Chapter 9 was mine, but now it's yours!
I don't own Steven Universe.
Chapter 9: Nature
Pink Diamond could hear it in the background, the hum of the engines, but that was nearly all she had heard, everything else around her was silent, dead silent, and she dare not break it.
She squirmed in her chair on the bridge of White Diamond's white-silvery cruiser as her eldest sister sat only a few feet away, as still as a statue. White had said nothing outside of curt, snappish orders to the gems around her.
She had been around White for centuries now, and this was like nothing she'd even seen. The White Diamond she knew was thoughtful, kind and wise, if also a bit stodgy and lecturing but this… something had caused her eldest sister deep rooted pain. And instead of opening herself up to let others help she instead had chosen to shut down and focus only on the task at hand.
It saddened Pink that on some level it meant that White still didn't trust her enough to share with her.
Speaking of the task at hand, the data that Blue had managed to get isolated the signal not to a far-off section of space or even near the outer fringes of their empire. Instead it had been traced a fair way in, nearly a midpoint between the empire's current edge and where Homeworld resided.
Hiding in plain sight.
White and Pink were on their way to meet their sisters who had, in the meantime, gathered much of their forces from the frontiers and had focused them on finding and eliminating this threat. It was perhaps the closest in several dozen thousand years they had encountered something they could call a "threat" and everything seemed to move with both urgency and a deliberate slowness.
The fleet was finally within view and it was massive, hundreds… no, thousands of ships all floating centered around one more massive then all the rest, Yellow Diamond's yellow-hued flagship.
"Hail them." White ordered, her voice even and free of emotion. A gem carried out said order and within moments a green-grey gem appeared on a screen in front of the two Diamonds.
"White Diamond, Pink Diamond, we were told to expect-" She started.
"Enough. Extend the docking tube and allow my sister and I to board." White said in the same monotone.
"Right away my Diamonds!" The gem quickly said and the communications went dark as White's ship floated close, the docking tube establishing itself.
Within minutes White and Pink found themselves on their way to the bridge of the ship, passing by rows of quartz soldiers and rubies who saluted and knelt down. White had long, fast strides and Pink actually found herself almost jogging just to keep up. She kept giving her sister worried glances but White paid no heed as she eyed the door of the bridge.
It opened with a rush of air as Blue and Yellow Diamond stood with their backs to them, looking upon a hologram of the star system they currently resided in. Their mouths moved, but were too far away to make out what they were saying. The doors opening caught the attentions of the two Diamonds and they turned to greet their sisters.
"Well, well, well, look who it is." Yellow Diamond said almost smugly as she crossed her arms and gave a little half smile. "How long has it been since you went off world White? Ten thousand years? Twenty?"
"Over forty actually." White corrected, coolly locking eyes with her sibling.
"Has it really been so long?" Yellow asked as she began walking towards her sister.
"It has." White confirmed also moving towards Yellow Diamond.
"I hope breaking from such a long tenure hasn't been too inconvenient. After all, the first time off-world in so long must be-"
"I am fine, Yellow." White affirmed calmly. Pink looked on from the side from one sister to the other. Near as she could tell White and Yellow had always had a bit of friction between them. White was, after all, the leader of their entire race, but Yellow had always been ambitious and cunning, it was her idea after all to design and create craft that could conqueror the stars themselves. There were even rumors that it was Yellow that held the real power of the empire, its military force, while White remained in power as little more than a figure head. Pink had heard this talk from her own gems but often dismissed it as the simple gossiping of simple gems. Still, even standing near them she could feel the atmosphere itself seem to spark with a sort of rivalry.
"I also heard about your pearl." Yellow continued. The youngest Diamond's eyes widened at this and she looked worriedly to White Diamond whose eyes had only narrowed with the mention of the gem.
"She was by my side for millennia. I never suspected a thing." White replied honestly.
"A pity. Perhaps sitting on that throne for so long had caused your senses to waste away." Yellow said nonchalantly. Pink didn't like this. She could feel Yellow Diamond trying to bait her sister.
But White had been through this dance before and evaded skillfully. "On the contrary, my eyes have never been more open. The pearl paid for the crime as will any who try and circumvent my power." She said looking directly into the eyes of Yellow.
Pink looked over to Blue for some sort of support but saw her only wearing some sort of bemused grin. Deciding this had gone on far enough Pink calmly stepped in between them and put hear hands on both their shoulders. "Hey now, let's just all remember why we're here."
Yellow smiled just then turning to Pink. "Of course, of course. We're all on the same side after all." She said turning and walking back to the table projecting the hologram.
Once all the Diamonds were gathered around the table Blue Diamond began the briefing. "As you may have guessed the data Pink and I discovered has led us back here." She pressed a button and the hologram zoomed out to four star systems. "But were unable to lock down on a single planet before the signal was lost to us."
"So what's the plan?" Pink asked.
"We have four systems to investigate, it would be simplest to each take one and-" Yellow started.
"No." White said, her three sisters turned to her. "We have no idea the strength of their forces. It will be best if we attack them with our combined forces one at a time."
Yellow shook her head. "That will take too long, if the enemy, whoever they are, gets wind of us in this quadrant before we find them they could be gone before we can find them."
"If we go in with less than full strength the casualties we suffer could be significantly more than needed." White pointed out.
"Better to risk that then the enemy getting away." Yellow countered.
Pink watched as her eldest sisters locked eyes again and sighed. "Maybe a compromise is in order?" she suggested, they both turned to her, White's calm gaze and Yellow's narrowed glare. "Perhaps instead of splitting our forces into four, which would significantly lower our battle power or going one at a time which would take too long perhaps we should just split into two."
Pink could swear she saw both her sisters' eyes soften for a moment before Blue spoke up. "I agree, moving as one is too slow and as four has too much risk, this is the best solution."
White was silent but Yellow spoke up. "That seems for the best." White simply nodded her accent.
Blue clapped her hands together. "Then it's settled." She put her hand to her chin. "But how shall we separate?"
"I'll take Pink and we will explore this system." Yellow said pointing to a spiral on the hologram, the one they were currently in.
White simply nodded. "Very well." She turned to Blue. "You and I will explore this one." She said pointing to the star system right next to it. She then tuned to Pink. "I'll have your gems sent over momentarily." With that she turned to leave and Blue followed behind her.
Pink watched her sisters leave before turning back to Yellow who was intently looking at the hologram. "What are you thinking?" Pink asked.
Yellow pressed a button and the hologram zoomed in on the system they were in. She looked from one planetary sphere to another. "I thinking about how this could have happened." She said without turning to look at her sister. "These insurgents were hiding right under our noses in the midst of our Empire."
"How did they do it?" Pink asked.
Yellow crossed her arms. "This quadrant of space was thoroughly explored tens of thousands of years ago, we even started construction of some planets. However…" she pressed another button and the star of the system was zoomed in on. "…the unusual composition of the materials that made up these systems rendered them more trouble than they were worth. This star for instance radiates energy that destroys all electrical systems within the system every half decade." She pressed another button and it zoomed out again. "All the other star systems have similar stories."
"Are we in danger of being caught in this blast?" Pink asked.
"No, my gems have informed me that the last one was four years ago, we're still an entire year out." Yellow informed. She pressed a few more buttons and the hologram changed to a single planet on screen. "We'll have to start immediately. This planet made significant progress on starting a colony before the first blast hit."
"What else do we know about it?" she asked.
"Not much, there were a handful of structures made and not much else. The planet is also heavily forested and there are significant amounts of… ugh… organic life." Yellow continued as she spat out the last word with disgust.
"So what's the plan?"
"Initial scans suggests that the structures are their most likely base of operations. However, the tree line around them has grown thick, we'll have to use an area that is less forested and make our way in from there." Yellow explained before she clicked another button and the hologram dispersed. "All should be ready within ten minutes."
Meanwhile… planet-side… deep within an abandoned facility
A warning came on screen, Onyx looked to it and frowned before turning the monitor off.
GRR…
Onyx looked over to where the low rumble was coming from and smiled to it. "Calm down... calm down…" she said slowly. "Just wait a little while longer, they're almost here." she cooed.
Later…
Just as Yellow had promised their combined fleets now circled the planet, a lush green ball of vegetation. Pink was looking out form the large window at the front of the ship, down on the planet below, taking it all in. Yellow came up from behind and joined her, looking down on it as well.
"Just look at it, Pink." She said. "A failure on our part and they're rubbing it in our faces, hiding out here."
"It was clever of them, I think." Pink said, earning a raised eyebrow from her sister.
"Are you complimenting them?" she asked.
"I'm just acknowledging their use of an abandoned gem facility to make their base. It was crafty." Pink acknowledged. "It wouldn't be smart to underestimate our enemy, you know."
Yellow scoffed. "We have the numbers, the firepower, the technology, what do they have?"
"A drive." Pink replied. "Whatever has caused these gems to turn on us must have been terrible."
"We've found several locations that will be ideal for landing." Yellow said, changing the subject.
"Can we go planet-side?" Pink asked.
"Of course."
Later…
Pink Diamond found herself cooped up in a palanquin next to her sister's as they watched dozens of gems beginning to set up a make-shift headquarters. The rain poured in the field they had landed in and the thick forests beyond loomed forebodingly.
"Is the portable base going to need much longer to set up?!" Pink asked over the rain.
"It should be up within the day, just like I said the last time you asked." Yellow replied.
Pink was quiet for a moment before she looked to her sister. "Can I ask you something?"
"You already have, but go ahead." Yellow said.
"Why were things between you and White so…" Pink trailed off.
Yellow sighed, before looking to their two pearls, who were standing diligently in the rain awaiting orders. "Why don't you two go find something more useful to do?" she asked.
The pearls looked to yellow and then each other, Yellow's pearl took the cue and walked off and Pink's pearl looked to her for only a moment before running off to join her.
Yellow seemed to frown and look off into the distance before speaking again. "It wasn't always that way Pink. There was a time when White Diamond and I were inseparable, you should have seen us back in our heyday. But White was always overly cautious, she didn't like taking chances, taking risks. She still doesn't." She turned to look directly at her sister. "Did you know that if it wasn't for me we wouldn't have even left Homeworld?"
Pink had heard something to the effect of that but chose to let her sister continue. "She was afraid, always so fearful that'd something would go wrong or we'd get ourselves into more trouble than we could handle." She turned away from her sister looking out onto the fields. "But look how far we've come because we took that chance, because of me." She said emphasizing the last word. Yellow sighed. "But in the end, she holds us back from what we could really achieve and calls into question every action I take to try to do to move our Empire forward."
"Being careful is bad?" Pink asked.
"Being careful is one thing sister, but White had her way we'd still be on Homeworld and you and Blue may have never been created." Yellow replied. Pink frowned at this and Yellow continued. "She means well Pink, but she's too afraid to take risks. I mean she kept you on Homeworld long after you were ready to leave, didn't she?"
Pink said nothing, merely sighing and standing up inside the palanquin before crouching a bit and walking out into the rain. "I think I'm going to go walk around for a bit."
"Out there? Sister there's-" Yellow began but Pink was already making her way towards the forest.
Pink enter the tree line and walked on, attempting to sort her thoughts. "I ask about her and White and she has to drag me into that?" she shook her head. All the years she'd known White she'd thought she only done what she did because it was necessary, but Yellow made her question White's actions. What if White had held their Empire back, held her back? She shook her head even faster this time. No, White wasn't like that, she didn't drag her feet all the time… did she?
Pink sighed once more. This thought process was making her head hurt and her heart sink. It sucked to think about the possible ulterior motives of those you hold dear. Although, now she understood why Yellow was on the fringes so often and White remained on Homeworld.
She then looked around herself, she had been walking for a little while now but not really paying attention to what was going on around her. She looked to the trees, they were massive and stretched far above her head their tops making a dark and leaky emerald roof above her head. Many branches spouted about, just within her arm's reach, twisting and turning into each other, entwining like great wooden knots. She touched one of the trees and felt a shiver go up her back, the feeling felt natural and familiar. Almost as if-
PD heard a rustling above and saw a small hairy creature jumping and sliding on the branches above her. She recognized this, it was organic life. Not anything at all like she or her fellow gems. She had read about organic life, and what little there was that gems had to say about it. She was interested in the subject but could never find many specifics about it, gem common knowledge was simply that organic life was inferior and that there was little use to be found in it to exploit and too was usually worth more trouble than it was worth to eliminate it.
Pink, however, found it fascinating, she wanted to get closer but saw no means of getting to the little creature so she called out to it. "Hey!" she called out cupping her hands to her mouth. The creature looked down and Pink saw its dull brown eyes look down from its perch at her. The creature made some sort of soft screeching noise and ran off, out of sight. "So much for that." Pink said disappointedly lowering her arms.
"You won't get it like that, my Diamond." A voice from behind Pink stated.
Pink jumped a little at the sudden new voice and turned around only to see a small green gem with short razor-cut hair looking up at her. "Who-"
"Idocrase, my Diamond." She answered.
"Where-"
"The landing site of course." She answered again.
"Why-"
"It was Yellow Diamond's request that I accompany you."
Pink paused for a moment as the gem waited patiently for her response. "So how are you qualified?"
"I was the one who studied the planet before our landing, my Diamond." She answered. "I know all the relevant information about this planet and its inhabitants. Also, I enjoy teaching."
"So what can you tell me about that creature I saw?" she asked.
"A small organic lifeform, warm-blooded, suited for climbing, common in this planet's ecosystem." She explained.
"I want to see it up close, can you make that happen?" Pink asked.
Idocrase seemed to rub her chin for a moment, thinking before walking over to a bush and rustling around in it with one hand. She pulled out what looked like a small handful of red spheres. She placed them on the ground in a pile and walked off towards Pink. "Please follow me."
Pink complied and they walked behind one of the great trees, peering out to where Idocrase had left the spheres. After a few moments of waiting the rustling of bushes sounded and the creature, or at least one like it, crawled out form the bush and made its way to the pile. It began… Pink wasn't sure how to describe what she was seeing. The creature was taking the spheres and inserting it into its mouth. It did this over and over again and Pink somehow found herself fascinated by the action.
"What is it doing?" she asked.
"Eating." The little gem replied simply.
"I see." Pink nodded. "What is that?"
"Organic life needs to sustain its biological processes through the intake of matter in its environment." Idocrase explained as they continued to watch. Pink was silent and the much smaller gem could tell she needed more elaboration. "The same way our ships need fuel to work or power facilities on planets are needed to work our technology."
"Ah." Pink said simply. She stepped out and tried to approach the small creature but the moment it caught sigh of her it fled back into the bushes. Pink frowned, turning back to Idocrase. "Why did it run away?"
"Most likely thought you to be some sort of predator." Idocrase concluded.
"'Predator'?" She repeated, testing out the word, it was unfamiliar to her. In the distance a high screech was heard and then silence as the rain continued to fall.
"Yes, my Diamond. A predator." Pink's look was quizzical and the little gem continued. "It's an organic creature, usually of some significant size, that intakes lesser organic creatures for its own organic processes."
Pink thought back to the little hairy creature, of it putting matter into its mouth for fuel. "You mean some other creature is going to eat that little creature?"
"Most likely." Idocrase confirmed.
"That's totally barbaric!" Pink exclaimed.
Idocrase shrugged. "Not untrue, my Diamond. Still, it is necessary."
"Why is that?"
"It prevents overpopulation of any one species in an environment." The little gem replied. The confused look once again appeared on Pink's face. "The way organics multiply varies from creature type to creature type. The non-moving ones like these for instance…" she said patting one of the trees. "use these things called seeds which they make themselves and contain all the information to start another of itself by inserting the seed deep into the ground until it bursts out."
"Like us?" Pink asked.
"No." The little gem answered. "These types then tend to stay where they are popped out from indefinitely. Never moving."
"Sounds boring."
"Well these types don't usually have much thinking processes, my Diamond. I'm not sure they'd understand the concept." Idocrase replied.
"What about the moving organics?"
"That also varies depending on the creature but the basic idea is that two of the same creature types come together and make a third, or more." Idocrase explained.
"They don't even need to come out of the ground?!" Pink asked astonished. "How fascinating."
"So, going back to overpopulation, that's why organics eat each other, to keep each other in balance. If any one of these were to replicate itself out of control, the entire ecosystem would be threatened and could even collapse." Idocrase finished.
"A necessary evil then." Pink concluded.
"If you think the natural order of things evil, then yes, my Diamond."
"How do they decide what order to eat each other in?" Pink asked.
"Most organics learn from each other or simply have instinctual knowledge of where they belong in the grand scheme of things." Idocrase said. "Sort of gem-like in that regard I suppose."
Pink was silent, contemplating that comparison. "Would that make Diamonds predators then?"
Idocrase shrugged. "I didn't say it was a perfect analogy, my Diamond."
Pink bent down and picked up one of the spheres, rolling it between her fingers. "Do you think I could…?"
"I don't see why not." Idocrase replied.
Pink opened her mouth and placed the berry inside. The feeling of it was strange to her, the little sphere was just sort of sitting there inside her mouth, though her tongue could more keenly feel the texture of the sphere. She didn't know if she was doing it right so she looked down to Idocrase for further instruction.
"You have to chew." she said. Pink didn't understand so the green gem made a sort of up and down motion with her jaw. "Like this."
Pink mimicked the motion and the sphere burst in her mouth. A strange feeling washed over her as she picked up strange new sensations. "Oh, stars! What is this?" she asked.
"It's taste, my Diamond." Idocrase answered. "It also happens to be another way organics figure out their place in the ecosystem."
"Taste huh?" Pink said as she moved around the crushed sphere in her mouth. "I like it." Then, without really thinking about it, she moved it to the back of her throat and it was gone. "Wait, where did it go?" she asked aloud. "It was just in my mouth a second ago."
Idocrase sort of giggled to herself before answering the perplexed Diamond. "You've swallowed it, my Diamond."
Pink Diamond started to look worried. "Oh no! What's going to happen?"
"Nothing." The small gem answered simply. "You've only done what any other organic would have done. Now it's gone."
"But where?" Pink asked looking down at her belly. "In here?"
"Perhaps, I don't really know. I've never tried it myself." Idocrase said putting a hand to her chin. "It's a good question."
The thunder from the cloud clapped overhead and somehow the rain managed to come down even harder. Pink put a hand to her head and looked up. "It's really starting to come down. I think it's time we-" she started before looking down and around.
Idocrase was gone.
She looked about her surroundings. "Idocrase?" she said. She cupped her mouth. "Hey! Idocrase! Where did you go?!" she called out. Only the sound of rain pouring down from above answered her. "Must have gone back to the ship." Pink guessed before walking off towards the camp.
Nearby, looking down on her from a tree, the green gem watched her go. She smiled to herself before a light enveloped the gem. The shape grew taller and leaner the face's shape became pointed instead of round as it had been. The light faded again and a dark grey gem stood in her place, she then turned and ran off deeper into the jungle.
Later…
Onyx stood in the hallway adjacent to the main floor of the abandoned complex, opening the door with a press on the hand pad.
She sat in the command console's chair and thought back to the brief meeting with the Diamond. It has been only her second encounter with one but still it had been drastically different than the other one she'd met. Pink Diamond seemed almost kind and gentle. She didn't seem to lord herself over her, not like-
CLANG
Rustle… rustle…
Chains clattered behind Onyx and broke her train of thought. She walked over to where it had come from, a dimly lit part of the room.
The creature chained up sensed her approach and grew stiller, less restless. She reached out and touched its skin, it shuddered in response but then calmed down and became still allowing the action. "It's okay, it's alright…" she cooed softly. "I met a Diamond today." She could feel it tense up in response to the word. "She seemed… different than what I was expecting." The creature did nothing in response. "Still what she and her kind have done is beyond forgiveness." She turned her eyes upwards to look at the creature in its face. "They'll be here very soon. We'll need to be ready."
Done. So two things guys, one, do I need to ask you every time to please review or are you just not going to feel obligated otherwise? Two, I can write about White's and Blue's adventure at the same time if you wish or do you simply want me to summarize it when they all make contact with each other again?
