Category: Book Chapter

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 6: 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.

“It was hard to believe at first… but the dogs and cats of the press here were treating Yvette like the star of the whole show.”

Months of waiting turned into a week of hurried rushing, seemingly over one restless, sleepless night.  All at once, Hedda declared the epsilon engine ready for field testing, and Captain Kipper handed out schedules to everyone.  Their amorphous days of playing cards on the engine room floor while occasionally consulting on the designs were through.  And suddenly, they were busy dawn to dusk with last minute health checkups, itemizing the onboard supplies to make sure nothing was missing, and most bizarrely — press events. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 6: Yvette”

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 5: 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.

“She found it was easier to agree with Trugger’s bird metaphors than try to understand or fix them.”

As soon as she laid eyes on the curly-furred mop of a dog — bizarrely wearing one of their USSA-specific blue-and-silver uniforms — Kipper could tell that Amelia was not a dog who had any patience for waiting.

The gray tabby cat captain closed the laptop computer that she and Trugger had been working on — writing emails, searching directories for officials who could help them, and downloading form after form that didn’t quite fit their situation.  Nothing fit their situation.  She put the laptop aside and got up from the bottom bunk bed she’d been sitting on.  “Can I help you?” she asked the dog. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 5: Kipper”

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 4: 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.

“The way the pipes twisted made Yvette think of the etchings by the ancient human artist M.C. Escher or maybe a machine by Rube Goldberg.”

As soon as the scruffy white dog insisting she was the ship’s new second in command left the engine room, Josie signed with her delicate hand-like paws, “That is one grumpy mop of fur.”

Obsidian’s color shifted from the angry shade of plum he’d become to a self-satisfied shade of soft peach.  He signed with the tips of three tentacles — which grew so thin at the very ends that they weren’t much larger than a mouse’s paw:  “I’ll believe she’s second in command when Captain Kipper tells us so.  Besides, I’m here as an independent advisor, directly from the octopus oligarchy.  I don’t answer to dog politicians.” Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 4: Yvette”

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 3: 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.

“Amelia wondered idly if the octopus changed his patterning in purposeful ways to bluff the other players into thinking he had good or poor hands.”

The Lucky Boomerang squatted on the tarmac like a half-melted scramball.  The name of the spaceship had been hotly contested for a few months while it was being built — a lot of dogs and cats had wanted to name it The Lucky Frisbee for the flying disc-shaped toys, because deep in the cultural consciousness of the Uplifted States, spaceships were still expected to be flying saucers.  Even though they never were.  Even The Lucky Boomerang was only vaguely disc-shaped, and that was largely because the committee who had approved the hull design had added non-functional wings to either side.  For aesthetic reasons. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 3: Amelia”

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 2: Sequoia

by Mary E. Lowd

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

“Sequoia had been thinking about moving from Earth up to one of the otter space stations for some time, to be closer to the stars.”

Sequoia collected stars like other squirrels collected acorns.  Not really.  Because squirrels didn’t collect acorns anymore, except for kits on the playground.  And no matter how much Sequoia wanted to gather all the stars in the sky — all the red giants and blue dwarfs; all the pretty yellow and orange ones — up into a pile and bury them deep inside a black hole where they would be hers, all hers and only hers forever and forever, you just can’t do that with stars. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 2: Sequoia”

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 1: Yvette

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 4: First Moustronaut.  If you’d prefer to read in e-book or paperback form, learn more here.  Or if you want, jump back to book one or return to the end of book three.

“Yvette had never won first place at a competition — second sometimes, third often. Never first.”

The mouse whirled through the air, paws hitting the gym mat in rhythm as she flipped:  front paws, back paws, front paws.  Head over tail.  Her long tail streamed behind her, making fancy curlicues in the wake of her carefully practiced routine.  Finally, Yvette pirouetted up to the high bar, spun around it and launched even higher into the air — nearly flying.

When she came down, the mouse landed — perfectly — in the center of the mat, all four paws on the ground.  She drew a deep breath, and then rose up, standing just long enough to smile at the crowd, before taking her bow. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 1: Yvette”

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 34: Kipper

by Mary E. Lowd

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

“The future was full of new possibilities for a tabby cat with a space program to run.”

Alistair’s orange striped tabby face appeared on the Jolly Barracuda main viewscreen.  The entire crew had gathered on the bridge to watch his message.  Alistair was wearing a navy blue suit that contrasted his fiery fur nicely, and two secret service greyhounds wearing sunglasses and wires stood coolly behind him.  He looked very presidential, but to Kipper, he just looked like her brother.

“Congratulations and our sincerest thanks from all of us here on Earth to the brave officers on the Jolly Barracuda!”  Alistair’s mouth moved, and Kipper wished she could hear his voice, but she had to settle for reading the captions beneath him. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 34: Kipper”

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 33: 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.

“…her scientists brought her a treasure trove of ancient octopus technology.”

“Are you sure?” Jenny signed to Felix and Ordol.

The otter physicist and octopus translator were at one of the workstations inside the flooded Europa base, and cryptic iconography scrolled hectically over the ancient-yet-insanely-advanced computer screen in front of them.  The octopus and otter shared a look — enigmatic on both ends due to Ordol’s lack of a mammalian face and the breathing apparatus obscuring Felix’s nose and mouth — and then Felix shrugged.  “Pretty sure,” he signed. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 33: Jenny”

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 32: 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.

“She didn’t know if she was signing to an octopus controlling a raptor or to a raptor controlling an octopus, but either way, it seemed safest to be polite.”

Kipper couldn’t convince Captain Cod to stop singing.  The captain led his merry band of imprisoned otters in one round of sailing ditties after another, insisting it was the only otterly way to face certain death.

Kipper wasn’t sure she liked it any better than she’d liked facing death with a lobster-sabre in her paws.  She thought that perhaps the best way to face death might be with a strong dose of catnip, a rich mug of cream, and quiet contemplation.  Though she wasn’t sure.  All the boisterous singing around her made it too noisy for her to properly contemplate it. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 32: Kipper”

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 31: The Oligarch and the Raptor

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.

“Drowning in memories together, Enzz’rr’kk and Emily sensed each other — each of them infinitely young in comparison to the silver tentacle — and clung to one another, trying not to lose their individual selves entirely to the tentacle’s wealth of being.”

Enzz’rr’kk was a junior officer whose pin-feathers had barely come in.  Only a few months before, he’d been covered in downy speckling instead of regal raven black with bursts of purple on his elbows and cranium.  Now he was a full-fledged warrior, complete with the tools of his trade — pliant octopus tentacles to extend his reach and capabilities.

Unfortunately, his octopus had been injured while fighting the fuzzy brown creature on the spaceship his squadron had been sent to secure.  It had lost several tentacles, and the pain the octopus felt was distracting.  So when Enzz’rr’kk saw the two octopuses on the galley table — one mangled beyond use but the other in perfect condition — he decided to trade for an upgrade. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 31: The Oligarch and the Raptor”