FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter-21

Caduceus had a barrier erected around the communication tower's, and the Rogue AI was bashing itself against it. The Barrier was massive, and Caduceus had done what it could to make it look like it was one of the system's security programs. It might have fooled the Rogue AI, but the Orr AI had seen through the masquerade, it was certain of it. It had to hope that until they had defeated the Rogue AI, it was safe.

Not that it mattered, the first thing it had done, once it had erected the barrier, was send a gamma fork to Earth with the information about what had happened. If it and the Orr AI didn't manage to defeat the Rogue AI, preparations would be made to protect everyone else.

It wished it hadn't been so preoccupied when Casanova and Angel had finished their mission. Once they had sent their forks to their transporters It could have drafted them into this fight, increased its chances of defeating the Rogue AI. Unfortunately, it had only noticed them when their unraveling had echoed through the system.

The Rogue slammed a large portion of its forces against the barrier and the system shook. The Orr AI was taking advantage of the Rogue AI's focus being on the barrier to attack its flank, but it was also trying to get through the barrier, in a more subtle way, a few of its forks trying to tunnel through thinner spots in the barrier.

Caduceus wished the Orr AI wouldn't force it to divide its attention, but it couldn't allow him in, it was too afraid of what he would do. Too afraid that old anger would resurface and he would destroy it, in spite of their common enemy.

* * * * *

The roads were eerie, with everyone standing around in what Angelica had called standby-mode. Fortunately the city didn't allow hovers or small shuttle to fly within the dome, one of those crashing would have added to his problems.

He was careful not to make contact with them, which sometimes meant he had to slow to a walk, or even find a different path. When he slowed it just reminded him that as healthy as he was, there were limits to what his body could endure. He should take a rest, but the idea the Rogue could spread to Earth, or Titan, and eventually the colonies forced him to go on.

He was the only one who could stop the Rogue, the only one not affected by the Rogue's attack, and it was progressing. The city lights had gone out for a second, plunging him into near complete dark a few times now. He had no idea what the Rogue wanted with the power grid, but so long as he was busy with something else Theo still had time.

The sound of metal grinding against something hard from behind stopped Theo. Before he had time to wonder what it might be, a hover came out of a side path. More like bounced off the corner and glided into this one sideways before the other wall stopped it. It immediately moved in his direction, scraping against the wall before moving away.

Theo didn't wait, he began running away, looking for the next intersection. He'd wondered why the Rogue hadn't come after him yet. It had to know he was still alive, even if Cass didn't touch the network, there were cameras everywhere. A lone moving person would register.

Now he had his answer. For whatever sick reason, the Rogue had sent a drunk hover after him. He glanced over his shoulder. It was barreling toward him, jerking left and right, as if it was trying to cut him off, even if he was running in a straight line.

He threw himself to the side as he heard it get too close for his liking and it flew by, only to pivot and make what looked like an out of control turn, almost crashing into a wall, before coming at him again.

Theo got to his feet and looked for anywhere he might evade it. The buildings were out of the questions, Cass would have to contact them to open the doors. Theo couldn't pick one of them fast enough. He ran again.

This time the hover flew by him without him having to try to evade it, and it came to a sliding stop a few meters away. Theo stopped and started for the opposite direction, but the hover's door opened and a man stepped out, pointing a gun at him.

"Please don't run Mister Laramy," the tiger with bright pink fur and black spots and squares said. The surprise of seeing him here froze Theo in place. Through the opened door he saw another tiger, that one with normal orange, white and black coloring working with the wires of the hover's ripped off dash.

"Captain Orr."

"Please throw away your weapon."

"Captain-"

"Mister Laramy, please don't make me shoot you."

"You don't understand, you're being controlled by a rogue AI that's taken control of the city and the people in it. I don't know what you believe I've done, but it isn't true, it's the Rogue manipulating your implant.

The colorful tiger smiled. "I believe that you're the head of an Independent revolution bent on destroying our way of life. That you came here on my ship under false pretense. How is that for my beliefs?"

"It isn't true."

"You mean the manifesto you broadcasted wasn't true? That you haven't unleashed an AI in the city intent of 'showing us the truth of our masters?'"

"That wasn't me. You're strangely calm about all this if you're not being controlled."

The other tiger stepped out of the hover and looked at him over the roof. "Dad doesn't emote much. Hey Theo, where's your boyfriend?"

"He's...Marcus stayed behind."

"If you're not behind this, how come you're walking around? The only people we've seen moving about were the Independent Tourists and a pack of Derelicts, the Tourists were heading for the elevator, the derelicts...I have no idea where they were going. You're not doing either."

"You're both moving about, how is that possible?"

"Our implants were disconnected from the network seconds before this happened," Captain Orr said.

Theo narrowed his eyes at him. "How do you disconnect from the network? Implants are hardwired to be connected."

"That isn't important. Drop the weapon, or I will shoot you and bring your unconscious body with us to hand over to the authority once all of this is resolved."

Theo considered it.

"You better do what Dad says. He's not the most emotional guy at the best of time, so you can't tell, but he's pretty angry right now."

Theo tossed away the gun. Getting shot wouldn't do him any good.

"Good. What's that?" the tiger motioned to the drive Theo held in his other hand with his gun.

Theo quickly ran through his options, the few of them he had and came up with the only one that gave him a chance to stop all this. "It's the program that can stop the Rogue AI that's taken over the city." The captain barely tilted an ear, but Tucker's face was pure disbelief. "I'm not behind it, I swear, but you're right about me having traveled on your ship under false pretense. I'm able to move about because I'm not connected to the network."

"You're an Independent." The captain's face tightened slightly and he leveled the gun on Theo again.

"I'm not with them." Theo hurried to say. Tucker had been right when he said his father didn't show emotions. "I'm trying to stop them. They caught me, knocked me unconscious and recorded my likeness for the message they sent. They kept me alive exactly so you'd do what you're doing. Focus on me instead of stopping them. If there's anyone mobile right now with some form of authority, they'll come after me, but this can stop everything."

"How come you haven't used it then?"

"Because the idiots who cobbled the Rogue together didn't make this kill program aggressive. I need to plug it in somewhere the Rogue will ingest it willingly."

"I have trouble-"

"Dad?"

"Yes Tucker?"

"I believe him."

"Please tell me this isn't still about wanted to have sex with him."

"Come on Dad, I'm not *that* irresponsible."

"Yes, Tucker, you are."

"Fine, but that isn't about that. He's been running himself to exhaustion, and he's not going toward anything that makes sense for someone looking to escape. If he's with whoever orchestrated this, why is he alone? If he's the head of it, where are his people? They wouldn't let someone that important run around unprotected. They have to guess there's a few of us who managed to not be affected."

The Captain was silent, looked at Theo. After a few seconds he lowered the gun. "Those are valid points. Where are you going?"

Theo indicated his gun and the tiger nodded. "I'm heading to the communication tower." He picked it up and put in his waistband.

The two other tigers exchanged a look. "That's in the Government Center," the Captain said.

"I know. I figure it's just a question of time before the Rogue decides the city isn't enough for it. It's going to have to use the tower to send itself anywhere else. If I can embed the kill program into the tower's protocols, the Rogue won't have a choice but to ingest it and I really hope it will kill it."

"You hope?"

"I haven't exactly had time to run tests on it since taking it off the people who made it. I had a friend look at the code and its sound, but that doesn't mean the Rogue won't be able to circumvent it. I have no idea what its capabilities are."

"Dad, that's where we're going, we can take him."

"Why are you heading there?"

"Tom's stuck there. Or somewhere close to that," Tucker answered.

"He was working when all this happened," Eric added.

"Aren't you worried he might be under the Rogue's influence?"

"No, like us he was disconnected before it happened. Which means he can't get out of whatever room or block of rooms he was in. We're going to have to search most of the center."

"You're not on the network, how are you going to get through the doors?"

Tucker pulled a black box from a pocket. "This can open just about anything."

"Put that away Tucker," his father said, "You aren't supposed to wave it around."

Tucker shrugged and put it back in his pocket.

What were a passenger ship captain and his son doing with an IDO? An Independent Door Opener? Those things were only for security forces. They couldn't have taken it from them, how would they even know about it? It wasn't like any of the governments advertised them. Right, they were Orrs, they were a government. Still how had they gotten their hands on one of those.

Theo didn't have one because Cass took the place of it. Except for this specific circumstance he could open any door. Actually, he would need it to reach the control room for the communication tower.

"Tucker is right, since we're headed there, and you're in a hurry, you should come with us."

"Sure."

"Great!" Tucker's grin made Theo uncomfortable. "Dad, do you mind piloting this thing so I can ride Theo in the back?"

Theo rolled his eyes, because Tucker hadn't misspoken, his intention was to have sex. The guy just couldn't stop thinking about that.

"No. I wouldn't know how to do it, you're the one who did all that."

"Dad, it isn't hard, just-"

"Tucker, I said no. And now isn't the time to have sex."

"It's always time to have sex," Tucker grumbled as he sat back in the hover.

Theo slipped in the back seat and looked at the mess of wires in front of the tiger. "What did you do?"

Tucker touched two wires together and the hover started moving forward. "These things are hard-wired into the network, so the first thing I had to do was take out the communication module, that's somewhere at your feet." Theo found the gray box with a bunch of wires poking out. "Unfortunately, these aren't like ships. They don't come with any manual controls, since they never fail." He snorted. "Shows what they know. So I had to find the individual wires and use them to control where it does."

He touched two different wires and the hover did a hard turn, while still moving in the same direction. They began moving forward as the hover hit a wall and scraped against it.

"It doesn't make for the smoothest of trips, but it's better than running, right?"

Theo glared at him.

"When this is all over, before we need to head back to the ship, how about I give you a massage, your legs must need it at this point, as well as other parts of you."

"Does he ever stop thinking about sex?"

"Not that I've noticed," Eric replied.

"No, Tucker, you're not having sex with me. You have to stop trying."

"But why?" the hover scrapped against another building. "You're a great looking guy, and well hung. I'm an amazing lay. I don't understand why you're so opposed to it."

"Because I don't like how blunt you are with it. Sex isn't about throwing a guy over your shoulder taking him to your bed and just fucking. There should be some level of emotions there."

Tucker gave him a disbelieving look.

"Tuck, look ahead, there are people in our way." The older tiger turned in his seat. "But I have to agree with my son, sex is about pleasure. Yes, Tucker is overly blunt about it-"

"I never hear you complain about it, Dad."

"I'm your father, I'm used to your ways." He shrugged. "And I enjoy being shoved against a wall and fucked on the spot. Not everyone enjoys that. But fucking isn't love, it's just an aspect of it. Fucking is its own thing. It doesn't need to be wrapped up in too many emotions."

"I have to agree with them," Cass piped in, "You have been developing a habit of getting things overly emotional before you have sex."

"I'm not saying I need to be in love with the guy, or that he has to be in love with me. I've had uninvolved sex, I had a masseur come over the other day and he fucked me, but the idea of just grabbing a stranger and fucking him, on the spot, like you said, that isn't for me."

"You aren't a stranger," Tucker said, weaving the hover in and out around the people standing still. It felt to Theo that the hover was becoming more responsive, or Tucker was getting better at handling it.

"You didn't even know my name the first time you offered for us to fuck."

"That's different, you were a passenger. I wouldn't have done that if I'd first met you here."

His father cleared his throat.

"Fine, I wouldn't have done it if we'd been in public."

The older tiger cleared his throat again, which earned him a glare from his son. "What was that alligator's name? Right outside the center? You had your tongue deep in his muzzle and hands in his pants right by the door."

"You're kidding," Theo said

Tucker got a dreamy look. "Haoniyao, he is such a hunk. His cock was bigger than grandma's boyfriend." He shuddered. "Fuck I want him again so bad."

"He can't have done that in public, there's no way he's still be walking free. That's beyond indecent behavior, SolGov would have him thrown in jail."

Tucker snorted.

"We're the Orr Government," Eric said, "They can't arrest us. They did try to arrest his 'friend,' but Tucker had the decency to fight against it and the security decided to fine the two of them instead of getting dragged into that kind of argument."

"I paid his fine, he wouldn't have been able to afford it, and I did initiate it, so it was the right thing to do." He grinned. "And he was so grateful afterward. If you want, I can introduce you to him when this is all over."

"If he's that well hung," Cass said, "I wouldn't mind recording the two of you having sex."

'Three,' Theo finger coded.

"Even better, you know I've always wanted a recording of you having sex with an Orr."

"When this is all over, we can talk about it, and I'm not saying I will have sex with him, just that I might agree to meet him."

"Sure," Tucker replied, making it clear he didn't believe him.

* * * * *

The barrier shuddered. The only reason it held was that Caduceus hadn't spread itself across the system like the Rogue had, and it wasn't fighting a battle on two fronts.

After a few failed attempts, the Orr AI had stopped trying to get through it and focused on attacking the Rogue AI, and distracted that way, the Orr AI had managed to clean up some of the system's infection, nowhere near enough to make any noticeable difference in the living world, but many of the systems were back to full, unhampered functionality.

Even the power core was no longer infected, which meant that Caduceus could, if it was willing to split its attention and risk losing the communication tower controls, try to overload it again.

The Orr AI had stopped cleaning up the system and launched an attack on the Rogue AI's flank. Caduceus got the sense the Orr AI was doing that because he'd gotten bored. Whatever the reason, it forced the Rogue AI to pull away from the assault on the barrier.

Caduceus had a few instants to plan. Where were the transporters? If it could get them off planet, or at least outside the city then the repercussion of destroying it would be mitigated by the colonies still getting the information they needed.

It sent a fork to gather the city's surveillance recordings.

It found the Angel transporter with a group of Independents by the elevator. The Casanova transporter was nowhere to be seen. It went back in time, following the Angel transporter until they parted way. Why they split up wasn't important to Caduceus. The most probable reason was that they wanted to maximize their chances to get out of the city.

It followed the Casanova transporter as he ran through the city, ran himself to the point where it affected his body. Why he did that puzzled Caduceus. There was no reason for him to run so hard. It would make more sense for him to pace himself, ensure he reached his destination capable of boarding whatever ship or shuttle was there.

A hover intercepted him, and two tigers, it identified as Eric and Tucker Orr, exited it and there was a quick altercation. Caduceus had almost dismissed it when Eric pointed to something the Casanova transporter held. A quick zoom and analysis identified it as a drive. The tiger was holding it tightly. So much so that Caduceus had to think it was important to him. It wasn't the drive containing his Beta, the shape was wrong. So what was it?

It went back in time and this time listened in on the conversation. When what the drive contained was mentioned the surprised shock Caduceus so much it almost lost hold of the barrier.

There was a kill program. Not only that, but it was heading here, to the communication tower. It wasn't aggressive, but that didn't matter. Once it was here, Caduceus could make sure it would work. It knew exactly how to ensure the Rogue AI would take it in. All Caduceus had to do now was hold the barrier until the transported was here.

It could do that.