I was distinctivily aware that we weren't alone in space. That Gems weren't the only sapient species in our Galaxy, or in other Galaxies. But… This was the first time I ever heard what could only be described as a Banshee screaming. And the source of it didn't make me easy either.
It was two solid metallic planets colliding with each other. Their metallic mantle screamed in torture as both collided and contorted with each other. It was terrific, and I could already see a few of my Rubies being uneasy due to the sound. On one hand, I almost glared at them for being such cowards, but on the other, I was just as unsettled at seeing and hearing two gigantic metallic objects colliding with each other.
Apple Peridot did say we were a safe distance from the two planets. We did exit Hyper Space due to the two planets coming into our path, and we were dropped a few klicks away, but it was… A new sight that I never expected to be a witness to.
''Apple Peridot, mark this location in our charts. We might want to return to mine the remains of these two planets. Save it to our database.'' I ordered her as I watched the two planets colliding.
''Right away, my Emerald.'' She said before she began doing just that.
I saved the sound files we were getting from the two planets into the 'Stalwart's' database. Such sights were extremely rare, and this might give me a little extra credit. Science vessels were usually the ones responsible for capturing such sounds, but they rarely caught the actual visuals due to being fragile crafts.
But with the 'Stalwart's' thick hull, we had nothing to worry about the imminent detonation of the two planets. Nor the rest of the fleet. They wouldn't go supernova, but it would be a close thing.
''Stars bless the Peridots and Bismuths that made these wonderful vessels.'' I murmured as I narrowed my eyes, a blinding flash temporary blinding the fleet before it dimmed. It strained my eyes, but a perk of being a lightform being was that light didn't blind us the same way that it would to a organic being.
The planet, as it wasn't two planets anymore, was still intact. Shattered, but it seemed its core was still intact, as large chunks of both planets were still trapped within its gravitational pull. It was a haunting sight, terribly beautiful. One that I saved, and as I looked at another file, that I would be able to review whenever I wished.
''This ought to give us some prestige. I don't think we have many videos of two planets colliding, do we?'' I chuckled to myself as Apple Peridot nodded.
''No, my Emerald, we do not. This will be a wonderful collection to the Database!'' She said with a smile and I sighed.
''It was a rhetorical question, Peridot. But thank you. Rechart our course, and prepare to enter Hyper Space again. This was just a nice distraction, but we still have the duty of establishing a New Colony.'' I waved her off, and she nodded quickly, as the message went throughout the fleet.
Soon enough, we jumped into Hyper Space again. And truly, this was a wonderful distraction. One that I never thought I would see in my life. Still… There was something strange about that sound. But I'm not sure what.
(Insert Pic Here)
…
I was in my office, checking the files the rest of the fleet had sent over to me. It was mostly logistic documents, supply notes, complaints ranging from menial things to actually serious things. Accidental fusions due to boredom… That's bad. Fusions aren't allowed unless it's for a purpose. I'll need to issue a warning over the fleet, can't have that become a habit. Now let's see here…
The sound of my door suddenly opening by itself caught my attention and I frowned at the Peridot that walked through the doorway. She had her gem located in her right breast, and from what I remembered she was one of the youngest Peridot's we had recruited before we departed from Pink Diamond's Colony. And also one of lower quality than the others.
''Can I help you, Cut-9Y9? You do know that you can't simply walk in into my office, right?'' I question the Peridot and she looked… Wary, and jumpy. She nodded quickly at my words before she spoke with a hesitant tone.
''Yes, my Emerald. I'm sorry, my Emerald. But… Um… The… Uhm…'' She kept stuttering for a few minutes before I sighed and got up, she looked alarmed as I stared down at her with narrowed eyes.
''Spit. It. Out. I have duties to uphold, just as you do. If this is some inconsequential thing, I am going to poof you and leave you in the brig for the remaining time of our travel.'' I growled at her, and she shivered before she nodded quickly.
''Y-Yes, my Emerald. I'm sorry, my Emerald!'' She saluted me, before she took a deep breath, nodded to herself, and spoke, ''The… Um… The Rubies, Lapises, and a few Peridots are reporting having… N-Nightmares? I think you called them? Bad dreams? It has been re-occurring ever for two weeks at least. We haven't figured out why, but most of us are having these… Nightmares and it is affecting our productivity and ability to perform our duties…'' She trailed off at my disbelieving look, as I considered her words.
That didn't make any sense. As far as I was aware, sleeping wasn't really a thing that Gems did, so how in Star's name are they having nightmares? This also didn't sound like an excuse to avoid doing work, I would've expected a Ruby if that was the case, but a Peridot?
''Explain to me how you are all having nightmares? As far as I am aware, Gems do not sleep.'' I questioned the Peridot and she seemed frantic as she waved her hands around.
''And that's the problem! None of us are sleeping, and we still have these nightmares! While awake! I would call them hallucinations, but our minds are entering into sleep by themselves and we don't know why!'' She cried out, and I blinked before I frowned as I tried to process what that meant. Minds forcefully entering sleep? Why would they do so?
What in the Stars was happening? I never heard of something like this before.
''Gather the Gems experiencing these… ''Nightmares'' and meet me at the hangar bay. I'm unsure of what's happening, but I can't allow my crew to suffer needlessly.'' I ordered the Peridot and she nodded quickly before rushing outside.
I ignored her breach of decorum and etiquette, but if this is as bad as it sounds… We might have a big problem. And if it's somehow contagious my entire fleet might be suffering from Nightmares soon enough. Stars above, let's hope that's not the case.
…
''T-These are all the Gems that are reporting to experience these Nightmares, as you call them, my Emerald!'' Peridot Cut-9Y9 said as she gestured to the random assortment of Gems gathered around.
They all looked… Surprisingly tired, a few looked almost paranoid, and others seemed to be eerily still in a way that reminded me of Spinel. Which wasn't good. I looked at them all, a mismatch of random gems, Rubies, Sapphires, two Jaspers, a large amount of Peridots, and one Amethyst. Hmm…
There doesn't seem to be a pattern, at least not an obvious one, besides the fact that most of the affected Gems are Peridots. But why? What could potentially cause a Gem to forcefully enter sleep to experience nightmares?
''Alright, I will need you to report to me what exactly you are experiencing and potentially seeing in these nightmares. After that, I will need all of you to tell me when this started, and what you were doing a week before and after it has started. Is that clear?'' I called out loudly, and most of the Gems nodded, the only ones that didn't were the statue still ones… I had a bad feeling about this.
''Good. We'll start with Peridots, as for some reason you seem to be the most numerous.'' I gestured to the group of Peridots, and soon enough, I was hearing their tales of disturbing nightmares.
Many of them were different, many were similar, but most of them seemed to have only two things in common. The Gems either dreamed of something that they could've fixed, or helped with, and blamed themselves for it when they catastrophically failed, like a fellow Gem falling into a pit of lava while working in the Forge Worlds. Or they dreamt of their Shattering.
Something which I was… saddened to hear, was that they dreamt of me shattering them or our lustrous Pink Diamond herself. It didn't make any sense, I would've expected the other diamonds, as our lustrous Pink Diamond herself was the nicest among them. But, once we moved from the nightmares and towards what they were doing before these nightmares started, that bad feeling that I had intensified.
It all began after we watched the two planets collide. Which immediately put me on alert. I had a bad feeling about being a witness to their collision, but I didn't expect my crew to be… possibly affected by these planets colliding. I hoped it was that. Because if it wasn't… I had no clue what could possibly be causing these issues. Besides some insane thought of a virus or a parasite, but we simply weren't affected by them like an organic would be.
We spent hours talking, most of the Peridots were actually helpful in helping figure out the cause of these nightmares, but it was surprisingly one of the Rubies that pointed out the fact that all affected Gems had listened to the audio file from the two planets colliding. A minor fact that most of the Peridots dismissed, as it was insane to think that an audio file could affect us in such a way, but I didn't dismiss the possibility completely.
The sight, and sounds of the two planets colliding were hauntingly beautiful. And ever since we witnessed it, my instincts have been on the haywire. Still, we were nowhere near figuring out the cause of these nightmares, even if I assigned three Peridots to scan the audio file from top to bottom.
I hoped that we weren't… Haunted. The supernatural wasn't a thing, but… It didn't mean that some things still can't be explained by Gem science.
…
On the third day of hearing the reports about Nightmares amongst my crew, the impossible happened.
A Gem was shattered.
When I heard about it, I immediately locked down the ship and commanded that all crew members stay within their quarters. This was preposterous, who would have the audacity and courage to shatter one of my Gems?!? Yet, once we arrived at the scene of the crime… There were no traces of a fight. Of a struggle, or of a battle. It was… It was as if Ruby had shattered herself.
Physical evidence was lacking, and confusing, so I turned to one of the Peridots to access the security cameras we had onboard. It took a few minutes for us to narrow down the specific Ruby that we were looking for.
Ruby Facet-3F5E Cut-9Z1.
The cams didn't show anything out of place, as the Ruby moved about the ship doing her patrol. Besides the fact she seemed more nervous and jumpy than normal, but that wasn't important. Many of the Gems were getting tired, and it showed in their lightforms, from these Nightmares. It took hours of analyzing the footage before one of the Peridots pointed out how the Ruby's gem seemed to be… cracking the longer she moved around the 'Stalwart's' halls. Until suddenly…
*Crack!*
She shattered.
Everyone had cleared out of the room after that. We all felt nauseous and terrified at what we just witnessed. The few Peridots that were suffering nightmares looked downright traumatized and scared for their lives. Even I felt uneasy.
''W-What… Do w-we do about this, m-my Emerald?'' One of the Peridots asked me, face uneasy, and it pained me that I had no clue on how to respond.
This… This entire thing was unprecedented. There was nothing in the archives or in our databases that gave us a clue to what could possibly be causing these issues. But… If this was contagious… I hoped it wasn't, and it was only me taking a drastic action but I hoped it wasn't.
''Send all the afflicted Gems into the Med Bay, and isolate them as you would for biohazards. Collect the… The shards of that Ruby. Study them, and analyze them with a protective suit. Don't directly touch the shards. It might be foolish to think this, but biohazard handling is the only thing that I can think of to potentially prevent the spread of these… Nightmares.'' I ordered the Peridots, and they all nodded weakly.
I… I had never seen a Gem be shattered. By… By seemingly nothing. Whatever this was, that was causing this, we had to find a solution.
…
''MY EMERALD THE MEDBAY IS BEING ATTACKED BY A MONSTER! SEND HELP! AH GET AWAY FROM ME YOU STICKY MONSTER! AH!'' The sudden distressed call that came from my communicator had me rushing through the halls.
Other Gems were also rushing around. Jaspers, Rose Quartz, and Rubies were following behind me in formation as we rushed towards the medbay to assist in whatever the hell caused that distress call. Things hadn't improved. A month had passed, and many of the affected Gems have either suffered cracks in their gems, or… Or shattered. We were still nowhere close to figuring out what was causing this.
''What in Stars name is happening in here?!?'' I shouted in shock as we faced what I could only call a chaotic zoo of weird creatures that I didn't recognize from our database.
One of the creatures I half-recognized it, as it looked eerily similar to a tardigrade. Or Water bear, it had a bunch of gems flailing inside of it, in a silent scream as it walked around. Any Gem in it's path was absorbed as they sunk into it as if it was a liquid. The slime was trailing and sticking to everywhere, and when one of my Ruby's stepped on it, it took another two to take the foot off from the slime.
(Insert Pic Here)
It wasn't made entirely of a liquid, but I could barely see it's body. I elected to ignore the… shambling slime tardigrade snail, as I focused onto the actual hostile creatures. The damn fire spewing flying chimeras were clearly more of a danger as they were actually damaging the insides of my 'Stalwart', and I couldn't allow that.
(Insert Pic Here)
''Rubies! Deal with the firebreathing avians! Jaspers, correl that six legged slime creature into a corner! Roses, deal with the crawling snake slime thing on the ceiling!'' I ordered my Gems, and they burst into action as I watched the scene with wary eyes.
These Nightmares are developing beyond what I expected. Especially since I have no clue where these creatures came from. At least the tardigrade seemed peaceful, the fire breathing phoenixes were few in numbers, and the damn slime snake monster only looked like an ambush predator. Or so I hoped, those were annoying to deal with, and I couldn't imagine how much harder it would be to deal with a slime predator.
(Insert Pic Here)
…
''Push! Push! Push! C'mon, put your backs into it!'' One of the Jaspers shouted at the others as they slowly pulled one of the Gems stuck inside the tardigrade-look-alike creature. I didn't pay them much attention, the Water Bear as the crew is beginning to call it is relatively harmless. Besides it's extremely sticky slime.
I was more worried about the fire breathing avians. Those things were flailing and wailing like damn banshee's. And the Roses were having a staring contest with the Slime Snake, as it turned out to be an actual ambush predator. Meaning as long as we didn't disturb it or break eye contact, it should stay perfectly still in the ceiling.
''Peridot Cut-1A1, can you explain to me what happened? The surveillance cameras were turned into molten slag.'' I questioned the only non-sticky, and mostly intact, Peridot that I could see.
She was also not shivering as badly as a few of the other Peridots were. Which in normal circumstances they would be reprimanded for showing such weakness… But we were all tired and afraid of this… This fucking curse put upon our fleet. My Fleet. No one was coming close to figuring out what the hell caused it, besides my random pokes at the audiofiles from the Planet's colliding but that turned out to be a dead end.
It wasn't the Collision. It wasn't the audiofiles. We had no clue as to how this happened. And worst of all, we still weren't sure that these Nightmares weren't infectious. Stars knows that if they are, I don't think we will reach the New Colony system before we all shatter and turn into monsters.
And wasn't that a terrific realization? Those creatures had Gems in them. Gems that I recognized. Labradorite was turned into the Water Bear when she poofed and tried to reform herself. And it was the same for the Ruby Birds, their gems cracked, they poofed, and reformed into monsters.
I wasn't sure who the, the Slime Snake was, it's Gem's color was tinted by it's slime making it appear yellow. But I was certain that I didn't have any Yellow Gems in my ship afflicted by these… Nightmares. And if it was a Yellow Gem…
I would need to take drastic action.
''I-I'm not sure, my Emerald. The Rubies we were observing simply poofed, and when they reformed their lightforms twisted and contorted among themselves. It was as if their thinking was affect, and they couldn't… Couldn't remember how their lightform was shaped! T-T-Then the Slime Snake formed, and afterwards the Water Bear and it was chaos! I'm sorry my Emerald, that's all I know.'' Cut-1A1 shivered in her place, and I nodded before dismissing her.
What was causing this? What was the… trigger? Why were we shattering on our own? Why were we turning into mindless beasts? It wasn't the Colliding, it wasn't the Audiofiles, and so far we haven't made any progress into studying and analyzing the… The shards of the shattered Gems.
''None of this makes any damn sense.'' I murmured as I left towards my office.
I needed piece and quiet. I needed a place to think. I needed time. To think. Because I damn well knew that the Peridots weren't going to figure out what the hell was causing this by themselves.
Themselves… Themselves… By themselves! Of course! But… That also doesn't make any sense. But this entire ordeal hasn't made any sense from the beginning. I will need to make an announcement.
…
''Attention, this is your Fleet Commander, Mustard Emerald. This is an order that I give hesitantly, and in hopes of finding a solution to this crisis we face! All Peridots are to fuse with each other, and use your Fusions to come up with a solution or treatment to these Nightmares we face! I cannot allow this curse to continue, to shatter our friends, our comrades, our crewmates. Let superior processing speeds of a Fused Mind help us, because if we don't… I'm afraid we won't arrive to settle the New Colony.'' I ended my speech with a tired tone, as I laid down into the soft ''bed'' in my office.
I hoped this would… This would help. Maybe improve things. I wasn't sure, but Peridots fusing would be our best bet. They are the only ones that know more than the basics of Gem physiology, and have a deeper understanding than I. By the Stars, let their Intellect solve this nonsensical curse we have been cursed with.