Otters In Space – Chapter 15: Kipper Comes to Siamhalla

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1 or return to the previous chapter.

“It takes a particularly quirky and off-kilter group of otters to jump at the chance to escort a broke alley cat across space on her wild goose chase.”

Beating the Manta Ray to Mars was only the first step of Captain Cod’s rapidly unfolding plan.  The next stage involved doctoring the message they’d intercepted from the Manta Ray.  They ran the voice through a simulator and used the simulation program to generate a new message.  The new message said, “Approaching Mars orbit.”

Sure enough, within a few minutes, a signal was broadcast from the ground in response. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 15: Kipper Comes to Siamhalla”

Otters In Space – Chapter 14: Kipper Dreams of Mars

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“In Kipper’s dreams, the Jolly Barracuda landed on Mars to find Petra already there, dancing with Violet and every cat Kipper had ever seen abused or put down by a dog in her life.”

The evening and night both passed slowly.  At dinner, the crew of the Jolly Barracuda talked about the various mining expeditions or scientific surveys of Mars they’d either been on or known members of.  As far as Kipper could tell, the only otter onboard to have actually put paw to soil on Mars was Boris.  Well, space-suited paw.  Nonetheless, he was clearly proud of the distinction and told the story of his visit in great detail.  The other otters seemed impressed.  Kipper wanted to slug him. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 14: Kipper Dreams of Mars”

Orange Sherbet Unlocks a Better Loot Box

by Mary E. Lowd

A Deep Sky Anchor Original, June 2023

“It was weird having Rocky Road’s dad’s voice coming out of the familiar panda avatar. It looked like her friend was here, but he wasn’t.”

Orange Sherbet logged into the Mythical Proportions VR Cafe as soon as her teacher closed the 2nd grade classroom Zoom for the day.  She’d already finished her homework for the evening, and the rest of the week for that matter.  The assignments were all way too easy for her, almost insultingly easy, so she’d been working ahead.  And she was far enough ahead that the whole rest of the day was hers.  Neither of her parents would bug her about wasting her time in the digital world, because they’d just assume she was doing homework, as long as she didn’t do anything to give herself away.  VR goggles were helpful that way — they kept nosy parents from peeking over her shoulder to look at her screen. Continue reading “Orange Sherbet Unlocks a Better Loot Box”

Otters In Space – Chapter 13: Kipper Flying Through Space

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“How high is the water going to rise?” she asked. The otter she asked simply laughed and grinned before hurrying on his way.

Captain Cod set Kipper up with her own bunk in the barracks and personally pinned one of the golden sailing ship lapel pins on her tunic.  It made her feel very official.  Officially an honorary otter.

There were also some electronic forms; Trugger helped her fill them out.  As far as she could tell, she was registering to pay taxes on the modest salary Captain Cod afforded her.  She wondered if there was any way for the dogs down on Earth to claim a portion too.  She hoped not. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 13: Kipper Flying Through Space”

Otters In Space – Chapter 12: Kipper Joins the Crew

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“It didn’t matter to Kipper that Captain Cod’s plan was crazy. He was offering to subsidize the next portion of her trip — a portion she had thought unattainable at any price.”

Kipper couldn’t remember falling asleep, but she could tell she had just woken up.  She was stretched out on a thin but cushy mattress, a bottom bunk in a room full of bunks.  There were otters occupying some of the other beds, but none of them had noticed her yet.  Well, she was sure they knew she was there.  But none of them had noticed she was awake.  She didn’t want them to.  She wasn’t ready to deal with a room full of strange otters yet.  She had too much to deal with inside of herself. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 12: Kipper Joins the Crew”

Otters In Space – Chapter 11: Kipper and the Manta Ray

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“…she was stranded up here in space, and she wasn’t about to point out the numerous flaws with the idea of a cat spy working among a population composed ninety-five percent of otters if the captain couldn’t work them out for himself.”

Trailing Luce would have been easier for Kipper if bulldogs weren’t so much shorter than otters.  Between Luce’s short, boxy shape and Kipper’s own limited height, Kipper felt constantly on the edge of losing Luce in the crowd of irritatingly tall otters.  Of course, on the flipside, the large (albeit generally lanky) stature of all the space station natives kept Kipper from having to duck and weave too much to stay safely obscured from Luce’s view.  “Too much” being a relative term. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 11: Kipper and the Manta Ray”

Otters In Space – Chapter 10: Kipper in the Red Quarter

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“Apparently, the red quarter otters had a long backlog of issues with Earth law (possibly law in general), dog enforcers (probably law enforcers in general), and Luce, specifically.”

As the bill was already settled, Kipper had herself dressed and back out on the main drag in no time.  She caught herself looking at the otters around her, trying to catch their reaction to her in their eyes.  She wove between them, staying as far away from the artificial river as she could manage.  She didn’t want to get tripped or pushed into the water again.  The otters, by and large, gave her a respectful amount of space.  Perhaps they understood what she was doing.  She imagined herself walking in the paw steps of all the other cats who had come to this station and who carefully edged their way away from the water. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 10: Kipper in the Red Quarter”

Otters In Space – Chapter 9: A Whole New Kipper

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“Trugger works on a cargo ship, Miss Feline. He thinks he’s a pirate. The whole ship’s worth of them think they’re pirates.”

Kipper folded her tunic, trousers, and scramball jersey into her little purple duffle and stowed it beside Maury’s desk.  She wrapped the white sheet around her, under her arms, and pushed the pink curtain out of her way.  Maury was arranging the tools of his trade on the work table beside the closest reclining chair.  When he noticed her, he patted on the chair’s Naugahyde seat, inviting her to take her place there. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 9: A Whole New Kipper”

Otters In Space – Chapter 8: Kipper on the Deep Sky Anchor

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“The river in the sky was a real river, running through the middle of the broad corridor that was the outer ring of Deep Sky Anchor.”

The door opened, spilling space station light into the hold.  Kipper could hardly wait to set paw on the light-kissed ground.  The closer she got to otter space, the more buzzed she got.  She wanted to get out there and see what Deep Sky Anchor was really like.  She wanted to join the otters, swimming in their “rivers in the sky.”  Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 8: Kipper on the Deep Sky Anchor”

Otters In Space – Chapter 7: Kipper Rides the Elevator

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“Gruff dog voices preceded the plodding sound of dog paws. “A stowaway?” one voice, unfamiliar, was saying.”

Chip was a harsh task-master.  He kept Kipper lugging crates of shrimp, tanks of crabs, and other sea-farmed delectables along with trunk after trunk of passenger luggage until her agile cat-spine ached.  Cats weren’t built for hard work, and this work was back-breaking. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 7: Kipper Rides the Elevator”