FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

by Hector Scofield. Edited and Corrected by Ben243

Marvin was a big, sturdy guy with long dark brown dreadlocks, a full beard with chip and cookie crumbs all over it, and he was always wearing thick rimmed glasses and some nerdy Sci-Fi t-shirts. He was that type of guy who was always being bullied for stuff like that. But he wore it anyway because it was cool in his eyes and that gave him self-esteem. It also helped that his parents were very supportive, except for one thing: Marvin's obsession with the Extraterrestrial.

Ever since he'd seen "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" his life had revolved around U.F.O.s, Aliens and the question of whither or not we're alone in the universe. He traveled around the country in his van, which was stuffed full with all sorts of homemade devices. He'd found some of the plans on the Internet, some of them he'd built with colleagues, and some he'd received as gifts from other "Alien hunters". Most of the parts were from old radio receivers, oscillators, parts of old computers and synthesizers and so on. He'd spend a lot of money on that stuff. So far none of it has ever reacted to any really alien as far as he could tell. It were mostly magnetic interference or sunspots that caused them beep! Except for that one time...

In the beginning most of Marvin's budget had come surprisingly from his blog, his Twitch and YouTube-Channel, from donations he'd received from people interested in his journey. After a year or so of no results the people started to lose interest. He had to take odd jobs here and there to earn enough money to go on. So when he received his first signal ever, it was complete serendipity! He wasn't around one of those areas where sightings had been reported. He was on an ordinary road in the middle of the desert, on his way to a job interview. Marvin was thinking about the job, how boring it would be and what a waste of time he was sure it would be despite the money it would give him. Suddenly he realized something had changed. There was a variation in the rhythm of the beeps on one of the machines behind him.

He stepped on the brakes causing his van to skid to a halt, unfastened his seatbelt, threw open the door, and rushed to the rear of his van. There! A group of spikes appeared on the oscillator, a strange waveform developed on his monitors... that wasn't just random interference. He'd never seen this kind of pattern before. Could it be? Marvin yelled in excitement. This had the makings of being the best day in his life. He had to inform the others... damn, no cellular signal! On the other hand, it would be better to investigate this properly first before telling anyone, lest he had to admit to the whole world it was a false alarm, like back in his first year in New Mexico. That was a complete and utter embarrassment, and the less said about it the better.

He'd still need to find a landline or something like that, at least to reschedule the job interview. Luckily there was a town nearby called Prekop, which had one of those old fashion diners. He was a bit uncomfortable though wearing his Blake's 7 t-shirt and a handmade sheep's wool vest. Despite being in the desert, it could still be a bit chilly at this time of year. He parked in the diner lot, and stepped out of his van. Looking down on himself, he decided he looked like a hippie at best, and at worst like a stoner. So he changed into what clothing he had available other than his interview clothes- a plain t-shirt and light jacket. He worried his dreads could be a problem though, and indeed the people in the diner looked at him with suspicion, though not for the reasons he thought. Marvin knew he couldn't just ask to use the phone, so he ordered a coke in the meantime. Most of the patrons were farmers and workers, but some wore suits too, they were probably bankers or whatever. Nobody was rude exactly, but their body language suggested they couldn't have cared less whither or not he existed. Better than being bullied again, I guess, Marvin thought.

Suddenly what was obviously a member of local law enforcement entered the room. He was a huge bald bear of a man, firm and exuded an air of authority. He wore a khaki uniform shirt with a black tie, dark green pants with black stripes, a dark grey campaign hat, dark mirrored sunglasses, shiny black boots and a wide leather belt laden with the tools of the trade. He walked right at Marvin, who was alarmed immediately, and asked if the van outside was his. Marvin stuttered an answer: "Y... y... yes, that's m... mine! Is there a problem, Off... sher...?" He wasn't sure how to address that man. Marvin wished he would at least take his glasses off, as they were very intimidating. The sheriff continued: "It makes strange noises!" - "I see!" - "I have to ask you, to show me what's on the inside!" Marvin thought about it for a second. There was nothing in it that would incriminate him, but he didn't trust that man. Maybe he searches the van, and all of a sudden, he "find" some drugs in it that weren't there before. What if he want's to trick him? But if he refused, God knows what would happen!

Just then, another member of the sheriff's department entered the diner. He was just as big as the first man, but a little older, slimmer and he had a mustache. Marvin could see by his insignia that he outranked the other one, who was indeed just the Deputy. The Sheriff himself was much more relaxed and friendly. "What's the problem, Jeff?" he asked. "This man's van makes strange noises!" - "What kind of strange noises!" - "Like from a...!" the Deputy paused. "Just beeps and noises!" - "So, does it? Young man!" he addressed Marvin now. "You're not by any chance screwing together a bomb or stuff like that?" It was obviously not a serious question, the Sheriff was clearly joking. But Marvin shook his head and assured him, it was just his laptop, hoping he wouldn't have to explain all the stuff he really had back there. His instincts told him, it wouldn't be a good idea to tell him the whole truth. It seemed enough for the Sheriff. He gave Marvin a reassuring pat on the shoulder and went with his Deputy, who still glanced at him in suspicion, to one of the tables. Marvin was glad nothing serious had happened. He paid for his coke, made his call, drained his glass and went back to his van, eager to leave Prekop as fast as he could.

The following hours he spent driving around the valley to pinpoint the source of the strange signal. It had already gotten dark when he finally located the signals point of origin on the map. It was an old barn, in a dried out, abandoned field nearly a mile outside Prekop. Marvin decided to leave his van behind and approach it on foot, so he wouldn't be spotted if anyone were around. He took one of his more versatile detectors, a flashlight, a camera, a can of pepper spray, a Swiss army knife and some water with him. It should have been just a short trip, a quick investigation and collection of some evidence, but unbeknownst to him, he would never see that van again.

The barn seemed, as far as Marvin could tell, completely abandoned. There was no sign anyone had gone near it in years. Oddly, it had a relatively new lock at the door. Strange, thought Marvin, but also understandable if indeed aliens were involved. It was a combination lock, like his old bicycle had. Five Numbers. Marvin tried some random combinations, until he found the right one: 45312. He grinned. Once inside the barn he turned on the flashlight and his detector. There wasn't much in there, old wheels from a tractor, parts of machinery, lots of hay, dust, sand and cobwebs. Marvin was so intrigued about the possibility he could finally met real Alien, he felt no fear as he investigated the area. The more he looked around the barn and realized there was only one way out of this dark, scary place, the more he wasn't sure anymore that this had been a good idea. A feeling of dread passed over him just for a second, but vanished when his little gizmo began to react to something underneath the barn. Hidden under a haystack he found a trap door. His heart was beating like crazy, as he struggled to open it. It wasn't quite fully open, but he could see something was down there. It cast a mysterious red shimmer...

"You need help with that?" a voice said. Marvin jumped backwards and the trapdoor fell, loudly crashing back to the floor. All the sudden the lights turned on. Between him and the entrance stood the Sheriff and three of his men, including the grumpy Deputy Jeff. It was a trap! They must all have been hidden somewhere in the area, waiting for him. Marvin starred at them in panic. How had they known he would come here? The Sheriff seemingly reading his mind answered that question: "You seemed relatively harmless, but to be sure I planted a tracking device on you, back at the dinner!" When he patted me on the shoulder, Marvin thought. But that's not some kind of equipment an ordinary Sheriff's Department in such a small town would just have lying around! As Marvin picked the small device out of his jacket, he looked at it. It was unusually small and had a strange design. It looked just like a Miniature thistle, and suddenly he realized what was really going on: These men weren't just Cops, they were... A sudden blue light out of the Sheriff's hand hit him from behind as he tried to run away, like a lightning strike and it knocked him out.

When Marvin woke up he was still lying on the floor of the barn. Whatever hit him wasn't powerful enough to keep him asleep or maybe his dreads had softened the impact. While he was out, one of the Deputies had lifted a big red glowing crystal with strange carvings on it, out of the cave underneath the trapdoor. Deputy Jeff stood before the man, directing him using a strange clicking language. So Marvin was right: They were Aliens! The other two were outside, arguing in the same language, probably about what had to be done with Marvin. It seemed the other Deputy wanted to kill him, while the sheriff argued in another direction. As they moved out of sight, Marvin slowly reached for the pepper spray. The Deputy with the crystal put it down on the floor and went back into the tunnel. Jeff turned around to get Marvin. Marvin was glad Jeff wasn't wearing his sunglasses anymore, as it gave him a perfect target. He took his chance and sprayed the pepper spray directly into Jeff's eyes. Jeff screamed in pain, stumbled back and unfortunately slipped. He fell backwards and hit his head on the edge of an anvil. The scream stopped in an instant. Jeff was unconscious and Marvin watched in horror as blood was coming out of his ear. He had the impulse to help, but as he heard the other Deputy shouting from down in the cave, he rushed over to close the heavy trap door and ran outside the barn.

It was just then that Marvin saw the two Police cars parked on the other side of the barn. In one of them was a huge German shepherd, which was barking at him. He ran to the other one, where to his luck the keys were still inside. He sat behind the wheel, started the car, and drove away as fast as he could. In the rearview mirror he could just see the sheriff and the third deputy, preparing to shoot at him with their blue laser rays. Of course they would try to follow him, but Marvin was clever enough to have sliced their tires with his Swiss army knife.

Marvin thought about driving to his van and fleeing. But he was concerned the Aliens would plan some kind of invasion, so he had to inform the authorities or any of his friends that would believe him, to send reinforcements. He returned to the diner, where everyone was looking at him even more puzzled then before, because with all the dust, sand and sweat on him, he looked more like a zombie now than a stoner. He skipped ordering and immediately wanted to make a call; after all, it was an emergency. But as silly as it sounded, the waitress refused to let him near the phone as long as he hadn't ordered something, even if the world was about to end. Marvin had no time to get furious about what he saw as her lack of common sense, so he ordered another coke and a piece of apple pie. But before he could even pay for it another bunch of Deputies entered the room, with weapons drawn. Dammit, thought Marvin. He'd forgotten the radio in the other car!

Marvin had nothing to lose now. He yelled at the other guests, that the deputies were Aliens - as crazy as it sounds - and that they're about to invade the earth and god knows what else. He'd expected almost anything to happen at that moment, but not that the waitress would talk to the Deputies, in their Alien language. Marvin looked at her in disbelief, before another bolt of blue lightning struck him down again.

This time it took much longer for him to wake up. When he did, he found he was lying on a wooden table, back in the barn. Fixed to it by some ropes around his wrists and ankles. "He's awake!" one of the Deputies said. The Sheriff approached, a less friendlier grin on his face. "I take it you had a nice little nap, Marvin! Now we can talk!" - "W... w... what are you doing to me?" Marvin was terrified, almost scared to death. The sheriff ignored his question and told him instead a story - their story.

"Millions of years ago, long before man learnt to walk on land, there was a war, in a solar system far away. A war about dominance and power, that threatened to destroy a race called the Mhnorii. When their home world was vaporized, the few remaining Mhnorii used their technology to rescue their minds - or "souls" as you Terrans would say - in Red crystals like the one you saw earlier. They then spread the crystals over the furthest edges of their known universe, hoping, that one day the Mhnorii could find their way back.

Many of those crystals got lost or destroyed by any number of things. But this specific crystal landed on Earth, specifically: in the field near the town of Prekop, back in 1969. When the than-active Sheriff and his men approached to investigate, their minds switched places with some of the Mhnoriis. It's true the Mhnoriis had the instruction to find resources, to take over this planet and find a way to get themselves back to their part of the galaxy. But instead they began to appreciate the life on earth as it was - not perfect but compared to their war-ridden system a relatively calm and intriguing place. And with the knowledge gathered about the planet and their new identities, found it was easy for them to fit in. So they decided to free their brethren into the bodies of Prekop's population and live their lives in peace until humanity had found a way to the stars themselves."

"What happened to the human minds?" demanded Marvin. "Dormant! Dreaming inside the crystal, unaware what's happened to them!" - "That's monstrous, you can't do that! They had a life, friends and family..." - "We took their places! We care for their wives and children, help them grow up, go to college! And only when needed, when one of us grew too old, did we take a new body and only from those who're wasting their life anyway! We made mistakes in the beginning, but we learnt from them!" Now Marvin grew really angry. All he ever wanted was to meet real Aliens, to travel with them among the stars, to Time and Space. Not this! NEVER THIS!!! "You're monsters! One day they will find you, and stop you!" - "Maybe!" the Sheriff said with a sad face. "But until then we must do anything to save our people. And I'm sorry to say this, Marvin, but you're in our way!"

Marvin tried to stay brave: "I would rather die, before going into that crystal for all eternity!" - "Oh, that won't be necessary!" Suddenly he heard a Dog barking. Marvin managed to turn his head so he could see the German Shepherd from before, led on a leash by one of the Deputies. Wearing a black harness with the word SHERIFF K-9 on it. Something really strange happened to him. He had a grim look on his face, not like a Dog. There was some kind of intelligence, a familiar glimmer in his eyes. The Penny dropped: It was Deputy Jeff. They saved him by switching him into the body of the only uninfected life form nearby. But it was clear that Jeff intended to become Human again, which meant...

"NO!!! NOOOO!!! DON'T DO THAT TO ME, PLEASE!!!" yelled Marvin. But nobody except the Sheriff and his men could hear him out there in the Barn, somewhere in the middle of the desert. The Sheriff pressed some of the Carvings on the Crystal and it began to pulsate. He put it on the table next to Marvin and forced his hand onto it. The Dog was led to the other side, jumped up and pressed his paws on the other end. Marvin's screams ended immediately. He felt a certain calm and relaxing sensation, interrupted by something that felt like a sudden migraine and a heavy electric shock at once. Everything went red and painful. For a second that felt like an eternity, Marvin lost all the feeling in his body. And when it returned, all felt different, wasn't the same anymore. It was all too much for him and he passed out again.

When he opened his eyes the first thing he realized was, that there was something long and brown in front of his nose. No, it WAS his nose! His muzzle to be precise! And that wasn't the only thing that was wrong: His whole body wasn't right! He felt naked and as if he was wearing clothes at the same time. Everything felt so warm, except for his nose and tongue. His arms couldn't move sideways like they had before. His hands seemed to have shrunk and yet, he could feel the touch of the floor like never before. All in all, he could sense so much more than before, the scent of the room, the sound, the vibration... What was with the color? And something had happened to his legs, nothing seemed to have the right length or proportion: His feet were long and thin, he had to stand on his toes, which somehow felt strangely natural. What was that strange feeling over his butt, that was somehow connected with his spinal column? As he stood up and heard the light, jingling sound of the tags on his collar, he remembered what happened! But he wasn't ready to accept it. He tried to stand up on two feet, but it wasn't possible! Where was he anyway? A kennel? No, it couldn't be true!

Suddenly the door opened and one of the Deputies entered. It was a new one, yet Marvin knew him from somew... oh no! It was HIS face! The beard was shaved off completely, and so were his precious dreadlocks. They had been replaced with a firm Butch cut, but the most terrifying change was the stern facial expressions of Deputy Jeff - who would have to visit the gym for quiet a while before he would fit in his uniform properly again. Marvin's binge watching and chips eating days had left their marks! Marvin felt the urge to bite him, even if it meant harming his own body. He barked at Jeff in frustration, who just yelled at him "Stop! Down!" and he immediately did as he was told. Of course: Marvin was in this Dog's body now, which was still conditioned to obey his masters. He looked on in horror as Jeff opened the door to his kennel and put down two bowls. One with water, one with dog food! Marvin thought: "You're not seriously expecting me to eat that...!" but he had just unconsciously stuck his muzzle in and was already chewing. Surprisingly it didn't taste that bad! Clearly the dogs instincts were powerful, and Marvin could feel them overtaking his mind. Jeff closed the door behind him and left with a mean grin. And Marvin realized, he had no chance to ever get his old life back.

They called him Bosko and trained him as proper Police Dog, although everything he needed was already inside his new canine brain. After each training session he could feel the dogs instincts strengthening their hold over his mind. Weeks later they took him on patrols. He complied. What else was there he could do? When a year had passed, he had completely forgotten he'd ever been a human and he didn't hate his perdicament anymore, and was actually enjoying it. He loved it when they petted him. Deputy Jeff in the meantime had gathered back his muscles and strength, but thanks to Marvin's brain also developed a little sense of humor, which made him more interesting for others. He married one of his colleagues and they both adopted a child. Marvin wasn't sure if he could accept the idea of his body having sex with another man, but at that point there was neither reason to nor possibility of protest.

Marvin's example - despite accidentally induced - inspired the Sheriff to let out the other human minds, sleeping in the crystal, to put them into other animals where they could at least live out their lives in a way that was halfway pleasant, definitely better than the ethereal existence of the crystals.