FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Penny had wanted to be a horse since 8th grade, when she'd read Black Beauty in classic literature class. And no, not the kind of horse that half her classmates were, or wanted to be - the trend in 2114 was toward genetic modification, and animals were in. It was retro now. The old extendable limb and spidersilk hair was a passing fad, and furries were back.

Most of her classmates stemmed from the 2100 trends of their parents splicing animal D.N.A. to create two-legged wolves, horses, and above all, foxes. These mods were generally pretty compatible with plain old human genetics, to the point that even the children inherited these traits, resulting in the first generation that could barely be described as "human". Penny was one of the last genetically pure humans in her grade thanks to her parents. They'd never been taken by fads, and while the rest of their generation was growing red fur and expressive ears, Penny's parents stuck to the tried and true cybernetic implants. They hadn't let Penny pierce her ears, much less entertain any genetic modification until she was eighteen.

Now the fourteen-year-old was a sophomore in high school, and despite her parents' objections, she knew it was time to embrace her true self. For two years, she'd longed to be a horse, hoping that Genumod would produce the technology she needed. Because she didn't want to be a furry. She wanted to be a horse. Four legs, running through the field, prancing with the other horses in the environmental seclusion zones. What was the point of high school when she just wanted to throw her old life aside and live as a pony?

Her parents would never understand, and so they wouldn't know until it was too late. Society had long ago given children the right to make decisions about their self-identification. Sadly, her dream of becoming a true, flesh-and-blood horse was still years away - that level of genetic modification was neither in high demand, nor especially easy. But the newsvids had finally piqued Penny's interest. Cybucorp.

The procedure was technically reversible, but she wouldn't need that. Cybucorp could take the data that composed her brain, and combine it with the required brain tissue that digital technology hadn't been able to replicate yet, and implant both into a robotic shell of customizable design, and the lowest price package was affordable even to the 14-year-old. They had a variety of robotic models, but the Welsh Pony was what she wanted most - a slim, short, beautiful mare. She could spend her entire allowance and then travel to the environmental seclusion zone to live the rest of her life with the wildlife, since the company promised this model would fool any horse.

"I-is it...compatible?" she'd asked, in a video call to their sales rep. "Reproductively?" Penny had never blushed so much before in her life. But the representative explained that her new body's reproductive tract would maintain its function. Their models used a combination of smooth titanium to provide sturdiness and structure, as well as a pliable soft metal that was smooth and plush, with a give almost like skin. Solid metal plates along the shoulders, hips, and legs were connected by movable, soft metal joints. The artificial circulatory and thyroid systems would emulate all the hormones necessary for life as a pony. She could finally live her dream of joining a herd and bearing the lead stallion's foal.

Not that she was about to tell Dennis_that_ part! Her only real friend at school, he'd approached her while she was still halfway through Black Beauty to point out how much he loved that book and felt so sad and then happy for the horse. While the vixens at school were sneaking off to the bathroom with the football team, Dennis and Penny were in the back of the library, talking about books and horses and ignoring the fact that no one looked twice at a boring human anymore. They could be human together - at least, as far as Dennis seemed to be concerned.

Penny had other ideas. "I'm...going away, Dennis," she admitted, once the money had transferred to Cybucorp.

"That's a weird way to say it. It almost sounds like you aren't coming back," he said, scratching his short, brown hair.

Penny paused, looking away from the vid screen. "I'm not. Look, don't tell my parents, okay, or they'll stop me. I'm sick of being what I'm not - not on the inside. I shouldn't even risk telling you, but I owe you that much. You're the one thing that kept me going through eighth and ninth grade, Dennis."

"W-what are you going to do?" he asked, leaning forward in concern.

The fourteen-year-old shook her head. "Just know that I'll finally be what I was always meant to be."

Cocking his head, the young man said, "Gene modification? Don't tell me you're going furry on me, just to look more like a horse." But if she was just undergoing superficial change, she wouldn't be talking like she was moving away. "Or..."

Penny sighed. "I can't tell you more. Just know that I love you and I likely won't be seeing you ever again."

"Penny, wait -"

But she'd already hung up the phone. The next day, she took the bus downtown, instead of school, like her parents expected. Dennis didn't tip them off, thankfully, and so she walked confidently into the Cybucorp offices.

"Your payment has cleared, Penny," the secretary explained. "Wait here until our technicians are ready to walk you through the process."

Waiting there, Penny noticed other excited, nervous people, though none were as young as she was. Transfer to a new robotic body was an expensive and extreme process! She lost her breath as she saw one happy customer, a robotic Great Dane, emerging from the engineering bay. Shiny steel metal plates made up the key external structures of the female creature, walking as smoothly as a real dog, the flexible soft metal sliding and stretching to account for her steps. Other than the lack of fur, she was as good as a real Dane, sacrificing her hands for a life as someone's pet. But despite that bargain, a smile crossed her new muzzle. Penny wondered if this woman (or man, she supposed), had paid extra for the "back-up plan", her human body held in stasis in case she invoked the return clause, or if she was so sure about her new life as a pet dog that she'd had her old body cremated.

Despite her confidence, Penny had decided to wait the extra three months to keep the back-up plan, though she highly doubted she would ever need it.

"Here's the contract, as you've seen online. You should probably read it once again to make sure you didn't miss anything," her engineer explained brusquely, as they moved to the robotics bay.

She hadn't missed anything. She'd read it over a thousand times. She'd hired a lawyer to examine the contract to make sure there were no surprises. She'd been particularly careful to understand the three laws of robotics and how they might apply to a human consciousness in a robotic shell.

First: A robot may not injure a person or, through inaction, allow a person to come to harm.

Second: A robot must obey the orders given it by people except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

Third: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

None would apply in the environmental exclusion zone. Humans never entered and only remotely monitored and kept the wildlife refuge in check. But the contract only enforced the first law. Few would risk a robotic body if they were forced to obey all organic people for the rest of their lives, nor were organic minds likely to harm their own existence. That left only the first law, and Penny had never hurt, nor wanted to hurt a fly much less a person. That law was left in place to prevent the political nightmare of some person becoming a robotic lion or monster and mowing through people. It would have no effect on her.

"I didn't miss anything, sir," she explained. A quick scan of the contract revealed no changes from the one she'd reviewed in detail, and Penny quickly signed it, and took a deep breath.

The technician smiled. "Cybucorp has a 100% satisfaction rate. No one has ever wanted to come back to their human bodies. Still, I see the sense in paying a little extra to keep your human shell online."

Penny nodded in agreement. It was hard to beat that level of satisfaction. In fact, it was a little hard to believe...