Voyage of the wanderlust, p.23
Voyage of the Wanderlust, page 23
“I’m glad you’re bringing some cuttings from the Waykeeper’s trees along on our journey,” Korvax squeaked, disrupting the gravity of the moment and presumptuously coopting ownership of The Wanderlust’s journey with the carelessly—or carefully?—chosen word ‘our’. “I’m going to miss those forests! Now what are you bringing the cuttings along for again?”
“Scientific study,” Lt. Cmdr. Vossie said drily, sounding more like himself than he had since losing his implant. Perhaps he was starting to adjust. Captain Carroway certainly hoped so.
“Did it work?” Captain Carroway asked, turning to look at Ensign Diaz who was manning one of the engineer’s consoles on the bridge. “Can you check?” The Norwegian Forest cat was too hyped up to sit in her captain’s chair and instead, paced the length of the bridge while waiting on her answer.
“Lupinia is on the other side of several galaxies,” Ensign Diaz woofed sarcastically. “I can check just as soon as you can get us within scanning range of it. But I guarantee you: my calculations were correct. I wouldn’t play with the safety of my homeworld.”
“So you’re sure it worked?” the Norwegian Forest cat pressed, even though she logically understood that none of the officers on her ship could give her the reassurance she was looking for.
Lt. Lee announced from his post, “The Zakonraptor fleet is entirely gone.”
“That’s an exaggeration,” Ensign Diaz woofed, looking annoyed. “It’s not like we killed them or anything. They just fell through a space-time hole that dropped them far enough away from the Waykeeper, back in the direction of the Tetra Galaxy, that they’ll never catch up to the world-turtle again.”
“But we might run into them again,” Captain Carroway concluded grimly.
“It’s a possibility,” Ensign Diaz admitted, seeming mostly untroubled by the idea. “But Lupinia is safe.” There was a profound peace and contentment in the Xolo-Lupinian’s words as she spoke them, like she was able to stop worrying for the first time about something that had been weighing her down for years, something she cared more about than her own personal circumstances.
“Assuming it worked,” Captain Carroway grumbled, under her breath, not wanting to upset the canine’s contentment but also unable to leave the loose thread alone.
But then Lys inched her way forward, farther onto the bridge, and said in a sing-song tone, “It worked. I know it did.” And she did know. Because the Waykeeper knew. And although their connection was about to be severed forever, when Captain Carroway gave the order for The Wanderlust to fly away only moments from now, at this moment, the Ollallan’s mind was still tied to the giant turtle’s. And because of her mild telepathy, somehow, when Lys said that it had worked, Captain Carroway believed her. The caterpillar’s mind reached out and soothed the feline mind, all jangled up with guilt and uncertainties, smoothing those feelings out until Captain Carroway could let go of the fear that she’d wasted their only way home for nothing.
It hadn’t been for nothing. Lupinia was safely circling a different sun, away from Reptassan space, and easily defended. The Waykeeper was on its way, deeper into the space between galaxies.
There would be a lot of anger and hurt feelings aboard The Wanderlust in days to come from officers who would have chosen to take the quicker path home, leaving Lupinia in its untenable state, fought over by Reptassans and Anti-Ra. Officers who wouldn’t have cared if the Waykeeper were left to fend for itself. But Ensign Diaz was happy, and so was Lys. And Captain Carroway thought that the large canine’s contentment probably mattered more for the stability of her crew than any other individual. The Norwegian Forest cat felt confident that she could handle the rest of them.
It might take a long time, but she would get them home. And she would hold them together until they got there.
“Commander Chestnut,” Captain Carroway meowed to her first officer, “could you clear the bridge of off-duty officers?” It was time to clear the crowd. It was time to begin their journey in earnest.
The golden-mantled squirrel nodded smartly and then shepherded everyone off the bridge except for Ensign Diaz, Ensign Melbourne, and the captain herself.
The Norwegian Forest cat settled comfortably into her captain’s chair, letting herself relish the way that it sat at the center of the bridge, giving her an optimal view of the screen that still showed the beautiful world turtle, flying away from them already.
Speaking to the white tom cat at the pilot’s console Captain Carroway meowed, “It’s time to start covering some distance. Ensign Melbourne, please set a course for home.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this book, please leave a review—even a one-sentence review helps a lot.
Stay informed about new releases, discounts, and more via my newsletter, my Facebook page, or my home page at marylowd.com.
WHAT TO READ NEXT?
Want to know what happens next for Carroway, Chestnut, and the rest of the Wanderlust crew? Good news—I have two sequels planned! Alas, I still have to write them, so they won’t be released until 2025.
Meanwhile, check out Tri-Galactic Trek and Nexus Nine: A Tri-Galactic Trek Novel. Tri-Galactic Trek is an episodic novel, each chapter containing a short adventure aboard the starship Initiative. Nexus Nine is set on a space station and follows a feline officer with a computer chip full of lifetimes of memories in her head as she explores the mysterious origins of her past lives in a different galaxy.
Or if you love…
…Dogs, cats, otters, and space adventure? Check out Otters In Space and its three sequels, featuring a tabby cat fighting to save her family, a loyal dog goon-turned-ally, and a lovable crew of otter space pirates.
…The Alien franchise? Check out Hell Moon and its sequel, featuring a found family facing unspeakable monsters on a deserted moon.
…Classic space opera? Check out Entanglement Bound and its two sequels, featuring colorful aliens, an AI in a stolen robot body, a sentient swarm of bees, and a space whale who loves bunnies, all fighting to save the universe.
…Fantasy adventure? Check out The Snake’s Song and its two sequels, featuring a squirrel on a quest to find the lost celestial treasures, in a labyrinth deep underground.
Until next time,
Mary
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mary E. Lowd is a prolific science-fiction and furry writer in Oregon. She’s had more than 200 short stories and a dozen novels published, always with more on the way. Her work has won three Ursa Major Awards, ten Leo Literary Awards, and four Cóyotl Awards. She edited FurPlanet’s ROAR anthology series for five years, and she is now the editor and founder of the furry e-zine Zooscape. She lives in a crashed spaceship, disguised as a house and hidden behind a rose garden, with an extensive menagerie of animals, some real and some imaginary.
For more information:
marylowd.com
To read Mary’s short stories:
deepskyanchor.com
For news, updates, discounts, and deals:
marylowd.com/newsletter
ALSO BY MARY E. LOWD
Otters In Space
Otters In Space
Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly
Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending
Otters In Space 4: First Moustronaut
Otters In Space Spinoffs
In a Dog’s World
When A Cat Loves A Dog
Jove Deadly’s Lunar Detective Agency (with Garrett Marco)
The Entangled Universe
Entanglement Bound
The Entropy Fountain
Starwhal in Flight
Entangled Universe Spinoffs
You’re Cordially Invited to Crossroads Station
Welcome to Wespirtech
Beyond Wespirtech
Brunch at the All Alien Cafe
Xeno-Spectre
Hell Moon
The Ancient Egg
The Celestial Fragments (A Labyrinth of Souls Trilogy)
The Snake’s Song
The Bee’s Waltz
The Otter’s Wings
Tri-Galactic Trek
Tri-Galactic Trek
Nexus Nine: A Tri-Galactic Trek Novel
Voyage of the Wanderlust: A Tri-Galactic Trek Novel
Commander Annie and Other Adventures
The Necromouser and Other Magical Cats
The Opposite of Memory
Queen Hazel and Beloved Beverly
Some Words Burn Brightly: An Illuminated Collection of Poetry
Furry Fiction Is Everywhere (with Ian Madison Keller)
Mary E. Lowd, Voyage of the Wanderlust
