A lavender rat that has escaped from a laboratory, and a lonely boy whose parents are scientists, meet on an orbiting space station, communicate by email, and ultimately find themselves in need of each other's help and friendship.
Echoes of campfire horror stories about rats killing babies in the night came to him. Not Rat. No. He said, “You can’t do that!” “Can,” Rat signed, finishing the motion with an almost too-fast-to-see swipe at his knee. Jeff jerked the knee away, but it was already too late. There was a pop, then ...
Pushing the duffel through the hatch, I drop after it feetfirst. Grabbing a handhold, I stop inside the tunnel to close the capsule hatch, then the hatch on the docking ring. I drift into the airlock chamber, a cylinder twice as roomy as the capsule and reeking of mothballs. The smell comes from ...