FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Doril and Niosh both get comfortable in their respective jobs and homes. Of course, there are always some sort of problems at work, no matter who or what you are....

--

"I've got to say, Mr. Syhassi." The Tyrazed folded his thick fingers together, his wide-pupilled green eyes gazing steadily at Ril. "Quite honestly I'm surprised that you even applied here, and I'm more surprised that you had to. I would have thought that your family name alone would have gained you at least a little more consideration with companies here, even if we are seeing an applicant spike."

"Well...." Ril shrugged. "I haven't really been playing up my last name much. I'd rather get a foot in the door, so to speak, with what I can do- not who I happened to be hatched as."

"Sadly, that sort of forthrightness doesn't go very far with many of the companies who've chosen to set up shop here." Merran Nachska leaned back in his chair, making the beads in his long braided mane clatter against each other. "But it does with me, Mr. Syhassi. Or may I call you Doril?"

Ril smiled. "Call me Ril, please."

"Very well, Ril." Merran smiled in return, his flat teeth shining in the morning daylight coming through the tinted window of his office. "I take pride in my position and how I help this company. And though it may seem a little old-fashioned in this day and age, I believe the best work environment is one that can function as a family as much as a workplace. You get better results out of people who care about the people around them and the job they're doing. You might not have relevant work experience yet, Ril, but you've got a sense of honesty and a desire to work hard, and those aren't the easiest things to find out here in the boondocks... so let me extend the offer of employment to you. I think you'll fit in well here."

The Tyrazed extended a hand, and Ril shook it, smiling broadly and raising his hood. "Thank you, Mr. Nachska. I appreciate this."

"You're quite welcome, young male. Follow me, I'll give you the five-credit tour of the place and then we can get your paperwork in order."

Ril followed him out of the office and onto the floor of the repair bay. Apparently it was a rather quiet period for the business, as only a small transport and a couple of hovercars were in the bay at the moment. "Do you folks ever get in anything big?" Ril asked.

"On occasion," came the reply. "We're competitively priced, so once in a while a corporation will contract with us for repairs that they can't effectively handle themselves for whatever reason. We do see a lot of variety out here, though- plenty of older craft repurposed for new tasks, so on. Takes someone with an appreciation for variety to handle all of it."

"That's the kind of thing I like."

"Good! You'll find the challenge here, believe me." Merran walked Ril around the bay and into one of the smaller shops, where a pair of females- one a dark-skinned Human and one a black-furred Tisharri with a kinked tail- had disassembled what seemed to be a comms unit from an older-model ship and were bent over the various circuit panels. "Myssani, Donna, this is Doril," Merran said. "We're bringing him on as a technical specialist."

Both females greeted him with smiles, and raised ears on Myssani's part. "Hey, good to meet you," Donna said. "It'll be nice to have another tech guy around- especially such a cute one."

Myssani chortled. "Donna, you're such a flirt. Nice to meet you, Doril."

Ril chuckled as Merran shepherded him out to let the females get back to work- "They're two of our best, but they'll talk your ears out if you give them half a chance," the older male explained- and brought him towards the back of the bay. A large, hulking shape tromped through one of the nearby doorways, almost slamming into them before coming to a stop. There was a brief moment of confused familiarity before Ril realized who it was. "Mauchil?"

The Tanzanli squinted at him for a moment, then snorted. "Wonderful, one of the snakes. There goes the neighborhood."

With that, the overweight male primate stalked off. Merran quirked an ear in confusion. "You know Mauchil?"

"From primary school, yes. Looks like the years haven't made him any more tolerable." He coughed. "Not that I want to disparage one of your employees, really."

The Tyrazed smirked. "Disparage away. His still being employed here isn't my idea- he has a contract from one of the co-owners that the other owner and I can't break. Consider him a tiny bit of blight in an otherwise bright place."

Ril grinned, spreading his hood wide. "It's fine. I learned to deal with him long ago. Just keep out of his way and let him think whatever he wants to think."

"We've hit on that too. Well, I'm glad- that was the one unpleasant surprise I was worried about. Well, that, and that lunch delivery seems to take forever in this neighborhood." Merran grinned. "I'll show you to the parts bay and the computer room, and then we'll handle your paperwork and get you into the system."

Ril reached up and rubbed the edge of his hood. This was turning out better than he'd hoped. D'Puldan Repair and Reconstruction Ltd. hadn't had the best pay options, but he felt it much better to have a good workplace than to spend most of an increased paycheck on stress relief. Besides, several of the females he'd seen were rather cute by his standards, and he had no qualms about workplace dating so long as it wasn't against the rules.

This should definitely prove interesting, if nothing else, he thought, clasping his hands behind his back as he slithered along behind his new employer.

--

Frost and night. When they said "it'll be hot in the oven room" they weren't kidding.

Niosh panted softly as she settled herself against a shelf in the corner farthest from the ovens for a moment's rest. She'd shaved as much of her body fur off as she could while still remaining decent, and yet still she still felt as though she'd crawled into a cave with its own miniature sun. She took a drink of water from a plastic cup and let her tongue loll for a moment, then picked up yet another metal pan and began placing rolls on it.

She was thankful enough that there was still a market for "fresh-baked, handmade" goods these days. Several religions and at least one diet fad called for a minimum of "manufactured" food, instead promoting things "made by the hands of good people". They'd change their minds about that if they saw some of the people working here, Niosh mused, as she finished placing rolls on the tray, then carefully slid them into the oven. In fact, I think I hear one of them coming now....

The expected slap on her rump still made her flinch, and she heard a guffaw behind her. "You look a little overheated," Garush said; his usual smirk was on his scaled lips when she turned to look at him. "Maybe later you'd like to get something cool inside you?" One of his clawed hands brushed past his groin meaningfully.

"I'd sooner bed a biomech." The comment, though delivered flatly and taken as sarcasm by the tall reptiloid, was heartfelt. While she didn't have the abject aversion to other species that "proper" Tirarnik had, she did have standards, and she very much hoped that those standards never dropped so low as for her to consider sex with this chauvinist jackass. As far as she could tell, none of the few other females working here spent any more time near him than necessary, and with apparently just cause- every word and action that came from him gave the impression that he believed females to be only a collection of orifices for him to stick his dicks into.

"Oh, fuzzy, you'll warm up to me soon enough. And then I'll get to warm up in you!" He guffawed at his own terrible joke, dropped several heavy sacks of flour onto a shelf and strode out. Niosh sighed and shook her head, glancing down at her wristwatch, hoping beyond hope that it was quitting time. It wasn't, but it was time for her lunch break at least, so she folded up her apron and dumped it on a table, then quickly walked out of the oven room, letting out a sigh of relief as the cooler air of the bakery struck her fur. There were a few other people in the breakroom, none of whom Niosh was familiar with yet, so she made a beeline to her locker, retrieved her bagged lunch, and took a seat in the far corner of the room by herself. A week-old newsprint and a few pork sausages were not her idea of a relaxing and nourishing break, but they were better than nothing, and she leaned back in the chair to take bites from her food and read old news.

"Well hello there," came a sudden voice, startling Niosh out of her reverie. She looked up to see two other workers- one a male Tisharri, the other a Gez'byran- smiling at her. "New to the place, aren't you?"

"Hrm? Yes." She cursed herself for not noticing their approach. Don't I pay attention to anything going on around me anymore? she wondered, even as she stood. "Niosh Paurharrlian," she introduced herself, flicking her ears.

The Tisharri introduced himself as Keshtril, and the Gez'bryan gave hir name as Malchossi. "Some of us like to get to talk to a fresh face," Keshtril said, "at least try to make new friends in a place like this. You know, try to make the whole ordeal a bit more tolerable."

"Exactly," Malchossi put in. "Let's admit it... none of us are here for a career. I'm willing to bet that you're just trying to get ahead, just as we are." Shi smiled when she nodded her head. "And it seems to me that you're maybe not the most outgoing sort?" The smile grew as Niosh nodded again, her ears lowering a bit. "Well, that's alright, friend. But working in a place like this is a lot more tolerable when you've got others to talk to, I think. And not like that idiot Garush, whom I understand seems to have focused on you."

Niosh sighed. "I wouldn't mind it if he tripped and fell into the oven."

Malchossi laughed at that. "You're not the only female to feel that way. I think the only reason he hasn't bothered me is because I've got male bits too." Shi snorted. "Don't pay him any mind. If he gets too fresh with you, just flash those fangs of yours. He's a coward at heart and backs down to any real display of resistance."

"Well, that's good to know, thank you." Niosh retook her seat. "So... how long have you two been working here? Especially you, Keshtril... your fur is thicker than mine and I can barely tolerate being near that oven for more than a quarter-hour."

"Six months, myself. This brave lizard's been here more than a year." He patted Malchossi's neck. "No idea how shi tolerates it."

The Gez'bryan shrugged and chuckled. "Like an old song I once heard, I've got bills to pay and mouths to feed."

"Mouths?" Niosh repeated.

"Two hatchlings. A few... well, many moments of indiscretion with someone who wasn't ready for the results of them. Hir methods of contraception worked better than mine." Again, the slender shoulders came up in a shrug. "I love the little ones, but I wish I could have prepared for them better. Now I have to work harder to make up for it."

"Hrn." Niosh couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the reptiloid. "It's good that you kept the young ones, rather than giving them up."

"I can't have imagined doing otherwise." Shi sat down at the table across from Niosh, and Keshtril took a seat beside hir. "I have a couple pictures if you'd like to see them," the reptiloid said with a grin.

"Sure." Niosh leaned against the table as the Gez'bryan took out a PDA even older than her own and brought up a few images. Hir hatchlings were a pair of tan-scaled, amber-eyed juveniles, one of whom was sticking hir tongue out at the camera as the other was laughing. Niosh couldn't help but chuckle, herself. "Adorable," she said. "What are their names?"

"The delinquent there is Amsarath, and the other is Gishsardor. Both two years old as of last month." Niosh was amazed for a moment, until she remembered that it only took ten standard years for Gez'bryan younglings to fully mature. "They're about ready to enroll in public school, and I can honestly say I can't wait. I love them to death, but paying for a sitter is a cost I'd like to drop, if only during the school year."

Niosh nodded in understanding. "They're cute, though."

"And they know it, unfortunately." Malchossi put hir PDA back in its pocket. Next to hir, Keshtril leaned forward. "Do you have any offspring?" he asked her openly.

She felt her ears lay back a little in embarassment. "Err... no."

"Ah. I was just wondering." He smiled disarmingly, his own ears tilted forward in what she figured to be an expression of playfulness. Relax, stupid cub, she told herself. They're just trying to get to know you. Be friendly. "So, erm... do you?" she asked the felinoid.

"Not yet. Some day, perhaps, when I don't have to work in sand pits like this one."

She was completely clueless on whatever cultural significance sand pits had for his species, although she could infer the meaning. Maybe I should start looking up things like that. I'm going to be spending a lot of time with other species for a long while, it seems. She engaged in some small talk with them as she finished her meal, until the timer on her wristwatch beeped, letting her know that her break was over. She excused herself from the table, said goodbye to her two new friends, and headed back into the oven room.

It was even hotter than when she'd left, but for some reason she didn't seem to mind quite so much.

--

"Hey there. You must be Doril."

Ril looked up from his PDA, fork paused halfway to his mouth. "Well, nobody else wanted that job," he chuckled. "Call me Ril."

The swarthy-skinned Human who had spoken took a seat across from him and put out a hand, which Ril shook. "It's good not to be the 'new guy' anymore," the mammal joked with a grin. "I'm Raval al-Mischam. I do a lot of the work with various power couplings here."

"Nice to meet you, Raval." Ril pondered for a moment. "Al-Mischam... why does that sound fam- oh, wait. You wouldn't be related to the governor of Mars in Sol System, would you?"

An expression of surprise crossed Raval's lightly-bearded face. "Alright, I'm impressed. I'd heard that you'd been raised by a Human, but you must've really done some study on my home system to know who my father is."

"A fondness for Humans is a bit of a family trait." Ril grinned and raised his hood. "So what brought you out to this far-off rock? If I may ask."

"For the simple reason that I detest politics," Raval chuckled. "Dad understands, of course. And my sister is more than happy to take up the gauntlet, thankfully. She's welcome to it. Me, I want to find my own way through life."

Ril leaned back in his chair. "I know what you mean. Mom was military, my brother just graduated from officer's school, but that's not the thing for me."

Raval nodded in understanding. "I heard you knew Mauchil when he was younger. Was he always that insufferable?"

"He used to be worse! Really, you folks here have hit on the right way to deal with him- just stay out of his way and ignore him when he grumbles."

Raval was about to respond when Mysanni stuck her head into the lounge. "Oh, here you two are," she said, seeming relieved. "Listen, I hate to interrupt breaktime, but we've got a bit of a problem on the floor and we could use some help."

Ril and Raval both got up from the table, leaving their meals behind. Ril had learned early on that breaktime was considered sacred here and saw interruptions only for dire need. Mysanni led them out to the retrofitted Mal'chizzar cruiser that had been brought in that morning for a full once-over; three other employees were gathered around it already. "What's the problem?" Raval asked.

"We're getting strange power fluctuations from the drive system on this thing," Donna explained. "The owner gave us outdated papers on it- I'm getting the feeling that some of these modifications aren't legal. About five minutes ago some sort of feedback effect started happening with the power shunts... we've tried disengaging the main reactor but that hasn't stopped them. Rav, you're the power-systems expert, maybe you can figure out where things are going wrong."

"And you're going to want to be quick." Mysanni looked up from a datapad. "The feedback is getting worse. We could see a critical failure of the shunt system and possibly an explosion."

"Well, fuck." Raval ran his fingers across his beard. "Alright. Ril, are you familiar with this particular brand of tech?"

"Somewhat. Let me have a pad with standard schematics and I'll see if I can figure out what's off from the norm. That'll give us a good place to look."

Mysanni unhooked a second pad from her belt. "Give me a moment and I'll download them. Donna, get everything that could be damaged by a Class-4a explosion out of the bay, and ready the emergency shield projectors, just in case."

"Yeah, sure." Donna sighed. "Let's try not to have to use them, though. The peacekeepers are alerted whenever we use the shield system and that's a lot of hassle I'd rather not put up with."

"A smoldering crater would be even more of a hassle, Donna dear." The felinoid flicked her ears back as the Human started gathering up various objects from the bay floor. "Here, Ril. This beast is a stock M35AE-Mebez light cruiser." She handed the pad over to Ril. "I swear it's been through the hands of at least six different chop-shops though, so good luck figuring it out."

Ril nodded absently, his fingers already flying over the pad as he slithered up to one of the access panels where Raval was already working. "What have you got so far?" the serpent asked.

"An absolute mess," came the reply. "I'm going through this with a handscanner, maybe you can do a comparison for me. But I'm already seeing some really sloppy work here. So many damn shunts, relays, dead-end paths...."

"I'm getting your data now. Give me a bit." Ril's eyes wandered over the information Raval was feeding him, comparing that to the stock setup. "Hellfire. You're not kidding about 'sloppy'. Careful while you're in there- I'm seeing at least two feedback loops on the panel you're scanning now. I wouldn't trust it to not have built up enough charge to cook you in your shoes."

"Allah provide that I get the chance to strangle the moron who dropped this monstrosity off here," he heard the Human mutter. "No good place to put in a draw, either. I'd feel a lot better if I had something besides my body to pull out the voltage."

"Keep looking. Mysanni just brought up the draw probe." Ril gave the felinoid a smile. "Raval, try going the other way. The base blueprints say you're near the end of that compartment and I don't see a lot of room for what might be causing the loop."

"Just a second. I think there's... ah ha!" There was a loud click from inside the hull. "Some jackass installed a secret compartment in here. There's... oh, damn it. Here's our problem."

Ril craned his neck to see inside the compartment, but Raval's body was in the way. "What is it?"

"Secondary generator. An old one, and what a hack job they did installing it. Probably a fifty-terawatt fusion unit." Now some data on the generator was coming up on Ril's pad, and the Kryyjh winced. "Are you getting anything on it?" Raval questioned.

"I wish I could say 'no'. Whoever owns this vomit bucket had at least one more chop job done after that was installed, and didn't bother telling that person about this generator. When we shut down the main reactor to do the checkup, the power draw of the systems shutting down screwed up the shutdown process of the secondary. It's running out of control."

"That's a problem." Raval pulled himself out of the compartment. "Options?"

"Isolate and cut off the feedback loops, and draw off enough power to force the reactor into shutdown. Or, put up the emergency shields and run very fast." Ril lowered the pad. "It'd look bad on my resume if I let my first workplace turn into a radioactive pit. Let me in there, Raval- I have an idea."

"Alright. Be careful." Raval took the pad from Ril, who carefully gripped the side of the vessel as he stuck his head into its mechanical guts. It was even worse than he'd thought- his trained eye could see vastly different qualities of work at play in the additions that had been made, with expertly-crafted circuits and relays overlaid with slipshod welding and junctions that would have gotten a second-week engineering student laughed out of class. His thermal sense picked up all sorts of hot-spots caused by large amounts of energy flowing through paths that hadn't been meant for such a sustained load. He was relying on that, really; he could pick out and work with these places more easily using his own natural senses than he could with a scanner. "Raval," he called out over his shoulder.

"Right here," came the calm reply.

"I need some things from the toolbox. A pair of long-nosed pliers, some magnetic-mounted jumpers, and as many superconducting relays as you can find."

It only took the Human a couple of moments to return with the requested items. "Going to play connect-the-dots?" he asked. "Try to route the power somewhere we can drain it from?"

"Exactly. Keep an eye on the power output of the reactor. As soon as it's safe to force a shutdown, do it."

"Will do." There was a pause. "You do realize there's a chance the reactor could go critical and explode, or irradiate you before you have a chance to get clear?"

"Foremost in my mind, believe me."

"Glad you know the risks." There was some clanking as Raval entered the ship and accessed the reactor's control panel. "Raval, shouldn't you be doing that remotely?" Ril asked, even as he began setting mounts onto a few points.

"I'm not going to risk a remote command being ignored or lagging out. When you get the power levels low enough I'm physically pulling the lever."

"Understood." Brave man, Ril thought. Or as crazy as I am. Dad always said I inherited more of his heroics than Mom's common sense. He chuckled quietly to himself as he carefully began running relays from overloaded loops to other sections that- he hoped- could handle the load for a short time. It was a painstaking process adjusting the jumpers to allow enough voltage to flow to make a difference without causing them to melt or shut off automatically, but every connection he made reduced the amount of heat he was sensing across the board.

Then something gave off a loud warning beep, almost making Ril bang his head on the top of the compartment. "What the hell is that?!" he yelped.

"Fuck." Raval's usually-calm voice had an edge of frustration. "The reactor is starting to destabilize. Power fluctuations are rising. I can get it to settle a bit, but you'll need to work on the bottom edge of the output wave or you'll either melt something or cook yourself. I'll tell you when."

"Got it." The already-slow work was only made more difficult by this new development. The window in which Ril could safely work was barely more than half a minute long, which didn't leave him much time to make the new connections, but at least he could use the rest of the time to better plan his route. It was five minutes before he'd bridged a path to the nearest usable port. "Mysanni?" he queried.

"Right here," came the reply.

"Give me the draw probe, then get outside the shield radius. Be prepared to bring those shields up if this goes bad."

He heard her gulp. "What about you two?"

"If this reactor explodes before those shields are up, it won't matter if we're five meters away or fifty. Just keep a finger on the button and hope you won't need to push it."

"I will. Be careful." Her footsteps faded, and after making two more connections to ensure that the power flow wouldn't burn out any of the jumpers, he connected the draw probe and opened it up to its lowest throughput. "Raval, I'm drawing power now," he said. "Are you seeing a difference?"

"Give me a second...." the Human answered. "Wait... okay. A small one, but I can see it. Ramp up the draw slowly."

"Doing so now." Ril's fingers were beginning to ache as he slowly turned the attenuation dial on the draw probe. Some of the relays were getting warm now, but not too much so, and it really was beginning to look like this problem was about to be solved-

"Ril, freeze."

He could swear that even his heart followed that command for a moment. "What is it?"

"The fluctuations are getting worse and there's a small but non-zero chance that too large a draw could make the reactor's containment field collapse."

Ril couldn't help but groan. An explosion would be bad enough; if the containment field were to fall, the reaction would probably continue for a good few seconds afterwards, possibly releasing enough energy to do a serious number on several city blocks before it finally destabilized. Emergency shields would have about the same effectiveness as wet tissue paper for containment. "What can we do?"

"Vary the draw. I'll tell you when to lower it and raise it. It won't stabilize the reactor, but it'll make things even enough for me to engage the killswitch."

"Alright. Tell me what to do and when."

The next ten minutes made Ril feel as though he were doing surgery blindfolded. His hand was beginning to ache, but he didn't dare lean his arm against the panel for fear that he might end up becoming an alternative route for any power leakage. Finally, after hearing Raval call out a seemingly random percentage for what had to have been the millionth time, the Human shouted "Full draw, Ril!", and he almost snapped off the dial's thumb tab from twisting it as quickly as he could. There was a brief hum and a buildup of heat, and then a loud CLICK that seemed to vibrate through the entire transport. Ril let out a deep sigh of relief as he sensed the heat slowly ebb. "Got it, Raval?" he asked.

The Human in question stepped out of the ship, his skin coated with a light sheen of sweat. "Full shutdown," he replied, his voice still calm despite his appearance. "Now. Who gets to go first in strangling whatever fool brought this thing here?"

"You first. My hand is killing me." He rubbed at it absently, fuming inside but doing his best to hide it. Mysanni and Donna came running up to them, both obviously relieved. "That was some good work, you two," Mysanni breathed.

"Damn straight," Donna agreed. "Who's the asshole who checked this thing in?"

Her answer came in the form of Mauchil, striding nonchalantly next to a smaller Tanzanli who looked ready to sink through the floor in embarassment. Behind them both was an obviously furious Merran. "You heard me," he told the sheepish-looking primate. "As soon as your flying bomb is ready to move, you're going to get it out of here, and if I ever lay eyes on you again I'll personally drag you to the peacekeepers by your nostrils." He switched his glare to Mauchil, who seemed entirely unaffected. "As for you, you can consider that yet another mark on your record."

"Why don't you fire me, then?" Mauchil chortled. "Oh, right, you can't. Big deal. Everything's fine now. If the snake and the wannabe ape could fix the problem, it wasn't a problem to begin with." Finding himself the target of unfriendly looks from everyone else in the room, he shrugged. "Like none of you ever did a favor for a relative before," he grumbled, stalking back out of the bay, leaving his unfortunate kin to squirm in the farthest corner he could find until his ship was ready to fly. The owner almost crashed into the exit in his haste to leave, and Merran sent a few choice profanities after him before turning to Ril and Raval, his expression immediately softening. "Mysanni told me what happened and what you two did to solve the problem," he said. "I told the owner that he could pay double the fee, or I'd call the peacekeepers on him. He paid, and you two will be getting the difference as a bonus in your next paycheck." He spared the exit another glance. "I'm more than willing to bet that he's a smuggler or runner of some sort and the secondary reactor powered a scrambler unit to fool scanners."

"And here we are in a room full of people who aren't surprised that he's a relative of Mauchil." Mysanni crossed her arms. "Although I suppose the doubled fee was the best we'd get. With a neck that thick, we'd all have to strangle him at the same time."

Despite the residual anger, Ril couldn't help but chuckle. Raval managed a smirk. "Well," the Human said, "any day where I'm not atomized is a good one, I suppose. I hope my food didn't get cold."

"You won't have to worry about it. Lunch is on the company today." Merran smiled slightly, his ears finally coming back up. "And then you two young males can take the rest of the day off. Really, I'd like to assure you that we go through most days here without any risk of explosions."

"Aww, and here I was starting to think that mortal danger was a job perk." Ril snickered as the others laughed at the joke.

--

Niosh was going to have to admit, driving a forklift was kind of relaxing. Everyone kept out of her way, there were long stretches of driving interspersed with lifting and dropping pallets, and aside from the times where she would have to assemble loads herself- which wasn't that hard; lifting thirty standard kilograms wasn't a major strain for her, even with this planet's slightly higher gravity- she didn't have to do anything complex or taxing. It's a wonder they don't have a robot doing most of this, she thought. Maybe it's cheaper for them to hire dumb labor than to buy updated equipment. I'm not complaining.

It was easy to see why the forklift position had been open when she'd applied. Most of the other workers she saw were gathered up in groups when they weren't busy, chatting with each other and drinking or smoking various things. Paid to socialize... every lazy frostlicker's dream. She chuckled to herself as she took a corner, easily swerving around a group of packers heading towards the exit. I certainly don't mind the "me time".

The display on the forklift's dashboard blinked, alerting her to a spot where she was needed. She cut a quick half-circle to head towards it and came to a stop next to a group who were reassembling what looked like a half-toppled pallet. Niosh sighed to herself as she hopped out of her seat. "What happened?" she asked.

"Box had a cracked edge," came back the reply from somewhere in the group. "Didn't see it."

She nodded. "Anyone hurt?"

There was actually a pause there, as though her question were unexpected. "Um, no, I don't think so," someone said.

"Alright, then, let's get this back up." It was an easy matter to get the pallet back together again, wrapped and ready to move. But as Niosh slid back into the seat of the forklift, she spotted something entirely unexpected- a thin, long-eared form walking past. Niosh couldn't help but cock her head as the lagomorph strode by nonchalantly, and she leaned over to whisper to one of the packers. "Am I going crazy or was that a Mylcheri walking by?"

"Yeah." The female Tyrazed seemed unfazed. "What, you didn't hear about Pacifal?"

"Wouldn't know him if he mugged me."

"Not a 'him', an 'it'. It's a medication they have now to control their prey drive. Came out about a year ago, and you can probably tell it does a good job."

With that, the Tyrazed clomped off, and Niosh shook her head as she drove the pallet towards its desination. I've really got to start paying more attention to the news, I guess, she thought. Good for them, though. Two hundred and forty years in the Rimworld Alliance spent being too afraid to even talk to half of us face-to-face? I don't know how they got this far.

The rest of the day went uneventfully, and Niosh was as glad as anyone to see quitting time come to pass. She grabbed her pack out of her locker- after wrestling with the fouled-up lock yet again- and practically sprinted to the transit stop, just catching the bus before it pulled away. She stretched out on the hard plastic seat as the vehicle lifted off the ground and slid through the air towards what she was finally beginning to think of as "home".

She practically slammed the door behind her, in a small way eager to shut the problems of the outside world out, as she walked through her small living room and into her bedroom. Her pack bounced lightly off of her small inflatable bed as she shed her work jumpsuit like a second skin; as the reptilian metaphor danced through her mind, she picked up her PDA and triple-checked the note she had made for tomorrow: "Date with Doril, 1530h, Salbandra Restaurant, 2930 Avshar Ln"

Clad in only her bra and panties, tail swinging behind her, Niosh combed through her paltry wardrobe for something presentable to wear. She found her favorite light-blue blouse and a nice pair of black pants to go with it, but neither of her belts would go with the ensemble. "Suppose I'll have to do without it," she murmured to herself, setting the clothing out on her makeshift dresser, a wide filing cabinet with only a few dents that had been left out for trash. A couple of her favorite brass bangles went on top of the clothes, then her silver earclip, and that was about all she had that she considered "dress-up worthy". It's almost silly that I'm even going to these lengths for a male I hardly know, she mused, rubbing her ear as she carefully folded the clothing. But, you know, first impressions... or, maybe in this case, second impressions.

With that done, she brushed out her headfur, laid down on her bed and stretched out, wincing a little as she felt her spine pop in a couple of places. Oof! Time to start exercising, cub, before your posture ends up ruined. She reached behind her, unhooking her bra and sliding it off, tossing it into the hamper and letting out a soft sigh as her modest breasts fell free. I swear I should just start going without a blasted bra, at least at the warehouse job, she thought. Those jumpsuits are so bulky and formless that I could probably strap a couple of Kik'nachi to my chest and nobody would notice. Still, not sure I'd want the fabric rubbing against my nipples all day; it's a bit more rough than I'd like. She reflexively reached up to cup her breasts, pressing her palms against the nipples, and let out a soft sigh. And as sensitive as they are, half a day of having something rubbing against them would probably have me so aroused that I'd have every half-interested male and female at work following my scent around. They're even hard right now and I've been touching them for all of twenty seconds.

She leaned over a bit and reached into one of the boxes by her bed, pulling out the only brand-new thing she'd bought since she'd moved in. I don't care how desperate I get, I am not buying a second-hand sex toy, she chuckled to herself, gazing at the small, bright-red dildo. Would've liked a bigger one, too, but this was the best Nylaplex one I could afford, and I do like the feel of that stuff on certain areas.... She flicked the switch on the bottom of the toy, and it began to vibrate against her fingers; she lowered it between her legs, lightly running it over the fabric of her panties, and let out a soft whine. Wet already, cub? Doesn't take you long, does it? Better take these off before I start soaking them.... She undid the tailstrap of her panties and slid them down her legs, kicking them off in the general direction of the hamper before pressing the dildo against the lips of her sex. Her tail lashed against the bed as she felt the vibrations travel through her sensitive flesh. Ohhh, so nice, she thought, arching her back off of the bed slightly as the rounded head of the toy brushed across the hood of flesh underneath which her clitoris hid.

It only took her a couple of minutes to work herself into a state of total arousal, her fluids already flowing freely and slickening up the toy as she worked it across her clit and pussy lips. She spread her legs wide, reached down with her free hand to spread open her lower entrance, and slowly pushed the dildo into herself; the feel of the artificial penis entering her, rubbing against her inner flesh, made her whine in pleasure. She slid the dildo into her all the way and clamped her vaginal muscles against it as tightly as she could, groaning as the vibrations made her passage tingle, and used her free hand to stroke one finger in circles around her sensitive nub.

She could only keep that up for a few minutes before her hungry sex started aching for even more stimulation. Her hand began sliding the toy in and out of her slowly, the eight centimeters of Nylaplex rubbing against the inner edges of her vaginal lips and buzzing against the slickened walls of her depths. She had to actually insert the entire toy inside herself, a few centimeters deep, to press up against her most sensitive internal spot; she left it there for a little while, squirming and groaning as she rubbed her palm across her clit and gripped the toy tightly inside her, tail lashing and ears flattening as she felt her orgasm approaching.

Her climax was powerful enough to cause her to actually push the toy back out of her body, making her scramble for a moment to find it on the bed and shove it back into her before the pleasure faded too soon. She lay there panting as she rode the wave of pleasure as long as she could, slowing the friction against her clit as the climax subsided, then finally withdrawing the dildo and turning it off. She lay there on the bed for a couple of minutes after, panting softly and basking in the afterglow. Frost and night, but it's good to be able to do that without worrying about someone walking in, she thought, carefully cleaning off the toy- and wiping up the small mess it, and she, had made on the sheets- with a paper towel.

The towel went in the trash, the toy went back in the box, and Niosh went into the bathroom to have a nice, long, hot shower. As the hot water washed away the dust and dirt of a day spent in a warehouse, she leaned against the wall, closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh. Going to feel good to actually get out and talk to someone I don't work with, she thought. I just hope I don't bore Doril with what few workplace stories I have. Frost, I don't mind if he dominates the conversation... at least then something interesting will be said!

She chuckled to herself as she let the hot water flow down her back and along her tail, and drew in a deep breath of steamy air. Life is actually starting to look kind of good right about now.

--

I was supposed to meet her here, right? Ril felt kind of silly, standing on the sidewalk in one of his nicer outfits and looking around as though he were a tourist, and he couldn't help but check his PDA again, just to be sure; it wouldn't have been the first time he'd ever gotten lost. Yeah, looks like I'm in the right spot... so where is she?

"Oh, well, here you are," came a voice to his left. He turned to see Niosh walking up, ears raised and a smile on her muzzle. "For a minute I'd thought I'd gotten the wrong place. I guess I was earlier than I thought."

"No, I was running a little late. Sorry." He gave her an apologetic smile and raise of his hood, and she flicked her ears in response. "No worries," she told him. "Just glad you made it." She reached out, and he grasped her hand gently, taking advantage of the moment to look her over closely. Obviously she had trimmed and thinned her bodyfur for some reason, which gave a bit more definition to her form. And not that he was an expert on fashion, but her clothing looked a little out-of-date- but it was well cared-for and looked quite nice on her, so he wasn't about to complain. She's actually kind of attractive, if a bit thin, he thought. I wonder if she's checking me out? He could swear he'd seen her eyes move over his body, but then again it could've been his imagination. Most Tirarnik who aren't De'horourna'kir aren't interested in other species, but I don't really know anything about Niosh yet... grah. Ril's brain, please shut up.

Niosh managed to save him from trying to remember words. "I don't know about you, dear serpent, but I'm starved," she said, turning towards the restaurant. "And it looks like there's tables available, so do you want to get something?"

"Sure, let's go in." He was rather pleased that she let him take her hand and slither alongside her into the restaurant. He'd never been here before, but the reviews on the local food blogs were generally favorable, and they had a nice selection. They chose a two-seater table not far from the entrance and picked up the menu pads. "Hey, mif'laschkin," he said. "Haven't had that in a while. Have you ever tried it?"

"The sauce does bad things to my stomach." She flicked her ears. "But they have malachaze salad, and I do like yaom cheese in it. I think I'll go with that."

Ril chuckled as he set down the pad. "Must be nice not being an obligate carnivore."

"Mmmh. I remember reading somewhere they were working on enzyme suppliments for that. I guess that's still in the research stage." She set down her pad as well, then glanced up at the waiter who came up, a reed-thin Tyrazed with a dyed-black mane that showed red roots. "Afternoon, you two," he said, his friendliness seeming only a little forced. "I'm Yimesh and I'll be your waiter. Have you decided what you'd like yet?"

Niosh glanced askance at Ril, seeming to wait for him to speak first. He gestured at her with an open palm to give her the option, and she hesitated for a second before taking it. "Erm... malachaze salad with yaom cheese, and the three-wine dressing," she said.

"I'm afraid we're out of the three-wine dressing. I'm sorry, that should've been updated on the menu pads. We do have garlic and fribram oil dressing, and really, I think it tastes even better if you like a little bite to it."

"Hm. Okay, I'll have that."

Yimesh turned to Ril. "And you, sir?"

"Mif'laschkin, please. Heavy on the sauce."

"Alright. It should be about ten minutes; do you two want any appetizers beforehand?"

Niosh flicked her ears in the negative and looked to Ril, who shook his head and drew back his hood. "No, thanks," he said.

"Very well then." Yimesh took the pads and headed towards the back of the restaurant. There was a moment of awkward silence as Ril and Niosh both waited for the other to start talking. Ril ended up speaking first. "So," he said. "If you don't mind me asking, what sort of employment did you end up finding onworld?"

"Rrr? Oh. Two jobs, one driving a forklift at a warehouse and the other at a bakery."

"And how are those treating you?"

"Like the training prey of an inept cub." Ril could infer the meaning of that. "It could be worse, I suppose. At least I've made a couple of friends at the bakery."

"And earning enough to get by, I hope?"

She flicked her ears forward, an affirmative. "Even saving up a bit. I've learned a few things about taking shortcuts and making do. It's a lot different here from home... you can get by a lot farther with some self-sufficiency and imagination."

"I've never been inside Tirarnik space, so I don't have any idea how it is there. They don't exactly encourage tourism."

"Heh. Suffice it to say that you aren't missing much." She shrugged. "Our society caters to us and only us. I doubt you'd be comfortable in Tirarnik homespace. Sometimes I wonder how anyone is." She fell silent for a moment, her ears laid back, before she made a visible attempt to cheer up. "But let's not waste our time talking about that. I'm sure a male with a background like yours has many more interesting stories to share."

He couldn't help but chuckle. "I get that a lot. Really, I don't lead that interesting a life."

"Ah, come now, Ril. Just being one of the first Kryyjh hatchlings in Rimworld Alliance space in fifty years, that had to lead to a non-standard youth."

"Ha. You mean like one of my earliest memories being of a news reporter's headcam?" He snickered as she gave an amused grin. "Mom and Dad did their best to shelter us from the media hullabaloo, but it wasn't until we were into the early teens that it all finally died down for good. Part of it was the fact that there were plenty more Kryyjh youth around after the revolt, once relations were normalized between the RA and the Empire, some of it was just the novelty wearing off, and most of the rest was the biomech resurgence taking up newstime."

"Rrrrn. Yeah." She flicked her ears. "I imagine you actually were a bit luckier than an immigrant. I've heard that society in the Kryyjh Empire was once even more militaristic and species-centric than Tirarnik, and to just jump from that to here... it must've been a shock. You, on the other path, grew up with it."

"Mom told me stories about her various kinds of culture-shock after she'd first come to the Alliance. Apparently, back in the day, it was 'common knowledge' in the Empire that mammals all stank." He chuckled as Niosh made a show of sniffing herself. "Aside from that, it was freedom of information and movement that she'd had the hardest time adjusting to. Simple things, like unrestricted PDAs and public netlogs. She told me she felt giddy the first time she posted a public comment on a government infopage and it went up immediately, with no censoring program blocking it."

"Damn the snows, that's something. I'd been taught that the Kryyjh had been isolated and authoritarian, but... well, I guess I'm too used to even my frost-bitten PDA being able to do just about anything I want for me to wrap my head around that sort of repression."

They were interrupted by Yimesh bringing their dishes. The food smelled good enough, though Ril noticed that the sauce of his mif'laschkin was a bit watery and the meat was sliced thicker than he liked. Niosh, on her part, must have loved garlic and fribram oil dressing, because she tore into her salad like... Like a hungry wolf, Ril chuckled to himself. She did take breaks from her voracious attack on her meal to continue the conversation; he realized that he was providing the hunter's share of the tale-telling, and she seemed reticent to talk much about herself aside from things going on currently in her life.

It was in the middle of relating the story of how he'd almost been blown up at work that she nearly choked on her salad; he was out of his seat and halfway around the table to help her before she raised a hand and managed to clear out the obstruction with some coughing. "Sorry," she panted, rubbing at her watering eyes with a napkin and giving him a sheepish look. "It's just that I would've expected your job to be... safe, you know? At least as safe as anything dealing with nuclear reactors and such gets. I guess that I forgot to factor in the idiot quotient."

"Forgetting that leads to being unpleasantly reminded by the universe that the term 'intelligent life' covers a spectrum." He chuckled, swallowing another strip of meat from the mif'laschkin and watching Niosh gulp down another bite of salad. "Must be nice not being an obligate carnivore," he joked.

"It comes in handy sometimes, especially when the price of meats goes up. Which it has, what- twice in the last year? Hrrn." She made a face before taking another bite of salad, exaggeratingly gnashing it between her teeth with a "gnar gnar gnar" sound. He couldn't help but laugh. "There's people in my society who say we were meant to be meat-eaters and that eating anything else is a sin to our 'pure forms'. Too bad- this impure form is on a budget."

"Amazing how so many of those types tend to overlook the regular trials and tribulations of actually getting by from day to day." The last slice of mif'laschkin went down his throat, and he set the fork down on his plate, looking up to find Niosh gazing down at her similarly empty salad bowl. "Did you want dessert?" he asked.

"Hrm? Oh... no, no thank you. I'm good." She smiled at him, ears up, and he noticed that she actually looked pretty when she did that. It's just that she doesn't seem to do it much, he thought. Pity. Maybe I can help her with that. He signalled the waiter to come over, and Yimesh brought the bill along with a payment pad. Niosh raised her hand to take it, but Ril got it first. "I'll get it this time," he told her, raising his hood.

"I thought we were going to split the bill. Are you sure?" Her expression was more hopeful than anything, and he figured he'd guessed right- her budget was tighter than she was letting on, and this meal would be a major expense for her. "I'm sure," he told her. "I'll tell you what... you can pick up the bill on our next date."

"Our next date." She stared at him for a moment, then broke out into a grin, her ears tilted back playfully. "Okay. I'll hold you to that, Ril."

He input the payment with a generous tip to Yimesh, and they walked back outside to find the beginnings of a rainstorm hovering overhead. Ril sighed. "Bah. Thousands of years of technological progress from dozens of species and still nobody can get weather forecasts right."

"No kidding. Ah well, a little rain never hurt anyone. At least it isn't snow." She reached out her hand, and Ril took it. "Thanks for the time out, Ril. I appreciated it more than you know. Give me a call sometime and we'll set up another one."

"Certainly." He squeezed her hand lightly and gave her a smile, before they went their separate ways. As Ril made his way towards the nearest bus stop, a drop of rain splattered on his snout, and he made a face at the sky. "Can you at least hold off until the bus gets here?" he murmured at the clouds. "I didn't bring an umbrella and I'm wearing one of my nice outfits."

Amazingly enough, the rain actually did hold until Ril got onto the bus, unleashing thick droplets onto its windows just after he boarded. As he curled his tail under his seat and watched the road go by, he gave a little thought to his plans for the next week or two. Mostly work, since they've gotten a big batch job from one of the local transport companies... got that electrical engineering seminar I want to sit in on at the study center, Faumis might be dropping by soon to visit, and I do still need to do a bit more furniture shopping... so where can I fit in a second date with Niosh? Decisions, decisions.

He did have to chuckle to himself. All things told, it was far from the worst sort of dilemma to face.

--

Niosh hung her dripping pocket-umbrella up from the coathook on her apartment's front door, then went into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror, shaking out her headfur and taking off her earclip. She leaned against the sink and gave her reflection a good, hard glare. Next time, cub, you are going to open up more, she told herself. Ril is a very nice young male and you were far too guarded with him! It's a wonder he wanted a second date, with how withdrawn you were. She let out a sigh, flicked her ears at her image in the mirror in annoyance, then went into the bedroom and started undressing.

Still, I suppose it could've gone worse, she mused, as she tucked her good clothing away and slid on a nightshirt. Could've choked to death on that salad, could've accidentally flipped a fork into Ril's eye- or my eye, could've choked to death on the fork.... She snickered to herself as her mind explored the various ways the date could've totally failed the hunt. Or he could've commented on how I was shoveling that food down my throat. Couldn't help that much- it's been a long time since I've had any food that tasted good! All told, I suppose it was a pretty good day. Ril's a nice male to put up with my quirks and not demand anything of me in return. Nice to see he's on the opposite end of the reptiloid scale from Garush.

She sat down on her bed, curled her tail around her waist and picked up her PDA, looking through her work schedules for times when she'd be free for a second date.