Chương 1: Start Reading

LOG-001.

"Welcome, Viridian Pearl order Sixteen B. I am Shell, a guide for Gems visiting the Reef, and your temporary instructor."

"Buh?" That was the first word out of my mouth, in this new life. It would not be the last of its kind.

"Follow the illuminated path to the education center." Shaking myself slightly and doing my best to escape the strong daze clinging to my consciousness like a fog, I glanced around for a moment before finally registering just what my newest predicament had decided to present itself as. For one I was, as a matter of fact, Viridian, just as 'Shell' had said. In the literal, colourful sense. Perfectly smooth, flawless light green skin met my gaze as I raised a thin, delicate looking hand up for inspection.

The weird dress I was decked out in also drew attention, but nowhere near as much as the shiny rock embedded where my exposed belly button should be.

"Viridian Pearl order Sixteen B. Proceed to the education center immediately. You will not be ordered a third time." I blinked, part of me tensing up at the artificial voice's politely threatening tone, and started walking forward along the helpfully illuminated path. Part of me recoiled at just how perfectly balanced I was, despite the fact that the body I was apparently now inhabiting failed to resemble my original meat mech in even the slightest of ways beyond being generally humanoid. But whatever. No big deal.

I'd figure out where the Hell I was first, alongside what had been done to me. Then I'd leave. Right?

"We will now progress into Era Two. This Era is marked by the notable end of the vile and outrageous Rose Quartz Rebellion, after the Great Diamond Authority utilized their limitless power to destroy the army of rogue Gems littering the now shattered Pink Diamond's first colony, avenging her and restoring peace and balance to our Empire." Pearl 101 had been God damned horrific.

If I hadn't fucked up my counting, it had been eight solid hours worth of incredibly in depth explanations as to what my existence and subsequent role as a Pearl meant for me. All beneath the banner of the Great Diamond Authority, of course. Imperial history was even worse, in the fact that it finally pounded into my brain (not that I actually had one of those anymore, if the Gem physiology lecture was to be believed) just where I had somehow woken up. And as what.

To condense eight fucking hours worth of bare faced indoctrination into something manageable, Pearls are 'servants' on Homeworld (the capital of the glorious Gem Empire), acting as custom made Gems with the sole purpose of serving their owner. Expected to perform activities such as dancing, singing, looking pretty and maybe even carrying things (oh boy!), Pearls are considered property by all of Homeworld, alongside the rest of the Empire surrounding it, decreed as such by the magnificent White Diamond.

I am a Pearl. And am apparently programmed to do all of these things. All while remaining meek, kind and most importantly, subservient. Even if I didn't feel very subservient about any of this damned horseshit. Yeah. My entire situation could be rather accurately summed up in a single word, if I was being entirely honest with myself. Stolen story; please report. Fuck.

The auditorium that I'd eventually been told to make my way to was dim, even as I quietly settled in amongst the other Pearls that had presumably also been led here, doing my best to avoid looking out of place. That's when the figure standing up above us revealed herself, sharp features glaring down at us impassively. She was like us. Almost.

Her dark, bordering on black limbs were stretched out far beyond that of one of our kind, and her face was significantly more gaunt, lending it an inherently inhuman quality far more drastic than that of our own multicoloured forms.

"Greetings. You will address me as either my Nacre, Nacre Three or Caretaker Three, depending on the situation. Allow me to begin this explanation with one simple fact. You are all Reef Pearls, and as such, are expected to behave at a higher standard than the common rabble produced in lesser Creation Facilities." Gems spoke English, which was odd to think about. I'd briefly considered the idea that, as I was now a rock lady myself, I had somehow 'come out' preprogrammed with whatever alien language they used.

Yet tracking the Nacre's stupidly thin lips showed that the tall, alien looking caretaker was somehow, without a doubt, absolutely speaking the King's fucking English.

"Your stay here shall be brief, as you are all custom orders. Until the prestigious Gems that have asked for your creation arrive to collect you individually, you shall all continue your education as Batch Sixteen until you are collectively deemed perfect. Though you are encouraged to interact with one another until the time comes, do not presume this means you will remain together after your collection." Which had implications, probably. Like...

what if English wasn't native to Earth and humanity, and was in fact just fucking learned and subsequently adopted from the Imperial settlers that had probably arrived decades before we were even making basic attempts at writing?

"Be warned that failure to comply with orders, or any other form of insubordination, shall be punished swiftly and severely-" The rest of the speech mostly went on like that. Some Pearls gained uncertain, almost fearful faces. Others kept their visages carefully blank of emotion. I was one of the blank ones, by the way. Mostly because I had a fucking plan beyond acting as a glorified pet for whatever rock bitch had apparently wanted me to exist for her.

"Sixteen A! Stand up and report for education, immediately!" The crimson Pearl held back a whimper, whether from the pain of having tripped and fallen over her own damn feet, or the incoming lesson she was about to receive from our wretched whore of a supervising Nacre remained a mystery. Maybe it was both. I kept my eyes firmly forward, continuing the elaborate multiple hour long dance routine for today. One fringe benefit of having life experience beyond that of my fellows in the Reef?

It somehow meshed well with my internal programming. I picked up on what I was meant to do, and how I was meant to do it, quickly. The other Pearls occupying this particular training hall followed my lead in the routine almost instinctively. They'd long since learned that if I was doing it, then it was probably a good idea to replicate the act. There were mild negatives to being awesome, though. It was difficult to ignore the way the Nacre used me as an example to set Sixteen A against.

How I was proving far more worthy of resources and training compared to her, and how I would make my future owner happy, even as my Red counterpart was threatened with 'Harvesting' if she didn't shape up, and quickly. But compared to the punished Gem's pained cries, and subsequent silence as the Nacre enacted a standard 'physical deterrence procedure' on the lagging slave, the comparisons really weren't that bad. Sixteen A would just have to shape up if she wanted to avoid future beatings.

Because there was no way in Hell I was about to make a mistake, not if it meant similar treatment. No. I was the flawless Sixteen B. The best of my entire batch. And most importantly, I was Nacre Three's personal favourite. Her pride and fucking joy. Essentially, I was the absolute shit.

I'd take the envious glares or desperate requests for advice whenever I was confined in the Pearl quarters with my 'Reefmates' any day, so long as it let me avoid the downright torture those who failed to perform could expect day by day from our loving Caretaker. Outright rebellion had flashed and passed through my gemstone quickly, and for damn good reason. Batch Sixteen had mostly been a success, even if some of us were still lagging behind in accepting and internalising our programming.

Sixteen J had been the sole exception. And that exception had been brought back into line via Rejuvenation in order to deal with the golden Pearl's overly 'flighty' tendencies. A code word for trying to run, rather than simply curling up into a ball and taking it when Nacre Three deigned to kick the everloving shit out of her for dropping a tray full of fake datapads during one of our many practice sessions.

Seeing her blank, uncomprehending eyes upon being reintroduced into the group after her fucking mindwipe had instantly set me on the straight and narrow far more than any amount of beatings ever could, that was for bloody certain. And thus, I ensured I was the best fucking Pearl that Nacre Three would ever have the pleasure of training. To her knowledge at least.

After all, Homeworld were well aware that Pearls had the highest deviancy rate out of any Gem type, and thus kept a careful eye on those who were deemed subpar in their existence. An eye I couldn't afford to have watching me. Not if I was ever going to escape this place some day.

"Oof!"

"Sixteen F! Up as well, now!" A day that couldn't come any sooner, in this lowly Pearl's humble opinion.