As Colin pushed his way through a crowd to the platform where Billy Tarm was standing- Billy Tarm was a world-famous rocket designer- he knew who had the question for him. Billy Tarm was talking about things like iDust and ISP. The message read ‘Meet me 7:00 p.m. at B.T.’s presentation. I have a huge brown coat and brown top hat. I have a question.’ Colin strode over to the edge of the crowd- these kinds of people stick around there, he knew. He had gotten the message through mail and wanted to see if it was a mystery to solve- he was the best kid detective in the state, hands down. He spotted the gigantic brown coat. Of course! It was the man! Colin walked over.
“Are you the one who sent me this letter?” He said. A man looked up.
“Yes.” He said.
“Great. You have a question for me, then?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“Yes- er, sorry, ahem. My question is about this place.”
“Billy Tarm’s presentation?”
“His spacecraft eDust.”
“eDust is on that mission, remember?”
“eDust never sent any reports back.”
“You have a point. Tell me the story.”
“Okay,” The man said, “My name’s ernie. I used to work for Tarm. I was in the ISP-”
“Hold up, what is the ‘ISP’?” Colin said.
“The International Space Program. You must not be big on this.” Ernie said, “Anywho, let me continue. After we successfully launched the unmanned eDust, there was a huge celebration. We were waiting for a response on the radio for an hour, and when we got one, that was a celebration too, because the radio transmitter worked. Just a month later, we decided to launch the next space shuttle in store and ready, the Propello, into space. Propello launched successfully too, which was then our third celebration in two months. The DSN worked and sent us information, which was really great, but eDust was never heard from again after that point. I don’t have a clue why, and eventually I retired.”
“Okay.” Colin. It was the first time he realized Ernie was old- with a gray beard visible. Colin was a bit puzzled, because he knew absolutely nothing about space. He decided to do some research and come back the next day.
“When can we meet tomorrow?” Colin said.
“How about five?” Ernie said.
“Sounds good. Here again?”
“The presentation will be over, but sure.”
“Alright. Bye.”
“See you later.”
When Colin got home, he slid into his desk and powered on his computer.
“Let’s see here. What does DSN mean?” He looked up ‘DSN meaning’ on the search bar. What came up was ‘Defense Switched Network’. He thought that didn’t sound right. He searched ‘DSN NASA meaning’ this time. He got ‘Deep Space Network.’ That must have been it. Then he looked up ‘eDust Spacecraft’. What came up was Stardust, Ulysses, LADEE, Opportunity, and more spacecraft. That was odd. He searched again, this time ‘eDust ISP’. What came up was news about ISP. ‘Tarm planning new spacecraft’ and ‘ISP may need support soon’ were both some stories that appeared. He decided to call it a day and see what else he could find with Ernie tomorrow.
At 5 p.m. Colin met with Ernie at the place where the presentation took place. It was so empty now, it almost felt creepy for some reason. Colin spotted Ernie kicking a stone with his hands in his pockets.
“Hey.” Colin said.
“Hey.” Ernie said.
“Okay, I looked up eDust plenty of times, and it hasn’t come up. That’s odd.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, how long did you research?”
“Uh…” Colin felt a wash of embarrassment before he said, “Around five minutes.”
“Pfft. A detective’s gotta do their job and study for a solid hour. I guess you’re just too good, though.”
“No, no-”
“Oh, whatever.”
“Sorry, Ernie, but I just didn’t think I would find it.”
“That’s okay, kid.”
“Well, I could just ask you this-”
“Huh?”
“You made up eDust.”
“What?! No!”
“It’s certain.
“Well, how do you know?”
“It’s not anywhere online, and I will check back again to make sure it’s not in the history books. Plus Tarm was speaking about iDust, not eDust. Colin took out a portable laptop he had with him and looked up iDust. News about a spacecraft that was successfully launched like ‘iDust launched and sends signals about Pluto back to Earth’ and ‘iDust starts expedition to nearest Earth-like planet’. Colin still had one question.
“But why?” He said.
“Because I recently got fired from Tarm’s company, and I wanted to get him back by ruining the DSN- '' Ernie said.
“Why’d you get fired?”
“Tarm didn’t like my work. He said it was unproductive and got me out of there as fast as he could. He said we couldn’t make the DSN, because it took too much work when I tried to invent it.”
“You’re saying he said your DSN that you created and didn’t tell me was unacceptable, fired you, and then took all the praise when he realized it worked just fine?”
“Bingo.”
“Then we need to find Tarm and let the world know of his acts.”
“Wait, really? You’re gonna help me?”
“Yeah, why not? Seems like you’re actually the good guy here.”
Colin walked with Ernie into Tarm Corp. located conveniently two and a half miles away from the presentation area. Someone at the desk instantly noticed them.
“Hello! Would you like a touring pass or a long-season ticket to-” She said.
Colin walked right up to her.
“You. We need to see Mr. Tarm.” He said.
“Uhh… need?” She looked offended.
“Yes. Need.”
“Sorry, kid, but he’s a bit busy-”
“Ugh. Of course he’s busy. Just let me see him.”
“Um, no.”
“Well then. I made these cupcakes for him, but I suppose you could have one.” Colin somehow had a plate of cupcakes behind his back that the secretary hadn’t noticed.
“Ooh! Yes, please.” She smiled. Colin gave her one. She licked her lips and opened her mouth to take a bite of the strawberry cupcake. Num num num… Colin and Ernie could hear her chewing until WHOOMP! She fell over on the floor, her eyes closed.
“Poison.” Colin said.
“What?! You poisoned her?!” Ernie said.
“Naw, Ernie. I put sleep powder in them when I stopped by your house. Let’s see here…” Colin rummaged through the secretary’s papers as the secretary began snoring and found a piece that looked interesting.
“Billy Tarm’s office number. It’s room ‘star’? Of course.” Colin said.
“Room star?” Ernie said, “What do you mean?
“It has a star on it.”
“Oh yeah.”
“Wait, haven’t you been here before? You worked for Tarm.”
“In his workshop, not his office building.”
“Ah.”
“So, we're gonna get going now?”
“Soon. He might have his door locked or something.” Colin jingled around with the master key the secretary had.
“Here we are!” Colin held up a key with a star on it, and a huge key indeed. It was twice the size of any normal one.
“I mind as well take the whole master key.” Colin said.
“Good idea.” Ernie said.
“Okay then. Let’s get going.” Colin said. Ernie followed. By the time they found the door with the star on it, they were exhausted to the point of collapsing on the rug. They were on the 32nd story, the highest floor in the tower. Ernie took the key from Colin, because, yes, indeed, the door was locked, and pushed it in, turned it, and opened the door.
“WHAT IN THE-” A scream came from the room. It was coming from Mr. Tarm.
“How did you even GET HERE?!” Tarm said.
“We’re smart, Tarm.” Ernie said.
“E-E-ERNIE?!” Tarm said.
“We’re here to make things right. And right is not how you made it.” Colin said.
“Never.” Tarm grinned and pushed a button on his desk labeled HELP.
“Great.” Colin said, “Now fifty-seven robots are going to come and beat us up.
“Not if I can help it!” Ernie said. He lunged at Tarm and tackled him.
“ARGHH! STOP IT!” Tarm said. Colin spied a tiny switch that read ‘Request to Go Live’. He flipped it, and an automated voice message said, “Thank you. Your request has been sent.” Tarm was outraged.
“YOU LITTLE- OOOOOF!” He said before being tackled again to the ground.
“Your request has been confirmed.” Said the automated voice.
“NOOOOOOOOOO!” Tarm’s face literally turned blood-red.
“Going live to Times Square in 3...”
“NO NO NO!” Tarm said.
“Going live on television in 2…”
“YOU JUST RUINED MY LIFE!”
“Going live everywhere in 1…”
“ARRRGHHH!”
“Broadcasting started.”
Everywhere in the world- every screen, every phone, all of it on live television, showed Billy Jay Tarm raging over people explaining him using someone else’s invention as his own- and he was never, ever, ever hired again- instead, Ernie became the head of the ISP.
THE END
The secretary slowly yawned and opened her eyes. That cupcake was so good she must’ve passed out! She sat up.
“Hey, where did those kids go?”
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