Chương 185: LOG-176.

Back home, there was the idea that fighting a wasp would be a nightmare. After all, they were small, agile, and while they couldn't meaningfully hurt most people, it was painful enough to give most humans pause.

"Faster." Of course, the average human can't track millimeter sized confetti holograms with any reasonable accuracy. Horizontal slash from the left. Angle is seventeen degrees. Lands in point two seconds. Dodging. I sidestepped the miniscule blade right as it would have stabbed into my eye, continuing to observe and catalogue its owner's movement patterns, predicting her next manoeuvre.

Violet let out a tinny growl as she shot past me, before shooting upwards and reorienting to try another divebomb, the spear in her hands aiming for part of my neck this time. Once more, I simply stepped out of the way, narrowing my eyes as the little Pearl let out a yell of frustration.

"Faster. Had I actually wanted to, I could have shattered you by now. Put a little spin into it if you need to, it doesn't necessarily need to be a hard slashing or piercing strike each time, lighter hits will work too. As it stands, you can weather down an opponent through a thousand cuts if you don't have any other options." Whipping around to glare at me, my creation gestured to me with a hand, even as its counterpart kept hold of her summoned weapon.

"You're not even armed! You're just dodging and-" I moved. And a moment later, she was pinned to the wall of my office, her eyes wide and limbs fluttering helplessly in between my talons. For the briefest of moments, terror flashed in her eyes before it melted into indignation. Naturally, I didn't keep her there for very long. The point wasn't to scare her, after all, but she nonetheless kept a significantly more wary eye on my claws as I released her and stepped backwards, sighing.

"I am always armed. And even if I wasn't, just about any Gem could probably crush your lightform into nonexistence with their bare hands. Your fighting style is everything I have learned taken to its absolute extreme. You must move faster, or you will be caught and killed. And work on being less predictable. Against an opponent that knows what she's doing, that's as good as a death sentence.

Now, try agai-" There was a flash of lavender light, and I found myself staring at a blur made up of countless holoparticles, each one serving to hide Violet's minuscule form within the greater mass. Not only that, but her wings were now flickering in confusing, off looking arrays that made determining her actual position that much harder.

"Hah!" Won't dodge in time. Moving to minimize impact. Ow. Aborting the sidestep I'd been attempting, I switched off the stinging pain coming from what I could perceive as a partial cut crossing the length of my cheek. Hmm. This was the first time that I'd ever actually been cut, now that I thought about it. Hell, it was the third time I'd ever actually been damaged at all. Inefficient, really. Lightforms are manifested in sections, yet this single cut is draining energy from my entire body.

It would be significantly more reliable if each section had its own independent resource allocation. I should be able to fix that by- Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Later. I need to focus right now. Turning around revealed my creation hovering in place, her previously triumphant expression now concerned, her spear clutched tightly to her chest as if she'd done something terrible.

Smiling brightly, I brought up a hand and patted my cheek, displaying the unblemished surface, which seemed to cause at least a little of the Pearl's stress to fade away. The training is good for her, but there is a hard limit to what she can achieve naturally with such a small body. I should introduce her to exterior weapons at some point. Perhaps explosives. Hard limit or not, at least she'd still be the nastiest little wasp that ever was.

"Excellent. Now, try again." — I stared at the spitting image of White Diamond's visage with a level of serenity that honestly would have surprised me, if only for the fact that there weren't two of her currently crowding whatever recording device was transmitting the interior of this or that lab to my primary terminal's screen.

"Overseer, a most fortuitous sign it is that you were available to receive our call! We would have thought you busier!" The Moissanite's grinning face was gently moved to the side as Alpha took center stage, rolling her eyes.

"Don't mind Beta, Overseer. She was not as involved with your modification, nor the success of it, as I was, and thus lacks a full measure of your capabilities."

"Oh like your project wasn't largely just a fortuitous accident!"

"And just what is that supposed to mean?"

"You and I both know how the previous uplift attempts ended!"

"Yes well this one went just fine, unlike your little flame project."

"Ack! Don't act like you're superior to me just because that went wrong!"

"I am superior to you."

"Are not!"

"Are too." Watching the duo bicker like children for a moment with lidded eyes, I quietly pondered just why their creator tolerated their existence, and sorted away that concerning little tidbit of information for…whenever it might come in handy. Maybe never.

"Are! Too!" Alpha finally managed to win the argument by physically moving her counterpart out of the screen's view once more, huffing and focusing back on me with a victorious expression twisting her features.

"Anyway, we've called for a number of reasons, the first being of course to express our gratitude for your prompt delivery of the data packets we requested. This miniature Pearl of yours is most fascinating! As are the other examples of your current Batch of course, but her existence in particular has illuminated several new fields that I had not cared to involve myself in before now!"

"Tell her about White!"

"I was getting to that! So as it turns out, the experiment you were involved in thankfully didn't prove itself a mere fluke, and our Diamond has decided to return to her pursuit when it comes to scientific aspirations! And not only that, but she's even gone back to actual design and development too!" What.

"Honestly, I can scarcely remember the last time I saw White so…well, inspired! All signs point to her words being genuine. White Diamond is doing something new after a long, long period of inactivity, enough that it has the Moissanites, some of her earliest Court members, excited.

"But I'm getting ahead of myself. As it currently stands, many new and simply fascinating technologies will be entering the testing phase soon as a result of this change, it's oh so wonderful! Why just this past cycle I was personally involved in assisting her with the development of a rather promising Warp depth shift upgrade for our ships!"

Carefully keeping the concerned wince off of my face at the words, I instead gave a simple nod to acknowledge the statement, even as Alpha swatted at something out of sight before turning back to me again, tone slightly more serious.

"Ah, and of course in terms of practical matters. Given the current rate of success you have been experiencing in generating novel data with the use of your experimental Pearls, Beta and myself shall take the time to visit the Reef soon!" She paused, a pondering note inserting itself into her voice." Perhaps within half a cycle or so? After we deal with a few projects we have incubating here in the labs. It'll be so that we might get some hands on experience regarding a few of the changes you have implemented.

For the sake of research, naturally!" That time, I did physically respond, albeit by clenching my hand into a fist and silently smacking it against the top of my desk out of view, before bowing my head and giving the Moissanite a serene smile.

"I shall be sure to prepare the facility for your arrival, then. Might there be anything else? Capable or not, I do still have tasks I must get back to." The scientist waved me off at that, even as what sounded like an explosion rumbled somewhere in the background, earning a squeak from her lookalike.

"Oh no, that was all! Do take care until we arrive, Overseer! Long live the Empire, praise the Diamonds-Beta, for stars' sake, change the crystal rod type before it starts melting again-""I know!"

"-and all those good things that you youngsters enjoy saying. Farewell for now-!" Evidently not programmed like modern Gems, simply based on their verbiage and mannerisms. White Diamond must have been far more lax in her control in the past, back before Gems as a species had reached space. I stared at where her eyes had been as the connection cut off, once more alone in my office, before letting out a breath.

"Well. Fuck that shit." Just another reason to hurry things along, it seemed. I'd put off dealing with Shell long enough anyway.