Gem Drill

(The episode opens with a black screen. Steven is asleep. Garnet's voice echoes.)

Garnet: And Steven, we love you...

(Steven jolts awake and stumbles as the ground shakes and cracks. The blackboard previously used by Peridot falls on top of him. It reads, "Cluster Emerges bye bye Earth")

Steven: Ah!

Peridot: If you're done just lying there, maybe it's about time that we stop the world from ending! Where are the others?

(Steven begins to climb the ladder to the drill.)

Steven: They're stuck on Mask Island. We have to drill without them!

Peridot: Ugh! Am I the only one who understands the meaning of teamwork?! Okay, Steven, are you ready to drill down into the planet to depths never before reached by your species to stop the Cluster before it forms and save your world?!

Steven: I don't know!

Peridot: Don't say that! Say we'll do it together and it's gonna be great!

Steven: We're gonna do it together and it's gonna be great!

Peridot: Liar!

(As the ground continues to shake, Peridot and Steven scamper into the drill's cockpit.)

Peridot: Ready or not, we have a mission.

(She starts up the drill.)

Peridot: Increasing speed!

(The drill digs deep into the ground.)

Steven: Alright. Bracing for impact.

Peridot: It's actually two more hours to the cluster.

Steven: Oh. Wish I'd brought some tunes.

(Peridot turns on some elevator music.)

Steven: Uh, thanks.

(The two are silent for some time as the drill continues to move further down. Steven's eyes are filled with anguish as he watches the layers of rock pass them. He shuts his eyes tightly and shakes his head, then talks to Peridot as a distraction.)

Steven: It's kinda... freaky down here, huh?

Peridot: Why's that?

Steven: It's just dark, and cramped... Ngah, I can't even, gah, stretch out.

(The compartment tremors momentarily. Peridot and Steven look around in worry.)

Steven: How'd you think you were gonna get everyone in here anyway?

Peridot: I don't know, they'd shrink or something. We didn't have a lot of time to plan.

Steven: So... what is the plan?

Peridot: We have a drill. We're going to drill. Get ready - we're about to penetrate the asthenosphere!

Steven: Whoa, it's all lava!

Peridot: Lava is what comes out of volcanoes. That's super-heated peridotite.

Steven: Peridot...ite?

Peridot: Yeah. It's made of the same stuff as peridots.

Steven: You were made on Homeworld, right?

Peridot: Mmhm.

Steven: What was it like?

Peridot: I didn't exist. Then I did. I don't have memories of it, just feelings. I know I can never go back to Homeworld, but it's hard. Not to have some feelings for where you came from.

(Peridot faces Steven, revealing a tear welling in the corner of her left eye. She wipes it away.)

Peridot: But it's fine! I have something different now.

Steven: What's that?

Peridot: You know! You... guys.

(Steven smiles. Banging is heard atop the compartment. Steven fearfully looks up.)

Steven: What's that sound?

(A red hand pushes against the glass. Steven backs away in shock and gasps.)

Steven: A gem mutant!

Peridot: They must've buried some prototypes with the cluster.

Steven: They're all over us! They're attacking the drill! What do we do?

(Peridot presses a button on the panel. A weaponized CCTV camera projects from atop the cockpit, knocking a mutant off.)

Peridot: Pearl didn't think it was necessary,

(She hands a Nintendo 64 controller to Steven.)

Peridot: ...but I never leave home without a blast cannon.

(Live footage of the gem mutants is displayed on the panel as an aiming guide. Steven controls the cannon with the N64 controller, and blasts away the gem mutants.)

Steven: Something doesn't feel right about this.

Peridot: Then use the D-pad.

Steven: No, it's just... ngah. These things. We can't just leave their gems out there. They're going to form again later. If I could just bubble them, then, they'd be safe.

(A gem mutant arm, attempting to climb the compartment, loosens its grip and flies off.)

Steven: C'mon! We've gotta help them.

Peridot: There is no helping them. They're too broken. The beings who used to be in those shards are so shattered, they don't know who they are, or what's happening around them. They just seek out other gems, looking for the missing pieces of themselves. Trying to make themselves whole.

(A red gem mutant hand reaches out to the camera. Steven blasts it away.)

Peridot: These early experiments only combine two or three shards. The cluster will be a billion times bigger. An inseparable fusion capable of destroying worlds, starting with this one.

(The drill hits a layer of dense rock and starts to shake.)

Peridot: We're hitting some denser rock! This is it!

(The drill pierces the ceiling of a huge opening, and stops. Peridot looks around with mobile binoculars attached to a flashlight.)

Peridot: Recovery depth achieved. Target found.

Steven: Is that...

Peridot: The cluster.

(The cluster and its surroundings tremor. Steven and Peridot shout in panic.)

Steven: What's happening?

(White matter ripples and surrounds the cluster.)

Peridot: It's too late! It's taking form!

(The white matter rises up from the cluster to the drill.)

Peridot: Steven, I'm sorry I couldn't save you or the billions of other lifeforms who matter far, far less to me. Do you have any last words?!

Steven: I love you, Peridot.

(Steven hugs Peridot.)

Peridot: Wow, thanks.

(The cockpit shakes violently. Peridot hugs Steven back. White matter rushes upwards, surrounding the drill. The lights flicker, and voices cry out from below. After a moment, the matter shapes into white hands, which brush past the drill and reside back down to their source. Peridot observes the cluster's outstretched arms on the screen.)

Peridot: It's still struggling to take its form! This means we still might have time. There's still a chance!

(She reaches for the panel and presses some buttons. then grasps the steering handles.)

Peridot: Just a little repositioning.

(She pushes the steering handles. The drill's mechanical legs climb through the hole in the ceiling, suspending the drill above the cluster.)

Steven: Peridot, I don't think we should hurt the cluster. I don't think it knows what it's doing.

Peridot: It doesn't matter if it knows what it's doing. It's still going to do it.

(Peridot presses a button on the steering handle. The drill spins up and its legs jump down. White hands reach out from the cluster and surround the contraption. Steven and Peridot scream as they fall. The drill struggles to touch the cluster's surface against the force of the white matter, but eventually makes contact. Steven covers his face, groaning in pain.)

Peridot: What? Is the increased vibration causing damage to your head holes?

Steven: I don't know!

Peridot: We're not even piercing the crust yet! I need to increase power! Are you going to be okay?

Steven: Yeah, yeah. I think it's just the noise. I think. Keep going.

Peridot: Affirmative. Activating triple tip penetration mode!

(The three drills separate in a triangular formation. The cluster's outreached arms retreat. Steven looks down at the cockpit floor. He sees flashing hallucinations of ghoulish faces floating up towards him. He gasps in shock. One of the drills breaks off. Steven watches it from the glass.)

Steven: Runaway drill!

(Peridot balances the contraption on its two remaining drills.)

Peridot: There! Just, gotta, keep balance!

Steven: Okay...

(Steven looks out the window at the cluster, with a nauseated frown. He sees another ghostly face. Its mouth widens in a groan as it rushes towards him. He screams and is knocked back in shock, crashing into Peridot. A second drill breaks off. The machine spins around in unbalance.)

Peridot: I don't know if it's going to hold!

(The force of the spinning machine throws Steven and Peridot against their seats. Steven grips his head and stomach, gritting his teeth in pain.)

Steven: I don't understand what's happening! Argh!

Peridot: What's wrong?!

Steven: I don't know!

(Steven's gem begins to glow. Steven sits upright in pain, panting heavily. Peridot rushes over to face him.)

Peridot: Steven! Steven!

(Steven sweats and pants heavily. He looks up, and again, sees a vision of ghoulish faces floating up. His seat is suspended among them, and Peridot is gone.)

Steven: Peridot? Peridot?

(His gem glows and the seat dissipates. He floats into the darkness. Steven wakes up, suspended in what appears to be a starry sky. Voices echo.)

Gem shards: Must... Have to... Want to... Need to... Have to...

(He soon realises that gem shards are floating around him.)

Gem Shards: Want to... Need to... Want to...

(A gem shard floats past Steven. A small broken voice can be heard from it as its glow pulsates.)

Gem shard #1: ...want to...need to...

Steven: You... want to? Want to what?

(A strong light emits around Steven and the voices cry out.)

Gem shards: Form!

(Steven screams and covers his ears.)

Steven: Please! Stop!

(The light subsides and the voices calm.)

Steven: It's the cluster. I'm talking to the cluster?! But... how did I get inside your brain? Brains?

The Cluster: Have to... Want to... Need to... Must!

(Steven gasps.)

Steven: Wait! Please don't take form!

(The light returns and the cluster chants aggressively.)

The Cluster: Form! Form! Form! Form! ''Want form! Want form! Form!!''

(Steven covers his ears. The light and chanting stops.)

Steven: Maybe instead of forming you could do something else?

(Light emits from the cluster as the gem shards cry and shout.)

The Cluster: Form!

(Steven covers his ears.)

Steven: Boy, you've sure got the one-trackiest mind I ever met.

The Cluster: Need form!!

Steven: Agh!

The Cluster: To be whole.

Steven: Whole?

(Steven notices the gem shard that floated past him earlier.)

Steven: Oh.

Gem shard #1: Have to...

Steven: You're shards. You just wanna find the rest of your gems. But forming won't help you find the rest of yourselves. You'll just destroy the Earth!

The Cluster: No. No, no. No! No.

Steven: But if you wanna find other gems, there's so many of you right here! Look.

(Steven pushes a gem shard near another.)

Steven: Shard, meet shard!

(The shards glow as they speak.)

Gem shard #2: Have to...

Gem shard #3: Want to...

Steven: See? You already have so much to talk about.

(The Cluster's voices raise in commotion as they begin to speak to each other. Bubbles of light surround Steven as he smiles.)

The Cluster: Hi! Oh, hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! Oh, hi!

(The cluster is soon engulfed in light.)

Steven: This is great! You don't even need to form. You can just stay here!

The Cluster: Want to stay.

(Links form between bubbles of light. The light subsides momentarily, then returns. The cluster cries out in anguish.)

The Cluster: Can't stop! Going to form! Can't stop! Going to form! Help! Help! Help!

Steven: It's okay. If I just bubble you, you won't have to come out. It'll keep you safe. Here, look, like this!

(Steven bubbles the shards near him.)

Steven: I can bubble you! I can bubble you! I can bubble you! Ah. Well, that's five. Out of... oh jeez. I'm sorry! I can't do it alone!

(The bubbles of light pulsate around Steven, pushing him to and fro. Steven starts to float away from the cluster. He grunts, reaching out to the light. When he wakes up, Peridot is in front of him.)

Peridot: Steven! Wake up!

(Once Steven comes to his senses, he sits upright and gasps.)

Steven: It doesn't wanna form!

Peridot: What?

Steven: We gotta put it in a bubble!

Peridot: Bubble that?! Hah, there's no way!

(Bubbles can be seen forming on the cluster's surface. Steven gasps.)

Steven: They're bubbling each other!

(Steven bends down on one knee and places his hands on the cockpit floor.)

Steven: I've got you. You've got this. We've all got each other!

(Steven encases the cluster in a huge pink bubble. The drill's mechanical arms climb out of its hole near the barn. The contraption falls, and Steven and Peridot tumble out of the cockpit. When they get up, Peridot hugs Steven.)

Peridot: You did it!

Steven: We did it together. And it was great!

(Steven hears the warp pad, and looks over to it. Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl have returned. Garnet is carrying Lapis, unconscious in her arms. Steven and Peridot run over to them.)

Steven: Guys! You're back! I-is Lapis okay?

Garnet: She'll be fine.

Pearl: You look happy! Uh, did you destroy the cluster?

Steven: No, I talked to it.

Pearl: What?

Steven: It doesn't wanna destroy the Earth. It just wants company. And it's got it now. It's like a bajillion people! They'll have lots of time to get to know each other, now that they're in a bubble.

Pearl: How on Earth did you bubble that whole thing?!

Steven: We had a little help.

(The camera pans rapidly down to the cluster, now surrounded in a pink bubble.)