I said this while grabbing a part of a Peridot's hand... let's just call it "the hand," since I honestly didn't want to name it.
That hand had served me well, and now I was starting to improve it. First things first: thanks to my innate talents in this life, I could repair it like a Peridot and build it like a Bismuth. Quite a combination, right?
I started working on it like a laser beam, like in the show, only I tried to make it as powerful as possible. I set levels using words; it would always be an arm, but now it would also give me information about what it was doing, like a tablet. Of course, that was still a work in progress, because weapons came first. Yes, for whatever reason, if I ran into one of those larvae, I wanted to defend myself... and not end up being devoured.
With a sigh, I continued rebuilding the hand. What I was doing now was more complicated, but also more efficient: I wanted it to consume the air around it along with sunlight to recharge. The energy would accumulate as much as I wanted, and when the hand felt it couldn't take any more, it would send the energy to a small backpack I made, which would serve as a secondary source... but larger to store more energy.
Of course, the backpack wasn't finished either, but... hey! You have to start somewhere, right?
I looked around in admiration at how a week had already passed since I started working on this hand. And don't think I was taking so long because I didn't know what I was doing; I did. The thing was, the materials were scattered: I had to go to the nursery and other areas, facing small creatures that tried to devour me. From that moment on, I understood that I needed to have much more control over my environment.
All the gems had a weapon, right? I said it to no one in particular. I had always liked to hear myself in the third person; it gave me more options, more control over my environment, or at least that's how it felt.
Then I felt it. Well, "feel" was a strange word for a sentient being of light, but something was there. I didn't know what it was, only that it existed.
Several minutes passed as I tried to focus on that vague sensation, until it finally happened.
Out of nowhere, gloves materialized on my hands, accompanied by boots that perfectly matched my current form.
...
...
I stared at the gloves, stunned. I didn't know exactly what they were or what they were for, but hey, not everything had to be functional from the start. Decorative was fine too... for now.
I looked around and noticed I was still in my makeshift lab, right next to the main cabin. I walked over and descended to a specific point, below the power source.
My eyes scanned the enormous tangle of cables that crisscrossed the area. It was then that I realized something important: this would be a turning point.
I deactivated the gloves. Honestly, I didn't want to mess anything up with them before I understood them properly. Then I got to work.
What did I want to do? Easy. Remove any existing trackers, leaving me only with the basic Imperial notifications, and completely erase all traces of this base. I wanted it to look like a failed project, inhospitable, worthless, something that wouldn't spark even the slightest interest in colonization. I wanted no Gem to have any reason to come near here.
Why was I doing all this? Simple. I planned to stay here for about two years, maybe three if I was being generous. I needed to have everything under control before doing anything crazy that might activate something I shouldn't. And if something could be activated... then I first had to make sure I could deactivate it.
Get to work, I thought, as I took on a job that would have easily required thirty Peridots... and I was all alone.
Days passed, then weeks. All that time I focused on only one thing: deactivating each system with surgical precision. I was truly grateful that I'd ended up as a maintenance and combat gem; that combination was saving me. It was better than fifty Peridots working individually, though, to be honest, it would never be as efficient as if those fifty were spread out across the place at the same time. The real problem was the size of the facility. Moving from one point to another took countless days. The place was enormous.
I shrugged as I cut some wires and restored others that could still be used. I stared intently at the point where one of them was coming from, watching for the warning light that should activate if anything went wrong. Nothing happened.
Then I simply leaned back against the wall.
I was silent for a few seconds... until I started to cry. A little. Joyfully.
"I finished this... finally, damn it," I muttered to myself, as tears streamed shamelessly down my face.
I looked around, taking in the impeccable order I'd left. Every cable was in its place. Before, this area had been an absolute mess. Cluttered, obsolete, forgotten. Any of those words would have sufficed.
I calmly stood up and stretched, though I didn't need to. It was just a lingering reflex from when I was still human.
I walked calmly back to the portal platform and activated it.
I returned to the nursery while doing the breathing pose. I didn't exhale anything, of course, but the sensation, the mere reflex of doing so, made me feel a little more human.
I leaped high and landed where I had come from.
A hollow. Surrounded by many others.
Thanks to my memory and a few marks I had left behind, I knew exactly which one was mine. I surveyed the surroundings and confirmed the obvious. Those hollows had been just that: hollows. Virtually nothing came from here. And what little did emerge probably ended up as food for this place. Some agates had come from here, if I remembered correctly. Only four of mine were born. The rest... died.
I looked toward the hollow where my Lapis Lazuli should have been. The hollow was still there, untouched, but it had been like that even before I awoke. For obvious reasons, I assumed it was gone.
I sighed as I looked around, searching for any new sign, any indication that, by some miracle, another gem might emerge.
And then it happened.
Unfortunately... or fortunately.
Absolutely nothing appeared. I shook my head as I picked up another injector, one that would serve both as fuel for the ship I had planned and as a drill tool, in case I ran into an asteroid.
Many of these ideas came to me thanks to my Silica nature.
So I simply started carrying as many injectors as I could, enough so they wouldn't accumulate dangerously. All of this had a single purpose.
To leave the planet.
But for that, I needed key tools.
My innate ingenuity kicked into gear inside the central information base, a place I had already considerably expanded. New systems, optimized internal routes, sectors reactivated only as needed. When I finished for the day, I put everything aside and sat in the central area of what I could now call my base.
I watched some birds flying in the distance. They didn't seem natural. Clearly, they were side effects of what had been, in essence, a series of explosions equivalent to large-scale nuclear bombs. This colony had possessed absurd technology. Too much. A shame that, according to the data, its creators had been practically kamikazes, preferring to destroy everything rather than share what they had discovered.
I shook my head.
Since when did I become so analytical, I thought, chuckling to myself.
I looked at my left hand. The modified hand now fit perfectly with my arm. It no longer felt like an external tool. It felt... mine. Part of me. For obvious reasons, I had removed any kind of sensitivity from it. I didn't understand why I should feel pain in something like that, but oh well, I was imperfect in this society.
So I figured the weird one... was me.
Three months passed.
"I'm done," I said aloud as I surveyed all the equipment I had prepared. I had a rechargeable backpack, a weapon ready to be used at pretty high power levels, and it had taken me longer than expected because I wanted it to self-recharge, just in case. All the functions were complete. I even added flight. Amazing, right?
"Amazing, isn't it, quartz sludge?" I thought as I showed my "toys" to three pieces of sludge I had left around the base, or rather, the information zone, as I now called it.
I adopted a firm, almost ceremonial stance.
"Yes, my Silica, you're perfect, keep it up, you're admirable," I told myself, only to dismiss it later with a simple internal "blah blah blah" that led nowhere.
I looked around. Everything was dark.
"Time to explore."
I quickly remembered where the ships were and took several tools with me. One important thing I managed to do during that time was create an inventory system. I remembered the Pearls from the series and thought, "If a Pearl can do it, why can't I?" I didn't know if it was because I was imperfect or simply out of sheer stubbornness, but I managed it. It took me three whole days. Now I could say I was an all-rounder on this planet, which was officially called F45XMN, although I preferred to call it an inhospitable planet to avoid repeating strange, meaningless letters.
I walked to the nearest platform and sensed the location of the ships' rendezvous point.
Then I understood.
"The portal broke, didn't it?" I muttered as tears, now almost comical, streamed down my face. I shook my head at my bad luck, but an idea immediately struck me. I went down, gathered more important materials, and climbed back up without wasting a moment.
I sensed the presence of the ship closest to the point I needed to reach.
And with a flash, I was gone.
When I quickly scanned the area where I had been, my hand already poised to attack, I noticed that the site was another nursery, though this one looked quite different. It was practically no nursery at all, since the injectors were completely destroyed, along with many other structures, and there was a massive hole along the sides.
...
I looked around the area with confusion, but also with attention, and when I confirmed with my hand that there was nothing nearby—another added function for yours truly, I know, I mean, I know, aren't I awesome?—I relaxed my posture a little.
As my fingers returned to normal, I looked at the portal there, slightly damaged, but nothing that would render it inoperable.
With the screen back in my hand, I located the exact position of the area where the ships were, marking it while leaving the organic presence detection function active. Then I did what any sane person would do.
With a flick of my wrist and considerable effort, I raised the buried portal. I quickly activated my weapon, which was incredible. In case I hadn't mentioned it before, it functioned more like a charge: I could attach myself to things with its four parts, in addition to giving me more strength overall, making charging that portal much easier than expected.
With a sigh, I started walking, remembering I could use the telekinesis in my hand, but honestly, I preferred not to. If I used it, the control over the organic beings in the area would be deactivated.
As I walked, about five kilometers from the location, a presence appeared on my radar. I quickly left the portal among some bushes and observed cautiously. I had only summoned one gauntlet, but I was prepared to summon all four parts of the weapon at any moment. Perks of being semi-elite, I suppose.
I cautiously glanced at the bird, which was carefully observing its surroundings, moving its head from side to side and sniffing the air. Wait... sniffing?
I quickly summoned my weapon and transformed it into a laser beam, aiming directly at the bird, which stared at me, unblinking, as if evaluating my every move.
"What do you want?" I said, hoping that for some reason the thing had a shred of sanity, though deep down I knew it didn't.
With a loud, unpleasant growl, the bird lunged straight at me.
Noticing that the creature was right in front of the portal, I immediately ran back, while the bird pursued me without hesitation.
I quickly ran through the woods, dodging roots and rocks, until I realized I was a little farther from where I started.
"Time to test this baby," I said as I charged a shot to level one, feeling the energy build in my weapon.
The bird was about to reach me, its mouth wide open, and that's when I noticed its fangs, not at all pleasant, stained with thick green blood that dripped continuously.
With a shot straight at its mouth, the bird fell to the ground, completely unconscious, thick slime oozing from its gaping jaws. "If I had a stomach, I would have thrown up," I said to no one in particular, though I still felt a strong revulsion, as if my body were trying to react to the nauseating smell emanating from that thing's corpse.
I quickly activated the organic tracker and noticed several points of movement starting from the opposite side, clearly drawn by the sound of the gunshot.
Without wasting any more time, I ran back toward the portal and, with a full summoning of my weapon, propelled myself forward with all my might, running as fast as I could in the direction of the ships.
I quickly reached my designated area, but not before making sure that some of the beasts had left. Several of them were simply too gigantic, and to be honest, I had no interest in engaging in an unnecessary battle. With that in mind, I ran into the base.
To my surprise, the structure only had superficial scratches on the outside, clear marks of failed entry attempts. Everything indicated that the creatures had probably tried to nest or raise their young inside, but as expected of something built by the Empire, the place was practically impenetrable. Unable to get in, they simply left... probably in search of the humans themselves.
I placed my hand on the access panel, but I immediately noticed that, like the previous base, this place was also without power.
"Great..." I muttered with a sigh.
I forced the entrance open and, once inside, quickly resealed it to prevent future problems. I had no intention of letting anything else in without my permission.
I decided to leave the portal there for the time being and moved toward the control area, noticing how this facility was clearly older than the previous one, which made sense for obvious reasons. As I remembered, these secondary bases didn't have as many systems or amenities as the main one, so, all things considered, that worked in my favor.
As I descended toward the power zone, the echo of my footsteps resonated in the empty corridors, and I told myself, almost as a way to stay calm:
"I'm climbing little by little... step by step."
I continued onward until I reached the staircase that would take me to the second floor, with a strange feeling in my chest, a mixture of caution, anticipation, and that persistent loneliness that was already becoming familiar.
End of Chapter 3.