Sneak Peek—Stories from The Expanding Universe Anthology #4: ‘Unexpected Bounty’ by Terry Mixon

There are 20 short stories in the latest volume of Craig Martelle’s The Expanding Universe anthologies. Today, with Craig's permission, we are taking a sneak peek at the start of Terry Mixon’s story, ‘Unexpected Bounty’. Here’s how it begins:

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Zag the bounty hunter just wanted a beer. The universe had a different plan.

Once I’d set my ship down in the landing pit and shut her engines down, I carefully extracted myself from the cockpit. The damned thing was way too small for me, even after I’d had a mechanic relocate the overhead controls to the left side of my acceleration couch.

The corridor from the cockpit to the extendable ramp was just as tight. No surprise there. Razor used to be a smuggling ship built for humans, not a 2.5-meter Borelian with meter-long horns spread above his head. Which made maneuvering around this tin can a pain in my furry butt.

The only way I could walk through the ship was to crouch and turn my head a little to the side. Otherwise my horns scraped the bulkheads or ceiling when I walked.

The only concession I’d made to living on this ship was having all the passenger cabins combined into one large one. The mechanic had even managed to get the ceiling high enough for me to fully stand and still have about a third of a meter of space over the tips of my horns.

That was still as cramped as hell, but it saved me from cricks in my neck and back. Working solo, I just dealt with the problems and grumbled to myself. It was what it was, and I wouldn’t be changing anything, so why bitch?

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Would you like to read more? 

The Expanding Universe #4 is now available on Amazon. You can also find Volume 1, The Expanding Universe: An Exploration of Science Fiction Genre, Volume 2, The Expanding Universe: Exploring the Science Fiction Genre, and Volume 3, The Expanding Universe 3: Space Opera, Military SciFi, Space Adventure, & Alien Contact! on Amazon in paperback.