POV: Cynthia / LOCATION: Galactic Energy HQ
Cyrus is not in his office today. I wake up at noon with the intent to annoy him, and he has the nerve to skip out on me? What a gentleman!
His seat is cold. The smell of burnt hair lingers in the air. But it's not from the coffee. In fact, his favorite coffee cup is spotless, showing no signs of having been refilled within the last twelve hours.
If this was anyone else, I wouldn't care. But for a workaholic like Cyrus to be absent from his desk at prime time without taking along his coffee cup? Something doesn't smell right here. And it's not just from this charred meat stench.
Asking the employees is as useful as watching paint dry. They don't even care. With the boss gone, they can actively slack off until it's time to clock out. A pillow fight erupts in the Nap Room when I pass it on my way downstairs.
Mars and Jupiter are not around to maintain order. But Saturn is. Not like it matters.
When I come up to him, he smoothly switches his game to a blank spreadsheet. He gives me a marginal glance in his desk mirror. Not his boss. So he pulls up his game again and offers me a bag of chips from his drawer. There's a whole treasure trove of empty calories in there.
I take a bag of Flamin' Hot Cheese Crunchies. A Unovan delight.
"Where is everyone?" I say.
"Mars comes and goes. Jupiter's still looking for Cha—whaaa?! That freak-in-a-sheet stole my body! What do you mean I have to hunt for a letter to spell out his name?! I don't even know what it is!"
I give Saturn a few minutes. When he calms down, he opens his other drawer and offers me a glass bottle of Chuckola Cola, also a Unovan treat. It's so devilishly refreshing.
"And Master Cyrus is making his dream a reality."
I laugh so hard that cola shoots out of my nostrils. Then I realize that Saturn is looking at me like I need the Heimlich maneuver. "He's what now?"
"He's going to fix the world," he says with all the seriousness in the world.
Someone plays too many videogames.
Saturn unplugs his headphones from the computer. Suspenseful 8-bit music blasts out of the speakers. The screen shows the inside of a courtroom, complete with a bald, bearded judge overseeing the restless crowd.
"As a rookie defense attorney, you expose witnesses' lies during cross-examinations." He gestures to the character on screen. A nice-looking woman dressed in pink with butterflies shining around her. "But this lady is giving me a hard time. She lies as easily as she breathes. Problem is, everyone wrapped around her dainty little finger is willing to die for her than speak the truth. Breaking her will be sooo satisfying."
Saturn switches out another game. This one is about an empire, a kingdom, and a sovereign alliance at war. I watch as he sends a blue armored unit to take down a giant, plant-like monster.
"Don't you ever get bored?" I say.
"Eventually. I'll have to actually work when I run out of things to play."
Bored out of my skull, I slip outside for a change of scenery.
Descending the steps leading up to HQ, I spot a flash of red hair on one of the giant satellites. Mars is sitting on the antenna. Legs dangling playfully, she strokes the barrel of a submachine gun as if it is a spoiled Persian.
I hurry to the Department Store and walk out with a delicious Casteliacone. Mister CEO really delivered.
Speaking of Cyrus, I need to get him something nice. I can't keep leeching off his good will. But what do you get a man who literally owns the whole city? What does he even like? Coffee beans? A board game?
"Yo, Cynthia!"
Lost in my thoughts, I initially fail to respond to my name being called. On the second call, I finally look up… and break into a grin at the sight of two endearingly familiar faces.
Flint throws me a shaka, a gesture of friendship from the city bathed in sunlight. "So you're alive after all!"
