Béhierite did not restrict herself to one case at a time. A brilliant mind demanded more of a challenge. In addition to her courtly duties, she juggled a few cases at all times. Presently, Béhierite toiled over just one case, and two investigations-her Parasite friend's appeal to the Diamonds, an investigation on a serial killer on the nearby planet Omega 3, and lastly, investigation of a worrying rumour. If one believed this rumour, White Diamond owned a secret laboratory, hidden within her physical body.

Béhierite herself had swept White Diamond's body herself with a sonar spitter under the pretence of a routine safety check, and had found nothing of the kind. Béhierite wanted to do a more thorough check; however, her Diamond had found out about it, and had forbidden her from any more investigation. Béhierite had to sigh. In her opinion, Blue Diamond put too much trust in her fellow Diamonds.

Béhierite tapped her Gem in irritation. Now was the time to plan, not to reminisce. Blue Diamond had forbidden Béhierite to run around White Diamond's building blasting the walls with sonar; however, other investigations continued. One of these investigations would make an excellent cover for Blue Zircon's illicit activities.

An investigator under Yellow's command (a dour Daisy Yellow Xenotime, a relative to the Zircon family, but far rarer) and Béhierite had an upcoming "meeting" with General Rogueite, of White Diamond's command. Officially, the debriefing concerned a rogue Sun Incinerator that had alarmingly been lost by an Emerald. This General would give them the details of the incident. During this meeting, Béhierite needed to gauge whether the General posed a threat to Blue Diamond. And, technically, to Yellow Diamond, as well.

The meeting itself did not matter to Blue Zircon's plans, but Béhierite had been given the freedom to set the "meeting" wherever she desired.

"Set it here!" Blue Zircon had said, directing Béhierite to a small meeting room, nestled snugly within the beating heart of Yellow Diamond's headquarters. Conveniently, the room lay only twenty feet away from where Blue Zircon would use Béhierite's credentials to access a high-level computer lab. From what Béhierite understood, Blue Zircon wished to view current surveillance tapes of the Diamonds' quarters themselves.

As long as the truth did not involve her beloved Blue Diamond, Béhierite would be happy to play along with anything the junior Zircon proposed.

After drawing up the details of her plan, Blue Zircon readjusted her monocle, re-setting its sides into the curve of her brow and nose. "And the fact that you are committing treason doesn't bother you at all? You're letting a Zircon with a much lower security clearance access ultra-top-secret information!" asked Blue Zircon, astounded.

"No it doesn't. But if it did, I would have turned you in to the proper authorities by now," said Béhierite with a chuckle. Her chuckle deepened as Blue Zircon blanched and hastily changed the topic.

Béhierite whipped up the necessary paperwork and filed it in a matter of hours. First-a form to transfer Blue Zircon into her department, thus giving Blue Zircon an excuse to follow Béhierite into high-security areas. This form was the most important, so Béhierite filed it immediately. No form can ever be processed as quickly as we need it; I'll have to pay the Administrator a visit.

She submitted the change of room form second, setting the meeting to Room UX-2117, on the second floor. Blue Zircon hovered over her shoulder, watching as Béhierite scribbled out details over the two forms, talking all the while.

Then, she penned a quick holomail to Daisy-Yellow Xenotime, detailing the change of plans. The reply came within minutes; the rare Gem could care less. Béhierite whispered conspiratorially to her junior Gem, "I think she likes it. After all, this building is right next to Yellow Diamond's court! It's her home turf. It strokes her ego."

Blue Zircon shifted uneasily behind the giggling Béhierite. Béhierite craned her head around to scrutinize the junior Gem's expression. Of course, she can't be too happy about going so near to Yellow Diamond…

The meeting was still two Earth days away; Béhierite bid Blue Zircon farewell.

The day of the meeting could not occur quickly enough for Blue Zircon; but soon, it was time. Four hours before Béhierite's meeting, she bestowed upon Blue Zircon a newly-minted pin, proof of her office's authority. Béhierite peeled an organic film off of the back of the pin, moistened it with a dip of water, and pressed the back against Blue Zircon's cravat.

Blue Zircon crooked her neck to inspect the sparkling pin bound to her cravat. A large blue dot lay at the centre of several concentric circles, each proudly bearing a number of dots of varying size.

The circular motif brought forth an image of Blue Diamond, extending her hand upon the planets she ruled.

With a few words, the two Gems were ready to leave.

A diminutive, mouse-like Gem, a Feldspar, skittered along the sky walk, hopping from level to level, always remaining at least two stories above the targets. If she slipped and made a noise as her body smashed into a lower sky walk, if her claws made screechy noises on the concrete, if she otherwise was not silent, the targets would not hear.

The targets proceeded past the main thoroughfare, and took a detour into the maze of pastel blue-screened offices. The soaring roof of the building dived down low, forcing Feldspar to descend and trail the targets.

The office maze held a comfortable kind of silence. If one's focus slipped from their work to the ambience outside them, the soft beeps and murmurs of holo-screens would predominate, blending with soft scratching of hands over screens or desks, and the occasional scuffle of feet over carpet.

Feldspar hated this. She winced every time she passed by an open-screen office, and the occupant's eyes would flash up to her, back down, then back up again. She tried to ignore the staring. She could not "blend in". Her linear style of dress had been "in" over 5000 years ago. The audacity of modern Gem styles! Whatever happened to the blocky monotone colours, and the steel-straight lines? Gems these days…

And directly because of that absent-mindedness, Feldspar collided with her targets. Her nose bounced off the solid leg of the older Gem, who apologized with a flourish. The younger Gem adjusted her monocle. Feldspar acted on instinct. She gave a bow (hopefully bowing was still in fashion) and apologized herself. Feldspar did not stop to chat; she walked on, turning as soon as she possibly could.

Feldspar cursed, and made a wide circuit around the two to ensure they could not hear or see her following them again. True, she risked losing them, but…

I am a professional! I should not be slipping up like this! I have an important role, I can't mess this up!

Feldspar skittered to a lane beside the two targets, keeping pace with them, sometimes dashing ahead and waiting for them to pass by her. By their position, the two had not moved much since their meeting with Feldspar; but they were moving now.

Feldspar lowered herself onto four legs, only a little guilty. (In her opinion, this two-legged thing was all just a fad.) Her commander had said: "I know it's natural for us, but you cannot go on four legs when newer Gems around!" again and again, but Feldspar was unable to resist the urge. She needed soothing. It's been so long since I had to do…well anything. I've grown soft.

As a direct result, her back left foot caught on a pastel-blue screen, sliding free without Feldspar noticing. The screen inched forward in response, scraping against the rough carpet.

"Can I help you?" asked the Gem within, breaking the comfortable silence. After a moment, she turned around, to see the source of the disturbance. Feldspar had left by then; the office Gem sighed and returned to her work.

As the other Gem's voice had sounded out, Feldspar froze. Why was that Gem speaking so suddenly, seconds after she had passed? Feldspar took cover quickly, not wanting to be seen. After a moment, the mousy Gem continued on…

…until she realized she could no longer hear her targets' steps. Feldspar tilted her head around, but she could hear nothing.

A surge of panic rushed through the minute Gem. Feldspar had been a tracker in the army; a good one, too. But she had not practiced her craft in a while. Perhaps, if she had not been so rusty, she would not have panicked as she did.

Feldspar had to regain sight of her targets. She couldn't lose them! She sped around the corner, rocketing towards where she had remembered them last. Feldspar skidded to a stop at the spot, for the carpet had been scuffed up unnaturally.

Feldspar sniffed the carpet, lips and teeth kissing the soft blue carpet as something hard smashed into the back of her head.

The unexpected blow stunned Feldspar, and she curled up, gravity knocking her onto her back. She saw as her assailant, one of the targets, bashed her again in the face with a solid office chair.

With an adamantean effort, Feldspar regained consciousness and rolled her body away. There were perks to being a diminutive Gem, after all! Feldspar fell still, sneaking her hand into a pouch on her belt. Clenching her hand around her cold chisel, hoping her assailants would approach her and try to flip her over. I can't quite see, but if I can just pull this off, I should get one of them!

Indeed, Feldspar felt something hook into her back, and begin to raise her up. Feldspar sunk her left knee into the carpet, swinging her hips counter-clockwise. Flipping over, Feldspar slashed the chisel at the blue thing in front of her, where her targets should be. A curse rang out, and the Gem in front of her stumbled back. Another, similarly blue Gem took her place.

This Gem reached her hands back-in them she held the silhouette of a chair. Feldspar rocked forward, trying to get to her feet. The Gem did not give her the chance to do so, battering Feldspar with the chair in a flurry of ferocity until Feldspar nearly blacked out.