Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 10: Wearing a New Uniform

by Mary E. Lowd

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

“How do you know I won’t fight you at every turn, undermining your authority in front of our crew?”

Only a few days ago, Janessa Carroway had despaired of ever reaching the rank of captain.  Her canine superior officer had been holding her back, and there’d been nothing she could do about it.  She’d thought she would never have her own ship or crew, and the weight of her desire for that leadership role had felt like it would crush her.  She had craved captaincy like a newborn kitten craves milk. Continue reading “Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 10: Wearing a New Uniform”

Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 9: A Delicate Conversation to Navigate

by Mary E. Lowd

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

“Maybe he was secretly planning rebellion and mutiny… but she didn’t think so.”

Captain Carroway entered her quarters to find the golden-mantled squirrel captain carefully examining a framed piece of art on the interior wall.  It was a painting of the ship itself, The Wanderlust, flying through a swirling nebula — one that was much more colorful, bright, and appealing than the Dirt Cloud.  It was an utterly generic work of art.  The kind that starship designers put in a captain’s quarters before the actual captain comes aboard and personalizes their space. Continue reading “Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 9: A Delicate Conversation to Navigate”

Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 8: Two Crews on One Ship

by Mary E. Lowd

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

“You didn’t have to disable our weapons and lock us in,” a canine woman growled…

Captain Carroway could not have been more surprised when the face that appeared on The Wanderlust’s viewscreen was the very familiar golden-furred face of Captain Chestnut.  “What the hell?” she spat.  “We watched your ship explode!”

“And I felt it explode,” Captain Chestnut said, shuddering.  The reptile-bird behind him had a haunted look in her eyes, and Captain Carroway noticed that the other Anti-Ra officers — the Morphican and other squirrel — were no longer on the ship’s bridge. Continue reading “Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 8: Two Crews on One Ship”

Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 7: The Chosen Thread Snaps Into Place

by Mary E. Lowd

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

“He was staring at the viewscreen like it would swallow him up, and he wasn’t wrong.”

Every muscle in Captain Carroway’s body clenched as she watched the white dwarf on the viewscreen — the vacuum bomb was still careening toward it, and if she hoped fervently enough, she could imagine the white dwarf was already shrinking.  They were already flying away from it.  They were going to escape.  Maybe, just maybe, they were going to escape.

“Captain?” Ensign Lee woofed tentatively. Continue reading “Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 7: The Chosen Thread Snaps Into Place”

Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 6: Protein Bars and Cups of Coffee

by Mary E. Lowd

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

Instinctively, Captain Carroway muttered under her breath, wishing on the star like she would have as a kitten: “Live, please, let us live.”

The closer The Wanderlust got to the Dirt Cloud, the more of the starry sky it blotted out on the viewscreen wrapped around the front half of the bridge.  By midday, crenellated clouds in shades of dark purple and muddy orange filled their entire view.  No stars at all.  Even the white dwarf that was their target, deep in the middle of the nebula, was completely hidden by the clouds of thick, dark dust. Continue reading “Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 6: Protein Bars and Cups of Coffee”

Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 5: A Minimal Crew

by Mary E. Lowd

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

“He was flying a ship again — the thing he’d been born to do, and something he hadn’t been allowed to do in three years.”

Captain Carroway slept fitfully that night.  It was her first night as a captain, her first night sleeping in captain’s quarters, but her dreams were haunted by the faces of the officers she hadn’t met and intended to dismiss as soon as she did meet them.  All night, her sleeping mind struggled with the tasks that lay ahead of her, as if by focusing hard enough, she could work her way through them in her dreams and complete the suicide mission inside her own mind, where no one could really die, because nothing was real. Continue reading “Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 5: A Minimal Crew”

Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 4: The Fate of Barry Lee

by Mary E. Lowd

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

“If it weren’t for the looming specter of her suicide mission, Carroway would have had a lovely time chatting with the pretty little squirrel doctor.”

“Are you sure?” Captain Carroway asked, already feeling hollow inside.  The Norwegian Forest cat wanted her Morphican first officer to say he wasn’t sure, that he might be wrong.  But he wouldn’t say that.  And she didn’t doubt him.  So, Carroway asked another question, instead of waiting for a confirmation she didn’t need and wouldn’t like hearing.  “How?  And why didn’t that bastard just say so?” Continue reading “Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 4: The Fate of Barry Lee”

Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 3: The Unsavory Nature of the Mission

by Mary E. Lowd

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

“…Captain Carroway could see the gears turning in her Morphican compatriot’s head. Not literally. Though, sometimes, the little lights on the computer implant in his brow flickered in a way that suggested to her that it was processing data. Those lights had been flickering a lot during this conversation.”

Captain Shep Bataille whirled around the pilot’s seat at the front of the bridge and sat down, his brush of a tail still wagging behind him.  His positive demeanor made Captain Carroway almost hopeful about the nature of the mission he was about to assign her.  But deep inside, a quiet nagging part of herself knew better:  he was a dog.  He’d have looked at the bright, optimistic side of even the worst situations. Continue reading “Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 3: The Unsavory Nature of the Mission”

Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 2: Belated Promotions

by Mary E. Lowd

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

“The fact that the hot-headed Norwegian Forest cat and cool-minded Morphican worked so well together was part of why they were here, approaching a space station she didn’t want to go to.”

Commander Janessa Carroway’s green eyes reflected the stars as she watched through the shuttle’s windows.  She knew the shuttle was approaching Nexus Nine Base, but she didn’t look at that looming metal structure.  She’d heard about the space station’s unusual architecture — all interconnected hexagons and triangles; pointy and angular instead of smooth and sweeping like most Tri-Galactic Union star bases, since it had originally been a Reptassan station.  Carroway didn’t want to be here.  It was a bad sign for what her next assignment would be. Continue reading “Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 2: Belated Promotions”

Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 1: Premature Metamorphosis

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Voyage of the Wanderlust.  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.

“The words echoed in Kynnis’s mind, larger than any thought she’d ever had before. As if someone was speaking to her.”

Kynnis put four of her pudgy green hands against her face and wrapped another two around her nauseated middle.  She could feel the soft skin of her face wrinkling and cracking, preparing to split open.  It was too early.  Much too early.  She wasn’t supposed to go through her chrysalis phase for years yet, but she could feel it happening.  “I’m scared,” she said. Continue reading “Voyage of the Wanderlust – Chapter 1: Premature Metamorphosis”