Nexus Nine – Chapter 7: Off the Rails

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Nexus Nine.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“But the memories were already gone. All of her past selves, all of those voices had been like friends inside of her, but they wouldn’t talk to her anymore. The chip in her brain wasn’t working. Was it broken?”

After the initial blush of excitement, several hours of studious, focused concentration and contemplation followed.  Numbers streamed over screens — fascinating, mesmerizing numbers — each one representing a star or planet; asteroid field or nebula; likelihood of habitability and — even more exciting — likelihood of already being inhabited.

Mazel was in seventh heaven; her crew was less thrilled.  Quincy, Neera, and Omoleura disappeared back into the barracks to play a game of Chanster’s Claws.  Even Lt. Unari seemed to grow weary of cataloguing star systems by their likelihood of containing biological elements — native plants and animals — that she could study if they went to them… but that were too far away as they floated in space beside the currently invisible nexus just scanning, scanning, scanning. Continue reading “Nexus Nine – Chapter 7: Off the Rails”

Nexus Nine – Chapter 6: Discovering a New Galaxy

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Nexus Nine.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“For an instant that felt like an eternity, Mazel became convinced that Van Gogh must have also carried a neural chip, whispering memories of nexus travels into his brain; he had been a fellow traveler across the centuries, also originating in the galaxy Ennea.”

The command deck was crowded — seemingly full of every Avioran officer onboard Nexus Nine Base, every Tri-Galactic Navy scientist, and of course, Omoleura — when Mazel launched the un-crewed probe toward Nexus Nine.  The anticipation was palpable.

Aviorans whispered about the Apex and the Sky Nest — many of them seemed to believe they would soon be hearing the voice of their gods, the wisdom of the Unhatched, sent through the scientific scanners of the probe.  The Tri-Galactic Navy scientists whispered less; their excitement was more straightforward and less fraught — they would learn something interesting today, regardless of what exactly the probe discovered, new knowledge is new knowledge.  They had fewer hopes to be dashed and thus could wear their excitement on their sleeves, where the Aviorans had to cradle their sacred, delicate hopes like fledgling babes with untested wings, unsure yet of whether they’d ever fly. Continue reading “Nexus Nine – Chapter 6: Discovering a New Galaxy”

Nexus Nine – Chapter 5: The Power of Visions

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Nexus Nine.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“Mazel had never played Chanster’s Claws before, but her Rheun chip was exceptionally good at calculating probabilities, and she had lifetimes of experience with reading other peoples’ body language.”

Once Mazel and the captain were alone on the sandy shore beside the Temple of Yunib, the German Shepherd climbed into the rowboat, sat down, and stared up at the sky.  “What does it mean, Big Dog?” he asked.  “Am I a messiah in a religion I’d never heard of until three weeks ago?  What would that even mean?”

Mazel sat down on the wooden plank seat beside Bataille.  Her head only came to his shoulder.  His physical presence, now that he was so much larger than her, had a comforting, anchoring quality that she didn’t remember when she’d been Darius. Continue reading “Nexus Nine – Chapter 5: The Power of Visions”

Nexus Nine – Chapter 4: Flying Down to Avia

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Nexus Nine.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“She stared harder at the crack in space-time where the universe was folding in upon itself and draining into an obscure hyperspace. She stared so hard that her eyes watered; her ears and whiskers flattened. But she saw nothing more strange than the crack in space-time itself.”

The flight from Nexus Nine Base down to the surface of the planet took twenty minutes, and it was spectacularly beautiful.  Lacy clouds streamed past the shuttle’s windows, and the world below expanded from a globe of gemstone brilliance hanging in the dark sky into a vista engulfing them, bright blue sky all around and rich green expanses growing wider and closer below. Continue reading “Nexus Nine – Chapter 4: Flying Down to Avia”

Nexus Nine – Chapter 3: Researching the Sky Nest

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Nexus Nine.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“But Mazel hoped that Nexus Nine led to a galaxy that hadn’t been explored at all before. Fresh and brand new. Or maybe, deeply familiar. Maybe… home.”

Mazel dreamed fitfully of her past lives.  Her body changed from small and fluffy to gangly and short-furred, leaving her wobbling and off-balance, then her long, canine legs stretched like taffy being pulled until they became coiling tentacles.  Dogs and cats who had been close to Rheun but had died years ago — or hundreds of years ago — whispered to Mazel, saying words she couldn’t quite hear.  Mazel woke abruptly from the dream, startled awake by the sensation within the dream of her tentacles calcifying into chitinous legs that only bent in a few places.  More places than her feline legs.  But so few compared to the infinite bending of a tentacle. Continue reading “Nexus Nine – Chapter 3: Researching the Sky Nest”

Nexus Nine – Chapter 2: The Esplanade

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Nexus Nine.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, or skip ahead to the next chapter.

“At another time, in another condition, the esplanade might have been stunningly beautiful. At this moment, in this condition, it was only stunning for the story it told. A story of destruction.”

The deck they’d come to was wide and open, as large around as several city blocks and two stories high, with arching windows around the perimeter and even more windows worked into the floors, all looking out at the stars or the planet Avia below.

An expansive stretch of lacy white clouds shrouded the turquoise and jade crescent of the world currently in daylight.  The wholesome brightness of the planet in its gemstone shades of green, blue, and pearly white only made the esplanade itself look shabbier.  Outside the windows was natural wonder, large enough to spend lifetimes exploring; inside was a cramped, dingy space.  Scorch marks seared across the window frames and marred some of the windows.  Rubble was strewn about, including broken pieces of the esplanade itself — stairwells and walkways that should have provided a second level, wrought of some dark metal, had twisted and crashed to the floor. Continue reading “Nexus Nine – Chapter 2: The Esplanade”

Nexus Nine – Chapter 1: Meeting An Old Friend

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Nexus Nine.  If you’d prefer to read in e-book or paperback form, learn more here.  Or if you want, skip ahead to the next chapter.

“I should have known you’d show up here.  You always were fascinated by the nexus passageways.”

Mazel Rheun watched her old friend, Shep Bataille, from across the command deck of Nexus Nine Base.  The calico cat was steeling herself to approach the German Shepherd.  Mazel needed to introduce herself, and then she would see the reality in Shep’s eyes — the confusion, the lack of recognition.  Shep wouldn’t know her.  In fact, Mazel probably shouldn’t think of him as her old friend Shep anymore.  Now, he was her commanding officer, Captain Bataille. Continue reading “Nexus Nine – Chapter 1: Meeting An Old Friend”

Treegadoon – Part 2

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Animal Voices, Unicorn Whispers, October 2024

[Part 1]

“If the curse were true, then Treegadoon would be gone soon. Gone for years and years.”

Alone in his boat on a clear sea in the glow of early afternoon, Elijah found he could almost believe the whole morning had been a daydream, perhaps caused by nibbling on a psychotropic jellyfish tentacle.  Were there jellyfish whose flesh could cause such hallucinations?  Elijah wasn’t sure, but perhaps one of his mothers would know.  As he sailed onward toward home though, he realized:  there were still two sacks of nut-butter sandwiches and joiberries in the boat with him, and that was hard, physical evidence that he had met with someone out here on the sea this morning. Continue reading “Treegadoon – Part 2”

Treegadoon – Part 1

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Animal Voices, Unicorn Whispers, October 2024

[Part 2]

“The sunbeam cut through the grayness and landed on a tussled pile of green like a spotlight. Where it shone, trees rose out of the ocean, as mysterious and unexpected as a shooting star.”

Elijah’s small boat rocked with the storming of the ocean.  Gusts of wind blew sharply against his thick, dense fur, and his clothes — even though they were made from special quick-drying fabric — were completely soaked.  Waves slapped and splashed against the small boat, threatening to overturn him.  Elijah didn’t mind the idea of swimming home.  He was a river otter who had been raised among sea lions on a small island near the coast.  He was used to swimming, and he was used to the ocean’s whimsy.  But he’d spent the pre-dawn hours hunting jellyfish, and now as the sun was about to rise, his little boat was chockfull of delectable delicacies.  There were moon jellies, sea nettles, and — even better — he’d finally caught a lion’s mane jellyfish.  He’d wanted to catch one since he’d been a little fellow, still afraid of the water. Continue reading “Treegadoon – Part 1”

Jellyfish for Dinner

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Animal Voices, Unicorn Whispers, October 2024

“She’d never been afraid of water before Elijah almost drowned. It was a strange thing to be afraid of something so prevalent, so all-surrounding.”

When Arlene and Angelica married, they never expected to have children.  Arlene was a river otter inventor; Angelica was a sea lion artist.  And they were very happy together, sharing their lives and their passions, but theirs was the kind of union that bore fruit of the mind, not the kind of union that produced children. Continue reading “Jellyfish for Dinner”