Chương 53: LOG-049.

"I'll grab my usual." Two weeks. That's about how long it took for the Crystal Gems to get their collective shit in gear and actually start planning (without panicking like a bunch of headless chickens in the process) on how to potentially deal with the Cluster.

"Two chocolates in a bag, let me get that for you, Dewey." Sure, they'd started throwing out plenty of suggestions near the beginning, but they'd still been tinged with the startled horror of finally knowing just where all those buried shards of their friends and comrades had eventually ended up. From what I understood, Rose was still running around somewhere, probably up to all sorts of sneaky shit. Not that I was one to talk, to be fair.

"That will be a dollar and twenty three cents, please."

"Of course-oh, and keep the tip!" Money exchanged hands quickly enough, and what would potentially be Beach City's future mayor at some point flashed me a smile before making his way out, exchanging high fives with some girl waiting outside for him. I smiled back, quickly depositing the spare change in my gemstone. As for the others...

Amethyst and Vermilion had briefly tried to involve themselves before effectively stating they had little to nothing they could truly contribute outside following the directions of others, and had promptly fucked off to go track down Rebecca in what I was interpreting as some weird attempt to calm themselves down. Garnet had also disappeared, usually spending most of her time in the burning room, if Rose was to be believed whenever the hidden Diamond made her occasional visits back to the temple in between doing...

whatever she was doing. It had all eventually settled into a weird form of monotony, only really broken up by me occasionally going back down to the Kindergarten to try and get more info out of the decrepit control interface I'd managed to boot up, usually with a curious Pearl (staring at everything, including me, with a strange look in her eyes) in tow.

"Hmph." A quick glance out the window ensured I'd have at least a moment of peace. Settling down atop the counter, I hummed a short, contemplative tune. A flash of light later and I had my notepad in my hands, pages flipping rapidly as I went through some of the plans I'd begun workshopping with the renegade in question.

Say what you would about Rose's unrequited lover (or not, I wasn't quite sure of just what strange dynamic they truly had), but she was the first Gem to suggest getting me to some of the other sensor stations to see if I could get them working again, in the hopes of getting us a clearer picture of the Cluster's general rate of growth. It... kind of felt like it bothered her, my own knowledge.

She'd been particularly slow to admit that, despite her own affinity for tinkering with makeshift tech, she just wasn't very familiar with existing machinery. Of course the unfortunately short answer to that plan was that I fucking couldn't. To both her paradoxical disappointment and delight.

I could access certain systems with my Limb Enhancers (safely tucked away in my storage for now) and I could maybe kickstart a familiar module here or there, but outright repairing Gem technology more complicated than the straight forward (relative to other Gem tech) engine of a deliberately simple, mass produced fighter? Nope. Especially considering just about everything on Earth was archaic in comparison to what I was used to, which didn't make things at all simpler.

And yet somehow despite that irrefutable fact, the band of rebels had apparently decided that I was now their resident tech expert when it came to actually getting Imperial shit to work - The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Viridian." The urge to yelp and leap at least a foot into the air was strangled before it could affect my lightform, but my eyes did dart to the tall form of Garnet far more quickly than they usually did. She was suddenly just there. Because of course she was. Repressing the urge to scowl slightly at the surprise appearance, I instead just stared up at the Gem with my usual quirked brow.

"Garnet. Hello. Is... there something you needed?"

"Why are you here?" Went relatively unsaid. In the end, a short second passed in silence, one in which I noticed the fusion holding something behind her back. Thoughts flashed through my head as her arm began to move, my body tensing in response. Was she still attributing me to all of this? Was she pissed I'd talked down at her in front of the other Gems? Maybe she-"I... just wanted to apologize for my actions back when you returned with Amethyst.

It was uncalled for and I was wrong to accuse you of being involved with... what you discovered." My eyelids went up and down in a slow blink as the taller rebel gently placed a pizza box down on the counter, accompanied by a soda of some kind.... Oh....... Fucking stupid. Dumbass. Idiot Pearl. Clod. For whatever reason, I felt the rather extreme need to wipe my hand across my eyes, ducking my head slightly as the fusion let her hand fall.

"T-thank you. I appreciate it and... I'm sorry I reacted the way I did as well. I could have most certainly been calmer about things, given the situation." Fuck, I was getting soft. Getting to Earth really had made me such a crybaby, even after such a short time. Stars, I hadn't even used a closet since getting here... though that was probably a good thing.... Mmph.

Firmly shoving that particular thought into the pit of other particular thoughts I didn't quite like, I glanced up at Garnet again, doing my best to bring up a smile.

"No hard feelings?" Another second passed, before her lips quirked upwards, ever so slightly.

"No hard feelings." Nodding in relief, I let loose a sigh, hands already settling atop the pizza box and opening it up. Extra cheese. Nice. I was just in the middle of eagerly taking a bite out of the first slice when the fusion crossed her arms, a glint of light somehow flickering across the surface of her visor.

"Pearl is thinking about asking to fuse with you." Hurk. Firmly forcing down and swallowing the stray bit of crust, I glared up at the cheeky shit, who was already smirking at my reaction.

"I-" Cough.

"-see. Is there... is there any particular reason why?" Nodding, the pair of lesbians in a trenchcoat brought a hand up to her chin, rubbing it slightly.

"She was thinking about how you learned to shapeshift a digestive system thanks to you and Amethyst forming Slate. The fact is, we need someone that can figure out how to get us access to some of the more complicated Imperial structures on Earth if we're going to find a way to actually isolate just where the Cluster is, exactly. You getting the Kindergarten control room up and running was a good start, but it's not enough." The hand went up, adjusting her visor.

"You both have talents in specific areas, but your lack of knowledge in others is holding you back from making the best of those skills right now. Pearl figured... you could perhaps shore up each other's weaknesses." At my blink, the rebel shifted slightly, frowning in what seemed to be discomfort.

"Her words, not mine. But I'm seeing a lot more favourable timelines if you go through with it, and you've seemed pretty open to fusion so far. I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask since Pearl isn't quite willing to just yet. She's a bit nervous around you." Nervous? Odd, but hopefully not something that would cause problems later down the line. As for fusing with her... well, the logic was fairly sound.

My counterpart was good at improvising and actually physically assembling/interacting with things when it came to generic technology, and I knew how to make basic alterations when it came to outright Imperial computers and machinery, even if they were minor at best. Smash those values together and we could maybe pass off as a half baked Peridot or something. Hm. Taking another bite of the slice in my hand, I chewed for a few seconds, swallowed, then nodded.

"Alright. My shift ends in a few hours, tell her to meet me outside the Roaming Eye whenever she's available. May as well give it a try and all that." Garnet's only response was a barely perceptible nod, followed by a slightly wider smile, as if she'd already seen the end result.... Probably because she literally had. Fucking precogs.