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Ollie feels like a fool - she'll lose a facet for this and for what?! To look good to that idiot axnite? But it's too late to back out now. And it's not like she's using her own code anyway. And if that clod O-341 knows what's good for her she'll be at the committee tonight building an alibi. Otherwise... well it's not like the idiot is actually worth something. Whatever - it'll take all of 30 minutes to download one of the R-6 files and then Hema will eat her words. "What's this?" OS-5 Restriction Level - Diamond : Violators will be Re-Purposed. ...Sucks for O-341.
Record accessed.
Login : CL-4R/D-B5oO-341-89FC Recorded
Clearance level Invalid - Infraction Noted
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Thank you for accessing the Archives.
The Record Begins
There has not been a True Child in many years. And the People are Heartsick. At least that is what her Supervisor says. And One of Nine who is a Fathered Child must assume this is true. Else why would she have been given this assignment? To cure the Heartsick with a pretty trick - not a True Child but something small to be loved and put away when unneeded.
And One of Five who Survived a Sickness prattles on about dolls and pets and wouldn't something in Pink be nice. But blue is better and red is better still. It should be small - something one could carry. It should be able to speak, and to learn or else it would soon be boring. It should be able to love...
While One of Three who has been Off-World leads the team down well marked paths of robotics and biology One of Nine studies the old works. And she learns to carve.
The first attempt is worthless - barely aware and utterly unpleasant to look at. She crushes it with contempt.
The second attempt is even worst. It sets everything on fire! And it won't stop wailing.
One of Nine hisses as the awful thing burns her refusing to have it's projected form disrupted. And even after being reduced to it's base it persists in trying to reform. And it's screams are very upsetting.
Almost as upsetting as being covered in red dust that seems to willfully cling to her hands and maliciously creep under her nails. She cries as she desperately scrubs stained white skin. Her mother One of Six who Wed comforts her afterwards and then talks her into presenting her findings to the group. The ache of her teeth grinding is nothing compared to the ache of her cheeks from grinning. It is unfortunate that One of Three recognizes the problem, but Nine is the leader now and she will get the Lion's share of credit.
The secret is blood - or really any biological presence. But blood makes more sense to One of Nine. And the resulting compound is promising as she brings it to her carving station. At last all her efforts, all her hopes sit glimmering in one delicate hand. Fifteen centuries of work and it could all be for nothing.
She needn't have worried.
The small one is perfect.
One of Nine becomes Mother of Gems - and her first child is Ruby.
Ruby is loud and rambunctious. Ruby is as quick to laugh as she is to fight as she is to play as she is to love. Ruby does not enjoy being taught, but she is a careful student. To Mother of Gems Ruby will always be unique - but in ten weeks there are thousands of them. It is not enough.
The People want something new. They want something special. They are competitive and petty. They are careless and cruel. Rubies are thankfully hardy, because their owners are thoughtless. And the next one - beautiful as the cool heart of a glacier is just as hard. But the People are ungrateful. Sapphires are good, but Emeralds are better. And for a season Topaz are all the rage. And it's never enough. Always more... and Mother of Gems begins to hate the People. And then someone demands not a child, but a companion... a mate.
And there is an uproar - and people admit that they use their gems for many things besides care giving. The factories are closed. Mother of Gems is tired of the People and their Sickness that was never Heartsickness. But the Elders and the Elite and the Powerful would have their toys. And the Masses would have their toys. And she is only one person. So...so she creates one last creature, one last gem - She gives it only one order: "Expand your ranks and name yourselves." Then she takes her Ruby and leaves never to be seen again.
No one misses her.
It calls it's self Ammolite - and all eyes follow it as the light strikes rainbows from it's skin. It does not speak to anyone, cannot speak because no one has taught it to. It walks to the sea, and then into the sea, and it is forgotten.
Holder of Gems, who was One of Three, will fulfill any request - and there are Jaspers, Amethysts, Rose Quartz, and Garnets. These disappear into barracks where they are taught that only obedience matters. And there are any number of Olivines - Peridots and Molodovas and Jeines. And they are sometimes like children and sometimes like spun sugar glass and they disappear most often into labs. And if a buyer is seen dusting green powder from their hands it's their money. And there are Lapis to calm seas and rearrange the landscape and water the fields. And they are such lovely shades of blue all over. And there are Opals and Alexanderites and Tanzanites, but only the richest can afford them - so they are all marked with guild brands and House sigils. And it's so unfair!
And out of the sea comes something dark and slender as a blade with skin that brings to mind flowers and closed rooms. It calls it's self Memories of Ages. It is made of fossilized coral. And it's gift is to be shielded from the awareness of others. And it collects gems and the shards of gems from trash heaps and drawers and dust pans. It collects gadgets and weapons and gee-has into which gems have been inserted or misformed into. It breaks the neck of a Juvenile to see if it can. And then another and then the next it tears apart. And the next it burns. Death follows in it's wake until it has enough Gems. And then it disappears back into the waves.
Holder of Gems disappears behind locked doors and mounds of gems are collected for disposal. The video-feeds are clogged with the strange black and white gem that kills. Beautiful and dangerous and apparently unseen. Again and again it cut through crowds like a breeze through tall grass - felt but unseen and easily ignored. No one understands. How could this happen? And why? Soft fists bang against gilded doors demanding to speak to Holder of Gems. And meanwhile the ocean waves release another gem.
No one notices Sandyen because she is small and pale like a Juvenile. But her eyes are black like no Jelifis ever. And they gleam with the esurient hatred she'll never speak her gem hidden at the back of her throat. Like a glutton she shoves handfuls of gems into her mouth stashing them away in her own gem until later. And soon there are scores of her stealing away their brethren as best they can. And one is caught - the blade in it's belly causes it's form to shiver. No - to flicker, a flicker brighter than the sun. All that is left is a mile large crater so smooth it creates the illusion of a pool filled with the sky.
Next time the People are waiting, and Elimia Agate is not given the chance to speak. They scatter her pieces to the waves with a cheer. And the Ocean retreats taking the rivers with it. And the People are afraid.
Holder of Gems demands all the rubies and sapphires still in civilian possession. And meanwhile the old ships are repaired while new ones are made. The best and brightest are divided into those who will bear sons and those who will revert and be paired with those sons. The Elders cull their numbers to create new cell mass to seed new populations elsewhere. They are running away, but they lack the grace to do so quietly.
Holder of Gems releases her final creations - Path of Glass and She Who Breathes Clouds. They are small gods - enormous, brutish, and vicious. They will be the death of this world - and somewhere inside Holder cries. But it's far too late for regrets. "You will destroy the renegades no matter the consequences. Then you will destroy yourselves." With this final order One of Five who Misjudged abdicates her old titles and hurries to board the last ship. Path of Glass and She Who Breathes Clouds join hands and begin walking toward the edge of the sky.
The Record Ends
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