Category: Book Chapter

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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In the middle of the Europan ice desert, many miles beyond New Persia and under the watchful eye of Jupiter’s great red spot, Kipper and Emily sank into the moon’s interior on an old, abandoned elevator.  The shaft rose up around them, shrinking the circle of sky they could see.  They deeper they sank, the smaller it got.  Kipper turned off her helmet light and stared up at the receding stars.  Eventually, a metal iris closed above them, sealing them into the darkness. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 28: Europa”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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While the dogs of Trudith’s scramball team worked out their plans to elect a President Brighton, the newly minted Captain Brighton discovered the terrors of her own command inside the cramped, foreign vessel she could now call her own.

Spinning like a whirligig, the two winged ship Brighton’s Destiny disembarked from the Jolly Barracuda’s cargo bay.  After a few dizzying swerves, the vessel straightened into a slow arced course for Europa.  From inside, Kipper watched the Jolly Barracuda, the ship that had been her home for many months now, barrel past on a fast, straight course to the same destination. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 27: Jupiter System”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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While Kipper contemplated the opening moves of the interplanetary war facing them all, Trudith was hard at work trying to affect the war’s mid-game by laying the groundwork for putting another Brighton at the forefront of the action.

So far, she had called a meeting of her scramball team and spent the morning scurrying around, gathering supplies for hosting the team properly at her apartment.  Pork rind curls, Munchy-Crunchy peanut butter balls, and beef sticks sufficed for snacks.  A good spread of snacks could put any group of dogs into an agreeable mood.  Well, almost any group of dogs — all those Shelties at their big Sheltie meeting hadn’t seemed too agreeable, and their food had been super fancy. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 26: Earth”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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While Trudith phoned her scramball mates, rallying them to her cause, Kipper floated inside the Jolly Barracuda, treading water and watching Captain Cod sign a description of his battle plans for defending New Persia.  Most of the crew assembled on the bridge to watch him, even Emily and the rescued octopus.

Captain Cod’s paws moved with a deliberation and certainty that they rarely held.  “We are about to embark on a dangerous mission.  The Jolly Barracuda is not a warship, but she will not shirk from battle if honor calls for it.  Nor will her crew.” Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 25: Jupiter”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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With Kipper gone, Trudith and Petra found themselves alone with each other again.  Although it had only been a time-delayed ghost of her, Kipper’s presence had filled the space between Trudith and Petra, bridging the gap between them.  The emptiness she left behind was like a giant chasm.  The tenuous bridge she had provided, crumbled away, leaving them with a gulf of silence. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 24: Earth”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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Trudith heard barking as she approached the Campaign Headquarters early in the morning.  The blinds were closed against the harsh slant of morning light.  Trudith couldn’t see inside, but she recognized Lucky’s voice shouting.

The door burst open, rattling on its hinges.  Lucky stalked out past her, barely bothering to throw a grumbled greeting her way.  That wasn’t like him.  He was a genial, pleasant dog most of the time.  One of the easiest people to get along with that Trudith had ever met.  He probably had to be, she figured, to survive being married to Petra. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 23: Earth”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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The entire ship wasn’t transparent, Kipper realized.  The room with the airlock where Trugger and Kipper had emerged from their disguise boxes had opaque ceilings.  The room with the octopus tank did too, as well as several of the hallways.  For all Kipper knew, she was slumped against one of the opaque parts of the ship right now.  Her tired body wanted to believe, but her paranoid cat’s mind couldn’t stop thinking about how much the surface of the sail ship reminded her of the one-way mirrors she’d seen in cop shows. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 22: The Great Red Spot”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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Many light minutes away, deep in the middle of night on her side of the planet, Trudith slaved away, scribbling mathematical figures and variables in a notebook.  She was working on solving physics equations that — by a bizarre coincidence — described the way light bent through transparent surfaces and bounced off of reflective ones, much like the surface Kipper had collapsed on, exhausted.  Like a one-way mirror it was transparent on one side and reflective on the other.  The equations defining it’s properties were fascinating. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 21: Earth”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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As Kipper made her way around the edges of the cavernous room, the clear floors and ceiling began to make more sense to her.  Raptors came and went through various archways, flocking over the bubble-like floor with a spring in their strong legs and a swing to their feathered arms.  Based on their build, Kipper would have been surprised if they could actually fly; their wings didn’t seem large or broad enough relative to their overall mass, but, in this setting, they looked like dark birds, winging through the Jovian sky. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 20: The Great Red Spot”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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The thick red smog whipped past Kipper as she flew haphazardly downward in her strange box-ship powered by the jetpack on her back.  She felt the cold through the rubbery fabric of her spacesuit, and dancing wisps of red clouded her field of vision.  Kipper’s paws gripped tight to the front edge of the box, and her feet braced against the back. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 19: The Great Red Spot”