Pearl didn't want to do this. Having to spend more than five seconds around the human was infuriating. As far as she was concerned, he was a sweaty stupid humanoid. No weapon, no skills, no technology to speak of...

Her skin prickled as Greg opened the passenger door in the front.

"No," Pearl said almost too fast. "Humans go into the back." This time, she decided to give her voice the most drippingly condescending tone she could muster on him.

Greg held the door open for a second and gave her a withering glare.

"I'm serious." She threw him a smile too wide for even the average pearl.

He frowned, a curl at the corner of his lips, and closed it. Good. He got into the back, sliding over. Pearl got in the driver's side, putting her hand on the control pad. She already felt the all-too-unpleasant feeling of her vision blurring. Soon, one eye could see through the hover. Her other could see the world around her and the landscape in front of her if she wanted to.

Greg seemed to get himself comfy, cozying up in the velvet. His stare was blank. Clearly, he wasn't thinking of anything. Thank the stars he was leaving. She could only hope for good.

She pushed her arm forwards, starting the hover. Her left eye was rendered useless with how fast the hover had gotten so quickly, so she shut it and left her right, autonomous eye do the work. The complex... She didn't even know where that was...

Maybe this hover had a positioning system. Of course, it might be just like the rest of the completely dead tech on this planet and have no navigation system whatsoever. She hoped it wasn't the latter.

One-eyed, she fidgeted around with the controls. A screen showed amongst the other buttons. Yes! But it probably wouldn't be working. She tapped at it experimentally. It took a few taps before the screen became responsive. Three simple options showed. Navigation, Steering, and Limitations. She tapped navigation.

At least fifteen ports showed up. Four kindergartens showed. Strangely enough, only six complexes showed. All of them had a different Gem in front of it. Heliotrope, Chalcedony, Amethyst, Smoky Quartz, Unakite, and finally Howlite.

Pearl was absolutely dumbstruck. These were obviously commanders, and they obviously had a complex each to themselves. But which one was his?

"I'm from Heliotrope's," Greg offered.

Pearl twisted around to meet him. It was helpful, sure, but how would a human know how to read Gem language? Didn't they have some other, primitive scrivenings of their own?

Greg gave an almost cheeky grin to her, at which she had to seethe from the corners of her lips.

Even then, he had been helpful. "Thank. You."

"My pleasure." He said it completely and totally unironically. Pearl clenched her teeth.

She tapped on 'Heliotrope Complex' about four times until it responded. Then, the hover changed direction and started to pilot itself in the correct direction. She assumed that all she had to do was control the speed now.

She dug her nails into her palm. The engine seemed to roar in Pearl's left ear, and she felt cold night wind blowing at her face.

She never wanted to hear another word from this human. She grimaced and tried not to even think of him as she drove.

She thought about it, she could probably rest now. All she needed to do was keep her hand in the drivers' port.

Then the human started biting his fingernails. Pearl winced at every tiny tearing sound ringing against her ears. She heard his fingers whistle as he wiggled his hands. "Ow," he whispered. Was that a natural pain response? Flailing your fingers and making small grunt?

Pearl tried to let her attention dimly fade away until she was in a meditative rest sate, but it didn't happen. The constant grinding of his teeth as they dug through fingernail made her ears feel like they were bleeding. She breathed in quietly. Calm down, she told herself. Calm down.

In fact, if she tried, she could see the blurry outlines of the complex. It looked like it was only a few miles away. Well, guess there was no use resting now.

The hover swerved, whipping Pearl against the side of the car. She swore quietly to herself, but Greg shouted his pain response again. The hover was now merging into a roadway. She didn't even notice it until there was a barely audible 'Hey!' behind her. She twisted around to see another driver. It took her a second to realize her place on the Gem hierarchy again, but when she did she turned her autopilot off and let the other Gem pass.

The first thing she noticed was that this was a rare gem, a bismuth. Her skin shone iridescent hues of blue and purple in the moonlight. Her dreadlocks whipped behind her, and here was always that grin on her face. It was on all five bismuth gems she'd seen. The shine in her eyes also told her that these Gems were really happy. She wondered why.

"Oh my god," Greg whispered from behind her. Pearl turned to trace his vision. The first thing she saw was that the hover was extended to its full length. Then, she saw that it was a special model that could hold up to fifty Gems. Almost like the land-based war machines that had been prototyped hundreds of years ago.

Then she noticed the passengers. In fact, it looked like there were twice the maximum capacity on the hover. Humans were all squished against each other. They all had paint smudged on their faces. Some of it was bright red, some was black. She turned to see the horrified expression on Greg's face. She could barely tell they were humans if it weren't for their body shape.

"They're South American…" Greg muttered. "Wait. Is their complex full?"

How was Pearl supposed to know?

"If it's full, then they can't build any extensions!" He laughed after this, a nasal sound that made Pearl want to cover her ears. "They're running out of resources!"

Once again that cleverness of his reared its ugly head. On another thought, why would he be happy that Gems were running out of resources? It sounded like something that Rose was saying lately.

Maybe her new change was influenced by him.

The complex was definitely coming into view. Trees started popping up in Pearl's vision. They blurred past her.

She glanced back at Greg. "How could you influence her?" she said out loud. Without reason, she immediately regretted it.

"Me?" Greg turned back to Pearl, his face still white from seeing all the 'South American' slaves. "Thanks, but I don't think I'm all that great. Especially with her." At the last word, his face reddened. A light smile turned his lips.

"Oh, but you can!" Pearl said, her voice sharpening. "You, a disgusting little human!" A human that Rose clearly had a fondness for. "You've got no redeeming qualities. You can't fight for the life of you…" Actually, he was a pretty fair mace-fighter. She refused to let him know that. "You're very existence is inefficient when you think of it… And then there's me, the superior being, who's been by Rose's side for thousands of years. And I can't make a dent in her thinking!"

The hover was farther away, so Pearl took it as a cue to let personality show again.

Greg didn't seem fazed except for his eyebrows being furrowed together. "Maybe it's because you're a Pearl."

Pearl didn't expect that. "What?" she asked. The hover swerved until she slowed it down.

"Sure. She's seen hundreds of you. Millions, maybe." He shrugged and met Pearl's eyes with a smirk. "How many Pearls are there on Homeworld anyways?"

Pearl saw his grin widen, just like it had when he figured out Pearl was defective. There was one for almost every Gem above Pearls and Peridots. And then, Pearls were often used for manufacturing. So maybe there were billions.

"Only a few hundred. They're reserved for rulers," she lied. She avoided Greg's gaze by turning around and watching the road.

"Bullshit." There was a silence.

The complex became closer and closer until it was so close Pearl couldn't see the edges of the complex in her vision. They drove for what felt like more than five minutes before they entered a tunnel.

It was dark and metallic. Bright white lights shone up above them, immediately flying away to be met by another one. This went on for a bit.

"But I guess that Rose likes me because I'm pretty much the only human she's seen. Has she ever been on Earth before?"

She'd never been on Earth before. She wasn't going to give this human anymore cockiness. "Plenty of times. In fact, she's been served by entire troops of humans."

As lights flared past the both of them, Greg said. "Another lie. So I'm a novelty." He said nothing, like he was thinking. "Maybe that's why she likes me."

Pearl nodded. "That's definitely it," she said, unsure whether she was telling herself or Greg.

Greg chuckled lightly.

Pearl noticed the lights coming to steady a hundred feet in front of her. She wasn't going to slow down the hover until the last second.

Finally, the lights stopped. The wall came close enough that if Pearl stopped immediately, she'd just miss crashing into the wall.

She pulled her hand out of the drivers' port. She regained vision in her other eye, immediately putting her hand over her Gem.

The car stopped, the inertia forcing Greg into the back of her seat. Surprisingly she didn't move. Behind her the chair vibrated.

Once more, Greg sounded his little pain response. Good. He deserved it.

The car was fully stopped just feet from the front of the wall.

The hover carrying the bismuth and humans had been completely empty, though Pearl and Greg were only a few minutes behind them.

There was a door to the right of them that seemed embedded in the cement-stone.

Pearl sat for a second before getting up and in a false display of kindness, stepped out of the hover and opened the door for Greg.

He rubbed his head, which was already starting to turn blue from a bruise. "The hell was that for?" he asked.

Pearl really smiled, wide enough to squint her eyes. "Oh dear. I did not mean to harm you." Sarcasm dripped off her voice. "But I think that you should report to your commander."

Greg got out of the hover, rubbing his forehead and glaring at Pearl. He opened the door.

"And have a good day!" She shouted at his utterly disdainful look. Goodness, this was fun.

Greg shook his head, lips curled, and disappeared behind the grey door.

AN: Extending "We Need to Talk" is a hobby, I swear. I love when they butt heads. :3