FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"We have dropped out of hyperspace and are approaching the inner star system," Astra's disembodied voice said.

"Okay, what have we got?" Asuka turned to face the holographic display above the central console and rubbed her hands together.

"Scanning. Two planets detected in the outer system, with numerous icy planetoids farther out. From the size of the two planets, it's likely they are gas giants. Four rocky planets detected in the inner system, one in the habitable zone for most known species. One large planet very near the star, likely a gas giant that spiraled in from the outer solar system. Its orbital period is estimated at less than seven days, and from its distance from the star, it's likely tidally locked, with atmospheric temperatures at least one to two thousand degrees Celsius on the side facing the star."

"A Roaster," Hitomi said, nodding. "Probably won't find our friends or their abductors there."

"Correct. Examination of Vorak remains indicated they evolved on a planet similar to Earth. We're on course for the planet in the habitable zone. Two of the others are farther from the star and therefore too cold, and the third is closer and therefore too hot."

"Well, at least that narrows it down." Asuka watched the display switch to a terrestrial planet. It looked about the size of her fist, but grew rapidly as the ship continued its approach. Only a few minutes later, it had almost filled the holofield. Its colors were close enough to Earth's, but the continents were vastly different shapes.

"Evidence of advanced technology detected," Astra said. The image zoomed in closer, revealing metal objects of varying shapes in orbit. Satellites, Asuka guessed. Some appeared intact, but others had broken apart. As the image zoomed in more, Asuka found holes and burn marks on them.

"Huh," she muttered. "Someone's been shooting up the place."

"Scanning. Damage caused by directed energy weapons. Debris is radiating no heat, indicating combat was not recent." The image zoomed more, panned to the right, and paused on what appeared to be the remains of a space station with a thick, severed cable hanging below it. "Possible space elevator detected."

One of the surviving pilots from the Challenger, Gasm, stepped up to the console and tugged on the collar of her flight suit. "I wonder if they were invaded, or if they were fighting among themselves."

"There is insufficient data to make an assessment." The image panned up and left, stopping on the remains of a particularly large satellite. One entire side had been blown off and several long, narrow objects floated near it--objects Asuka could identify with a single glance. The satellite tumbled slowly and a moment later, more of the cylindrical objects could be seen through the torn-open sections of its hull.

"Missile platform detected," Astra said. "Inactive." A few more seconds passed. "No comm traffic detected. Electromagnetic output minimal. Few active power sources detected. Dropping probes."

A swarm of small, black spheres flowed into the holofield from the bottom. Asuka couldn't determine their size, but she'd seen similar devices that were about the size of softballs. Being a couple centuries more advanced, these were probably much smaller.

The probes entered the atmosphere and dispersed, zipping through the air and scanning the whole surface in a matter of minutes.

Lopez clomped up beside Gasm, each of his four metal feet vibrating the floor with every step. His forward cameras panned slowly over the holographic projection.

"Looks like no one's alive down there."

Gasm nodded slowly. "If there were, they would've tried to contact us by now. Or there could still be someone left, but they've been bombed back to the stone age. Astra, is there even an automated defense system locking on to us?"

"No ADS detected," Astra said. "Receiving telemetry from probes. Minimal animal life detected. Plant life is abundant, but there may not be enough animal species left to maintain an ecosystem."

Gasm shivered, her ears folded halfway back, and she turned away from the image.

"Skeletal remains of bipedal species found," Astra continued. "Flesh, muscle tissue, and innards have decayed, leaving only bones. Similar in structure to humans and human-derivations, but with four arms. No evidence of an invading species found."

"Are_any_ of them still alive?"

"The probes have found only skeletons and partial skeletons. Some buildings are intact, but many are not. Damaged vehicles have been found all over the planet, and the intact ones have been rusting away for several centuries."

"Fucking hell," Gasm mumbled. She rubbed her hands over her face and raked her fingers through her hair. "They wiped themselves out." She heaved a long sigh. "Nuclear, or biological, I wonder? Or something we can't even recognize?"

"Insufficient data. Radiation levels are nominal. Further investigation is required to determine biological warfare or some other means." Astra's voice changed slightly, her tone becoming more somber. "I suppose it doesn't really matter at the moment. This world can be studied after we've located your missing crew members...but honestly, I find it quite distressing."

"I think we all do." Asuka braced her hands on the console. "Are there any ships in the area?"

"None detected."

"Well, I guess we should move on to the next system, then."

"Agreed. Preparing to jump back into hyperspace."

"I wonder what we'll find there."

Hitomi stared at the planet and shook her head. "I'm not sure I want to know."

#

"What the fuck is that?"

"Scatter!" Kamala didn't even take a split-second to look around and find out who had spoken. She coiled the end of her tail around one of the smaller pipes within reach, tightened her grip on Roger's hand, and pulled, swinging them in a different direction and shooting them across the huge chamber. "Don't let it get a lock on you!"

Everyone screamed and kicked away from the wall, launching themselves in random directions.

The ovoid robot pivoted as if attempting to select a specific target.

A whimper caught Kamala's attention and she glanced around as she and Roger tumbled through the air. She found the kid in the medieval clothing hanging in the air, thrashing helplessly, and staring wide-eyed at the body of the man the robot had killed moments earlier.

"Oh,no," she whispered.

Otto zipped into view, tackled the kid, and carried him across the chamber. A blast from the ovoid's gun lanced through the spot the kid had occupied a split-second before. Kamala sighed with relief.

"I hope somebody has a gun," Shakira yelled from across the room. Kamala looked over her shoulder and found the woman pulling herself along the ceiling toward Otto and the medieval kid.

"Luana!" Kamala and Roger shouted at the same time. Kamala turned toward the doorway everyone had entered the room through, and found Luana drifting, still unconscious.

Henry pointed at her. "She has one!" He braced his hooves against the wall of a nearby cylindrical structure, pushed off with everything he had, and shot through the air toward her.

Shakira changed course and headed in the same direction.

The robot spun to the right, its attention attracted by Henry's motion. Its guns centered on him.

Kamala sucked in a deep breath and thrashed around, trying to find something to grab on to.

Otto flitted up behind the robot and slammed into it. Kamala caught a glimpse of the ovoid rotating to face him before everything turned black. She blinked, rubbed her eyes, blinked again, and shook her head.

What the hell?

Her vision returned and she found the robot drifting, turning slowly end over end, to the ceiling, where it bounced back.

"Roger?" she whispered.

"Over here." His hand grasped the end of her tail and tugged gently, and she looked down. He smiled up at her as he gave her another gentle pull with his left hand and kept his right clamped on to a thin pipe running along the wall.

A few yards away, Henry held Luana in his arms and patted her face gently, trying to wake her. Beside him, Shakira pulled Luana's gun from under her belt and aimed at the robot. She lined up her shot and fired.

The ovoid ripped apart with a sharp bang and a hail of shrapnel peppered the walls, ceiling, and floor.

"Ow!" Kamala flinched as several sharp bits of metal hit her back. She floated into Roger's arms and he immediately turned her around to check for wounds.

"Son of a bitch," Shakira grumbled, slapping her hand to her left cheek. Then she sighed. "Oh, well, who's gonna notice one more scar?"

"You're okay," Roger said softly, turning Kamala around again and putting his arms around her. "It didn't pierce your skin."

She sighed and wrapped all four arms around him. "You hurt?" She slid her hands slowly over his back, then his chest, searching for holes in his shirt and cuts in his skin.

"Nope. Not a scratch." He smiled and stroked her cheek.

She beamed, pulled him closer, and kissed him.

Shakira touched the small gash on her cheek a few more times, shrugged, and wiped her hand on her pants. She returned the gun to its place under Luana's belt and smiled as Otto flitted back to her.

"That was hot." He grinned. "Kind of like being in your own action movie, huh?"

"I do my own stunts, too." She waved a hand over her thick middle. "You can tell I'm the athletic type."

"What the hell was that thing?" a man muttered, and Kamala glanced over at the rest of the group gathering near the doorway.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "We ran into a bunch of them over on the other ship. Never found out if they were part of the ship's defense systems or something it abducted."

"What kind of weapons was it using?" The woman with the prosthetic arms and legs pointed at the charred corpse in the middle of the room. "I mean, what the fuck did it do to that guy?"

"I have no idea what could do that." Kamala turned away from the body and shuddered. "Since people from different times have ended up here, I'm guessing its technology was thousands of years ahead of ours. Maybe millions."

"This one was different." Henry pointed at his artificial leg. "When we were still on the other ship, one of those things nailed me in the leg. Killed all the tissue in it, but it didn't burn anything. I dunno what it did, exactly, but basically it was like a leg you'd find on a cadaver. I'm lucky whoever's running this ship amputated it, or it would've killed me, eventually."

Luana finally stirred, groaned softly, and opened her eyes. "What...? Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm just fine, now." He smiled and hugged her.

"I don't understand," the medieval kid moaned. He kept turning one way and then another, as if unable to figure out what to focus on. "I don't understand what's happening!"

"We'll do our best to explain everything," Kamala said. She took out her ultratool and scanned the chamber again, looking for another door. "We'll have to talk on the run, though. I think it'd be a_really_ good idea to get the hell outta here."

#

"Jumping back into normal space," Astra said. "Beginning scan."

Asuka nodded and paced slowly. Her cybernetic body didn't get restless, but her brain certainly did.

"Fourteen planets detected," Astra continued. "Five icy planetoids on the outer edge, three gas giants, and six rocky inner planets. Two of those are in the star's habitable zone."

"Let's hope this is the one." Gasm yawned, rubbed her palms over her eyes, and blinked rapidly. She aimed her bleary-eyed gaze at the holofield, took another deep breath, but didn't let it turn into another yawn.

"How long has it been since you've slept?" Hitomi walked over to her.

"Honestly? I can barely remember the last time." Gasm shook her head. "Back on the Challenger, we tried everything we could to contain those bugs and the zombies they were turning the crew into. We held out for several days before we had to abandon ship. As you might guess, we didn't have any downtime."

"You should try to get some sleep now."

"I'll be fine." Gasm braced her hands on the console and watched the display through half-closed eyes.

"Uh-huh." Asuka shook her head. "Astra, is there a place to sleep nearby? Like crew quarters?"

A glowing blue line appeared on the floor, tracing a path back to the door through which they'd come.

"If you follow the line," Astra said, "it will lead you to the nearest crew quarters."

Gasm chuckled. "Okay, we'll go. I'd like to hang around for a few minutes to see if we find your missing guys." She glanced over her shoulder at the rest of her squad. "Go on, if you want. I'll catch up in a few minutes."

"You sure, Gasm?" Splat walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah. Go on, get some rest. Don't worry about me, I'll just hang around here a few more minutes."

"Okay, Boss. See you later." He and the other pilots turned and followed the slowly pulsing blue line out of the room.

Asuka smiled and turned back to the console. "Okay, Astra, what've you found?"

"We've reached the first planet in the habitable zone. No comm chatter detected. No electromagnetic emissions detected. No artificial satellites detected."

Asuka stared intently at the holographic projection as the planet grew larger. It looked somewhat Earth-like, but had rings like Saturn.

"Dropping probes," Astra said once the ship had entered orbit.

Asuka stuck her hands into her pockets and waited.

"No other ships detected. No buildings, streets, or vehicles."

"Plant and animal life?"

"There appears to be a healthy ecosystem. Oh, interesting."

Asuka raised an eyebrow, but Astra continued speaking before Asuka could say anything.

"There is a species similar to a type of bioengineered serpentoid produced in the Global Genetics labs of late twenty-first century Earth--much like your description of one of your missing crewmates, Kamala. Snake-like body with four arms. The probes have observed many of them living in small groups, in structures resembling tents. Their society appears to be tribal. I estimate their technological level to be at least five hundred years behind ours."

"Wonderful." Asuka turned to look around at the rest of the maintenance crew and pointed at the glowing line on the floor. "Looks like this is gonna take a while. If any of you need some rest, now's your chance."

They nodded and shuffled out the door. Gasm watched them leave, then let out another long, drawn-out yawn. She held her hands up and turned to follow them.

"Okay, I'm out. Call me if you need me for anything." She trudged along the line to the door.

Asuka glanced at Hitomi and Lopez, then turned back to the console.

"Okay, on to the next planet, I guess."

#

"I hope that made sense." Kamala sighed. She and Roger had just finished bringing the rest of the group up to speed how they had come to be here. Judging by everyone's clothing, most of them had been zapped here from a point no earlier than sometime in the twentieth century, and quite a few probably came from centuries in the future. Seven of them, however, looked like they'd come from the Old West or earlier.

Which made her wonder why they could understand each other, but that wasn't a priority right now.

"No," the medieval-looking kid almost whimpered as he propelled himself along with the rest of the group. He'd watched the others and copied their movements, but the poor guy probably didn't understand why they were floating. "How can we be among the stars? The stars are in the sky."

Oh, boy. Kamala shrugged and caught a protrusion on the wall to halt her forward motion. The corridor branched into three up ahead, and she didn't want to go shooting into it blindly. "Well, give yourself time to get your head around it all."

He mumbled something and scrabbled for a handhold. Kamala grasped his arm and stopped him before he could drift into the intersection. He gasped and trembled, and she released him.

"What are you?" He stared at her, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, and his bottom lip quivered. "Are--are you a demon?"

"Nope, nothing like that." She chuckled.

"Dude," said a guy with a pastel shirt, shorts, and a mullet. "She's totally an alien!"

"Actually, I'm totally not. I'm a chimera--a genetic construct grown in a lab on Earth. Some people call us 'anthros.' I have no idea why they made me a four-armed snake, but I'm kinda stuck with it."

The medieval kid stared blankly at her. She shrugged and smiled.

"Well, the important thing is that I'm not a demon." Kamala took her ultratool from her belt pouch and scanned their surroundings again. Data flowed through her cybernetic interface and formed an image of the compartments at the end of each corridor. "Hmm. There's another huge chamber at the far end of each of those corridors. All three are filled with cylindrical objects."

"Huh." Roger did his own scan and raised an eyebrow at his holographic display. "Beds, maybe? An alien version of crew quarters?"

"Maybe. Or they could be cryonic stasis pods. Or just equipment lockers." She shrugged again and pulled on the handhold, propelling herself into the right-hand corridor. "Guess we'll try this one. If it doesn't go anywhere, we can backtrack and try one of the others."

Roger caught up with her and everyone else trailed behind them.

"How do you know what's up ahead?" One of the two Old West-looking guys narrowed his eyes at Kamala.

"This." She held up her ultratool. "It's a multipurpose device that can function as a personal computer, scanner, mini-lab, communication device, field-repair kit, and all sorts of other uses."

"What the hell does all that mean?"

"I'll try to explain later, once we're sure we're not in any more danger." She reached the end of the corridor and pushed against the side of a console to stop herself. One quick look at the large windows in each cylinder--and their occupants--was all she needed. "Yep, looks like cryo pods. Well, not cryonic, exactly--they don't appear frozen.Some kind of stasis, though."

"Are these people all dead?" the kid whispered.

"I don't think so." Kamala scanned the nearest pod and nodded. "Still alive, just sort of asleep."

Otto and Shakira pulled themselves along the ceiling and drifted up to another set of pods.

"Maybe they were too severely injured to fix on the spot," Otto muttered. "Could've been put in stasis until the ship reaches a facility where they can be treated."

Kamala double checked her scan and shook her head. "This one doesn't show any signs of injury."

Roger scanned another pod and pointed at the small, holographic display in front of him. "Same with this one."

"Huh." Kamala floated across the pods, stopped at a random one, and scanned it. "This guy recently had a broken arm, but it's been fixed. Not nearly bad enough to be stuck into emergency hibernation."

"Maybe they didn't go voluntarily." Shakira turned to look around the chamber. "Maybe this ship is collecting specimens. Or something."

"Why didn't it put all of us in pods, then?"

Otto shrugged. "Malfunction, maybe?"

"I'd rather not stick around long enough to--"

Pods opened in random spots all around them. Everyone glanced around and several of them clutched at each other.

Otto darted over to one of the open pods and raised an eyebrow. "It's empty."

"So are these," Shakira said, waving her hand over three others.

Several other people checked the open pods near them and discovered they were also empty.

"Oh, that is so not a good sign," Kamala muttered.

"Same number," a young woman's voice called out from the group, and Kamala looked across the room to find a human with dark skin and very little clothing pointing at the pods. She wore only a loincloth made of animal skin and a beaded necklace, and looked as if she'd stepped off the page of a National Geographic magazine Kamala had seen in a museum years ago.

The woman swept her arm over the people around her. "Same number as us."

"Oh, shit." Otto glanced around quickly. "She's right. I just counted the open pods--there's one for each of us."

"I'd say that's a good reason to get the hell out of here." Kamala scanned the far end of the chamber and found another corridor leading to a much larger, podless area. "There's a--"

Slots in the floor, walls, and ceiling opened.

"Aw, hell," Roger groaned. "Not again."

Kamala grasped his hand. Her hearts pounded. She kept her eyes on the nearest slot. The tip of a metal tentacle poked out. Kamala pointed at the far end of the room and drew in a deep breath.

"Yeah, again." Roger's grip on her hand tightened.

Kamala waved both left arms frantically. "Go! Move, move, move!"

The nearest tentacle whipped out of the slot and coiled around her tail. Both of her hearts damned near jumped out of her chest.

Roger clamped his arms around her. "Ka--"

The tentacle yanked them toward one of the open pods.

Kamala screamed.