Cosmic Callisto Caprica & the Missing Rings of Saturn Read online

  I pushed my way through the row of Martian women in back of them until I was directly behind both of them. I wasn’t really sure what to say to get their attention, so I said the first thing that came to my mind. “I know you both got your black eyes from trying to help Mimas’s daughter, Anthe,” I whispered. The Martian woman with the pink hair curlers tossed her hand back and she grabbed hold of my pants leg. She dug her thick fingers into the front of my leg. Her grip was so strong that I couldn’t break free from it.

  “Oh, I’ve been waiting for one of you little scumbag security officers to come my way!” she said in a low raspy voice. She pressed even harder into my leg and I felt like she was going to rip through the fabric of my security uniform with her nails.

  “Hati, stop it!” the woman in the purple dress said.

  “Shut up, Kari! I’m getting my revenge for what happened to us and Mimas this morning!”

  I clenched my teeth together. If I didn’t do or say something soon, Hati just might rip my leg off. I thought I’d take my chances and talk to Kari; she seemed a little bit more reasonable. I turned to Kari. “I know that Mimas is innocent. The robbery took place this morning and she was at home with Anthe.” Hati released the death grip she had on my leg, but she still kept a portion of my pants leg pressed between her fingers and thumb. “Anthe is safe. I’m trying to prove that Mimas is innocent and I need you both to answer a few questions.”

  Hati let out a loud snort from her nostrils. “Why should we? How do we know this isn’t some trick and you won’t use what we say against us?”

  I let out a small breath of air. “You don’t know. But think about this; how many security officers have come to you today saying they believe that Mimas is innocent or that her daughter Anthe is safe?”

  Hati blinked her eyes several times, then she looked down at the ground, I could tell that she was taking what I had said into consideration. She took her hands off my pants leg. “What do you want to know?” Hati asked.

  “Did you see where they took Mimas after her house was searched?”

  “I watched them throw her and Anthe onto the back of a hover scooter. The both of us managed to pull little Anthe off the scooter, but when we tried to ask any questions, well, you can clearly see how swollen our eyes are.”

  “Hey, are either of those girls giving you any trouble?” A cold shiver ran up my back. I looked over to my left. A security officer, a tall guy with black hair, was walking toward the three of us. He pointed his silver ray gun toward Hati. “You better behave yourself or your other eye might end up black too!”

  Kari brought her hands up to her lips. “I’m sorry. We’ll be good. We promise!”

  Hati placed her hand on my shoulder and she shoved me backward. I would have fallen on my back if Kari hadn’t caught me.

  “Leave us alone,” Hati growled through her clenched teeth. The security officer scanned Hati up and down with his eyes. I didn’t think he was expecting to be up against a woman of her stature, with thick arms and rugged-looking fists. Nothing about Hati would lead you to believe that she was the least bit dainty.

  Attached to the officer’s hip was a shiny black baton. The officer pulled out the black baton. He swung his hand up to his shoulder. As he brought the baton down, he aimed directly for Hati’s neck. When the baton was a few inches from colliding with Hati, she blocked it with her thick wrist, then she threw her right hand forward and pulled the officer in close to her by the collar of his uniform. While she was still pushing against the baton that was pressing down on her wrist, Hati balled her free left hand into a fist and proceeded to punch the officer in the eye. After landing two hard strikes on the guard’s face, the man fell to the ground like a limp rag doll, low-sounding moans coming out of his mouth as he covered his eye with both of his hands. Everyone took three steps back from Hati as if she had some sort of contagious disease they didn’t want to catch. The rest of the guards made a straight beeline for Hati, with their batons drawn and their ray guns pointed directly at her. But none of that mattered because she was ready for them. The first officer to reach her tried to grab her by the arm, but she shoved him onto the floor using one hand like it was nothing. Hati latched onto another officer’s arm using the same death grip she had on me earlier and swung the guy straight into the group of officers racing toward her.

  “Is that the best you all can do!” Hati screamed with her fist raised high into the air. This urge to fight back, to let these officers know they could no longer hold them captive like animals in a cage was spreading through the crowd like a wild, untamed fire. I could see it in some of the women’s eyes that they were ready to revolt, and Hati had given them the push that they needed.

  I looked up over to my right. Another fist was colliding with the face of an officer. Toward the back where Wendy was located, some of the women were pushing with all of their might against the flimsy pieces of metal that were holding the end of this house together. Some of the officers who were stationed outside raced inside to help provide crowd control. The entire crowd erupted into a gigantic frenzy filled with balled fists, fierce kicks, and black batons. I had all I could do to protect myself and not to catch a fist in my face. There was nowhere I could go. If I moved to the right, the crowd pushed me toward the left; if I went to the left, the crowd pushed me to the right.

  “Cosmo, where are you!?!” It was Wendy. I moved toward the sound of her voice while keeping both my arms above my head for protection from the crowd. I bumped up against someone. When I tried to look up, I almost collided with someone’s elbow, so I crouched down. Someone fell on top of me. I was startled at first because whoever was on me had wrapped their arms around me and was pulling me in close. But it didn’t take me long to stop panicking because I recognized this embrace. I’d felt this warm, loving embrace many times before. It was Wendy.

  “Are you okay?” she hollered. I shook my head yes. Neither one of us had any time to continue our conversation. The wall that was holding up the back of the house had fallen down and those who weren’t fighting were making their way toward the opening at the back of the house. The joy that everyone felt from taking the wall down was short-lived, because standing there near the back of the house with their guns drawn and pointed directly at us were three security officers.

  Chapter 10

  It didn’t take long for everyone else to notice that the security officers had their guns drawn and pointed. A few of the Martian women released the officers they were fighting from their grasp and raised their hands in the air above their heads. Soon, everyone followed along with the crowd and they lifted their hands up as a sign of surrender. Wendy lifted her hands up. She looked over at me and her eyes were filled with terror. I glanced over to my left. A young Martian woman in a baby blue dress with white polka dots was still on the ground hovering over an unconscious security officer. She kept one hand in a fist while the other was clutching on to the officer’s uniform. Large droplets of purple blood fell from her nose and onto the collar of her dress. One of the three officers noticed that this young woman was the only one in the crowd who was refusing to give in and comply to their request to stop fighting. “Put your hands up where I can see them!” the officer yelled.

  The young woman unclenched her fist and she wiped away the blood that was trickling down from her nose. She ended up leaving a small streak from her nose to her cheek. “No,” she said in a low growl while keeping her eyes on the officer who had his ray gun drawn. The officer took three steps forward. The Martian women that were around him stepped aside and made a clear path for him.

  “Put your hands up now!” The young woman tilted her head back. The blood from her nose dripped down the right side of her face and over the roof of her lips. She pressed her lips together and she began to clear her throat. When the officer was just a few inches away from her, the young woman threw herself forward and released a mixture of blood and spit from her mouth. The slimy concoction landed directly onto the officer’s boot. The you
ng Martian woman felt proud of herself. She smiled up at the officer, who had his finger directly on the trigger of his ray gun. In one quick motion, the officer tilted the gun toward the right side of the woman’s face and he pulled the trigger. A gray zigzaggy bolt of lightning shot out from the tip of the ray gun, grazing the side of the Martian woman’s face.

  I, along with everyone else in the crowd, gasped in awe at what just happened. Someone near me screamed out the name Ymir. Was that the name of the young woman who was now lying flat on her back with her half-opened eyes fixed on the ceiling? The officer turned around in a circle with his hand still on the trigger. Nobody moved. A strange, eerie silence had filled the room.

  “Everyone, keep your hands up where we can see them and get back in line!” I looked down at the young woman who had been shot. She had a long oval-shaped gash that started at the end of her forehead and disappeared into her straight orange hair. A young Martian girl who was maybe fifteen years old knelt down in front of the older Martian woman who had been shot.

  “Why did you shoot my sister!” she cried out after brushing the sleeve of her yellow dress across Ymir’s open wound. The officer just stood there with his mouth gaping open and his hand, trembling at this point, loosely wrapped around the handle of his ray gun. The young lady who was in front of Ymir latched onto the security officer’s pants leg and pulled him forward. His other leg flew up into the air and he fell over onto his side. The other officers stationed in the back of the crowd hesitated; they kept their unsteady hands on their firearms. The officer tried to use his gun again, but the young Martian girl in the yellow day dress had climbed onto the security officer. She grabbed hold of the officer’s wrist and pried the gun from out of his fingers. Some of the officers in the crowd tried to rescue their comrade, but the Martian women pushed the officers back and, just like that, the subdued crowd transformed back to its previous chaotic state, with fists flying in every direction.

  I looked up at Wendy. “Let’s get out of here!” There were a few women pushing through the crowd and toward the open space in the back. The officers who were standing near the rear of the building held their ray guns up and pointed them directly at the oncoming crowd of Martian women. I definitely didn’t want to be standing here once those guards started firing their ray guns all over the place. But we couldn’t go backward; the crowd was way too thick and there were too many security officers standing in front of the blue tarp with their ray guns drawn. I glanced over to my left; four Martian women were pressing up against the side of the wall with their shoulders. They must have been trying to take this side wall down just like the one in the back. A couple of women dashed past Wendy and me; they didn’t make it very far. One of the security officers standing in the back shot one of the women in the knee. The group of women huddled around their friend who had been shot. I grabbed Wendy by the hand and pulled her over to the left side of building. Two of the Martian women stopped what they were doing the moment they laid eyes on me.

  “It’s okay. She’s not like them. She’s my friend,” Wendy stated with as much sincerity as possible. I could tell by the confused look on their faces that they didn’t believe Wendy. Actions speak louder than words, so I began to press on the metal sheet with all of my might. Wendy soon followed suit and, between the two of us, we were able to produce a small crack at the bottom in between this sheet of metal and the one to the left of us. Once the four Martian women saw the small speck of light, they joined the two of us and began to push against the heavy sheet of metal. With the six of us working together, it didn’t take long for the sheet to come unhinged from both sides and to fall over.

  The four Martian women who helped us take the wall down took off like wild bolts of lightning. The security officers near the front entrance shot at them, but they missed. It just occurred to me that if I were seen running away with Wendy, then that was it; my cover would be blown. How in the world could I explain such suspicious activity without sounding one hundred percent guilty? I couldn’t. But things here had literally fallen apart and I didn’t want to leave Wendy behind. What if she got shot like that woman Ymir? I couldn’t leave her here. I took Wendy by the hand and I yanked her forward. If my cover was blown, then so be it. I’d just have to find another way to snoop around without it. As soon as we stepped out into the open, I looked back at Wendy. She had her hand over the top of her right knee. Was she going to be able to keep up with me as we ran? As I returned my attention back to what was in front of me, I locked eyes with a security officer, a young lady with auburn hair. The officer looked incredibly bewildered. She lowered her ray gun for a moment and I could tell she was searching my eyes for an answer, trying to figure out why one of her co-workers was running away with a Martian woman. From out of the corner of my eye, I watched her as she shook her head, lifted her ray gun, and aimed it directly at Wendy’s leg. Everything was happening so fast, there was no time to slow down and warn Wendy. The best thing I could do was to keep moving forward and pray that she didn’t get hit. About two seconds later, the officer’s ray gun went off. I could see the silver bolt of lightning zipping directly toward me and Wendy. I braced myself for the inevitable scream that was going to come from out of her mouth, but I heard nothing. At first, I thought that the blast miraculously missed both of us, but once I had brought my left foot down, that was when I felt it, this small trickle of blood that was traveling down my ankle, this hot pain that was spreading underneath my skin. I’d been shot. I didn’t care. In fact, I didn’t even cry. The adrenaline that was pumping through my body propelled me toward the tight empty corridor that was in front of me. Another bolt of silver lightning whizzed past us and struck the edge of the corridor that we were taking refuge in.

  “I need to catch my breath,” Wendy said with her hand over her chest. My eyes darted down toward my left ankle. The blast had torn through my flesh and left a small wound. Looking down at it made the throbbing pain even worse, so I clicked both of my heels together. Maybe if I ignored the pain, it wouldn’t be so bad. I looked back at the metallic house. More Martian women were pouring from out of the opening that we’d made, carefully dodging the silver blasts of light that were flying toward them as they ran for safety. Running near the edge of the crowd with both of their arms up over their heads were Kari and Hati. To be honest, I had no idea where either of them were headed, but going with them was probably the best course of action for me and Wendy. I didn’t know where we could hide out down here and it was not like anyone would take us in; well, Wendy maybe because she was a Martian, but I knew as soon as people laid eyes on me with my security uniform, they would turn me away or possibly both of us. I leaned out of the entrance to the alleyway. “Kari, Hati, over here!” I waved my hands in their direction. I was taking a huge risk by doing this. I knew I could get shot again, but I didn’t care. Kari was the first one to see me. I prayed with all of my might that she would decide to come my way along with Hati. I was desperate and I needed both of them for shelter, but I knew that deep down they had no real reason to trust me and every reason to ignore me. I didn’t know why, maybe it was the look of complete desperation that was on my face, or because I had called out their names, but Kari and Hati came racing toward the alleyway. Kari placed her hand on my shoulders.

  “Come with me. We can hide at my house.” Kari led the way while Hati held up the rear of our group. I tried my best to hide my injury as we shuffled down the various dark corridors and stepped over pieces of metallic debris and garbage. By keeping my left leg slightly bent and by only applying pressure on the tip of my left foot, I was able to keep the pain in my ankle at bay. The four of us came to a stop in front of a medium-sized metallic house with a thick door that had three locks on the front. Kari reached down into her dress pocket and she pulled out a set of keys. After twisting each key into their respective locks, she pulled the heavy door open. After we were inside, Kari locked the door behind us and she flipped a light switch next to the door.

  “Please
have a seat.” Kari patted her hand on an orange couch that matched her well-put-together living room. I never would have guessed that a beautiful room with an orange furniture set, bright yellow end tables with frilly white crochet dollies, and a short cabinet with a music disc player sitting on top of it would be hiding behind this gray metal building. Kari truly had a talent for interior decorating. I started to hobble over to her comfy-looking couch, but when I looked down, I saw that she had a bright white throw rug underneath it and the last thing I wanted to do was drip blood on it, so I decided to rest my hand on the arm of chair and I kept my bleeding left foot tucked behind my right one.

  “I’ll get something to drink. I hope everyone likes lemonade.” Wendy and Hati both had a seat while Kari disappeared into the kitchen. The only sounds that could be heard were that of Kari clinking the clear glasses onto her kitchen table. This had to be the most awkward situation I’d ever been in. I was in a Martian woman’s house wearing a stolen security uniform with Wendy, and my ankle was bleeding. I figured since no one was willing to say anything, I would go ahead and break the ice, but Hati beat me to it.