Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    From $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Labrador Lieutenant: Chronicles of Tri-Galactic Trek: Tri-Galactic Trek
    Labrador Lieutenant: Chronicles of Tri-Galactic Trek: Tri-Galactic Trek
    Labrador Lieutenant: Chronicles of Tri-Galactic Trek: Tri-Galactic Trek
    Ebook83 pages1 hour

    Labrador Lieutenant: Chronicles of Tri-Galactic Trek: Tri-Galactic Trek

    By Mary E. Lowd

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Meet Lieutenant Natalie Vonn. She's the chief security officer on the starship Initiative and a very good dog, but that doesn't stop things from going wrong.

    Join her on two exciting, danger-filled missions! First, explore an alien jungle filled with savage gerbils and ruled by an ancient, arcane world-computer in "The Arsenal of Obsolescence."

    Then wrestle with the nature of identity itself in "Crystal Fusion." While studying a geode asteroid, a teleporter accident blends the canine security officer with the ship's engineer — an orange tabby cat! — truly giving her the chance to go…


    ...where no dog has gone before!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMary E. Lowd
    Release dateSep 8, 2024
    ISBN9798227366665
    Labrador Lieutenant: Chronicles of Tri-Galactic Trek: Tri-Galactic Trek
    Read preview

    Read more from Mary E. Lowd

    Related to Labrador Lieutenant

    Related ebooks

    Science Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related categories

    Reviews for Labrador Lieutenant

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Labrador Lieutenant - Mary E. Lowd

      PART I

      THE ARSENAL OF OBSOLESCENCE

      Lieutenant Vonn crashed through the undergrowth of the wild alien rainforest. The uplifted yellow Labrador felt like the branches were grabbing at her, tearing at her Tri-Galactic Navy uniform. She hated this planet. Usually, she liked planets. Ground missions were her favorite—getting off the stuffy, artificial halls of the starship Initiative, and setting paw to dirt. She lived for that stuff—fresh air, walking about in the sunshine! But right now, all she could think about was Commander Wilker and Consul Tor, stuck in a hole in the ground—a deep, dark ditch; a trap lined with primitive pointed sticks that kept her from climbing safely down after them.

      The uplifted collie and otteroid alien had fallen, and possibly hurt themselves. Vonn couldn’t tell without falling into the trap as well. So, instead, Lt. Vonn had been running through the forest, crashing through underbrush that squeaked strangely at the approach of her paws, trying to get away from the purple storm clouds blocking the signal from her comm-pin. She needed to contact the ship; she needed to get her whole team teleported out of here.

      Stop! cried a haunting voice. A holographic projection flickered into existence between the trees up ahead. The projected figure wore an unfamiliar uniform over its barrel-chested body. It had small ears and a long, nearly prehensile nose, covered in very thin gray fur.

      Lieutenant Vonn stopped, dead still, in her tracks. Where was the projection coming from? Why was it here? This planet was supposed to be deserted—scans had shown that a civilization had existed here long ago, but their buildings were old and crumbling. No signs of intelligent life.

      Please! The holographic alien creature looked a little like a tapir. I need your help!

      Lt. Vonn’s eyes widened. Why did a holographic projection need her help?

      I’ve been here so long... so long... completely alone...

      Lt. Vonn tilted her head, ears perking. Are you... a recording? she asked. Or... an AI?

      I am... everything.

      Everything? Lt. Vonn felt her hackles raise. This holographic projection was creeping her out. And it was distracting her from helping her friends. Worse, if the AI talking to her was really everything, then it was responsible for trapping them.

      All the computers, all the automated systems... The tapir’s voice grew hollow and haunted. The subway trains, the air traffic control... Every toaster, every microwave, even the refrigerators. I can control them all. My consciousness... drifts through all of them.

      You’re an AI that ties together every part of this dead world? Maybe the tapir wasn’t responsible for trapping Cmdr. Wilker and Consul Tor. A primitive pit lined with sharp sticks didn’t seem like its area of expertise.

      The holographic tapir laughed, bitterly. Dead. Yes. I suppose that’s what an organic lifeform would call a world inhabited by only... me. I am so very... alone.

      But if the AI wasn’t responsible for the trap that had captured the rest of Lt. Vonn’s ground team, who was?

      Cautiously, reluctantly, Lt. Vonn asked the tapir, You said you needed my help... what for?

      Turn me off. The tapir curled its long nose into a fist and turned its face away. Holographic tears glinted in its holographic eyes. I can’t stand the loneliness anymore.

      Lt. Vonn didn’t know how she felt about an artificial intelligence with the scale of an entire world for its brain asking her to help it commit suicide. But then, maybe, it would be more like a long sleep... Maybe there was a society in the Tri-Galactic Union that would like a new world to expand to, already filled with super smart tech and pre-built cities, and they could wake the world AI back up when they got here.

      The yellow Labrador almost woofed the idea at the tapir.

      But at the last moment, she held her tongue. She didn’t want to get its hopes up. She didn’t know if she could actually deliver a whole society that would want to live peacefully, symbiotically with a world AI, without gutting it and laying in their own compu-tech as a replacement.

      Instead, Lt. Vonn said, Can you help me first? My friends... they’re trapped in a stick-lined ditch back there. She gestured with a paw over her shoulder, back towards the direction she’d been tearing through the woods. It’s such a simple trap. I can hardly believe it worked, and I’m ashamed that I haven’t been able to help them. But the storm clouds are blocking communication with my ship in orbit. She shook her head, flopping her ears. She was the security officer on this mission. And so far she had failed horribly. The expression on her face would have been solemn except for those goofy, floppy ears. Primitive, she muttered grimly, but effective.

      I can send drones, loaded with tools and climbing supplies, the tapir said.

      Really? Vonn’s floppy ears perked in delight.

      My cities have warehouses full of trade goods with simple robots who can load the supplies into the drones. It is nothing to me. Show me where to send them.

      Lt. Vonn forged back through the forest, following the trail of broken underbrush she’d left on her charge before. The strange squeaking at her feet returned, but she couldn’t tell if it came from a type of plant, the texture of the ground, or something associated with the holographic tapir.

      The tapir flickered, disappearing from a spot ten feet behind the yellow Labrador only to reappear between the trees ten feet ahead. In this manner, the hologram followed Lt. Vonn until she was only about twenty feet from the trap.

      I can follow you no further this way, the tapir called out. "You’re entering a dead zone for my holographic emitters. But I can track your location and send the drones to you. When your friends are saved, please return, and I can tell you how to turn

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 5