“Hey—what are you doing?” she demanded, trying to see around his shoulder. “Be careful with my violin!”
“Step away, please. This is official business,” the other guard said, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her back.
“Let me go!” Selena insisted. “That violin was made centuries ago and it cost over six thousand dollars!”
“We have reason to believe that what was stolen from the palace is worth more than any paltry musical instrument,” the second guard said grimly.
“And I think we have found it!” The first guard turned around. Holding her violin carelessly by its neck, he shook it roughly. Something inside it clattered and rattled, like dice in a cup.
Selena was horrified.
“What have you done? What did you put into my instrument?”
Whatever it was, it couldn’t have been very big. The curving “f holes”—so named because of their resemblance to a lowercase letter f—on either side of the bridge, were only six millimeters at their widest point—a little more than half an inch. But the guard had certainly gotten something inside her instrument and Selena had no idea how she was ever going to get it out.
“Call her Majesty,” the first guard, who had curly green hair and blue and green skin commanded the second guard, who was bald with skin that was mostly bluish-gray. “Tell her that we’ve found what she is missing.”
“What?” Selena demanded. “Call who?” But she had a sinking feeling that she knew.
The second guard—the bald, burly one—whipped out a cell phone-like device and swiped his fingers across it in a certain pattern. There was a muted trilling sound and then a large holo image of Empress the Third’s head and shoulders was suddenly hovering above the device.
“Yorbus, Gonadal—what news do you bring me?” the third Empress demanded.
“Your Highness,” the first guard said, bowing deeply to the holo, which was about twice as large as a real head, so that Empress the Third seemed to menace all of them. “We believe we have found what you are missing.” He held up Selena’s violin by the neck and shook it until whatever was inside rattled and clattered. “But it seems to be stuck inside this device.”
“That’s my violin!” Selena protested. “And whatever is in there, he put in there. Please—it’s very old and valuable!”
Empress the Third’s eyes narrowed in malicious glee.
“Break it open, Yorbus,” she ordered the first guard, giving Selena a nasty smile. “Smash it and see if my diamond is inside!”
“What? No!” Selena gasped.
But the first guard had already walked over to one of the large, round waste receptacles. This one was open and nearly full of trash. Taking aim, he brought the body of the violin down on the metal edge of the can.
Selena gave a cry as the delicate body of her violin smashed apart at the violent blow. The only thing holding it together were the strings—the body was cracked into two jagged pieces—destroyed beyond repair.
“Ah-ha!” The first guard held the pieces up and shook them, causing something small and glittering to fall out into his palm. He held it up for the holo of Empress the Third to see.
Selena looked at it too, through tear-filled eyes. It was one of the square-cut diamond nipple ornaments that the third Empress had been wearing at the Pet Parade the night before. It caught the light of the overhead glows and sparkled in the guard’s broad, rough palm.
“That’s it—I knew she stole it!” Empress the Third exclaimed, glaring at Selena. “Take her away to the High Court and bring the diamond for evidence. She is guilty, not only of trying to lighten the mass of our planet, but of the theft of a royal object! She must pay!”
“What are you talking about?” Selena gasped. “I didn’t take anything!”
It was just now dawning on her that, as awful as seeing her beloved violin smashed before her eyes was, it wasn’t nearly the worst thing that could happen to her.
“Come along, you little bimbap!” the first guard called Yorbus snarled. Tossing her violin and its carrying case into the trash receptacle, he grabbed her by the arm.
“It’s the High Court for you, where you’ll pay for your crimes,” the second guard, Gonadal, told her. He looked at the holo of the Empress. “We will take her directly to the courts, your Majesty.”
“See that you do. And make certain you keep it quiet. His Majesty is much taken with this little bimbap.” Empress the Third snarled, glaring at Selena again. “He would be terribly hurt if he knew what a liar and thief she truly is. We must protect him from the pain of finding out.”
“Understood, your Majesty,” Yorbus said, nodding. “The Emperor will never hear a word of this. No one will.”
“No one will ever know what happened to the little bimbap,” Gonadal promised, taking a firmer grip on Selena’s other arm. He slid a hand over his cell phone and the holo of the Empress disappeared. “Come on,” he growled to the other guard. “You heard her Majesty—we’ve no time to lose.”