Author:
In another lifetime, August was a punk kid running a writing-themed e-zine in 2002 and participating in online survivor writing contests; these days, she’s a punk pseudo-adult with an office job and a studio of her own.

Meet Pitney Scolan. Pit, for short. He’s a decorated general and a venerated leader of the sprawling human race. He’s protected his species' colonies from vicious native animal populations and hostile alien life. He’s fiercely introverted, and he’s really looking forward to retiring on his personal planet in the very near future.

Except…now he has to be a dog.

A daugment, to be specific: a cybernetically enhanced canine, previously the doting pet of Pit’s biggest rival, General Tristan. It’s the only way to escape certain assassination.

So Pit grudgingly allies himself with a pair of well-meaning scoundrels and sets sail for seedier space in hopes of escaping Tristan’s clutches. What he finds instead is a galactic conspiracy to force him to make friends.

Daugment

Daugment and man sighed heavily as they gazed out at the sunny landscape, keeping their own counsel. A peal of laughter broke into their thoughts. Pit's ears pricked up and he searched the crowd below them for Reesha. If she was still there, she was lost in one of the groups.


"And the rest of Tristan's plans?" Pit asked presently.


"Ground to a halt," Fionn said, "soon as everyone realized what they were in for if they let it go on."


"Did-" Pit started to ask, but he saw the grim look on Fionn's face. He resolved to find out how it was all turning out, on his own. He didn't want to make Fionn recount it.


"It's a mess," Fionn said with a heavy sigh. "A right bloody mess. Reckon it'll sort itself out, like any old human conflict."


Pit's stomach rumbled in the heavy silence that followed, and they both chuckled. The sun seemed warmer.


"But, uh, really. Got anything I can eat?" Pit woofed and thumped the mechanical part of his tail. It clanged softly against the ramp, without pain.


Chapter 60