"Isn't it so strange to think that most of the stars we see are dead?" Pearl says to Rose, not looking up from the screen before her, "It's just so amazing!"

"It's a little sad too, in my opinion anyways. I couldn't believe it when I first found out about it," Rose laughs, looking up at the twinkling night sky through her office window, "Are some of the planets dead too?"

Pearl frowns and reads over the article on the screen again, "Hmm... it doesn't say here, but I don't think so. Planets don't give off any light, they just reflect it, so if one exploded it would burn out quickly enough, whereas a supernova can be bright enough to outshine galaxies and can last for much longer than an explosion of a planet! The only reason we see dead stars in the first place is because their light was bright enough to reach us, but because they're millions and millions of light years away, their light only reaches us now, even though they could have died centuries ago. I don't think a planet can reflect light bright enough to be visible from millions of light years away," Pearl pauses and bits her lip, "I'm not talking too much, am I?

"No, no! Of course not, I was just thinking about something," Rose says as she turns her chair away from the window and looks up at the ceiling, "What you're saying really explains a lot. I've wondering for years why the sun B00052 orbited is still visible even though the whole planet was blown to pieces after it exploded."

"O-Oh? Can you see it from here?" Pearl asks, lowering Rose's screen and peering out the window.

"Well, if you look towards the big moon on the left, there's a little white dot in the middle of that square shaped constellation to the right of the moon. That's B00052's sun. One of the first, more distant planets they colonised after the 'you-know-what'," Rose mutters, lowering her voice. "I like to call it the Planet of Death though. Not just because they stripped it of what little life it had to build some new type of kindergarten, but because of the amount of gems that died testing the new warp technology and space ships. I don't know why she didn't drop the mission after the first failure, but anything to expand our empire, right?"

Pearl nods, smiling nervously. Some of the things Rose liked to talk about with her were things that would get her crushed in seconds, but she never seemed scared when she'd just suddenly start questioning the Diamond Authority and criticising some of their actions. Talking about how much you hate your job and the actions of the Homeworld matriarch were just asking to be crushed, or at the very least bubbled for the next thousand years. It did make Pearl feel a little special that Rose trusted her enough to talk to her about the sorts of things, even if it did make her fear for both their lives.

"Well... thank you for letting me borrow your devices for research again," Pearl says quickly, "I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem," Rose says, smiling at her, "I really enjoy listening to you talk about all that space and history stuff. You're a very intelligent gem, Pearl."

"Oh! Um, t-thank you," Pearl laughs, covering her face to hide her growing blsuh, "But all I really do is just repeat what I read! It's not like I was born knowing all this, I'm just a-"

"Don't, Pearl," Rose interrupts, wincing, "You actually understand all that technical science stuff, and you just skim over those articles! If I read them, I'd have to actually read them a few times before I got what any of it meant. Intelligence isn't just knowing, it's about understanding."

But before Pearl can think of a reply, there's a sharp knock at the door.

"Yes?" Rose calls, quickly rolling her chair back over to her desk as Pearl hands her screen back.

"This is Sphalerite," says the gem behind the door, "I'm here to collect the report about Y49356's facet 8."

"Oh, of course. Come in!"

The door opens and Pearl watches the tall, slender gem approach Rose's desk. She stands before her with arms folded and a blank expression on her face, but she frowns when she sees Pearl staring.

"Defect," she spits, glaring at Pearl with narrowed eyes, "Stop slouching and keep your eyes to yourself."

"I'm sorry," Pearl whispers, putting her shoulders back and bowing her head. She wondered how Sphalerite knew she was defective, seeing as she'd never brought it up before, but then she remembers that normal pearls are taught to always stand with perfect posture with their head bowed low. She sees Rose shake her head disapprovingly and tut, but she knows it's just an act. Rose didn't really care what way she stood and she never had.

"Let me just find it first," Rose says, looking back at her screen as she searches through her files, "It's definitely done , I just don't remember what file name I gave it."

Sphalerite sighs irritably, tapping her foot, "Yellow Diamond needs that report today , Rose Quartz."

"I know and she'll get it, let me just burn it onto a disk for you," Rose opens a file and turns to Pearl, "Can you get me a disk, please?"

"Yes," she says quietly, keeping her head bowed as she hands Rose a disk from off of a nearby shelf.

"Thank you, Pearl," Rose nods at her and takes the disk and slots it into the device attached to her screen, "It shouldn't take too long, but this thing is getting old."

Sphalerite sighs again and rolls her eyes as she tosses her hair out of her face and glares at Rose.

Rose smiles back at her sweetly, resting her head on her hands, "So, how are things, Sphalerite?"

She says nothing.

"How's your new job?"

"You ask me that everything I come to collect something from you."

"I know, I'm just trying to be friendly! You know, I'm still so surpr-"

"The disk is ready, Rose Quartz," Sphalerite interrupts, speaking through gritted teeth.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't notice," Rose giggles to herself and takes the disk out, handing it to Sphalerite, "Here you are. Don't lose it! It's the only disk I have right now. Oh, speaking of, you wouldn't mind telling the front desk I'm low on some supplies, would you? Just while you're here."

Sphalerite stares back at her blankly and she grabs the disk and puts it into a case around her waist, "Thank you for your report, Rose Quartz. Yellow Diamond will be back to you by the end of the week."

"Thank you! And don't forget to close the door behind you!"

Sphalerite nods at her and walks out, slamming the door as she leaves. Rose waits until she hears her footsteps grow more distant before she lets out a sigh of relief. "Nothing brightens my day more than a visit from Sphalerite."

Pearl titters and lets her shoulders drop again, "Was she always that, uh, unpleasant?"

"She used to be a bit more talkative and nicer to be around, but once someone gets moved up even a bit, they change," Rose slumps in her chair, "It's not the first time I've seen it happen Anyway, I was wondering if you'd be able to go down to the front desk and get me some more disks, seeing as Sphalerite didn't seem too interested. I have a meeting scheduled with Pink Diamond in two days and I have a lot of stuff to present to her."

"Of course!" Pearl says, but before she walks away she hesitates, "Rose, can I just ask you something first?"

"What is it?"

"Well… how did Sphalerite know that I was defective? She's never brought it up before, so I was just wondering how she found out."

Rose seems to wince at the question. "Well… you see, Pearl, when you're in such a small building like this things tend to, um, get around? Maybe Chalcedony said some off-hand remark and she caught on," Rose looks with her with her usual comforting smile, "I wouldn't worry about it too much. She was probably just trying to wind you up or trying to make herself seem better than you, seeing as her new job gave her that awful sense of superiority all that court seems to have."

Pearl nods, "It didn't really bother me that much, I'm quite used to it by now. I just wanted to know how she knew. It's not that obvious that I'm defective, is it?"

"Of course not!" Rose's smile fades as she slumps down in her chair again, "And even if it was, there's nothing wrong with that, okay?"

"Okay," Pearl says, though she feels herself flush with guilt. Of course there was something wrong with being defective; if there wasn't, defects wouldn't be crushed without a second thought before they can even form. She know she was just lucky. Maybe her ancestors were right all along. Maybe there was some sort of goddess watching down on her and saving her from the usual fate of a defect.

She leaves Rose's office and walks down the hall to the stairs, head bowed and arms behind her back. As she passes by other gems, she wonders if they know she's defective too and if they're all silently laughing at her behind her back. She spends so much time in this perfect little bubble, just her and Rose, where she can do whatever she likes and act however she wants without being threatened with termination. Sometimes she forgets that outside their little bubble, everyone else hates her- that is ,until someone like Sphalerite comes along reminds her of everything that's wrong with her and how everyone except Rose feels about her.

But Pearl was used to being insulted, teased, put down, and hated. After the first two centuries of her life, gems ran out of new things to try and hurt her with. It didn't really hurt any more and "defect" was by far the nicest thing another gem had ever said to her. Even then, there was still part of her that still felt that pang and shame every time someone pointed it out, especially when she was used to how Rose treated her now. But knowing how much it hurt Rose to see other gems do that to her hurt her a lot more than some petty insult she'd heard a million times already.

Once she makes it to the bottom of the spiral staircase, she straightens up and clears her throat, walking towards Chalcedony's desk with practised elegance.

"Excuse me, Chalcedony," she says in her most quiet, pearl-like voice, "Rose Quartz is running low on office supplies, namely disks and memory sticks, she was wondering if you could send some up to her as soon as possible."

"Of course," Chalcedony says with her usual forced smile, "Did she give Sphalerite the report she was looking for? I didn't see her leaving."

"Yes, she received the report. When she left the office she went right so I assume she had other business to attend to."

"Oh, right," Chalcedony turns around to face her computer again and waves pearl off, "You can leave."

Pearl nods and bows before she turns around to leave again. She had her "perfect pearl" act perfected now, and even Rose said it was very convincing. Though Chalcedony didn't seem to buy it, or maybe she was just condescending towards everyone.

Pearl walks back up to Rose's office, stretching and shaking her arms out as she walks in.

"Is she going to send them up?" Rose asks, looking up from her screen.

"Yes, though she didn't say when," Pearl says, walking over to Rose's desk and leaning against it, glancing at her screen, "Is there anything you need me to prepare for your meeting with Pink Diamond?"

"Oh, no. All this stuff is strictly classified and confidential. For now, at least. Her, the other Diamonds and myself are the only ones who are supposed to know about this."

"New colony?"

Rose is quiet for a minute. "Yes, I suppose. But there's more to it than that, to put it simply. I… can't really tell you much more, sorry."

"Oh, I see," Pearl stares at Rose for a moment before getting up from the desk and walking towards some of Rose's shelves to rearrange her things. She half-heartedly dusted some of Rose's swords that she had on display, feeling a little hurt. It wasn't like her to not tell her something, even if it was classified. Were they going to talk about her? Had Rose really just hated her this whole time and now she was arranging to have her crushed? Thousands of different ideas raced through her mind, none of them good.

But Rose had said she'd never lie to her. She was just overreacting. Maybe Rose was just afraid someone would listen in on her telling Pearl about the meeting and get Rose in trouble. Either way, Pearl still felt hurt. She was her confidant, she was the one she told everything to. This was the first time she was keeping things from her and it really made her worry.