Author: marylowd

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 23: Petra

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“Petra felt cold inside. She had military intelligence that could change the course of a war, and she was still at the mercy of a few over-paid copper dogs who didn’t like her.”

Every piece of paper in front of Petra told a story.  The rows of numbers; the columns of… pointless, stupid text that meant nothing to her.  The story the papers told was one of frustration and boredom.  She wanted the papers to tell a story of corruption and secret societies, money being funneled into an underground military complex — an army that would rise up from their massively expensive hidden bunkers to save Earth from the raptors — all because Petra found the number trail leading to them in these papers. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 23: Petra”

Not Wanting to Walk through the Door

I just finished rewatching The Good Place for the first time since it ended. The end hit me way harder this time. It’s only a few years later, but I was under 40 then and am over 40 now.

I think… I still felt immortal just a few years ago, and now I’m wrestling with mortality. Continue reading “Not Wanting to Walk through the Door”

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 22: Jenny

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“Even if she made it down to ground level, she’d be free on a planet filled with dinosaurs. Even if most of them were harmless herbivores, she didn’t relish that idea.”

Jenny would have given up eating clams forever to have a tour guide who simply held out a tentacle — or talon, as the case may be — and pointed to the most precious part of Corjovis.  That would have been invaluable tactical information.  Instead, she had two eager raptor younglings crouched behind her, calling up video and sound files on their computer pad, seemingly to show her their favorite pop songs.

Raptors danced on the touchpad screen, literally shaking their tail feathers to the rhythmic, stuttering screeches that emanated from the device.  Jenny could only assume it was music.  Her helmet computer had trouble keeping up with the sound to give her a translation, but most of the words seemed to be about power or love or murder or freedom or slavery or growth or dinner.  The helmet computer wasn’t sure.  Its translations had improved a great deal in certainty over the last few hours, but song lyrics tend to be inscrutable in any language. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 22: Jenny”

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 21: Kipper

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“Any creature could be uplifted. Jellyfish fluttering like ballerinas? Maybe they were ballerinas — maybe they’d spent years training and studying to flutter like that.”

Kipper didn’t know why the octopi kept sending puzzles to their prisoners, but she wanted Captain Cod and Trugger to stop solving them.  Except for the occasional meal of sushi-like rolls and raw fish brought by the dolphins, there was no way to mark the time, but it felt like they’d been held in the dank, watery cell for days.  Days of being cut off from the outside world.  Days of the raptor ships flying closer and closer to Earth.  Days of being wet and useless.

Kipper was restless.  Besides, there was something sinister about solving puzzles for captors who never showed themselves.  It was time to stop cooperating with their captors.  It was time to start planning a way out of this underwater dungeon. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 21: Kipper”

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 20: Petra

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“Almost afraid to touch the precious pages, Petra lifted the three brightly-colored crayon drawings, one from each kitten, with shaking paws.”

“Hey!” the jowly jailor barked at Petra and Blaine, interrupting their latest conversation about scramball.

Petra was tempted to hiss an answer at the dog, but even with bars between them, it didn’t seem like a safe move.  Instead, she decided to whither the dog with class.  “May I help you?”  Her voice practically curdled with almost-purrs.

The cop looked properly and pleasingly unsettled by Petra’s unpredictability.  “Here,” the dog harrumphed, pulling into view a wheeled trolley stacked high with disorderly piles of paper, files, and notebooks.  “This is for you.”  The dog unlocked the cell, shoved the trolley in, and then locked the cell right back up.  “Some dog dropped it off for you.” Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 20: Petra”