FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Jerrett checked the small screen on his wrist and tried to make sense of the numbers he was receiving. The orbital probe he'd sent to gather information must have malfunctioned at some point, since the data it displayed on the device was really unlikely, to say the least.

The fox had decided to land on that planet when he'd noticed that the radar had detected thousands of anthropomorphic shapes on its surface. Jerrett wasn't usually such an eager explorer that he would visit the first planet he came across, but he'd checked the navigator and that planet was supposed to be inhabited by someone. Plus, it wasn't too far away from the system where the fox had been born. Whatever lived on that planet, was probably at least slightly related to his species.

But then the problems had started. The navigator had been unable to give a proper name to the planet – not even a standardized designation someone external to the planet had given to it. And even though the radar insisted that there were anthropomorphic creatures there, Jerrett's orbital probe hadn't detected a single life signal when he'd sent it to gather information.

Not the most promising prospect, even though Jerrett had found the same problem before when trying to catch the life signal of dormant or hibernating creatures.

In the end, the fox had decided to explore the surface of the planet, only for a couple of minutes. In the unlikely event that his orbital probe or the ship's radar were malfunctioning, he needed to know exactly which of them, how and why. Besides, it was either stopping on this planet or taking a boring trip towards the closest one, which was half a day away. Jerrett had been travelling for a long time already and felt like stretching his legs.

So, exploration time it was.

Lacking a proper name, the fox had decided to call it The Colony. It felt like a suiting name, given that there were so many anthropomorphic shapes and not a single life form to be seen. It was also a bit of an unnerving name, in Jerrett's book – his mind couldn't help thinking about sentient plants or fungi crawling on the surface, communicating with each other, slowly taking control of any other life form all over the planet. The fox would have been able to bear it in the case of plants, but not fungi. He hated fungi.

However, he was five minutes in his first reconnaissance trip and he hadn't come across a single speck of fungi or vegetal life. Which was weird on its own – fungi were present in most planets in the system, just like plants. Where had they gone?

Jerrett was a bit relieved to know that the atmosphere was breathable. Later, he found a few bodies of water scattered all over the surface – mostly lakes and rivers. Upon closer inspection, however, the fox found out they were completely sterile. Nothing organic lived in that water, which was surprising. Jerrett's equipment detected something really small swimming in the liquid. Purifying nanobots, maybe? I need to bring out the advanced equipment if I want to get specific answers, the fox thought, shaking his head.

He wasn't there to catalogue the new planet, though. Jerrett was curious, but he didn't want to do the job of a whole group of scientists. I'll take a look around, see what I can find and then I'll leave, the fox told himself. This is just a brief stop.

The planet's surface was mostly made of clear sand and black rock, which created some astonishing landscapes. It also made walking on it quite easy – and gravity wasn't such a pain in the ass as it'd been during Jerrett's last explorations. The fox felt slightly lighter than usual, but it wasn't a big deal. He had been trained to deal with that kind of stuff.

It took him a while to find anything that resembled civilization in any way, but when he did, Jerrett let out a long sigh. At least, it looks like the radar doesn't need to get fixed, he thought. That would have been pretty expensive and he wasn't entirely sure he could afford it.

The fox had been pretty sure he was facing a particularly thin mountain for a while – only to find as he got closer that it wasn't a mountain, but what looked like a really tall building. The black material it was built with must have made it look like one of the rocky mountains covered in white sand that Jerrett had already seen.

Needless to say, the fox decided to find an entrance. Perhaps that would solve once and for all the mystery of those anthropomorphic shapes with no life signals. He was curious by now.

Jerrett walked towards the building, scanning the landscape cautiously to avoid falling through a crack or a rift. The planet's surface looked surprisingly smooth except for the sporadic mountains that rose like needles – and the building in front of him. In fact, what if all those mountains were actually buildings and he'd failed to notice it before?

That'd make a pretty big city, the fox thought. Only, it would be spread all over the planet. That's a hell of a commute.

He didn't make it to the building before he came across one of the anthropomorphic figures the radar had detected. He'd been so invested in his own thoughts that the fox was about to pass by without noticing it, but when he did, he understood immediately what the confusion with the orbital probe had been all about.

It was a protogen.

Or, at least, Jerrett thought it was a protogen. He'd never actually encountered one of those before, although he'd heard stories. As far as Jerrett knew, they were a fully synthetic form of life – and were characterized, among other things, for a funny amount of beeping. They were mostly regarded as kind beings, albeit unpredictable sometimes, so Jerrett had nothing to worry about.

As he approached the protogen carefully, it turned to him. An angular smile appeared on the screen attached to the protogen's head, which simulated its face. Jerrett was wondering if he'd hear it beep when it simply started doing so, as if reading the fox's mind.

“--- -. . / --- ..-. / ..- ..." it said.

“Ha, ha, what?" was all Jerrett could answer.

The creature – although the fox wasn't entirely sure “creature" was the best word to describe it – in front of him looked really cute. Its body was completely covered in a smooth, resistant plastic that gleamed under the light of the system's binary sun. Four led rings glowed on its body – two on its thighs and two on its shoulders. A few parts of the synthetic armor covering it were accentuated by shiny glass: elbows, knees and obviously its head, which displayed the screen that functioned as its face. On it, a cartoony, smiley face looked back at Jerrett's amused expression.

“--- -. . / --- ..-. / ..- ..." insisted the protogen.

It took Jerrett a few seconds to realize the protogen was talking to him in Morse code. Mumbling a rushed apology, the fox searched for his translation device and turned it on. The protogen simply stood there in front of him, watching with the same happy expression. Jerrett could have sworn it had understood what he was trying to do, and was waiting until he was ready in order to continue speaking.

“Okay. This should be working now," the fox clarified. He turned to the protogen with a similar smile to the one displayed on that screen. “So, uh… do you have a name?"

The protogen tilted its head.

“Or a designation code, or something?" Jerrett insisted.

A glowing light bulb appeared momentarily on the protogen's screen. Jerrett had to make an effort not to giggle.

“-- -.-- / -.. . ... .. --. -. .- - .. --- -. / -.-. --- -.. . / .. ... / -..- -.-- --.. -....- ----. ----. ..---" it answered back.

“My designation code is XYZ-992", the device translated.

“Oh, I see." So they have a name of sorts, Jerrett found himself thinking. “Is this your planet, then? Do you live here?"

Again, the protogen tilted its head as if it couldn't understand the question. Jerrett tried to frame it some other way. He was only passing by, but XYZ-992 looked friendly enough that he didn't want to leave before having at least a short conversation with him.

However, he didn't know how to translate the sentence so that it'd make sense for the protogen.

“Did you appear here?" he ended up asking. He wasn't entirely sure if protogens were born.

“-.-- . ..."

“Yes," the device uttered mechanically.

“Me being here, is it okay?" Jerrett asked. He cursed under his breath – perhaps he should have put the words in proper order before asking, but the question had left his mouth without him really having any time to think about it.

“-.-- . ..."

“Yes."

“Oh, cool. And here I was thinking I might be invading or something," the fox said, chuckling a bit.

The protogen regarded him silently with that big smile splitting its screen in half. Jerrett wondered if it had thoughts inside that head or if it was simply guided by electronic impulses, like a computer. The fox wished he'd paid more attention when he'd been told about protogens in the past – he was only now beginning to realize he knew nothing about them.

“So what do you normally do around here?" the fox asked curiously. There was no time like the present to find out more about protogens, right? Experience being the best teacher and all that. “Are there more protogens like you in this place?"

It took XYZ-992 a few seconds to answer.

“--- -. . / --- ..-. / ..- ..." it beeped.

“One of us," translated the device.

“What?" Jerrett asked. It wasn't only that he didn't understand what the protogen was referring to – the beeping was so comical that he had to stop himself from giggling whenever that screen pulsed as it emitted the soft sound.

“--- -. . / --- ..-. / ..- ..." it insisted.

“One of us," echoed the translation device.

Jerrett tried to think about it. It was really unlikely that he'd get a different answer from the protogen – as far as he knew, they were rather inflexible when it came to giving answers. No matter how much the fox insisted, he was bound to receiving the same beeping sequence from his new friend.

XYZ-992 probably meant it was part of a Colony, just like Jerrett had assumed at first. 'One of us' must refer to the fact that XYZ-992 was answering Jerrett's question by pointing out that he wasn't the only protogen around. That explanation made sense in the fox's mind, at least, even though he couldn't easily discard the possibility that what XYZ-992 was really trying to say was something very different.

“-.-. --- -- ." it beeped then. It turned its back on Jerrett and began walking towards the ominous, thin building that scratched the skies like a giant claw.

“Come," translated the device.

Jerrett decided to do what the protogen said. After all, it wasn't like he had any better plans, and XYZ-992 had proven to be much friendlier, considering the fox was more or less an alien on its planet.

They walked together across the clear sand dunes, approaching the huge building. XYZ-992 walked slightly faster than Jerrett, and the fox soon noticed that it was walking more slowly than usual just so that he could follow. That's thoughtful, he conceded. I guess that bit about protogens being kind was spot on. I hope that doesn't mean they're unpredictable as well.

As they walked through the narrow opening that worked as a door for the building, they encountered a few other protogens. They held XYZ-992's gaze for a few seconds whenever they got close – the leds in their screens reconfiguring, turning on and off, creating all kinds of weird and funny shapes – and then joined them in their walk, as if they wanted to be part of it. Jerrett thought it was all pretty cute, actually.

The fox thought that, in spite of being known as a rather homogeneous mass, the protogens in that place displayed a surprising variety. They walked across some whose features looked slightly draconic – others were definitely more based on cats or big felines – and there were even some that looked more similar to Jerrett, with canine features, long muzzles and pointy ears. There were even some that looked rounder and generally bulkier, like bears. Watching from above, on the upper levels, Jerrett could spot a few other protogens that featured long, pointy protrusions under their screens – like beaks. Were those based on birds?

Jerrett hadn't thought about it before, since he'd imagined XYZ-992 appearance would be the same as other protogen's, but now that he knew all of them were slightly different he could see it slightly resembled a dog. I wonder why, though, the fox found himself thinking. I always thought protogens were part of a colony. They should be kind of normalized, right? Built from the same pattern and all that. At least, that's what I'd always thought.

Jerrett didn't have too much time to think about it. XYZ-992 and a few dozens of other protogens that had joined their walk guided him to a large cavern inside the building. The fox had to say he was slightly disappointed at the decoration. There was a certain aesthetic component to protogens that he thought was at least somewhat appealing – but the building they seemed to live in was practically empty. Nothing but black, smooth walls as far as Jerrett could see.

There must be a place where they create new protogens, though, the fox thought. A chamber or something.

Beyond the growing swarm of protogens surrounding him, Jerrett thought he could see a small cube-shaped structure. It stood on its own, like an addition to the inner mountain that someone had thought would look cool. Its plastic walls decorated with glass details, shiny and new, made a stark contrast with the black walls. After brief consideration, Jerrett came to the conclusion that it looked completely out of place.

Then again, he didn't think he was supposed to judge the protogens' sense of beauty. They were probably thinking his old rusty spacesuit was really ugly, as well. What could that cube be, anyway? Some kind of central server that kept them connected with each other?

“--- -. . / --- ..-. / ..- ..." said the dog-shaped protogen.

“--- -. . / --- ..-. / ..- ..." echoed all its friends. The magnitude of so many beeping sounds happening at the same time made Jerrett feel a strange tingle inside him.

“One of us," translated the device.

By now, Jerrett was beginning to recognize that particular sentence. He had no idea why the friendly protogen was so keen on saying that over and over.

“.-- . / -... . --. .. -." it beeped then.

The small device hanging from Jerrett's vest was quick to give a proper translation.

“We begin."

An unnerving silence grew inside the mountain. The fox, slightly uneasy, cleared his throat as if to fill the intense quietude with something else. Then, he shifted his weight from one leg to another, uncomfortable. What were the protogens waiting for? And what are they supposed to do?, he asked himself. What are they supposed to be beginning?

Then, when he was about to mutter a soft apology and return to his spaceship, the cavern erupted in a storm of beeping sounds. They echoed in every corner and bounced on every wall, intermingling, becoming more and more difficult to make sense of. Jerrett noticed the protogens weren't only different in appearance – but also in tune. Their beeping sounds were a bit like their voices and each one was different.

Again, weird, the fox thought. If protogens aren't equal, perhaps they're derivative from something else?

The thought swirled in his head for a few seconds before being washed away by the strong current of overwhelming sounds. The translation device, which had been quiet for a few seconds as it tried to make out the morse code behind the constant wall of beeping sounds, only let out a short, discouraging message.

“Error. Couldn't translate."

For the first time since he'd arrived in the mountain, Jerrett wondered if he was in danger. It wasn't like the protogens were acting aggressively or anything like that, but he couldn't help but feel like something was going on – something he wasn't entirely aware of.

Well, what's the worst thing that can happen? Their beeps can't kill me, can they?

There wasn't a single report of somebody dying at the hands of protogens – at least, as far as Jerrett knew. That probably meant he could relax around the strange beings.

Yeah. Relax.

The fox hadn't noticed until then just how tired he was. As the beeping sounds continued, he wondered if he'd been exploring for so long that he'd forgotten to take a much, much needed nap. Or perhaps it was simply that he hadn't gotten used to the atmosphere in that planet? He wasn't entirely sure, but the more he stood there, in the middle of the room, listening to all those beeping sound as they echoed and multiplied and bounced and slipped right into his brain was that he was…

… tired.

“One of us," said the dog-shaped protogen by his side.

Jerrett nodded. Yeah. It had said that before. How many more times did it want to repeat the same thing? It didn't occur to him that he hadn't needed the translation device to know what the protogen had said this time. The fox's mind was simply too busy trying to make sense of the fact that he was exhausted.

Would protogens have a bed, somewhere? Did they even sleep? Would they just shut down whenever they were low on battery or something? Jerrett was beginning to feel embarrassed of how little he knew about those beings. Perhaps he should get to know them better now that he had the chance…

“Stay," the dog-shaped protogen said.

“I… can?" Jerrett asked weakly.

His head felt stuffed. As if there were too many things inside. The concert of beeps continued in the background, but it was less noticeable now. Instead, he could hear words being spoken. Wait… when had the protogens learned how to speak?

“Stay," his protogen friend insisted, pushing that thought away.

“Maybe I will," Jerrett whispered. “Yeah, I think that'd be nice. I…" He stopped to let out a long, slow yawn. “I think I need a place to sleep, at least for a while."

“One of us."

Jerrett nodded again and felt a goofy smile spread on his face as he thought about how kind the protogens were being, allowing him to stay and become one of them for the time being. He'd learn more about them in the meantime. He'd…

First, he needed to sleep. His eyelids were closing. He felt so, so tired.

“Come," said the dog-shaped protogen, turning to the cube-shaped structure at the back of the cavern.

“I'm tired…" Jerrett mumbled.

His tongue felt heavy and he wasn't entirely sure his thoughts made sense anymore. The sounds continued all around him, but he didn't know if they were beeps or words.

“Can I… can I get some sleep first?"

The protogen tilted its head, regarding him silently for a few seconds as if it didn't understand the question. Jerrett decided wherever the protogen took him had a bigger chance of having a few beds than the middle of that empty mountain. The fox followed his new friend, dragging his heavy feet and trying to keep up with the protogen's pace.

The other inhabitants of the planet watched them as they moved towards the cube-shaped structure. At some point, Jerrett felt like he was sleep-walking. He was so exhausted that he couldn't believe he hadn't collapsed on the ground already.

When they arrived there, a small door opened on one of the sides of the cube.

“Chamber," the dog-shaped protogen explained.

'Chamber' is just a fancy word for 'bedroom', Jerrett thought, hoping he hadn't followed the protogen all the way from the center of the room for nothing.

He entered the “chamber" slowly, hoping to see a bed, but the cube was practically empty inside except for those smooth plastic and glass walls that had nothing to do with the rest of the planet. Jerrett let out a soft groan, but didn't think too much about it. In fact, he was so tired that he didn't mind sleeping on the floor.

“Remove," was all the dog-shaped protogen said before the door closed and Jerrett was left inside the cube. Light from the outside seeped in through the translucent surface, dim and soothing.

“Remove…?" Jerrett repeated in a thin voice, confused.

The only possible explanation he could find was that the protogens intended him to remove his spacesuit. That made perfect sense, after all, and Jerrett had intended to do it anyway. How was he supposed to sleep wearing that heavy, useless piece of armor in bed?

He began unclasping all the pieces of his suit, getting naked inside the cube. He hadn't noticed until then just how heavy his spacesuit was. When he got rid of the additional weight, he felt much lighter. Comfortable. A deep, long sigh escaped from the depths of his chest as he stood in the middle of the cube, swaying on his bare feet.

And then, something changed.

The light slowly disappeared until everything got dark. Or perhaps that was his eyelids closing, Jerrett wasn't sure. He felt something pushing against his body – smooth, cold pieces of plastic being put in place, right where his spacesuit had been mere minutes ago. The fox felt the urge to complain at first. He had just gotten rid of his old suit. It didn't make sense to replace it with something else so soon. Plus, he wanted – no, needed to get some sleep. Why couldn't they just leave them there, dozing off, naked?

However, as soon as the piece of plastic armor was gently secured around his leg, a new sigh escaped his lips. The material felt extremely comfortable and welcoming. His fur tingled as it disappeared under the layer of solid plastic. It felt so warm and cozy that Jerrett didn't know how he could have lived without it for so long.

When the same plastic armor was gently clasped around his other leg, and then his arms, and then his torso, the fox let out a pleasured moan. It felt like his body was dissolving. As if he was floating, weightless, gently guided to sleep in a pocket of air. Perhaps that wasn't a common bed, but it definitely beat it. The fox couldn't wait to fall asleep in that wonderful armor, lulled by the beeps or words of all those other protogens. They felt like family now. Like…

Something stroked his muzzle. A glass screen was lowered down in front of his eyes. More plastic around his cheeks. Around his neck. Around his ears. His whole head was put inside a helmet, his body twitching one last time before it was completely covered in a protogen armor. Bliss coursed through its veins, as it realized that was the way things had always been supposed to be.

It remained there, drifting in the dark abyss, until its screen lighted and displayed a succinct message.

“Welcome, XYZ-4339," it read.

Orange-colored rings lighted up on its thighs and shoulders. Its visor's screen pulsed momentarily before coming to life with a pixelated, angular smile – just as goofy as the one its organic face had displayed minutes before. Its orange eyes went through their blinking animation a few times, getting used to being part of its armor's hardware.

Everything was perfect.

“--- -. . / --- ..-. / ..- ..." XYZ-4339 beeped.