"So I guess we will have to talk?" Lapis asked unsurely.
The obsidian turned to her.
"I guess so…"
"I guess that's the queue for me?" The lazuli asked.
The prime obsidian nodded, to which the blue gem answered with a sigh.
"I was a just another lapis lazuli gem. I performed my function well enough to be promoted to lead a squadron of other gems of my kind on our duties. We tried to work as hard as we could for the great diamonds that created us.
But one cycle I got a message. It stated that we are assigned to serve the Obsidian council. So of course we arrived as fast as we could…" She started to shake.
"At first I didn't know why I was assigned here with my squadron, but then when I heard that there were other lapis lazuli gems arriving constantly I realized something… We were being phased out…
It seems that the Diamond authority was not satisfied with the fact that it requires entire companies of lapis lazuli gems to terraform planets. And so when they were able to create more powerful lapis lazuli gems we became useless for them. "The blue gem covered her face with her hands.
"So they disposed of us… Like trash, and where do they put their trash these days? Here, with your type. "She removed her hands from her face and looked Delta straight in the eyes. "In this fiery hell."
Delta wanted to interrupt, but contained herself.
"I… I feel so useless here. Even though I am assigned as the leader of terraforming gems, I am nothing more than a decoration on this planet, on any of the volcanic planets. I feel completely worthless. There is no use for a terraformer, who uses water, on a planet filled with magma. The cycles go by without me doing anything, hearing about other gems achievements while being unable to reach for anything myself. It feels like I am in an endless loop of nothingness. I am staying in place, when others move forward…
And the worst of all, I can't go flying. The only thing I felt truly happy doing, and I am stripped of it… "
The blue gem in front of her was now hugging herself and sobbing slightly. Delta didn't know why, but she stood up, walked to the crying gem and hugged her. For some reason she wanted to protect the Lapis Lazuli.
"I understand how you feel…" She muttered into the blue gems ear.
"But you are a Prime, you are perfect, you would never understand." The Lapis lashed out.
"I was created to be a general to the obsidian armies, a perfect soldier and a perfect leader. There were five of us at first. One of us fell during the first mission, gunned down, like so many of our soldiers, by terka.
After the campaign our leader introduced us to Omega. I was furious with the idea that a defect would be on the same level with us. I challenged it to a duel, and lost brutally.
After that, I started to notice something… I was weak, not even close to Omega, or even other Prime obsidians. I am a pushover compared to them… "
Delta felt that the lapis started to hug her back.
"I'm sorry."
"It's nothing, my problem is nothing compared to yours." And when the blue gem tried to say something she muttered. "Don't argue, you know it's true."
"It's not that…"
"Then what is it?"
"Can you let me go now? I feel strange…"
"Of course." Delta quickly removed herself and sat back on her chair.
After a short period of silence, the obsidian asked.
"Was flying the only thing you enjoyed doing?"
"I haven't done much besides my function."
"The authority is far stricter than I thought."
"They know best for advancement of our race. If their laws are strict, that's for a reason…" Lapis proclaimed with a hint of tiredness in her voice.
"So why did you enjoy flying?"
The blue gem looked at the ceiling, her gaze empty, like she was looking at what was beyond the layers of armor and constructions, which comprised the armored compound in which they were located.
"It feels incredible. It gives such freedom… In the sky there are no limits, no confining spaces, no authorities to order you around, and no labor you must do, as it's your purpose. I am truly free from everything. And as I accelerate all the worries just fade away. Nothing remains, but the feeling of freedom…
And then… there is the feeling of power… I just… I just feel so strong when the world is beneath me… It seems I'm so powerful, almost otherworldly... When I look from above, at those down on the surface… They appear so weak compared to me… I guess that's how diamonds feel?"
The lapis smiled, but she clearly wasn't happy. Delta understood that. She felt similarly, at least to the second part, during battle. The feeling of power, strength, prowess… She felt sorry for the blue gem in front of her. She didn't know why, but the she wanted the terraformer to be happy. But she didn't know how. No ships were allowed to leave any of the planets without permission from the agates assigned to supervise the obsidian armies, so transporting the lazuli to another planet wasn't an option.
Couple of other ideas that came into her mind were also quickly dismissed as impossible. One was an external suit; another was simply creating a space for the blue gem to fly around. But both of these failed to meet the criteria.
Unable to think of anything Delta started replaying the words in her mind." And then… there is the feeling of power… I just… I just feel so strong when the world is beneath me… It seems I'm so powerful, almost otherworldly…"
And then it hit her. She turned to the lapis lazuli, who was still gazing at the ceiling and stated.
"I might know what could help you."
The blue gem turned to her, her eyes filled with hope.
"Really?"
The prime obsidian nodded.
"Have you ever tried dueling?"
The blue gem looked shocked.
"Of course not, non-soldier gems are only allowed to wield weapons and receive combat training only at direst circumstances!" The homeworld programming kicked in.
"You should try then. I don't know about the feeling of freedom, but I know that dueling makes gems feel powerful." Delta stated, completely ignoring what was just said to her.
"If you say so…" The blue gem was clearly desperate, as she had agreed without any further arguing. "But I'm not sure that constantly losing would make me feel stronger in any way…"
"Oh don't worry, I know someone who is in the same category as you." And as she finished the sentence Delta was already regretting she opened her mouth. If she wanted to get to the pearl that served as the logistics officer of fleet Zeta she would have to speak with them. And being close to them was the last thing Delta wanted to do.
She almost opened her mouth to blur out that maybe she won't be able to arrange what she just suggested, but for some reason stopped. This would upset the Lapis, and she didn't want to do it. She had just met this gem, and yet, she felt inclined to help her. But why did she felt like this? It didn't make any sense. She was engineered as a ruthless general for armies of ruthless soldiers. Why would she care for a lowly terraformer? There was nothing in her programming that should have initiated such a wish!
And then it hit her. Yes this was the only answer to why she would feel in this way. She must be a defect… This would explain why she is weaker than other supposed prime obsidians, and why she would care for a terraformer.
She turned her head to the side and looked at her gem, lapis looking curiously at her but not saying a word.
Her gem looked normal; it was perfectly cut and pure black, no malformations or different colorations. After all her defection would have been a mental one if it wasn't spotted to this cycle. But she didn't know how to test this as if she was defective she wouldn't have known how a mentally stable gem would think.
She felt a cold hand land on her right shoulder. She turned to see the Lapis lazuli standing in front of her, with a worried look on her face.
"Are you alright?" The blue gem asked.
"Am I a defect?" Delta asked with a shaky voice.
"What?" the terraformer asked surprised.
"Do you think I'm defective?"
"Why would you ask something like this?"
"Because I shouldn't care about someone like you, but for some reason I do!" She screamed at the Lapis. "Now answer the question."
The blue gem took a few steps back, her entire body shaking, tears streaming down her face. She tried to say something several times, but only sobs came out.
And then the door opened and Morganite stepped into her cabinet. She walked to the Lapis, took something out of one of her pockets and handed it to the blue gem. She took it with shaking hands and looked at it confused and still sobbing.
"It's a permission for you to enter the arena to train with logistics officer pearl Facet-8L5Z Cut-8T2. She is already waiting for you." The Lapis nodded after hearing this and quickly ran out of the room.
Delta was about to leave too, but then she was stopped by a hand gesture from Morganite.
"What do you want?"
"You wanted to know if you are a defect. At least that's what I got, before having to run here before you decided to do something to this Lapis Lazuli. I have enough clients who deal with this, I don't need more." The orange gem stated sarcastically.
"Yes I did…"
"How in the stars such idea would even come to you?"
"How else would you explain me caring for a terraformer so much, just after meeting her? Not to mention her caring for me?"
"This fact actually explains more than you think…" The gem scientist walked to her console, turned it on and after several moments of searching pulled up a document. Then gestured at the obsidian, who walked to her.
In the centre of the document was a picture of a pink gem and her physical form. The physical form was typical to a quartz soldier, but instead of a white mane, her hair was pink and curly. Her features were also gentler than usually seen in a physical form of a soldier.
Next to the gem was a description, which included a lot of information Delta didn't understand, like formulas detailing how much time and resources are needed to create such a gem depending on many factors. There were also numerous graphs and tables detailing the possibilities of the gem, depending on many factors.
"What am I supposed to get from this?" Delta asked, clearly annoyed.
Morganite scrolled down until a list of possible abilities appeared. She pointed at a certain one, listed under "High rarity (Unstable)". It stated: "Ability to create a powerful empathic connection with other gems."
"But this is a rose quartz gem, I am a prime obsidian. This doesn't make any sense…"
Morganite rubbed her gem to calm down and the turned on another document. This one detailed prime obsidians, she scrolled until she reached a list of abilities. She pointed at one, which was under category "Failed", which listed the same ability: "Ability to create a powerful empathic connection with other gems."
Delta turned towards the scientist gem and looked at her.
"We are supposed to have empathic connection with other gems?"
"Well yes, you were supposed to. But it didn't really work as there was no clear reason why some rose quartz gems, created to serve pink diamond had emphatic abilities, but I did find several factors that could increase possibility of this ability appearing. But it seemed to fail as none of the prime obsidians showed any capability towards it. I scrapped the idea, it didn't work after all.
Or so I thought, but then your dialog with Lapis lazuli happened."
"You think that I my empathic powers work?"
"Well, why else would this happen?" The gem scientist took out her communicator and pressed several buttons. The apparatus started replaying a snippet of their conversation.
"How else would you explain me caring for a terraformer so much, just after meeting her? Not to mention her caring for me?"
"Now could you please leave, I have some work that I think would benefit you when I'm done."
The obsidian nodded slowly and left the Morganite alone.
"If you want to apologize to her, you know where she is." The gem scientist stated, before closing the door.
She went back to her console and sat in front of it. She turned on a hidden folder and typed in the code. A list of numbers appeared. She moved a cursor on one of the combinations and pressed. A blueprint appeared on her screen. She smiled. This project will be unusual to say the least.
End notes
Next chapter will come out sooner. In a week at most, and won't be this dialogue heavy as it will be about Star dueling Lappy Lazzi. I thank Scraps the Fool for the nickname idea.
Have a nice day!