FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Oh, and if you haven't read the first part, go here: http://www.sofurry.com/view/384550

Sorry about this one. I feel it was a bit rushed, so let me know and I'll come back and redo the bits that need redoing. I've been really out of it when it comes to writing the past day or so, so don't be surprised if this sucks. I keep missing words or entire sentances.

I was pushing for around 2500-3000 words but I figured 2400 was close enough. So, let me know what you think of the length, I'm thinking of pushing for that 2500-3000 word count and I think it would be ideal but I'll wait to see what you guys say.

Anyway, onto the next part, brace yourselves for badness.

Of course, it took some time for them to. They waited for a few days in orbit, which had everyone on their toes. There were a total of six ships in the fleet. Their ships were quite interesting. Some had taken advantage of the strength of a hexagonal pattern (presumably) to its full extent, and were a dark metallic color. Three of their ships were of that design with what were obviously engines at both ends and some smaller ones along the flat surfaces on their sides. They measured in at a few hundred meters in length and about seventy to eighty meters in width. Oddly enough, these were the smaller of the group. The two largest vessels were like a stretched egg and wider than tall (well, at least from our angle) and measured in at close to one-and-a-half kilometers in length and at their widest point they were around 450 meters. They also were of the charcoal gray color the smaller ships were. The last ship was of a medium size, but closer to the hexagonal ships. It was obviously some sort of military vessel and had many small turrets dotted across its hull, which shared the same sort of design as the larger ones. The day before they landed, there was a lot of activity in the fleet.

Smaller spacecraft zipped from ship to ship. Transferring crew, equipment, soldiers? All three? Who knew? I didn't sleep that night since I had a great view from the porch of my little red house of the activity up above. It was very pretty, as if a hundred satellites were moving around. The ships were really cool at night, the sunlight on their hulls made them look like oblong stars. There was such a sense of disbelief and awe that had been lingering since I first heard the news, and I was sure many others were feeling the same.

The next day their engines activated. I was glued to the TV at my office's break room (sorry to deviate, I may have not gotten my PhD, but even with my Masters I got a decent job teaching at a local college ). They were descending. With the shape of their hulls and their size, I wondered how the hell they were going to get through the atmosphere with losing control and tearing apart. The stress on them would immense!

Surprisingly, their descent was very sluggish. So slow that their hulls didn't even heat up too much from the increased friction upon entering the atmosphere, but that was due to the fact their engines were on full blast. The noise from their engines could be heard for hundreds of miles, parting the clouds or burning them away with the heat of their engines. A cloud of exhaust hung in the air as well. It seemed they were going to land somewhere in Montana, probably because of how flat it was and if their ecology was anything similar to ours, they would know that grass fields would have a think layer of rich top soil, cushioning their impact. Landing gear appeared at the bottom of the vessels. They were like long bulky insect legs; probably to compensate for sinking into whatever surface they intended to land on from their impressive weight. At a thousand feet, the fields of grass and grain were already beginning to burn. Fires raced across the plains thanks to a southern strong wind. They were fairly spread out, about three to four kilometers between each ship. The combat ship was at the center of the fleet now. When they did impact the ground, huge plumes of dirt were thrown into the air and massive gouges put into the soft soil. If the legs were rigid there was no way they could withstand that much pressure. Sure enough, I was genuinely surprised again. Once the legs dug in far enough, they rocked forward and gradually slowed, ensuring a smoother landing. The rearmost landing gear extended and dug further in to keep the vessel balanced as they lurched ahead. Once their forward momentum was gone, the ship rocked back into place. The Canadian and US militaries had already dispatched troops to secure the surrounding area.

However, a large number of civilians had already gathered around. Those who were waiting for something like this to happen and were ready at a moments notice, and were just waiting for the fires to move further out so they could safely approach the ships. I didn't make it in time to join the initial group but I did beat a good portion of the traffic flooding towards the landing site. The military did try to keep people from entering the area but there were so many of us and most of them just wanted to see the ships anyway that they disregarded their orders. Some of the more friendly soldiers were even letting some of the people ride their vehicles as the crowds moved in on the ships.

It took me two days to get there in my little two door economy car. It should have been sixteen hours driving to get there but with the amount of people on the roads, it took around twenty-nine. I wasn't even remotely tired, and I had brought enough food and water for a few days. I was pretty far back in the crowd and had to stand on the top of my vehicle to see over the people in order to have a decent view of the ships. There were still heat waves rising off from their engines.

People were willing to get close, but not too close. There was around two hundred meters of empty space between the crowd and each ship. No one dared move further, especially not the military.

"Hey, you!" A voiced yelled from behind. I turned around to find a rather thin and lanky teenage boy with dark brown hair holding a rather fancy camera up at me. "Get some pictures for me!"

"Sure," I said, getting the camera. I took several for him and handed it back. I pulled my business card out of my wallet and passed it to him. "Send me those if you get the chance." He nodded and began looking through what I took with a huge grin on his face. Now I felt stupid for never getting a camera.

This was going to be one hell of day.

* * * * * * * * *

Sadly, not much activity happened the next couple days. The days remained relatively cool but it was incredibly loud with tens of thousands of people all talking in a small area. I hadn't purchased a tent so I just tilted my car seat back and slept in there. It wasn't very comfortable but I did not care too much at that moment. On the third night I was so anxious that I couldn't even sit still enough to sit in my car and sleep. I put my shoes on, and pulled on the pair of jeans I had been wearing for the past few days and put on a dark gray zip-up hoodie since it was a bit of a chilly night. The sky was clear and the Moon was bright., bathing the sea of sleeping bags, vehicles of all shapes and sizes, and tent cities in a pale monochrome light. I locked my car and went for a walk.

I maneuvered my way through the maze of sleeping people and tents up as far as I could manage. I accidentally woke a few people up but they were polite about it and me apologizing constantly probably helped a bit. It took roughly two hours to get even close to the edge of the mob. I walked over to a couple National Guard troops sitting on top of their APC.

"How far are we allowed to go?"

A woman with a narrow face looked down at me, she was still wearing her helmet and was dressed in woodland fatigues. She had an unloaded assault rifle resting on her lap. "As long as you don't go past the edge of the crowd you'll be fine. No one's really restricting anyone too much, we just don't want people wandering right up to the ships."

I nodded and continued forward. There were a lot more military personnel the closer you got, no real surprise there. I stood at the edge. There was several others nearby doing the same as me, just watching those behemoths that towered above us.

Then my heart just about stopped.

Floodlights all over the spacecraft's surface activated, blinding us with the sudden change in light. A loud hiss emanated from each one. I squinted to lessen the pain in my eyes. From the bottom of each vessel, a large cargo elevator came down and each set itself gently on the ash covered ground. Around a hundred figures of varying body shapes-some humanoid-stood in what were most likely air-sealed suits with helmets. The color from here seemed to be a mix of black and white, but it was hard to say for sure in this blinding light.

Everyone held their breath and silence hung in the damp midnight air.

I looked around, several people were moving away while others stared intently. A deep booming voice echoed out over the plains. It came from some sort of outdoor speaker from all of the ships. It was saying something. It was hard to tell. It was a language that sounded familiar. Then the voice changed how it was speaking entirely. I couldn't believe it! It was speaking French, then German, then Russian, Swedish, Finnish, Portuguese, Spanish, and finally English.

"Humankind," the gravelly voice rumbled. It's accent was odd, like a mix of Russian and German. "We have finally arrived. Another message is coming, please be patient."

Sure enough, after a couple very long minutes another message was read. It went through the same order of languages as well. "This is a non-hostile colonization fleet. It has taken us fifteen of your standard years to reach this system from our own. We ask that you not take any sort of aggressive action against us." The message stopped for us, went back through the language cycle and returned. "Those of us you see now are diplomatic groups that we wish to send to whichever government you please to organize integration or possible relocation. We appreciate you all showing great interest and coming to see us, but we ask that your civilian portion to leave to allow things to run more smoothly."

Sadly, with that request we were forced to clear out within a day or two. The military wasn't too mean about it but things were becoming very serious. I left the next morning. I wanted to stay but I also wanted to miss most of the rush and escape while I could. No one really worked after this for a couple weeks. We all had our eyes glued to the television for any news updates. The most interesting in my opinion was a wireless interview on one of the major news networks.

A young red headed sat in a chair and spoke to the same alien who had spoke after the ships had landed, who had identified himself as a high ranking individual.

"So, how did you figure some of our languages, and why the Solar System?" She asked.

"It was program that started one hundred and fifty six of your years ago," he began, "We had sent out a satellite out to your system and as it passed by this planet-although much further than expected-we picked up a lot of activity and your atmosphere was compatible with our biology, so we naturally wanted to investigate. Once the information got back, which took a very long, we sent out a satellite every five years. One would reach the system, send the data to the one behind it, that to the one behind it, and so on. We had data streaming in much more reliably than before." He paused. "We kept track of what your planet was going through. When there was a sudden drop in the amount of data we were getting, we became worried. We learned of the pathogens that destroyed much of your population. So, to answer your question, we've been monitoring this system for sometime. With your data network-the 'internet'-we were able to learn much about your species. Both the good and the bad."

The woman soaked and processed the information for a few moments. "Fascinating! How long did it take for you to build your fleet and were you the only ones?"

"Yes, and about twenty years. By the time we finished we had just enough time to supply the fleet and then send it on it's way. Since we cannot reach the speed of light, we traveled close to it. That's why it took was fifteen years instead of ten."

"Where did your fleet originate from?"

"We came from what you have identified as the Epsilon Eridani system."

"You're awfully open with this information."

"There is no reason to hide it. We only came to this system because we believed your species would be trusted and reasoned with."

Fortunately, we were willing to make deals with them. We also learned a lot about their people. They were a Matriarchal society with a mix of currency and barter economy. They resembled reptiles and their race was actually two subspecies that were so close they could actually successfully mate with one another; a quadruped and a biped body style. Each also came in three genders: Male, female, and a hermaphrodite. The latter was so rare that there was only a 0.04% genetic chance that a child would be one. They were revered by their people. As for their appearance, they had soft, smooth scales that could come in a vast array of colors. The cooler colors were often thought of as more attractive. Their heads were more narrow than a typical reptile, resembling Monitor lizards or the fictional dragons of the west. They had long curved spines that ran along their back and sometimes atop their heads, typically they lay against their backs or heads and they were actually quite flexible and not very pointy, but they could be extended outwards. Their teeth resembled a dolphin's, small round cones. Small holes in the sides of their heads served as ears. Their eyes were about as many colors as their scales.

Needless to say, they were magnificent creatures and I hoped at some point I would be able to see one.

I just didn't realize it would be sooner than later.