"This is definitely strange," I murmured while watching what little remained of the ship from the asteroid.
I was doing it through a set of small cameras I had built just a few minutes ago. They weren't anything impressive, but… when exactly would I have had time to prepare something better for an emergency like this?
I shook my head while running a basic scan.
I was too focused analyzing every fragment. Judging by the magnitude of the explosion, honestly it wouldn't surprise me if the gem had been blasted kilometers away…
Or worse.
God forbid—well, the being that brought me here. Yeah, I'll just call him God—that the gem had been shattered into thousands of pieces.
I watched everything.
Every detail.
Nothing unusual escaping my attention.
"Hey—"
"SHIT!" I shouted, grabbing my chest.
Pearl had appeared out of nowhere behind me.
She also jumped from my reaction, though she was starting to get used to it. When I focused too hard on something, it was easy to scare me.
"Oh, girl…" I muttered, holding my heart—or wherever it should be.
Thinking about it…
I looked down at my gem.
"Ah… there we go," I thought.
I kept my hand resting on it while returning my attention to the scan.
"Do you see anything?" Pearl asked as she approached.
Two hours had passed with me staring at the wreckage through the cameras.
There was no way we were leaving the asteroid yet.
What if they came back?
I didn't want the Empire doxxing us and dragging us away.
Or at least that was what Sílica believed.
"Nothing, Sílica," Pearl said calmly.
Even while watching floating wreckage, she somehow still looked perfectly elegant.
"She looks like a relic," I thought with a drop of sweat.
I shook my head and expanded the radar scan across the solar system—or at least as far as my improvised radar could reach.
Metal fragments.
Hull remains.
Pieces of the propulsion system—which, for some reason, were green and red.
Everything slowly drifting in the void.
I sighed.
"Nothing… no trace of a gem," I murmured.
"Or gems… who knows."
Pearl frowned slightly.
"Are you sure?"
I pointed at the screen.
"If the gem survived intact, it should be emitting at least a minimal energy signal. Even fragmented we should detect something."
The radar rotated again.
Silence.
Only ship debris.
"So…" Pearl said slowly.
"The explosion was strong enough," I finished for her.
Pearl lowered her gaze to the drifting fragments.
"That means…"
"Yeah," I said, crossing my arms with a sad expression.
"If there was a gem inside… chances are it's now in pieces."
Silence filled the cabin again.
Only the radar spinning.
And the remains of a ship that had existed just hours ago.
After a moment I sighed.
"Well… that answers the question," I said while wiping away some traitorous tears.
Pearl looked up.
"What question?"
Sílica stayed silent for a few seconds.
"That we definitely don't want the Empire's attention."
I looked back at the floating wreckage.
"Because when they want to break something…"
"They do it well."
Pearl remained quiet, staring into space.
"Could we have saved her?" she asked quietly, hands tightening.
"I doubt it," I replied sadly as I sat on the armrest beside her.
"The energy spike our ship detected was far beyond ours. I doubt we could have survived that impact… or escaped without more Imperial ships showing up."
Pearl slowly shook her head.
"You know something?" she said softly.
"What?"
"This moment… this place… reminds me of when I was imprisoned."
Her hair covered most of her eyes.
"It reminds me of the gems they shattered… the ones they forced into physical form and fused with others. They kept joining them together…"
Her voice trembled.
"The screams of my companions…"
A small sniffle escaped her as she shook her head.
"Do you think… we could look for her?" she asked very quietly.
Very submissively.
I stayed silent.
Not because of the decision.
But because of her voice.
Before I realized it, I gently placed my hand on her head.
"Pearl…"
She froze.
"You're not there anymore."
She stiffened.
"You're not in the Empire. You're not trapped in a mirror. And no one here is going to force you to see things like that again."
Pearl pressed her lips together.
"But—"
"Hey," I said softly, leaning down a bit.
"You're here with me."
Her breathing started breaking.
"If you want to search the wreckage… we will. Carefully. Without risking ourselves."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"But not because we have to."
I gently took her hands.
"Because you asked."
One tear fell.
Then another.
And another.
Pearl lowered her head as her body began trembling.
"I've… been alone for so long…"
The words barely came out.
Her tears began falling uncontrollably.
She cried.
And cried.
Centuries of silence spilling out all at once.
I simply stayed there holding her.
"It's okay…"
I stroked her hair gently.
"You can cry."
Her voice finally broke completely.
"It's okay, Pearl."
I hugged her carefully.
"I'm here."
Pearl rested her forehead against my shoulder, crying hard while gripping my clothes.
And for the first time since she left the mirror…
She wasn't crying alone.
Silence filled the ship.
I kept stroking Pearl's hair while she soaked my clothes with tears and snot.
Where the hell does snot even come from?
Questions for later.
For now we just stayed there hugging.
Although, of course…
I was still glancing at the radar from time to time.
Always watching for any Imperial bullshit.
We stayed like that for hours until Pearl finally calmed down.
Eventually I carried her to a small room I had prepared—a simple resting area with a bed, soft light, and basic furniture.
I laid her down carefully.
Apparently she had fainted after crying so much.
I didn't even know gems could do that.
But hey… better that than getting poofed.
I watched her quietly for a few minutes.
"She really told me about her past…"
I knew she eventually would.
But like this?
I felt a little sad.
"I don't remember that happening in the show…"
I frowned slightly.
"Well… actually."
"The only shattered gem I remember was in Future. That gray one… the first thing she did after Yellow fixed her was hug her friend."
I looked at Pearl again.
Her eyes were closed.
Her breathing calm.
I sighed.
"Gems are really a mess…" I muttered.
I stood up quietly.
"And I thought my problems were complicated."
I walked slowly back to the cockpit.
Hands covering my face.
The universal expression of:
What the hell am I doing with my life?
The corridor was silent except for the low hum of the ship's power system.
I sighed.
"Great job, Sílica," I muttered.
"Now you have a traumatized Pearl on your ship, you're running from the Empire, heading toward a planet you only know from a human TV show… and you just promised to recover fragments of a shattered gem."
I dropped into the pilot seat.
"…perfect."
I stared at the debris field through the sensors.
Thousands of floating metal fragments.
The remains of a ship.
Maybe…
The remains of a gem.
I leaned my elbow on the panel.
"When exactly did my life turn into a weird episode of Steven Universe?"
The radar kept spinning slowly.
Silence.
But this time…
I had work.
And stress.
Lots of stress.
"Well then… let's see if I can find anything useful."
I activated the recovery panel.
The cameras I launched earlier were still drifting among the wreckage.
"Alright… improvised salvage protocol."
A compartment beneath the ship opened.
From it extended a telescopic mechanical claw—originally designed for external repairs.
"Let's see what survived…"
The claw moved carefully between drifting debris.
"Auxiliary thruster."
Clank.
"One."
Next piece.
"Imperial hull plating… could be useful."
Third piece.
A small spherical module.
I zoomed the camera.
"…secondary navigation unit."
I smiled.
"Jackpot."
Then something heavy appeared in the camera.
"…no way."
It looked like a nuclear warhead.
"Okay… okay… careful."
I slowly guided it into the cargo bay.
Once secured, I personally moved it into an isolated compartment.
"I'm not touching that thing until we're on a planet."
I returned to the cockpit.
Then I saw it.
"Huh?"
Something appeared at the edge of the radar.
Almost outside the range.
Very faint.
Very small.
"…a gem?"
I frowned.
No ship.
Just a single energy signal.
My eyes widened.
The signal disappeared.
"Don't mess with me…"
I stared at the screen.
"Could that be… the gem?"
But I wasn't about to do something stupid.
First I had to confirm it.
I activated deep radar analysis.
The ship's antennas emitted low-energy pulses.
The radar rotated slower.
More precise.
"Alright… let's see…"
The signal had appeared for 0.8 seconds.
Too brief.
But it left a trail.
I zoomed the data.
"Crystalline energy signature."
That made me sit upright.
I analyzed the trajectory.
The signal was drifting slowly in space.
Like a small object pushed away by the explosion.
No propulsion.
No active energy.
No Imperial signal.
My fingers moved faster across the console.
I calculated the path.
The predictive model drew a long arc across the screen.
If I was right…
The signal would appear again.
But only for a few seconds.
Every few minutes.
Because the object was slowly rotating while drifting.
That made its energy signature vanish and reappear.
I leaned back in my chair.
"…damn."
A small smile appeared on my face.
"I think I found someone."
But I still wasn't moving the ship.
If we left the debris field too quickly…
We might end up exactly like the ship that exploded.
I looked back at the radar.
"Come on…"
"Show yourself again."
And I waited.
To decide our next move.
End of Chapter 14