47Epilogue: Portents of Things to Come…
Steven woke to everything spinning and having rosy tint. Slowly memories returned, of the XSS Triton exploding and the Crystal Gems hugging him and Connie. Only he was also Connie…now they remembered! The Gems were trying to stand up straight in the spinning bubble Stevonnie had formed around them right before the explosion. Peridot had been able to open the escape pod's hatch, which without the pod was simply an air-lock, just before the auto-destruct completed and the bubble formed.
Stevonnie's bubble was strong enough to protect them from the initial blast and shrapnel, and the escaping air from the hatch helped to push the bubble away from the ship before it was full consumed. So the group was now spinning down towards the Earth at hundreds of miles per hour! Centering themselves, Stevonnie tried to call up Steven's hovering abilities, which were tied with happy thoughts. Hard to think of with the rapidly approaching ground and screaming Gems, of course!
Come on Steven! Happy thought! Puppies playing! The Ocean splashing against the shore! …Okay maybe not the 'splashing' part… thought Stevonnie, trying to think of happy thoughts. Strangely as all the Gems rush around in the spinning sphere, Stevonnie was able to remember all the good times, like the snow-day Lapis made before this whole adventure started. This seemed to be enough as the spinning slowed as well as the bubble, as it 'gently' landing on the soft sand…of Beach City!
Out of the crater rose first Pearl, then Garnet, then Amethyst, follow-by Lapis leaning on Peridot, and finally Steven and Connie, all limping out. Steven and Connie collapse onto their backs, exhausted from their adventure. As the group recovered…a small silver disk sped in front of the group! The Gems quickly pulled out their weapons or assumed fighting positions as the hovering disk rapidly beeped. Finally, the disk opened up, producing a life-sized hologram of…
"ALENA!" exclaimed the group in anger and shock at the appearance of Alena Frankfurt, leader of the Earth Defense Initiative and the mastermind behind the Crystal Gems recent troubles.
"Curious…I did not think Mr. Universe's bubble could survive atmospheric reentry. I'll have to run some more calculations factoring in Rose's hovering ability. It might have some actually tactical benefit…" remarked Alena off-handedly, seeming unphased by the accusing glares.
Pearl was the first to step forward to make her complaint known, "How dare you?! You set this whole affair up as what?! An elaborate attempt to get rid of us?!"
Alena calmly answered Pearl, "The reason for this were manifold: seeing the true limits of your capabilities, testing new weapons and technologies, and also Jasper truly was making a mess of my holding cells. I had so many tests for those specimens…ah well…"
Amethyst chuckled as she responded to Alena's blasé attitude, "Well good luck cleaning this up. I'm no economics expert or whatever, but I'm guessing we just took a big chunk out of any research budget you had with that battleship we blew up!"
Alena looked at the Gems strangely…before laughing uproariously! Not expecting this reaction, the Gems stood there in shocked silence as Alena calm down. Finally finished laughing, Alena smiled smugly and stated, "That wasn't a warship! At best it was a test bed for the propulsion system…which worked out perfectly! The utterly massive research and development budget I'll get from the United Nation of Earth will easily cover the cost!"
"Um, what are you talking about? Your ship blew up in orbit…there's no way anyone would pay for that!" exclaimed Connie, confused at Alena's joy.
It was in that moment that Alena's grin turned…sinister. "I'd advise you to check the national new service. It will give a glimpse of things to come…" And with that, the holo-disk folded up and disintegrated, ending the conversation. Needless to say the Gems and Children rushed towards the Temple entrance and up the stairs to Steven's room and turned on Steven's TV to Channel 7 News:
"This is Channel 7 News with Alejandro Garcia…"
The scene changes to a new station where a Latin American in a suit sat behind a desk and spoke, "Good morning…many of us were woken up this morning here on the East Coast to a bright flash in the sky. This has been confirmed to be an experimental spacecraft built and pioneered by the Advent Space Foundation to revitalize space exploration. This was an unmanned test flight so no casualties reported and we have yet to hear…hold on…we now go live to Trisha Takanawa(1) for more on this story…"
Now the scene changes to an Asian American woman standing in a crowd in front of a stage in front of a nondescript office building, "Thanks Al! I'm standing here in front of ASF Headquarters, where the director of the project, Dr. Alena Frankfurt will be out in a few moments to give an explanation for the spectacle in the sky and if it was a malfunction or foul play. There she is now…"
On the stage, walked Alena Frankfurt, a somber expression on her face as the cameras flashed and murmurs grew louder. She walked to a podium with a microphone, adjusted it with a slight shrill tone (causing the murmurs to die down), and spoke, "Today, the XSS Triton was launched into high orbit of the Earth. From there it would have taken a course around the Moon to land safely back on Earth again. However, sabotage prevent this stage of the experiment…
"The cause of this sabotage is revealed in footage streaming from the spacecraft: alien infiltration!" after ending the statement, Alena step aside for footage of the Crystal Gems, including Jasper, attacking or 'sabotaging' the ship (this included Peridot's infiltration and accessing the main computer). Strangely Steven and Connie separately were cut out of the footage. After the footage was finished, Alena stepped back to the podium to address the startled crowd…
"The idea of alien life is not new to us, various archeological sites confirm the presence of aliens on the Earth at least five thousand years into our past. Now we can see that they have returned…with not so friendly intentions." once again pausing the screen behind Alena showed footage of Lapis Lazuli's water tower and Peridot's ship landing at Beach City and finally crashing and exploding.
"Yes, there are aliens…and they are not friendly. BUT FEAR NOT! The United Nations of the Earth, with my humble assistance, have created an organization to combat this alien menace! The Earth Defense Initiative not only will help the armies of the world unite against this threat, but also equip them with the proper gear to defeat theses Gems! But it might not be enough…
"Already, enemy agents lurk within our society. That is why, with the approval of the UNE, I am posting a reward of one million dollars for an information on Gems on Earth! I would advise against confronting them and simply contact our phone number 1-800-999-1234, or visit our website of .gov."
The crowd grew excited as camera flashed and questions were asked! The scene turned to Tricia Takanawa as she spoke to the camera, "There you have it! Proof of alien life and it is hostile! Now we have to hope that the Earth Defense Initiative is up to the task at hand. Back to you Al!"
It was at this point that Pearl turned off the TV as an atmosphere of despair permeated the household. Peridot would be the one to sum up the situation best, "She planned this whole thing for well over an Earth year! Not only does she come out looking like a victim, her technology gains the trust of your Earth governments! She'll have all the resources she needs to fund her…war with us."
The despair increased dramatically with Peridot's statement of the obvious. But Connie wouldn't have it, "Look, it's not as hopeless as it seems. Alena is taking advantage of the fact that people don't know you! She made sure not to show anything with Steven and me in it. Because that would prove you're not dangerous or evil. We just have to show the world Alena's lying about you and that's it."
"The problem is, as underhanded as Alena's methods are, it could mean the difference between life and death in the future." stated Garnet before explaining further, "I haven't mentioned this before but…I have been using my future vision to gauge Earth's survival. In spite of the fact that we have dealt with Malachite and the Cluster, the Diamonds interest in Earth has only grown. With just us defending the Earth, the chances of Earth survival past a hundred years are…less than five percent."
The silence that followed was deafening, only to finally be interrupted by Lapis, "How much…exactly…does what Alena's doing improve our chances?"
Garnet curtly replied, "Forty-five percent."
Lapis sarcastically, quietly laughs before replying, "So our lives…Steven's life…is worth a less than fifty-fifty chance of survival for Earth?!" And with that water that had mysterious collected in the kitchen sink exploded at Garnet! Instinctively Garnet blocked the shot but did nothing else but glare at Lapis' accusation.
"If we try to deny Alena's accusation, when she has damning evidence and popular support, we will only be handing ourselves to her on a silver platter! We can only stop her once we get hard evidence. In the meantime, she is organizing the humans against Homeworld's inevitable reprisal." Garnet explained her thoughts on the matter.
No one could really argue against the logic and it was decide to turn the TV back on to see if they could learn more about Alena's future plans. It was in that moment, that Greg Universe had walked through the door, hoping to see Steven today. "Hey guys! What's…?" started Greg, before stopping to see the Gems and Children in front of the TV, and seeing Alena Frankfurt on screen…
"Oh Greg! I forgot that you were coming over! We were just…" Pearl started to explain upon seeing Greg in the doorway. But she, like Steven, noticed Greg's attention was on Alena speaking on TV.
"Dad…are you okay?" asked Steven worried about his dad's focus on Alena.
"It can't be…" stated Greg, not noticing anyone else, his focus solely on Alena as he walked towards the TV screen.
Deeply disturbed, Steven bravely pressed on asking, "Dad…do you know this person?"
Greg finally turned towards Steven and said ominously, "Steven…she's the reason you're here…"
The End?
To be continued in A Blast from the Past
Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe nor any characters or elements that are contained in the series. I only own this story and the original characters (i.e. villains and monsters) and concepts that go with it. How was that for a cliffhanger! Hope you're interested in the next episode. Until then…Red and Review!
1 Yes she's based off the Family Guy character of the same name.