I was returning from the mission, still fused with Stela, since, well, I had the power source Garnet had requested. The bad news? Everything went to hell because of a water slug.
I shuddered as I continued walking toward the portal and, with a snap, I was back at the base.
When I returned, Garnet was already waiting for me, completely still, with her arms crossed.
"So, how did it go?" she asked calmly.
I stared at her for several seconds, completely silent.
"If there's one thing Lapis and Steven agree on," I finally said, "it's that they won't accept another mission from you."
Garnet blinked, visibly confused.
"I always... I always run into something," I continued, "well, Steven, well, I... I always end up running into a slug, and now I understand why he hates them."
I said this while slime was still dripping down parts of my body.
...
Garnet remained silent as she received the motor, or rather, the power source.
"Do with it what you want," I added irritably, "I'm going to take a shower."
And with that, slamming the door, the fusion entered the bathroom.
...
Garnet stared at the closed door for a few seconds and then adjusted her glasses.
"Well," she said to herself.
Without another word, she went through the portal to continue working on the drill.
After finally washing up, the fusion changed her clothes and sat quietly on the couch while using Lapis's phone. At that moment, she just wanted to feel free, light, like Lapis. Steven had decided to remain fused as part of his training and also as a way to get away from it all for a while, and Lapis, frankly, had no reason to object.
"What game are you playing?" the fusion murmured as she swiped across the screen.
"Something simple," he said in a distracted voice, "five nights with horrible animatronics."
"That doesn't sound simple," the fusion replied with a low laugh.
The screen showed a dark hallway. Everything was silent.
"This is too quiet," the fusion said, squinting, "I don't like it."
Suddenly, a metallic noise sounded from the phone.
"Ah—" he managed to say.
The animatronic's face suddenly appeared on the screen.
"SHIT!" the fusion yelled, jumping up from the couch and nearly throwing the phone into the air.
His heart was pounding.
"Okay," he said after a few seconds, taking a deep breath, "this is definitely not relaxing."
The screen returned to the main menu.
"...again," he muttered, with obvious distrust, but without turning off the game.
And so she spent the entire night until the early hours of the morning playing, until finally exhaustion began to overtake her.
"Huh?" the fusion said, feeling the weight on her body.
"So this is what Steven meant," she murmured as she walked toward the room and examined the bed closely.
"I do fit in that bed," she said, tilting her head slightly as she analyzed it.
"Will we sleep together?" she wondered to herself, more curious than nervous, observing the mattress as if it were part of an experiment.
"I want to see if maintaining the fusion affects me mentally," she continued, thinking quietly. "Garnet can do it, but she's completely Gem... I'm not, so I have my theories."
She answered herself as she lay back, letting her body slowly relax, and that's when Lapis began to dream.
And it was also there that Lapis discovered how Steven was occasionally pulled into the dreams of his human friends—confusing images, distant voices, and faces he didn't quite recognize. Let's just say he wasn't at all pleased to end up in Ronaldo's dream, and he hoped it wouldn't happen again.
Morning arrived without warning.
The fusion awoke, and almost immediately, the two halves separated.
I looked at my hands, noticing that as long as I was concentrating enough, I didn't feel any strange effects. Then I looked at Lapis, who was still fast asleep, so I left her in bed while I stretched calmly.
"Four days until Connie arrives," I thought, "and I think we'll go down today."
Lapis, still in bed, stirred restlessly, feeling strange for a moment, but realizing she was back to her old self, she dismissed it. She got up shortly after, and after getting ready without much discussion, we prepared to go to the cluster.
Without another word, we activated the portal and departed.
Upon arriving, well... it was impossible not to notice.
"They're here!" Peridot exclaimed, practically jumping up and down as she ran toward us, pointing outside with both hands.
I stepped out of the portal, and the first thing I saw was the ship.
I stood still for a few seconds.
The structure had that strange shape, like two giant, wandering eyes, but upside down, designed not to escape the planet, but to descend directly toward it. The surfaces gleamed with a metallic greenish hue mixed with pink and yellow details, geometric lines running like veins, and the internal mechanisms moved slowly, as if the ship were breathing.
"It works," Peridot said with a grin that barely fit on her face, "well... we haven't fully powered it up yet, but it works."
Pearl approached cautiously, circling the ship as she looked it up and down.
"The design is... surprisingly efficient," she said, touching one of the exterior plates, "the weight distribution is designed for a controlled descent, not a takeoff."
"That was Steven's idea," Peridot said quickly, pointing at me.
I raised my hands almost reflexively.
"I just said that going down is harder than going up," I replied, "you did the rest."
Peridot puffed out her chest a little, proud.
Amethyst was sitting on one of the unfinished ramps, swinging her legs.
"Okay, I admit it," she said, "this is... pretty cool."
Garnet watched silently, arms crossed, analyzing every detail behind her glasses. He walked a few steps around the ship and then stopped in front of Peridot.
"Can it withstand pressure?" he asked calmly.
"Yes," Peridot replied without hesitation, "pressure, vibrations, energy changes, and... well, possible screams of panic."
Amethyst raised her hand.
"That last part is important."
Garnet nodded slightly.
I moved a little closer to the ship, observing the inlets, the stabilizers, the symbols I vaguely recognized as Homeworld technology, albeit modified, adapted, almost... domesticated.
"I didn't think it would look like this," I said quietly.
Peridot glanced at me.
"I didn't want it to look like a cage," she confessed, "or an Imperial ship. This is... different."
Pearl closed her eyes for a second, then smiled gently.
"It is," she said, "very different."
For a moment, no one spoke. Only the sound of metal settling, of systems making their final adjustments.
I looked at Peridot.
"You did a great job."
She stood still for a few seconds, as if unsure what to make of those words, then nodded quickly.
"It still needs to be tested," she said, trying to sound serious, "but... yes, I think it's ready."
Garnet stepped forward.
"Then," she said, "we're closer."
I looked at the ship once more.
Yes, we definitely were.
And once inside the ship, the atmosphere changed completely.
"Okay, okay, everyone, attention," Peridot said as she stepped onto a small central platform she'd clearly adapted for herself. "This is a quick guide on what to do if something goes wrong... or very wrong."
Amethyst plopped down in one of the seats, resting her feet on the panel in front of her.
"Does that include exploding?" she asked with interest.
"Especially exploding," Peridot replied without hesitation.
Pearl was already sitting upright, studying each screen with absolute concentration.
"How many navigation systems does it have?" she asked.
"Three main ones, two backups, and one I improvised last night just in case," Peridot replied, pointing to various projections. "If the lights turn red, don't touch anything. If they turn purple, don't touch anything either. If they turn pink... well, that's normal."
Garnet leaned against the wall, crossing her arms.
"Go on."
I took a seat near the center, looking around. The ship's interior was more spacious than it appeared from the outside, with curved walls covered in geometric patterns and symbols of the homeworld, many of them modified or simply crossed out. The floor vibrated gently, as if the ship were awaiting a command.
Peridot activated a main screen, and a representation of the planet's subsurface appeared.
"Good," she said, "the target is here."
She pointed to a deep area, filled with jagged lines and pulses of energy.
"The Cluster," Pearl murmured.
"Exactly," Peridot replied, "the ship isn't going to fly to it. It's going to descend, but in a controlled manner, by digging."
Amethyst raised an eyebrow.
"That sounds sound."
"It is," Peridot said quickly, "sort of."
I looked at Garnet.
"Everything will be alright, right?"
She turned her head slightly toward me.
"There are multiple futures," she replied calmly, "but in most of them... we get down."
"I'll take that," I said.
Peridot jumped from the platform to her seat and began typing rapidly.
"Activating excavation systems," she announced.
The ship emitted a low, deep sound, like a suppressed roar. The lights dimmed for a second and then stabilized at a soft tone.
"Is that normal?" Amethyst asked.
"Yes," Peridot replied, "I think so."
From the side walls, the whirring of mechanisms began. Large panels slowly opened, and one by one, the drills emerged.
They weren't small.
They were enormous spiraling structures of reinforced metal, covered in diamond symbols and pink energy lines crisscrossing their surfaces. They rotated slowly at first, as if testing themselves.
Pearl rose slightly from her seat.
"They're... precise," she said, surprised. "They're not designed to destroy randomly."
"No," Peridot replied proudly. "They're calibrated to drill precisely where the planet's structure allows it without causing an immediate collapse."
Garnet nodded.
"Clever."
The drills began to spin faster.
The sound filled the entire ship, a constant vibration felt in the chest. Through one of the forward-facing screens, we saw the terrain rapidly approaching.
"Position set," Peridot said, "Descent in three... two... one."
There was a sharp impact.
Not violent, but powerful nonetheless.
The ship tilted slightly and then leveled. The drills made contact with the ground and began to bore through. Rock, earth, and crystalline layers disappeared in swirls of dust and energy as the ship descended.
Amethyst gripped the seat.
"Okay, okay, this is really cool."
I felt the movement beneath my feet, steady, purposeful.
"It's going straight," I said.
"Yes," Peridot replied, "we're following the exact route. If everything goes well, no one down there will know we've arrived until it's too late."
Pearl watched the readings intently.
"The pressure is increasing."
"Within parameters," Peridot replied, though her fingers kept moving.
Garnet remained calm, but watchful.
"Keep the pace," she said, "don't speed up."
"I know, I know," Peridot replied, taking a deep breath, "this ship isn't meant to be rushed."
The descent continued.
The screens displayed layer upon layer of the planet, some glowing with ancient energy, others completely inert. The sound of the drills was constant, almost hypnotic.
I looked at my hands for a second.
"So... we're in this now," I murmured.
Amethyst looked at me and smiled.
"Yep," she said, "there's no turning back now."
Garnet spoke then, with a calmness that contrasted sharply with everything else.
"Stay focused," she said, "this is just the beginning."
The ship kept digging.
Direct.
Determined.
Toward the heart of the problem.
As we descended, the ship cut through layer upon layer of earth and rock, delving deeper into the planet. Each layer had its own color, texture, and metallic scent, and the silence outside was noticeably replaced by the constant hum of the drills and the soft creaking of the walls giving way to the excavation.
"How long will it take?" I asked, looking at Peridot, who was focused, her fingers dancing over the knobs as she adjusted the pressure and direction of the drills. Pearl held a lever firmly, the tension visible in every muscle of her arms.
"In about five hours, if everything remains stable," Peridot replied, her eyes glued to the controls, reflecting both the brightness of the screens and the concern she felt for every micro-adjustment she made.
I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to calm the vertigo I felt as I slowly sank into the planet's earth. The blackness of the tunnel expanded before me, mingling with the ship's constant vibration, and for an instant, I felt we were floating in an eternal void, where every second seemed to last minutes.
"I hope everything goes well..." I thought, as my mind drifted into a strange dream, a bridge between the focus on the mission and the anxiety of the unknown.
The roar of the drills echoed like a war drum, the earth trembled beneath us, and despite the noise, each member of the crew remained calm, attentive to every detail. Every second counted; every adjustment could mean success or disaster.
I opened my eyes for a moment and saw the drills piercing crystalline layers of rock that glowed with pink and blue hues, reflecting ghostly lights onto Peridot and Pearl's focused faces. Each spark of released energy seemed to mark another step toward the heart of the Cluster, toward the unknown, toward the decisive moment that would define the future of everything we knew.
I leaned back slightly in my seat, feeling the adrenaline mix with calculated calm, with the certainty that we were doing the right thing. And as the ship continued its descent, I could almost hear Garnet's voice in my mind: "Stay focused. This is just the beginning."
The planet's heart awaited us, silent and powerful, and I knew that every second of these hours would be a reminder that what we were about to face wasn't just a job, but a test of our strength, patience, and unity.
End of Chapter 59.