OiS1 – Deep Sky Anchor

Otters In Space – Chapter 17: Kipper Chooses Her Home

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1 or return to the previous chapter.

“Alistair sounded like he was going to explain how he’d landed in jail in the first place, but instead ended up grumbling, “Stupid outdated catnip laws.”

Trugger was glad to hear upon Kipper’s return that he didn’t have to say goodbye. He gave Kipper a big bear hug. He’d given her hugs before, but they’d all been in an oxo-agua atmosphere which simply isn’t the same. So, this was Kipper’s first time really being engulfed by the soft but incredibly dense pelt of an otter. The warmth was there under oxo-agua, but none of the fuzziness, and fuzzy just doesn’t feel the same when wet.

“I knew you were a space pirate at heart,” Trugger told her. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 17: Kipper Chooses Her Home”

Otters In Space – Chapter 16: Kipper in a Different World

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“Then she looked deep in her heart, where she expected to find Siamhalla, the cat utopia she’d sought for so long. But it wasn’t there. She’d found utopia, and it wasn’t for her.”

Boris was left in charge on the bridge, and Captain Cod asked Jenny to come along as a second pair of otterly eyes. If Josh and Elle hadn’t seemed so cold toward Captain Cod, Kipper would have asked Trugger to join them too. But, if it got awkward, she didn’t want to watch Trugger, the best friend she had among the otters, be treated cruelly. Or, perhaps worse, watch him watching these cats be cruel or cutting to his captain. He was so loyal; he would have to leap to Captain Cod’s defense. She especially didn’t want to see that. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 16: Kipper in a Different World”

Otters In Space – Chapter 15: Kipper Comes to Siamhalla

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“It takes a particularly quirky and off-kilter group of otters to jump at the chance to escort a broke alley cat across space on her wild goose chase.”

Beating the Manta Ray to Mars was only the first step of Captain Cod’s rapidly unfolding plan. The next stage involved doctoring the message they’d intercepted from the Manta Ray. They ran the voice through a simulator and used the simulation program to generate a new message. The new message said, “Approaching Mars orbit.”

Sure enough, within a few minutes, a signal was broadcast from the ground in response. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 15: Kipper Comes to Siamhalla”

Otters In Space – Chapter 14: Kipper Dreams of Mars

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“In Kipper’s dreams, the Jolly Barracuda landed on Mars to find Petra already there, dancing with Violet and every cat Kipper had ever seen abused or put down by a dog in her life.”

The evening and night both passed slowly. At dinner, the crew of the Jolly Barracuda talked about the various mining expeditions or scientific surveys of Mars they’d either been on or known members of. As far as Kipper could tell, the only otter onboard to have actually put paw to soil on Mars was Boris. Well, space-suited paw. Nonetheless, he was clearly proud of the distinction and told the story of his visit in great detail. The other otters seemed impressed. Kipper wanted to slug him. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 14: Kipper Dreams of Mars”

Otters In Space – Chapter 13: Kipper Flying Through Space

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“How high is the water going to rise?” she asked. The otter she asked simply laughed and grinned before hurrying on his way.

Captain Cod set Kipper up with her own bunk in the barracks and personally pinned one of the golden sailing ship lapel pins on her tunic. It made her feel very official. Officially an honorary otter.

There were also some electronic forms; Trugger helped her fill them out. As far as she could tell, she was registering to pay taxes on the modest salary Captain Cod afforded her. She wondered if there was any way for the dogs down on Earth to claim a portion too. She hoped not. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 13: Kipper Flying Through Space”

Otters In Space – Chapter 12: Kipper Joins the Crew

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“It didn’t matter to Kipper that Captain Cod’s plan was crazy. He was offering to subsidize the next portion of her trip — a portion she had thought unattainable at any price.”

Kipper couldn’t remember falling asleep, but she could tell she had just woken up. She was stretched out on a thin but cushy mattress, a bottom bunk in a room full of bunks. There were otters occupying some of the other beds, but none of them had noticed her yet. Well, she was sure they knew she was there. But none of them had noticed she was awake. She didn’t want them to. She wasn’t ready to deal with a room full of strange otters yet. She had too much to deal with inside of herself. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 12: Kipper Joins the Crew”

Otters In Space – Chapter 11: Kipper and the Manta Ray

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“…she was stranded up here in space, and she wasn’t about to point out the numerous flaws with the idea of a cat spy working among a population composed ninety-five percent of otters if the captain couldn’t work them out for himself.”

Trailing Luce would have been easier for Kipper if bulldogs weren’t so much shorter than otters. Between Luce’s short, boxy shape and Kipper’s own limited height, Kipper felt constantly on the edge of losing Luce in the crowd of irritatingly tall otters. Of course, on the flipside, the large (albeit generally lanky) stature of all the space station natives kept Kipper from having to duck and weave too much to stay safely obscured from Luce’s view. “Too much” being a relative term. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 11: Kipper and the Manta Ray”

Otters In Space – Chapter 10: Kipper in the Red Quarter

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“Apparently, the red quarter otters had a long backlog of issues with Earth law (possibly law in general), dog enforcers (probably law enforcers in general), and Luce, specifically.”

As the bill was already settled, Kipper had herself dressed and back out on the main drag in no time. She caught herself looking at the otters around her, trying to catch their reaction to her in their eyes. She wove between them, staying as far away from the artificial river as she could manage. She didn’t want to get tripped or pushed into the water again. The otters, by and large, gave her a respectful amount of space. Perhaps they understood what she was doing. She imagined herself walking in the paw steps of all the other cats who had come to this station and who carefully edged their way away from the water. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 10: Kipper in the Red Quarter”

Otters In Space – Chapter 9: A Whole New Kipper

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“Trugger works on a cargo ship, Miss Feline. He thinks he’s a pirate. The whole ship’s worth of them think they’re pirates.”

Kipper folded her tunic, trousers, and scramball jersey into her little purple duffle and stowed it beside Maury’s desk. She wrapped the white sheet around her, under her arms, and pushed the pink curtain out of her way. Maury was arranging the tools of his trade on the work table beside the closest reclining chair. When he noticed her, he patted on the chair’s Naugahyde seat, inviting her to take her place there. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 9: A Whole New Kipper”

Otters In Space – Chapter 8: Kipper on the Deep Sky Anchor

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“The river in the sky was a real river, running through the middle of the broad corridor that was the outer ring of Deep Sky Anchor.”

The door opened, spilling space station light into the hold. Kipper could hardly wait to set paw on the light-kissed ground. The closer she got to otter space, the more buzzed she got. She wanted to get out there and see what Deep Sky Anchor was really like. She wanted to join the otters, swimming in their “rivers in the sky.” Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 8: Kipper on the Deep Sky Anchor”