FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Scavenge mission seven-one-four," the voice over the radio said. "You have twelve hours to canvas your designated areas. I'll be watching from your trackers in case you encounter any problems and to keep you on the straight and narrow, you all got that? Don't make me come out there."

"Alright, geez," Serathin replied as he rolled his eyes while speaking into his wrist computer. "If I didn't know any better I would have thought you were my dad."

"Don't make me ground you," the voice joked before the tone turned serious. "This is an alien planet, don't do anything stupid."

"Wouldn't dream of it," the draconic sabrewolf said before he went on radio silence, clicking it off as a smirk formed on his muzzle. "At least that's what you'll think."

Once he had made sure that the signal was transmitting without the audio he took out the palm computer that he had hidden away and hooked it up to the wrist one given to him by the scavenge crew. One of the things that they did before they went on one of these missions was an extensive scan of the area, which they then bid on. The one that Serathin had gotten was almost completely devoid of anything that would signal a find, a dead zone that most avoided getting stuck with. For the hacker however he was able to see beyond the initial area and noticed an abandoned building partially buried off the edge of the grid that would probably be a treasure trove of salvageable material.

But protocol was protocol, which meant that normally they would have to wait until they got to the area in order to search the building... unless one was willing to skirt the rules. For Serathin that meant bidding on the dead zone and getting jeered at by the others, and then once he managed to get alone he hacked his tracker. He had already pre-programmed a route that would update the watcher of the group of where he wanted them to think where he was. Once he had fooled the system they wouldn't know where he was truly going as he used the map on his actual computer to lead him to the semi-subterranean structure.

A few hours later Serathin found himself at the structure itself, checking in with the watcher on his false coordinates. The sabrewolf was giddy with how intact the structure is and all the potential salvage he was going to find as he busted open the doors to get inside. Unbeknownst to him he wasn't the only creature that was in the area. On the top of the structure where a set of skylights had remained intact an oily puddle sat on one of the windows. It had remained unmoving and inactive... until it sensed another living creature nearby.

As the draconic sabrewolf began to walk through the empty wall it bubbled to life, the alien material becoming more active the closer that the scavenger got to it. It began to pull itself together and formed into a shiny black mass, tentacles forming from it that collapsed in on itself. The more agitated it got the more the thick glass underneath it began to strain under its movement and weight. When it had initially landed the glass had maintained its integrity, but the already compromised structure couldn't handle it bucking around as the cracks grew wider.

Eventually the safety glass cracked wide enough to allow the amalgamate to side a tendril through, and though it wasn't much it allowed the tiny stalk to get through before if folded out into a glowing purple flower...

Serathin followed his way through the entranceway and into the foyer of the destroyed building, the sabrewolf using his flashlight to look around the structure. His mind wandered slightly at what this place could have been as he walked through the pools of light that streamed down from the windows above. As his footsteps echoed through the empty building he stopped for a second and closed his eyes as he imagined what it would be like full of people; maybe some sort of commercial district where people would go around to shop or a distro center where those of the planet would rush around trying to get to shuttles. Of course they were all long gone, he thought to himself as he opened his eyes once more, and that meant that all their stuff was his for the taking.

He found himself coughing and opened his eyes once more, finding himself standing in middle of the largest pool of light as dust slowly drifted down around him. The clock was ticking, but just as he was about to move on he noticed something peculiar about the particles dancing around him. As he brushed out his fur he saw that it sparkled purple in the light and when he looked on the dust that landed on his scales he gasped when tiny purple tendrils spread from the spot. That turned out to be the worst thing he could do as the spores raining down on him from the flower above were inhaled and absorbed by his throat and lungs.

Originally Serathin thought that it was some sort of ultraviolet purple tint that was on the broken windows above, but as he continued to stand there and cough he found himself itching in his ears. As he attempted to scratch it the sensations seemed to go even deeper, and soon it wasn't only around there that he was getting the sensation. His fingers went from his head to his neck as he began to wonder if there wasn't something in the dust that he was allergic too. Nothing on the planetary survey indicated that there was any hazardous chemicals, but as he continued to stand there he started to wheeze slightly as more spores continued to infiltrate his system.

Suddenly the scavenger began to imagine the people going about their business once more, but as he saw people passing by they began to take on a different light. He started to imagine them running and fleeing, being chased by a dark blob that hadn't been there in his previous visions. As he watched this new creature he saw them pounce on some of the aliens that it had caught up to, and when they did that darkness transferred onto them. It didn't take long before there were two of them, and when those two were done they went to others and soon there were four, followed by eight...

Serathin's breathing increased as he watched, his eyes widening as the scene unfolded before him of these mutant creatures spreading whatever they were to others. His hand went to his chest as his wheezing increased, his hands practically trembling as his heavy breathing only drew more of the spores in. He shock his head and tried to get the image out of his head as he realized that something was very wrong, especially when he couldn't get the images of those monsters out of his head. He could not only see them but hear them also, something that caused him to look around as it felt like something was whispering directly into his ears.

Finally he looked up he saw the source of his problems, noticing the glowing purple for the first time. As he did so he unknowingly also got some of the spores into his eyes, the bright green irises flecking with black when they landed as he stared at it. There had been stories of something that fitted what he was looking at, a scavenger ghost story that spoke of an alien that assimilated anything and everything. The flower was just one aspect of how they got someone, a means to corrupt its prey when it couldn't physically reach them...

...and it was beautiful.

Though the glass was stained with years of of the elements and one panel in particular was darkened by the black blob still writhing over it. From what little he could remember spores weren't necessarily a death sentence, it might be possible to reverse whatever was happening to him. He also remembered that the transformation of the amalgamate was particularly horrendous to behold. Yet what he saw, the scene he saw with those creatures, there was something... enticing about all of it.

The draconic sabrewolf knew that he was just a scavenger, and despite his best efforts to be a hustler and find means to get ahead of the game he was destined to just root through trash the rest of his life. He also knew that despite how clever he was he wouldn't ever move up in his line of work as well, the crews going to the powerful and the ruthless. Even if he attempted to take something by force he would either get his tail beat or even if he succeeded he would likely get stabbed. But this thing that he saw, it would allow him to take all the power he wanted if he was merely willing to lose his metahumanity.

Even though his mind was screaming it was crazy he found his arm shaking as he brought up his pistol, slowly moving it until it was aimed at the skylight. "All that power," Serathin whispered as his face went from scared to manic, droplets of black already on his lips from the spores as he started to laugh. "All of it waiting for someone to seize it. This is why I'm here, this was my purpose to find it before anyone else. The strength, the corruption, it's all mine... I just have to take it..."

The empty building echoed with the shot as the gun fired upwards, the bullet streaking through the air before it hit its target. The force of the shot wasn't enough to shatter the glass but cracks formed from the hole that it had created. The flower retracted back into the alien blob as a big droplet of its body formed, lowering down like a large droplet of slime as Serathin watched it come. About halfway down the strand snapped and sent the oily liquid falling down and instinctively the scavenger reached up to shield himself from it.

The blackness hit the palm of his hand with a large squishing noise, flecks of it running down his forearm as Serathin's mind gained a sense of clarity beyond the spores infesting him. What had he done, he thought to himself as he brought down his arm. At first it looked like he had just put his hand in some motor oil, but as the alien substance seeped inside of him he grabbed his elbow with his other hand and hissed through his teeth as his forearm began to swell. It was like he was allergic to it, but as his fingers twitched and the thin membrane that had covered his digits up to his fingers fused to them he knew that something far more dire was happening.

Serathin was panting heavily as his arm grew bigger and the alien that had taken root in his system continued to mutate his arm. As the transformation moved to his bicep he began to feel something wiggle around inside of his inner arm, like a snake had somehow grown in there as the rubbery flesh bulged. The black and silver fur of his arms was quickly assimilated and he groaned loudly as the appendage underneath the rubbery flesh began to reach his wrist. If anyone had been within a mile of the infected sabrewolf he would have heard him gasp and shout as the glossy black tentacle pushed its way out of his palm.

"Yesssssss!" Serathin hissed, his face contorted in glee as it whipped around in the air before retracting back into his growing maw. As the alien flesh that had completely assimilated the appendages continued to swell as the tentacle pushed inside of him. Any other speech was no longer necessary as his eyes immediately rolled back in his head, his body taking the role of his own corruption as more of the blackness covered over the blue scales and purple and black fur of his face.

The gurgling noise that came from the transforming hybrid soon went to his throat where the tentacle was pushing in to his stomach, his still untransformed arm going to his stomach as the alien amalgamate cells began to grow inside of it. With the weight of his new arm and the new cells starting to infest his head had caused him to fall onto his back while his arm practically clamped onto his snout in order to get the tentacle deep inside of him. What should have been impossible for him to swallow made its way easily down his throat as his back arched, feeling everything up to his shoulder and now his stomach pulsating with alien life. It wasn't just taking him over, the corrupted sabrewolf thought as the purple fur of his stomach began to fall out to reveal shiny black flesh underneath as the tentacle inside stretched his skin, it was becoming him... and he was becoming it...

In an instant the new connections being formed in his brain showed him what the alien wanted with him, what it wanted with all organic life as his abs and chest began to swell and bubble with growth from being filled with amalgamate cells. At the same time it began to amplify the desires of the draconic sabrewolf that it had infected, showing him everything that he could ever want could be had with the help of the alien creature. This wasn't an infestation, not to the hybrid anymore as he began to feel something pushing its way through his other arm, this was coevolution.

With the amalgamate finding itself not having to fight the creature mentally after showing the other creature its common goals all the energy it had would fuel their transformation. They would be pure corruption incarnate, and with everyone that they brought into the amalgamate the more they would revel in it. It was only appropriate that they would have a form that would give them what Serathin desires, especially as it dug deeper into his psyche and absorbed the darker parts of it. While the savager had been normally shown a kind and joking nature to the crew he served with as the amalgamate opened more of his mind it revealed that he would fell no remorse in mutating anyone and everyone he came across, including the crew, and was increasingly enjoying the thought.

The tentacle that had been inside the maw of the draconic sabrewolf suddenly pulled back as his body spasmed on the floor of the destroyed building, letting out a roar as his body no longer needed to continue to fuel the mutations happening to him. They had reached a point of critical mass; as the other arm of the creature began to balloon out something could be seen pushing through the growing muscle until another tentacle pushed out of his other palm. Unlike his other arm though as black alien flesh grew and split the furry form of the appendage it quickly grew and thickened until it became an alien arm shield complete with spike on the end over his fingers that twitched as they grew a set of smaller claws.

As black liquid leaked out of his eyes Serathin could feel several parts of him expanding all at once. As tendrils began to grow from his lips he looked down to see his draconic feet grow, turning as black as his mutant torso as the amalgamate corrupted them while thick talons appeared on his new toes. He soon found himself rolling over as his breathing quickened and his voice deepened, corruptive fluid leaking out of his mouth as his tail swelled with new alien flesh that made it expand until it almost looked more like an abdomen. His back also spasmed and he hunched over while clutching his head as a second pair of wings formed just underneath his first, both sets no longer draconic in nature as the amalgamate made them feathered while causing them to grow as the body underneath continued to expand.

The only thing left that still had any vestige left of the draconic sabrewolf was his head, but as the mind of Serathin had already succumbed to his new fate he could feel the pressure in his skull building while the amalgamate seemed to grow over and through every inch of him. His head arched back as more of the alien flesh grew on his neck to form a mane, framing his muzzle as his horns and ears were assimilated by the blackness that had completely pervaded through his system. The only thing left was his glowing green eyes, but finally the amalgamate claimed those as well as it grew over them, leaving his face almost featureless as several tentacles pushed out of his maw and into the air. The roar of the creature that had been reforged in the image of the alien let out a loud roar, causing the rest of the skylights to shatter and rain down glass around him.

For a few seconds there was nothing but blackness on the new creature, but soon a purple glow began to grow out of it in the form of tendrils. The amalgamate hybrid slowly began to move out of the skylight and into the shadows, the darkness banished by the light coming from the insectile wings and the thin filaments that grew from his back. Now that it had a body there was something that it had to do as it easily moved away the debris from the entrance. As the creature disappeared completely out of the darkness a low chuckle could be heard...

***********

Twelve hours later a small ship had set down on the surface of the planet, the scavengers that had been running around on it walking back with carts filled with scrap. "Scavenge mission seven-one-four," one of the suited individuals said as he looked back and noticed that they were one short. "Our time permit to be on this planet is expiring, you need to report in now with your haul or else we're going to be in violation. Do you have an ETA for your arrival?"

"Do we have to seriously wait for the hybrid?" one of the largest of the five said. "I know he got the slim pickings of the group but I'm not going to let the drink waiting for me at the bar getting warm because he couldn't find anything."

"Killian, shut it," the one on the radio said as he pointed at the other scavenger while the others chuckled. "You four get on the ship and get ready to leave, I'll see about getting out last man in, even if I have to drag him by those sabreteeth of his. If he does need some sort of aid I'll fire off my beacon and you guys can come and get us."

The others just nodded and continued to complain about not being able to leave while they got on the ship, leaving the leader of the group to go out and try and see if he could get the draconic sabrewolf on the radio. Though he had admonished the others for belittling a member of their team he was also annoyed that he had to go and fetch him. That anger did have a hint of concern though since he couldn't bring up the communicator signal of the scavenger. What made things worse was that the GPS beacon that Serathin wore had shown him coming up towards the location, only to find that there was no one in that location.

He hacked his transmitter... the leader thought to himself as he sighed. That meant that even if he was in trouble there was no way that he was going to be able to find him now while on foot. They were going to have to scan the planet for life signs, and if they couldn't find anything there they would have to start looking for his replacement. Just as he was about to go back towards the ship to inform the others of what had happened he noticed something that caused him to pause.

They looked like glowing purple plants or vines that were waving around behind a small outcropping of rocks. While alien flora was not unusual to see in their line of work there was nothing on the scans that indicated that there was any on this planet. There was also something about them that he couldn't take his eyes off of them. Whether it was the way that they glowed or how they swayed around he couldn't help but continue to watch as he began to step towards the strange flora.

As he got close to it suddenly the plant-like stalks shook violently and released purple dust into the air, quickly catching up the explorer in a cloud of spores. Thankfully he had on his respirator to make sure that he wouldn't inhale alien materials as he grabbed a specimen jar to grab a sample. The longer he remained in there though the more he started to feel... light-headed and giddy. The jar that he was holding soon dropped to the floor as he suddenly found himself moving forward once more towards the stalks, which began to rise up as he approached.

The dust around them was blown back as a pair of wings opened up while the amalgamate creature came up from behind the boulders. The amalgamate creature that was Serathin had seen his former leader walking, likely to find him, and had decided to ambush him with his spores. Their air filters were not made for the spores that had already started to grow in the filters, tendrils of alien flesh growing through his tubes while also infiltrating his mind. Though he could easily transform him and bring him into the amalgamate he had other plans for the other scavengers as he mentally directed the quickly enthralled male to head back to the ship...

A few minutes later Killian and the others were waiting in the ship, the four of them playing cards as they waited for their leader to return. Though they weren't happy with the disruption to their schedule it at least gave them some free time in order to relax. As they heard the aft door to the ship open they knew that time was over, the four of them wondering if their leader had managed to find the missing scavenger or if they were going off without him. When they got up to get ready to leave they saw the leader enter into the cargo hold that they had been hanging out in as they saw him walk up towards them before stopping.

Killian asked his leader what they were going to do next when he saw that Serathin wasn't with him, pausing and tilting his head when he got no response. He looked over at he others, who just shrugged their shoulders as they continued to get the cargo bay ready to launch, before asking again. When he didn't get a response once more he noticed at that point that the visor of the other male's suit was opaque for some reason and as he continued to watch he thought he saw the suit shift. Killian began to back away and started to warn the others as the one standing before him began to undulate and swell, the fabric stretching as they started to quiver and shake.

Before Killian could shout for a medic he heard a shout that caused him and the others in the cargo bay to look at the scavenger closest to the door, watching him as he had fallen forward and seemed to collapse. Just as the one next to their fallen crewmate had rushed over to help he stopped when a creature they could only describe as a monster stomped into the cargo bay with his wings fluttering. "Amalgamate!" Killian shouted just as a tentacle of shiny black alien flesh burst out of the chest of their leader's spacesuit. "Breach and burn!"

Though Killian was the only one who knew of the alien species of the crew they all knew what a breach and burn meant, including the amalgamate creature that had stepped on board. While the leader was still being processed after opening the door with his code and causing a distraction Serathin was more than capable of converting his former crew. The one that had attempted to go and help the one that he had ensnared in one of his tentacles suddenly found himself staring down a small creature that had crawled from the back of the corrupter. The salvager was visibly shaking when he saw the amalgamate parasite jump right for him and pounce on him just as he was about to flee.

As the tentacle from Serathin's palm pushed its way into the maw of the one that it had wrapped around the amalgamate parasite was doing something similar to the one it had attacked, the former sabrewolf reveling in the pleasure of watching the tentacle emerge from its mouth into the scavenger trying to push it off. It was already too late for him as he could see tendrils pushing into the other creature, watching as his flesh was already starting to twist and warp as the parasite took him over. The other two had ran further into the ship while this was happening and Serathin let out a roar before pursuing.

The scavenger that was wrapped up in his tentacle and the creature coiled within was lifted up to a nearby scaffold, the shiny alien flesh immediately growing over it and adhering him to it. With his latest victim being cocooned in the amalgamate, his features already starting to warp under its corruptive influence, the tentacle that brought him there broke off and retracted back into his palm before he moved forward. The alien creature sprinted forward, leaving his goo on the floor that started to spread as those he left behind continued to mutate while he moved for the last two. Even though the last two had gotten further into the cab the amalgamate creature had pried open the blast doors in order to get inside.

It was there that he saw the two attempting to get into the cockpit, a place that their transforming leader had locked before he had left to make sure that no one fiddled with anything while he was gone. The two looked back in horror as the gooey alien creature pushed his way through the partially opened door towards them. "Hurry up!" the one behind Killian said as he watched the bigger male frustratingly punched number into the keypad. "He's coming!"

"Shut up!" Killian shouted back, seeing out of the corner of his eye that the terrifying creature was pushing through and closing the distance between them. "I should have listened better when he told me this code..." after the sixth time that he pushed in the ten digit code he suddenly saw the light turn green, Killian opening the door up and the two of them tumbling inside just as several tentacles darted towards them. The sounds of several loud thuds against the thick metal rattled the two of them as they saw some of the alien flesh oozing through the door that had just closed.

Killian immediately ran to the command console in order to start the self-destruct sequence for the ship. The salvager behind him watched wearily as he saw the code being punched in. "Are... are you sure..." he asked Killian. "We... aren't going to make it..."

"I've heard of what the amalgamate can do," Killian replied as he primed the fusion core to overload. "Just one piece of it can take over an entire ship, then an entire space station, even an entire planet. I'm not going to be responsible for spreading this anywhere else, and dying in a firestorm is better then anything... waiting for us..."

Killian trailed off as he saw a drop of black fluid hit the screen, followed by another and another before a steady stream was covering it. When he looked over at the other scavenger he saw that he was staring blankly ahead as he noticed that one of his hands was covering a tear in his suit with black goo oozing out of it while similar substance was coming out of his mouth and nostrils. Killian jumped back as several tentacles pushed their way out of the mouth of the scavenger and tried to dart towards him while the infested creature's maw began to stretch while alien flesh grew over his lips and nostrils while it swelled. Killian quickly scrambled away from the growing creature until his back bumped against something, slowly looking up to see the visage of the sabretoothed creature looking down at him.

"Please..." Killian said as he saw Serathin looking down at him, feeling tentacles of alien amalgamate already starting to slither against his muscles. "You have to-"

Serathin didn't let the belligerent creature beg, his tongue pushing out of his mouth before the tip split into a flower and latched onto his face. He didn't need to assimilate any information out of this one, instead he was just going to use the flesh of the creature to create more amalgamate. With him pumping directly into Killian his body bloated instantly, fingers and arms fusing into tentacles as more sprouted out of his body while he contemplated what to do next. One thing was for certain, they were not going to be spending any more time on the cursed surface of this planet anymore...