Pets in Space: Cats, Dogs, and Other Worldly Creatures

by S. E. Smith

  She was both old and evil. I felt her jerk at the word “old” and took pleasure it throwing it at her again and again.

  Might have been bad move, since she came back with lots of pissed.

  Die….die…die…

  We were going to die. All three of us. I tried to protect my dad and felt, I don’t know, as if he shifted me aside and stood in front of us…

  A hero, like my mom…

  I am so sorry, Emma…

  Not your fault…

  This darkness closing in was not an escape to a merciful release. It was thick and oily and malignant and so hot—it surged and sucked and licked at us, looking for and finding our weak spots. It raced around, digging in here and there and rising to break over us in a fiery wave. We cowered, clinging to each other and bracing for the end…

  I love you.

  I don’t know who said it, me, Mazan, or my dad. Maybe it came from all of us.

  In an odd counterpoint to the black slime, I thought I heard Dean Martin singing Fly Me to the Moon. That had to be my dad. Huge Dean fan. He always hummed that song when he was really focused…

  As one, we faced her. She could kill us, but she couldn’t break us—

  And then, from behind her, I thought I saw a wave of light. Charged like lightning, but crackling around bright points, rather than the more typical stabbing, jagged lines. It rushed at her, at us.

  This is going to be bad.

  No one disagreed with me.

  Not that anyone could.

  I closed my eyes. Didn’t matter.

  Light met dark.

  Even with my eyes closed, I saw it. Light shooting up like a brilliant wall. Dark rising to meet it.

  The impact was kind of like touching metal after crossing carpet.

  If I’d walked about a thousand miles of carpet, then touched a thousand metal bars.

  I flew backwards.

  Hit something.

  Pretty sure I died.

  I did not know it could hurt this much when you’re dead.

  For some reason, I’d expected better from the afterlife. That didn’t mean I wasn’t curious to see what it looked like so I opened my eyes. Big mistake. Who knew eyelids could hurt that bad? Made me want to cry, but my tear ducts were, like, no way. That will hurt even more.

  I winced involuntarily and it felt like all my cells cried out in protest and then were suddenly not silenced.

  A gray expanse, like the bulkhead of a spaceship, met my sore gaze. The unforgiving metal underneath my cringing back cells felt like a space ship, too. I blinked. That hurt bad enough to make me gasp—

  Wait a minute. I inhaled. Exhaled. That felt like breathing. The dead didn’t breathe, did they?

  Maybe I’m not dead. Maybe this is Mazan’s spaceship and not the afterlife.

  I considered this possibility, while studying as much as I could without moving more than my eyeballs—which didn’t like moving any more than the rest of me—and was forced to conclude that I was probably not dead. Was reserving judgment on whether that was the good news or the bad.

  My pained gaze found Peddrenth perched in the command chair. Peddrenth…looked like he was flying the ship. My dragon was flying the ship? That was some sassy implant they’d give him. Or Draze dragons were a species smart enough to fly a spaceship.

  It seemed kind of right. Dragons should fly, shouldn’t they? Well, good dragons. Iris, there at the end, it was almost as if she turned into a very bad dragon—

  Out the front screen of the ship, a planet hung in space. The moon? It was. Not the distant moon, seen from Earth. This was the moon up close and personal. A little bit of Earth was visible against one curve. Earthrise on the Moon.

  I opened my mouth to ask or say something, but all that came out was, “Ow.”

  Someone groaned next to me. No, not someone. My dad. In painful inches I turned my head his direction. He looked pretty hammered, and I think I saw little wisps of smoke coming off his head. I couldn’t be sure, but his eyebrows looked a bit crispy on the ends.

  The sight of the moon appeared to revive him. He struggled into a sitting position, managed to pull himself into the co-pilot’s chair. With a hand that visibly shook, he reached out, as if he needed to touch the moon to believe it. That he couldn’t was another indication we weren’t dead.

  “Hello,” Mazan said, his mouth close to my aching ear.

  I looked his way, not sure I believed what my ear was telling me. It hurt to smile, but I did it anyway. And touched his cheek with my own very unsteady hand. He grinned, then winced.

  “I do not believe there is a nerve in my body that does not hurt.”

  Despite this he managed to scramble up, then reached down to help me. I needed the help. Oh, yeah, everything hurt. Even the ends of my hair, which seemed to be smoking, too. I sank into an auxiliary station seat and blinked.

  Was it over or was this just a reprieve? Before I expended energy on rejoicing a possible happy ending or did any kissing, I wanted to know.

  Mazan kept hold of my hand as he sank into the seat next to mine. That hand was pretty much my only happy body part. My head felt oddly empty. Had Iris fried my brain?

  “Your father is very fond of the moon,” Mazan said, looking puzzled by this.

  “He’s been trying to get here for a long time,” I explained.

  Peddrenth turned, leaving one claw on the helm. I hope you do not mind?

  It seemed Peddrenth was of the “seek forgiveness rather than permission” type of dragon. Which was fine with me. I’d wanted to get to the moon, too.

  The edges of Mazan’s mouth twitched. “No. I do not mind.”

  My dad turned and looked at Mazan, then at Peddrenth, then at me. He looked like he wanted to ask, but couldn’t manage it.

  I remembered that feeling from…was it just yesterday? No—I looked at my watch—it was the day before yesterday. Today was my birthday. The birthday girl had lived. For now.

  I made a little gesture, which I quickly wished I hadn’t. “This is Peddrenth, dad.”

  Peddrenth moved his head and waved a paw. Pretty sure it wasn’t an act of submission since his beard flared black.

  “Didn’t you used to have—”

  “—a bearded dragon? Yes, I did. He left and then he came back.” But I wasn’t bitter.

  Yes, you are.

  Okay, yeah, I was. “Sorry. It’s not your fault.”

  My dad blinked. “Is he…talking?”

  “My dragon?” Dad kind of nodded. “He’s thinking. Telepathically. He has an implant.” I turned to Mazan. “Speaking of, what about the implants in our heads?”

  Mazan shifted around to his station and started tapping things. He stopped and spun slowly around to look at us. “According to the latest scans, both of your implants appear to be non-active.”

  I leaned over and took a look. “The circuitry has been fried.” I thought about the wave of light I’d seen. Or thought I’d seen. “What did it?”

  I could almost see the wheels turning inside my dad’s head.

  “The full moon,” he said and looked out the view screen. “If we passed through the Earth’s magnetotail…” He paused, considering.

  The magnetotail extends beyond the orbit of the moon, Peddrenth’s tone was musing. It can cause electrostatic discharges, particularly strong ones when the moon is full.

  I blinked. “Electrostatic discharge?” I asked. I looked at my dad, who shrugged, so I turned to Mazan. “Would that do it?”

  “They were constructed out of inferior materials, unlike Peddrenth’s,” Mazan said. “That is why I was reluctant to attempt removal when the power source was active and unstable.”

  “Did you think that an electrostatic discharge might destroy our implants?” I asked Peddrenth.

  Peddrenth regarded me with much solemnity. Your parental unit told me to fly you to the moon.

  I opened my mouth to press the issue, then decided not to. Whether he knew what he was doing or not, we�
�d been saved from the dragon by my dragon. Very cool.

  “We should be able to safely remove them from your brains now,” Mazan said.

  He sounded awfully cheerful for someone talking about digging around in my head. My dad looked as dubious as I felt.

  “Can you, um, beam them out?” I asked, tacking on a hopeful smile. I tried to remember if my years of Draze schooling had covered implant removal.

  Mazan tried not to smile. “It will only hurt a little.”

  I opened my mouth to protest and realized he was teasing me. Mazan was teasing me. The edges of my mouth curled up and a small chuckle slipped out. An actual laugh would hurt too much. But there was a nice lightness born of relief bubbling in the air around us.

  “It’s over.” My gaze connected with his. “Isn’t it?”

  We’d stopped the wedding. Kept Earth from blowing up. Defeated the Kruvox Opposer. Ridden to the moon. We had not died.

  Happy birthday to me.

  Mazan smiled. Peddrenth’s beard flared black, but in a happy way. He turned back to the controls.

  I recall a promise to take you to Mars…

  His claw wrapped around the helm control and moved it. I stole a look at Mazan. Caught him looking at me. His brows arched and he indicated the hatch. I looked at my dad. He was staring at the view screen, his jaw just a bit dropped, as the moon started to dwindle. I grinned and nodded.

  Mazan pulled me upright and yes it hurt, but this looked a lot like a happy ending and a happy beginning. There was still stuff to sort out, but for now…

  Mazan’s arms closed around me, his head bent, his lips finding mine…

  Third time was the charm, I thought a bit hazily, especially when it came to kisses…

  Also by Pauline Baird Jones

  Available in print, digital and audio.

  Newest Release!

  Pets in Space

  Science Fiction Romance/Paranormal

  Project Universe Series:

  The Key

  Girl Gone Nova

  Tangled in Time

  Steamrolled

  Kicking Ashe

  Open With Care (Christmas collection that includes, “Riding For Christmas” and “Up on the House Top”

  Specters in the Storm: A paranormal/steampunk/science fiction romance novella

  Out of Time (World War II Time Travel Romance)

  An Uneasy Future (A science fiction romance mystery series set in future New Orleans)

  Core Punch (1.0)

  Sucker Punch (2.0)

  One Two Punch: An Uneasy Future Bundle

  Short Story Collections

  Project Enterprise: The Short Stories

  Do Wah Diddy Delete

  Let’s Fall in Love

  Take a Chance on Me

  Romantic Suspense

  The Big Uneasy Series:

  Relatively Risky (1)

  Family Treed (1.5)

  Dead Spaces (2.0)

  The Big Uneasy Bundle

  Lonesome Lawmen Series:

  The Last Enemy

  Byte Me

  Missing You

  Lonesome Mama (Bonus short story)

  (The Lonesome Lawmen is also available as a digital bundle)

  Do Wah Diddy Die

  The Spy Who Kissed Me

  Perilously Fun Fiction Bundle (includes The Spy Who Kissed Me and Do Wah Diddy Die. Bonus: Do Wah Diddy Delete Short Story Collection)

  A Dangerous Dance

  About Pauline Baird Jones

  Pauline never liked reality, so she writes books. She likes to wander among the genres, rampaging like Godzilla, because she does love peril mixed in her romance. You can find out more about her books (and get a free story for subscribing to her newsletter) at: paulinebjones.com

  To find out more about Pauline or her books:

  @pauilnebjones

  AuthorPaulineBairdJones

  www.paulinebjones.com

  pauline@paulinebjones.com

  Spike by Alexis Glynn Latner

  About Spike

  Young Roboticist Ten Jaxdown has to deploy, and possibly sacrifice, the swarm of investigative robots that he has invented and cares about more than anything else in the star system. It may be the only hope for those depending on him and his robots to save them. Yet, even as frantic preparations for the unprecedented deep-space rescue mission are set in motion, it could all be threatened by sabotage.

  Anastasia Steed is an intrepid young mission designer. She steps forward with an idea that can improve the odds of the mission. Neither she nor Ten expect the assistance they receive from a very unusual pet. A pet that will bring together two alienated human beings who didn’t realize they needed each other. Can Ten and Anastasia discover who is behind the sabotage, save the mission, and discover what is evolving between them? With a little bit of unusual help, anything is possible.

  Spike

  The starship Aeon was huge, its interior intricate, and Ten Jaxdown had never been to the Ship's Meetingspace before. He memorized how to get there and found it unerringly.

  The Meetingspace was full of people all paying close attention to a small, blonde, animated person in their midst. She was saying in a clear, ringing voice, “—the most important mission you'll ever support. There are people to rescue.” A few murmurs rose. She cut them off. “They aren't human but they're people and they're in mortal danger. They saved human lives in Starcloud—mine being one—and they’re counting on us to come back for them. So they’re counting on all of you to design and build and test everything the mission needs to succeed!”

  Ten realized that she was Anastasia Steed, the youngest and bravest of the heroes of Starcloud.

  “There are too many problems delaying the mission and it's taking too damn many detours to solve those problems and that has to change!” She put her hands on her hips. “I want an end to excuses and I want it now!”

  Ever since he came out of cryostasis—cold suspended animation during the Ship’s long journey across the stars—he had felt numb inside. It was like being stuffed with gray cotton. Anastasia Steed’s vivid anger seemed to burn some of the cotton out. He watched, fascinated.

  “Systems integration—keep doing what you're doing, but don't fall off schedule again, and for God's own sake, run a full set of requirements matches at every stage. Get back to work!”

  A tight-knit group fled from the Meetingspace. They were all Ship people. Those who remained were divided between Ship people—of all skin colors and heights, wearing assorted flight suits or shorts and t-shirts—and Gotayelans, who were all brown-skinned, stocky, and dressed in color-coded coveralls. Anastasia Steed fairhandedly raked Gotayelan and Ship groups over the coals with the same amount of fiery heat. She dismissed them with exactly the same abruptness. She also dismissed an individual who was in charge of Timeline Synchronization with the pointed reminder to actually synchronize said timeline.

  The ceiling was high and laced with air ducts and electrical chases, leaving deep shadowed niches. Ten suddenly noticed some strange sparks of light in the shadowiest of the niches up there. He wondered what it could be. Something electrical, he guessed, but not a kind of electricity he recognized. Strangest of all, the sparks moved every time Anastasia Steed said something particularly emphatic. It was as though the sparks were cheering her on. He blinked.

  She said, “Assemblers. You've got quality control problems. What do you have to say about that, Tira?”

  A brown-haired woman in a green coverall answered. “The Assembler’s Guild does good work! The quality of our work is not a problem!”

  “Then find out what IS the problem, damn it all!”

  The sparks swirled.

  Anastasia Steed continued, “If any of the three Lodestar-class ships you're building don't hold together in Starcloud, some of us could be stranded in the armpit of space and eaten by the monsters that live there!”

  The sparks shivered.

  Tira protested, “Our welds and our glues never fail!
”

  “They've never been subjected to the g-forces in this mission plan either! You’ve got to troubleshoot your work and your materials, Tira. That's an order from Captain Zilka!”

  Tira’s Gotayelan accent became more pronounced. “It will take time not in schedule to shoot trouble like that!”

  “I know. I am going to comb the ranks of the Ship’s Risers for a technical consultant for you. If you refuse that help, and there’s a subsequent problem you could have prevented, the cost of all material eventually lost will be levied against your Guild! Go poll your Guild members, or however else you get a collective decision, read throws of dice on a table if that’s how you do it—but decide if you’re cooperating in a quality investigation or no!”

  The sparks swirled energetically.

  Tira and her group departed in a huff. Ten was left standing in the Hall by himself. That was when Anastasia Steed saw him. “And you are still here why?” she said dangerously.

  “I work in the Devices Lab. I was asked to hand-deliver something for you to give to Captain Zilka.”

  Taking the envelope from him, she calmed quickly. “OK. Who are you?”

  His spine stiffened with scarred old pride. “Ten Jaxdown.”

  She tilted her head to one side. “Did you take the name of where you lived on Earth for your new name on this side of the stars?”

  He nodded.

  “What was Jaxdown?”

  She didn’t know what Jaxdown had been.

  As far as he could tell, nobody in this unexpected future knew. It hadn't bothered him before now. He'd been too stuffed-with-cotton numb, not feeling anything. The doctors said emotional blunting was a side effect of the cryostasis. They also said it would wear off. Since his intellect was unimpaired, they recommended wait and see, or better yet, work and see. He'd done that. It hadn't made the cotton go away.