Command Post, Do You Copy?

Believe Me, I Know She Was There

"Peri I'm back!" Onyx called as she entered the observation room of the command post. Upon entering and seeing Peri sitting on her knees, the blanket mostly fallen her back, clutching the radio to her chest with a look of pure horror on her face, Onyx jogged over to her. "Hey what's up?" She rested her hands on Peri's shoulders.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." The green gem absently answered, barely able to lift her gaze to meet Onyx's.

"Aww come on now, I've heard plenty of crazy stories before." Onyx still remained lighthearted as she studied Peri's expression. Her own expression was charming and joyful, a stark contrast to her friends'.

"I think... I think someone's hunting me down." Peri blurted out.

Onyx blinked several times before asking, "What makes you say that?" Her tone was both concerned and not totally believing Peri.

"The radio turned back on. I heard a voice, a gem; she listed off numbers, all sorts of them. She said that there were orders to terminate all the gem shards from the experimental project. The project I came from!" Peri cried as she sat back. "She said something about a new Age of Diamonds. A purge of all the weak and defective gems. Starting... starting with me."

Onyx watched Peri for a long silent moment. The green gem sat on her knees with a frightened demeanor. "Can I see the radio?" Peri handed it over without so much as a hesitant look. Onyx opened the control panel on the back and looked inside. After a moment of poking at the wires she showed it to Peri. "The wires are fried Dot, there's no possible way for this thing to work."

"But I heard the voice! I heard what she said! She used my call sign, my call sign Onyx!"

"Let me see your gem." Onyx coldly stated.

Peri glared at her but took her hands off her gem. Onyx rested the back of her fingers against the stone's surface. "I think you got a bit too cold at that outpost. You really need to rest and warm up." She took the blanket and tried to give it to Peri. The green gem glared at her and refused to take the blanket.

"I know what I heard! My radio really did come back on and there really was a gem."

Onyx shushed her. "It's been a long night. You need to get some rest. I think you may have been exposed to the cold for a bit too long and maybe it started to affect your gem."

Peri snatched the blanket from Onyx. "I know what came over that radio. There really was a gem and she was talking to me!"

"Suppose there was a gem," Onyx scooted a bit closer and softly smiled, "What was her call sign?"

"All I caught was X." Peri sheepishly admitted.

Onyx chuckled softly. "Peri there isn't a gem I know of that starts with 'X'."

"Then if the radio didn't come back on, if there wasn't a gem, then what was all of that?" Peri's voice bordered on desperate. Her expression told the same story.

"Perhaps the freezing temperatures mixed with the imperfections in your gem are causing hallucinations."

"Onyx I got the power source out, can you help me rewire it?" Tourmaline called from somewhere out in the hallway.

The look on Onyx's face was somewhere between content to leave and uncertainty as she would leave her friend behind again. "I'm going to go help Tourmaline see if we can't boost the power in here. Promise me you'll just take it easy and rest?"

A dozen witty responses snapped through Peri's mind but she knew that saying any one of them would only make things worse between herself and her friend. So she nodded, "I'll try Onyx."

The blue gem hugged her and gave her a sideways smile. "That's my Peri. You'll be feeling better in no time, trust me. As soon as we get some of the power cells back online we'll be back and you won't be alone."