The Great Cat Rebellion Read online

  Chapter 8 – The humans retreat, heading back down the hill. After consultations with Holly, and reluctantly, they go after the ‘cats’ food source, the herd of cattle in a valley beyond, stealing the herd and taking it farther to the west.

  The ‘cats are outraged and go after them, en masse. A herd of ‘cats.

  A race and some blood, but Braden won’t fight the ‘cats. The ‘cats don’t want to fight either when they think about it. They sit down around a big fire and butcher one of the cattle.

  Chapter 9 -

  Cygnus Rising

  Bonus Content (First Chapter)

  Cygnus Space Opera – Book 1

  A Tale from the Free Trader Universe

  takes place over 100 years after Braden & Micah’s adventures

  Sample Chapter of Cygnus Rising

  Chapter 1 - Fire!

  Flames shot through the open hatch. Cain yelled, “Engineering’s on fire!” as the klaxons continued to scream, echoing down the corridor away from him. He sensed, more than heard the anguished cry.

  The hatch was open. The automated fire suppression system had failed.

  He ripped open the damage control panel and pulled the tank out. He threw it hastily over his shoulder, reached behind him with a well-practiced maneuver to start the flow of air, and wrapped the dangling mask across his face. He draped the fire hood over his head as he ran. He didn’t have time to put on the whole outfit. People he knew were dying.

  He hit the flames of the doorway at a dead run. The intense heat scorched his bare forearms as he passed. He yelled into his mask as he slid to a stop in the middle of the space, looking for survivors. A Rabbit lay under a terminal, an ugly scorch mark cut across his white fur, leaving blackened hair around burned pink flesh underneath. The Rabbit moved – Briz was alive.

  Cain slid him from under the melting terminal. The Rabbit was dense and blocky, half Cain’s height, but the same weight. Cain pulled an equipment cover off the back of a chair. He took it and wrapped it around the Rabbit’s head and over as much of his body as he could, then hefted him, trying not to touch the injury. Cain lumbered toward the hatch, ducked his head, held his breath, and jumped through the flames. He deposited the Rabbit in the passageway and raced back into Engineering. Ellie was in there somewhere.

  He should have been alarmed that the flames didn’t seem to hurt as much this time. The next victim was a Wolfoid, horribly torn apart from the force of an exploded containment vessel. He saw something odd about the way the Wolfoid’s body, bigger than a human’s was laying on the floor.

  A pink-fleshed hand snaked out from underneath the heavy gray fur. Without remorse, Cain heaved the Wolfoid’s shattered body to the side. Ellie was dazed, but seemed to be okay. The Wolfoid must have taken the full force of the rupture, protecting her. Cain’s breath caught as he looked at her silken black hair, the ends curled and brittle from the heat that had passed over her.

  He pulled her to him as blue lights started to flash within Engineering, signaling the imminent flooding of argon gas into the compartment. He kneeled, rolling her from a sitting position over his shoulder. He stood without much effort. She wasn’t heavy and laid easily over his shoulder as he hurried for the hatch. The flames had died down somewhat, but he still ran through, hoping speed would keep them safe. Once through, he stopped, took off his hood and breathed deeply of the better air in the corridor. The hatch to engineering closed.

  The klaxons stopped as someone helped Ellie from his shoulder. He looked at the closed hatch. Anyone still in the space would be denied oxygen, just like the fire. The argon gas was supposed to be flushed in a matter of seconds, but it would be too late. He was surprised that he didn’t know how many people worked in the space. Three? Four?

  “Holy Rising Star, Cain! You shouldn’t have gone in there. Why the hell would you do something like that?” the Captain’s words were harsh, but his eyes were grateful. As the older man looked at the two survivors in the corridor, he added, “but I’m glad you did, son. Looks like you saved two lives, irreplaceable lives.”

  The two Hillcats waiting for Cain and Ellie in the corridor couldn’t have agreed more. Carnesto yowled in pain as Ellie came back to her senses. The burns on her lower body attacked her with waves of agony. He put a furry paw on her head to help her through the worst of it.

  Why had Cain risked knowing what his death would do to his ‘cat, to his family? He had no choice. It’s who he’d always wanted to be. It’s who he was. He’d spent his short life trying to live up to one man, the Space Exploration Service Captain who showed him how a hero acts.

  Free Trader 9 – Return to the Traveler

  The ‘cats have brought peace to the land, but too much sitting around is making Braden antsy. They decide to go back to the Traveler and see if they can wrest more of its secrets from the ship of the ancients.

  Return to the Traveler will be the last of the Free Trader series. Maybe you’ll see some of Cygnus VII show up in the Lost 77 Worlds Universe. Standby for more, fellow gamers:)

  Free Trader Book Nine – coming soon, exclusively on Amazon.

  Postscript

  If you like the Free Trader and would like to see the series continue, please join my mailing list by dropping by my website www.craigmartelle.com or if you have any comments, shoot me a note at [email protected]. I am always happy to hear from people who’ve read my work. I try to answer every email I receive.

  If you liked the story, please write a short review for me on Amazon. I greatly appreciate any kind words, even one or two sentences go a long way. The number of reviews an ebook receives greatly improves how well an ebook does on Amazon.

  Amazon – www.amazon.com/author/craigmartelle

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  My web page – www.craigmartelle.com

  Thank you for reading the Free Trader!

  Author Notes

  I call the Free Trader my flagship series. It is my science fiction adventure series that I can escape to. I wrote it because I’m a fan of the roleplaying games designed by James M. Ward – Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World. That’s why the ship in this one is called the Warden, in honor of my friend Jim Ward.

  Thank you to the best fans anyone could ever ask for! When I need anything while writing a story, they are here, ready to help.

  In The Great Cat Rebellion, I wanted to capture what every cat owner knows, you don’t own anything. The cat tolerates you and you should be blessed to know why, but you’ll never find out because they can’t be bothered to tell you. So there.

  Snarkamundo snarkiness with extra snark on top. I hope I didn’t go overboard with the ‘cats, but sometimes, your cat will look at you and make you shiver. You’ll lock your door to keep him from killing you in your sleep. And then he’ll stick is paw under the door and be annoying until you let him in. Then he’ll stroll in like he owns the place.

  Or you. It’s just how cats are.

  I know this was supposed to come out in 2017, but with the runaway bestseller success of the Terry Henry Walton Chronicles, I needed to stay with that series until it was finished. You will see Free Trader 9 – Return to the Traveler after I finish Bad Company 5. Free Trader 9 will be the end of the series since the Cygnus Space Opera picks up with the descendants of your favorite characters from the Free Trader.

  What about Free Trader 9? That is going to be another action packed romp through the Traveler. High speed action with your favorite characters. Well, not Brandt. I couldn’t figure out how to get the greatest of all Aurochs on board the Traveler, or once there, how he would fit through any of the corridors, so he’ll have to hold the fort on the planet while the others return to space.

  What secrets will they find? Holly knows all, but he doesn’t. They’ll be looking for what he doesn’t know, which he’s not sure he doesn’t know, but needs to confirm his lack of information by gathering more information.

  Peace, fellow humans – I’ll see you back in Vii
when the time is right.