“My purpose?” I quietly whispered into the phone. My throat started to tighten just a bit near the edges. I had to choose my words wisely. The last thing I wanted do was to give off the impression that I was there to harm the princess. This person on the other line had to know that I was there to help; otherwise, everything that I’d done up until now would be for nothing.
“My name is Cosmic Callisto Caprica. I’m vacationing here on the Titan. I know that The Rings of Saturn have been stolen and I’ve done some investigating and I have evidence that proves that an innocent Martian woman is being accused of stealing the rings, even though she hasn’t. I just want to talk to someone of authority on the ship about this because an innocent Martian woman is probably going to go to jail for something that she didn’t do. Please, I just want to help her and make sure that she doesn’t go to jail, even though there are other suspects in this robbery.”
I pressed the phone to my ear. It was so quiet on the other end of the line and I thought maybe the person on the other end had said something and I just didn’t hear it. “Hello?” My voiced echoed through the phone. I pressed my lips together and silently prayed that the person on the other line was able to understand me and what I was trying to achieve. For a split second, I thought that maybe the guy on the other end was going to say something, but he didn’t. There was a small clicking noise that was immediately followed by the drawn-out hum of the phone’s dial tone. He had hung up on me. I looked down at the phone, hoping that maybe he would call me back. This has to be a mistake, right? I was sure he heard me. I was completely one hundred percent clear when I talked to him that I was able to get my message across without sounding too confusing. I was sure that he was probably thinking it over and when he was done, he would call me back. I looked down at the phone in my hand and then back at the ship that was hovering in front of me. Sadly, the little silver ship began to back away from my escape pod.
“No, don’t go,” I whispered. As the ship continued to back away from me, my feelings of disappointment started to transform into feelings of fear. Once the silver ship had finished backing away from me, a strange white-colored mist emerged from the pointy edge at the end of the ship. To my surprise, the point at the end of the silver ship flipped open and a black, oval-shaped pole with three rings on it appeared from out of the strange white mist. Oh my God, it looked like a photon blaster! He’s going to shoot me! He couldn’t shoot me; I didn’t do anything wrong! Why was I given no warning at all? I tried my best not to panic, but I couldn’t help myself. Just like before, my heavy breathing created a patch of fog that covered the entire bottom half of my helmet. My trembling hands floated over the top of the steering wheel. I tried to stop them from trembling so I could grab hold of the steering wheel, but I couldn’t. Is this it? Am I going to die out here in the middle of space inside of this escape pod? My life couldn’t end like this; I wouldn’t let it end like this.
Somewhere deep down inside, this primal rage, the desire to live and to not die took control of every inch of my body. It wrapped around the bones in my fingers and it stopped my hands from shaking. I grabbed hold of the steering wheel, then I looked back at the silver ship. It was still holding the same position, but now a high-pitched humming noise was coming from it. I kept my eyes on the black photon blaster; the bottom half of the blaster had changed from black to white. I had no idea what that meant, but I had to figure out what I was going to do. Maybe if I got away from her ship, this guy would leave me alone.
I drove the escape pod away from the princess’s ship. For a moment, I thought that I was safe, but as soon as I heard that high-pitched humming noise, I knew that I was still being followed by the silver ship. Okay, this guy isn’t going to leave me alone. What should I do? I had no way to fight back. I bit down on my lower lip, then I made a hard right turn. I glanced back at the silver ship; the middle part of the blaster was now white just like the bottom. Why hadn’t this guy shot me down yet anyway? I was right in front of him earlier and even now I had my back to him, yet he hadn’t taken the shot yet. I wondered if it had something to do with his photon blaster and the color it was changing to. Did he have to wait until it was completely white? I had to see this for myself.
I turned the escape pod around so that I was facing the silver ship. My abrupt stop took the ship by surprise. We almost collided, but the silver ship managed to dodge to the far right at the last moment. While the silver ship was still turning, I glanced at the photon blaster. It was completely white now. Sweat fell from my forehead as I waited for the silver ship to make its next move. A thin neon green beam came from out of the photon blaster. Everything was happening so fast that I didn’t have any time at all to react. The green beam struck the top edge of the escape pod. I held my breath as the beam tore through the escape pod’s hard metal and pieces of burned metal fell on the floor behind me. The speakers near the portscreen let out a high-pitched warning signal about the fire and the bright white lights inside of the ship turned red. I unbuckled myself from my seat.
A can of Flame Be Gone was tucked under one of the seats in the escape pod. After giving the can a good shake, I sprayed the white cream all over the burning pieces of metal and over the top of the gaping hole near the ceiling that was still on fire. A small trail of smoke came from out of the patch of white cream that was over top of the hole on the ceiling. There must have been an even bigger fire somewhere inside of this ship that I clearly couldn’t get to. I wondered if I was going to have to evacuate. The thought of leaving this burning escape pod and going out into space all alone sent shivers through my entire body. I grabbed hold of my shoulders to help keep myself calm. I felt myself losing control; my thoughts were all over the place and I couldn’t concentrate. The thin trail of smoke above me twirled around my space helmet. Even though I couldn’t breathe the smoke in, I literally felt like I was suffocating because of it.
I looked back at the window in front of the driver’s seat. The silver ship was directly in front of me again. The photon blaster had reverted back to its original color and that same high-pitched humming noise was coming from the silver ship. This guy is not going to leave me alone. I couldn’t stay there. If I stayed there, I was going to die. I rushed back to my seat. I had to do something before his blaster recharged again. Think, Cosmo, think; what can you do to protect yourself? I couldn’t go back to the Titan. I had no weapons and this thing was on fire. I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel, then I glanced back at the princess’s ship. Whoever was in this silver ship was shooting at me because he saw me as some sort of threat and I was sure he wanted me to get as far away from the princess’s ship as possible. I had to wonder if this guy would be as aggressive if I were closer to the ship. If he had no other choice than to stop shooting at me, then maybe he would listen to me. I doubted he would try and shoot me down if I were close to the princess’s ship. But could I reach the ship in time enough?
I glanced back at the damaged ceiling. Smoke was still pouring out of it and the red warning lights were still flashing. This was one heck of a gamble, but I thought I was going to try it. If all else failed, I could just eject myself out of this thing before it got too bad. I let out a heavy sigh and then I turned the escape pod toward Princess Rhea’s ship. I pushed the escape pod’s thrusters to their limit; the burned-up little pod shook a bit as I made my speedy dash toward the princess’s ship. I could still hear the humming noise from the silver ship; he was still trailing behind me. When I last looked at the ship’s blaster, it was still black, but I knew that at any moment, it would turn white and the driver would take aim and shoot at me from behind. As long as I was going in a straight line, I was a very easy target, so I started to pull the escape pod from the right and then to the left. I somehow managed to dodge the first two shots from the ship’s blaster. After both of the green photon blasts whizzed past the escape pod, I felt like my heart was going to stop. As I got closer to the princess’s ship, more adrenaline started to pump through my veins. I igno
red the smoke coming from the ceiling and that was now circling around the bottom of my seat. I only had to dodge one more blast from this guy and then I would be okay. I was actually close enough to the princess’s ship where I could use it as a shield. If he were to shoot at me, now he would risk hitting the very ship that he was trying to protect.
I decided to turn around and face the silver ship. Right as my hands were turning the escape pod around, that was when I saw, right above me, the final green photon blast shot through the back of the escape pod, which left a hole in the window in front of me. I let out a loud panic-filled shriek right before I lifted my arms up above my face to protect myself from the blast. The sheer force from the vacuum of space pulled me toward the crack in the window. This seatbelt wasn’t strong enough to withstand all of this pulling and all of the weight I was placing on it. It was only a matter of time before my seat belt would most likely be ripped from out of the chair and I would go crashing into the window in front of me. If one single piece of glass were to puncture my space suit, there was no way I would be able to survive. I was sure I would be dead as a doorknob in a matter of seconds. A floating decompressed human icicle; that was exactly what I would turn into. The speakers near the portscreen kept screaming the same message over and over again: how I needed to evacuate immediately and that I should use the seat ejection button. The emergency eject button was located on the end of the right armrest. The button was covered by a plastic protective case; all I had to do was flip the case up so I could press it. But the pull coming from the crack in the window was so strong that I couldn’t get my hand onto the case. It felt like my arm was encased in a pool of cement; the harder I tried to push against the vacuum, the more it pulled my arm forward.
I watched in complete horror as the crack in the window grew even larger. A thin line appeared at the end of it and danced in several different directions and finally came to a stop at the end of the window. This was it; the window was at its breaking point. I channeled every ounce of energy I had into my right arm; it shook violently as I pushed against the vacuum. I was able to make slow, snail-like progress. Eventually, one lonesome finger managed to graze against the top of the box. I pressed down onto the top of the box with my one finger until it was underneath the plastic box. Directly behind me, I heard a loud metallic creaking noise; it was as if someone were ripping the inside of the escape pod apart. Tiny pieces of metal, probably the screws, were jumping off of the walls like kernels of popcorn. I kept my head down and prayed that none of the screws would come in contact with my helmet.
I turned my direction back to the one finger that I had on the plastic case; it was right below the bottom of the case. After I flipped the case open, my finger slithered like a snake toward the red eject button. I pressed down on the eject button; an opening big enough for me to pass through appeared above me. A tremendous blast of energy pushed the bottom of my seat through the opening and out into the great depths of space. It was like I had just been shot out of a cannon; my limbs were stuck to my side and I was only able to take short, rapid breaths of air. I had no idea what direction I was going in; my vision was filled with black swirling stars, and I was far too dizzy to think about anything else other than when I would stop moving. Suddenly, my spiraling trip through the darkness of space came to a stop. With my limp body hung over my seat belt and my tired limbs carelessly floating on their own, I watched as a mysterious-looking black cord started to wrap around my body. My mind sent several signals to my body, that I should try to do something to get these cords off of me, but my body rejected those signals. I was too tired and too disorientated to even try. What I could only describe as lobster claws were attached to the end of the black cords.
The black claws clamped down onto the sides of the cords that were wrapped tightly around my midsection. Having something tightly coiled around your body that prevents you from moving, all while having a heightened sense of danger, made me wonder if this was how a snake’s prey felt just before it was eaten. I let the black lobster coils pull me backward; where I was going, I had no clue. A heavy weight pressed down on the edge of my eyelids, making it hard for me to keep them open. The last thing I saw before my eyes closed were a few twinkling stars that were far off in the distance.
* * *
I felt like my entire body were sinking deep into what felt like a soft cloud. I unclenched my fingers and tried to grab a piece of the cloud, but I couldn’t. Instead, I ran my fingers over the cloud; no wait, there was no way that this was a cloud. I pinched a bit of whatever my body was surrounded by…what is this? It kind of felt like silk to me. Why was I lying on top of silk? Also, who put me here? A thick white haze was still covering my eyes and it made everything around me look distorted. I was also having a hard time hearing; everything sounded muffled or very far away. Wherever I was at, I couldn’t stay there. I had to get up. I had to find Wendy. She needed to know that I was here and that I was okay. I started to push myself up from the silk cloud, but something held me in place. They were hands, warm hands on my shoulders; they started to push me back down onto the silk cloud. Another set of warm hands grabbed hold of one of my arms. I felt some sort of cool liquid being placed on my arm followed by a tiny little prick into my skin. I let out a little cry; maybe someone would hear me and they would come to my aid. Instantly, the white haze that was cast over my eyes became thicker than before, and my body felt heavy as if lead was traveling through my veins instead of blood. I felt so completely helpless. I tried to fight it, this strong desire to simply close my eyes, but I couldn’t.
I let out a short breath of air right as my eyes popped open. I was actually able to see what was in front of me. This time, there was no thick haze covering my eyes. Gray. There were gray tiles with thin lines going through them over me. There was something pressing down on my face. I could feel cool puffs of air hitting my nose and my lips. My eyes left the ceiling and they traveled down toward my nose; a white breathing mask was attached to my face. I took my right hand and I started to pull the breathing mask off; a split second later, a persistent beeping noise went off near me.
“Doctor! Doctor, she’s awake!” someone said in a frantic tone. I glanced over to where the voice was coming from. There was a young Martian girl. Her orange hair was pulled back into a braided bun; she had on a creamy white dress with a black rope belt on that floated above her ankles. Another Martian girl came in; she had a similar hairstyle and dress, but she had a thick piece of silk draped across the back of her neck and over her arms. She grabbed hold of my hand and pulled it off the breathing mask.
“Ahh, so you’re awake! Let me check your oxygen levels. If they’re high enough, maybe you can take your mask off.” She glanced at something behind me. I rolled my head back; above me were a few monitors. I watched as the doctor’s green fingers danced across them. She muttered a few things to herself while she shook her head. She looked down at me and smiled. “Everything looks good; your oxygen levels are normal and so is your heart rate.” She reached down toward the breathing mask and pulled it off of my face.
I dragged my tongue across the top of my dry lips. “Where am I?” I asked in a low husky voice. The doctor took her fingers and pushed the skin near my eyes up. She plucked a tiny flashlight from out of her dress pocket. She shoved the flashlight a mere two inches away from my eyes. I flinched.
“You’re a very special guest here on the Cybele.” She moved the flashlight over to my other eye. “Can you tell me where you were before you came here?” She moved the flashlight over to my right ear.
“I was in an escape pod.”
She nodded. “And before that?”
“I was on the Titan.”
“What were you doing on the Titan?”
“I’m staying there because I want to see the princess’s jewelry showcase.” The doctor moved down to the end of my bed and flipped the silk sheet back. My right foot was wrapped up tightly in a white bandage. She took her finger and she stroked the bottom of my foo
t; automatically, my toes curled up toward the ceiling.
She smiled. “Good, good. I was little worried when I removed those bandages on your ankle and I saw that awful gash you had.” She gently placed the covers back over my foot. “Well, your memories are intact and I don’t see any signs of space decompression. I think you’re going to be just fine.” The doctor patted me on my leg and left before I even had the chance to spit out a question.
The young Martian woman who told the doctor that I woke up walked over to the right side of my bed. She tucked the silk blanket under my arm. “My name is Pallene. It’s my job to make sure that you’re comfortable while you’re here on the Cybele. If you need anything or if you have any questions, just ask.”
I pushed myself up from off of the bed; the room started to spin for a bit, but after I shook my head, everything fell back into place. “Whose ship is this and why am I here? Last thing I remember, I was trying to escape from some guy in a silver ship that was trying to shoot me down.”
Pallene pushed me back down on the bed. “The Cybele belongs to her Royal Highness Princess Rhea of Planet X.” My jaw flew open. I repeated her words over and over again in my head because what she said literally made no sense to me. She was lying right now. That couldn’t be right, could it? This is a joke; she’s definitely joking with me. “We picked up your escape pod’s distress signal and we sent one of our soldiers out to pick you up. Unfortunately, he didn’t follow orders. He perceived you as a threat to her Majesty and attacked your escape pod. When you ejected from your escape pod, that same solider saved you. Of course, this was after receiving a direct order from the princess herself. You were unconscious when you were brought aboard. Our medical team did a complete body scan to make sure you weren’t suffering from space decompression. They found the bullet in your ankle and removed it.”
I brought my hands up to my lips. “I’m so sorry for all of the trouble that I’ve caused. I don’t want to be a burden. If you could just—”
Cosmic Callisto Caprica & the Missing Rings of Saturn Page 16
