FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Theo

Theo didn't move when he heard the soft 'ding' that let him know someone was about to open the door. The door hadn't actually made the sound, Cass had made it. The guard with his food had probably scraped against the door and Cass had picked it up. That, and the time was right for it. The door slid open and he turned his head. The guard stood in the doorway looking at him.

"In the corner," she said. She didn't have to indicate which corner it was. She'd explained all that the first time. On the second when Theo had decided to play at being stubborn, just to see what would happen, she closed the door without leaving him the food. After that he hadn't fought it, he needed to keep his strength up.

He went to the corner, which put him thirty feet away from the table and further from the door. The room they'd put him in on this ship was larger than the one they'd held him in on the station. Here he could not only stretch his legs, but walk around if he felt particularly bored.

The bed was also more comfortable, a real one, with a firm mattress and sheets. They were just cloth, no way to set them to how warm or cool he liked being, but at least he didn't have to sleep in his clothes anymore.

He didn't know which ship it was, They'd caged his 'implant' while transferring him, and while Cass wasn't an implant, he did communicate with the systems the same way, so he'd found himself incapable of seeing any of the information about the ship.

He still had the list of scheduled departure, but they both agreed that it wouldn't be accurate anymore. In the days after the Rogue AI had been destroyed, there would have been a push to leave, and Mars would have done everything it could to accommodate it. Ships would have been shuffled, cargo delayed to let passenger ships in.

The station had been so full his guards had had to push people out of their way, in spite of the warning that had to go out ahead of them. The city was probably empty right now.

The guard placed the tray on the table and moved away. When she reached the center of the room, Theo walked to the table. He didn't rush, something else he'd tried. She'd tensed and pulled out her handgun. Since he didn't want to get shot, he moved slowly when she was around.

She reached the door as he reached the table. "You don't have to leave," He said, sitting, "I could use the company." He'd been saying that for the last six days. This was the tenth day of transit, and while he didn't expect them to use the fastest ship to get him to Luna, he did expect they would go as fast as this ship could. So he'd begun working on establishing a rapport.

Unlike of leaving, like she did the previous times she stopped at the door and turned. "Why'd I want to talk with a traitor like you."

"I'm not a traitor." He cut the steak.

She snorted. "Yeah? So killing hundred's of folks just normal for you?"

If the death had only been in the hundreds, Theo would be happy. The city had had close to a million people, without counting tourists. The Anarchist's Rogue AI had to have been responsible for thousands of death. He didn't know the number, and he was happy about it. He knew it wasn't his fault. He'd done everything he could, but he couldn't stop the nag that said he should have realized what had been going on sooner, reacted faster, saved more people.

"I'm sorry for the deaths." He chewed a piece, taking his time. He couldn't act like he was on her side. Changing the role he was playing too much would not only make her suspicious of his intention, but if anyone was listening in, and they had to be, they might realize what he was trying to do and switch guards on it. So he had to be his role, the bored Anarchist who thought he was doing the right thing. "You need to understand, this is a war."

What he needed to do was get her to see that he was on the right side of things. It turned his stomach to turn someone to the side of the Anarchist, but he'd need the inside help when they reached Luna station. So, now that she was talking to him, he had to use his time to get her to see things their way.

"A war? You created this war. You sneaked your way in and did something to our computers. You could live happily on your island, or where ever you Independent creep live in your huts or caves and let the rest of us go about our lives."

"I didn't start this. I'm doing it for you." She snorted. "I know you see me as your enemy, but the enemy is in your head already. That's how they control you. Your implant."

"You have one too."

Theo paused in his eating, didn't look up from his food. "I wasn't given a choice."

"Excuse me?"

He looked up at her, made his gaze cold controlled anger. "I didn't want this. I was a child, but even then I knew it was wrong to put a machine in my head. We're not made to be machines, we are people."

"What about your arm? That's a machine." Her tone was derisive.

He placed a hand on it, a gesture meant to be both protective and an acknowledgment of what she'd said. "It's a tool, nothing more. It can't think, it can't make me do or feel anything. That's how it should be."

"Yeah? Then if you hate it so much why don't you have it taken out?"

Her comment brought to mind the mule, lying on the bed, a metal plate covering almost half his skull. "You don't think I would, if I could?" He hadn't meant to make his tone pensive, but he'd let the dismay he'd felt on seeing him affect his voice. He hardened it, maybe she'd think he'd let something slip. "Why do you think your overlords made it so it would spread throughout the brain? It can't be removed without killing you. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to render mine harmless? To do so without them realizing what I was doing?"

"That's bullshit. You can take it out, everyone knows that."

Theo made his smile thin and vicious. "Really? And you're such an expert on implants? Tell me, have you read anything on them? Do you even know it bonds with your neurons?"

Uncertainty flashed in her eyes and Theo fought the urge to press his point. Cass was already listing reports he could mention to her, basic information he could say. But he didn't add anything.

He looked at his food, he'd eaten two-thirds of the content, drank most of the water. He made a face at it. "I'm not hungry anymore." He put the tray on the floor and slid it in her direction. It made it halfway to her before stopping.

She looked at it, then him. "Hands on the table." He placed them there, palm down. She placed a hand on the butt of her gun as she went and picked it up. "You people are a bunch of degenerates. And you're worse than the rest because you had it good and now you're trying to ruin it for the rest of us."

"You think that because that's what they want you to think. They're in your mind, controlling what you think. You're their slave."

She had her gun pointed at him. "I'm no one's slave. No one controls me, do you hear me?"

Theo didn't say anything. He'd rattled her, which had been all he'd aimed to do. Pushing now would only get him shot, and while her regret over losing control might make her simpatic to him, he doubted they'd do more than the most basic patch job on his injuries.

"I'm sorry." He kept his voice neutral, let her wonder if it was because of what he's said, or what she was. She backed out of the room without moving her gun from him.

What he was trying to do would normally take months, a variation on making a guy fall in love with him. He didn't have that kind of time, fortunately, all he needed from her was to question what she thought she knew. He'd planted the seed, she'd do some search on Implants. She'd find out just how intricately bonded to the organic components it was.

He hadn't had to read anything to find out about that. His dad's work in miniaturization meant he'd worked with implants, and when Theo was six or seven, he'd noticed how his parents didn't need to use any of the command screens to use the machines in their house. His father had explained about the implants then, and Darius being who he was, he'd gone in so much details that Theo would have been able to build one, if he'd been old enough to understand any of it.

But with that seed planted, he'd be able to help make it grow. And so long as he managed to talk with her like this during meals over a few days, even if they switched her away, she'd see things enough his way that she'd be willing to help with his escape.

He hoped.

People weren't as predictive as someone in his position would like. It's why turning someone was usually the work of months and years. They could balk at the weirdest thing, or even when everything they saw confirmed what they were told, they could decide to ignore it.

"I don't know if you have enough time to get to her," Cass said. "Her biorhythms indicate she's just pissed." Because Cass wasn't actually an implant and was connected directly through his nervous system, the caging didn't prevent them come communicating.

Theo moved to the center of the room and began exercising, starting with jumping jacks, using the motion to hide his finger coding. 'How long?' Unfortunately Theo couldn't reply verbally, or it would give away his partner's presence.

"Based on the engine sounds and vibration, this is either a Furges class passenger ship or a Landaugh Messenger. Based on the room I'm guessing the Furges, which means that if they push the engine as fast as they will go, and considering the relative position of Mars and Luna at this time, they can be there under three weeks."

Theo's heart skipped. That meant less than eight days left. Was that anywhere near enough?

"Calm down, I said if they push. This is SolGov, they won't. I figure we still have two full weeks before we reach Luna, maybe three. The engines are in that range of speed where I can't tell the difference between the low or high range of it, but I can confirm they aren't pushing them."

Theo moved to push-ups. 'Lead with that next time." He coded.

Cass didn't reply. They'd worked together for long enough he knew how Theo preferred things, but he too was bored, and unlike Theo, Cass couldn't just get up and stretch his legs, exercise or just walk. Without being able to connect to the ship's computer, he was locked inside the drive.

He could slow his perception down to a crawl, if he wanted to, but Theo had noticed a reluctance on his part to alter his processing speed. Once they were out of this, they'd have to talk about it. The only thing Cass had to pass the time was work on his movies, or get a rise out Theo. And based on this last exchange, Cass was getting bored with the movies.

Theo moved on to Callanetics. He kept to his exercises every day. So he'd be ready to take advantage of the smallest opening on Luna Station. When he was done he showered, and lied down.

"Movie?" Cass asked.

Theo thought about it. What else could he do? His jailers were probably counting on the boredom being enough torture to make him talk, either on the way to Luna or once he got there.

He intertwined his fingers behind his head and closed his eyes. 'Not porn,' he coded, 'not Bondo.'

Cass chuckled and pulled an action movie from his library.

Theo did want porn, going without sex for weeks or months wasn't unknown for him, but doing so without jerking off was rare. The thing was that even if he'd served as the model in most of Cass' movie, he didn't enjoy making a spectacle of himself.

Oh he could have sex in public, when the others would participate or it was accepted, like on the Orr ship, but this was him being under surveillance and that felt too much like putting on a show.

So he relaxed and enjoy the story of some buff hyena going about rescuing princesses from monsters until he fell asleep.

* * * * *

A soft tone woke him.

He didn't open his eyes, the tone was what Cass used when something out of the ordinary happened. With a finger tap he let Cass know he was awake and the time appeared in the top left. Barely three in the morning, Mars time. Only three hours since he'd gone to sleep. What might be happening that early.

The shape of the door formed in the darkness, a wire frame highlighted in red. Whatever was happening came from there.

'Opened?' he coded.

"Not yet. It doesn't sound like someone standing there, or walking by. It sounds very much like the sounds you make when breaking into a room."

Why would anyone break into this room? If it was a bored passenger, the odds were astronomical they'd pick this one room out of everything else to use to alleviate their boredom. And really, what were the odd anyone but him enjoyed breaking into rooms when he was bored?

He stretched, rubbed his face and sat.

This was intentional, so why? Break him out? Again, why? The only people who knew he was here would be SolGov. Any Anarchist who had escaped might know he'd been caught, but why would they care? He was their fall guy. They'd wanted him to be caught, or better yet, he guessed, killed.

He stood, stretched again and headed for the toilet. He took a leak, then got some water from the sink. The door began blinking. It would be opening soon. He drained the glass and placed it back in the sink.

Either this was a trick, something SolGov had concocted to try to get him to reveal where the Anarchists were, in which case someone was watching the room's video feed and wouldn't do anything about what happened. Or this was a genuine breakout, so they would have done something to prevent the watchers from knowing what was going on.

The problem was he couldn't think of anyone who'd want to break him out. It wasn't someone from the colonies. He'd been caught, Anderson had marked him as dead. He closed his eyes and pushed thought of his parents out of his mind. There was only one person who might feel she had to do something, but Cass had confirmed she'd boarded a ship heading to Titan station. It was the last thing he'd gotten before they'd caged him.

He sat back on his bed and waited.

The door opened and a kangaroo stood in the doorway, gun in hand. He scanned the room before focusing on Theo. "Hi," he said, raising his gun. "Glad to see you're awake, and dressed, we're going on a little trip." He was used to these kinds of things. That he'd had to physically bypass the lock had to make him an Independent, but how had he come here? If he had a ship it made him somewhat closer to the Anarchist.

"Where?"

"Don't worry your pretty little head about that. Just get moving."

"He isn't in my database," Cass said, "and I can't place his accent. He isn't from any of the large corporate cities."

Theo was in the process of standing when a large hand tapped on the Kangaroo shoulder. He spun, but before he could take aim a fist hit him in the face.

A tall and muscular mule stepped into the doorway. "Hi Paco," He told the downed Kangaroo. "It's good to see you again." Brick, appeared next to him, with other information Cass had gathered in their times on the Mercury. The mule knelt over the Kangaroo and proceeded to pound his face in.

"There's a lot of anger in there," Cass commented.

"Don't break him," an unseen voice said, stopping the mule's raised fist.

"Why not?" Brick says, his voice cold.

"Oh yeah, a lot of anger."

"Because the room's scanner needs to register someone alive in here once Uncle releases it." A tigers face appeared in the doorway. "Hey Theo, how is it going?"

The shock of seeing the Mercury's welcome officer had knocked Theo off his game, seeing the tiger had thrown him for a loop. "Tucker?"

The tiger looked the room over. "Nice place they put you in. It's a bit of a shame that Paco is going to be comfortable"

"I can make sure he isn't comfortable," Brick said.

"Tempting, but if they detect too much in the way of injuries they might decide to investigate early. The Mercury's close enough they might question it."

"What are you doing here?" Theo asked, trying to come up with even one situation that could explain Tucker being here, and as rash as the Orr tiger was, there was no way Theo could believe he was here to try and convince Theo to have sex.

Was this a dream?

"We're here to take you away from here."

"Why?" Theo asked, his tone cautious.

Brick stood and took out restraints.

"Come on, Brick, are those really needed?"

"He's an Independent." The word was filled with such hate Theo considered standing on the bed to back away.

"Yeah, but he isn't one of the bad ones. He's going to behave, right Theo?"

"No." Brick said before Theo could open his mouth.

Theo began coding for a risk assessment, but Tucker's eyes flicked to his hand and he froze. Shit, had he noticed something while they worked together?

The mule took a step raising the restraints. "He puts this on, or I knock him out."

Tucker gave Theo a conciliatory smile. "Sorry, you better put them on." He nodded to the Kangaroo. "He was just supposed to knock Paco out, You don't want to risk it."

"This isn't an act," Cass said. "Tucker is actually worried Brick might do more than knock you unconscious. Where is that anger coming from? There was nothing in his records about encounters with Independents."

Theo offered his wrists. Yeah, and this wasn't going to show up on any records either. There was something he'd missed during his time on the Mercury.

Brick fixed the restraints on each wrist then activated them and they snapped together. He pulled a headband and placed it on Theo's head.

"Great," Cass grumbled, "There goes any chances for an update on what's been happening."

The mule leaned in. "Do me a favor and make my life difficult, okay?"

"Brick, no scaring the prisoner. I'm really sorry Theo, I wish I could have brought someone else but Brick was the only one available and we already knew Paco was who Vanguard would send so there was no way to not having him come along."

"Prisoner?" Theo asked. "So this isn't a rescue? You know I'm not behind what happened on Mars."

Tucker shook his head. "Actually, I don't. All I know is that you helped us save Tom, and I'm grateful, but then you went and locked yourself in the communication center. I have no idea what you did. For all I know you collected the AI and hid it somewhere. I mean I still want to have sex, but yeah, you're a prisoner."

"They can't be serious," Cass objected. "We did everything we could to stop the thing. We delivered the kill program."

Theo nodded. To Cass and Tucker. When the mule motioned, Theo headed for the door. Tucker moved out of the way. He was wearing a military-style jacket and pants. They didn't look armored, but Theo noticed the belt. The fabric could be able to take high power laser, for all Theo knew.

The lock had been reassembled. The job was good, anyone just glancing at it wouldn't be able to tell it had been taken apart. He tilted an ear when Tucker followed his gaze.

"Couldn't leave the mess Paco made. The idea is for them to notice your absence as late as possible."

"Breakfast is going to be brought in about six hours."

"You don't have a printer?"

Theo shook his head.

Tucker cursed. "Brick, we need to pick up the pace. I told Uncle to start moving the Mercury away, it'll be easier for us to catch up, than SolGov noticing we were in the area."

"They'll be chasing paco's ship."

"I'm not risking it. SolGov is in a state right now, they might just decide to shoot before questioning anyone. Dad would kill me if the Mercury ended up getting scratched."

"Uncle, again," Cass said. "The Mercury's pilot? If he is, he isn't on the Mercury's roster. I am starting to think there's a hidden side to the ship and its crew."

Theo agreed. And whatever it was had to be military related. He remembered the Automated Door Opener Tucker had used. That was a military device. Theo didn't care how powerful the Orrs were, they couldn't have gotten one on Mars, that had been something they already had access to.

What did the Orrs need a hidden military ship for? As far as he knew, as any of the records on the colony said, the Orrs weren't in open warfare with anyone. There was Vanguard, but that had always been an economic war.

There had been the treaty, twenty or so years ago, which allowed the corporations to build up a defense, but that had been for the purpose of fighting off the pirates which had become bolder.

Hadn't it?

Had there been more to it? He recalled Thomas Orr saying they had a fleet now. He hadn't paid notice, figuring he'd just meant they could assemble their guard ships if SolGov pushed them. Now? Maybe the Fleet was more literal then he'd believed.

He stopped himself from coding a question. Brick was behind him, and if Tucker knew about how he coded, it was possible the mule knew too.

And he realized there was no point. It wasn't like Cass could send the new information to Anderson. They weren't part of the colonies anymore.

They reached a hole in the hull leading into a small ship. As soon as they were in, a white material appeared on the inside of the hole.

"Paco might not have cared about what happened when he disengaged," Tucker said, continuing to make his way through the small ship, "But we're not interested in hurting anyone." They reached the airlock, which was open. Theo could see a ship on the other side, larger, cleaner. "Watch your steps as you cross, there's a gravity shift."

He felt it as he tried crossing. He was standing on this side, but gravity was off by ninety degrees on the other. He grabbed the edge and awkwardly pulled himself in, sitting on the floor and then standing. He reached down to grab Tucker's hand and pulled him through.

The mule wasn't there.

"Brick's setting a course for Paco's ship. We know there's a group of Independent troublemakers in the asteroid belt. We figure we can send SolGov down on them with this. Let them deal with the political fallout if there's any."

"You guys really don't like Independents."

"Dad and Brick don't like any of them. There's a history there. I just don't like the troublemakers. Plenty of them just want to live peacefully without tech, and I respect that. I don't get it, but I respect it."

When Theo looked up from the hatch in the floor the clothing Tucker was wearing was melting back into the belt.

Naked Tucker smiled. "It's going to take Brick about ten minutes to set everything. You want to go for a quick one?"

Theo sighed. "Again, no. What's your obsession with me?"

"It's not an obsession, and if it was, it isn't with you. You're a good looking guy and I know you're male compatible considering you were with that mongoose. I like having sex with guys, what's wrong with that?" Tucker was hard now.

Theo looked at the other tiger's cock. It certainly was a good looking enough cock, nice and thick. And he hadn't had any sex in almost two weeks now, if not a little more than that. If only the cock was on another guy.

"The answer is still no, Tucker. Maybe if you learn to get to know me first we can talk about it again."

Tucker rolled his eyes and chuckled. "I'm not looking to marry you, just bed you."

"How much do you charge?"

The question threw the tiger. "What?"

"The kind of sex you're offering, I pay for. If all I want is to have a cock up my ass, I'll order a professional."

"Really?" Tucker leaned back against the wall. "You'd spend money for something I can offer to you for free?"

"It went right over his head," Cass commented. "Maybe he isn't all there?"

No, Tucker had gotten the jab, Theo was certain of that, he'd just chosen to ignore it.

"How about you tell me where I'm going to be sitting during this trip? And any chance you can take this thing off? It's uncomfortable."

"Sorry, it's staying. I know you don't have an implant, but Brick will pound your head in rather than take the chance."

"Kind of violent, isn't he?"

Tucker shrugged. "Just toward independents. They hurt someone close to him."

Theo remembered the mule lying in bed, with part of his head damaged. The tenderness in Brick's voice when he spoke to him.

Tucker led Theo to a large couch at the back of the shuttle. "You know, this is kind of luxurious, for a military shuttle."

"It's a passenger yacht. For when we need to drop off passengers in places that can't accommodate the Mercury."

He sat and leaned back. The couch was firm, comfortable. Large enough someone could--

"You know, there's still time for you to say yes. Brick can pilot us back while we fuck."

"No. I thought you Orrs were all about consent."

"I am. I haven't jumped your bones yet, have I? I'm waiting for you to say yes."

Theo eyed the other tiger. "I really hope you have other guys to fuck in the mean time, because I am not going to say yes to an irresponsible, stubborn kid like you."

"I'm about your age. According to the information you gave when you boarded I'm a year older than you."

"Then maybe you could start acting like it?"

Tucker smiled. "Now where's the fun in that?" he turned, raised his tail to give Theo a view of his asshole and headed for the cockpit.

"I'm going to kill him."

"I think he'd prefer that you fuck him," Cass said. "I'd prefer that too."

Theo lowered his voice, "I am not having sex with him just so you can record it."

"I'd think you'd have sex with him because he's hot. Me recording it is just a bonus."

Theo growled his frustration.

"Getting pent up back there?" Tucker asked as Brick pulled himself in.

"No!"

The mule looked from one tiger to the other, shrugged and sat in the seat next to Tucker.