compass-gems

[compass-gems]

Forgotten Page 5

“Couldn’t we move further away?" Cloud said slowly. "I foresaw ‘A Friend’ and a length of time , and when the time had passed, you emerged." She continued more confidently. "I also foresaw ‘A Team’ after that - a bit less than 3.5 cycles from now - then ‘Destruction and Salvation’ 0.2 cycles after that.  Maybe the big gem will be our teammate to help us with whatever the third thing is.”

“But I Saw we would be shattered…” Fern trailed off, still shaken by her first premonition.

“Do you want to be shattered?” Cloud snapped.

“No! But …”

Cloud sighed and continued, “Did you see how far the avalanche would extend?”

Fern was becoming confused. “Yes …”

“If we went to the top of that cliff would we be safe?” Cloud pointed to the cliff opposite the one they had just emerged from. It wouldn't be an easy climb, but they could do it. Or they could levitate. They should probably do that.

There was a pause as Fern revisited her vision. She wasn't sure. The explosion was pretty big. “Maybe?”

Cloud frowned and pointed further. “What if we went further, to that cliff.”

Fern searched her memory. The gem emerges explosively, collapsing the rock around her. The nearer cliff is obscured by dust and debris. The farther one is still standing, untouched. “That cliff wasn’t affected in my vision,” she proclaimed.

“So let's go there." Cloud did not quite smile. " We can come back to greet our teammate when the rocks are settled.”

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Forgotten Page 4

“Welcome,” spoke Cloudy.  “Do you know what is going on here?”

“You mean why we’re alone?”  responded the pale green one. “Exactly.” Cloudy nodded and gestured at the barren surroundings. “No peridots or apatites to monitor our emergence.  No zircons to register us. No other newmade gems walking around.  No other gems at all.  This place looks … abandoned.”  The two looked up at the cliff.

“Maybe it is. Look at the other holes! Weathered and old! Not like mine.  Or that one.”

“That one’s mine.”

“Hmmm, no holes at all between ours.  Why would…” Fern gasps and jumps backwards. “A gem will emerge from there.  A big one! She will explode from the cliff! She will set off an avalanche! Both of us will be shattered by the falling rocks!”

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Forgotten Page 3

Cloudy Sapphire paced back and forth, waiting for the friend she had foreseen.  Who would they be? Would they emerge from the cliff, like she had? Would they come from off-colony? A quartz? A peridot? A ruby? A jade? Her vision only told her when, not what.  

Celata V was not a large planet, and rotated quickly. Cloudy ignored many sunsets and sunrises as she paced.

1.7 cycles .... 1.2 cycles ... 0.9 cycles ... 0.4 cycles ... 0.1 cycle ...

Finally, her internal timer ran out.  A flash of light caught her eye.

Acting almost on instinct, Cloudy Sapphire turned and looked up.   A small, sparkling figure drifted toward her.

The Friend.  Another sapphire.  Hopefully this one is less defective.  So... why was the Team not complete?  3.5 cycles left.  What next?  And how would they deal with the threat to come?

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Forgotten Page 2

There is one patch of cliff in the Kindergartens of Celata that exemplifies the mystery. Initial surveys suggested it was particularly rich, so a batch of corundum were planted there. But as colonization progressed, it seemed as though the more promising the ground initially seemed, the less productive it actually was. The peridots expected a good proportion of sapphires… and got them. But all, even the rubies, were late, and the sapphires’ precognition abilities tended to be weak or distorted. Some, near the center of the zone, emerged centuries late or not at all. In Era 2, it would have been seen as a fairly good output. But this was not Era 2.

In that very cliff, a light flickers and grows.  The silence is broken by the clatter of a single falling pebble.

The cliff bursts open, and a small figure begins to solidify as it floats downward.

Cloudy Sapphire receives her first premonition before she has even opened her eye.  

1.7 cycles for a friend. 5.2 for a team. 5.4 for destruction and salvation.

I hope we can make a plan fast enough. If only I could See more clearly!

[compass-gems]

Gem Roster

Spectrolite, Ulexite, Padparadscha (Pad), Zoesite, Zircon, Cloudy Sapphire, Fern Sapphire

Jadeite (Eighty), Mauve Pearl, Mint Pearl, Manganotantalite (Manga), Purple Obsidian, Silver Pearl, Sodalite (Jaytwo)

Bloodstone (Goggles), Sphene, Hematite (Speedy), Grape Agate, Peridot (Tulipdot)

Gallium Phosphate (Gap), Smokey Quartz (Puffball)

[compass-gems]

Forgotten: Page 1

When the planet Celata V was surveyed, it looked like a promising site for kindergartens.  It was claimed by Blue Diamond, but the colony never really thrived.  Gems planted there grew abnormally slowly, and some were stunted or frail.  A few never emerged at all.  Celata’s poor production was a mystery no one cared enough to solve, and it was converted to a storage outpost.

Seven gems could have guessed why Celata V’s crust yielded energy so reluctantly.  If they had, the planet would have been monitored much more closely.

Of those seven, all but 3 are shattered or lost.  Only one still remembers, and she has little reason to think of her failure on what was then Varad.  

No gem has emerged from the kindergartens of Celata for several hundred orbits.

[compass-gems]