FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

2593-29

Eric walked through the large corridor of the headquarter building. The entire length of it was dark. The other workers walking by glanced at the black walls and ceiling, one was talking with maintenance, asking if there was something wrong. Maintenance would tell him there was, but they wouldn't be able to fix the problem.

Eric had shut down the hall's simulation of the outdoors. He didn't feel like dealing with even an artificial sky right now, and he was an Orr, he shouldn't have to if he didn't want it.

The doctor had wanted him to stay in bed for another day, but twenty-four hours was enough for Eric. So, his system wasn't entirely back to normal, he could monitor it himself and make sure not to exert himself. Anyway, all he was going to be doing was sitting down. He wanted to get this out of the way as quickly as possible. He owed William that much.

He pinged the person inside the room, informing them he was there, and the door opened. The inside was spacious, made to feel even more so because all that was in it was a table and three chairs. William was on one side of the table, one of the corporation's legal rep, Eric had to look up his name, Baron Tremaine, was seated on the other side, the one free chair next to him

Eric sat next to the long-eared dog.

"Thank you for joining us, Mister Orr." He had a formal tone, with clipped words.

"No problem. If Will needs me here, I'm here."

The dog nodded and addressed William. "Mister Fenian, you understand that this is an interview to establish the facts of what happened over the last three days?"

"I do."

"You acknowledge that you have declined to have your own legal representative present, and that while Mister Orr is here on your request, and he is one of the controlling member of the company, he cannot affect the decision that will be taken as a result of this interview?"

"I do."

"Very well. You have chosen to give your deposition in the form of giving us access to your memory buffer, which you say covers the entirety of the incident."

"Yes. I already keep a long buffer, because I often have to review my work hours after the fact, but when I found out Eric was missing, and realized the steps I was going to have to take, I set my buffer to keep recording and not erase anything."

"Very good, then please give us access to your buffer."

"I can't." William said.

"Mister Fenian," the dog said, sounding confused, "Did you, or did you not agree to this?"

William didn't respond, instead he fixed his gaze on Eric. The tiger tried to meet it, but he had to look away. He knew what William needed him to do, but he really didn't want to. That William needed this, meant his phobia had a part to play. Everything would come out.

The dog was looking from William to Eric. "Mister Orr, is there something I need to know?"

Eric sighed. "William, I order you to disregard my previous order."

"I can grant you access now, Mister Tremaine."

The dog looked at them a moment longer, then nodded. "Mister Orr, Mister Fenian indicated that he wanted you to witness the deposition, do you agree to do such? You may be called by an independent evaluation board to give your opinion on what you see."

"Am I supposed to record it?" Eric asked.

"No, I will have the official record of the deposition, and I will make that available to any boardmember that requires it. If they need an opinion of a specific incident, they will then provide the recording, but you'll already have the context for it. That is the purpose of your witnessing the deposition."

"Yeah, I'm fine with it."

"Very good. For the duration of the deposition, the playback of Mister Fenian's buffer will override your vision and hearing. Mister Fenian indicated he does not have any sensory addons to his implants. Let's proceed.

* * * * *

He was walking through the ship's corridor when he was advised a call was coming through. It was tagged for the captain, but if it had been redirected, it meant he didn't want to be disturbed. He'd been left in charge, so William took it.

"You're not Eric," a shirtless tiger seated at a table said.

"The captain isn't here, can I help you?"

"Do you know where he is? He said he was coming right over, and that was two hours ago."

"He left about two hours ago, it shouldn't take him this long to shuttle down to Earth." William sent Eric a text

'Eric, are you there?' William.

"I know, that's why I'm trying to reach him. I thought he'd been distracted by his kids and lost track of time."

"No, I can confirm he left the ship. I can have our comm tech see if he left the station."

'Message could not be delivered.' SolGov communication network.

"No need. I'll get our security on it." The communication ended.

William stood for a moment, looking at the door to the kitchen, then turned and headed to the lounge. He stepped in the g-Lift and pushed himself up a level. He entered the bridge, Jeff was gone, but Marc was still at his post.

"Marc, can you find out if Eric left the station already?"

"Why don't you just ask him?"

"I can't contact him. He's not ignoring my message, it couldn't be delivered."

Marc looked at him. "That's odd. He'd have to completely shut down his implant for that to happen."

"I know, and I can't think of a reason he'd do that, so if you can find out if he took a shuttle out I'd appreciate it."

"Sure." A moment later. "Yeah, he reserved one two hours ago from Continental leisure. He got in and left the station a few minutes later."

William nodded. "Where did he go?"

"I don't know. I figure he was going home. Nowhere else he'd normally goes."

"He hasn't arrived there yet, and yes that was where he was going. One of his brother was expecting him." He paused. "Elliot."

Marc frowned. "I can't help then; tracking information isn't available to the public."

"I know, but you can get it, right?"

"Will, that's illegal, shouldn't Orr Security be handling that? He's an Orr, after all."

"They are, but I'd like to know, for my own peace of mind."

The monkey raised his hand. "I'm sorry, I can't do it. I'm not going to break the law just to appease your nerves Will."

"Eric left me acting captain. What if I order you to do it? I'll be the one to take the blame."

Marc studied the wolf for a moment and turned back to the board. "I swear Will, if you leave me hanging for this I am going to hurt you." The monkey sat relaxed for a few minutes, then he tensed.

"What?" William asked. Marc didn't answer, his ears going from canted to folded back. "What?" he pressed.

"It's gone. Eric's shuttle just vanished off the traffic network. It was a couple of minutes away from the station then nothing."

"Maybe there was a glitch in the net? That's been known to happen."

"Sure, a hundred fifty years ago. And even if there had been one, his shuttle would have reappeared when it got out of the glitched spot. It still hasn't reappeared."

William swallowed. "Was is destroyed? A collision maybe?"

Marc was silent for a long moment. "Nothing about an explosion on any signal, not even the station's exclusive band."

"So, no explosions. What could have happened then?"

"I don't know, short of going out and looking ourselves, I doubt we'll be able to find out."

"Sure, why not? Just tap into the station's camera net."

Marc stared at William. "Are you serious? Do you have any idea how well guarded that is?"

"You got in the tracking net, how much more difficult can this be?"

"Will, nobody cares about the tracking net because it's always available for justified use. No one bothers hacking into it. The camera net? Everyday there's someone trying to get a picture of this dignitary's ship approaching, or that famous person on her yacht. Hell..." he was silent an after a moment a net link appeared in William's vision. The originator was Marc.

He opened it and he was looking at a freight puller ship approaching the station. The text under it read 'Freight puller Z3F89M7 in approach. The ship is an Orr freight puller captain by Eric Orr. Eric Orr is one of the current generation running Orr Corporation, and the only one of the family to work outside of Orr's territory. Theories abound as to why one of the famous Orr clan would be lowered to being captain on a freight puller when all images taken of the family show that he seems to get along with all of them.' It went on, but William dismissed it, focusing on Marc again.

"That image of us getting closer? That was today's approach. They started showing it within minutes of us being in camera range, and that's with the station restricting access to the cameras. Those sites employ the best hackers out there to get through the security. There is no way I am going to manage it."

"Just try it, please?"

"Fine," Marc replied sharply, "but so you know, I'm not setting off any alarms. I don't care you're taken the heat for this, they aren't going to stop at you. You might get fined, but I'm going to get my programing license revoked, at the minimum, if I get caught."

"Well?" William asked after ten minutes of pacing.

"I'm still looking for an access point I can use."

"It can't be that tough."

Marc glared at him over his shoulder. "You want to do this? If you're going to interrupt me every ten minutes, I might as well go do something else."

"Okay, sorry, I'm just-"

"I know you're worried Will, but I can't go any faster than I'm going. And you better be ready for a lot of nothing. I told you, I'm not going to be able to get in. Look, give me thirty minutes. I'll have gone over all the access point in that time, and I'll be able to tell you if I found a way in or not, okay? Go have sex with someone."

The wolf nodded. "Just-"

"I'll tell you as soon as I find something. Now leave me alone."

William left the bridge and the door slammed shut behind him. He glanced at the lock indicator, which remained unlocked. He looked at the doors down the corridor, then shook his head and stepped down the G-lift.

He landed softly and glanced in the lounge. Brick were naked and having a drink. Robert was going through a bag.

"Guy, do you mind sticking around for a bit longer?"

"Anything wrong?" Brick asked.

"I'm in no hurry," Robert said.

William didn't answer immediately. "Eric's shuttle has gone missing."

Both mules tensed.

"You checked the station logs?" Brack asked.

"Marc did, the tracking just shows it disappearing. He also didn't find any records of explosion." He looked around and down the corridor. "Jeff!" he called at the jackal who was opening the lift to the cargo level.

Jeff looked at him and William motioned him over.

"Gerald's with the kids?"

"Yeah," the hyena said. "He said something about his wife being busy with a project for a few days, so he didn't mind watching them if any of us needed to leave before the captain was back."

"What's up?" Jeff asked.

William called up Gerald. "Gerald, you busy?"

"Just playing with the kids."

"Let the nannies watch them for a bit, I need you in the lounge."

William waited for everyone to be there. "Okay, Eric's shuttles' gone missing. He never made it to his meeting with his brother. Marc's trying to access the camera to see what happened, but he isn't hopeful."

"Have you told security?" the fox asked.

"His brother did, but before we go any further, I need to know if any of you have anything urgent that'll take them off the ship." Shakes of the head from everyone. "Okay. It might just be some of Eric's paranoia bleeding off on me, but I'd like us to be ready in case we need to do something."

"Just to be clear here," Jeff said, his tone cool. "You're taking over while the captain isn't here?"

"Eric asked me to look after things in his absence." The mules, Robert and Jeff looked dubious. "Come on guys, you know I can't do anything to hurt you or the ship. If one of you want to take charge, I have no problem with that."

Jeff opened his mouth, but Brick spoke over him.

"No. You've been with the captain the longest. He trusted you to look after things, so you're in charge." He glared at the jackal. "No argument, Jeff."

"Fine," Jeff said. "Then what are we doing."

"If Marc can't get information, I'll contact Orr security and offer our assistance. If they track him to the station, we'll be the closest ones to act."

"They've got security already here," Brack said.

"No, they don't, this is SolGov territory, none of the corporations are allowed to have any kind of military force here."

"Sure, but none of them listen to that. Oh, they'll all be visiting, or on 'vacation', but they'll be ready to act. I won't be surprise if they even managed to hide weapons."

"I'm going to offer our help anyway. I'm not going to force anyone here to go on the station after Eric, but if it comes to that, I will."

The mules snorted in unison. "You're going to need us," Brick said. "You can't shoot worth damn."

"I'm not leaving the captain hanging," Robert said.

"I have the boss' back too." Jeff said.

"Count me in," Gerald added. "I like Eric, so I'd rather help getting him back."

"Okay, then I'll keep you updated with what I find out, as I find out."

Everyone went up the G-lift, the mules now wearing something military looking. William went to the bridge, while the others to their rooms. He checked the time, and resumed pacing. He did a search for any recent news stories about the Orrs, and was inundated with financial stories, he removed them, and was left with a couple of stories about family members seen in various cities. Some speculative pieces about the Orr's future plans for city development, and entertainment stories. Mostly famous impersonators at various parties. Nothing about Eric.

"There's no way I can get in, Will."

The wolf nodded. "Okay, sorry for pushing. I'm going to contact Orr security, offer our help. Everyone else is good with helping, but I'm not forcing anyone to participate."

"They're okay with you taking charge?"

William sighed.

"No, sorry," Marc said. "I didn't mean it like that. You've got the seniority, you're in charge. And I'm helping, whatever I can do to help."

"Okay, thanks. I'll let you know what's going on after this call."

William went to his room and contacted the Orr security office. I heavy set woman answered, a sheep with stylishly trimmed wool.

"Orr Security, what is the nature of your call?"

"I'm trying to find out what the status on the search for Eric Orr is."

"I'm sorry, sir, but if this is an active investigation, I'm not in a position to release any information."

"That's part of that I'm trying to find out, is anyone looking for him?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but I am not able to comment on this. If there is an investigation, once the corporation feel it can discuss it, it will release any relevant information to the media."

He sighed. "Look, I'm William Fenian. I work for Eric Orr. I need to know what is happening about his disappearance."

"Sir, I'm afraid that who you are doesn't change the fact that I am not in a position to comment on what may or may not be happening. It isn't corporate policy to discuss any security matter with people not directly involved."

"Okay, then how do I and the crew get involved? We want to help looking for him, or assist in his rescue if needed."

"We appreciate the offer, but it isn't our policy to make use of civilian for security matters. Have a good day." The transmission ended.

William stood there, stunned for a moment, then called again.

"Orr Security, what is the nature of your call?" The same sheep asked.

"It's me again."

She sighed.

"Look, before you disconnect me. I'm the acting captain because Eric Orr has vanished-"

"I can't comment on that."

"That's fine, then put me in contact with someone who can."

"Sir, it isn't our policy to-"

"I don't fucking care what your policy is. My captain, and my friend, is missing. You don't need to confirm that, because I know it for a fact. If you can't tell me anything, then find someone who can, because I'm not going to stop bothering you until you do."

"Sir, making a nuisance of yourself isn't going to help you or us."

"Maybe not, but it's going to give me something to do instead of feeling useless." He sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for being so insistent, but if I'm not going to be able to do anything, I need to know that something is being done."

She sighed, looked around, then typed something. He looked around again. "Look, I really can't tell you much, I shouldn't even tell you this, but we found the shuttle he rented inside an abandoned building."

"Thank you. Can you tell me in what city it was found? Or even just in which territory? Is there any way we can help? Our ship has a state of the art scanner, installed last year."

"No, I can't tell you that, I know you want to help, but having you running around would interfere with our investigation. Look, we have especially trained personnel working on it. I promise you, it doesn't matter who kidnapped him, or where they are hiding him, be it in a building or underground, Eric Orr will be found."

William sighed. "Alright, I understand. Thank you." He ended the transmission and sat on the edge of his desk.

He opened a comm link to everyone on the ship. "Okay, here's the news I have," he said, once they acknowledge contact. "They found his shuttle somewhere, they won't tell me more than it was inside a building, so probably to hide it from view. And they have people on this."

"I'd hope so," Jeff said, "He's an Orr, they have to take his disappearance seriously."

"They do, but they don't want us involved."

"As much as I want to help," Brack said, "It makes sense they don't want outside help. They have procedures and protocols. We'd mess that up."

"So what?" Gerald said, "we just sit on our asses and hope they find him?"

"You can sit on my cock, if that'll help," Brick said.

"It would, but you know that's not what I mean. I get what you said Brack, but there has to be something we can do to help."

"No, there isn't. They are going to go over the shuttle with every instrument they have. Every piece of information they find will be a clue toward where they've taken him. There's nothing we can add to that, not from up here, and not even if we were down there with them, we'd just be in the way."

"I don't like it," William said, "But Brack's right, they're going to get all the information they need to find..."

"What?" Brack asked. "Will?"

"Of fuck," William whispered, "Did you know?"

"Will? Know what?" Brick asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Something Xav said to me. Look, I need to call Orr Security back." He ended the call and started initiating the one to the security office, but canceled it before it connected. He cursed.

"Marc, I'm heading to the bridge, you're still there?" He ran

"Of course, until we shut down the ship we need someone here."

William came to hard stop behind the monkey. "Can we scan for Eric ourselves with the new sensors?"

"Why? You said they don't want us involved."

"I know, but can we do it?"

"No, of course not. Forgetting we don't even know where to look, there's no way we could tell him out of everyone else."

"I thought our sensors were state of the art."

"They are, but they aren't designed for planetary work. Do you have any idea the kind of static the atmosphere throws up? And that's without even considering the electronic chatter."

William cursed.

"What's going on Will?"

"They're missing information that could be important."

"What information? How come you aren't telling them?"

William opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He sighed. "Trust me, if I could tell them, I would."

Marc studies the wolf for a moment. "It's something the captain ordered you not to talk about, isn't it?"

William shrugged.

"You realize if they find out your withholding information they aren't going to be happy."

"Fortunately for me, they don't even want me talking to them. There has to be something we can do. Can't we ping his implant? I know he's done it."

"He's a doctor, his implant comes with specific privilege none of us has. If he was on the ship, or close by we probably could, but to ping him on Earth we'd need his specific ID number, His communication ID wouldn't work since he isn't registering on the network. And even then, there's no telling if we'd be able to do it. He'd have to be on the network. He might be, and just hiding himself, let's say, if he managed to escape and he doesn't want them to find him the same way we'd do it, but he might also be shielded from the network, or, he might-"

"Don't say it."

"Bottom line, is that without his implant ID, there's nothing we can do and even with it, no guaranties."

"Okay, so let's start by getting his ID, since it's linked to his comm ID, can you find it that way?"

The monkey glared at him. "Do I need to go over how under qualified for that kind of hacking I am again? And don't bother asking me to try. I'm not even getting anywhere close to the Registry System. They wipe personalities for those kinds of crimes."

"Okay, then who can give it to us?"

Marc shrugged. "The head of the corporation, I guess, he has ultimate power, so that'd be something he could do. Otherwise, I don't know."

"Okay, let me see if I can convince him." William found the number in the ship's system from when Elliot called. He called it, but was blocked. "Makes sense a guy like him doesn't leave his line open."

William sat in the pilot's seat. "You know what, I think this is going to take a while. I'll look after the bridge, you go relax. If I get this, we'll be moving."

Mark nodded and left.

William was silent for a long moment, then looked up the number for Orr Breeding and called them

"Orr Breeding, how can we satisfy your needs for steers."

"I'm trying to reach either Sampson or Samuel Orr."

"I'm afraid neither of them are in the office at this time, do you want to leave them a message?"

"No, this is urgent, their number isn't listed, and I know you can't give it to me, but can you contact them and let them know that William Fenian is trying to reach them? They met me at the family picnic."

"Do they know how to reach you?"

William gave her his comm ID, and she ended the call. He immediately began a search for Orr owned business, and before he was done reading the first, looking for how ran it, he received a call.

"Hey Will, Adelle said you needed to talk to one of us."

"Hi Samuel," William hesitated. "Look, I don't know how much you've heard about Eric."

"He's missing, I know. Elli contacted everyone. I sent Sam to the stable, he was driving himself crazy with worries, sex will take his mind off it for a while."

"How are you handling it?"

"I'm good, always been steadier then my brother. I doubt our state of mind is why you wanted to talk. What's bothering you?"

William hesitated. "Samuel, I'm a bit like Sam, but I think there's something I can do to help, but I need to get Eric's implant ID for that."

The tiger narrowed his eyes. "Why would you need something like that?"

"So we can scan for him."

"Will, our security is already doing that, they found his shuttle, and they're scouring the area. I know there scanning the net for him."

"But he isn't on the net, is he?"

"It doesn't look like it, so how would his ID be of any use to you?"

"I want to scan for him directly, not over the net, but force a long-range ping."

"Can that even be done?"

"Sure, we can ping each other in line of sight. I need his ID because I can't get line of sight. With our sensors we could send out a request specified to him, and listen for the implant's reply."

"You should tell the security forces that. If they haven't thought about it they need to know it can be done."

"It isn't going to do much good if they don't know where to look."

"Will, that isn't your decision to make, you want to help, that's how you do it, contact them, and tell them."

"They might listen more if it came from you."

Samuel chuckled "Do I look like someone who'd be able to answer any question they'd have? Look, if you think you have something to prove, you don't. Eric hired you, and has kept you on because he trusts you. He isn't going to hold it against you that you let the people who are trained for it find him."

William sighed. "I guess you're right. Okay. I'll call them."

"They'll find him Will, don't you worry about that. Eric's got a family to look after, so he's going to come back."

William forced a smile. "I know. I'll see you whenever there's another picnic." He ended the call.

It took him a long minute before he called the Orr Security number.

"Orr Security," A severe looking bull answered. "Unless this is a corporate related issue, please call emergency services."

William took a deep breath. "My name is William Fenian. I work for Eric Orr, and I'd like to talk to someone in authority."

"What's this about?"

"I really need to take to someone who'll be able to do something with what I have to say."

"Just tell me and I'll pass it along."

"We don't have time for bureaucracy." William snapped. "Eric's life could be in danger and we need to find him as soon as possible."

"We do, and if your information can help, you need to tell me so I can inform the right department."

"Fine," William sighed. "Have you considered pinging Eric's implant directly?"

"How'd you do that?"

"You broadcast the ping request, then listen for the response using a strong enough sensor."

"You can do that?" the bull's brows were furrowed so deep they looked like steps.

"Yes, it can be done, do you want me to explain the exact procedure?"

"I think you'd better talk to the people who know about stuff like that."

"I think that's a good idea," William answered, his tone forcefully neutral.

"Tactical," a gorilla said, as she glanced away.

William waited she her to pay attention to him again. "I'm William Fenian, I work for Eric Orr and-"

"What are you doing calling here? Who transfered you to me?"

"I didn't get his name. Look, I need to know if-"

"Look here, we're busy. You might not know that, but we have a situation to deal with, and-"

"I know! Eric is missing, he's my captain, that's why I'm-"

"Do you think that just because you work for him you're entitled to special treatment? That you get to call us, make demands?"

"I'm not making any demands damn it, I want to help. I'm trying to get his implant ID so I can't scan for him!"

She stared at him for a moment. "Are you implying we aren't already doing that?"

"No, of course not, but are you looking for everywhere?"

"Or course we are."

"How about in the mountain of Bolivia? Or the Cascarnian desert?"

"Why would we look there, there's nothing there."

William opened his mouth, but didn't say anything. He sighed. "Then let me and the crew here do that for you. If there's nothing, you don't waste your time, if he turns out to be there, then we get him back that much sooner."

Her eyes narrowed. "This is sounding like you're after something."

"Yes, I'm after my captain."

"No, I don't think so. Why would you look for him in a desert? I think you're trying to get special authorization to get a ship in atmosphere. Are you some sort of treasure seeker?"

"No, I told you who I am, I work for-"

"Yeah yeah. Look I have better things to do then to listen to some scam artist trying to use a crisis to his advantage."

William was on his feet. "Don't you even think of disconnecting. I'm not a swindler. I'm a concern employee trying to help. You disconnect me and my next call is to Eric's father. You want to explain to Francis why you won't let me help, you go right ahead." He paused. "If you don't want to be the one to make this decision, that's fine. Transfer me to someone higher up who will."

She disappeared and William started cursing, then stopped. The connection was still active, the image simply blank. It took a few minutes and then an antelope was looking at him, her eyes narrowed and nostrils flaring.

"Just who do you think you are threatening a security officer? I don't care if you know anyone in the Orr family, we don't take threats lightly here."

William spoke in as calm a tone as he could. "I'm not threatening anyone, ma'am, I am trying to offer my help, but I'm being treated like some con artist."

"Really? If I get this right, you're looking to get access to one of the Orr family's implant ID. Do you have any idea how well guarded that information is? And what I have to think if you're trying to damn hard to get it?"

"I don't believe this. Don't you guys have ways to verify who I am? I'm not lying, or running a scam, I want to help and-"

"Yeah yeah. And you need his ID. Let me tell you something, buster. Unlike the uninformed masses, like the guy you clearly stole the ID from, the Orr family doesn't allow anyone to have their ID number, you know why? Because once you have that, you can pass yourself off as that person. But I don't have to tell you that, do I? You're entirely familiar with how that works?"

William's jaw hung open for a moment. "You-you can't be thinking that I'm-"

"Oh, stuff the outraged act okay? Do you have any idea how often we people claiming they want to 'help' with something? I don't know how you heard about Mister Orr's predicament, but you can trust me that whoever your source within the corporation is, he or she is going to be in big trouble before the day's over." The antelope disappeared.

"Damn it! What it is with those thick skulled paranoid baboons!"

"Paranoia is part of their job description," a tiger said, making the wolf jump. William stared at the image, which hadn't been there a moment ago. The tiger was only visible form his chest up but he wore a polo shirt that fit him perfectly.

William continued to stare.

"I hope you don't mind," the tiger said in the silence, "I high-jacked the transmission before it was disconnected."

"Who are you?" William asked.

"Actually," the tiger said, as if he hadn't heard the question, "could you move to Eric's room?"

"Why?"

The tiger smiled. "Just humor me."

William hesitated for moment, then left the bridge. He entered Eric's room and Gerald looked up from the floor where he was lying on his back, with Trevor shewing on one of his long ear, and Thomas pulling on the fennec's finger as if he could drag him to the other side of the room.

"Will, any news?"

One of the nannybots was pulling Tucker down from the nursery station. The other two were in standby against the wall.

William shook his head. "Can you go look after the bridge? I'll keep an eye on the kids."

Gerald untangled himself from the boys and stood. Trevor simply moved on to chewing on Tyson's hand, who didn't seem to notice, engrossed with the small puzzle box he was banging against the mat.

"Is something wrong?" Gerald asked.

"I don't think so," William said after a moment of hesitation. He smiled. "I just need something to distract me."

The fox grinned. "Well, these guys will do that, they're expert at it." He patted the wolf's shoulder and left.

"You didn't tell him the truth?" The tiger said, now standing next to William. The wolf jumped again.

"How?"

The tiger indicated the walls with a finger. "Holographic projectors." He then turned his gaze on the boys running and playing on the mat. "They sure have grown over the last year."

"Wait, you see them?"

"Come on, what's the point of being here if I can't see anything."

"But how? You're just a projection. And how did you get into the system? It's protected."

The tiger smiled. "There's nowhere within Orr Corp I can't go. I high-jacked the sensors."

"Marc," Will called.

"Please don't bother him, there's nothing he can do."

"Yeah, Will?"

"Do me a favor and check the ship's system, see if there's been any intrusion."

The tiger shook his head, smiling.

"Sure, you think we've been hacked?"

"I...just check, okay?"

"Will do."

"Do you want to wait for him to confirm I'm not actually here before we continue?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Uncle, I'm surprised Eric never mentioned me."

"He has quite a few uncles, I met most of them, as far as I know."

The tiger smiled. "Yes, the family picnic. I couldn't attend, but I did watch. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Samuel seemed to be surprised by the experience of getting knotted by someone on two legs."

"But how? There were no recorders there."

The tiger laughed. "There were hundreds of recording happening. Orr orgies are very popular on the networks."

"Will?" Marc called.

"Yeah?"

"All the systems check clean, no intrusions happened."

"Okay, thanks." William looked at the tiger. "Okay, which of Eric's uncle are you? And why are you talking with me?"

"I guess, that strictly speaking, you can say I'm the oldest of Eric's uncles."

"You look younger than Sampson, I thought he was the oldest."

The tiger smiled. "I guess he is."

"You aren't making any sense."

The tiger approached him and fixed his blue-gray eyes on the wolf. William took a step back. "If you listen carefully to what I say, or don't say, you'll find I make perfect sense." He spun and walked through the nannybot to go look at the cribs.

"Now, why is it that you want Eric's implant ID for."

It took a moment for William to find his voice. "To search for him."

"But why do you want to search for him, we have the whole of Orr Security doing that."

"Because they aren't looking everywhere for him."

The tiger turned and leaned against the station. "They are looking everywhere that matters."

"But what if there's something they don't know?"

"Then you tell them."

"Like they'd listen to me. They treated me like I was a criminal."

"Fine, tell me, and I'll make sure it's acted on."

William opened his mouth, but no words left it.

"Interesting. This involves something Eric ordered you not to talk about. Oh, don't act so surprised, I know exactly what he had done to you, not just what he told Elliot, but the extra thing. But you can't even acknowledge that, can you?"

The tiger watched the boys for a moment, Tony and Tyson were napping on the mat, snuggled up together while Terrence was tearing up what might have been a cushion as some point.

"I'll let you in on a little secret. No one in this family spends the kind of money on someone like you without me looking into it. You have no idea how much I hate having to deal with titan, it takes me weeks to resolves the time dissonance, but I went over everything the doctor did to you. I don't agree with any of it, but it was Eric's decision. I have to respect it."

He turned again. "Can you explain to me how this thing works?"

"What?" William asked.

"The nursery station, how does it work?"

"Well, when the boys need to be changed or to eat, it helps with that. It creates the right mix for the formula each of them needs, cleans and disinfects diapers, sees to minor injuries, although Eric usually takes them to the medbay and handles that himself."

"And he lets those things take care of his sons? Feed them and change them?"

"Oh no, he does as much of it by himself, and we help. Eric is very much hands on when it comes to his kids. Enough he almost drove himself insane before Gerald convinced him he had to get help."

The tiger nodded. "So, he tells the station what he needs and it pulls it out."

"Yeah, the control unit has a bunch of menus, he picks what he needs from it and it provides it."

"I'm glad he deals with that himself." He faced William. "Okay, let me be blunt. I can't give you Eric's ID number. There's no way you can get it from anyone in the corporation. That ID is his life, he wouldn't give it out even if the price was his life and I can't do it either. I'm completely incapable of telling you what it is, so much so that I don't even understand why you bothered asking me. Look, I appreciate that you want to help. And the idea of scanning where people might not think to look is a good idea, but like you said, without his ID, there's nothing you can do." The tiger placed his hands on William's shoulders, and they went through them as he tried not to back away. "I really wish there was a way I could help you, but you're on your own here. If somehow you do manage to get what you need, I wish you luck."

The tiger disappeared.

William sat on the bed, and in moment Tucker was climbing his leg. The wolf sat the small tiger on his lap and rubbed him between the ears which calmed them both.

"Marc, can you come to Eric's room?"

A moment later the monkey entered.

"I can't get his ID number. I get the feeling I spoke with the one person who might have been able to give it to me, and even he can't."

"So, we're fucked."

"Is there anywhere on the ship we could pull it from?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I might be grasping at nothing, but the way he said things makes me think he implied we don't need him to get it. So, is there anything on the ship that might contain it?"

"No, unless Eric recorded it somewhere, and that would be really stupid on his part."

"How about the ship's controls? Like the door locks. It knows who to let it because it has our ID number in it, right?"

"Sure, but that's hidden among a billion bogus numbers. And before you ask, they don't keep a record of who accessed it. The identity of the interaction is erased within a couple of micro seconds."

William looked at the station. "How about something like the ANS? There's no lock on it, right?"

"Yeah, but because of that it doesn't hold any identity at all. I mean, I guess Eric could have set something up, if he didn't want someone on the ship to use it. Why?"

"Why was he so curious about it?" William whispered.

"Who?"

"One of Eric's uncle."

"Which one?"

"I don't know, he never gave me his name, but he asked me how it worked, even asked if Eric used it. Can you scan it?"

"I told you, it won't have it. It doesn't even check that."

"Do me a favor and look anyway."

"Sure, it isn't like I have anything else-Holy Fuck."

"What? Is it there?"

"I don't know, but someone was in this and made changes. I mean there's a safe box program in here that wasn't there this morning."

"Can you open it?"

"Will, you don't get it, someone put this in there, that means we were hacked, and I didn't see any evidence of it."

"Then he did it."

"Who?"

"Eric's uncle."

Marc's eyes went wide and he stepped away from the station. "It's him."

"So, can you get in?"

"Are you fucking kidding me? I'm not touching that thing. That guy scrambled those pirate's implant's last year. There's no way to know what that thing's going to do if I even look at it funny."

"Didn't Eric say it was a comm overload that caused it?"

"Yeah, but cause he didn't want anyone else freaking out the way I did."

"Okay. Alright, but if it's the same guy, he's on our side, he wouldn't leave something that would harm us, would he?"

Marc calmed. "I guess not. I'm going to take a look, but I'm not trying to hack it, no matter what you say." He was silent for a few minutes. "Okay, that thing is like nothing I've seen it isn't a commercial model. I don't think anyone could get through it."

"So how do you get in?"

"I don't. I tried turning the lock, and it won't let me, but I can tell that it can open. It's just a question of the right person trying."

"Eric?"

"If that's the case, it won't help us."

William straightened. "The son of a bitch."

"What?"

William connected to the station and menus came up. "Where is the safe? All I see are the options listing."

"Go in management, formulas, mix, then the one called growth. Accessing that one is trying to open the box, but it won't"

William accessed it and a blank field appeared.

"The son of a bitch, I've got it."

"What?"

"He said he couldn't give it to me directly, so he put it there for us to get. Come on. You need to let the station know we're unhooking."

"Jeff, we're about to get moving, I need you in the pilot's seat."

"On my way."

"What am I telling the station?" Marc asked.

"Just tell them we need to unhook, let them assume the rest."

Gerald move out of the pilot's seat.

"We have what we need to start the search for Eric," William said.

"You need me to get ready?"

"There's nothing to get ready for yet. Just rest and take it easy, this will probably take a while."

The fennec nodded and left as William entered.

"We have the okay to unhook," Marc said, "the area is clear around us."

"Jeff, take us out."

The jackal worked the controls, a loud clank reverberated thought the ship and they moved away from the station.

"Where to Will?"

"Marc, how close do we need to be?"

"Ideally, we'd want to be under the stratosphere."

"Not going to happen," Jeff said. "This thing doesn't have anything like the thrust power needed to keep itself in the air in full atmosphere, not to say that we don't have the permits to operate below the Ionosphere. This is an inter-planet freight puller, not a planet one."

"That's too high, the signal's going to disperse too widely for what we need."

"Can't you narrow it?" Jeff asked.

"Not enough, it wasn't designed to work through atmosphere. The closer we are the better the results."

Jeff was silent and the ship flew around the station. "Okay, I can safely get us to just above the unmanned satellite layer. We'll be breaking quite a few laws. That's SolGov jurisdiction, they can be pretty rough.

"That's two megameters," Marc stated, "that's way too high."

"You need me to go through that junk layer, I'll do it, but if I nudge something, we're going to be pissing off some very powerful people."

William pulled up a density map for the Low Earth orbit layer. "We're not that big, there are plenty of low density zones."

"It's not the density that's the problem, it's how fast they fly. This isn't designed to maneuver through an obstacle course. I'll say I'm confident I can do it, just be warned that anything I touch is going to fall down, and if it crashes anywhere but the ocean, we can all kiss out careers goodbye."

"So, the question is, are we willing to risk that for a chance to save Eric?" William asked.

"I am," Jeff replied.

"Me too," Marc added.

"No questions," Brick said.

William looked over his shoulder. The rest of the crew was standing by the entrance, even Gerald was there and they were all nodded.

"Think about it this way," Robert said, "no matter what happens, once we rescue him, we'll be able to sell the story to the studios and live of that."

"Then you'd better hope we get caught by SolGov," Jeff said. "The corporate council doesn't let criminals profit from their crimes in anyway."

"Jeff, find the lowest density zone and cross there, get us as low as you safely can and we'll manage with that." William pulled up a Map of Earth and studied it.

"Will," Marc said after he'd been looking at it for ten minutes. "Believe it or not," he said dryly, "the station wants to talk to us."

"I'll take it."

"Puller Z3F89M7, this is Luna station control. You are moving close to the interdiction line for your class of ship, please alter your course."

"Thank you for the update, Station," William said, his tone trembling slightly. "I'm just having one of the crew practice his piloting skills, we'll stay away from it."

"Acknowledged, but be advised that the fines for getting too close to Earth are high, and we are recording your path."

"We'll be careful." He ended the call.

"Careful?" Jeff asked. "They've noticed us, we're not getting out of this is we keep going."

"Anyone wants us to turn back?" William asked.

No one said anything.

"Marc can you simulate comm troubles?"

"Sure, but they're not dumb, they're going to know what I'm doing."

"Don't bother then, I'm acting captain, I'll take the heat."

"I've got my entry point," Jeff said.

"The station again."

"Puller Z3F89M7, you are heading closer to the interdiction line, you are instructed to move away."

"As I said Station, I'm letting a crewman practice, I'm trying to get him to feel some of the Earth's pull."

"Oh, you better hope they're dumb if you want them to believe that," Jeff mumbled.

"I don't care Puller Z3F89M7. I'm ordering you to get back to the normal orbits for your class of ships. You can have your pilot practice in virtual, like everyone else."

"Look, I'm not breaking any laws-"

"Yes, you are" someone in the bridge whispered.

"We're allowed to fly here so long as we don't cross the line."

"Puller Z3F89M7, you're showing all intentions of crossing the line. Pull away now of I'll have to dispatch armed ships to convince you."

"Station, I don't-"

"There," the station operator interrupted him, "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

William looked at Jeff, who shook his head and showed him they were still heading toward Earth.

"Station...what do you want us to do now?"

"Just stay away from the interdiction line Puller Z3F89M7. You should know the rules by now. I'll continue monitoring your flight to make sure you don't try it again."

"Alright, Station."

"What was that?" Robert asked.

"A glitch in their system?" Brick offered.

"No glitch would alter our course," Marc said, "this is intervention by someone." He looked at William.

"Eric's uncle." The wolf said.

"Got to be," the monkey agreed. "I don't know anyone else that good."

"Okay, if he's covering our trail, let's take advantage of it."

"And you better hope he can do the same to the Corporate sensor grid," Jeff said, "because if they catch us..." he left the rest unsaid.

William went back to studying the map of Earth, focusing on unpopulated areas.

He dismissed it when the ship started shuddering.

"I'm under the junk belt," Jeff said. "The shuddering you're feeling is planet Earth inviting us to land. This is only going to get worse the lower I get."

"Then don't get so close we can't change our mind anymore."

"Do you have a destination for me? I don't think you want me to fly at random."

"Where are we?"

"Pacific ocean, about a thousand kilometer from the Orr coast."

"I doubt they took him to the Orr territory, so we're going to start with Ameritech." He brought the map back, highlighted the flat lands with the lowest population, and sent it to Jeff.

"Why there?" the pilot asked. "There's nothing, not even trees."

"For one thing, it's because Orr Security isn't going to look there, ever, exactly those reasons."

"And what's the other reason?"

William ground his teeth for a moment. "You're going to have to trust me that I know what I'm doing."

Jeff looked over his shoulder. "Will, this isn't the time to keep anything to yourself, not after what you did to the array."

"You know I can't do anything to put you or the ship in danger."

"Yeah? We're in danger of being arrested, I guess that doesn't count."

"I guess not."

"Will, you better damn tell me what you know, or I'm turning us around."

William kept his mouth shut.

"It's like the knife things, isn't it?" Brack asked.

Will said nothing.

"What are you talking about?" Jeff asked.

"When the captain ordered Will to cut his hand off, he couldn't resist, he had to do what he'd been ordered to. It's the same here, he should tell us. Makes no sense he won't. He's tense, if he tightens his jaw anymore he's going to break teeth. He wants to tell us, but he can't."

"That's just bloody wonderful," Jeff grumbled. "The guy giving the orders can't give us the whole picture."

"You want to take over, you're welcome to do so." William said

"Except I don't know what you know. It wouldn't do any good. I just want it on records I hate this."

"I do too," William said.

"Will," Marc said, "If you give me his ID, I'll start setting things up."

"No, I'll do the pinging, you just broadcast the signal."

"You don't trust me with it?"

"Marc, this is Eric's life I'm holding. The fewer people know it, the better it is."

Reluctantly, Marc nodded. "Take a seat. You're going to have to send it constantly."

The ship shook violently, then it steadied.

"Okay, that's as low as I go. Any lower and we're going to be kissing the ground hard."

William connected to the board Marc indicated and sent the ping request on a continual loop. The sensor could only scan a hundred-kilometer area so they moved as fast as they could through the zones William had found. Next, he sent them to Vanguard territory. They bypassed Halibury, the entire territory was one large city, then went over Soromis.

It was only Him, Marc and Jeff on the bridge. After the first hour the others had gone back to their things, bringing food and boosters to keep the three of them going.

"That's odd," Marc said.

William looked at him, his vision blurry for a moment. "What is it?" he looked at the time. They'd been searching for a day and a half, almost two days since Eric had disappeared.

"I'm looking at a quarantine field."

"What's odd about that? They're all over the place."

"in cities and around buildings, but this one is in the middle of nowhere." He brought up a map. It showed farm land for hundreds of kilometers according to the scale. Marc zoomed until they were looking at a ten-square kilometer area, with a blank circle in the middle, close to two kilometers in diameter. "Who needs to quarantine a field?"

"Maybe it's hiding a building," Jeff offered.

"No, quarantine fields only block electronic signals. I'm looking at this with a camera and superimposing the dead zone. I'd see a building."

"Can you zoom in any further? To see if Eric's there?"

"In a field?" Jeff said. "Why would someone kidnap the boss and dump him in a field? Are they having ravens pick his eyes out or something?"

"I can't, this is the best I can do at this distance."

William checked where they were. In the wheat fields of Sudan. "We still have about a quarter of Soromis to scan. Do you think it's worth continuing?"

"You're in charge," Marc said.

William rubbed his face.

Jeff looked at him over his shoulder. "Look, how confident are you this is the place? You know what we don't. We've done all the other territories, what do you think we'll find if we keep going?"

William looked at the map again. "Nothing. This is the perfect place to keep him, the quarantine field keeps him from calling for help. Take us back to the station."

"You two go to bed. I can deal with comms this time around."

* * * * *

William got a bit more than five hours of sleep when the clangs of the ship docking woke him. He grabbed a shower, and food, where the others joined him.

"I've got a shuttle reserved for us under Gerald's name. He's from Soromis, so no one will question us heading in that direction." Marc said scarfing down a sandwich.

"The thing is that where we're going to corporate land, travel there is controlled. We won't be able to give that as our destination."

"Don't worry about that," Marc said, "The shuttles are easy to hack, I'll shutdown the tracker. It should give us a few hours before anyone notices."

"Brick, Brack, only one of you is coming," William said, "I want one of you here in case there's trouble, I'm not leaving the kids unprotected. Someone also needs to stay and watch over them."

"I can't stay," Marc said, "You're going to need me to adjust the shuttle's broadcast system for you to ping the captain. Jeff's staying, he barely made it to his bed."

"I'll stay," Brick said, after the mules talked it over.

"You need me since the shuttle is in my name."

Robert looked around. "That leaves me to look after them I guess."

"Sorry, but you know how Eric feels about the nannys. He doesn't want the kids left alone with them any longer than needed."

"Anyone find it stranger that none of Eric's family came to get them?" Robert asked.

"They probably figure the ship is the safest place for them while they look for Eric."

Brack left and came back with a travel case. "It's shielded to show clothing and normal stuff. It'll pass any normal scan. I'm bringing three guns, but I'm only pulling them out if I think we'll need them."

"Can I put this out there?" Robert asked, "Why don't we just tell the Orrs about what you found?"

"Will can't tell them the reasoning," Brick answered, "so they're going to ignore it because it makes no sense why anyone would hold the captain there. If he's there, we're the only ones he's got right now."

They left, walking as casually as they could. No one stopped or slowed them, and a few minutes later they were in flight again. They let the shuttle fly itself until they were in Soromis air space and heading to Goled, the closest city to the field where the quarantine was.

Marc used the time to undo the dash, making sure to deactivate the tampering sensors, then he installed what he needed to modify the sensor and reprogrammed the tracker so they could turn it off.

They were a hundred kilometer away when Marc looked up. "The quarantine field's gone down!"

"Still no response to my pings."

"He's too far for this jury-rigged system, fifteen kilometers is the best we'll get."

"Gerald, take control and head directly there. Marc, with the field down, can you find him on the net?"

"Still no presence."

Gerald flew them low over the dark fields. "There's a building there, looks like a grain warehouse."

"Still no response to my pings."

"Could they by hiding inside?" The fennec asked.

"I'm not seeing a quarantine field in there, and no one is registering on the net."

"If they have a quarantine field, will my pings get through it?"

"No, unless you're lucky enough for it to leave a frequency open and you match that."

"Okay, Land and let's see if we can find something to tell us where he might be."

"He's on the net!" Marc screamed as the shuttle touched down.

"Can you talk to him?" William asked as he prepared a message for Eric.

"He's gone. Let me see if I can figure out where he was."

"Got it," Gerald said, and they took off.

"I pin pointed him to a twenty-kilometer area based on what nodes registered him. If he isn't under a quarantine field, you'll be able to ping him."

"And if he is?"

"I'll be able to see it, and that'll tell us where he is too."

A few minutes later Marc had Gerald change direction. He then pointed to a building barely visible in the darkness.

"It's got a quarantine field. The flyer parked next to it probably had one too and the captain showed up while they took him from one to the other."

"Can you scan for them?" Brack asked.

"No, this isn't equipped for serious scanning. All I can tell you is that the quarantine field is limited to the building, and that no one is registering on the net outside of it."

"Gerald, land us next to the flier," The mule directed and he took out the guns, handing one to William and Marc.

He was the first one out and he checked out the flier. After that he headed for the building's door, William and Marc at his heel. The door was closed, but not locked. It opened silently and they heard:

"...I don't find out you've been forcing it on Orr citizens, like you were planning to do to me, you can go on living your primitive little lives in peace."

William peered around Brack who sneaked into the corridor. Eric was standing a gun pointed at a kangaroo who had his back to them.

"Now, I'm leaving. I'm going home to my family, to my children, to my crew. You can either get out of my way, or be shut down." He said.

"I don't think you can hit me from where you are. I'm surprised you know how to handle a gun, but you can't be that good." The kangaroo replied.

Brack had moved behind the kangaroo and put his gun to the head. "He can't, but I can blow your head clean off if you don't drop your gun."

The kangaroo didn't move for a moment, then he lowered his gun.

William ran around Brack as the mule restrained the kangaroo. "Eric, are you okay?"

The tiger nodded. "Brack, you have him?" Eric looked at William, his face a masked of exhaustion. "You're going to want to catch me." He said, and then crumpled in the wolf's arms.