Big changes are looming on the horizon, and Steven is the one with the unfortunate task of warning the other Crystal Gems.

Pearl: Careful! It’s dangerous to stick your head out of the warpstream.

Garnet: There’s not much air, and it’s very cold.

Steven: You guys! I saw something out there. […] Something warping!

Pearl: Steven, that’s not possible. Is your vision blurry because of the pollen?

Steven: I can see perfectly…Pearl? I know there’s something out there!

Garnet: There’s nothing out there, Steven. There hasn’t been anything else for a long, long time.

Steven (and the audience) knows that he saw something, and he just wants to find out more about it, but Garnet and Pearl refuse to acknowledge the possibility that there might be anything out there at all (Amethyst never outright doubts him, but doesn’t seem to think it’s a big deal either way).

It’s not until Steven stays up all night watching the warp pad that they realize that he must seriously believe he saw something.  Also he squirts Pearl in the face, which she kinda had coming.

Pearl: Listen. Nothing on Earth can use the warps but us. Do you understand? Steven, nod in agreement if you understand. Nod in agreement-

Garnet: I’m confident Pearl is right, but if it’ll make you feel better, we can just go check.

Between his lack of sleep and the Gems’ persistent disbelief, Steven is getting kind of cranky.

Pearl: We’ve looked all over. There’s nothing out here to find.

Steven: But you’re wrong.

Pearl: Excuse me?

Steven: I-I mean-

Pearl: Nothing on Earth can use these warps but us.

Steven: Well, what if it came from space?

Garnet and Pearl are both conveniently qualifying their statements about how impossible it would be for Steven to be right – either “nothing on Earth” or “not in a long, long time”, but both leave open the possibility that it’s something new from space.  The only problem there, of course, is that all of the interstellar warp pads are still supposed to be broken, as Pearl condescendingly reminds Steven (and the audience) of.

Amethyst: Look, Pearl’s right, like usual. You get used to it.

Garnet: We’re safe.

Steven: Well, I guess so…

Amethyst: Oh man, finally! That took all day.

Garnet: It was important to make Steven feel secure.

Pearl: Yes. Steven feels much better now.

Steven: I’m a little tired of you guys telling me how I feel! I know I saw something outside the stream!

Pearl: And I know you didn’t!

Then Pearl and Steven get into a full-fledged argument, and they keep at it until Garnet just butts in and tells them to drop it.

Amethyst: Uh, this is new. I kinda like it.

What looks like (and was probably intended as) a fair and reasonable move on Garnet’s part was really just shutting down the conversation, which only actually validates Pearl’s side of the argument.

Leaving Steven to keep worrying about what he saw, which would only be worse now that he knows they don’t believe him (and also all the reasons why there shouldn’t have been anything to see).  And while Amethyst still doesn’t say he was seeing things, she’s just frustrated that he’s getting so obsessed about it.  It feels very much like Lucy in The Chronicles of Narnia, but with sleep deprivation and no Professor Kirk around to talk logic.

Then he finally does find the thing (conveniently when no one else is around), and follows it when it activates the warp pad.

Steven: I was right! And now, I’m gonna die…a tired, frozen little sadsack…

Of course being vindicated is small consolation for Steven when he thinks he’s going to die, but thankfully Garnet is able to respond quickly enough to intercept him.

Garnet: So this is what you saw.

Steven: I don’t care about that!

Garnet: I do. I should’ve listened to you. You’re a Crystal Gem, too.

There are a ton of other robots, all converging on the Galaxy Warp…

Amethyst: They fixed it?

Steven: What does that mean?

Pearl: I…don’t know!

Turns out, it means a new Gem warps in to check on Earth…and the Crystal Gems take great pains not to be discovered, only to be betrayed by the sticker they left on the warp pad to mark it inactive.

Peridot: This site may have been compromised.

Fun fact: The gem peridot is known to be found on certain meteorites!

Pearl: They’re coming back! I can’t do this! Not again!

Amethyst: We’re dead. We are so dead.

Steven: Was that another Gem? Where did she come from? What was she trying to do?

Garnet: It doesn’t matter. She’s not coming back.

Then Garnet proceeds to smash the warp pad again…although it’ll merely be a question of when, not if, more robots show up to repair it again.  Considering all of their reactions, though, it’s pretty clear why they didn’t want to entertain the possibility that something from outer space had reached Earth.  Pearl had a minor meltdown just thinking about what could be coming, and even Garnet resorted to violence (which, again, isn’t actually a long-term solution).  It’s only a matter of time now until they face the other Gems, whatever that means.

Until next time…