FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Here they come!" Cora kept her optics on the approaching shapes for less than a second before flicking her gaze back to her control panel. The Mae Jemison's scanners analyzed the objects and fed the results directly into her CPU. Aircraft of varying sizes, all sharp angles and bristling with weapons, and all painted white like the last batch of nine-footers they'd run from.

Like antibodies coming to sterilize an infection.

"I see 'em," Dylan said from his position on the hull. "I've just installed some kick-ass mods, so--huaaak!"

His sudden yelp was followed by a series of thumps and grunts. Cora froze.

"Dylan? Are you--?"

"Dylan," Zilaka cried out, "what happened?"

Finally, he grumbled a reply. "I fuckin' fell off! Gimme a second."

Cora set the scanners to locate him. When they did, one of the exterior cameras sent her a live feed of him plummeting toward the ground.

"Oh, no," Syala moaned. "I see him. He's--"

"I'll be okay. I think." The camera zoomed in on him as his face twisted into a grimace. "I hope."

He continued his fall and appeared to be trying to position himself for a landing.

He hit the ground and a shockwave rocketed outward, stripping the foliage from all the nearby trees. When the dust cleared, Cora found him in a crouch with his left hand firmly on the ground and his right fist clenched. He raised his head slowly and locked his glare onto the oncoming ships.

Cora allowed herself a split-second to slouch and let a wave of relief wash over her.

"Badass," Grishnag crowed.

Dylan stood, cocked his head, and crouched again, as if gathering some sort of inner force.

A red glow spread over his body.

He thrust himself upward suddenly, and launched into the air as if he'd been fired from a cannon. He shot up above the Jemison, hovered for a second, threw himself forward, and glided across the sky.

Cora grinned. "Nice!"

"Is that something you saw in the 'video game' you mentioned?" On another hull camera, Zilaka raised her fists, planted her hooves firmly, and glared at the oncoming craft.

"That's where I got the idea, yeah. And I'm barely getting started."

The enemy ships opened fire, sending a hail of energy beams straight at the Jemison. Cora winced, but then she noticed the beams dispersing against an invisible shell before they reached the hull.

"I installed shields a few seconds ago," Grishnag said. "You're welcome."

Cora laughed. "Beautiful! When this is over, Grish, you and I are gonna have a boatload of sex!"

"Well, let's get this done quickly so we can get to the fun stuff." On one of the forward cameras, Grishnag grinned, rubbed her hands together, and positioned herself front and center. A huge rotary cannon appeared in her hands and she pointed it at the swarm of enemy ships.

"Everyone else ready?" Cora adjusted her course ever so slightly, angling her ship toward the crack in the sky.

"I'm searching through the system," Zilaka said, "looking for some mods I can use."

"As am I," Ayastal added. "Oh, I just found something good."

She glowed, rippled, and grew to twice her size. Gigantic wings sprouted from her back, flapped, and lifted her into the air.

On another camera, over on the port side, Syala tugged her cloak away from her face, only to have the wind whip it right back. She yanked it away and it fluttered back over her eyes.

"Damn it!" She sighed, pulled the cloak off, and tossed it into the wind. It fluttered away, vanished behind the ship, and left every centimeter of her skin bare.

"That's not distracting at all," Dylan said with a chuckle as he angled straight at the enemy ships.

Syala smirked as her skin took on a metallic look, turning into a robotic version of herself. A strip of leather appeared in her hand and she used it to tie her hair into a ponytail.

She crouched like Dylan had a moment ago, leaped off the hull--and grabbed onto the nearest enemy fighter. She pulled herself across to the cockpit, shattered it with her fist, and ripped the white-armored pilot out of its seat. She flung it aside as if discarding a piece of trash and leaped from the ship before it could drop out of the sky. Her hooves slammed down on another passing craft and she stomped toward the cockpit.

Grish ripped a continuous blast from her canon and shredded several dozen of the smaller enemy ships before they could veer off. "It's payback time, you cunts!"

"Hot." Dylan grinned, changed course to shift his aim to another part of the swarm, and cocked his right fist back. He thrust it forward and a fireball shot from his palm. It drilled into one of the larger vessels and the ship burst apart from stem to stern.

Smaller ships within range exploded suddenly, all at the same instant, with a sharp bang that made Cora twitch.

"Whoa."

Several more nearby ships burst into shrapnel, followed a few seconds later by another dozen, going off like popcorn.

Syala giggled. "I'm sorry--that just looks funny!"

"Yes, it does." Nishara grinned, arched a brow ridge at her, and laughed suddenly. "You just gave me an idea."

Her body rippled, turned metallic as she roboticized herself, and floated off the hull. She raised her upper arms above her head, pressed her palms together--and her entire upper body formed into a sharp, pointed wedge. She surged forward, straight at the largest aircraft--the command ship, Cora guessed.

Nish pierced the enemy hull, stabbing it with her entire body, and vanished through the breach.

Maintenance panels and viewports near the front of the ship exploded, and Cora glimpsed a couple of bodies tumbling through the flames. The destruction continued from one end of the ship to another, and it lost altitude. The explosions looked like pustules popping all over the ship's metal skin, and smoke billowed from the holes.

Nish erupted from the engine pods at the rear, dragging a trail of flaming, white-hot debris with her.

The ship's reactors overloaded and the entire vessel became a mini-supernova. The blast knocked out the Jemison's shields and the exterior sensors, leaving Cora blind. She gaped out through the viewport.

"Uh-oh."

---

Zilaka didn't even try to understand how the glowing sword had appeared in her hand, even though she'd conjured it up herself. She'd long ago given up trying to figure this "simulation" out.

She took a step forward, but hesitated when Nishara drilled into the huge ship nearby. Its skin ruptured in dozens of places, starting at the front and spreading in seconds to the rear.

Without warning, the entire ship ripped apart and became brighter than the sun. Zilaka screamed and threw her arms over her face as the_Jemison_'s shields failed and hot debris struck the hull all around her.

_Shields._She skimmed the system's files for what she needed, threw together a mod, and installed it--all without really understanding how she knew what to do or even what those terms meant. An invisible barrier surrounded her and deflected the remaining debris. The light faded and she lowered her arms.

The fiery remains of the huge vessel plunged from the sky. Beyond it, Dylan fired an ice blast from his left palm and froze another half-dozen enemy ships solid. They fell and shattered on impact with the ground.

Beams from the remaining ships seared into the Jemison's hull, and Zilaka's heartbeat sped up. If they lost the ship, they might not get another chance at this.

One of the enemy shots hit Grishnag in the center of her chest and blasted her into bloody, burned chunks. A cold surge rushed up through Zilaka's chest before Grishnag respawned a few paces from her own remains. She staggered, shook her head, took one step, and noticed what was left of her previous body.

"Oh,shit! I could've done nicely without seeing that." Grishnag shook her head, returned to her spot on the front of the ship, and held up her hands. The huge, multibarreled gun appeared and she resumed her attack.

Syala continued leaping from one enemy airship to another, tearing the pilots out, punching holes through vital parts of the ship, or ripping engines and wings off.

Dylan kept up his attack as well, launching fireballs from one hand and ice blasts from the other.

Ayastal soared overhead, drew her head back, and thrust it forward. A column of flame streamed from her mouth and engulfed several of the smaller fighters. She turned her head, sweeping the fire from left to right, and ignited many more enemies.

The crack in the sky came ever closer. Zilaka squinted and was able to make out glowing shapes inside it, but couldn't figure out what they were.

Almost there. We can't fail now.

She took a deep breath, charged forward, and leaped. Wind whipped past her and fluttered her hair for a few seconds before she landed on top of a mid-size enemy vessel. She scrabbled across its surface, found a handhold, and clamped on. She took another breath, tried to slow her heartbeat, and held her sword aloft.

She rammed it into the hull and swept it to the right, slicing through and leaving a gash of molten metal in the blade's wake. She dashed forward, shoving the blade along in front of her, until she'd reached the edge. She turned to see what effect her attack had.

The metal around the cut continued melting away, spreading out from the incision. Sparks and electric arcs flashed inside as wiring shorted out and power conduits burst. Zilaka aimed a predatory grin at the front of the ship.

Take that, you evil bastards!

She whirled and lashed out again, this time slashing open one of the engine pods. It exploded in her face and everything turned white for a few seconds.

Wind whipped past her again, and her vision cleared in time to find the ground rushing up toward her.

She gasped. I haven't installed any mods to enable me to fly or land safely!

She squeezed her eyes shut.

Something grabbed her and hoisted her back into the air. She snapped her eyes open and found Dylan gliding across to Cora's ship, his left arm around her waist. They reached the ship, touched down, and he turned to smile at her.

"Thank you." She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him.

"Any time." He stroked her cheek before turning to face the rest of the swarm.

The crack was almost upon them. We might win, after all.

She turned and raised her sword. "Let's finish this."

---

Here we go. Dylan drew in a slow breath as the Mae Jemison entered the crack and plunged into darkness.

The females gathered beside him, keeping their mods in place, everyone knowing the fight wasn't over.

He turned his head slowly, taking in everything in front of him. The black void was filled with glowing lines, geometric shapes, pathways, and a glowing honeycomb surface on the right.

The ship tilted, rolled over, and the honeycomb settled into place below.

The_Jemison_'s shields restored to full power with a brief crackle, and the smoke pouring from the hull breaches dissipated.

"Autorepair systems are doing their thing," Cora reported. "We still have a chance."

"Good. What's the next step?" Dylan turned to get a look at the bright sky showing through the crack. A few dozen enemy ships remained, following the Jemison into the simulation's exposed code.

"See that blue, pulsating diamond shape in the distance?"

Dylan faced forward again and spotted a tiny, flickering, blue speck.

"Yes," Grishnag said. "Is that the node you need to insert the software capsule into?"

"Bingo. We've still got bad guys following us, and probably worse things between us and the node."

"We will fight them off, then," Ayastal growled.

Dylan grinned. "Fuckin'-A."

"Brace yourselves," Cora said. "I'm accelerating. The quicker we can reach the node, the sooner I'll be able to get us out of here."

"And the fewer enemies we'll need to fight," Syala added as the ship rocketed forward.

The node grew noticeably larger over the next few seconds, as did the glowing structures between it and the ship. Dylan stared at them until he realized they were platforms, with arches, bridges, and long pathways connecting them.

A few seconds later, he could make out shapes moving around on them--more of the white-armored motherfuckers, a whole army of them, plus vehicles resembling tanks and other objects that appeared to be turrets.

"This could be a problem," he muttered.

"Don't worry." Syala smirked. "I've added a few upgrades."

"As have I," Ayastal snarled.

Something flashed from the left--and the Jemison's shields flared up for a moment before fading away.

"Aw, hell," Cora snapped. "They've knocked out the shields again--and they're not recharging."

"Let's go!" Dylan hurled himself off the edge and glided toward one of the turrets.

In the corner of his eye, Syala zipped through the air and pointed her left hand at one of the tanks. A thick plasma beam shot from her hand and punched through the tank's roof. Whatever it used for ammo cooked off, taking the tank and dozens of nearby enemy troops with it.

Dylan grinned at the sight of the flaming, melting bodies tumbling off the arching pathway into the bottomless, black abyss. He angled toward another of the pathways in front of the ship and hurled a fireball. It struck the surface near a group of the nine-footers and they popped into a shower of flaming body parts at the same time.

A few seconds passed, and another dozen exploded. The effect passed from them to more nearby enemies, who also ripped apart in a shower of sparks and flame.

Ayastal leaped overhead, gained some altitude, and lunged forward. Instead of breathing fire, this time a beam of energy blazed from her mouth and vaporized another tank. She swept it to the left and wiped out four more tanks and dozens of troops.

Syala shot forward to another platform directly in front of the ship. She landed and began blasting the nine-foot goons with her palm-beams.

Nishara swooped around and propelled herself at the fighters approaching from the rear. She coiled herself around the nearest ship and then leaped away, unspooling her body and sending the fighter into a spin. It whipped into the path of another ship both ripped open on impact. She moved on to the next and grinned.

"New upgrade!" She aimed each of her four palms at one of the enemy ships and blasted them with beams similar to the ones Syala had. She moved on to another batch while Dylan focused back on the tanks and ground troops.

Four nearby turrets opened fire and punched through the ship's hull. Metal ripped open and twisted out from the explosions, and secondary blasts continued deep inside.

"Shit!" Cora grunted. "Get those cannons off me or--"

Zilaka leaped at the nearest turret, extended her sword as she dropped toward it, and chopped the barrel off. She whipped her blade to the side, jammed it into the turret's base, and dragged it down as she finished her descent to the ground. The turret's casing melted and dissolved slowly, spreading out from the gash in the seconds after her hooves hit the surface. She glanced around, charged the goons, and hacked them into burning, disintegrating pieces.

Dylan twisted in the air and banked toward the next closest turret.

A flash erupted from the right--and something slammed into him. He spun through the air and crashed down on top of a tank. He rolled across it and plopped to the ground beside it.

Huh. No treads, he noted as he picked himself up. Hovertank.

He grinned and fired an ice blast. It froze solid and sank to the ground. Before it made contact, he braced his hands on its side and shoved it toward the edge of the platform.

Its underside scraped the surface and brought it to a halt.

"Damn it!"

Ayastal roared past and delivered a massive kick to the tank, whacking it over the edge and dropping it into the void. Dylan grinned and waved.

"Thanks!"

She waved back and vaporized another couple dozen enemies before picking up a tank and hurling it off the platform.

The turrets continued ripping into the Jemison's hull. Flames and smoke belched from numerous holes all over the ship.

"Primary systems are failing," Cora shouted. "Shit! She's not going much farther."

Dylan's heart pounded suddenly. If we lose the--

"That's it! I'm grabbing the capsule. Got to go the rest of the way on foot."

The ship changed course, angling straight toward the largest mass of enemies, on a platform off to the right.

Syala arced past, hovered beside another turret, and hit it with a sustained blast from both palm weapons. She melted through the casing, ignited its ammo, and turned away as the entire structure burst into glowing debris.

Zilaka rushed across an overpass, dropped onto the top of another turret, and lopped off its barrel.

Dylan turned back to the ship and spotted Cora popping up out of a small hatch on the dorsal surface. The software capsule appeared to be attached to her back, and she carried a huge pistol in each hand. She bolted across the hull, leaped off, and landed on one of the pathways. The burning remains of the Mae Jemison sailed away until it reached the mass of enemy troops.

"If you don't have shields equipped, install them now." Cora dropped into a crouch and a heavy shield appeared around her.

Oh, hell. Dylan whipped up a shield mod, installed it, and let himself drop to the ground. He crouched and fired his shield up. In the corners of his eyes, the girls did the same.

The_Jemison_ plowed into the platform holding the majority of the enemy forces--and everything was drowned out by a blinding flash. Dylan squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath. His shield flared, crackled, and snapped. He gritted his teeth, expecting it to fail and let him be incinerated any second.

The flood of light beyond his eyelids finally faded. He opened his eyes and found emptiness where the platform and its supporting structures had been a few seconds ago. Farther in the distance, a few remaining tanks and armored troops continued their approach, their movements slow and jerky.

One of the tanks launched sideways, spinning, and headed straight for the half-dozen remaining airships.

The tank blinked out of existence, blipped back in a few meters away, and flashed out again.

It popped back into sight almost at its original position--then shot straight up into the air. It blinked out and back in, popped from one spot in the sky to another, and reappeared closer to the bridge it had started out on.

Its driver phased through the armor plating and tumbled into the void.

The tank continued popping around until it finally exploded.

"Uh-oh," Dylan muttered.

"The glitching is worse." Grishnag turned to arch a brow at Cora.

"The system can't handle such a huge explosion." Cora smiled grimly. "Atta girl, Mae. You stuck it to 'em one last time."

"We need to hurry, then." Syala rushed over to Cora and faced away from her. "Hold onto me. I'll carry you to the node."

"We'll cover you," Dylan said as Cora locked her arms and legs around Syala. Syala leaped into the air and rocketed into the distance, carrying Cora on her back. Dylan and the females soared after her.

"There's a turret up ahead," Cora called out.

"I've got it." Dylan surged ahead, arched upward, and descended feet-first. He increased his speed and slammed into the top of the turret with the force of a ballistic missile. The turret buckled under his feet and exploded into white-hot chunks of metal. A shockwave ripped out from the point of impact and tore the nearby enemy troops apart.

Dylan let the shockwave throw him back into the air. He thrust himself forward and glided back to the women.

"Holy shit," Grishnag said. She aimed a saucy grin at him and added, "Now I'm ready for round two."

"I wouldn't mind getting to round one first," Zilaka said with a chuckle.

"We're almost out," Cora said. She pointed at the pulsating diamond-shaped node, now only a few yards away. "Once I'm back in the physical world, I should be able to unplug the rest of you fairly quickly. It'll just be a matter of getting to your locations."

"In the meantime," Ayastal said, "we'll have to keep fighting off any more attackers."

"Piece of cake." Dylan smirked as he landed on the platform holding the node. The females touched down around him. Cora stepped back from Syala. Ayastal plucked the capsule from Cora's back and handed it to her.

"Thanks." Cora ran over to the node and gave it a quick glance-over. She pointed at an opening in one of its surfaces. "Ah, there it is!"

She lifted the capsule and shoved one end into the opening. She gave it a one-quarter twist and it locked into place with a simultaneous _thunk_and a rapid triple-beep.

She held still for a few seconds and grinned. "I've found you all. Your real bodies. Most of you are fairly close to my location. Ayastal's the nearest."

"Okay." Grishnag gave her a quick peck on the lips. "Let's get this done. Good luck."

Cora nodded and made eye contact with each of them. "I love you all. See you in a few minutes."

"I love you," everyone else said at almost the same time.

Cora grasped the other end of the capsule with both hands. A blue glow washed over her and when it faded, she vanished with it.

Dylan turned to face the air around the platform. "Let's get ready for the next wave."

---

Online!

Cora's internal chronometer told her that less than five minutes had passed since her abduction, even though it had seemed like hours had passed in the simulation. Good news; at least her new lovers hadn't been stuck in there long enough for their muscles to atrophy.

She opened her optics and flicked them around, taking in her surroundings in a split-second. She lay on a metal platform similar to the ones she and the others had awakened on after the first few times they were killed. It was mounted on a curving wall, with dozens more above and below hers, as well as more on the opposite wall.

Each one held a synthetic, some quite similar to her, others less so, and still others resembling her only in basic shape. Cora ran a quick scan for power sources and found only a few of the robots still functioning.

I wonder how many started to figure out what was going on, and were killed by the system. And how many deactivated themselves out of despair. She pushed those thoughts out of her mind and scanned for organic life forms while climbing down to the floor.

Aside from hundreds of low-level life signs all around her, nothing. No one remained except those who were plugged into the simulation.

When her feet hit the floor, dust puffed up around them. She ran her optics over everything nearby, searching for her clothes. After coming up empty, she shrugged and ran a general scan to get more information about the metal corridor and chambers connected to it. The air was breathable for her lovers, but it was stale. No one had taken a breath here in a very long time. Centuries...millennia, perhaps.

It's too hot in here. The platforms she'd climbed down had all been hot to the touch, and the temperature in here was high enough to put a strain on her cooling system. Not enough to worry about yet, but if it were overworked long enough, she'd be in serious trouble.

Maybe that was what happened to many of the synthetics in this section. Hell, maybe overheating was what had caused the simulations to begin falling apart in the first place.

She jogged off toward Ayastal's location. She reached a corner, turned to the left, and stopped.

A dust-covered skeleton in tattered clothing lay sprawled on the floor. Not human, or even humanoid, judging by the shape of the skull. Two arms, two legs, one head--and that was where the similarities ended.

Had one of the captives escaped? Or was this one of the captors?

We may never know. Cora continued on through the corridors until she entered a chamber filled with large, cylindrical pods lining the walls. Each one had an organic being inside, floating in a viscous fluid that looked a bit like engine coolant.

Cora paused at the nearest pod. Aside from metal supports, most of the cylinder was translucent. Inside was the body of an old man--_very_old. A metal headband encircled his head--the interface projecting his mind into the simulation, she guessed. A breather mask covered his mouth and nose to keep the fluid in the tank out of his lungs. Tubes attached to his arms, probably for intravenous feeding.

A set of monitors and control panels were set into the base of each pod. One of the screens on each showed what appeared to be heart rate and brainwave readouts. The old man's brainwave patterns resembled those of the droolers and vacant-eyed opponents she and the others had faced in one of their battles.

The poor guy must have spent years or even decades in there._And because only a few minutes in the real world equaled several hours in the simulated world, he could've experiences a thousand years or more in the time since his abduction. _No wonder they went insane.

She placed her palm on the cylinder and whispered, "I'm so sorry." She turned away, focused on Ayastal's location, and forced herself to ignore the rest of the pods until she found the giant lizard woman. Luckily, her pod was on the floor level.

Cora hurried over to her, pressed her hand to the front of the cylinder, grinned, and leaned forward to rest her forehead against it. All of the pods were just big enough for a human or similar-size species, so Ayastal was curled into a fetal position to fit inside.

Cora activated her internal comlink and connected it to the simulation. "Ayastal, I've found your body. Go ahead and take the red pill."

"Alright. See you all...wherever I really am."

Cora positioned herself directly in front of the slanted pod, hoping she'd be the first thing Ayastal would see when she woke up. "How are the rest of you doing?"

"It's getting interesting in here," Dylan said. "The system is trying to send more reinforcements, but I think your ship's detonation caused so such an overload that the whole thing is completely falling apart. Most of those goons are all fucked-up when they teleport in--a whole batch of 'em materialized with their legs on backward, others were missing body parts, and I've spotted a few who appeared with their heads on upside-down."

"The rest keep glitching," Grishnag added. "Like that tank--blinking in and out, jumping around, flying into the air and blipping back to the ground."

"Yeah. Cora, I'm thinking we've only got a few minutes before the simulation tears itself apart or just shuts down. It's starting to look like that software you wrote won't be enough to stop it."

Oh, shit. "I'll get you out of there, I promise!"

Ayastal opened her eyes and glanced around. Cora grinned and waved to get her attention. Ayastal focused on her and waved back.

"She's back in the real world." Cora glanced over the control panels on Ayastal's pod. "I just need to figure out how to open this--"

Ayastal braced her hands on the inside of the pod and pushed. The metal creaked and groaned, and the glass--or whatever the translucent material was--began to snap and crack.

_Uh-oh._Cora lunged aside to get clear.

Ayastal snarled, gave the lid one last push, and it burst open, ripping off its hinges and shooting across the corridor. The goop inside drained and spread across the floor. Ayastal leaped out and the tubes attached to her arms pulled taut.

"Those are probably attached by needles," Cora said, holding her hands out. "Pull them out carefully."

Ayastal tugged on one and the needle slid out. She yanked the rest out and ripped her breather mask off. She glanced down at herself and growled.

"What is this...stuff on me?" Ayastal spoke in her own language, but Cora's translation software handled it for her.

"I don't know. Part of the stasis pods' function."

"Cora," Grishnag called out. "Is Ayastal there yet?"

"I am," Ayastal said with a relieved sigh. "I'm fine, as far as I can tell."

"Yes!" Dylan blurted. "We're all looking forward to meeting you in person."

Cora put her arms around Ayastal. "Welcome to reality, darling."

"Thank you." Ayastal hugged her back.

"Okay." Cora smiled and waved a hand in the direction of the next nearest pod, which was Nishara's. "Let's go rescue the rest of our friends."