Fire!: Wherein Cassie finds that people are people. Always have been.

by William X. Owen

“Well, admiral, you’ve certainly spent a lot of the Navy’s money rebuilding Lieutenant LaMatta. Now what are you going to do with her.”
“She has her choice of assignments, senator, since her starship got shot out from under her. She wants, of all things, to be a xeno-anthropologist. Maybe I can get her a job with First Contact Division. They need somebody to go to Strawberry.”
“Strawberry. What an idiotic name for a planet. Who’s the genius who came up with that?”
“It was discovered by a twelve-year-old girl, sir. Amateur equipment is better every year.”
“Fine. At least she can’t get into any trouble.”
And that's how LaMatta landed on Strawberry, killed the beast, annoyed the witch doctor, got burned at the stake and murdered by pirates, and was rescued by an invisible demon.

44 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 6, 2015

Reviews

[Anthony Straight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly Odd Space Yarn

Well it's not in Banks but it's okay for a first try by this author or four perhaps a young writer

[Daniel A. Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but fairly predictable and it is a short story.