WE BACK BOYS! (and humans of a female persuasion, also)
Sorry about the delay, bad ideas and all that cancerous stuff... More on it at the end- ON WITH THE STORY!
The Hilltop Barn – Day 3 – 14:34 Local Time
"Log date 7 11 2. It is the third rotation of the Earth since the commencement of a collaborative attempt to stopping the cluster." Spoke Peridot into her newly acquired tape recorder, clenched in her right hand while her other rested behind her back. "It has been a trying and difficult journey, trying to survive with such isanities as the so-called Delta squad, a group of trans-dimensional humans that appeared at, strangely the same time as the beginning of the collaborative."
"The human technician of The Delta Squad could prove useful to us as he shows a good capacity for understanding in the ways of human and gem technologies, it is a shame he is trapped in such a fragile human body, his mind could be of some great use to Homeworld."
Pearl called into the barn where Peridot was skulking and talking to her new tape recorder.
"I have finished drawing up the blueprints for the drill head! Peridot, if you could come take a look at this?" She said, poking her head around the end of the chalkboard.
It was another bright and glorious day on the hilltop, the fresh and crisp summer breeze shoved a variety of different flavours to Peridot's nose, much to her distaste.
Sam and Franklin had salvaged the cow from Kyle's most royal of all fuck-ups for steaks and streaks, which turned out to be very nice when char-grilled over the campfire. They where both sat, chatting ideas and thoughts with Kyle on the world around them and their situation.
While the traditional delta squad would have made their efforts to stay true to the mission, they had all but given up on planning for a way out, their best bets would be to just help the colourful alien women and hope they can help back before things went too far.
They had 4 days until the airstrike and they knew it would take 3 day's drive to get to Bluestone 42, they would need to either finish with the drill and escape the next day or they would have to find another way out and home, but timelines never stopped Delta before, they weren't going to give up if there was still a chance.
Peridot had assured them that the warp was a fairly 'simple science' although she was the one that didn't really care that much for them, although she still felt that she owed Neil something for saving her on their first meeting and to Kyle who was, at the very least somewhat savvy with the concepts the technologies involved.
Neil was spending time with the gem Garnet, helping her chase away any other cows that could get hurt, or worse…
"So get this guys. When I was flying across the dunes with my payload, I got a closer look at the city and its residents, and guess what?" Said Kyle, with excitement in his voice.
"What?" Replied Sam, more annoyed than anything. It was he and Franklin that had to clean up the cow from Kyle's moment of hysteria, while Kyle slept and recovered from his unreasonably long period of obsession. They all knew that was just one of the dangers of having Kyle around, especially considering the circumstances.
"I saw people in the city." He said, with a face that looked like he had just told his girlfriend he won the lottery and was waiting expectantly on the reaction.
"You mean like humans or gems?" Said Franklin, the most gem-savvy of the squad, as he listened to Garnet and Pearl to gather what information on the gem species and the world as best as he could.
"I mean humans guys, we aren't the only humans on this planet!" Kyle was excited, he expected his squaddies to be also excited by this but they were not fazed. They already knew, having listened to the crystal gems when they could, while not being distracted by machines and competition, not like Kyle was.
Sam talked to Kyle, Franklin still playing his role in the exchange. "Did you not think that maybe Steven was at least partly human? I mean the gems call him a half-human half-gem... I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean to him but that means there has to be SOME human activity at least, right?" He sounded almost like he was telling Kyle off for not being as observant as he could have been.
It was at this moment that Neil returned to the group, completing the squad once again.
"You found any more cows?" Said Franklin jokingly.
"Only a couple, I have a feeling that we are going to need a guy to watch out for the moo machines. I'm telling you they aren't suited for forest life and they'll come right back into the fields the moment we stop making noise out here."
A moment of silence fell over the group as they absorbed the information and considered the possibilities of the next topic of conversation.
Kyle started for the group. "I think Pearl and Peridot must be about done with the designs."
"What makes you say that?" Said Sam, turning around to see if he could find the cue that lead Kyle onto this conclusion.
The rest of the squad promptly followed suit to watch as Garnet dragged Peridot out of the safety of the barn with clipped a harness to the green creature, tying her to a fence. "What? What'd I say?" Peridot called to the towering gem without any impact as she walked away from Peridot.
On Garnet's return, Franklin talked to her hoping for an answer to his question. "What's all that about?"
She replied, still expressionless but with an almost unnatural twang of annoyance to her voice.
"She wanted me to unfuse, said it made her feel uncomfortable. Her having free reign over the area made me feel uncomfortable."
With that they collectively looked to see Peridot struggling to reach for a microwave set on the grassy floor, just beyond the reach of her unaugmented limbs.
Most of the squad felt a prang of joy at seeing the small angry creature so viciously prying at the microwave, now trying her luck with her feet in an attempt to move the microwave closer.
Kyle made for Peridot, obviously feeling a slight twang of sympathy for her struggling while the rest of the squad moved for the chalkboard, ready for the day's tasks and challenges. Getting there, Pearl explained the day's objectives.
"As you can see here, we need at least three modules to complete, the capsule for the pilot (or pilots), the drill motor and stabiliser system and finally, the drill head itself, which could prove its own kind of trouble considering the conditions it will have to stand up to."
There was a list of parts needed, everything was all planned out and now it was just a matter of piecing it all together.
Pearl set to taking apart a large jet turbine that was situated near the barn while the three marines set about scavenging for particular components in the barn itself.
Kyle, the most capable one of the squad when it came to this sort of stuff but instead, was helping Peridot disassemble a microwave for its magnetron.
"It looks like we need some sort of leverage optimiser." Peridot said, frustrated at the need for more tools and help; she was especially against the need for dependence on others, though she did not mind the presence of Kyle quite as much.
Peridot had to acknowledge that Kyle wasn't exactly an inferior individual, for a human he was really something to behold in the eyes of the technician. She saw potential in what he was capable of but he was limited by a pitifully short existence and the need to constantly feed, sleep and excrete; much to Peridot's distaste.
"What? You mean a screwdriver?" Said Kyle, a slight grin pulling to the left of his face. He kneeled over and picked a flathead screwdriver off of the floor before handing it to her. Amethyst caught on to the end of the exchange and began to think of ways of poking fun at the green being.
"What was that?" Said Amethyst with Steven stood beside her. "Leverage optimiser?"
"That's what I said." Peridot replied.
Amethyst laughed in a mocking tone that Peridot seemed to be completely ignorant of the tone and continued in her workings of taking the microwave apart. When Amethyst was done laughing and snorting, she decided to continue the exchange.
"Okay, what's this?" She said, pointing to her nose.
"A sense sponge."
Steven was confused, Amethyst laughed uncontrollably and even Kyle had to laugh a little bit. It seemed to the soldier that spending more and more time around these characters was making him more childish in nature, and he didn't have any objections to that. As far as he cared, enjoying things more than before and feeling more free where the only things he could witness and he was fine by that.
Amethyst was done before long and started her next focus of humour. "Okay, and this?" She said, holding one of her eyelids open to show a rather large eyeball.
"Vision sphere." Peridot replied in a considerably more methodical fashion.
"Peridot, that's-" Steven made to correct her, still not picking up on the humour that Amethyst was enjoying before he was cut off by the lilac character.
"Wait, wait, Steven." She took a moment to compose herself. "Peridot. These?" She said, wiggling her fingers in Peridot's general direction.
"Touch stumps." She replied, considerably more annoyed at the continued distraction from her work and the sheer waste of time by the lilac gem.
"These?" Amethyst said, pointing to her feet.
"Gravity connectors."
"And this?" She said, pointing to her posterior.
"THAT'S YOUR BUTT." Peridot shouted in reply. Steven finally saw the joke and laughed alongside Amethyst while Kyle enjoyed a few light hearted laughs on the side of the conversation. "All right, that's enough, we should probably get back to doing… Uhh, something." Kyle said as he stood above the group.
Steven and Amethyst where still recovering from the final statement of Peridot. "Oh man Peridot, you're killing me!" Steven said, smacking the microwave case as he laughed.
"I am not! That would violate our truce agreement!"
Kyle took a moment to look down at the defensive little creature and almost thought it was kind of cute, like something he would imagine his fully fictional daughter would say if she took after her (currently daughterless) father. A little grin made its way onto his face, he supposed this wasn't the worst place to be stranded, even if he didn't ever make it back home.
"No no no. You're funny!" Amethyst said between laughs, dismissing the idea that Peridot was actually harming Steven, which wasn't the most irrational thing to come out of her mouth since she first reformed, just prior to the mission that brought the crystal gems and delta squad together.
"Funny?" Peridot replied, not entirely sure if she was sure what the word meant.
It was then that Pearl showed up to put an end to the distraction that was Amethyst's interaction with anything sentient. "Peridot, if you can get the magnetron out of that microwave, we'll have everything we need. Well, except for the drill head."
"Why don't I just get an injector drill head from the Kindergarten?" She replied. Peridot knew that despite the age of the technology in the Kindergarten, it was still going to be both faster and more durable than anything they could piece together using spare plane parts.
"Oh." Pearl said, a little put off by the idea but still seeing the potential applications and the time they could save. "Well I suppose that could work."
Before anyone could say anything else Garnet called over to the group, apparently following the conversation from a distance. "She's not going to the Kindergarten without a chaperone."
"What? You've got to be joking!" Peridot replied, almost looking offended at the prospect of being so distrusted with the mission.
"You'll know when I'm joking." Garnet said, dropping a stack of tyres on the ground, hinting at their probable application.
Kyle thought this was hilarious. He laughed loudly enough to catch the attention of everyone that was already locked in conversation. When he stopped, he saw that everyone was watching him, he made for something to move the awkward gazes off of him. "Uhh, why don't I go with her?" He said.
Franklin and Neil made over for them, as did Garnet. "I don't think you should." Said Franklin. "Neil's the only one of us with any experience in the Kindergarten and I think we still need you to put the rest of this stuff together over here."
"And besides." Added Franklin, "The only fast way there is by Warp pad and we all know how you take to it."
Neil Shuddered slightly at the memories but reminded that this time, he didn't have to be the only one with anything to protect himself with. "Well if I am going back there, can I take some others with me in case of another attack?" Neil had no obligation to go but he saw the sensibility in it.
Amethyst grabbed Steven and pulled him closer, she was enjoying this a little too much right now so this was a good opportunity to keep the laughs coming. After all, she was from this Kindergarten in particular, she could act as a guide around the place to find a drill in good nick. "Why don't I, Steven and Neil all go with her?"
Garnet looked over the group before turning to gaze at Neil who just stared back into the abyss of her visor. "Hmm… Approved."
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Russian/Chinese Void Gate facility – 08:20 Local Time
The facility had gained some interesting findings from the test involving the American soldiers. For one, they now knew that organic matter could pass through the Void Gate without being annihilated and they even managed to scavenge the Jeep the Americans used to get to the facility back out of the void. It was still in working order, beside that fact that the engine had stopped working due to a lack of oxygen in the air intake.
Despite their best efforts, it was hard to keep the gate open for more than 30 seconds without putting a massive strain on the power consumption of the facility and blowing out a few circuits, although it was argued that the size of the Void Gate was largely the reason for this problem.
The real mystery for the scientists involved here was just what happened to the soldiers they sent in? There was no evidence that they were ever there, not even ammunition from their weapons or even the guns themselves, just the Jeep survived as far as they could tell.
But now was the time to solve some mysteries, they had studied the warp itself well enough for the time being to produce their own void suits, looking a lot like old cosmonaut space suits, designed for low pressure, low oxygen and low temperature environments.
They wanted to find out if they could make use of radio contact and munitions in the warp, and so two members of staff had been suited up and prepared for the undertaking of the first Void Gate trip to involve going to the warp and returning just 1 minute after the Void Gate closed before returning.
The procedure was fairly well documented now, the suits had ear protection for the soldiers during the start-up sequence, arcs of electricity were flung across the space and the air and gravity began to leave the chamber, the soldiers had some gas oriented propulsion systems in place to allow them to move around in the warp and so, when the air left the chamber and they were sucked out, the two were given one last radio contact from the main control room.
"Just a note from the higher ups, they said if you do not see the Void Gate open within 4 minutes, we may be experiencing some rather large technical difficulties, the suits you are wearing only has air for 30 minutes due to limitations on what we could get this far into the desert."
"If things get dire and you begin to run out of air, there are suicide pills available, remember, a slow and painful suffocation is not preferable over a quick death in the form of a pill."
With that final and rather unsettling message, the Void Gate closed and the warp encompassed the two soldiers. Instead of talking and wasting time, they knew it would be better to just get the testing over with.
The first, a soldier, a 21 year old man named Alexandir Mertivoff readied his AK-12 assault rifle and began to fire into the void, finding that the whole magazine fired with enough recoil to send him moving backward as he sailed past his coworker. It appeared that the lack of any air didn't stop the bullets, despite this, the low pressure had muffled the sound.
The second, a technician, a 51 year old man named Maximillian Grigori took a grenade and held it out. He pulled the pin and pushed it away from him, a few seconds later the grenade exploded, though the sudden spike in pressure expected from the explosion. Rather instead it just contained itself for a few seconds before the smoky plume it would have produced simply died out.
Then it seemed to just disappear into nothingness as if it was never there.
"Interesting." Commented Max.
They floated and conducted their last tests but as time began to pass, things grew increasingly worrying.
Maximillian radioed to his comrade. "Hey Alex? How are we looking for time on this mission? Wasn't the gate supposed to be opened by now?"
"I think things could have gone bad. It's been 2 minutes already, they should've opened the gate by now."
Maximillian replied. "Maybe they are having communications troubles, or the power conduits need replacing… Again…"
Alex didn't know an awful lot about the void gate beyond that it exists and that it drinks up power from the facility's nuclear reactor faster than anything else known in the Russian Federation. Max had been involved in its construction, he had experience in its maintenance and he still wondered why he had been chosen for this mission in particular; Alex was the soldier, he had the training for this sort of stuff, Max was just a technician.
Another several minutes passed and things seemed to get tighter around them, a small warning light appeared in the corner of both character's visions, indicating 2 minutes until the air supply would run dry.
"I don't think they are coming back for us Alex."
"I was starting to think the same, myself."
A short silence in the void before Max began to think and talk some more.
"You, know, it's great that we got to be a part of this isn't it?"
"How do you mean?"
"Well, of all the people that ever walked the earth, how many of them knew the earth was round? Not too many until our day. How many do you think knew about the Void Gate project? Even less so, you could probably name most of them. And of all those people, we got to be some of the first to experience it first-hand."
"We'll be experiencing death first-hand pretty soon."
"But isn't that great, in our short and pathetic lives, we have achieved so much more than almost every other person on our planet's history and even if we do die here today, it'll be a high point for me."
"Well… I guess you're right, even if this is something that will never get out beyond just us, I suppose that is all you can want to get out of something like this. It's better than just living a quiet, boring and insignificant life and while we'll never get to tell anyone of this, just like we won't be remembered for anything like this, we'll still die with our memories in our minds. At least we never suffered from something like dementia or Alzheimer's."
Another silence that lasted well too long encapsulated them.
"I think I am ready Alex." Said Max, "I think I am ready to end my song."
Max held the pill in his gloved hand. It promised a fast and painless end, a final stroke that would put his story to a close, in an instant that would end all troubles he had. He took his helmet off and swallowed the pill, as difficult as it was in zero gravity and with the moisture in his throat freezing around it. A few moments passed and it was the final minute of air left for Alex.
Alex saw the light of his comrade blink out and despite what he said to him, he struggled to remember the moment, the words he used to comfort himself and the last wisdom he departed onto him.
He wanted something to happen but he wasn't sure what he wanted to happen, if the void gate opened, he would be questioned as to why his comrade was dead, if they had more air than they were told, then Max died for no reason.
Then a light shone by, placing itself between the two floating entities. The light quickly pierced the world around him and brightly flowed upward, almost pulsing as it went. A song of sorts chimed through the space around Alex, the sound was high and seemed to radiate a sense of mild joy into what was left of his life.
There was nothing left to do but to step into the unknown.
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The Kindergarten – Day three – 14:45
Neil was stood atop the warp pad and memories quickly flowed back into his mind from the last time he was there, the first time he arrived on this strange world. He scanned the area for activity, his sidearm at the ready with C4 in his back pocket and a whole lot of bullets in case he needed them.
The air was still just as cold and bitter as the first time he breathed the air, but this time the entire area seemed to be a little darker, whether this was due to the time of day or maybe it was as Steven saw it, the place just gets worse the longer it's left.
His idea was to scavenge his U-100 MK5 from the rubble to see if it was still in working order and if it was, good. If it wasn't, then he would have to find another way to defend himself against larger gem mutants; after all he only had so many bricks of C4.
The group made their way down the slope and to the nearby heap of stones and rubble, pieces of broken gem injectors lying dormant around them.
"Hey Amethyst, I don't suppose you could clear away some of this mess could you?" Neil called to the Lilac gem.
"Sure, but you got to remember this is my place, try not to destroy any more of my stuff. Got it?" She replied, half joking, half serious.
Neil had been informed of Amethyst's heritage in the Kindergarten and as he saw it, she must've been pretty tough to live and grow in a place that was rife with gem mutants like it was, and while Amethyst was born with certain combat techniques already in her mind, along with the fact that when she emerged, the gem mutants where still largely incubating, lying dormant beneath the surface, she still must've had it pretty rough for her first years.
Amethyst saw no need to disclose this information to him, however.
After a few cracks of the whip to destroy and cut larger boulders before using the same tool to pull away large pieces of rubble, the prize was displayed before the human soldier. His U-100 lay in the dust, it looked like it had seen some real action, even if it was just sitting in the rubble for the last few days and even if the body looked beaten and worn, it looked no worse than some of the other's guns, which appeared to be worse-for-wear. He had to test the firing mechanism or it would be very bad if he loaded a full magazine into the gun only to have it pathetically shoot off one or two bullets before halting and jamming on him.
So he chambered a single bullet and fired into the air.
*KA-DOOoooosh*
The noise of the bullet in the near silent air was something for the purple character to behold as she had never seen a gun, yet alone heard one fire.
The silencer on the end of the barrel still worked, the bullet seemed to fire well enough and the sound was not indicative of any problems. The sound of the bullet piercing the air was not unfamiliar to Steven or Peridot, but to Amethyst it was something new.
He loaded a fresh magazine and chambered the next round. "Looks like I'm back in business."
It was at this moment that they realised the newcomer on the ridge… Because Neil had just been shot.
The loud crack of rapid assault rifle fire sprayed into the group, although most of the shots where aimed for Neil. Despite the lack of hits, one bullet managed to lodge itself into Neil's upper right arm, causing him to drop his U-100 on the floor and to dash for cover, as was standard procedure, if his training was anything to go by.
The gems quickly followed suit behind the same boulder.
"ARGH. FUCK!" Neil exclaimed, this was the first time he had been shot. He had been tazered before but this was nothing like that, this was its own kind of pain as he could feel the intrusive nature of the 7.56mm round in his bone, nearly shattering it.
For now his arm was all but useless and the newcomer, still an obvious threat he continued to lay down suppressive fire onto the rock they hid behind.
Steven was terrified, he wasn't used to this kind of world where people can have direct intentions to kill each other and any others around them, even if it was because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Steven still wanted to stop this, he wasn't in the mood for more violence, especially after the robot fight on the previous day.
"STOP!" He shouted, as he popped himself above the boulder. The stranger stopped shooting, although he still held his weapon to the boy and spoke in a language that was not familiar to anyone but Neil, and he couldn't translate; only identify.
"Мне очень жаль, я пошел далеко, чтобы развернуться сейчас, у меня нет выбора ... Что бы Макс теперь говорят, что со мной?"
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It didn't make any sense to any of them, he seemed to be panicking or having his own little breakdown. At no point during his prep was he told to expect pillars of light, yet alone one of the American soldiers to still be alive! This was big news for the project but he had no way of getting back.
Then Max's last words began to sink into Alex's mind. Alex began to feel like it would be pointless continuing, he was a dead man anyway.
Alex couldn't speak a word of English, he only ceased to fire because it was just a kid, he had his morals too and they were tearing at him for his terrible decision.
What if that kid and the other children aren't what I think they are? What if they are just as dangerous as the American, who has still got his weapons, his equipment... This is bad if I know what bad is.
"А ТЫ ГОВОРИШЬ ПО РУССКИ?" He shouted over the space, which garnered only confused conversation behind the boulder, the eerie silence filling the space.
Then a screech so chilling it made a few of the people present turn a few shades paler.
More gem mutants had arrived, attracted to the sound of gunfire and negotiation, they had found the Russian man and made for him.
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"We've got to help him." Said Steven. "Even if he doesn't speak any English, I'm sure Pearl can find a way around it and if she can, we might have a lead on the warp thing to help you guys get home."
Neil wasn't of the same mind-set, he was preoccupied with stemming the flow of blood from his wound and the nightmarish creatures that were closing in on their position. "I get that you just want to help people but right now, this may not be the perfect time for something like this, what we need to do is get back to the warp pad and come back with backup."
Amethyst was interested in getting a look at the stranger and finding out about where the gem mutants were. Looking over the crest she saw the helmeted shape of the person and the rush of creatures that where coming from above the ravine, almost pouring into their space.
The Russian didn't hear the gem mutants coming until some larger debris began to fall around him, Steven and Amethyst moved to protect him as he turned his attention to the monstrous beings quickly surrounding him.
"Какого черта эти вещи должен быть?!" Amethyst summoned her whip and used it like an extension of herself, grabbing a large rock and swinging it at the creatures like a stone mace. Steven simply put himself between the mutants and the Russian and summoned his shield, holding off some of the smaller and less significant mutants that Amethyst couldn't deal with right away.
The Russian was dumbstruck, he had no idea what was going on, first there where these monstrosities that came straight from books depicting the most disturbing things he could comprehend.
Then there was the not only peculiar, but frightening case of the children that had some kind of power that allowed them to combat the aforementioned mutants with surprising efficiency.
Then it all went to shit.
A colossal monster of a gem mutant began to crest over the edge of the valley. Peridot had managed to get up to the warp pad, being able to slip past any resistance due to her low profile and managed to crawl up the hill. She beckoned the others to follow. "COME ON! GET UP HERE ALREADY YOU CLOD-SACKS!" She called down to her, still very preoccupied comrades.
Amethyst turned to see her atop the mound, waiting. She grabbed the Russian, not caring that he dropped his equipment, much like Neil did when he first arrived in the Kindergarten. She did the same with Steven, holding them both under each arm and jumping up the hill.
Looking back they noticed Neil was still down there, behind the boulder and he was still losing blood.
A/N
Welp.. There it is... The first of a few parts that I will be uploading really rather rapidly from now onward... We're talking at LEAST twice a week... Until I run out of material again...
I managed to write about 17,000 words of story since the last chapter and while I am sure the 5,000-7,000 word chapters where very much your style, this was going to be a bit much... New ones will be between 3,000-6,000 words a piece... Or I'll try anyway...
I got a load of writer's block trying to keep it going and (you may have gained a whiff of it in the last chapter) but writing just became really hard and tedious... The product felt really unsubstantial and like I was just waffling and bumbling around with it... So I have the next 3 chapters already written up and now it's just edit, check and revise before uploads...
More regular, more digestible and more enjoyable (hopefully)
Anyway... There are some pretty big changes coming and hopefully, I can get to finishing this story sooner or later, then we'll see what happens after that...
Special thanks to everyone that has written reviews and began to follow and favourite this story! It's great to have the support from you guys to encourage me to carry on this story...
Thanks
Mein Kapatin