FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was not yer usual skyport. Unlike the one in Atlanta, all tha shopping was put in tha middle fer tha most part, yaknow? It's like a little mall! A little mall to tha big mall, ya?

Ya. Yeah. Yes. It was not your usual skyport. Fireproof, water resistant, ready for anything. Rain, storm, snow, earthquakes and aftershocks? Yubetcha! It blends in there just like a chameleon!

A midsize airport with an outside that can quite literally change color (and spare me the "um actually, punk"). On the inside the three terminals bent in a way that is hard to get lost. A hub in the middle to shop. Three spokes. Three terminals. Simple and effective. It even has a people mover circling around the outside.

Lynn was having a beer before her next flight. Past the gate and flustered. Just one down the hatch to take the edge off. These people, this place. It doesn't sound like anyone is stressed out here, but they are. It is all hidden right in front of your face, all by design.

It was not your usual skyport.

It is here we find Lynn looking for a sandwich at hyve Xpress. The hyve is employee owned and they will not hesitate to say this to yer face. Over and over again, at least at the one in her suburb. No wonder tha crime rate there is so high!

"Need help finding anything?" Even here, apparently.

"No," said Lynn.

"Okay." Kirk went back to the register.

You could also log in with hyvePay. Lynn refused to do this. As annoying as the humans were, they were needed where they were needed most: the end. Someone has to be there when everything else goes wrong. Just like when you lost your money and blush for like the tenth time this week. Not to worry, though. You have yer cardkey.

A touch, a beep, and-

"Do ya have a PowerSave card?"

Shit. Those fucking things. The most annoying things anyone should ever have to put up with. The goddamn motherfuckin-

"Uh, never mind. Let's just..."

It was not her usual hyve Xpress. It was not yer usual skyport. She tapped her cardkey. What a surprise. Her PowerSave and payment worked this time. Now it really wasn't her usual hyve.

Now it was her usual skyport. The complete lack of odor. The patches of dirt in Terminals 1 and 2. The automated train going in circles, and the faulty sensor that's supposed to slow it down xor speed it up. Random bangs from the ceiling and the sweet taste of Delta Fizzy Peach, just the way she likes it.

Bing! Her flight was starting to board. Lynn walked towards her gate. She was in Concourse F. Charter-sized aircraft went here. SkyZip was merely the branding another airline used. They were not contracted out; they were part of SkyNorth, Minnesota's third major airline to date. A charter without a charter, yaknow?

She chose to stand in the line forming in front of her. She grabbed her keycard again. "If only," she thought. They were static devices. There was no screen. It was just a card. It had all your information in one rounded out rectangle. Some say they're working on it, but the phosphates are taking forever to get and an analog for it was found just now. Until then, the shiny, personalized graphene slab will have ta do.

Brooding, she looked ahead. Her fellow humans were beginning to act strange. Strange ta her, anyway. The people here were no longer herding together like the forest buffalo roaming round Lake Superior. Everyone looked as they were becoming more distant. The little girl giggling wasn't there this time. Everyone looked so hectic here, but why? How? Isn't this the one where fun humans were supposed to go?

Not today. For some reason, not today. All was quiet on the Midwest front. Today.

"Now boarding Flight 5840!"

Lynn quickly made her way to gate F37. SkyZip's flight to Richmond, Virginia. Normally a flight this long gets a full-size plane, but a few get shafted down ta Concourse F on tha weekdays.

This was definitely a weekday, fer sure. As usual, there were people all over tha goddamn gate area. Clearly this was going to be a full flight. So, what else is new?

Lynn had a very important conference over in Richmond. The Conference of States. Lynn was a legislator. She represented the people of Bemidji in the Northwest. Rather frequent aurora sightings over there. Lots of beauty scattered across the landscape. Water all over the places, a river surrounded by lakes. Lots of good fishing all over. That's the world Lynn lived in. It's a world she fights to keep from sunup to sundown at the very least.

Lynn didn't want to deal with the nonsense in front of her; she didn't have a choice. There weren't any screaming kids but there weren't any more places to sit down. This part of the airport wasn't as clean as the rest of it, either. You could still see stains on the glass. The carpet needed to be replaced. The magnesium-based floors in the middle? Those were fine. They'd feel better if you could take off your shoes, though. Few ever knew about that. Some tried to steal samples anyway. Lynn got a little too curious one time. That wasn't her proudest fine.

Across the hall she could hear the beeps from the other gate. They were boarding, alright. Everyone tapped their cardkey and got on in about thirty seconds.

"Once again we'd like to welcome all passengers to SkyZip flight 5840. We are now boarding all passengers on this flight. This will be a full flight, so remember..."

Wait. What were these people waiting for? Lynn, in a sport coat and other used formal wear she scraped together at the New West Trading Post, did a double take.

"Oh," she thought. Everyone had stood up and queued while she was admiring the fucking floor. Priorities.