FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

This story series is Part 2 of the "New Worlds" saga. It follows on from the story in Part 1: With Darkness Descending.

The Author would strongly advise reading Part 1 first. From chapter 9 of The Gryphon Complex, the two stories are closely tied, and the plot will become difficult to follow without a knowledge of what has occurred in Part 1.

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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THE GRYPHON COMPLEX. Chapter 1: Normality has left the building.

A year ago, my life was perfectly normal. I lived in a perfectly normal house, in a perfectly normal street. My life was so perfectly normal, it drove me bat shit crazy every day I woke up in my perfectly normal bed, to the perfectly normal radio alarm clock.

It wasn't an especially exciting, perfectly normal bed. In fact, one could almost say it was somewhat crappy, worn and tired looking. A bit like the tenant occupying the place.

All perfectly normal though.

Same goes with my house. Just another boring, unexciting house in a long tenement of similar such houses, stretching from my home in West End, to the river bank. At some time in the future, I'm sure some developer will buy the lot, spending millions turning them into something "kitch". Plenty of developers had done just this with similar tenements, and most had regretted the decision.

It wasn't even a nice house. It was small, dark and somewhat depressing looking. The sort of place you'd hope someone else lived in, especially if you didn't like them very much. However, it was liveable, in that the roof only leaked in the most severe thunderstorms, and the plumbing worked most of the time. It didn't work especially well, but then again, the house didn't do anything especially well, including keeping you dry in thunderstorms.

But it was certainly perfectly normal.

Then there was me. Six foot nothing, fair skin, tanned in places it count (and pasty where it didn't), with a "solid" build (along the paths that an armoured car is solidly built), dark brown hair, cut short to save on expensive haircuts. Wearing clothes just a cut below "trendy", and living the life to match.

To those outside the duck egg blue, peeling walls of my humble, perfectly normal abode, I was just another mindless drone, trekking mindlessly to work at my mindless job. Which you may gather I didn't feel a great deal of fondness towards.

I worked in "retail sales". Yes, I was a register jockey. I sold computers. That's what a 4 year degree in information technology, followed by a further 3 years in electrical engineering, will get you. "Will that be cash or card?"

However, it could have been worse. At least I didn't need to discover if "you wanted fries with that?"

Not that there is anything especially wrong with computers. Computers fulfil a valuable function in our modern world. They help people with their essential commerce, to communicate, find love, share lives, buy stuff online and, if you believe Trekkie Monster from Avenue Q, is essentially "for porn".

Which has often been a lifesaver, as my second job involves system administration at a local porn server, which gives 'moonlighting" a whole new meaning.

So, I sell computers, and fix porn computers. As I said, my life is perfectly normal.

So, what went wrong with it? Well, that depends on your definition of "wrong".

My first mistake was answering a job ad for a "computer technician" at my local university. At the time, computer sales were down, and my boss had kindly offered to reduce my hours dramatically to give me "more leisure time."

It also seemed people weren't jerking off as much anymore. When the porn industry is down, you know the economy is doing it tough. The GFC went all WTF on the adult video industry, and my services were in less need of...servicing.

Left financially destitute, and with the risk of losing my perfectly normal lifestyle to live on the perfectly beastly streets, I started looking at any job opportunity that passed through my hands. By chance, while walking the 3 miles home to save on bus fare, I saw an ad stuck up on a telegraph pole near where I was waiting for a "walk" light.

"Wanted: Computer Technician to assist with coherent quantum state transfer experimentation. Applicant must be well groomed, technically competent, and able to assist with equipment operations. Applications to: Assoc Prof. DJ Quadberry. Quantum Physics Department. Ext. 314."

Having a good, sound grasp of coherent quantum of solace, having seen the James Bond movie over seven times, and having practiced some of James's better moves in front of the bathroom mirror in the hope of impressing myself, I thought it'd be worth sending through an application. After all, if anyone sounded like they might need technical expertise from someone with an advanced diploma of fapping to porn, these guys did!

To make matters worse, I didn't even bother padding my resume with the normal sorts of things you do when seeking employment. You know; Fake references; dodgy job titles; all that sort of stuff. I'm still not totally sure why. Either I was just too tired to bother, or didn't take the application seriously, but it actually was an accurate description of my life experience. Minus the porn related stuff, of course. Hell, everyone is a critic! I wasn't applying for the position of CEO of Yahoo, after all!

Truth be told, I didn't like my chances. Nor did I especially care. Perhaps that's why I got the position.

It was a week after the applications closed that I received the job offer. "Dear David. Thank you for your application. After careful consideration, we have decided to offer you the position of computer technician with the Physics department. The position commences yada yada yada..."

I actually have a new job, not related to either the public or the pubic! I was now, formally, a "science technician". Shit-kicker to the university movers and shakers! How I later came to miss my sales job!

It wasn't that the position was tedious. That would be an unfair comparison. Tedium is in the mind of the beholder. I mean, I look at the job performed by traffic controllers holding up "slow/stop" signs at road works as "boring". They probably look at me farting around inside complex engineering works as equally boring, while taking their large government-issued pay packets home to spend on their tribe of troglodytes. Not that there was a lot of "complex". Rather, there was a lot of "cleaning" and "make us coffee", and long hours spent watching equipment that was so stimulating, hearing it ping every once in a while was cause for celebration.

The fact was, to them, I was a computer monkey, and my on-the-job training was complete the moment I arrived.

Over time, I did begin to grasp some of the basics they were trying to achieve. Basic Matter Transference, in a nut shell. Turning perfectly sound objects into their component atoms, before sending them whizzing through the ether, to be un-atomised at another location. Sounded incredible, and it was. Or it would have been, if they ever got it to work.

It wasn't that the Prof. had trouble getting thing to disintegrate. He was more practiced at doing that than Gordon Freeman. No, it was the "putting them back together" bit they were having troubles with. Even small items, like atoms, took a ludicrous amount of computing power to reform, and with the bean pushers in University Financial always looking over their shoulders, finding both the time and the money for such investment in equipment was near on impossible.

You had to hand it to the Professor, though. He was determined to do what he could, with the resources he had. Even while watching as those resources were slowly but inevitably being stripped away by the mindless bureaucrats running the campus.

Finally, things became so tough with the limited computing time he was allocated on the mainframe, that the Prof. was forced to schedule all his higher order experiments to process after hours. Lucky me, being the one who got to "supervise" the after hour experiments, while everyone else went home to watch Star Trek, play chess, or log onto World of Warcraft; whatever the hell university nerds did in their off hours.

So, sitting there with my feet propped up on the console, half eaten pizza by my side, and a steady supply of double shot ice coffee with guarana at hand, I "monitored the systems". Generally with the assistance of my laptop, the aforementioned Gordon Freeman, and a virtual Hazmat suit and crowbar.

I hadn't really been paying much attention to the console readouts, which had all been happily in the green prior to my unexpected and unfortunate "head crab incident". Thoroughly distracted, I didn't see the system tell-tales change to amber, and then red. Nor did I hear the rising hum of the equipment through my headphones. Perhaps had I done so, a lot of the crazy shit that followed may have been avoided. However, at the time, the Combine forces were pretty intimidating, and it wasn't until the room lights began to flicker, before dimming markedly, that I dropped my mouse, ripped off my headset, and took in my surroundings.

Oh fuck! The fan had already been liberally covered with shit, and I could only avoid the flying consequences!

A large electrical arc left the main transformers and struck the arch above the transport platform, on which the scientists had positioned their test samples. This was followed by another, and another, until the entire area was a sheet of blinding electricity. I stuck my head out from behind the bank of computers I'd valiantly taken cover behind, and made a dash for the main electrical board, thinking to throw the primary power coupling and shut down the entire system, when I was struck from behind by an explosion of light and energy that sent me careening against the wall, to lie stunned on the floor.

With the room filled with smoke, and the stench of ozone permeating everything, I wiped the sweat and dust from my eyes to view with astonishment a huge, indistinguishable "shape" shrouded in a glowing nimbus of energy, centred beneath the arch on the platform. It moved, causing a wave of sparks to flash between it and the nearest terminal, which burst into flames upon contact. My mind finally caught up with the situation, and I raced for the fire extinguisher mounted near the exit door. Fumbling with the clip locking the trigger, I dragged the heavy unit towards the platform, before eventually detaching the nozzle and pointing it at the glowing form in front of me, coating it in a white spray of foam from head to foot.

When the evacuation fans finally kicked in, and the air beginning to clear, I found myself face to face with a very large, very pissed off looking, "thing".

"What the fuck did you do that for?" the gryphon yelled at me in a hoarse voice, wiping white foam from its face with a scaled claw and stepping angrily towards me. "I'd just about had this thing sorted out, and you went and messed it uo completely!"

It took a step forward threateningly, and I backed off frantically, before slipping in the foam and landing on my arse. I got to my knees, before I began crawling madly towards the exit.

The gryphon, clearly sensing my intended escape, roared "Oh, no you don't! You got me into this mess; you're going to help me out of it!" Throwing a clawed forearm forward, it deftly snagged my belt, before dragging me backwards to lie huddled, beneath it.

Rolling over to my back, I looked up fearfully into the beasts face, seeing the angry yellow eyes and jagged beak closing in on me, and I did what any red blooded computer geek would have done in the same situation! I fainted.

Gordon Freeman, I'm not. After all, needing a crowbar at work was never in the job description!

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I regained consciousness with the chemical stench of bleach melting my nasal passages, and a painful tapping centred on my forehead. Opening my eyes cautiously, I realised I was in the cleaners closet. I also realised there was a large claw hovering above my skull, tapping me on the forehead. So I shut my eyes, hoping the delusion would disappear. Or at least be replaced by something more normal. Like a seriously impressive acid trip, or terminal concussion. It didn't. Tap. Tap. Tap. Ouch. Screwing up my courage, I opened my eyes again, this time reaching up to protect my scalp from the insistent rapping, grabbing the clawed hand and getting poked in the palm for my troubles. It withdrew from my grip, only to hover menacingly over my head.

"Oh, so you're awake now" a voice whispered. "Good. We need to get the hell out of here!" "Umm yeah" I replied wittily, gazing past the large claw now clenched over my head, to the equally large beaked head beyond. "Jesus, what the hell are they putting in those caffeine energy drinks nowadays? This trip is amazing!"

The hand withdrew, and the deep blue eyes behind the very large beak screwed up in confusion, before the gryphon grabbed me by my shirt, and half dragged me to a sitting position before it.

"Do you have the slightest idea how much shit we're in?" the gryphon asked angrily, releasing me to fall backwards, striking my head on the shelves behind me.

Wincing, I reached back to rub my battered head, and glared back at it. "Ouch! What the fu...No!! What the hell are you on about?"

It sat back, and I sat up, and we gazed at each other for a moment, before it turned around in the tiny room back to the closed door, pressing a tufted ear against the panel.

I looked around again. Hell, as far as acid trips goes, this was a doozey. The normal old wavy visual distortions I expected had yet to make an appearance, but the hallucinations were awesome! Reaching out a hand, I grabbed at the furry rump, giving it a hard pinch.

"HEY" the gryphon hissed loudly, attempting to spin around in the confined space, and managing only to stick its rear further into my face! "Careful with the hardware!"

My thoughts spun. No hallucination! Trapped in a cleaning closet with a huge hairy lion eagle thing, and a face full of arse fur!

Spitting out the hairy butt cheek, I managed to grab a breath, before having a clawed hand roughly cover my mouth.

"Do you WANT them to find us?" it hissed again, before turning back to eavesdropping through the keyhole.

"OK, I'll bite. Who's trying to find us?" I hissed back, getting to my feet and squeezing past the creatures flank to stand near its head.

It cocked an eye at me, ears pressing flat against its crested head, before whispering "The flying monkeys are out there!"

OK, at that my jaw dropped. Gryphons were one thing, but... "Flying monkeys?"

It shook its head, and glared again "Course not, you idiot! Shit, are you brain damaged? The fuzz! Cops! Polizia provinciale! They're everywhere!"

I glared back at it. "Alright, arsehole! I'm stuck in a broom closet with a feathered hairball, and you accuse me of being brain damaged? What's your dysfunction?"

It stared at me for a few seconds, before its head dropped, it sat on its haunches and raised both hands in apology. "Sorry. Sorry, alright! It's been a shitty day. So far, its rating a ten out of ten on the wierd fuck-o-meter! I just have this thing about vivisection. I prefer my innards inward, if you get my drift. We need to get out of here, ASAP!"

I gave it a searching glare, crossing my arms stubbornly. "Who's WE, feather ball?"

It brought its face in close to mine before replying in a low voice "What do you think they'll do to you if they catch you with me?"

Well. It had a point. We had to get out of there!

I pushed past it, as it leant back against the shelves to let me past, nearly knocking cleaning supplies everywhere, before I pressed my own ear against the door. The muffled buzz of numerous voices could be heard in the hallway beyond. Perhaps not surprising for a university corridor, but somewhat unusual for 2am in the morning!

Motioning for it to keep back, I carefully opened the door and peeked down the corridor, noting the large group of police, university personnel, and firemen standing at the doorway to the wrecked physics lab, and others combing through the smoking ruin within.

I withdrew my head, and looked around the room frantically, before spying a cleaner's coverall hanging on the back wall. Pressing past the nervous looking gryphon again, I stripped out of my pants, before pulling on the overalls, and began rummaging through the shelves for anything that may buy us a distraction. Bingo! Ammonia and bleach. My childhood friends!

I turned back to the gryphon, who'd been gazing over my shoulder in concern, and thinking fast, said to it "OK, here's the deal. I'll create a distraction past the cops. Once you hear the fire alarm, you head down the far end of the corridor, where you'll see a fire escape. Once through, go straight across the park, past the oval, and you'll come across a whole lot of trees beyond. They back onto the river. Turn right, go around a mile, and you'll see a low bridge crossing the water. I'll meet you under there. Got it?"

It muttering the directions back to itself, before giving me a startled glance, and began nodding vigorously. I grabbed a mop and bucket from against the wall near the door, piling my chosen bottles inside, before carefully slipping through the door and drawing it closed. Just before it snapped shut, a claw reached through and gripped my arm firmly. Looking through the gap at the gryphon, it gazed at me curiously, before quietly saying "Thanks."

I nodded. After all, it wasn't every day your real life acid trip was so polite. Most flying pink elephants I'd met were ignorant, rude bastards.

"No worries", I said, before it released me and I made my way down the corridor towards where all the action was centred.

I was stopped once by an officer, who took one look at my overalls before waving me by. I briefly entertained the idea of asking him what was going on, to see if I could get some details on what they'd found, but when I paused he gave me such a baleful glare that I decided to simply hurry further down the corridor instead. Reaching the physics department administration offices a few doors down, I opened the door with my keys, pushing the mop and bucket into the room before me. Locking the door quietly, I quickly removed the bottles from the bucket, grabbed a nearby waste paper bin, before dumping the contents of the bleach container back into the bottom of it. Taking a few deep breaths, I uncapped the ammonia, pouring the entire contents in after it. When greenish yellow chlorine gas began billowing from the top, I held my breath even though my eyes began burning. Unlocking the door, I rushed back into the hallway and wrenched at the fire alarm on the far wall, the siren shrieking at my actions, before I tore back through the firemen screaming "GAS!" at the top of my lungs.

Who ever said that chemistry was wasted on the academic!

Several police officers responded to my cry as I shot past, and ran back the way I had come, before encountering the cloud of chlorine gas leeching from the room. Retreating in panic, and coughing at the fumes, they raced back to join their colleagues.

"GAS!!" they all began shouting, echoing my cries, and the entire hallway erupted in chaos!

I was bundled out the building by a group of firemen, who strapped an oxygen mask around my face, and left me alone momentarily inside the cab of the fire truck, while they grouped to attempt to take stock of the new situation. Seeing my chance to make an escape, I slipped out the far door of the cab, before piss bolting through the gardens towards the football oval, where I rested momentarily behind the spectator stands gasping for breath.

"That was fucking awesome!" a quiet voice from behind spoke in my ear, and I let out a stifled shriek before spinning to face the now grinning gryphon, which had snuck up behind me.

"For fucks sake!!" I hissed, clutching my heaving chest. "You scared the living shit out of me! I thought I told you to meet me at the bridge?"

The gryphon eyed me for a moment, before looking away in embarrassment "Well. I wanted to see if you made it out of there OK" it said, ears dropping to its head.

I stared at it, considering its words, before taking a breath and trying for some calm. Decision made, I held out my hand towards it. "David" I offered. The gryphon blinked, before reaching out to clasp it in its own. "Pyre" it replied, shaking my hand firmly, before releasing it and looking around at the trees beyond. "Nice to meet you. So, how about we get the hell out of here, David?"

I grinned at it, waving my hand before me towards the waiting woods. "After you". It chuckled, before taking off towards the tree cover at a sprint I was hard matched to follow.

Continued in Chapter 2: In Flux.