Author: marylowd

Otters In Space 4 – Epilogue

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 4: First Moustronaut.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1 or return to the previous chapter.

“The dog’s tears had dried up. She had found a way to cope with learning that her gods… were only human.”

The Lucky Boomerang stayed docked at the interstellar space station for more than a month before it was time to head home to Earth, bearing a treasure trove of new knowledge, strange goods, and even one of the translator parrots who wanted to come along.

Trugger and the mice had become regular customers at several of the food carts during their month-long visit, and Kipper learned about interstellar law.  Most importantly, she learned that the humans running the space station — Crossroads Space Station — wouldn’t trade or deal with societies that didn’t afford equal rights to all their members.  This meant, if dogs wanted to oppress cats and ban them from traveling to space, then these humans wouldn’t want to have anything to do with them. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Epilogue”

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 28: Kipper

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 4: First Moustronaut.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“Despite all the strange things that had happened to Kipper in her life, none of them had prepared her for visiting a human space station and having a parrot laugh at her.”

Kipper watched Amelia walk away, back toward their spaceship.  It shouldn’t bother her to have the government dog who she’d never wanted on her ship leave her side.  But it felt wrong.

Kipper was just one cat.  A tabby who’d grown up in a cattery, poor and undereducated, without a real support system.  She had her siblings, and she’d made friends over the years.  But deep inside, she still felt like a lone cat who had to fight for herself. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 28: Kipper”

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 27: Amelia

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 4: First Moustronaut.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“The world was going to be out of order, everything discordant and confusing, and infinitely lonely for the rest of eternity. Because the humans here didn’t care that she’d come so far to see them.”

As all the rest of the crew absorbed the chaotic view of alien lifeforms on this interstellar space station, Amelia only had eyes for the humans among the crowd.  She wanted to rush toward the first one she saw — a human with pinkish skin and long black hair — and fall at the woman’s feet.  She wanted to forget everything about adulthood and civility and kiss the woman’s boots, touching the fabric that clothed her, rubbing her tongue along a surface that touched a human’s skin.  She wanted to roll on her back and laugh and bark and beg the human to tell her she’d been a Good Dog. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 27: Amelia”

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 26: Yvette

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 4: First Moustronaut.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“I could sneak you on the mission inside my space helmet if you’d like. I think you’d fit.”

While Sequoia piloted The Lucky Boomerang toward the mysterious, exciting space station, all of the engineers gathered around the deck of poker cards in engineering, breathless to find out which one of the mice would get to join the away mission.  The slots for cat and dog were already filled by Captain Kipper and Amelia.

Hedda shuffled the deck, and the four mice drew cards, nearly as large as themselves — high card wins — to decide which one of them would get to represent all of mouse-kind. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 26: Yvette”

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 25: Kipper

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 4: First Moustronaut.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“…they’d stumbled into a neighborhood with dozens of different alien races, what seemed to be sentient robots, and of course, the one that was most familiar and yet also most mythical of all: humans.”

Kipper was struggling really hard to make a decision that she knew would be unpopular with her crew when Amelia burst back onto the bridge, zooming like a fuzzy meteor, followed more sedately by Sequoia.  The squirrel looked much better rested now.  That was good.  Amelia looked… half-crazed.  There was a glittering gleam in her brown eyes that worried Kipper… but somehow felt inspiring too?  Like Amelia was one of those preacher dogs who could get a whole church dancing on their paws and howling like feral wolves, overflowing with a frenzied, communal joy. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 25: Kipper”

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 24: Sequoia

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 4: First Moustronaut.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“They’d turned toward each other like orbiting stars, like they were held together by each other’s gravity.”

Sequoia woke up from a sleep so deep that it was as if she’d disappeared from the universe for a while, blinked out of existence into an entirely separate realm of blissful unconsciousness.

The universe she woke up into felt like an alternate reality.  Sure, she’d been the first one to flirt with Amelia by braiding the curly fur on the dog’s face, and she’d been the first one to fall asleep in the dog’s bed, innocently sharing a pillow…  But now, she’d woken up with her red-furred arms tangled up with the mop dog’s blonde curls, and the dog’s arms wrapped tightly around her.  It was more.  It was different.  It felt like the beginning of something and not just a playful flirtation.  They’d come to each other when tired and overwhelmed.  They’d turned toward each other like orbiting stars, like they were held together by each other’s gravity.  Like they were building a relationship. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 24: Sequoia”

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 23: Yvette

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 4: First Moustronaut.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“So… it’s like, what, an alien sitcom?” Trugger asked, tilting his head to the side, staring at the screen.

With Sequoia away from the bridge, the squirrel’s pilot station was empty — except for the mouse perched on the edge of its computer console.  Yvette felt a thrill down to the tip of her tail as she realized that she might be able to take over the station.  The cat captain hadn’t objected to her staying on the bridge yet.  And while messing with the squirrel’s computer console might draw attention to her and get her kicked off the bridge and back to engineering, it seemed like a risk worth taking.

There was so much information flashing and streaming over the computer screen beneath her paws! Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 23: Yvette”

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 22: Amelia

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 4: First Moustronaut.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“She had no power here. Captain Kipper had made that clear. All she could do was wait until the cat in charge — such an oxymoron — chose to bring the ship in closer.”

Amelia’s heart jumped inside her chest, and instead of returning to a normal rhythm after the jump, it just kept racing, beating so fast that it felt like it was trying to break free from her body and run toward the humans — her gods! — that she was suddenly certain they’d found.

They shouldn’t have been looking.

She was a Bad Dog for being here.  A Bad Dog for letting this happen.  They were supposed to Wait. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 22: Amelia”

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 21: Sequoia

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 4: First Moustronaut.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“It looks like we found your grand central station, galactic edition, Captain…”

The Lucky Boomerang arrived at the far edge of Sequoia’s chosen star system, and suddenly, the viewscreen under her paws lit up like a Christmas tree.  The empty vacuum around them became a cacophonous soup of radio waves.  The silence of space that she’d grown used to was shattered and gone, replaced with so many signals bouncing in every which direction that looking at them made the squirrel feel like a country mouse who’d arrived in the big city for the first time, dazzled by the tall buildings and neon signs, unsure if she even spoke the local language. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 21: Sequoia”