Tag: otter

Jumping Jellyfish and Singing Salmon

by Mary E. Lowd

A Deep Sky Anchor Original, April 2023

“…if Trugger could summon fish and birds with his words and Jenny could control the movement of water with her mind… what could Kipper do? Did she have any magical powers in this strange, impossible land?”

Kipper placed her gray tabby paws on the metal orb.  It felt smooth and cool against her paw pads.  Jenny was explaining everything that she and the other otter scientists had learned about this particular, mysterious relic that they’d found in one of the deepest, most thoroughly locked and booby-trapped rooms in the ancient octopus base on Europa.  Trugger sounded fascinated.  But all Kipper wanted to do was touch it.  She felt compelled, perhaps by feline curiosity.  Perhaps by something intrinsic, something sinister about the orb.

“What are you doing?” Jenny asked, grabbing Kipper’s arm with a webbed paw.  “We don’t know if it’s safe!” Continue reading “Jumping Jellyfish and Singing Salmon”

Skin of Reflection

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Tri-Galactic Trek, November 2021

“At home on Ursa Minuet, Grawf had been a commander, but in the Tri-Galactic Navy exchange program, she was an ensign.”

Grawf awoke from her long sleep, yawned widely, and lumbered out of her cot and over to the window.  Her Ursine reflection hovered ghost-like over the black field of space, a bulky, brown-furred bear in plaid pajamas, dotted by pinpricks of starlight.  She wondered where the starship Initiative had flown to, what wondrous places had been explored without her, during her hibernation. Continue reading “Skin of Reflection”

The Otter’s Mermaid

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Furry Trash, December 2018

“He wanted Angelica always by his side, and that meant she would need to walk on land. Arlow would build his mermaid legs.”

The air turned salty in Arlow’s whiskers as he pedaled his watercycle out of the shade and protection of the thick rainforest trees.  He squinted down the river, but he couldn’t see the ocean yet.  The river curved around rolling grass knolls and disappeared behind a thicket of coastal brush.  Arlow pedaled harder with all four paws and felt the cool water slip even faster around his body, pressing his clothes against his fur. Continue reading “The Otter’s Mermaid”

Sandbeard the Pirate Otter

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published by Furvana, June 2019

“Then paw to pedal, pedal to metal, her trawler screeched silently away through the vacuum of space, crenulated seashell sailing along behind it.”

Sandbeard the pirate otter, fiercest of the fierce, fuzziest of the fuzzy, and the best bewhiskered of all sea otters, steered her stolen space-trawler into the curving gravity well of a small oceanic moon.  The lunar ocean was beautiful beneath her trawler — purple and choppy, swelling with swirling water, but toxic as a scorpionfish.  Nice to look at; useless for swimming.  But Sandbeard wasn’t here for a vacation; she was a pirate, and she was ready to pillage and plunder. Continue reading “Sandbeard the Pirate Otter”

The Best and Worst of Worlds

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Dogs of War, January 2017

“Cats loved conquest; dogs needed adventure. But Cetazed otteroids were happy splashing about and playing.”

Five officers of the Tri-Galactic Navy and one exchange officer from the planet Cetazed teleported down to a clearing on Planet 328’s surface.  The cats and dogs of the Tri-Galactic Navy were good people, and Consul Eliana Tor didn’t regret leaving her homeworld to become an exchange officer.  Not exactly.  But she missed the flavor of the sunlight on Cetazed, and not only did her empathic abilities make her a fish out of water around these cats and dogs with their non-empathic minds, but they let her read the cats’ and dogs’ emotions — especially their feelings about her — constantly. Continue reading “The Best and Worst of Worlds”