We were already in deep space. I didn't waste any time; instead of using the usual electric bubbles, I used my own energy to encapsulate all the Rubies into permanent gem bubbles. I took Blue Sapphire's ship—why lie? It was an excellent piece of engineering. Small, compact, and luckily for me, packed with an impressive weapon supply. For obvious reasons, there was no food, so... hooray for my new physiology that doesn't need it!
I looked at the holographic marker pointing to our destination: Earth. It had already been about 300, 400 years? since we first escaped, and time was starting to feel different. It was time to return to my origins. According to my calculations, there was still a long time before Steven would be born, or at least I hoped so; my memory of the exact timeline was a bit blurry, but my goal was clear: I wanted to talk to Rose Quartz—or rather, Pink Diamond.
I checked the estimated time of arrival on the main screen.
"Time remaining: 80 years," the cold interface stated.
I nodded to myself as I stretched. Eighty years is nothing in Gem time. If I were still human, I would've wanted to rip my dick off out of sheer desperation, but since I'm not human, and I definitely don't have a dick, I'm actually doing great.
I got up from the command seat and headed toward the technical compartment. I had a plan for these eight decades: I was going to upgrade Yarbis to his absolute limits and, most importantly, make as much progress as possible on the injector redesign to complete "Project Diamond."
As I walked down the metallic hallways, I heard Sapphire and Pearl's voices in the back, in the lounge area.
"I mean, I never thought the three of us would fuse. It was incredible, it was like... I don't know, super huge!" Pearl was saying with a smile and those star-eyes she got whenever something amazed her.
Sapphire just nodded with a serene calm as they both continued tending to the plants and fish we had managed to rescue.
"It's fascinating, isn't it?" Sapphire added with a smile.
"It is. I just hope the next time we fuse it isn't under those circumstances," Pearl replied, shaking her head as if trying to banish the memory of the battle.
I kept walking past them toward my workshop. I had a lot of work to do, and the vacuum of space was the perfect place to focus on becoming something the universe couldn't ignore.
Years went by, and I personally took charge of my Project Diamond. I've been making progress, researching my gem even further because, for obvious reasons, I'm making sure this project only works for my own gem, just in case. Now that I have more minerals inside me, I can feel the information flowing; things that used to be complicated for me, I handle much better now. I feel more power, I feel like my whole being is complete and then some. I even feel a strange sense of pride, but I don't pay much attention to it.
During this time, I upgraded my robotic parts: now they are adaptable and have a massive amount of data connected to the Empire without them even noticing. Plus, I upgraded Yarbis. Now I have a visor on my face, like a pair of glasses, through which I connect to him. I even gave one to Pearl and one to Sapphire.
They, by the way, fused on their own and acted weird during that time, remaining fused; there was even a period where they wouldn't separate for anything in the world. I left them alone—they already know not to bother me when I'm working.
Along the way, we crossed paths with various Empire ships, which I managed to defeat thanks to my tech. I trapped any Gems I found in bubbles, which built up my combat experience even more, on top of scoring me extra tech. To avoid any trouble, I made our location inaccurate; I took the ship's tracker, slapped it on a rock, and launched it in a different direction toward the Empire with a rocket, just so they wouldn't find any trace of where we were heading.
"Grindset," I told myself ironically, trying to calm the nerves eating away at me. Ever since we left, the panic has only grown. Did I calculate the time right? According to my new optimized functions, we are about 300 years away from the start of the canon. Those 1,500 years I calculated when I was born weren't that far off after all, but now that perfection allows me to see the decimal points of reality, I know we are in the final stretch of the "before."
I shook my head, staring into the starry abyss. I was scared. Would they see us as a threat? How would Rose Quartz look at me? With suspicion or with kindness? I didn't know, and that uncertainty weighed heavier than the minerals in my gem. My injector was at 80%, but for that final push, for that remaining 20%, I needed the impossible: to see a Diamond in person.
"Any concerns, Silica?" Pearl asked.
She spoke now with a freedom she didn't have before. Pearls always need someone, and I guess she chose me as her new purpose—kind of like the Pearl from the show, but with this touch of independence we've built up. It was all the same to me, as long as she was doing fine.
"Nothing, just that we're almost to Earth... what do you think?" I told her, trying to keep my smile from trembling too much.
Pearl frowned with worry, and right then, Sapphire appeared out of nowhere with her silent, ethereal stride.
"If you want, we can fuse," Sapphire proposed calmly. "To find out what might happen on Earth. By fusing the two of us, we can see things as accurately as possible."
I thought about it long and hard. My "Perfect Gem" pride fought against the need for security, but in the end, what did it matter? I offered her my hand, and she did the same. Light enveloped us, warm and vibrant, until Sodalite appeared once again. She looked at her elegant hands, noticing the changes in her form due to my new clothes and physical upgrades, but she didn't dwell on it.
Quickly, I forced future vision to its absolute limit.
At first, everything seemed to be going well. I saw our ship landing smoothly; I saw us walking through ancient ruins, surrounded by overgrown weeds and silence. It was a peaceful arrival, exactly what I needed to calm my anxiety.
But suddenly, the vision twisted.
Without warning, the flow of the future cut out. It was as if a wall of absolute static shot up in front of my eyes, blocking any possible path. The vision abruptly snapped, leaving a black void where our destiny should be.
I frowned, feeling a stab of frustration and a new kind of fear. Something, or someone, was clouding the future, and in the Gem world, that was never a good sign.
Is there another Sapphire down there? Sodalite thought in confusion, analyzing the static in the vision. But as she pondered it with their shared mind, everything clicked. Rose Quartz's rebellion was still active in this time period. Suddenly, a memory from our Sapphire's components came to the fusion's mind: the image of the Blue Sapphire we had just bubbled in the gray desert. She remembered that, in the past, when two future visions from different Sapphires clashed or crossed directly, the lines of probability canceled each other out, causing the future to cut off and fail completely.
Returning to reality and her analysis, Sodalite realized that if the vision had cut out, it was because down on Earth, protecting the rebels, there was definitely already another Sapphire. But that wasn't exactly bad news. We had vastly superior technology, genetic modifications, and Yarbis. Only if it were hundreds of rebels attacking en masse all at once would things get a little complicated for us; other than that, a single Sapphire with a handful of gems wasn't going to be enough to stop us.
Sodalite remained silent, mentally calculating several possible futures while the ship entered the final phase of the journey, drastically slowing down as it approached the planet's orbital space.
With a flash of cyan light, Sodalite unfused. Silica immediately stepped up to the main control panels, while Sapphire checked the coordinates of the different destinations on the touchscreens, and Pearl helped secure the cockpit's docking and defense systems.
"Wow... this is..." I muttered to myself, gazing at the space horizon through the large front glass.
"Earth?" Sapphire asked, letting out a serene smile.
"It's beautiful..." Pearl said, looking at it with sparkling, star-filled eyes. It was the first time I had seen her react with such wonder to a planet.
I shook my head while scanning Earth's surroundings, mentally comparing it to the geographical maps of my old human world. Thanks to my gem's upgrades and optimization, details that used to be blurry to me were now completely clear: the landmass had been altered by colonization. For instance, the map clearly showed that what was known as Russia in my past life didn't exist here, leaving a massive ocean void in its place.
Shifting my gaze, I noticed the Moon, which was quite close to our entry trajectory. Without a second thought, I moved my floating fingers across the panel and diverted the ship's course directly toward the gray satellite.
"Where are we going?" Pearl asked, noticing how we were pulling away from the direct route to Earth's atmosphere.
"I want to check out the Moon. If this was a Homeworld colony, I imagine there must be a base of operations or an important position for one of the Diamonds here," I replied in a casual tone as the ship covered the distance at high speed.
As we neared the lunar surface, Pearl began inspecting the terrain with the radars until we located a structure jutting out of the barren landscape. From the cockpit, we could tell it was pure Gem architecture—ancient and abandoned looking—which I steered the ship toward to make a landing.
We parked the ship a safe distance from the fortified entrance. The armored blast doors of the Gem structure blocked the way entirely.
"How do we open this?" Pearl asked, examining the entrance from the monitors.
"You can hack it," Sapphire suggested, turning to look at me.
"Are you sure the vision shows it's safe?" I asked. I knew beforehand that Sapphire had already verified it in her probabilities, but I was asking her mostly out of mere courtesy and protocol.
"Yep," Sapphire replied in a quiet voice, falling silent for a moment as she continued to review the possible futures in her mind.
I adjusted my visor lenses and connected directly to the central system of Blue Sapphire's ship.
"Yarbis, activate 'Terminator' mode toward the structure ahead," I ordered firmly.
"Activating Terminator mode, sir," Yarbis replied in his usual digitized tone.
We stayed in absolute silence inside the cockpit for a few seconds, watching Yarbis's interface throw a direct hack pulse at the frequency of the ancient base. After a brief hiss of energy, the heavy stone and light seals of the structure's door began to retract, slowly swinging wide open.
"At your command," Yarbis's voice echoed through the speakers again, this time with a tone that hinted at a smug smile for a job well done.
I advanced the ship slowly into the structure's hangar. Once inside, the massive lunar base doors automatically closed behind us, leaving us completely safe and sealed off from the vacuum outside.
"Shall we head down?" I asked, flashing a sideways smile as I looked at my companions.
They both nodded with determination, and we started equipping our weapons and robotic parts, ready to explore the ancient base.
As we walked down the ship's ramp, I noticed how their new suits fit their bodies perfectly. They were practically retractable; remember that Tony Stark movie where he used a retractable nanotechnology suit? Well, I made our armor based exactly on that. Now we were more tricked out than ever, with compact gear ready to deploy at the slightest sign of danger.
As we stepped onto the floor of the lunar base, the first thing that caught our attention were the massive murals of the four Diamonds artistically drawn on the high walls. I turned on a portable flashlight integrated into my gear that projected a bright, powerful beam; they did the same with their visors, and we began to carefully explore the place. It wasn't every day you got the chance to look at something like this.
"Was that Pink Diamond?" Pearl asked with genuine surprise.
I turned my flashlight toward the wall she was pointing at, and oh my God, I froze. Usually, the cartoons from my old world don't show what these places should really look like, but seeing it in person is a whole different level. It's beautiful. Every painting had an incredible level of detail, but none as much as that one. The representation, the linework... you could tell they used to put love and dedication into colonial architecture; later, in Era 2, they just slapped the Diamond logo on everything and called it a day—all dry and minimalist.
"It's beautiful," Sapphire added simply, as we walked around dumbfounded, taking in the artwork.
We ran our hands along the cold, textured walls. For my part, guided purely by my internal programming and my engineer's instinct, I knelt to touch the textured floor, whispering quietly so as not to interrupt the girls' moment.
"Yarbis, scan this entire place. If you see any tech or data that can help you upgrade, grab it; all of this is useful. Heck, if you can replace the native AI or operating system here, it would be great for hacking the network and making this structure our base of operations," I muttered to Yarbis, who was already working like crazy through my visor's sensors.
What exactly did I want to do? Well, my plan was to turn this abandoned lunar base into my private headquarters. Here I could upgrade the Injector, process minerals, and have all our stuff centralized in one strategic spot. On the Moon? Yes, on the Moon, because here there wouldn't be any annoying humans bothering us, nor any Homeworld patrol gems ruining the vibe, honestly. It was the perfect hideout.
"Here," I said out loud, stopping as I touched a panel on the floor that seemed to activate the upper levels.
Upon making contact with my optimized gem, the ancient mechanism reacted, and what looked like sections of floating stairs activated, rising smoothly into the air until they locked perfectly into place leading to the next floor.
"Are you guys done?" I asked, looking over my shoulder as they both followed behind me, leaving the murals behind.
We started climbing the floating stairs. Now I could do it with total ease; my current height was roughly Garnet's, maybe a bit taller, which gave me an imposing presence. Sapphire, caught up in the lightness of the moon's gravity, took little leaps that made her smile, and Pearl looked at her with the same expression, visibly more relaxed.
Upon reaching the second floor, after passing through the tunnel formed by the stairs, we ran into a strange orb floating in the center of the room. We stood in silence for a few seconds, contemplating it. Without wasting time, I sent a direct order to Yarbis to scan absolutely everything in the room; I wanted to see what function that device served and how it processed energy.
We continued climbing to the highest level. When we stepped out, we walked around a bit while looking at our surroundings: the whole place was a massive dome, transparent and incredibly pretty, revealing the vacuum of space and Earth in the distance.
"I never thought I'd see this place..." Sapphire said after we stood there like idiots staring at the gigantic command chair dominating the room.
"Me neither," Pearl confessed, though a slight nervousness could be heard in her voice from the historical weight of what that throne represented.
As for me, I didn't give a damn about protocol and sat right down in the chair. It was massive, designed for a Diamond, but with my physical modifications, it didn't fit me too badly. Instantly, I extended my floating fingers and began manipulating the holographic data that erupted from the console, connecting directly to the base's core.
Pearl and Sapphire fell silent watching me. Then they looked at each other at the same time, shared a knowing smile, and without thinking twice, hopped up onto the chair too, sitting on either side of me. A pretty surreal scene: three rebel gems playing around on the throne of one of the Empire's rulers. I left them to it; they were happy, and after everything we had been through, that was the only thing that mattered.
While they joked around and enjoyed the moment, I got down to serious work and initiated a deep search into the encrypted files.
First on the list: The Cluster.
Holographic blueprints of the geo-weapon appeared. It was a monstrosity: millions of gem shards incubating in Earth's core that, upon emerging, would completely destroy the planet. I had to stop it. Ideally, Rose would find out and handle it herself when the time came, but just in case, I saved all the data to my private cloud. With my ship's upgrades, I could easily descend to the core, though I'd prefer to design a specialized new drill once the injector was at 100%.
After securing the Cluster data, I dove headfirst into the base's historical records to understand the current state of the planet. Yarbis processed the information and deployed a detailed summary on my visor:
REBELLION REPORT: COLONY PLANET EARTH (CURRENT YEAR)
General Status of the Colony: Earth's colonization is officially stalled. What began as a standard Era 1 resource extraction has turned into the first large-scale military conflict against the Empire.
The Trigger: A gem from Pink Diamond's court, a Earth-assigned Quartz calling herself "Rose Quartz," started an insurrection after declaring that the planet's organic life should be preserved, defying direct orders from Homeworld.
The Factions in Conflict:
The Empire (Homeworld): Initially commanded by Pink Diamond (with military and strategic support sent by Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond). They utilize local Quartz soldiers (produced in the Alpha and Beta Kindergartens) and elite Ruby battalions. Their current strategy is the containment and total eradication of rebel pockets.
The Crystal Gems: A guerrilla force composed of rogue, defective gems and "forbidden" fusions. Their tactics rely on surprise attacks, sabotaging injectors, and liberating gems from work fronts. They have hidden bases all over the planet, primarily in the northern hemisphere.
Current Military Situation: The war has reached a point of absolute attrition. The Empire's tactics have failed to halt the Rebel Gems' advance due to the planet's geography and Rose Quartz's combat prowess.
Registered Anomaly (The Cluster): Due to the complications of winning the war through conventional means, Homeworld high command has already secretly begun implanting the first experimental shards into the Earth's mantle. The Cluster is the ultimate contingency plan: if the Empire cannot have Earth, the geo-weapon will destroy it from within once its incubation is complete.
I finished reading the report while the cyan holograms reflected off my lenses. The situation down there was a total war zone, and we were dropping right onto the game board.
I shook my head and closed the files, saving everything to my database. I looked at Pearl and Sapphire, who were still laughing beside me in the chair.
"Alright, girls," I said, getting up from the throne and stretching my robotic limbs. "We know exactly what we're facing down there. It's time to prep the ship for the final descent."
They nodded as we walked back toward the ship. On my end, I kept whispering orders to Yarbis under my breath:
"Cut any connection to the Empire and completely erase this base's location from all their data sources. Also, I want you to upgrade the entire internal security system—you know what to do."
Yarbis logged each of my directives without missing a single bit. Before leaving the top floor, I installed a small flash drive that was actually a secondary node for Yarbis, which would serve to keep us directly connected to this place and monitor it from afar; but whatever, I'd leave that heavy lifting to the AI.
As we headed down the floating stairs, we passed by the floating orb on the second floor again, and this time I stopped in front of it. Pearl and Sapphire looked at me with curiosity.
"That's an observation orb, isn't it?" Pearl asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep," I replied.
I sat in front of the console and touched the sphere's surface. Instantly, the entire environment around us seemed to vanish, and a hyper-realistic projection of Earth enveloped us. From what I managed to log in the chronological scan, the humans down there were living in a pretty primitive and hostile era where religion and mysticism dominated social thought, so you can imagine the level of fanaticism and how they treated women back then.
Leaving human nonsense aside, I focused on examining the planet's natural landscapes: colossal mountains, untouched valleys, and breathtaking expanses of vegetation. Pearl quickly moved to my side, marveled by the view of the world from space; Sapphire did the exact same thing. While they were distracted looking at the continents, I took the opportunity to camouflage another Yarbis database inside the orb. With this, we would have the ability to observe any point on the planet in real-time thanks to the satellites of the gem network.
After they played with the interface for a bit and satisfied their urge to visually explore, I determined it was finally time to descend to Earth.
By the time we got on the ship, Yarbis had already taken full control of most of the lunar hangar's automated systems. He opened the base's doors quickly to let us through, and we pointed the ship's nose toward open space.
"Are you guys ready?" I asked, flashing a genuine smile as we began our descent trajectory.
"Excited!" Pearl exclaimed, her eyes shining with enthusiasm.
"As always, but in better spirits," Sapphire commented from her seat in a noticeably more cheerful tone.
I couldn't help but smile seeing them like that. I was about to return to what, in another life, was my home.
As we cut through the upper layers of the atmosphere, the monitor readings showed me an incredible picture: the climate, the air composition, the purity of the ocean... the planet's entire environment was so much cleaner, denser, and healthier than what I remembered from my modern era. That brought a small smile of relief to my face, and my engineer mind was already starting to scheme up what kind of clean tech I could invent in the future to keep humanity from screwing up this ecosystem with environmental pollution.
The ship landed smoothly and silently on solid ground. As soon as the doors opened, we stepped outside together, greeted by the warmth of a spectacular sunset that painted the sky in shades of orange and red.
"How beautiful..." I whispered, feeling a pang of nostalgia so real it forced me to wipe a small tear from my face.
"So this planet is where we plan to live... not bad," Sapphire commented, nodding to herself in approval as she gazed at the horizon.
Pearl, meanwhile, was already scanning the surroundings, smiling with a contained excitement that made the whole atmosphere contagious.
As for me, I stood firm, taking in the landscape. My eyes processed the terrain data through my tactical visor as I began to plot, step by step, my next strategic moves in this new world.
END OF CHAPTER 26.