven: If it's a pattern,
If it's a pattern,
Then just repeat after me...
Life and death and love and birth-
Peridot: Life and death and love and birth-
Steven: Now you sing mi-fa-mi-mi-fa-mi-ti-la!
Both: And peace and war on the planet Earth!
Steven: Yes, yes! That's it!
Peridot: That's so easy.
Steven: Yeah, but that's what's fun about it.
You should write something, you should write a song!
Peridot: About what?
Steven: Whatever you're thinking!
Peridot: I guess we're already here,
I guess we already know.
We've all got something to fear,
We've all got nowhere to go.
I think you're all INSANE!
But I guess I am too...
Anybody would be
If they were stuck on Earth with you.
Steven: Hahaha yes!
Life and death and love and birth and-
Amethyst: Life and death and love and birth and-
Pearl: Life and death and love and birth and
Peace and war on the planet Earth.
Garnet: Is there anything that's worth more?
Steven: Is there anything that's worth more?
Peridot: Is there anything that's worth more
Then peace and love on the planet Earth..."
With the final key given to Peridot, she finishes their impromptu song beautifully. Lapis and Jason applauded them.
Days Later, Night…
Everyone now stood before a completed drill.
"Nice work." Garnet complimented Peridot and pat her on the back.
She jumps in fear getting a laugh from everyone present before Steven hugged her.
"We really did it, huh?" Peridot questioned in disbelief.
Steven gasps at Peridot's words, "We?"
"Oh wait, I need to check something!" She suddenly stated before running to the drill.
"Huh, wonder what we missed?" Jason asked to no one in particular.
The others shrugged, but Steven has a wistful expression on his face. "She's come so far. It feels like only yesterday she was trying to kill us."
"She really has." Lapis agreed.
"Coordinates!" Peridot declared. "We still need the Cluster's exact coordinates in order to drill!"
"There's a Diamond base that may hold that information but getting there is going to be difficult." Pearl informed as she gazed to the moon.
"The mooooooon!" Steven declared in awe.
"Yes, Steven, the moon." Pearl inforced.
"How are we supposed to get there?" Jason asked. "I mean, Lapis could fly, but she can only carry one or two passengers."
"I got a better idea!" Steven ran to where Lion was resting. "Lion! Can you make us a special warp to the moon?" He grunts and stretches his limbs. "Come on, Lion. We got to do this to stop the Cluster!
If we don't there's no more Earth, no more fun times with your pals, no more Lion Lickers, and no more naps." He said the magic word because Lion got up and let out a mighty roar before opening his eyes. "Guess it was naps."
Moon Base
"Gaaaah!" Jason breathed in a burst of air as he and Lapis were pulled out of Lion's mane.
The room everyone now stood in was dark and the air was stuffy. Still, it was breathable compared to the inside of Lion. Since not everyone could ride on the back of Lion, Lapis and Jason were forced to be inside of his portal dimension.
"You aright Jason?" Lapis asked concerned.
"Yeah… I'm good." Jason reassured as he pulled himself together. "Just reminded I need to get on a rebreather."
"Oh, Lion." Steven hugged the animal. "You've earned your naps for the week."
The pink animal was breathing steadily from the amount of effort he seemed to have exhibited. Pearl and Garnet activated their gems to illuminate the place.
"We made it." Pearl stated.
"It doesn't... look like the moon." Steven points out.
"Must be in the base then." Jason reasoned. "Good thing too. I don't think you and I would do so well out on its surface."
"Hey, look over here!" Amethyst ran over to a door. "I think it's a door."
Before anyone else can say anything, she placed her hand on a wall, and two panels open to reveal the surface of the moon. Air sucks out of the base through the open door before she closes it.
"Amethyst, please don't blow us into space!" Pearl scolded.
Steven's chuckling gets everyone's attention as he floated around in the air. "Whoa, look at me! I'm a moon boy!"
Jason decided to test the waters by jumping into the air and finding himself launched high into the air before floating back down. "Wow, cool."
"Alright moon boy!" Amethyst jumped in the air to float around but falls to the floor with a grunt. "Hey! Why can't I be a moon boy?"
"We're gems." Peridot explained. "We're a space-faring race designed to conquer other worlds. Our physical forms adjust automatically to the gravity of any planetoid."
Lapis formed her wings and flew around with the two hybrids. "That might be, but I can still fly around."
"Ahhh, this is all lame." Amethyst complained.
"I was bouncing on the moon one day- Umph!" Steven starts singing but suddenly crashes against one of the walls.
"Steven!" Jason landed next to him. "You okay bro?"
"Uh, yeah." Steven groaned a bit before looking at the wall in confusion. "Hey Peridot, who is this supposed to be?"
Jason looked and saw a very large mural of someone that spans to the roof.
"It's Blue Diamond." Peridot gasped in awe. "Wait! Are they all here?" She looks around before getting extremely excited at another mural and scampers off. "Ahh yes! There she is!"
"Who?" Steven asked while following her.
While they go, Jason couldn't help but stare back at the mural of Blue Diamond. Lapis joins him and stares at the image with a minute amount of fear. Jason put a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she smiled at him.
"Behold! Yellow Diamond!" Peridot's reverence at the other mural shifted their focus. "Isn't she magnificent!?"
"So, who are the Diamonds?" Steven asked innocently. "They seem like a big deal."
Peridot gives him a look like he just slapped her. "Are you joking!? The Diamonds are the gem matriarchs! Together, they make up the Great Diamond Authority that governs Homeworld and all the outlying colonies! We live to serve them!"
Garnet walked behind the green gem and cleared her throat loudly getting a nervous chuckle in response. "I mean, we were all made to serve them even though some of us… don't anymore. Hey, I think that's a control service over there! Let's investigate."
She 'skillfully' shifts everyone's attention to the other side of the room and heads over.
"Yeah!" Steven followed her.
Jason gave Garnet a thumbs up, and the maroon gem nodded before they moved to join Peridot who was inspecting a panel on the floor. Amethyst and Lapis joined them while Pearl examined the walls for a way out. Preferably not outside.
"I think this is right." Peridot voiced. "The material is different from the surrounding stone. I think if I just do this…"
She slid her hands across the panel making it light up before it rises to create a set of stairs. Unfortunately, Lion was laying on some of them, so when they go up, he's knocked over in the process. At the discovery, Peridot giggles excitedly before they start heading up the stairs.
"This is so incredible." Peridot voiced. "Only the most elite of the elite can enter these sanctums. We are literally walking in the very footsteps of the Diamonds!"
"They must really like stairs." Steven commented.
Pretty much the whole set of stairs runs up and along the circular walls to the top. Before long, they come upon the next floor, and it wasn't much. At first glance, the room was bare except for a mysterious ball like object suspended in the middle of the room.
"Hey, what's this room?" Steven asked.
"It's not what we came here for." Garnet stated after glancing at the object and continuing.
"Can we hurry it up?" Amethyst asked as she started walking with the others. "This place gives me the creeps."
Steven and Jason stared from the object to each other with curious looks. With not much else in the room, they decided to forget about it and head up. As soon as they reached the top of the stairs, there is without a doubt in anyone's mind as to where they are.
"We really are on the moon." Steven stated in wonder.
The clear glass walls allow everyone to stare out into the void of space outside.
"This makes me wonder where exactly we are." Jason voiced. "Even though we're on the moon, other humans have been here before, yet I never remember reading anything about a moon base."
"That actually is quite simple." Pearl replied. "The base was constructed within the moon, and what you are seeing now is simply what the technology on the surface lets you see. That door which opened earlier brought the base to the surface but once closed, it lowered it once more."
"That makes sense actually." Jason reasoned. "It's not like humanity was looking for this base considering the domestic problems."
"If you're both done, let's get back to the mission at hand. There should be a- Ah! Oh my goodness!" Peridot interrupts herself before jogging over to some sort of terminal with a giant chair in front of it up a flight of stairs. "This looks like it could be brand new! I mean it's a relic by today's standards, but golly! It's so elegant, so simple, so perfect!"
"So, how do you turn it on?" Amethyst asked.
"…I have no idea." Peridot replied.
Jason gave a cheeky smile. "Too old for your tastes?"
Peridot opens her mouth to retort, but the terminal suddenly lights up. "Huh?"
"Hey, it's got one of those glowy hand dealies." Steven piped up from behind them.
They turned around to see he's on the chair with the same hand activator as back in his mom's armory on the right armrest.
"You can't sit there!" Peridot suddenly yelled.
"Why not?" Steven got comfier. "It's so cool."
"That chair is only for the most elite of gems!" Peridot explained. "You can't go around sitting where an elite would."
"Well, they aren't here now." Steven scoot over and pat the spot next to him. "Right?"
She stares at the chair with an unsure look before conceding and taking a seat. "Nehehehehe."
"Hey, what's this doodad for?" Steven picked up a diamond looking device on the armrest.
"Put that back!" Peridot scolded him.
Steve reluctantly puts it back in place before Jason stealthily grabs it. For one, it was tech, so that was interesting. Secondly, he wanted to mess with Peridot by touching something she clearly didn't want held.
Peridot worked on the console. "Okay, let's see…" She started manipulating the terminal. "This is a really old system. Just got to find the right file… aha! Cluster, Cluster. Where are you, Cluster? Aha!" The Cluster's location appeared. "There's the insertion point. Looks like the Beta Kindergarten in Facet Nine."
"Oh, we went there briefly to retrieve tech." Jason voiced.
"But where is the Cluster now?" Pearl asked.
"There it is!" Peridot exclaimed. "It's embedded deep into the mantle. Relative to the barn, its roughly two thousand five hundred units down. All we need to do is feed this data to the drill and we should be all set."
"With that, we have the final piece to put this Cluster to bed." Jason declared.
"Sounds like a successful mission for us." Lapis added.
"Lapis!" Steven had stars in his eyes. "Does this mean you think of yourself as a Crystal Gem now!?"
"Well, I mean…" Lapis crossed her arms. "I've helped Jason before, and I've been there building this drill with you guys." Now everyone, except Peridot who was still focused on the screen, smiled at her. "I mean, I guess I wouldn't mind…"
Garnet put a hand on the water gem's shoulder. "Welcome to the Crystal Gems, Lapis."
Lapis smiled at that.
"Yeah, we should celebrate!" Steven declared. "Oh, I know. Peridot, does this thing have any games on it?"
"What? No!" Peridot exclaimed. "This wasn't used for games. It was used for planning a colony. Here, look." She pulled up images. "Here is a map of all structures that were originally built on Earth. All told, they account for five percent of what was originally planned."
More images of gem structures appeared. Many of them were recognized by the Crystal Gems, but a few of them were new to Jason. More than likely places that have been sealed or hidden away by the shifting of Earth.
"I'll need to come back here on my free time to get all this information." Jason thought.
"What was the plan?" Steven asked.
"Well, let's take a look." Peridot replied.
She hit a few more buttons and what looked like a sped-up version of the Earth's colonization takes place. The new hologram was of a hollow Earth with rings around it, several buildings, and structures that span what could possibly be miles high into space.
"Ta-da! A finished Earth colony." Peridot was smiling. "Wow, look at this! Eighty-nine Kindergartens, sixty-seven spires, a Galaxy Warp in each facet, efficient use of all available materials. What were you thinking by shutting this operation down? It could've been great!"
"No! You're wrong!" Garnet angrily shouted.
"What do you mean?" Peridot question oblivious to the growing anger. "It's perfect. I mean just look at it."
"We are looking at it." Pearl stated.
"Yeah, this plan stinks!" Amethyst added.
"Completing this colony would have meant the extinction of all life on Earth!" Garnet finished.
"But think of the good it would have done." Peridot tried to reason. "The gems that would have been made. Our empire expanded."
"If this were completed, Steven and I wouldn't be here today." Jason knew their plans for Earth were bad but seeing this only made him hate Homeworld more. "Not just us or even the people that exists today. The people who lived back then would have been killed for this!"
Lapis grabbed one of Jason's hands in here. After what she has experienced, she didn't like this either; however, she was more concerned with calming the soldier down. He looked at her and saw this before taking a deep breath to steady himself.
"Well, maybe that would have been for the bedy." Peridot voiced. "Face facts. There'd be no Cluster if the Earth had stayed a colony. Now, there's no colony, and there's will be no Earth. Rose Quartz should have never rebelled in the first place."
That last statement was the final nail in Peridot's coffin as all the gems and elder Hybrid shot death glares at her.
Steven laughed nervously at the glares Peridot was getting. "Is there anything that's worth more…?"
He stops as Garnet picks Peridot up by the front of her tunic and glares at her. "You, listen to me. You are talking about things that you do not understand."
"Garnet, stop!" Steven interrupted. "It's not worth it. We're done here, so let's just go home."
Garnet dropped Peridot into the chair before looking to Jason. "I don't care what it takes, but I want this entire place gone. No more moon base."
"Understood." Jason stated firmly as he put the diamond object back on the armrest.
The gems and him walked away.
"What'd I say?" Peridot questioned. "I merely stated the facts. Their rebellion didn't save Earth. Given facts, it's not like Lapis, Jason, or Amethyst were part of that either."
"That's not how any of them see it." Steven replied. "Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst spent thousands of years trying to protect Earth, Jason was raised and would rather do nothing else than this, and Lapis has come around. I thought maybe you had to."
Steven walked down the stairs and Peridot was the last to leave. As she ran past Steven, he caught sight of the diamond object in her hand.
Marbled Gold (ch. 34): Glad you enjoyed it, and rest assured Jason will continue working on Will Power once the current crisis, one way or another, is dealt with.
Marbled Gold (ch. 35): This particularly chapter was just big on bonds. Jason & Lapis, Jason & Peridot, Amethyst & Peridot, and even a little Jason & amethyst bonding.
Marbled Gold (ch. 36): Glad you like the addition of those two gems. When it comes to Jasper, underestimating her is the last thing anyone would want to do.
Guest: It'll come soon enough.