FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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I'll post the entire story here, chapter by chapter twice weekly, absolutely free!

If you prefer you can read all four books right now. The series is complete!:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/146449

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Chapter 17: Social Media

“Welcome to SarahCast comin’ atcher live from Sydney!” An enthusiastic teenage girl’s face filled the screen. The video lurched around to show the bustling crowds of Kings Cross. “You are not going to believe what I’m looking at!” Shopfronts whizzed by as the camera turned toward a street café. Seated at a table was Chase, sipping from a small cup and reading a half-folded Sydney Herald newspaper. A half-eaten cream-cheese bagel lay on a plate. Absently, while he read the news, the canine moved a hand, felt around the plate, found the bagel, took a bite, and returned a small portion of bagel to the plate. “Get a load of the guy in a fur suit!” the teenager’s voice overlaid the street sounds. “His whole face is articulated. This is the best fur suit I’ve ever seen! I wonder if he’ll talk to us…” Pedestrians passing by had various expressions of surprise, amusement and disbelief as they glanced briefly at Chase. The video advanced toward the seated figure.

“Hi, Sarah, and hello to your viewers,” said the canine figure politely, raising his view from the newspaper to smile directly at the camera.

“Aah! You know my name!” shrieked the youth and the camera jiggled.

“Of course. I’ve seen all your podcasts. My name is Chase and it’s a pleasure to meet you in person,” said the smiling creature. Its tail wagged to the side of the chair.

“Wow! Your tail moves too. Mr. Chase, seriously you look amazing. I’ve never seen a suit like that.” Sarah enthused breathlessly.

The Great Dane creature chuckled. “Thank you very much. I made it myself. Believe me, it was a lot of work to get details exactly how I wanted.”

“Your face is very expressive – your lips move when you speak!” marvelled the podcaster. “There must be a tonne of animatronics in there.”

“Heh. There’s more technology than you can imagine,” laughed the canid. Then he turned back to his newspaper as though dismissing the young girl.

“Well, uh, thank you for talking with us.” The view retreated as the girl left the café, then the camera lurched to turn back to her cheerful face. “Wow. Now wasn’t that an amazing suit!” Her voice turned conspiratorial. “And did you check out under the table? He’s frickin’ naked!” She giggled loudly. “Well, I mean he’s wearing a fur suit but the suit has, you know, balls ‘n’ shit.” The video abruptly ended.

For a week the scientists had immersed themselves in decoding the data stick given to them from the strange alien creature. Tutorials led them from physics they knew well through theories which experimentation had given tantalizing clues through to strange and completely unknown science. Whiteboards in the laboratory were covered in scribblings as the team ushered each member through theories of galactic filaments, unfamiliar sub-atomic particles and obscure properties of matter that could be manipulated directly. Lurking panic of impending disaster forged a dark undercurrent to their week. Focussing on the new mathematics helped fend off their anxiety.

They had taken a break when the young officer called them to gather around his workstation. “Hold on, there’s more,” said Officer Wright to the scientists looking over his shoulder. He cued another stream on his laptop.

A jittery video showed a shaggy grizzly bear sitting in snow at a rest area off a main road. As cars passed by the bear waved. Voices, male and not English language, spoke animatedly off screen. The video paused. “Ah, let me put that through a translator for you,” said the officer, fiddling with controls on the player. The video rewound a few seconds and the voices spoke again, “Get a load of this shit! It’s a talking bear!” The shaking camera advanced closer toward the large brown creature. “Hey! Bear! What are you doing out here?” one of the young men shouted.

The bear turned toward the camera and waved its clawed paw. “I’m enjoying the Russian spring weather.” Its deep voice resonated across the snow.

One of the voices off-screen muttered, “Bah. Just some weird guy in a costume,” before the video cut off.

“And another…” said the officer.

A short video panned across manicured lawns and neat gravel paths winding through gardens of pretty flowers. Seated on a park bench, reading a paper-back book through round-lensed glasses was an extraordinary form. It had the fine features and colouring of a spotted deer with small antlers. It reached a hand into a paper bag and tossed seeds to birds which clustered around the park bench. The creature uncrossed its hooves and smiled toward the camera. In a perfectly clipped English accent it said, “Ah, can you ask Chase if he knew deer are long-sighted?” He crossed his hooves and resumed his book. Briefly the video zoomed in, shaking. It focussed on a cream-coloured scrotum dangling over the edge of the seat. Muffled giggling was heard as the video ended.

“Why aren’t these banned for nudity?” asked Doctor Ash.

“They’re kinda skirting the rules by being classified as costumes,” Officer Wright answered. “If anything the nudity is increasing the hits, which means more ad revenue, which means they’re being promoted more. Here’s another vid of our visitors…”

Flashing lights and distorted, thumping music accompanied a tiger-like figure dancing wildly, surrounded by a throng of similarly moving people. No-one seemed particularly concerned at the unusual furry creature dancing uninhibited in their midst.

“There are several videos of this guy – he’s all over Weibo,” said Rob.

“China?” asked Doctor Chand.

“Yeah,” confirmed the officer. “And India…” he said, cueing another video.

A tall, black-pelted creature looked like a Minotaur standing behind a street food stall. Dextrously it spread sliced vegetables across a steaming grill. A customer handed some coins across the counter and the bull scooped the steamed vegetables into a small cardboard carton, handing it back to the customer.

“And Florida…”

“This dude has the sickest watercraft!” A teenaged male face filled the video, smiling as he spoke. The view shook and lurched, blurred and zoomed out. It settled looking out at the ocean. Then it blurred and zoomed in to a black and white figure partially submerged in the gentle waves. The figure raised an arm and beckoned to the crowd on shore. A man swam toward the floating creature then clambered on top of it. He stood upright, balancing as the creature flexed its finned legs like a tail. As the creature gained speed through the water the person on top leaned forward, bending their knees. Abruptly the creature raised its nose revealing an orca-like face. Then it dived slightly downward making the rider lose balance, falling backward onto the creature’s legs. With a flick the creature lifted its finned legs and propelled the man high into the air. The person flipped and straightened into a dive, splashing where the orca-creature had vanished beneath the waves. A moment later and the diver appeared again, clinging to the dorsal fin of the orca as it rocketed across the water. “Fucken’ sick,” Chuckled the teenager with the camera. “He’s been giving rides all afternoon but I’ve been too chicken to try it.”

“When were these taken?” asked Doctor Chand, stepping back from desk where Officer Wright had set up his laptop. They convened in the conference room at the Melbourne military technical institute.

“Ah, since a couple of days ago,” he said, checking the dates on the videos. Some had millions of views and thousands of comments.

“What’s the consensus about the aliens?” asked Officer Laidlaw.

“Hoax. AI video,” said the younger officer dismissively. “Or viral marketing campaign. Orangina did an anthropomorphic animal video campaign in Europe a few years ago so lots of people think it’s another of theirs. A few people declare ‘Aliens!’ with lots of exclamation marks, but they’re down-voted out of existence.”

The senior officer nodded. “Very clever, getting seen everywhere and normalized just like that. Non-threatening, friendly, acting like people. What’s that icon flashing?” He pointed at the younger officer’s screen.

“Oh, news alert. Give me a sec…” Another video started playing. “This is live now…”

A female news reporter holding a microphone stood in a car-park. Behind her, in the distance, smoke billowed from a huge warehouse. Bright flames roiled through the roof of the building, lightening the early morning sky. “We’re here live at the Berlin Power House and as you can see behind me there is a huge fire! If you just tuned in we’ve been here since 3:00am and the fire is just getting worse. The fire department…” the camera panned and zoomed to show several appliances hosing water at the roof and walls of the warehouse, “… say it’s a lithium fire which has set off stored aluminium. Not much they can do until it burns out – it’s hotter than a volcano in there.” The view panned and zoomed in to an indistinct figure walking into the warehouse. “You may have heard about the Diamond Suit emergency response team. They’re a specialized group of people who wear advanced technology protection suits from the military. It looks like the fire department have deployed a specialist wearing the Diamond Suit.” The lone figure vanished into churning smoke. For long minutes nothing appeared to change at the warehouse while the reporter listed other feats people in Diamond Suits had performed. An interviewed firefighter praised the military and thanked them for sending one of the Diamond Suit specialists. Gradually it seemed the torrent of water being sprayed onto the warehouse roof began to drive back the conflagration. Moments later and the flames had retreated while the smoke thinned and lightened. A tall figure strode purposefully from the quelling warehouse. Several fire-fighters and onlookers applauded as the person walked across the closed-off highway. The reporter frantically waved to attract the attention of the hero, and motioned her camera crew to follow her as she jogged toward the figure. “Sir… ah, wow! That’s quite the suit you’re wearing!” she said as the image resolved to a chestnut-coloured bipedal horse.

“I’m glad I was able to help and no-one was hurt,” said the horse-man in a thick German accent.

“Can you tell our viewers your name? What happened in there – how did you put out the fire? And why a horse suit?” asked the reporter. The camera discretely panned upward so the pendulous scrotum and leathery sheath disappeared off the bottom of the picture.

The figure laughed and replied, “My name is Braid – guten morgen everyone.” He dipped his head in a nod to the camera. “The ware-house fire-suppression system failed. Normally it would dump a mix of inert gas and fire suppression dust on the lithium. Really I just had to go in there and manually discharge the system.”

“And the horse-suit?” prompted the reporter. “We’re all aware of the way the hazard suits normally mean you’d be, well, naked. Is this some new technology?”

“Ah, that’s my choice,” replied Braid. “I like the strength and utility presented by horses. I’m an arbeitspferd – a workhorse, I mean.”

“Well…” said the reporter, “It’s certainly a bold choice. Thank you for your time, Mr. Braid. And everyone here is certainly grateful you extinguished the fire.” She turned and faced the camera. “Now, back to the newsroom.” The scene switched to a newsdesk where a Deutsch-speaking man resumed the narrative.

“That’s all seven of the aliens. All around the world,” said Doctor Chand as the officer closed his laptop.

“Major political powers…” mused Officer Laidlaw. “England, Russia, China, India, America, Europe. And Australia.”

“We’re hardly a global political powerhouse down here,” scoffed Doctor Karl.

“True,” agreed the senior officer. “But still strategically important and a big, mineral-rich landmass.”

“Do you see sinister motives in everything?” asked Doctor Karl, exasperated.

“Yes. It’s my job. And everyone is always vying for some advantage.” He considered. “Chase was here a week ago. Those videos are no more than a couple of days old. What were the aliens up to for the first five days?

“Mostly,” said Chase from behind the startled group, “we were having sex.” The tall canid figure walked and flopped into a chair at the conference table.

“What? Sex? What?” asked a confused Doctor Chand. She leaned and placed her palms on the table, glaring at the alien. “You said we’re all going to die in, ah, three weeks now. And you spent a week having sex?”

Chase gestured for the scientists and officers to join him at the table. “Oh, Rob, any chance you can grab me a coffee?” he asked the younger officer.

“Uh, sure. Double macchiato, no sugar?” the young officer asked, turning toward the door.

The canine figure gave two thumbs-up. He turned to Doctor Chand. “Sex.” he said. “Tell me what happens after we stop the planet exploding.”

She glowered. “You tell me. You’re the social media star.”

“Heh. Well, yes. That’s part of stopping the world exploding,” chuckled the Great Dane. “But after…” He turned serious. “Is it ‘business-as-usual’ for you… for us?” He gestured and gold filaments and pearls appeared above the table. Dozens of small dark blotches congregated near one end of the filigree. “These are wars, biome destruction, pollution, corrupt governments, disease-outbreaks – measles! You idiots eliminated measles decades ago and it’s about to kill off tens of thousands of children again.” Darkness encroached on the golden tree until all the pearls had winked out. “Your species is taking yourselves and a million other species to extinction. If we stopped the conflagration and walked away you’d still all be dead in a century. Your entire ecosystem is tottering on the verge of collapse which will terminate you and the other minds who share this rock in space.”

“We’re working to avoid that,” protested Doctor Ash. “We have treaties and…”

“Bullshit,” said Chase. “You’re whistling past the graveyard. You’re fooling yourselves – telling yourselves comforting lies instead of the awful reality. At every climate disaster your media breathlessly reports you might be at the tipping point. Bollocks. You passed the tipping point a generation ago. Runaway heating is happening which is cascading into releasing more greenhouse gasses from permafrost, oceans and forests. You, here, now, can do squat to save the planet. Your species has put systems in place to ensure selfish bastards win. Selfish bastards empower other selfish bastards to keep dwindling resources flowing toward them. You are consuming yourselves. Your bones and brains are full of plastics. And you actually know it but you’re trying to put on a brave face, hoping some magic technology will save you at the last moment. It won’t. There are a thousand other smoking cinders of planets in your galaxy, billions in your universe, which are slag-heap remainants of burnt-out civilizations.”

“So… why are you helping us and not them?” asked Doctor Karl.

Chase sighed. “Right now, as we’re talking, there’s a homeless girl in a back-street of Kings Cross dying from a heroin overdose. In the Niger Delta a warlord is using a machete to hack the hands off a woman whose husband stole food. The warlord is funded by an oil company.” He looked earnestly at Doctor Karl. “Why aren’t you saving those people? It’s well within your power.”

“I, uh, have to work… I don’t know… I can’t do everything…” the doctor stammered.

“The loss of minds is a profound tragedy,” said Chase morosely. “Because you can’t be everywhere. Because the problem is bigger than you. Because you fear the consequences – what if they’re violent or a stalker. Because if you help one you may discover you have to help others and suddenly your life is no longer your own. So you choose to pretend you don’t know. We do what we can, where we can. We’re only on this world because it was the right time and place to help uplift you, and for you to help us procreate.”

“Is that what we are? Breeding stock?” snarled Officer Laidlaw.

“How do you get through your day with such a negative outlook?” asked the Great Dane turning to the officer. “No. We didn’t breed you. We bred ourselves with your assistance. You did what you wanted with the tools we gave you. Anyone could have walked away at any time. We uplifted each other – wittingly or otherwise.”

“What was that about sex for a week then?” asked Officer Wright.

“Heh. I knew it would be you who circled back to that.” The canine winked at the young officer and wagged his tail slowly. Officer Wright blushed and a tingle of excitement fluttered in his abdomen. “Let me explain…”