My voice was much louder than I thought it would be when I called out to the princess. Part of me regretted calling out to her because the moment she turned around to look at me, I felt like my insides were going to bubble up to the surface and spill out of my mouth. It took everything in me to suppress my nervousness, get up from out of my chair, and tell the princess everything—from what happened to Wendy to why I boarded the escape pod. It was a messy, fast-paced explanation. I was sure I probably sounded like a first-class loon, but I couldn’t let her leave without telling her everything. The princess turned away from me and back toward Pallene. She pulled her in close. They shared a few words with each other—in Martian, of course. Pallene’s forehead became covered in a sea of wrinkles; she threw a few quick glances my way. I was sure they were probably deciding what to do with me. I bet they were going to send me back to my room with extra security so they could keep as many eyes on me as possible. Pallene left the princess’s side and started to walk toward me. Immediately, that same feeling I had moments ago where I felt like I was going to throw up every organ in my body returned.
Pallene grabbed hold of my wrist. “Her Highness would like for you to accompany her to a meeting.”
“What kind of meeting?” I stammered as Pallene pulled me from the table and closer to the princess, who was standing in the doorway. “Her Highness will explain everything when we reach the boardroom.”
Oh God, I wondered what sort of meeting this was and, more importantly, why did she want me? Pallene and I quietly followed behind Princess Rhea through a long hallway that was connected to the dining hall. The three of us finally sat down in a room that was near the end of the hallway. Inside of the room was a large portscreen that took up eighty percent of the wall that was in front of us. A golden chair that was wrapped in vines and in the shape of a bowl was directly in the center of the room. Stationed beside the chair was a small keyboard on top of a thin pole that was no bigger than a box of tissues.
Princess Rhea sat down in the bowl-shaped chair while Pallene and I stood side by side a few inches away from her. Princess Rhea turned around to face both Pallene and me with her legs crossed and her fingers tightly pressed together. She said, “Miss Caprica, I must say that I’m incredibly intrigued by your story. I’ve been thinking about what you told my solider before he attempted to shoot you down, which can I say again that I’m so sorry about that.”
“It’s okay, your Highness,” I whispered. I couldn’t believe that I was totally dismissing the fact that my life almost came to an end like it was nothing.
The princess continued, “I’m also impressed by your bravery. To come here on your own to deliver such valuable information to me is a very impressive feat.” I tried not to smile, but it was hard not to with the princess of Planet X sitting in front of me showering me with compliments. “As impressed as I am with your bravery and the information that you’ve given me, I’m not too sure if I can truly believe you. For all I know, you could be lying. The truth is you are a young lady that’s on vacation on the Titan. Really, for all I know, you could be a fanatic who just wanted to gain access to my ship for whatever reason.”
A small lump started to crawl up the side of my throat. What was the whole point to this meeting if she didn’t believe me at all? The princess turned her direction toward the tiny keyboard that was next to her chair, pressed her finger down on a black button, and a low buzzing noise came from out of the portscreen before it turned on. Much to my surprise, displayed on the oversized portscreen were the photos that I had taken on the Titan earlier today. The princess tapped her fingers on the keyboard, carefully moving from photo to photo. She left her cursor on one of the photos I took inside of the metal house where all of the Martian women were being held against their will. “Out of all of the photos that you took, this photo stands out to me the most. Can you tell me what’s going on in this photo please, Miss Caprica?”
With a single gulp, I pushed the lump that was climbing up my throat deep down into my belly. “All of those women are being held against their will as potential suspects in the robbery of The Rings of Saturn.”
“What?” the princess snarled while leaning forward in her golden chair. She stuck her finger out like a bolt of lightning toward the photos on the screen. “They’re all being held against their will as suspects! That’s preposterous! Why would Hayate do such a thing?”
Because he has no clear leads and it’s easier to collect a group of people who you think look like the suspect than to do some actual detective work. I had no plans to say these thoughts out loud, of course. The princess leaned back in her chair with her fist propped up against her chin. “Pallene, open up the ship’s communication systems and call Hayate back.” What! No! I can’t be here. What if Hayate sees me? Then again, it had been such a crazy day, maybe he didn’t know that I was placed into one of the holding cells on the security room floor. Then again, maybe he did know; maybe he also knew that I had taken one of his escape pods for a quick joyride.
Pallene placed the black book on the floor, took two steps away from me, and began to move her fingers up and down a panel of buttons that was attached to the wall and underneath a small screen. “Hello. Yes, this is Pallene. Her Highness would like to speak with Mr. Hayate. The communication channels have been opened for this room only. Let me know if you’re able to pick up on our ship’s signal.”
An awkward silence hovered over the room. The only sound that could be heard in the room was coming from Princess Rhea, angrily tapping her fingers on the edge of her chair. I wasn’t sure if this silence would ever end, but after Pallene pressed several more buttons, lines that looked like white lightning bolts danced across the screen and, after they disappeared, a scrambled image filled with jagged multicolored lines appeared on the screen.
“This is absolutely deplorable. I can’t believe that their ship has such poor signal strength,” Pallene whispered under her breath. Once the multicolored lines fell into place, a clear image of Mr. Hayate sitting at a desk filled with papers came into view.
“Your Highness. How can I help you? Did you need more clarification on what we just talked about?” he said with a slightly nervous twitch.
The edges of the princess’s mouth turned up into a small smile. “It’s funny that you would use the word ‘clarification,’ because that’s exactly what I need.” The princess moved her fingers across the keyboard next to her; a thick white line appeared in the middle of the large portscreen. Mr. Hayate was to the left of the screen while the photos I had taken of the women who had been held against their will were to the right. I watched as Mr. Hayate nervously repositioned himself in his chair. “I desperately need some clarification about these images. I’ve been told that there are Martian women being held against their will on your ship. That they are suspects in the robbery. Please tell me this isn’t true.”
Mr. Hayate ran his fingers through his salt-and-pepper hair and slowly rubbed his tongue across his lips. “Your Highness, this is just a small piece that’s a part of a huge investigation. And sometimes—”
With the same high-speed ferocity as a rocket, the princess shot up from out of her chair, then charged toward the portscreen with her tightly balled fist hanging at her side. “Don’t preach to me about how treating Martians poorly is such a small thing in the grand scheme of things. I don’t see any humans being held against their will in these photos!”
“Your Highness—”
Princess Rhea gracefully placed her hands behind her back. “I placed my complete trust in you to not only guard The Rings of Saturn but to also find those rings after they were stolen while under your care!” I watched as the princess’s sharp words cut away at Mr. Hayate. He could barely stay still in his chair. “I don’t like this. I don’t like that you’ve kept information from me, and I have to wonder what else you are keeping from me that you think or feel is not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.”
She paused, then the princess did something that I didn’t even see coming. She waved her hand in my direction, motioning me to come over to her. My feet felt like they were stuck in a thick block of cement. Pallene saw that I was unable to move, so she put her hand on the edge of my back and she pushed me forward. I clumsily made my way toward the princess. When I was close enough, she placed her hand on my shoulder. “Just so we can have more clarification, I’m going to send an ambassador to your ship.” Wait, what! There was no way that she was serious about doing this, was she? Her Highness wanted me to search for The Rings of Saturn on her behalf. I thought I just might faint right now.
“Your Highness, that won’t be necessary….” As Mr. Hayate’s voice slowly trailed off, I did everything but look up at the large screen in front of me. “You look familiar. Tell me, miss, what’s your name?”
It looked like there was no avoiding the possibility of him recognizing me. “My name is Cosmic Callisto Caprica, sir.” Hearing the sound of my name sent Mr. Hayate into an uncontrollable frenzy. He started to shove the lopsided stacks of paper from off of his desk. He dug into a pile of papers in the center of his desk. He picked up a handful of papers; as he read the words on the papers to himself, a look of complete and utter disgust traveled down from the top of his forehead, then to the bottom of his chin. He slammed his palm down on the edge of his desk. “I thought I recognized your name! You’re the girl that’s been going around causing all sorts of trouble on my ship and sticking your tiny little nose where it doesn’t belong!” He slammed the papers onto his desk. “You assaulted one of my officers, you incited a riot, you broke into a woman’s house, and—”
“That’s enough! Any charges against her are to be dropped immediately. Do you understand me?” the princess commanded, her authoritative tone of voice bringing the discussion to an end and leaving no room open for a rebuttal.
Mr. Hayate dug his nails into the papers on his desk. There was nothing he could do about the charges that were being filed against me, since I was receiving a royal pardon from the princess. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his hand across his chin. “So when should I expect this ambassador of yours to arrive?” He pronounced the word “ambassador” like it was some foul word that should never be said in public.
“Very soon. We will call you and let you know when she will arrive. I expect you to give my ambassador the utmost respect and give her complete free range to conduct her investigation.” The princess turned toward Pallene. After she gave her a slight nod, Pallene tapped on a few buttons and the portscreen went black. I covered my mouth with my hands; to be honest, I wasn’t sure what I should say. This was going far beyond my own expectations. I just wanted to let the princess know what was happening on the ship and nothing else. Princess Rhea placed her hands over her eyes and flopped back down into her golden chair. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“Sorry about what?” I asked.
More tears slid down from the crevasses of the princess’s fingers and down onto the floor below. “Any and everything that could go wrong has gone wrong and now, to top it all off, I’ve dragged you, an innocent person, into this messy situation.” Even more tears started to fall from the corners of her fingers. “By the Goddess, I’m so selfish. I didn’t even ask you if you wanted to be my ambassador.” She hiccupped. “I’m so sorry; I got caught up in the moment and volunteered you without thinking, and I’ve already put you through so much.” Directly behind me, I could hear Pallene sniffling. I had all I could do to stop the tears that were sitting right on the edges of my eyes. “All I wanted to do was share my people’s culture and hopefully open up a dialogue between humans and Martians so that maybe we could begin the healing process between both races.”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m not sure what propelled me forward, but I somehow managed to pull the princess’s hands from her face. “I would be honored to be your ambassador.” The tears that I was holding back finally fell from my eyes. “I won’t let you down.”