Refraction
They were almost like serene statues in an icy hall. Like remnants of open-aired, Northern poetry (the kind too frozen to feel). How they spoke in hushed, proper tones, and ... " ... you are staring." "Mm?" "You are staring." Ollie...
I've Got Your Tail
Audrey took a ragged breath. It hadn't been so hard. Just a few words, a few ... glances. A few minutes. And all the tension, all the waiting, all the worry ... ... just melted. Melted. Melted like a hot knife through butter. Or...
Under Electric Moon
Luminous slid smoothly through its orbit. Above this world with purple seas. Lavender, orchid-colored seas. And skies to match. The ship, a week out of dry-dock, was sleeker in the front. Stouter toward the back. The front reaching a blunted point,...
1.8 - A Few Little Repairs
"What happened?" "We were hit by something." "Damage?" "Small hull breach." Seldovia's black-furred paws flew over the controls. The shudder hadn't been too violent, but she'd definitely felt it. "A few decks down, near the central core." A...
Long Jump
He found a small, square table in the corner, near the windows, bobtail flicker-flicking as he took a quiet seat. Sorting his silverware and looking around for a moment. Before glancing back down. To his food. He had seen some of the rodents saying...
Egg-Laying Mammals
"Um ... spanner." "Spanner?" "The thing with the forked end." The echidna squinted, fishing about the tool-kit. "Ah." She blinked, picked it up ... ... and handed it to Bell-Bell. The doe on her back, half her body inside a power...
Empty Nest
"I'm ... I'm having trouble moving," was the soft, squeaky sound. Unmistakably a mouse's tone. Accompanied by static, interspersed with patches of silence. The sound of a voice being piped through a tiny comm-system. "These boots are heavy." A...
Mirror Image
Sim backed away slowly, bumping into the wall. He swallowed. Staring back at him was a replica. A doppelganger. A true mirror image of himself. Sim took a breath, whispering, "You're ... you're me." The other jaguar nodded. "But ......
The Ivory Ice
"You're of the snow?" Assumpta tilted her head. Squinted her feline eyes, which were golden. Which seemed to visibly purr. "Yes." "You're a predator," said the snow rabbit. Stating it as fact. His fur white and soft. The same color as the...
Ice-Blue Rendezvous
The light in the hall was icy-blue. That pale kind of color. Crystalline. Clear. Slightly shaded. And the snow rabbit padded through it. Leaving foot-paw prints on the floor, which was covered with a very thin film of snow. For all the windows in this...
No Hiding Place
The sound of a (very) dim neon light. Nothing else ... but his ragged breathing. A small creek of blood ran from an ear ... his ear. Right ear. A sad sniff ... a weak sniff-twitch. His paws and foot-paws ... bound. By a wiry rope that nearly...
Mice in the Milk
"Melancholy." "What?" "You seem to be trapped in it," Miss Underwood told him. She had some kind of spark in her eyes, some kind of delight. Some kind of glow. And she spoke so articulately. Miles shrugged his furry shoulders, whiskers...