Book Chapter – Page 19 – Deep Sky Anchor

Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 11: 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.

“If he’d been a smaller dog, his awkward discomfiture would have made him seem to shrink away. As it was, Joey looked more like a sofa with nowhere to hide.”

Only two hours until Alistair planned to storm the senate assembly, and Trudith was completely lost. She didn’t get lost easily. She’d been all over the back streets and alleys of New LA. In her old life, as a thug, she’d tailed many a cat through every unsavory part of the city.

She could only assume Petra was going somewhere incredibly top secret. Or she knew Trudith was following her. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 11: Earth”

Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 10: The Asteroid Belt

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.

“She was still reeling from this new piece of knowledge, namely that the chef would be flying the ship.”

Kipper recorded the video. It took a few takes to get just right. She wasn’t much for public speaking. At least, she wouldn’t have to be there in the senate assembly when Alistair played the video. She hoped it would give him what he needed.

She wouldn’t find out until his coup was all over. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 10: The Asteroid Belt”

Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 9: 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.

“Trudith could tell that both cats were thinking about Kipper, their missing sister. Trudith had never seen all three siblings together, but she could feel the space left behind where the third sibling was meant to be.”

Petra, Alistair, and Trudith huddled around Petra’s computer, reading the enlarged photo she’d taken of Morrison’s petition. The petition didn’t look good.

“Well,” Alistair said, “that explains why Morrison’s hench-hounds were so withholding with these.”

“Indeed,” Petra agreed, seeming unusually restrained, but her restraint didn’t hold. She spat through her teeth, “Lying canine bully!” Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 9: Earth”

Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 8: Trailside

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.

“The cats had not welcomed her. But the otters had.”

Kipper stood among the noisy patrons of the Foghorn, shocked by what she saw on the vid screen. Did this change anything? she wondered. She’d uncovered and visited one hidden cat colony on Mars. She’d spoken with the cats there. She’d made friends with one of them, or so he would have her think from his letters, anyway. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 8: Trailside”

Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 7: 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.

“Senator Morrison may have been an anti-cat, anti-otter extremist — a complete bigot, if you asked Petra — but he was also a politician and a herd dog. He knew the direction of a crowd, and he knew how to move with one in order to have a chance at making the crowd move with him later.”

There was nothing for it, Trudith decided. She had to find a way to use this little, cat-paw-sized cell phone, because Alistair needed to know what she’d found out. Right now.

Trudith pulled the borrowed phone out of her pocket. She held it lightly between keratinous black claws, and an idea struck her. She couldn’t operate this phone, but a cat could. Any cat. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 7: Earth”

Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 6: Trailside

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.

“For a cat who’d dreamed her whole kittenhood of floating among the stars, this was close to heaven.”

Trailside was smaller and more cramped than Deep Sky Anchor, that giant outpost of Otterdom in geosynchronous orbit with Earth, anchored to the land of dogs and dog-oppressed cats by the slender thread of the space elevator.

Kipper had taken the space elevator to Deep Sky Anchor, where she met up with Captain Cod and his ragtag Barracuders. Before Trailside, their only stop had been at the disappointingly exclusive cat colony on Mars. So, Trailside was the second-ever otter outpost that Kipper had set paw on. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 6: Trailside”

Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 5: 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.

“Trudith may have been big and tough — covered in sinewy muscles under her smooth black fur from head to paw — but she didn’t like being left alone with a moral quandary.”

“You couldn’t wait?!?” Petra exploded. “This dumb-as-charcoal dog said, oh yeah, let’s go to the press, and you thought that was a good idea?!”

Alistair’s ears were flat and his brow drawn. “Are you finished?” he asked.

“Never listen to a dog.” Petra glared at Trudith. “Now I’m done.” Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 5: Earth”

Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 4: Trailside

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.

“Why exactly Captain Cod felt that his ship needed a spy and how he got the idea that the only cat in outer space was the right animal for the job, well, that was anyone’s guess.”

Kipper stared at the ceiling for an hour. She was so intent, she didn’t notice the swell of current as Trugger, another one of her otter shipmates, swam up to her. He tapped on her shoulder to get her attention, and when Kipper looked around, the river otter signed, “Didn’t Jenny tell you? Even though we’re stopped, we won’t be draining the oxo-agua until Trailside clears us for docking.” Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 4: Trailside”

Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 3: 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.

“Singing seagulls! Let’s get going. I’ve got to see what kind of a place you cats have whipped up for yourselves here on this red space rock.”

Trudith waited in the outer office of the campaign headquarters. She expected that when Alistair finished his conversation with the Election Office, he would come out and tell her the plan, but it didn’t work that way. Instead, Alistair slinked out, his tail dragging almost on the floor. He was already wearing his jacket as if ready to leave, and he looked completely dispirited. Trudith knew better than to ask, “What’s the plan?” but, she did ask, “How’d the request for a recount go?” Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 3: Earth”

Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 2: The Asteroid Belt

by Mary E. Lowd

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

“…since her body couldn’t fly home to her brother, zipping through space on careless wings in the effortless way her imagination could, Kipper had to accept the reality of her situation. She was stuck on this waterlogged bottle of oxo-agua that passed for a spaceship.”

Although it only took Trudith’s message seconds to reach the Deep Sky Anchor station in Earth orbit and would take another ten minutes to cross the space between there and the Jolly Barracuda, Kipper wouldn’t receive it for two weeks. The Jolly Barracuda flew incommunicado, her flight plans unlogged. Captain Cod felt it was more piratical that way. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 2: The Asteroid Belt”