FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The landing lot for the motel was only half full. The portable sensor Tristan had put on the control board told him the cameras here were still only the motel's own security. Alex had already coerced it into not memorizing their presence.

Once landed and out of the hover he stretched, turning to look for anyone keeping watch. There were no one around he hadn't noticed when they landed. He'd picked this place while they were flying because it was far enough from the complex no one would think that was their interest. He would have preferred setting up on the other side of the planet, but he wasn't the only one after this, so he had to minimize the delays, even if that added to the potential complications.

He paused before the door to their room and listened for any out of place sounds. Nothing came through the door, but he expected that. Someone was watching a vid two doors down, two women were arguing past that. Alex would tell him if anyone new had arrived while he was away.

The room was standard for places like this. A bed, a desk with a computer, a dresser and a bathroom. The minimum someone needed to live, minus food. There was a restaurant across the landing lot for that.

The shower was going, so that was where Alex was. Tristan was moving toward the sound before he'd thought about it. He glanced at the computer, it was on and he could see lists, although he didn't take the time to read them. He wanted to see his human.

The door slid open with a hiss and Tristan froze, had Alex heard?

Why was that thought bothering him?

The human had his back to him, rinsing the cleanser out of his hair. The muscle on his arms and back bulged as he moved. They were more defined now, after all the training and fighting Alex had done. He felt his chest swell with pride at how far the human had come in these last year. Tristan had sculpted him into something deadly.

His body reacted to the sight, to what he'd turned this human into, and he stepped into the room, wanting to touch him. To feel him against his fur. To press into--

Alex stiffened.

Tristan stopped and forced the desire off his face. What was going on with him?

The human glanced at the mirror in the shower, saw him and relaxed. "I'm almost done with the search. What I found already is on my datapad. You can take a look at it."

Tristan nodded. For some reason he didn't trust himself to speak. He stepped out of the bathroom and paced the floor, forcing his thought on the job and away from Alex's body, the strong leg, firm ass.

He grabbed one of the sound dampeners he'd put on the wall when they arrived and did a quick check of it. It was an Orvaral Sound Stop. Dumb name, but good product. He ran through all its components and the specifications for each part.

By the time he was done his breathing was back to normal, his body no longer showed any indication of how the sight had affected him. He took out his datapad and copied the information from Alex's. Their datapads were Tolera's Omacron D, top of the line. Almost as powerful as their computer lines.

The shower stopped and Alex walked out, drying himself. Tristan had to fight to keep his eyes on his datapad. He found himself mentally cursing getting Alex in the habit of walking around naked. Why had he done that? Right, because the human hadn't been comfortable with it, it had been a way to exert power over him. Now he should tell him to put his pants on, only that would be a clear indication his nudity affected Tristan, and he couldn't let it.

Once dried, Alex did dress, then headed out. He returned a few minutes later with food and they ate while he finished his research.

"I've confirmed that the Telrize mainframe doesn't export any of its information, so we don't have to worry about any of the virus' data being elsewhere." He brought up a hologram of the building. "The mainframe is on the fourth floor of the building at 327 Ridge way." He zoomed the image. "It's composed of eighty-one stacks. I can easily release a program in there to chew down the vault with the information to its base data."

Tristan shook his head. "We need to draw the target out. I want him to know he isn't the only one after it. We fry all the stacks, it sends the message and as far as he knows, we are now the only ones with the data he wants."

"How is he going to know it's us? He's an amateur."

"His family runs a city, he will have surrounded himself with qualified people."

"I don't care how qualified they are, they won't be able to reassemble any of the security data after my programs have gone through them."

Tristan nodded, his gaze fixed on Alex.

"You want me to leave threads hanging for him to find."

"That's what the job calls for."

Alex looked at his pad, grumbling. "I hate doing sloppy work."

"Have you been able to locate the fabricator?"

"No, because Olirian removed it from the index it's impossible to find it from within the network. What I was able to do is find nine 'dead zones' by comparing the index with the layout of the warehouse. It's going to have to be in one of them."

"Only nine?"

Alex nodded.

"How were they caused?"

"As best as I can tell, system glitches. If I had a few more days to go through the code I could probably work out which are glitches and which were created. That leads me to the next problem. I haven't been able to find anything that will justify our presence in the warehouse."

He tapped his datapad's screen and two sets of ID's came up. "I inserted us in the technical staff of the Complex, so we can move about." Another tap, new IDs. "We also have the qualifications for mainframe work, in case someone questions why we're at the stacks." He leaned back in his chair. "But I haven't been able to find any kind of IDs for warehouse work. All the maintenance of transporters is done off sight. I couldn't locate who handles internal security so I can't give us those IDs. As it is, if we run into anyone while searching for the fabricator, we won't be able to explain our presence."

"Then we kill them," Tristan said, partially to gage Alex's reaction but also because it would be what he'd do in such a case.

"That could be a lot of bodies to hide. It's a big place, if one of them is found before we're done, we'll have the Law on us on top of whoever Baran might have looking for the virus."

Tristan nodded, it was a valid argument, except. "There won't be anyone. The old man said the place is fully automated."

"Yes, but they still need security. They need a way to make sure nothing gets stolen."

Tristan sent information to Alex's datapad, then changed the hologram to the warehouse. "They use sensors for that. They have a top of the line Furten system covering every spot."

"Is it connected to the net?"

"It is."

"Then it's worthless. I can have a program intercept the information before it reaches whatever security firm handles it, scrub us out of it in real time."

"I'm counting on it."

"But that's basic stuff, anyone with a year of coercion classes can do that. They have to know it."

"I expect they do, but it's either make sure everyone knows they use a top of the line, unbeatable system, and scare them into not even trying, or pay the hundreds of guards needed to have a physical presence in the warehouse to ensure that no one can actually steal anything."

Alex sighed. "It comes down to greed, doesn't it?"

"Everything does."

"You're not greedy, I'm not."

Tristan fixed his gaze on the human. Without breaking it he ran a finger along the underside of the furless arm. Alex gasped, and shivered, before pulling away.

"You might not be greedy for money, but you are greedy for something."

Alex looked away and whispered, "I hate you."

Tristan smiled. "No, you don't."

Alex stood and headed to the bathroom. Tristan saw that his touch had had the desired effect on the human. The problem was that it also had had an effect on him.