An entry for the #JustWriteIt prompt #OpenMonth (March 2018).
After an emergency in space, Dogboy is thrown into a mystery that hits close to home.
His friend, Brain, is wanted for sabotage and murder and the only clues to Brain's innocence come fro...
Jessica floated aimlessly. The Earth spun slowly before her. In truth, it was her that spun. She'd been on the ship's deck thinking over Johnny's marriage proposal when something or someone ran into her and bumped her overboard.
The life jacket, a requirement for anyone wishing to venture outside, would keep her safe but only for a moment. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she wondered if anyone knew she was gone. After all, in space, no one can hear you scream.
A sudden bright light drew her attention. Some form began to appear in the light. The figure she saw emerging from the light resembled a human-sized dog. He seemed to be wearing a fire hydrant on his back.
"Dogboy," Jessica sighed and then collapsed.
***
I cradled the young woman, Jessica, in my arms. SPOT, my artificial intelligent crime-fighting warning system (it used to be called WOOF until one of Brain's updates turned it into a psychotic killing machine that trapped us in Brain's lab—Brain had to "rework" the system afterwards), picked up the distress signal from Cruise X. Luckily, I was nearby testing the new spacefaring modifications Brain installed into the Dogfighter jet.
The space cruise company has had trouble of late. A meteor hit one ship nearly sinking the craft on their trip to Venus; a bout of food poisoning during the three hour tour to the gas giants caused a scandal; and then someone came aboard the asteroid belt "island hopping" cruise with the Medoling crybird flu—the crew and passengers had to be quarantined for a week. Now, someone went overboard.
I'm sure these accidents have nothing to do with Cruise X's stocks going down and CosmoTrip's, the competition, stocks going up. Pffft, yeah, and I got a space bridge on Neptune I can sell you.
I had to shield my eyes for a bit while I used my fire hydrant shaped jet pack to propel Jessica and me back to the Dogfighter. I'd accidently left the Brights on. (Hey! Space is dark!)
By the time we'd docked with the Cruise X shuttle ship, Jessica was starting to come around.
"Thank you, Dogboy," said the young man shaking my paw-hand vigorously. I about had to pry it free. I later discovered that this was the woman's soon-to-be husband.
My hand barely had a chance to recover before the captain began shaking my hand with the same vigor as the one-day groom.
"It has just been one problem after another." The captain looked like he might faint at any moment. A moment later, he took me aside while crew members helped to unhook Jessica from the orange life vest that'd kept her safe while drifting through space.
I could hear Brain congratulating himself via the Dog Whistle (our communications system—so named because only I could hear it). He'd been the one to invent the life jacket, which looked like a life vest used in sailing yet could keep a person safe from the vacuum of space. Brain also created the life support system that allowed this cruise ship to look and feel more like a cruise ship than a space shuttle. A shield protected the ship and allowed vacationers to move about the ship. But, as Jessica well knows, the shield doesn't stop you from falling off, hence the life jackets.
"It is a slight bug," Brain told me soon after unveiling the product.
It apparently didn't stop asteroids or space pirates either. When I pointed out this fact, Brian huffed and said, "Nobody is perfect."
The captain's worried voice brought me back to the present. "I didn't want to worry anyone, but security cameras picked this up." He tapped the Omni-Cuff attached to his ear. A video was sent to the heads-up-display in my sunglasses.
The security feed showed Jessica standing near the railing. Soon, a figure darted by. I paused the video to get a better look. The figure was dressed in an orange battle suit with black stripes. The suit came with green tinted lenses. But, I knew the person wearing the armor came with a tail complete with bladed tip. The suit made the person look like a large orange cat.
I inhaled sharply at the sight.
My old foe, the immortal assassin, Kit was back.
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