Novels by Miss Movin' On

Sweat streamed from beneath my feather adorned hair, from both the excruciating heat, and the nerves churning up my stomach. We'd been walking twenty minutes, struggling along the path Diver's drone had found for us when they showed up. The branches were thick and tangled, making for a consistent-if bumpy-road. But there was plenty of foliage to push our way through, foliage that whipped against faces and bare limbs and made it difficult to see. The only reason we knew they were there was because they had purposefully let us catch glimpses of them."Is it me, or are they trying to herd us?" Marla asked over our private comm channel. "They're getting really close on our right.""They know this jungle far better than we do," I said. "Maybe they're trying to help.""Or lead us to our doom," Christa grumbled.I sighed."Much as I hate to agree with Lil' Miss Sunshine over here," Diver said, as he shoved a hank of vines out of his way, "that is a distin

I stared out the small window in the side of the shuttle-uncomfortably named Fate Unknown-in utter fascination, just as I had during the takeoff on Mr. Spock. This time, however, it was a descent.Heat burned along the sides of the shuttle as it entered Psittaca's atmosphere. It licked up around us like a shell of flames, and corny though it might sound, in those moments I thought I knew what it felt like to be a newborn phoenix, peeking through the top layer of ashes to watch the last of the fire die away. A new life. My new life. The idea of rebirth, of leaving behind who and what I'd been, made my heart pound with fear and excitement both."Pretty stellar, eh?"I glanced at the seat next to me, where Diver sat. It was going to be just me and the Xeno-liaisons team going planetside first, but I'd asked Captain Chui for permission to take Diver with us. She'd raised her eyebrows at this apparently unusual request."Well," I'd said, banging my arms lightl

I thought my next few weeks would be spent mostly on studying the Psittacans and little else. Boy, I'd rarely been more wrong in my life.Once Magellan reported my inability to use the grav-tubes to Captain Chui, any spare time I had disappeared. First the captain sent me to the ship's doctor, Alena Marsten. Dr. Marsten checked me over thoroughly; in the end, she agreed with Captain Chui's assessment that I needed three nutrient-bars a day, and added a multi-vitamin to the mix. She also recommended time with the ship's physical therapist to help me work on my strength.So while I did spend many hours working, I also spent an hour each morning, and one each afternoon, working with a retired Marine sergeant who'd taken up physical therapy later in life. Sarge-that was the only name she gave me to call her-stood shorter than me, and was easily twice my width, she was so heavily muscled. She spoke in a staccato bark and kind of scared the shit out of me at first. But despi

Shan Fung sighed as the door slid open without her permission. She knew who it was, of course. She had scheduled his meeting for this hour and, as usual, he had arrived on the dot. I suppose if nothing else, he's never late. She briefly considered pulling her sidearm on him-as she would have with most of her soldiers, to remind them that her lenience had limits-but he was the one member of her crew who might just be dangerous enough to give her a run for her money."You rang, O' Captain, My Captain?" he said, putting on a mockery of oozing salesman charm as he stepped through the door.She pursed her lips; he was also one of the rare members of her crew who could test her composure. "Good afternoon, Mr. Diver."He fell into an at ease position-even the civvies on her ship learned basic military stances and how to salute properly-and grinned at her. She was not unaware that he was good-looking, or that he was a genius; but he was also a pain in the ass, and for t

Argh, I'm gonna be late again! Which way...damn it! It was only my third day aboard the Carpathia and I'd already discovered-the hard, humiliating way-that I was in no shape to navigate the grav-tubes. So I went everywhere on foot and spent most of my time lost in the ship's gleaming corridors. So far I'd been late for every meeting with the Xeno-liaisons team. Sure, I could've asked Carpathia herself for directions, but I didn't want to bother her. Being a starship had to be time-consuming. "Lost again, Ms. Corelel?" I managed to clamp my teeth around my first impulsive response-are you stalking me or something?-and turned to face First Officer Magellan. Like most Kowari, Magellan towered over me, standing, I figured, around two meters twenty-five, give or take just a little. Sometimes humans referred to Kowari as Viking kangaroos, and I guess I could kinda see why, though I didn't approve of the term myself. Their bodies were somewhat kangaroo-like

Music drifted out from R&D as the door slid open. I tilted my head to listen; the guitar had a sound unlike today's synths, so I thought it might be Ancient Earth music. R&D was a singular room split up into six stations, with the largest one taking up a fair bit of space against the right-hand wall. There was also all kinds of machinery I didn't recognize, aside from the 3D printer. Most of the work stations had two people at them, working in what seemed like relative harmony; a bit of chatter here, a little teasing there. Only the biggest work station was occupied by a single individual, and since it looked vaguely like the wreckage of a fire bombing, I figured the man there had to be Diver. He had his back to me, fiddling with something on the table and swaying his hips to the music-which, I noticed, came from a podcaster at his station. I approached quietly, fascinated by the way the light glinted bronze in his shaggy, fawn-colored curls. And by the fact

Have you ever had to climb a rope ladder up the side of a ship that's bobbing in the sea? Well, as it turns out, they don't like to stay put. In fact, there is a fair bit of swaying to and fro. It isn't comforting. Then, when you have finally reached the top and are trying to figure out how in the world to climb over the gunwale without falling down into the churning water far below, someone grabs you from above and hauls you bodily, perhaps screaming a bit, onto the deck. Well, at least that's what happened to me. I flatly deny the screaming, however.Standing on the deck, I found, wasn't much of an improvement, as I had not sailed anything larger than a toy boat in the tub when I was but a wee lad. This was nothing like I remembered. The deck just insisted on constantly moving. Up and down, and down and up. I also firmly believe that there was some side to side as well, but I was assured that wasn't the case. Thankfully, focusing on the horizon seemed to preve

Have you ever had to climb a rope ladder up the side of a ship that's bobbing in the sea? Well, as it turns out, they don't like to stay put. In fact, there is a fair bit of swaying to and fro. It isn't comforting. Then, when you have finally reached the top and are trying to figure out how in the world to climb over the gunwale without falling down into the churning water far below, someone grabs you from above and hauls you bodily, perhaps screaming a bit, onto the deck. Well, at least that's what happened to me. I flatly deny the screaming, however.Standing on the deck, I found, wasn't much of an improvement, as I had not sailed anything larger than a toy boat in the tub when I was but a wee lad. This was nothing like I remembered. The deck just insisted on constantly moving. Up and down, and down and up. I also firmly believe that there was some side to side as well, but I was assured that wasn't the case. Thankfully, focusing on the horizon seemed to preve

After thinking more about my approaching fate, I decided that perhaps I was destined for slavery instead. My mind began to race thinking of the horrors that awaited me. Long days of toiling in the hot sun, being treated like worthless property, beatings, and all of it would very likely have to be endured without the proper tea times! Truly barbaric.Another glance at, not to mention a sniff of, my captors told me immediately that they were certainly capable of running in those circles. I could see them going to slaver socials. Attending whipping classes to brush up on their form. Frightful. Simply frightful.Yes, I decided, most definitely it was slavery in my future. No doubt I'd be sold at auction and shipped off to an island somewhere to work on a plantation. Well, I'd keep a stiff upper lip about it. Bide my time. Form close relationships with the other slaves. Perhaps even gain the trust of the master and his cronies. Then, one day, whe

That sound, of course, had been the momentarily forgotten door, as a quick glance behind me revealed. It was now quite closed, cutting me off from my home.That should have stirred up terror in my heart, or at least a nagging uneasiness. I thought carefully for a moment, as this called for the greatest of caution and the deepest of introspection. After all, what if I was unable to open that door and go back to everything I knew?There was the university, courses to teach, papers to mark, my colleagues with which to rub tweed shoulders.And what about Missy, my cat, who occasionally came home and would sometimes, when in an odd mood, even allow me to pet her once or twice?I might never see any of them again! Truly sobering.What must I do? How best to proceed?I shucked my ducky slippers and ran barefoot down the grassy slopes, whooping like a schoolboy after

You see, the rational, tidily ordered, scientific mind can accept and categorize a great deal. Perhaps even be flexible and play along a bit when things don't quite square up with one's hypothesis. But, when the universe goes about distributing strange doors willy-nilly and playing fast and loose with the laws of science, one's mind must simply say, "No thank you!" Refuse to participate, as it were. Or, as some might put it, faint dead away.Luckily, I had fallen onto the bed and when I came to again, that is precisely where I found myself. No worse for wear, though my mind, which had experienced the shock of its life, begged to differ. Despite that, I wiped the drool from my cheek and lifted my head for another look.Oh dear, there it was again, outlined by the doorframe, a view of a clear blue sky above a green, rolling hillside. That had been it. The final bit that my mind couldn't wrestle with, because as every good Englishman knows, cle

What would you do if you woke up to the sudden realization that there was a door in your room?Now, please don't insult my intelligence, as I don't mean the sort of door you find in a wall. A nice, ordinary, well-behaved door. No, this one wasn't ordinary at all. This was the sort of door that you find--or rather, don't find--standing upright in the middle of your floor. Attached to nothing, mind you. What does one do with a door like that?Well, let me tell you what I did. I did what any self-respecting scientist would do: I pulled the covers up near my chin and gave it a good stare. In a word, or perhaps two, I boggled.It was clearly a door. No question. I had seen plenty of doors before, and this was definitely one of them. It was the usual size and shape, made of wood, and had been painted white. However, the cracked and flaking paint indicated that it hadn't been painted in quite some time.In