Stevonnie stood in front of the clear glass, gazing out over the alien landscape. Steven did not have the opportunity to ever sightsee (I'm not here to sightsee! I'm here on a secret spy mission! ...Though it couldn't hurt to look around…) so Stevonnie decided to fill the gap.
Stevonnie had entered as before, leaving through the same way, quietly passing the six-eyed Gem. With satisfaction, they noted that they did not flinch when the receptionist Gem shrieked out whatever they did when Stevonnie left. Indeed, no one really seemed to mind Stevonnie at all.
This was good for Stevonnie's investigation…but also contradicted their thinking a little. Was this place not that important where strangers could just wander around? Or were they not in the right place? Were Steven's memories correct? Stevonnie lowered their gaze, and thought a little. Perhaps this was all just a trap.
Stevonnie raised their head after a bit. I'm just overthinking this, they decided. Trap or no, they were going to investigate the best they could. They couldn't just stand around while Lars did his share of the work with the Runaway Gems.
Stevonnie turned their attention to the alien skyline. Long, thin tubes shot across the sky, intersecting one another and clustering at various spots. A massive, white figure in the distance, with long, low, blue buildings surrounding it. Honeycombed walls all around. Stevonnie did not recognize anything at all. Still, the more they gazed, the stranger they felt. If Stevonnie did not know better, they'd place their emotion as being nostalgia. But it couldn't be. Neither Steven nor Connie had ever stayed on Homeworld for too long, and Rose had hated this place…
Halting suddenly, Stevonnie whipped their head around, scanning for others. No one. Stevonnie's mood had been plummeting ever since they stared out of that window. Luckily, they remembered one of Connie's pick-me-ups. Stevonnie whipped out their sword, and flowed through a few poses, fighting off imaginary enemies.
As soon as the first beads of sweat appeared on Stevonnie's brow, they ceased their exertion. Despite the short length of the routine, their heart beat out a staccato-they felt refreshed. Stevonnie sheathed their sword, and ran off to continue their exploration.
Whipping out their map, Stevonnie chose a path from the central rotunda right next to the path leading to the courtrooms. The path widened considerably, and terminated in a large, ornate staircase. The staircase led to another rotunda, with many paths barred by doors. The entire rotunda was quiet, only broken by the occasional clunk of a stone falling into a large crystal jutting from the ceiling. Stevonnie assumed it to be a weird clock.
In the center of the room loomed a 50-foot tall black statue of what Stevonnie guessed to be obsidian. The statue depicted a quadruped snarling monster, whose head jerked around their shoulder, to face the stairs. Stevonnie walked towards the statue, staring at it. Who would put up such a nasty statue, right where people can see it? Even though Stevonnie disliked the statue, they had to admit it was well made-it certainly held their attention.
Stevonnie tore their gaze away and walked to the closest door. It was a door-two hinges, made of a sturdy material, set in a frame, with a simple L handle. There wasn't much to say about it. I guess doors are the same, no matter what. Stevonnie set their ear against the crack of door and wall and listened, but all they could hear were chirps, chitters and squeals. Stevonnie turned the handle down and pushed forward.
The door opened up into a massive auditorium, packed with Gems. Some even sat on the steps leading down into the bottom. A speaker stood in front of a large hologram of a ship, and spoke in a language Stevonnie did not know. At the sound of the door opening, a few Gems and the speaker turned their head toward the noise.
Stevonnie shrunk back, giving an apologetic bow. They shut the door as quietly as they possibly could, and ran a hand through their hair, trying not to feel overwhelmed with embarrassment. Stevonnie threw a glance over their shoulder, just to make sure the statue had not moved. Of course it didn't move, it's a statue. Duuhhh…
The next-door door was rectangular, and narrower. Inside it were only about ten Gems, seated at a medium-sized table the color of a milk chocolate bar. A Gem stood at the front of the table, waffling through a sheathe of papers. Every single one of them turned and stared at Stevonnie as they opened the door. "S-sorry," said Stevonnie quickly, hiding behind the door and shutting as quickly as possible and with as little noise as possible.
Stevonnie retreated a little ways away, next to a statue of the monster. This was not working at all. As soon as the thoughts formed in their head, Lion shot out of a portal. "Right on the money!" cheered Stevonnie, directing Lion to their next destination.
As Lion departed, far away, in a large room awash with yellow light, a Gem studied a hologram, a printout of the energy levels in Blue Diamond's law school. Two more spikes had appeared within several hours of each other, identical to one other anomaly that had appeared two days ago. The Gem stared at the hologram, her eyes darting back and forth between the first blip of energy and these two new anomalies.
This marked the first time Stevonnie had seen Lars's Sun Incinerator in the flesh. Stevonnie liked what they saw; they darted around, asking eager questions from the crew and praising the captain for being able to steal such a thing.
"Did you get hurt?" Stevonnie asked, worried.
"Nooo," groaned Lars, flapping his hand at Stevonnie to drive them away. Stevonnie flinched back and moved to stand in front of Lars. Lars, for his part, slouched in the captain's seat. "Stevonnie, I already told you I didn't get hurt."
"I know that," said Stevonnie. "I was just making sure." Lars hooked his fingers into his cheeks and pulled down, exposing the underside of his eyeballs.
"Are you trying to transform, Lars?" asked Padparadscha, noticing Lars's actions.
"No!" barked Lars. "Just-just-Stevonnie! Why'd you come here, without calling first? Is something big happening, or did you just want to drop by, chat, and annoy me?"
"Why are you so grumpy, Lars?" asked Stevonnie.
Lars groaned and tugged on his face. "We just got shot at, so excuse me if I'm not all sunshine and roses!"
"You were shot at-"
"by Emerald," Completed Rhodonite. "Apparently, she really likes this ship. We managed to escape, but there's no guarantee she won't find us before long."
"Exactly!" yelled Lars. "So we should wrap this meeting up quickly. What do you want?"
"Umm…I can't speak Homeworld!" began Stevonnie. Padparadscha scooted off her chair and began to rummage around in the main console drawers.
"How is this news to anyone?" said Lars. Stevonnie gave him a look, then continued.
"I've been wandering around Homeworld-"
"That is very dangerous," interrupted Fluorite.
"I know that," said Stevonnie. "I'm not gonna just sit around while you guys try to get to Earth! I have to fight against the Diamonds in my own way. We can't just sit around and wait for them to blow up Earth or something!"
"So then you're spying," said Lars, "Except you're not really good at it."
"That's because I don't speak Homeworld's language!" said Stevonnie. "If one of you could maybe help me out-"
"By going back to Homeworld?" gasped Rhodonite. "We'll be spotted instantly! Why do you think we were in hiding on Homeworld?"
"With bodies like ours…we cannot let anyone from Homeworld see us," said Fluorite.
"Just go get Peridot," suggested Lars.
"Peridot doesn't have her limb enhancers." Replied Stevonnie.
Padparadscha piped up, "We don't have to go to Homeworld!" she scrambled over to Stevonnie, volunteering forth an acid green collar with a large grayish cone attached to it.
Stevonnie inspected it. The cone was hollow; the green band detached and could be opened with some difficulty. The more Stevonnie looked at it, the more it resembled a hollow gray cone welded onto a hard metal Alice band. Stevonnie settled it on their head, smirking at Lars, who snorted. "So…what is this?" asked Stevonnie, removing it and settling it in their palms.
"A translator," said Padparadscha. "I've set it to 'English to Homeworld', here." Padparadscha pointed to a spot just to the left of the gray cone, facing outwards. Stevonnie lifted it to their face; the green band did not have a display, switches, or anything to suggest that area controlled the device.
"Lean in," said Padparadscha. "Look closer."
Stevonnie brought the green band to their face; straining their eyes, the band hovered in and out of focus. Stevonnie brought the band away a little, and could see a series of intricate grooves etched into the band's surface. A tiny green peg could be slid through the grooves; Stevonnie supposed each stop was a different setting. "I can't use this." Said Stevonnie, lowering the acid green band.
Padparadscha's face wilted. "Why?"
"Because!" Stevonnie gestured at the almost-invisible sliding peg system on the green band. "How am I going to use it?" Stevonnie dug their thumb against the peg, trying to jam their fingernail under the peg to use as leverage.
Padparadscha held out their hand. Stevonnie ceased their efforts and forked the band over. Rhodonite literally craned her neck over to watch. In a way, it seemed like Rhodonite had replaced their neck with a thin burgundy lollipop stick to be able to watch them. "Y-you can come over here you know…" Stevonnie murmured.
"Oh no, I hafta stay over here just in case we get attacked," Rhodonite waved Stevonnie's suggestion away. "Just pretend I'm not here."
Padparadscha fiddled with the band a little, then handed it back to Stevonnie. "Don't touch the settings. Just wear it. If anyone asks, say you had an accident during a mission and your gear fused into your face." Her voice had lost its airy quality, becoming more flat and unimpressed.
Stevonnie accepted the band and apologized. The entire crew turned to watch as Stevonnie exerted their strength against the band, forcing the two jaws of the horse-shoe to open long enough to be slipped onto Stevonnie's face. Stevonnie set their mouth against the hollow gray cone, and let the metal relax slowly. The gray cone covered up Stevonnie's nose and mouth; the acid green arms of the device did not form a snug fit against Stevonnie's face.
The moment they removed their hands, the device slid down their nose. Stevonnie clapped their hands up against the cone to stop the whole thing from falling. They said, "Paddy, this thing doesn't fit."
"Umm…" Padparadscha began, raising a finger, but one of the Rutile twins leaned over the back of their chair. Stevonnie turned to face them, holding the device in place. The Rutile twins set their palms together, and pressed the cone into the slight gap between the two hands. Their thumbs hooked over and pressed down on the cone's top face. Their fingers dug into the band, which emitted a sharp clicking noise. With one smooth motion, the Rutile twins ran their fingers from the center of the band to the very tips.
Stevonnie felt the band shiver against their face. The arms slowly closed in, bending to fit the contours of Stevonnie's face. The tips of the arms curved around Stevonnie's ears, stretching and becoming less metallic and more rubbery. The tips came to rest just outside of Stevonnie's ears. The cone pumped out air from the space between Stevonnie's mouth and the cone's innards, forming a tight seal. Rutile stepped back, and Stevonnie removed their hands.
"It worked!" cheered Stevonnie, emitting a low metal-on-metal grating noise. All of the Gems barked out a series of musical chirps. "It worked!" they cheered.
"You look like the Terminator," groused Lars.