Chương 164: LOG-156.

Mask in place? Check.

"My Overseer, the guests have arrived!" Outward expression cool and collected? Check.

"See them in. Nacre Three should be outside to help supervise." Air of authority loud and clear? Check.

"Yes my Overseer!" Semi-permanent limb enhancers perfectly concealed as just another part of my lightform? Check.

"My Overseer, the Pearls of Batch Seventeen have all been assembled! Shall we-" A vague sense of final panic and preparation in the Reef as its workers scrambled to ensure everything was flawless? Check.

"Get them lined up, you've all done this plenty of times, haven't you?" Various Gems bothering me for last second confirmations, despite having performed this same song and dance longer than I'd been alive? Check.

"Y-Yes my Overseer!" Staring at the pair of Peridots until they both got the hint and sprinted off in different directions, their own limb extenders allowing them a decent clip, I turned back towards the immense fountain currently spraying water that literally sparkled as it arced through the air, raising an eyebrow.

"Viri-I mean, my Overseer!" Glancing at the pink figure out of the corner of my eye, I inclined my head ever so slightly, pointedly ignoring her less than subtle slipup.

"Thulite, how are we doing?" The other Gem quickly brought up a datapad at the question, swiping through it for a moment with a focused expression on her face before nodding quickly, shooting me a smile as she did so.

"All decorations are in place and accounted for! We're following a traditional style from Era One in response to the age of some of the arriving visitors! Oh, and I've arranged for a distinctly militant style greeting line of Quartzes this time around! T-To match the energy of the group! They're ah, predominantly-" She paused as I waved a clawed hand, turning and walking around the fountain and towards the door that I knew led to one of the many outdoor landing pads the Reef sported.

"Yellow Court, I'm aware Thulite, I wrote the report, remember? Now, walk with me. It's time to greet our esteemed guests." The trip through the short but well decorated hallway and out into what I could only describe as an excessively cavernous greeting room was quiet, with my… friend? Coworker? Underling? Shooting me the occasional glance but largely keeping whatever thoughts she had to herself.

The small assembly of Gems being escorted in by no less than two rigid lines of Storm Quartz guards were largely what I expected. Mostly Garnets, with Hessonites in particular proving the majority. I spotted an Emerald or two as well, and felt a brief pang at the thought of my own former owner, before stuffing it down as I noticed the one person that stuck out of the green, yellow and orange dominated crowd.

The stark blue of Azurite's lightform felt distinctly cool compared to the far warmer tones of the rest of the group, the Gem in question's eyes widening extensively the second she caught sight of me. Difficult to read compared to most individuals I've encountered before, a byproduct of her nature as a Fawn agent, perhaps. Extensive training in infiltration and emotional masking hides most of what she's feeling. … But not everything.

She feels guilty, and judging by the micromovements of her eyes, is either worried or uncertain. She may think I'm compromised, be feeling sorry for her hand in my capture, or both. There is also an assessment of the various opportunities this meeting might lead to. She is still a spy.

I watched in real time as the Fawn infiltrator smoothed out her expression, even as the whispers and idle chatter of the various nobles and officers around her cut out, the Caretaker at the head of the congregation turning on a heel and gesturing towards me with a beckoning bow, a wide smile upon her face.

"Ah, and it would appear our magnificent Overseer has decided to greet us personally for the occasion! A true honour indeed!" Folding my hands behind my back, I took just a few more steps forward before slowing to a stop, panning my gaze across the crowd with a contemplative look. The nobles preened beneath my sight, the military types who outnumbered them standing a little straighter, as if being inspected by a superior, even as I stared down my nose at the lot of them.

"... An honour indeed. Greetings, dearly beloved guests. I am Nacre Four, but you may refer to me as Overseer for the duration of your stay within my facility. I will trust that my subordinate has elaborated upon the appropriate procedures prior to your acquisitions?" That prompted a straightening of Nacre Three's own posture, alongside a chorus of affirmatives from my audience.

"Excellent, if you will all follow me, we can keep this whole process brief. I'm sure you're all busy Gems, so I'll endeavor not to waste too much of your time. Come along." Turning, I began walking back the way I'd come, Thulite hesitating for a second before hurrying after me. And soon enough, everyone else was as well, their uncoordinated footsteps prompting a twitch of my eye at the lack of efficient protocol, before I forced the foreign sensation away with a flex of will.

This was no time for silly mental contamination, after all. — The fact that my only method of getting back into contact with Fawn was a roundabout game of messenger was… annoying. But understandable. When I'd initially guaranteed the privacy of my office, one of the first things I'd thought to do was subtly try to see if I could send out digital communications to known rebel channels.

Even if I was subject to unknown forms of surveillance, the hope had been that the organisation's coded means of contacting one another could slip my calls for help past any theoretical sensor nets. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. As quickly became obvious during the course of that failed attempt, Fawn had evidently restructured during my absence. Hell, they'd probably done so due to said absence.

Former low priority logistics channels that in actuality served as communication hubs no longer existed. Key users which I knew to be field agents were reassigned elsewhere, in positions I didn't know how to contact or even identify. Even my old credentials didn't work when logging into any legacy systems I could find, ones that hadn't been entirely scrubbed clean anyway, which was just another problem among many, many other issues that made simply calling my old allies an effective impossibility.

As a result, everything indicated that there had been a ruthless sweep of all former operations, enough to the point that if I didn't know any better, I'd have questioned whether Fawn had ever even existed at all. In the face of that, Azurite's little Pearl snatching operations were a miraculous stroke of good fortune which had me borderline giddy, even in response to the technical obstacle that was the ruthless organisational secrecy that I'd grown so appreciative of in the past.

The end result of all that, in the end, was the slightest genuine smile on my face as I stared out at the attentive faces of Batch Seventeen, inspecting their myriad expressions as I did so. Some were hopeful. Others were anxious. A few even looked impatient, of all things. But most of all, none of them showed enough of those emotions for anyone without experience in spotting such things to truly notice.

The guests were waiting now, at the other end of the assembly hall we had all convened in, watching from over my shoulder as I folded my arms behind my back and nodded to the graduating Batch, parroting words that I myself had once listened to, decades ago.

"You have all been taught. You have all been trained. You have all been conditioned. All to make you the best servants you can possibly be. Today is the day that you leave my care, alongside that of the Reef, and become true Pearls." Something Nacre Three evidently noticed from her own position in one of the hall's corners, the Caretaker beaming, at least in comparison to the relatively calm expressions the other two Nacres present held, taking up their own corners away from her.

Taking one last long look at the now perfectly still Pearls, I ignored the slight roiling in my gemstone at the reminder that, bar perhaps one or two, I was effectively handing them off into slavery. I could unpack that… later. Hopefully. It was with a subtle twitch of my hands that I gathered their attention, claws moving in gentle curves that spelt out words only they and I could understand.

'Stay sharp, stay safe. Be aware of what is going on around you and always plan ahead. Good luck!'

"... Now then, let us begin." Turning, I stilled my fingers and made a beckoning motion, prompting the crowd of Gems that had been watching my little pep talk to approach, even as I gestured towards the living escape attempt that was my messenger, her green eyes widening slightly before she clamped down on the breach of her mask.

"Presenting Pearl Seventeen A, to be transferred to the immediate and indefinite ownership of the honourable Azurite, facet 3S7V, cut 4XG. May you both find yourselves rather suitable for one another." Despite my little addition to the usual spiel, the hand off went smoothly, with my little clone moving forward and bowing before the blue spy in a picture perfect copy of the particular greeting pose I and the other Nacres had taught to the Batch countless times.

"It is my pleasure and honour to serve you, my Azurite." Unseen to everyone else, I noted the way the Gem in question's smile tightened almost imperceptibly, her eyes flicking towards me for an instant before falling back to the green Pearl in front of her.

"Most excellent. As much as this has all been quite riveting, I do have a few rather important tasks ahead of me, so we'll be taking our leave now. Do carry on without us! Farewell, and thank you for the hospitality!" Nodding my head amicably as the spy admirably hid the nervousness practically pouring out from her lightform, I watched as she strode towards the exit, a pair of Storm Quartz troopers stepping out of her way and allowing the Gem, and her new Pearl, to quietly disappear from the event.

Staring at where they'd gone for a moment, I let out a soft breath of relief before turning to the next owner in line, this one a Hessonite.

"Next. Presenting Pearl Seventeen B, to be transferred to the immediate and indefinite ownership of the honourable Hessonite. Facet-" The various proceedings would go on for quite a while, due in part to the sheer size of the Batch, and their subsequent takers. Some left early, like Azurite.

Others stayed afterwards for the Gem equivalent of small talk, and I suffered through the blatant politicking a few of those brazenly attempted, noting down which individuals might be useful later, and which ones I could effectively write off as worthless. And in the end, once it was all over, I made my way back to my office to excited congratulations from Nacre Three and quiet, meaningful stares from Nacre One and Two, the pair still seemingly fully intent on speaking to me at some point.

But that could wait, for now. Slowly settling into place behind my desk, I reached for a specific datapad, one I'd had 7XG painstakingly modify, before I in turn had altered some of its inner code with what I remembered of Glitch's lessons in regards to technological matters, and activated it. I remained in that hunched position for the next few hours, ignoring everything else, just… sitting in the darkness of my office, staring at the bright screen and the little chatroom-esque setup it projected at me.

Until finally… [Star?] … I grinned, teeth no doubt glinting in the dark even as a familiar wetness gathered up within my eyes. At last, success.