I've been going through the backlog of short stories, looking to see what can be cleaned up for submissions, and I came across "Target Unknown," a scifi story that I've been dabbling with off-and-on since the 1990s that I've tried submitting before with no success.
So I cleaned it up a bit, and I found a place to shop it. (Thanks to Gwendolyn Kiste for her monthly submission suggestions!)
Electric Spec is an online quarterly, and the story fits within their guidelines, so...
I am helping out with a library co-worker with fostering a feral kitten rescued from the Bartow Civic Center a few days ago:
He's an 11-week old tuxedo kitten who had a sibling reverse-tuxedo being fostered by someone who plans on adopting the brother. This one has health issues including an infectious respiratory illness, so I had to isolate this kitten in the guest bedroom.
He also has, sadly, a gimpy leg. Somehow one of his hind legs got broken and did not heal properly, so he doesn't sit up well. He *is* however still able to run fast, using his gimpy leg to steady himself as he does.
He purrs near constantly, wants to chase after toys, and has been receptive to a human presence. I have to keep interacting with him so that his feral instincts don't return.
I've taken to calling him Gent, because he is so well-behaved. He does not cause the property damage that Mal tends to create.
Speaking of Mal, I need to add a video of the two meeting at the room's patio door as soon as I can.
UPDATE: Here we go (had to add it to YouTube first):
Mal's too busy hiding under the bed to do it, so here's me honoring Ocean for her matriarchal instincts.
To the hoomans who adopted Zoe, Jayne, Inara, River and Simon, I hope they are well and let them know that their mommy is contently stalking the lizards at our windows...
