"No. We can only 'die' if our Gems are shattered. The corruption turned them into monsters. No consciousness, no voice, just...anger and pain. I've tried to heal them, but nothing works. All we can do is keep their Gems suspended so their bodies can't reform."
"I just woke up here. If the Admiral had invited me I wouldn't have wanted to come. I'd made up my mind about passing on my Gem and ending my existence."
"I was going to have a child," she says. "With a human man. It's the
first time a Gem's tried it, I think, but I know from Jasper that it
worked. His name is Steven. He took my Gem, he has my powers."
"And you didn't survive the process," he says. It is a bit like reprogramming, but with human DNA.
Ford can't imagine wanting a child so badly that he would end his own life. Even now that he's had one in a breach, one he loved very much, one who he would have died for after the fact....well, it was her choice.
"Well, I can explain why you were brought here," Ford says. "The Admiral works for a shadowy organization I've only seen once. They're called the Authority. At least, he used to work for them -- before he stole the ship we're currently on and ran away from their headquarters rather than be decommissioned for running the Barge incompetently."
"The Authority brought you here," he says, "because they thought it would be interesting to see what you would do on the Barge. I believe they're watching us, from their dimension. To us, graduation is life or death, but to them, it's a game. We're their entertainment."
"I was hoping to, earlier this year," he admits. "But I got the dimension wrong. It's a long story, but rest assured, I won't be trying it again."
Not that way. Not without the agreement of the rest of the Barge, if they have to be involved with it.
"I don't have hard evidence," Ford says. "But there are too many coincidences for me to seriously believe this ship is what the Admiral says it is. Think about it: a system that was truly made to give people who did bad things in life a second chance wouldn't have so many who fell through the cracks. Last I checked, only one inmate in six made it out without disappearing and dying for good.
"So if redemption and resurrection aren't the purpose, what is? We have to look at what actually happens on the ship. I know you made it through the breach, but were you here on the 13th?"
"Yes, and the Barge was redecorated with narrower halls and spiderwebs, and you couldn't get anything clean if you tried!"
"Now, I'm sure you remember from the breach that the human month of October ends in a holiday called Halloween, and the number 13 is generally regarded as unlucky. The idea, as far as I can tell, was to turn the Barge into a haunted house, and have us be the ghosts."
He pauses, gathering himself.
"I had to relive every time I've ever died. I've died eight different ways, Rose. I'm sure the sound of me drowning, or dissolving, or being crushed to death all night was very festive. But what part of that is supposed to make us better people?"
"Sometimes, the people on those shows get married. Or off the island, or a lot of money. But that's not the point, is it? There are better ways to find someone to marry you, but the point is to make it as entertaining to watch as possible. I believe that's what's happening here."
"Who knows? Maybe there's not much to do up in their dimension. Maybe they just don't think we're that important. Or maybe there's another purpose to putting us on this boat. It was one of the things I was hoping to ask them when I tried to break into their world earlier this year."
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That's pretty horrifying. This sparkle-diamond-gem world is consistently surprisingly dark.
"That's terrible."
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"...Yes. Yes, it is. I wish there was more I could have done. More Gems I could have saved."
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"Well," Ford says, "if it helps, I can assure you that the chances of that being why you're here are next to nothing."
And dramatic irony means theatrically ironlike, right, Stanford?
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"O-okay."
She looks at him hopefully.
"You said you might be able to work out why I'm here?"
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Ford takes a deep breath, arranging his thoughts.
"Did the Admiral approach you, or did you just wake up here?"
cw from this point; suicide
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"You can do that, too? How exactly does one 'pass on' a gem?"
Sounds like reprogramming to him, but she's not a robot.
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Rose smiles at that, soft and warm.
"I was going to have a child," she says. "With a human man. It's the first time a Gem's tried it, I think, but I know from Jasper that it worked. His name is Steven. He took my Gem, he has my powers."
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Ford can't imagine wanting a child so badly that he would end his own life. Even now that he's had one in a breach, one he loved very much, one who he would have died for after the fact....well, it was her choice.
"Well, I can explain why you were brought here," Ford says. "The Admiral works for a shadowy organization I've only seen once. They're called the Authority. At least, he used to work for them -- before he stole the ship we're currently on and ran away from their headquarters rather than be decommissioned for running the Barge incompetently."
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"But that's - that's how I was brought here," she says softly. "It doesn't really explain why."
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"The Authority brought you here," he says, "because they thought it would be interesting to see what you would do on the Barge. I believe they're watching us, from their dimension. To us, graduation is life or death, but to them, it's a game. We're their entertainment."
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Rose's brow furrows.
"That's - awful. Is it true? Can you prove it?"
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Not that way. Not without the agreement of the rest of the Barge, if they have to be involved with it.
"I don't have hard evidence," Ford says. "But there are too many coincidences for me to seriously believe this ship is what the Admiral says it is. Think about it: a system that was truly made to give people who did bad things in life a second chance wouldn't have so many who fell through the cracks. Last I checked, only one inmate in six made it out without disappearing and dying for good.
"So if redemption and resurrection aren't the purpose, what is? We have to look at what actually happens on the ship. I know you made it through the breach, but were you here on the 13th?"
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"I - yes," she says, nodding. "When there were ghosts? I remember."
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"Now, I'm sure you remember from the breach that the human month of October ends in a holiday called Halloween, and the number 13 is generally regarded as unlucky. The idea, as far as I can tell, was to turn the Barge into a haunted house, and have us be the ghosts."
He pauses, gathering himself.
"I had to relive every time I've ever died. I've died eight different ways, Rose. I'm sure the sound of me drowning, or dissolving, or being crushed to death all night was very festive. But what part of that is supposed to make us better people?"
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Rose sits with this for a moment.
"But you graduated, right?"
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"So...so you can't say the Barge didn't work for you at all."
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"Oh - yes, a couple times. Greg liked them."
And Amethyst, and Garnet had tolerated them and Pearl would find something better to do. But she's trying not to think about them too much.
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Rose looks uncomfortable.
"But why would someone or something that powerful play with people's lives and deaths like this, just for entertainment?"
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She supposes, glumly, that the Diamonds wouldn't care about playing with mortal lives if that kind of thing was what they found amusing.
"Maybe they want to help us as a whole but the Admiral's just...really bad at it?"
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cw: suicide ment
blanket cw from here
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