FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It's sad. Pathetic. Watching him, I mean.

Jumping around on buildings. Fighting men in suits and sunglasses. Never questioning his purpose beyond what he's told.

Idiot.

In truth, this grid, this virtual reality is far more complex than he knows. It's like the bastard child of an onion and a potato. Layers and branches everywhere. Like a labyrinth made of pure logic and mathematics, far more complex than any human mind can comprehend. It's easy to get lost in here.

I know. I did.

I was a hacker. I managed, with a little help and a lot of risk, to enter this place. Since I wasn't tied to their simulation, wasn't fed their pretty little lies, I could see my way through pretty clearly. But I still relied on hacking programs to keep my bearings straight. And they didn't sit on their asses while me and others tried to wake up their prisoners. Plus, there was always a danger of something going wrong.

For me, it was getting unplugged.

The surgery required is dangerous, expensive and illegal. At least if you want freedom. Lots of people took their products at face-value without examining the hardware, without knowing the danger or even how to see it. I didn't, but then I wasn't interested in some kind of fancy cybersex either. I never looked twice at their product. When they struck, they had some very valuable hostages. The world never saw it coming. I took up the cause of those people, and every other so-called "criminal" they plugged in by force. I delved into the depths of their insane digital world, learning its twists and turns and its dangers. I had a lot of close calls in those days. But in the end, my own arrogance cost me. It's ironic, really. I thought I was immune to all this. I was so confident in my abilities and the righteousness of my crusade. When all was said and done, I'd become just as obsessed with this place as those I was trying to save. I forgot about the real world. And it cost me.

You don't die when you're unplugged. At least, not here. The trauma is enough to lobotomize a person without touching a single brain cell. If my body's still alive, it's probably insane or catatonic. The disconnect almost drove me insane on this side too. Maybe it did. In any case, I doubt they left my heart beating for any longer then they had to. And all they'd have to do was wait until my brain shut down from all the misfiring neurons caused by the plug. And who would pay attention to a hacker avatar that was left on the grid? We all assumed they just faded away into the code, into the system itself.

I'm not human anymore. I'm not sure what I am. A ghost, a specter. A bit of wandering data marked for deletion on sight. A hunted man. So I took on a form that'd make it easier to hide.

I'm no furry, but I always did like foxes. Smart, playful, and clever. I loved the stories and a lot of movies about them. That's as close to furry as I came. Even before I got unplugged by their agents, I had a preference for going around as a feral blue fox. And since I wasn't using their program to interface, I could be as slippery as I wished. I even learned how to possess the random cyphers they had running around, disguised as real people. So it's only natural that after I lost my human shell I became the Blue Fox.

I'm a legend now, in some circles. A phantom program rumored to be... something else. Something more. A hacker. A sentient A.I. born from random impulses in their servers. An angel sent by God. Another devil programmed to betray. The stories are pretty endless. As cool as it is though, I really wish I had my body back. Or something more than an existence dependent on a few thousand pieces of silicon and metal. It drives me mad to think on it. I try not to stop and think.

Instead, I stay fluid. On the move. I travel from one deluded fantasy to another. I watch people live out a series of adventures and journeys that never were. And though I've tried, I have never succeeded in waking someone up. Though part of that is their doing. The ones running the show. Each layer above the Fantasy simulations is worse than the last, more hopeless and desolate. And ugly. They learned pretty early on that sapping all the beauty and joy out of their simulations helped keep people from waking up. Most people would rather dig in and settle down inside a comfortable fantasy world. To have a false heaven, a paradise of ones and zeroes that caters to their every whim. Or for the more heroically inclined, a nasty, near-hopeless future where they can be part of humanity's Last Stand. And they never look above the second layer. It's kind of funny. Maybe ironic. Instead of crushing people's pride and egos, they feed them. The best way to put someone asleep is to make them think they're "special" somehow, and then surround them with A.I. constructs and other "special" people that help cement that idea. Add a few psychopaths into the mix, implant false memories into everyone's minds and you have a recipe for the perfect prison.

God help you if you do wake up though. I've seen others do it. More now that I'm a ghost. Because even if you make it to the upper layers, or to another branch, they will throw everything they have at you. Sometimes, they don't even bother with killing. Killing usually reboots the prisoner's memories and experience. They wake up in their virtual bed, and soon conclude it was a bad dream. Some remember, deep in their psyche, and wake up again. Hackers just get booted from the system, sometimes with a bit of brain burn, sometimes with just a headache and a need to reorient to reality. But if they capture you, then they can do whatever they like. I haven't seen the Happy Boxes myself. But I've met those who've gone into them.

They don't come out sane.

From what I've managed to gather, the concept is simple. They stick you in a place where they control reality. Where they can alter things to their hearts' content without involving anyone else. With no chance of some other hapless fool wandering in and meddling with it. You're well and truly isolated from the rest of the herd. Then they open your psych file and make all your nightmares come true. Or if you're a hacker, they just wing it and see what works. Some no doubt enjoy turning people into raving lunatics. And when they log you out, or your hacker system does it for you, all that's left is a poor sap who can't tell reality from hallucinations. They end up on the street, victims of sadistic bastards who love to turn minds to Swiss cheese.

So, tell me... is it worth the risk?

I've told you my story, and some of the truth. Are you willing to wake up now? Or have I picked another idiot or coward who prefers his personal fantasy? Like that idiot in the faux leather trench coat and his little posse. Man, does he make me want to puke, if I had the stomach to do it.

No, I don't think you have better odds of making it out. And even if you do, they'll probably just kill you. Unless some of the rumors I've heard are true. I wouldn't count on that though. I can't promise this won't end in blood, or insanity. I can only promise freedom from this matrix of lies. Even if it's just until they stop your heart or fry your brain. Hell, maybe they'll do that anyway. But at least then you can say you tried.

Well, no, you're not special. In fact, you always play a small part in their psycho dramas. A bit character, killed or thrown away when it's convenient. Or when they think it'd make for good tragedy or comedy. They have writers for these things, my friend. Fat, big butt writers who don't think much of you at all.

But I've never tried it before with someone like you. And even if we can't free you, I've got a map. I keep it secret and safe. And if we can add to it, we can help others. Other hackers, other prisoners and whoever or whatever wants this whole system torn down or redone. I don't know anymore if this idea is right or wrong. I just know it's all I have now. So I might as well try to live here and maybe make it better somehow. And if I can't do that, I'll torch the place, crash their servers, and die a screaming blip. But at least then I'll have done something. And the same will be said of you.

You're not special, kid. But you can be. You can earn it. It's a losing battle, especially since you're in their system and one of their pods, but you can go out in style. And I'll help you as best I can. I've still got all my old hacker protocols in place. The reason my legend is so big, why they send the nastiest Hunter-Killer programs after me, is because I've evolved. I can alter the nature of their virtual reality, to an extent. It's more than just giving you an arsenal at your fingertips. I can change gravity, turn air into water, even do "magic" in simulations that don't allow for it. Mostly, I can tip the odds in my favor. In your favor. In our favor. Can't tell you how many times that's saved my skin. And unlike the weapons they give you, that their fake "hackers" give you to fight off their agents, mine target the real programs. Won't help you much if you encounter a psychopath who thinks he's an A.I. (and there's more out there then you'd believe), but it'll help if you run into serious trouble. And sometimes it's just fun to "skin" an entire building and leave them to clean up the mess.

We're outgunned, outnumbered and surrounded by enemies and fools. The only good part is we can do things they'll never see coming. Especially from you.

I know it's hard to believe. And I've really got no proof I'm not insane or some kind of figment. But it doesn't matter. Either I'm another trick to lure you into a trap, or I'm the real deal. Which is it, kid? Whacha gonna believe? My story or theirs?

Hah. Good choice. Knew I picked a good one. Let's rock and roll, kid. Let's show 'em something new.