My story for the Pets In Space 6 is an alien abduction story. Also, an alien rescue story. And abducted again. All the abducting and all the rescuing. Plus romancing. Whew.

It is good to have help when you need to hack into an enemy spaceship to escape. Velvet, my pet in Stranded on Grzbt, is perfect for the job. A mouse-sized, lab created bundle of fluff, with an instinct to chow down on invasive nanobots, she knows her computer commands. She might be a teeny, tiny cyborg! Given a task, she is relentless.

Her skills are the basis of Mimi and Kyre's escape plan.

We first meet Velvet in a scummy bathroom on board a poorly maintained (and smelly) spaceship.

Excerpt:

In the bathroom one day, Mimi took her time under the water drip, washing out her clothes.

The worms were asleep.

A flicker of motion caught her eye.

A tiny animal with green and purple fuzz was eating the scum on the grate.

It was actually kind of cute. Plush, silvery sage-green hair, a mousy six-legged body, and a long trunk, like a tiny elephant. On top of its head was a clump of green bristles tipped in purple. Three black button eyes, the center eye larger, looked up at her.

“Hi little guy. Aren’t you cute? Are you friendly?”

Mimi had put on just her green work shirt, the rest of her clothes were wet. In the pocket, which had her nametag still attached, were a few kibbles. She crunched one up with her fingernails and slowly sprinkled the kibble bits on the damp grating near the little animal.

It withdrew quickly into the drain. Mimi stayed quiet. Soon the tiny trunk came out and vacuumed up the kibble.

Mimi grinned. Maybe she could make a tiny alien friend.

Release Date: October 5th, 2021

Pre-Order! books2read.com/PISA6/

Formats Available: ebook only

Price: $4.99

Join the incredible authors in this year's Pets in Space 6 for another out-of-this-world adventure. This award-winning, USA TODAY Bestselling anthology is packed full of your favorite Pets in Space®. Featuring 11 original, never-before-released stories from some of today's bestselling Science Fiction Romance and Fantasy authors, Pets in Space 6 continues their vital support of Hero-Dogs.org, the non-profit charity that improves quality of life for veterans of the U.S. military and first-responders with disabilities. Don't miss out on this limited-edition anthology before it’s too late!