Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 16: 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.

…the computer in Jenny’s helmet translated the sound, speaking in a melodic but artificial otter voice: “Yes.” A moment later, the computer added, “There is an eighty percent chance of inaccuracy. Other possible translations include: no.”

The cockpit of Brighton’s Destiny popped open with a hiss like a tin can of sparkling clam juice.  Jenny overbalanced and tumbled out of the hatch, tangling herself in feathered limbs on her way down to plop on the damp silver sand.

The wet sand smeared across the faceplate of Jenny’s helmet, obscuring her view of the raptor fledglings as they righted her and began manhandling her spacesuit-clad limbs, moving her around like a poseable doll.  Their screeches and chirrups terrified Jenny at first — they sounded like they were screaming at her.  But as they jostled her around, examining their new toy from every angle, Jenny pulled herself together enough to remember that the computer in her helmet had some basic sound processing and AI algorithms.  Captain Cod had installed them in all the spacesuits, thinking they might be useful for spy activities.  They hadn’t been.  But it might be able to analyze the raptor speech and develop a translation — at least, if it listened to them long enough. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 16: Jenny”

The Leaper and the Doctor

The two best long-running time travel shows are Doctor Who and Quantum Leap.

Quantum Leap is about a character who is profoundly empathetic; he cares truly and deeply about every person who crosses his path and devotes himself to helping their lives be better, helping them achieve their best. He has to. Or he doesn’t leap. Structurally, he must be endlessly empathetic, caring, and immediately, constantly available. He never gets to say when something happens or who he engages with. His situations are chosen for him by circumstance, and he must accept and deal with circumstance as it comes to him. Continue reading “The Leaper and the Doctor”

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 15: 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.

“For a moment, Jenny thought she was looking at Earth — her home world, flashing before her eyes as she died. But no, this world was really here inside the heart of Jupiter. A planet within a planet.”

Jenny had no hope.  Only a fluttery, heart-pounding feeling in her chest that alternated between manic exhilaration and bleakest panic.  She didn’t want to die panicking.  So she clung hard to the feeling of excitement:  she was seeing things no otter had ever seen before!

…granted… mostly those things just looked like flat orange mist blocking the window, darkening to a dull brown as her ship fell farther and farther into the crushing atmosphere… Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 15: Jenny”

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 14: 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.

“The octopi might be strong, but their flesh was soft. She could have filled that round room with a cloud of blood before they would have — inevitably — pulled off her breathing mask. In truth, a physical fight could never go well for a cat this far under the ocean.”

Kipper’s terror threatened to swallow her whole, but that was all it could do — threaten.  She steadied her breathing, painfully aware of the limited oxygen in the tank on her back — several hour’s worth, but not enough for a lengthy incarceration in an octopus prison.

As she watched the octopi around her through her face mask, Kipper realized that they were scared too.  Their tentacles were pale; their golden eyes wide.  They were as much afraid of the coming raptor attack as she was.  Actually…  Much more. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 14: Kipper”

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 13: 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.

“As they grew closer, the roiling orange took on depth and texture. An entire alien landscape was rising to meet them in shades and swirls of cinnamon, peach, tangerine, and apricot.”

The red dots on the viewscreen began to converge.  Each dot represented a raptor vessel headed straight for them and ready to end their lives.  Or worse.  Suddenly, the metal hull of Brighton’s Destiny felt paper thin to Jenny.

Ordol’s tentacles, sheathed in their clingy, transparent spacesuit, wrapped tightly around Jenny’s shoulders, trembling violently.

“I can’t pilot this ship without you!” Jenny signed, between tugging at the tentacles that were now crushing her shoulders in a way that she was sure would strangle her if her neck weren’t protected by a rigid space helmet.  “And I definitely can’t pilot this ship if you crush me with your freakishly strong arms!  LET GO!” Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 13: Jenny”

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 12: 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.

“For millions of years,” the blue-eyed octopus signed, “we’ve hidden here under the seas on this tiny planet, exiled from our rightful home in the stars by the foolish, damnable, unutterable crimes of our ancestral siblings inside Jupiter. Until now. Until you revealed us.”

The mysterious machinations of the octopus government in Choir’s Deep kept Kipper and the otters on the Diving Canary waiting for nearly two days.  Kipper did a lot more reading.  Trugger found a deck of tarot cards that some previous occupant of the submarine had left behind and invented a card game that was a cross between tarot and poker.

Trugger, Captain Cod, Chauncy, and Pearl took turns laying out cards to tell each other’s fortunes, betting on them, trading them, and mixing them up, all while laughing a lot.  Kipper declined to play, feeling like she’d already bet too much on her fortune. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 12: Kipper”

Welcome to Wespirtech: 2nd Edition

A book twenty years in the making…

Back in 2003, Mary E. Lowd began writing short stories set in the Entangled Universe, many of them centered on an elite science institute on a desolate moon — WESPIRTECH!

A decade later, a bunch of the Wespirtech stories were collected together in Welcome to Wespirtech, but the story told by that collection was always incomplete.  Two of the most important stories about Wespirtech — “Breathing the Air at Wespirtech” and “Lunar Cavity” — hadn’t been written yet. Continue reading “Welcome to Wespirtech: 2nd Edition”