FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

NICOLE spoke. "SpaceTime: the fabric that holds the universes together and also defines the boundaries of each."

Once NICOLE had located the reference in its in-built library Sally wanted to hear, the squirrel's questions came freely. Some, NICOLE could answer. Others it couldn't so Sally resolved instead to discuss them with the others.

"Can a living organism pass between universes?"

"Unknown, Sally."

"Identify this." (Sally fed NICOLE a sample of Starla's white light as best she could. It had a strange texture which was difficult to describe because it dissolved so easily.)

NICOLE read the data for a few seconds. "Unknown, Sally."

An unknown element. This was something alien that Starla had brought through from her home universe. Sally looked nervously at the white light-beads she'd managed to collect into a jar. Was it too late to wonder if they were dangerous?

She decided to take a gamble and gave NICOLE an instruction. "Be alert for this element. Notify me if you find any."

That turned out to be the winning move. Starla's element, NICOLE soon revealed, was detectable just beyond this universe.

SpaceTime, the fabric holding the universes together, also acted as curtains to keep one separate from another. In places this metaphorical fabric was thin. Although the process that created these weak spots was technical enough to keep Sally researching for a few hours, the truth boiled down to this: NICOLE could detect them by flagging up areas in which the same element Starla was shedding occurred. As that element did not originate in this universe, NICOLE found it easy to detect.

There was a mild complication: Starla had been shedding that element since she'd arrived and had left trails that NICOLE kept picking up. But if she ignored those, Sally could find pockets of space that Starla could in theory pass through and return home. All it would take then, NICOLE hypothesized, would be a cloud of hydrogen gas to be released and for all other living creatures present to stand well back. A reaction between the gas and Starla's element would tear open the fabric for a short time and pull her though.

Sally kept NICOLE on standby until it detected such a weak spot. In the meantime she needed to gather a container of hydrogen gas. Rotor, she knew, would have no problem achieving that.

This extra research done, Sally restarted the aged desktop and completed her programme.

xXx

Sally approached Rotor's house and knocked on the door. The sun had begun to lower toward the horizon and she felt a chill in the air, so she hugged herself close. At first she heard nothing and wondered how much Rotor's already fragile self-confidence had been dented. She wasn't sure whether he'd want to meet her this evening, but they had work to do so tonight was as good a night as any. As she gazed into nothingness wondering these things he answered the door.

She snapped back to the present. "Hi, Rotor," she said with all the belief she could manage that he still wanted her nonchalance. He smiled awkwardly in return, not quite meeting her eyes, and let her in without a word.

Instead of making conversation that he'd feel he had to answer, she looked around the inside of his hut even though it was already familiar. The smell of an earlier-cooked meal, of at least two different types of oil and some kind of fuel she couldn't identify vied subtly for dominance. A strange combination of smells but a comforting one. They headed for the worktop.

The computer the walrus'd been building squatted there, plugged into a generator and whirring. Sally felt a thrill of excitement: she loved it when projects came together and the machine looked (battered but) complete. He led her over to it with his usual broad steps, perhaps a little more confident because he wasn't facing her, but still said nothing. The only sound that came from him so far was the scrape of his claws on the bare wooden floor. But there was nothing else Sally could say - it was time for him to say something and he seemed to be as aware of that as she was. He rubbed the back of his neck and tentatively cleared his throat.

"Have you g-got the software?" he asked quietly, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. She efficiently pulled out a disk onto which she'd downloaded her work.

"Yes. Here it is," she said and held it out to him. Without another word he took the disk from her, took a seat and fed it into the front of the computer. He settled and took to staring doggedly at the computer screen. He started tapping at the keyboard and silence fell again except for the clicks of the keys. Plainly he was trying to ignore her, but they needed to be able to communicate.

"Rotor?"

He gulped, and turned just enough to give her a sideways look. "...uh huh?"

"Have you talked to Starla today?"

She'd only asked so that she could open a conversation about the hydrogen, but when she saw the face he made she realised something had happened. "What... Did something happen?" she asked tentatively, trying to find the fine line between giving Starla the benefit of the doubt and her protective feelings for Rotor.

"S-she laughed at me." He blushed and shrugged away a paroxym of embarrassment with some difficulty. For a moment it looked like that was all he had to say, but just as Sally looked back at the computer screen he blurted, "I hate h-" he checked himself, and then tried again uncomfortably, mumbling, "I don't like her."

Sally wasn't surprised. But it took a lot to make Rotor angry and it looked as if Starla had managed just that. He risked another sideways glance at her and seemed ashamed by his outburst. The silence was starting to become painful; she had to do something to break the ice. Well, i've got just the thing, haven't I? She reached down to her boot and picked off NICOLE. "I think I've got something you'd like to see," she said brightly.

That surprised Rotor enough for him to look genuinely curious. "What?"

xXx

It was the Freedom Fighters' policy, whenever possible, to attack Robotropolis at night. Robotnik's surveillance cameras were trained to track movement, but the large number of rats in the city meant they were easily led to follow the harmless rodents instead of the guerilla Knotholers, and better still, the real pair of eyes behind the cameras - Snively - was not particularly alert for signs of activity. With patience, ingenuity and skill, the team could - and usually did - outwit Robotnik's defences.

So this nightfall, Sonic and Sally, Bunnie, Rotor and Antoine gathered together in Sonic's hut ready to make final preparations for the mission ahead. The plan was set: get into Robotropolis, test out Sally and Rotor's new equipment and get out. All, if the plan went as it should, without being noticed. Final checks done, the team headed out in the direction of the city.

They did not know that they were followed.

xXx

All was dark except for the glow of the occasional light over the city walls, the final traces of richly-coloured sunshine fading under the distant clouds to their left, and a few fireflies signalling to each other in the air. The plan was simple. As Sonic brought them to a stop he turned around to look at them all in the twilight and to wish everybody luck before they-

"Oh, no!" he exclaimed with feeling and slapped his forehead. Sally immediately looked worried and whipped around, probably expecting to see a surveillance bot. But Sonic knew she'd see something that - in a way - was worse. She cast about for danger behind the group but quickly noticed movement above.

"Juuust great," the hedgehog grumbled as Sally squinted at the lurid colour in the semi-dark.

There, musky pink against the sky, hovered Starla with a smug look on her face. She flexed into a pose and hovered down to land in the centre of the group. Wings, pink enough to look exotically colourful even in the last of the polluted evening light, folded. Her ears were perked with confidence and she looked around at the group.

"I've come to help you with your mission," she announced, flashing a flirtatious smile at Sonic before turning to Sally and eyeing her coldly. Sally in turn looked at Sonic. I honestly don't know why she's done this, said the princess' look.

"What do you think you're going to do, Starla?" Sonic asked irritably. "Kill Ro-Butt-nik all by yourself?"

She clucked loftily. "I don't know whether I can do that the first time, but I'm willing to help you out," she reasoned, strutting daintily closer to him. "I have training," she added, "but I don't suppose Sally would have told you that."

All eyes turned to Sally. She sighed. "Oh, yeah. Starla and I had a talk earlier and it turns out she's trained to fight with daggers," she said. She looked at Starla - who was posing to show off the daggers strapped to her limbs, and her female assets at the same time - and Sonic got the impression she was curious about how Starla thought this would help.

Sonic cut to the chase and asked. "I guess you should come with us then, Star," he said, happy to let her hear his irritation. "Then you can show us how useful your dagger training is."

Sally swallowed down a smile: Sonic could be wonderfully acidic when he wanted to be.

Antoine - unusually - looked at Sonic, some message in the set of his face. The hedgehog could see the coyote had thoughts about the situation too.

Starla looked sourly at Sonic. "Okay," she consented, "I'll come with you. But it's Starla!"

TO BE CONTINUED...