“That is not the same as cutting my sister with a knife!”
“It’s a scalpel!”
“A blade by any other name would smell as sweet!”
“That’s not how that phrase goes, you ignoramus!”
“I will stab you!” Garnet threatened her with the scalpel. “Stop yelling at me!”
“Don’t you threaten me!”
The two of them were practically shouting over each other. Garnet didn’t even notice Tanin getting close until he was pulling the scalpel out of her hands. No hesitation. No questions. He just hit cut right into Goldie’s armpit.
Again, Garnet quickly turned her head. Maybe it was because Goldie was her twin, but she couldn’t handle her blood either. She gritted her teeth, shifting her weight as Tanin worked. He wasn’t as quick as her sister, but he eventually stood straight, announcing-
“Got it.”
“Great!” Goldie chirped. “Now, Alred, just start the healing program that I set up.”
“It’s going.”
“Thanks.”
Garnet turned back, watching as Tanin brought the little bead to the scanner where hers was already sitting.
She cautiously walked up behind him, looking over his shoulder at the little things. Aside from a smudge of blood from him putting the beads down, there actually wasn’t much red on the little white devices themselves.
Then, suddenly, there was a tiny Alred beside the trackers.
About three inches tall, but otherwise exactly proportioned as he was before, Tiny Alred circled the beads inside the scanner while Garnet peeked around Tanin’s arm. She didn’t know why she was surprised that Alred could shrink. His light form was just a fake projection he made for them to have something to talk to, it wasn’t his actual body. He wasn’t actually bound to it looking any particular way. Everything was a personal choice for him.
And, apparently, he wanted to walk around the beads as Goldie was being healed.
“Very sophisticated little things,” he said, his voice tiny to match his tiny body. Garnet had to bite her lips to keep from squealing about how cute that was. Tiny voice was, like everything else, a choice. Alred was a funny kind of guy, and it was really adorable. “Even with this scan, I couldn’t recreate these. I don’t even know how these parts were made, much less assembled.”
“Anything useful?” Tanin asked.
“No. Just that these are definitely capable of sending off signals. They would only react to a prompt though. They have to be pinged to alert the location. Which is why I can’t sense them sending off any data. It’s not constant or reliable enough for me to be able to detect it. At least, not without better sensors at my disposal.”
“Then, they’re worthless.”
Tiny Alred shrugged. “Pretty much.”
“Destroy them.”
“Aye, captain!” Alred laughed.
The box sparked once. It was quick. So fast, Garnet didn’t even realize what happened until the two little beads were suddenly charred and one had cracked open like a split pea. Alred destroyed them just like that.
“What is this, the microwave from hell?” She asked, tapping the glass.
Light form Tiny Alred chuckled from inside the box, completely unaffected by whatever had destroyed the tracking beads. “It’s an inorganic scanner. Similar to the mediring, but it can’t be used on anything living. The depth of the scans are often lethal to living tissue.”
“Don’t appear too kind to non-living tissue either.”
Tiny Alred nodded. “Just so. The trackers are well and truly busted. You two should be safe. Well, from Gissrn, anyway.”
“Really?” Garnet brightened, looking up at Tanin for confirmation.
