Cosmic Callisto Caprica & the Missing Rings of Saturn

by Sophia Chester

  It took me a minute to recognize the song that the crowd was singing; it was Pluto’s anthem for their flag. I was ashamed to say that I actually knew this terrible song. I couldn’t help it; the song, as horrible as it was because of what it represented, was actually pretty catchy and also, who didn’t know this song? There was no way anyone could escape from hearing Pluto’s national anthem. Anti-Martian supporters had purchased so much airtime over the years, and they used the Lunar Broadcasting Company to replay this song constantly, that knowing this anthem was like second nature. I’d unfortunately been listening to it in between commercials for my favorite TV shows and radio shows since I was a kid. It was sad really. So I wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb, I decided to join in with the crowd. “For the red, black, and gold, may she never grow old. Oh, Pluto, please stay in my heart. Let her fly through the night, may she never lose a fight. Oh, Pluto, please stay in my heart!” I started to inspect the outskirts of the crowd for Cole. Thankfully, I was able to spot him in no time at all.

  The tall redheaded giant was standing next to a group of guys in the center of the crowd. I carefully weaved my way through the crowd until I was directly behind Cole. I grabbed hold of his elbow. “Cole, I’ve been looking for you,” I said cheerfully.

  Cole looked down at me, his face filled with confusion. “Uhhh, who are you?”

  One of Cole’s companions, a young man who had Pluto’s flag tattooed on his upper forearm, shoved Cole to the side. “Who’s your little friend?”

  I didn’t give Cole any time to answer his friend’s question. “Oh, I’m surprised Cole hasn’t told you about me.” I looked up at Cole. “We’ve been exchanging letters for quite some time now. Cole, honey, I got the letter you left me in that flowerpot.”

  Cole grabbed me by the wrist; his grip was so tight that I thought he might pop one of my blood vessels. He dragged me through the thick crowd and to the back of Skoll’s Bar, grabbed hold of my right shoulder, and pressed me up against the wall, all while keeping his deathlike grip on my wrist. “I’m not stupid! I know who you are. I got the memo from Hayate. You’re that silly little girl who’s going around playing detective.” There wasn’t much room between Cole and me. Not enough for me to kick him as hard as I would like, to get him off me. I glanced over to my left; there was a black hover scooter with orange taillights parked in front of the back wall of the bar. I guessed it was the same hoover scooter that Cole used to drive away from the crowd moments before the explosion occurred the day of the robbery.

  “If you don’t let go of me, I’m going to scream as loud as I can and all of your friends and everyone in the crowd that watched you drag me back here will come running, and I don’t think you want that kind of attention.” Cole loosened his grip on my wrist and let go of my shoulder. I rubbed my finger over my wrist to help soothe the pain. “I’m going to make this brief. Your little girlfriend, Phoebe—” Cole charged at me and slammed the palms of his hands onto the wall behind me, his face inches away from mine.

  “Don’t get it twisted, sister. I don’t associate with her kind. I’m a firm believer in the natural order. We’re meant to be separated. I’ve never talked to that disgusting green girl before!” Just like Phoebe, Cole instantly went on the defensive, trying to distance himself away from the situation.

  “Are you sure you believe in the natural order? Are you sure that you don’t like Martian girls? I mean, you have to like them a little bit anytime you conspire with one to steal The Rings of Saturn.” Cole opened his mouth to speak, but I didn’t give him a chance to let one word out. “You seemed really nervous when you were placing that note into the flowerpot. I bet you never guessed that someone would notice what you were doing. So tell me, did Phoebe manage to get the rings to you? Are things done on her end?”

  Cole blinked his eyes three times and then he backed away from me.

  “I know all about Phoebe and her little stealing on the job habit that she has,” I continued, “so I’m sure convincing her to participate was probably pretty easy. Also, she is poor and if she were to sell the rings, she could probably have more than enough funds to move off of this ship. You clearly hate Martians and I’m sure you’re getting a kick out of the ceremony being disrupted.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I mean, honestly, the two of you have a lot to gain from stealing the rings.”

  Cole backed away from me, hung his head down, and started to massage his forehead. “It’s really not what it looks like, honest.” He must have really thought that I was stupid or something.

  “The fact of the matter is this. Everything you and Phoebe have done has been recorded on camera. You can either tell me where the rings are and it will make things easier for you and maybe less charges will be brought up against you, or your partner will tell me everything first and she will get the better plea deal. The choice is yours, Cole. So what are you going to do?”

  Cole kept his head down and started to rub his hands together.

  “Well, what are you going to do then?” I asked in a stern voice.

  Cole quickly turned on his heels and dashed around the corner. Just like his partner, he decided to run away, which of course made him look even more suspicious than before. To be honest, it was late and I was too tired to chase after Cole. This ship was still on lockdown, so it was not like he could leave. Besides, I had a hunch as to where he might have been running off to. If I were in his shoes, I would have tried to get in contact with my partner so we could get our stories straight before things become even worse for both of us. But his little plan wouldn’t work; I was already two steps ahead of him. I brought my wrist communicator up to my lips. “This is Cosmic Callisto Caprica and I need assistance in apprehending a suspect. The suspect is a young Martian woman named Phoebe. She lives in house number 30. The home doesn’t have a door; just a quilt in the front.” I held my breath as I listened to the stream of static that was coming from my communicator.

  “I’ve sent three guys down there to the house. Do you have any more orders?” said the deep booming voice coming from my communicator’s speaker. I couldn’t help but to do a little dance before giving out the rest of my instructions. “Yes, don’t go into the house or let anyone else inside until I get there.”

  Chapter 19

  I let out a long yawn as I walked toward Phoebe’s house. God, I was so tired and I could really use some shut-eye. But there was work to be done and I could sleep when the investigation was over. The closer I got to Phoebe’s home, the thicker the crowd became. A mixture of concerned and gossipy onlookers had crowded the walkway, trying their best to figure out what was going on at Phoebe’s house. I pushed my way to the front of the crowd; one of the three security guards standing in front of Phoebe’s house walked toward me. I presented my badge to him to let him know that I was not a nosy onlooker. “Tell me; has anyone tried to leave or get into the house at all?” I asked.

  The security guard shrugged his shoulders. “The suspect tried to leave, but now she’s boarded herself up in her room.” Suddenly, a loud crashing noise came from Phoebe’s home. It sounded like glasses had shattered onto the floor. Followed by the sound of the glass shattering came an intense shouting match. I couldn’t understand what was being said because the entire conversation was in Martian.

  “Stay out here and don’t come in unless I call you guys!” I shouted before I walked into Phoebe’s home. Inside, Hellen was picking up tiny fragmented pieces of glass from the floor. Hellen dropped the pieces of glass into the wash bucket behind her, then she pulled me toward the quilt that was blocking off the other half of their home. I looked at the quilt in front of the room that Phoebe was in; she had pushed what looked like two tall dressers in front of the quilt and had placed two small chairs on top of it for extra protection. It was no matter; she couldn’t go anywhere and when I was ready, I’d ask the guys to come inside and help tear down her little barricade.

  “Phoebe, that nice young lady from earlier is back. Just come out and talk wi
th her. I’m sure she can help you if you just talk.”

  Phoebe pulled a portion of the quilt back. I could see a little bit of her face. “Phoebe, I’m going to give you a second chance to tell me what you did with the rings.”

  “I have nothing to say to you!”

  I chuckled. “That’s funny, because your friend Cole had a lot to say about you!”

  “What did he say?” she asked, her voice filled with concern.

  “He said that he would never ever talk to a green girl like you. He said that he believes in the natural order and I caught him hanging out at an anti-Martian rally last night.”

  Phoebe let go of the quilt, fell to the floor with a thud, and then let out a few rapid breaths before she started sobbing.

  “There’s no use crying, Phoebe. The jig is up. You got nowhere to go and your partner in crime is trying his best to distance himself from you.”

  Phoebe held back her sobbing for a moment. “Cole would never say those things about me.”

  “Well, he did! Phoebe, telling me the truth and letting me know where the rings are would be in your best interest. It’s obvious that you did all of the work in this operation. I’m sure that if Cole confesses before you do, all of the charges will be thrown on you and not him. Even though Cole is your partner, do you think they are going to press any charges at all on a human who believes in the natural order and is also a part of the anti-Martian movement? Absolutely not! Everything will fall on you and he will walk away scot-free! I’m the only one on this ship who is trying to help you! So let me help you, Phoebe. Please!” As Phoebe continued to cry, I started to push the heavy dresser forward; the chair that was clumsily placed on top of it fell onto the floor in Phoebe’s room.

  “No, you can’t come in here!” she shrieked as she tried to push the thick dresser back in place.

  “I need some help in here!” I cried out. Two of the security officers who were stationed outside of the house came inside. “Help me push this furniture out of the way.” The two officers pushed the quilt aside and, with their combined strength, they were able to shove the dresser and chair over into Phoebe’s room. I climbed over the dresser and into the room. The one bed that was in the room was flipped over on its side, a brown suitcase was in front of it, and several articles of clothing and a few other personal belongings had been shoved into the suitcase. Looked like I made it here just in time; Phoebe was obviously packing her bags. Maybe she was going to try and escape from the ship. How she planned on doing this with the ship on lockdown was beyond me, but maybe she had some sort of getaway plan just in case she got caught. It looked like my untimely visit had changed all of that.

  I walked over to Phoebe; she kept shaking her head back and forth and she had a long trail of dry tears leading all the way to the bottom of her blouse. “Why, why would he say those things about me?”

  I gave Phoebe my hand so I could help her up. “Come on. Let’s go upstairs and try to sort this out. You can tell me everything.” Phoebe pushed my hand away. Okay I’m done being nice. I turned to the two security officers. “Escort her upstairs to the security floor.” The two guards grabbed Phoebe by the arms, and I stepped out of the way as the three of them climbed over the dresser and out of the room. Before I stepped out of the room, I flicked down the light switch on the wall next to the quilt. Several thin beams of white light came shooting out of the suitcase in front of Phoebe’s bed. No, it couldn’t be. I dove into the suitcase; as I pulled away more pieces of clothing, the beams of light became larger. Finally, after I reached the bottom of the suitcase, I found an orange day dress. In the pocket of the dress was the source of the light; it was a small pearl.

  “Someone turn the light on in here please.” The light in Phoebe’s room turned back on and the pearl’s color changed to red. There was no doubt about it; this pearl was exactly like the one that I found at the scene of the crime earlier! I dropped the pearl into my purse. Hellen stood off to the side by herself looking completely and utterly dejected as her only daughter was escorted out of their home.

  I decided to hold Phoebe in one of the empty rooms in the third hallway where the robbery occurred. I thought that maybe seeing her handiwork would help to jog her memory. I also thought that maybe if she looked at the actual footage of the robbery as well, that could be of some help when I questioned her. There were video monitors in the room I left her in that could play data discs. So I grabbed a data disc from the supply closet, shoved it into the data disc slot on the side of the monitor, and began transferring the video footage from the monitor onto the data disc. I pressed the palms of my hands into my eyes. I just wanted to go to bed right now; I wished I didn’t have to do so much prep work for this interrogation with Phoebe. Prep work, prep work—why didn’t I think about this before! I was sure that either both Phoebe and Cole or one of the two by themselves had to so some form of prep work in order for things to go smoothly. Cole leaving the note inside the flowerpot was a form of prep work. I wondered how on earth they managed to get that smoke to come out of the ventilation shaft? Whatever it was that they did, they had to have done some sort of prep work either the day before or maybe days before the robbery itself. If I could find this footage, I could prove all the more that Cole and Phoebe were the ones behind this operation—and not Mimas!

  My eyes were so heavy that I could barely keep them open. I thought I’d look at some footage just to kill the time while I waited for my data disc to be completed. I booted up the monitor next to me, set the time on the monitor for the day before the robbery, and started to view the footage at 8 a.m. I figured that would be a nice place to start and maybe I could work my way backward. After viewing about an hour’s worth of footage, I was ready to call it quits, my data disc was complete, and I was too tired to concentrate. Just as I was getting ready to turn off the monitor, Phoebe showed up. She came bustling around the corner at 9 a.m. with a duster in one hand and a bucket in the other. For some odd reason she didn’t have on her workers uniform. Phoebe had on a gray polka-dot day dress with black flats. She knelt down in front of the vent at the bottom of the floor. I couldn’t see what she was doing because her back was to the camera. While Phoebe was in the middle of doing whatever she was to the vents, she was interrupted by a young man wearing a janitor’s outfit just like she was. The two exchanged a few pleasantries before Phoebe handed her bucket over to the guy she had been talking to. After Phoebe left, the young man knelt down in front of the vent. Just like Phoebe, he kept his back to the camera. His shoulders hunched up and down several times, then a light whiff of what looked like purple smoke appeared over his shoulder. He swatted away at the smoke until it had disappeared completely. The young man did a quick survey to see if anyone had seen the smoke; no one had noticed and once he felt safe again, he went back to work. For the next hour, I watched as this young man carefully kept his back toward the camera, hunching his shoulders and placing whatever he had in that bucket into each vent on all three floors. I needed to know who this guy was.

  I paused the camera footage, then I pushed my chair out into the hallway; a small group of officers were passing by my door. “Excuse me; I need help with identifying a worker here on this screen. Could you help me please?” One of the security officers, a woman with blonde hair, stepped into the room. “Can you tell me who this guy is?”

  The girl giggled. “Oh, that guy. That’s Jo, Mr. Hayate’s nephew. He’s the cutest guy on this ship!” Mr. Hayate’s nephew. You have got to be kidding me right now! “Oh, and by the way, yes, he does have a girlfriend, so don’t even try to go after him.”

  Another officer, a short girl with fluffy brown hair, said, “Don’t forget the other woman in his life. His hover bike.” The two girls laughed to themselves in the doorway while I tried to collect my thoughts. “Do you need to know anything else?”

  “No. And thank you for your help, ladies.” I didn’t know if things could get any worse right now. I had two suspects who refused to talk and a possible third
suspect who was also related to the chief of security. The data disc popped out of the side of the monitor. I dropped the disc into my purse, then massaged the bags under my eyes. There was nothing I could do right now; the best thing I could do for myself was to head back to the room and get some shut-eye. I could wake up tomorrow with a clear head and come up with a strategy on how I was going to handle this entire situation.

  * * *

  It was amazing how a little bit of rest, a delicious breakfast, and a steaming hot cup of coffee could recharge your body. I felt like a totally new person who could take on any challenges. I made sure to leave my room before both Wendy and Anthe woke up. I wanted to get a head start on things today and there was no way I could do that if I had to deal with them asking me questions before I left. I also made sure to wear a pair of flat-dress shoes. Who knew if I’d have to run a suspect or two down today and the last thing I wanted to worry about was whether or not I could catch the culprit because I was wearing a pair of heels that I couldn’t run in. The shoes I had on were a really light shade of green and they matched perfectly with my green dress, which was covered with pink poppy flowers. My favorite part of this dress was the silky green belt that had a bow on the side with two long tails that stopped at the bottom part of my dress. Of course, my purse, gloves, and cat eyeglasses were the same shade of green as my shoes. Before the elevator dropped me off onto the security floor, I pulled out my compact mirror just so I could take a quick glance at myself. The pink lipstick that I applied to my lips matched the peonies on my dress. God, I look fabulous today, I said to myself before I dropped the mirror back into my purse.