FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"What've you found, Astra?" Roger stepped up to the central console and cocked his head at the terrestrial-looking planet in the holofield. The past three hours had zipped by once Astra had begun the series of educational vids to help Graham, the cowboys, and others understand at least some of what was going on. Roger smiled at the memory of all of them staring in awe at the viewscreen as it guided them on a brief tour through Earth's history and technological advancement. Then, after what seemed like only a few minutes, Astra had announced their arrival in another star system.

"It seems we've come across a planet that appears to be home to an advanced civilization," the ship's synthetic intelligence said.

"Finally." Kamala sighed. "Maybe we can actually get some answers."

"I apologize for the delay in informing you. I wanted to send probes and mech units to investigate the planet before placing you at risk."

"Well, it's much appreciated." Shakira chuckled as she and Otto joined the rest of the group around the console. "I've certainly had enough brushes with death to last a good, long while."

"I think we all have." Kamala laughed softly and turned back to the console. "So, how advanced is this civilization?"

"Their technology seems to be on par with my own," Astra said. "However, my probes detected something odd mere minutes after they entered the atmosphere and began exploring."

In the holofield, the planet was replaced by a gleaming cityscape from the point of view of one of Astra's tiny probes. The metal spires, skyscrapers, and landing platforms grew larger as it approached, until Roger could make out people on the streets. Most of them appeared to be somewhat humanoid, but as the probe zipped closer and more detail became visible, he realized they were a mixture of different species. Some had fur, some had scales, others had bare skin.

All of them had one thing in common--ridges running under their skin, as if something had been implanted in them, and the patterns on each were identical.

"Huh." Kamala leaned on the console and squinted at the image. "Those ridges under their skin look like they're following the blood vessels. Or maybe nerves."

Everyone in the holofield, hundreds of sentient beings walking on the streets and passing by windows, stopped at the exact same time. Wheeled vehicles and aircars slowed to a halt.

Everyone in sight turned to stare directly into the probe's cameras, moving with the same slow pace, and in perfect unison.

Their faces remained expressionless, as far as Roger could tell. A sudden chill rippled through him.

As the probe passed overhead, their eyes continued tracking it. All of them turned their heads in unison to follow it.

Shakira shuddered. "I really don't like where this is going."

Otto stepped closer and held her hand.

"What the hell?" Asuka scowled at the image. "That's just _not_right. Some kind of hive mind, you think?"

"There is not enough information to go on," Astra said. "However, given the behavior we've observed, it is a distinct possibility."

"So many different species, though." Otto put his arm around Shakira's waist. "Maybe those ridges are cybernetic implants, and they're all connected to a planetary network?"

"Switching to a live view." The projection changed to a view of a different section of the same city. Everyone in sight stood absolutely still aside from turning their heads to track the probe.

A sudden flash of light overwhelmed the holofield, then it blanked out.

"My probes have been disabled," Astra said. "All of them."

Otto shook his head. "Yeah, that can't be good."

"Movement in orbit detected. There is a ship approaching. Initiating scans."

A wedge-shaped vessel appeared in the holofield, against the backdrop of the planet's night side. Its hull was dark, mottled brown, and had a sort of leathery appearance.

"The ship is organic. I am unable to determine its power source. It is over one kilometer in length." After pausing no more than a second, Astra continued, "It is accelerating directly toward us. I've detected a power buildup, possibly from a weapons system."

"Uh, yeah, y'know, I think we might be better off leaving this planet alone." Shakira trembled and Otto drew her into an embrace.

Roger's heartbeat revved up. "I don't want to sound like I'm chickenshit, or anything, but this is seriously giving me the creeps."

Asuka nodded. "I'm with them. Probably be a good idea to get the hell out of here."

"Agreed," Astra said. "Accelerating away from the planet. Stand by for jump."

In the holofield, the organic ship surged forward suddenly, and the camera whipped around to keep it centered.

"The ship is overtaking us," Astra said. "Activating jump engines."

The alien ship continued closing in on them until it filled the holofield.

"Jumping." The edges of the vortex appeared around the holofield before a bright flash blotted everything out for a split-second, followed by the red-shifted, swirling background of hyperspace appeared. "No sign of pursuit. The vortex closed before the ship could follow us through."

Roger let a long breath rush out and slumped over the console. Kamala placed one of her left hands on his arm and both right hands on his back.

"That was unsettling," Astra said.

"Yeah, seriously." Shakira kept her arms around Otto and shivered again. He continued rubbing her back. "Hey, maybe we can talk to that alien in the mess hall, the one from the forty-eighth century. She might recognize that ship or some of the species on the planet."

"Good idea." Asuka leaned on the console and shook her head slowly. "We should try to find out all we can about them, because we've just attracted their attention."

---

"I hope this doesn't give everyone nightmares," Otto muttered as he and the others entered the mess hall. He took a quick look around and found most of the same people still at their tables, including the alien who'd said she was from the year 4718. Several other beings who might be aliens were scattered among the humans and anthros.

"It's a good way to keep everyone informed," Kamala said. "It's better if everyone knows what's going on instead of repeating the same information over and over to individuals later."

Asuka walked over to the big screen on the wall. "Sorry if we're interrupting anything, but we just encountered something unusual - and, frankly, more than a little creepy. We were wondering if any of you have seen this before."

Astra played back the recordings from her probes. When they finished, a collective shiver rippled around the room.

"That has a sort of Invasion of the Body Snatchers vibe to it," one of the humans muttered.

Shakira nodded. "I was thinking they're a bit like the Borg, only without all the cybernetic attachments. At least, none on the outside. Those ridges under their skin could be implants."

"I have indeed seen something like this before," the forty-eighth century alien said. Her oddly-shaped mouth hung open slightly and her almost solid-black eyes opened wide as she stared at the screen. Her blue skin paled and she shivered before turning back to the others. "It is a nightmare. Spores infect the victims' nervous systems, spread to their brains, and take over completely. Memories are used against them and everyone around them. The victim's personality is eradicated and each body becomes part of the whole. We do not know what they call themselves. We think of them simply as the Hive."

Kamala shuddered. "Sounds horrible."

"It is the death of identity. The death of the living spirit." The alien crossed her arms over her chest as if hugging herself. "Their only purpose seems to be to take over world after world and spread to the next. An alliance of organic and synthetic races managed to stop them centuries ago. To now see a whole planet lost to those things is ... unsettling."

"And now they know we're here." Asuka grimaced and rubbed a hand over her forehead. "Fuck."

Everyone shuddered, shivered, or exchanged unnerved glances again. Graham hunched over his table, squeezed his eyes shut, and trembled.

"What kind of world is this?"

Zuri rubbed his back slowly. "They were stopped before. They can be stopped again." She glanced up suddenly at the alien woman. "Unless we're in a time period before they were stopped?"

"I do not know what time we are in. But I hope we haven't been sent back that far." Her lips quivered as she turned back to the screen.

"Well," Otto said, "until we can make contact with a friendly civilization that's capable of standing up to the Hive, I think we should do whatever we can to avoid them."

Asuka nodded. "Astra, maybe we should bypass the other star systems in this planet's vicinity. We don't know how many planets have been taken over."

"Yeah," Kamala added, "maybe we can aim for a system at least a hundred light years away, just to give us a good margin?"

"Agreed," Astra said. "Changing course. Traveling that distance will take several days."

"That might actually be just what we need." Shakira managed a shaky smile. "It'll give us time to recover from recent events, get to know each other better, and maybe figure out a more efficient way to go about finding out where we are."

"Agreed. During the scan I performed the last time we dropped out of hyperspace, I detected a star one hundred-forty light years away that has thirteen planets orbiting it. I have set course for that system. Transit time is estimated at five days, nineteen hours."

"Sounds good." Kamala slid over to the drink dispenser and ordered a coffee. "I guess we can start passing the time by getting formally acquainted."

A few of the group shrugged. Others muttered things like, "Sure," or "Why not?"

Kamala smiled and coiled up at the end of the nearest table. "Okay. So, uh, who wants to go first?"

---

"You start," Graham blurted at Kamala. When everyone turned to stare at him, his face paled and he aimed his eyes at the table again. "I - I mean ... well, I don't know what you are. You say you're not a demon, but -"

"It's okay, I understand." Kamala held up a hand and smiled, but didn't bare her teeth to avoid frightening him even more than he already was. "My name is Kamala, and no, I'm definitely not a demon. I'm not sure if you'll understand this, but back on Earth, in the 2040s, several corporations were contracted by the military to experiment with growing genetically-engineered people in laboratories. There was a whole range of experiments - some augmented humans with animal genetic material, while others grew full combinations of human and animal traits. So, what they ended up with was a variety of generally humanoid-shaped felines, canines, reptiles, equines, minotaurs, and so on. Living, breathing weapons, basically."

Otto nodded. "Shakira and I were around when the public found out about those projects. There was a massive outcry, investigations, the works. Quite a few careers were flushed straight down the toilet."

"The bioengineered people were released into the general population and had to figure out how to survive on their own," Shakira added. "Some were luckier than others. Otto and I are friends with two in particular who hooked up with a human friend of ours and ended up making one hell of a team. Last time we saw them, things were going pretty well for them."

"When all of that was happening," Kamala said to Graham, "the production of creatures like us was halted. There was a ban on all genetic experimentation, though there were illegal labs that kept popping up here and there and continued cranking us out. Eventually, the ban was lifted to prevent all these new species from becoming extinct, but all newly-grown 'anthros' were granted citizenship and given the same chance to build their own lives that humans have." She chuckled and waved one of her hands over her body. "Some of the newer anthros were more ... creative than others. I never did figure out why they made me a giant snake, though having four arms is definitely an advantage."

Roger grinned and slipped an arm around her. "Well, having a girlfriend with four breasts is a hell of a bonus."

Kamala burst out laughing and gave him a smooch on the cheek.

A few of the people around them smiled or acted as if nothing had happened, but others gaped, grimaced, or turned away abruptly. Graham's expression scrunched up as if someone had farted directly into his face, but he shook it off quickly and reverted to his usual meek self.

"Anyway," Kamala said, "I and others like me can't be considered 'natural' by any stretch of the imagination, but we're not magical or demonic or whatever. We're the products of technology, but we're as mortal and fallible as anyone else. We're people."

"Well, we may not know why you were made, but I'm glad you were." Roger smiled and kissed her.

Otto grinned. "And I'm sure lots of us are curious about how you two hooked up."

Oh, boy. Kamala blushed. "Wellllll ..."

Roger laughed, but his face took on a slight red tinge. "We met on a ship traveling from Earth to a space station orbiting Io in 2070. It housed the admin offices and living quarters of the crew working in the nearby starship construction yards and the jumpgate construction facility. They were building a new gate based on technology that had been found on Mars and reverse-engineered, and at the same time they were building a new ship. Kamala and I were joining the construction team, and when the new ship was finished, we both hoped to land positions on the engineering crew."

"It took us a while to get together," Kamala said. "I developed a crush on him instantly, though."

Roger winced and sighed. "Yeah, I figured out right away that she was hot for me, and I was a huge prick about it. It didn't even occur to me that we could end up together - it was just too weird. But I kept egging her on anyway. Whenever I caught her staring at me, I'd flash the biggest, brightest smile I could manage, and she'd blush and cover her face with all four hands. I thought it was funny. Didn't even occur to me that I was playing around with her feelings."

"I probably should've given up at that point, but ... well, people aren't always logical, are we?"

"Yeah." Shakira chuckled. "No matter how hard you resist it, sometimes you just can't."

"Pretty much. It took a mutual friend of ours to talk some sense into Roger."

"Well, that was one of the last of my mental switches that needed to be flipped." Roger shook his head slowly. "What really_snapped me out of it was when that explosion ripped the repair bay open and you almost died while putting a breather mask on me before worrying about your own. If we hadn't been rescued when we were, you_would've died. That was the wake-up call I needed."

Kamala blushed again and shrugged.

Roger glanced around at the others and said, "Then a whole lot of other crises happened, followed by the whole repair bay being sliced off by one of those space-time rifts and zapped who knows how far across the universe. Everyone in it piled into a couple of shuttles and got out just before a huge chunk of debris smashed the whole bay into scrap. By then, I thought we were gonna die." He turned to gaze into Kamala's eyes and smiled. "That's when I realized I was in love with you. I know, the timing sucked -"

"Could've been worse. We survived it all, and made up for lost time." She winked, glanced at everyone else, and grinned. "So, that's our story. Who's next?"

"Actually," one of the humans in the middle of the group muttered as he cast a narrow-eyed glance at Otto and Shakira, "maybe you'd like to tell us what's going on between the two of you."

Otto's eyebrows dipped and he stared back at the man. Shakira raised a suddenly-trembling hand, tugged on her collar, and muttered something that sounded like, "Eheh."

Asuka grinned. "I bet that's one hell of a story."

Shakira exchanged an uneasy glance with Otto and cleared her throat.

"Uh ... yeah."

---

"Okay." Otto took a slow breath and pondered how exactly he and Shakira were going to explain this. She wouldn't actually be arrested way out here - wherever "here" was - but she'd very likely catch a lot of crap for it. "Well, we met back on Earth, in 2046. We're both hackers and have similar interests, we got along marvelously from day one - and I was smitten the instant we met."

"Love at first sight, eh?" A woman at one of the middle tables shook her head and took a sip of her drink. "I've never bought into that."

"I guess it happened that quickly for Otto." Shakira shrugged and laughed softly. "For me, it took quite a bit longer."

"The better part of a year." Otto tossed her a lopsided grin. "It seemed like half our conversations consisted of Shakira saying 'no' to every advance I made. Which, I admit, were pretty clumsy at first, but they came from the heart."

"Yeah, that was kind of endearing, actually. You never threw me any stupid pickup lines, but just said how you felt. I didn't reciprocate for obvious reasons, but -"

"Right." The man who'd asked the question narrowed his eyes even more at Otto. "She's the wrong age for you, son. And the wrong color."

_Color? What the hell does that have to do with anything?_Otto shrugged. "That's for _us_to decide, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah, that's why I resisted for so long, even after I realized I was starting to fall for him." Shakira shrugged, sipped her coffee, and tried to hold the man's withering stare. "About the color part, though - where we're from, nobody really cares about that anymore. Well, a few still do, but I hardly ever run into any. Happened most often when I was a kid."

"So blacks are allowed to mix with whites, then? What kind of future is that?"

Really? Seriously? Otto rolled his eyes.Asshole.

"I don't see why it was ever a big deal," Kamala said with a shrug. "Especially during our time. I mean, at least these two are both human." She grinned and nudged Roger's shoulder. "As for the age thing, I don't consider it a big deal, either, as long as everyone involved wants to be together. And on a personal level, I couldn't hold it against anyone, anyway, since I'm fourteen."

"What?" Roger stared at her. "You're - uh - hold on. You're under - why didn't you ever mention this?"

"It never occurred to me to bring it up until now. I didn't think it mattered." Kamala's smile faded quickly. "It ... doesn't, does it? I mean, this doesn't change how you feel about me, does it?"

"No, nothing could change that now. I'm just a little ... well, shocked." Roger heaved a long sigh and rubbed a hand over his face. "This'll take some time to adjust to."

Kamala put her arms around him. "I'm sorry. Like I said, I just didn't think to mention it."

"Probably a good thing you waited until we all got zapped way out here," Asuka said with a grin. "If you'd started humping it out while we were still on the Io station, since I worked in Security, I would've had to arrest you. Or someone on the Security team would've."

Otto glanced around at all of them and almost let Roger and Kamala continue to hold everyone's attention. But this had to be nipped in the bud.

"This thing with me and Shakira is our choice, and our business. It's what I wanted since she and I met, and I was pretty relentless. She'd probably still be telling me 'no' if we hadn't fallen through that rift and ended up stranded in the desert on some alien planet."

"That's what finally sold me on the whole thing," Shakira said. "We already told you guys how we ended up there. I fell through that thing first, and Otto dived headfirst through it. He chose to strand himself there with me."

"I had no idea what was on the other side of that rift, where Shakira was, or whether she'd find a way back. I couldn't stand the thought of her dying there alone. For me, it was better to die with her than live another hundred years without her."

Shakira smiled and clasped his hand.

"I think that's sweet, actually." Nova said, smiling and raising her drink with one of her prosthetic arms.

Shakira nodded and raised her coffee as if joining her in a toast. "That, plus helping my fat ass hobble all the way to that tower he found, and everything else he did after that - there was no getting around it at that point. Besides, we both thought we were going to die there. So, after our first night there, we ... yeah."

Otto grinned, made a circle with his left thumb and index finger, and thrust his right index finger through it repeatedly. Shakira barked out a deafening laugh.

"I think everyone could've figured it out without the visual aid."

"Come on, it was funny." He grinned again.

"Okay, yeah." She laughed again and took a longer sip of her coffee. "That first night in the tower, it got cold. Later on, we found some windows and doorways leading outside had been left open. That first night, all we could do to keep warm was snuggle and try to share our body heat. And within a few seconds, guess what I felt prodding my thigh?"

Otto turned slowly to give everyone his biggest shit-eating grin. "Teenage hormones strike again."

"Hah. Yeah, I can only imagine the look I had on my face, and you said, 'Sorry, I can't help it.'"

"I also said, 'Because you're beautiful.'" He smiled.

"And then you said, 'And also because I love you.'" Shakira glanced around at everyone else. "Now, I remember from being Otto's age that horny teenagers will say things like that just to get into your pants. And after you've lived for a while, you can tell when someone is just giving you a line to get you out of your clothes. But I could tell Otto really meant it."

"So, the next morning, once it was warm enough to stop shivering, we ... generated some of our own heat. It was the best thing that had ever happened to me - until the next time, that is. And the next, and so on." He flicked his eyes around, holding each disapproving gaze for a moment before moving on, and finally landing on the guy he'd decided to think of only as Asshole. "If anyone doesn't like it, I suggest you keep it to yourselves, or you and I are gonna have a_serious_ fuckin' problem."

Shakira patted his shoulder. "Okay, let's not start any fights. We're all in this together."

Otto waited for any comments from the others, particularly Asshole, but all of them kept their mouths shut. He nodded. Damn right.

"So. Uh. That's our story." Shakira cleared her throat and flicked a sheepish grin around the room. "Who's next?"

---

"Guess it's our turn," Seth said. "Marissa and I knew each other in high school. Kept in touch occasionally after we graduated, but for the most part each of us had our own stuff going on. Had a surprise reunion about four months ago, when the parents of a mutual acquaintance contacted us. Seems their daughter had been thinking about asking both of us out, but some job-related issues got in the way. Her parents decided to surprise her by setting up a date with us."

Marissa smiled briefly. "Her name's Boiler. Well, her nickname, that is. We found out during our date that she had a crush on both of us but never acted on it. Our date was interrupted by another job-related emergency she had to deal with, but we stayed together. The emergency thing escalated and we ended up needing to leave Earth in a hurry - Seth, me, Boiler, her parents, a couple of their friends, and a pair of AI units they worked with. We were on the same flight to Io that Kamala and Roger were on."

"Marissa and I joined the Io station's staff, while Boiler and her parents joined the security team."

"Which is where I met them," Asuka added.

"And from what I've heard people saying," Otto cut in, "Shakira and I were there, too, apparently."

"Um, yes." Marissa glanced at Seth before shrugging at Otto. "I'm not sure how much we should be telling you about your future, but I think you were both twenty or so years older than you are now. Which is weird because you still looked like you were around fifteen years old."

Otto grinned at Shakira. "There's a spoiler I don't mind hearing at all. Looks like I'm gonna remain a young stud for at least a couple of decades."

"That's definitely encouraging." Shakira laughed. "It'd be just my luck that I end up all wrinkly and saggy with my tits hanging down to my knees."

"I'll be more than happy to prop 'em up for you."

"Hah! I bet you will."

"Actually, you managed to avoid that," Seth said. "When we first met, you'd already had your brain in a prosthetic body that looked just like you look now. Then some ... stuff happened and your body was badly damaged, so you had to transfer your brain into a robotic body you'd been keeping as a backup. That was before we all left Earth for the Io station."

Marissa glanced at Otto and chuckled. "Don't worry, her robotic body was anatomically correct."

"Well, that's a relief." He aimed a huge grin at Shakira and she snickered.

"Yeah, as long as you could still stick your dick into me - that's the important thing."

"Pretty_important, yeah." He nudged her shoulder. "But all kidding aside, the _most important thing is that you were okay after the 'damage.'"

Marissa nodded. "Yeah, once you readjusted to your backup body, you were in top form. You helped us out in several crises that happened on the station."

"That's good to know." Shakira glanced around. "So, since our future selves aren't here, I guess that means we're ..."

"We don't know." Marissa sighed. "We lived on that station for about four months. During that time we grew closer with Boiler until one day we realized we were head over heels in love. And then the rift appeared and chopped off the repair bay, where we all happened to be gathering. We were waiting for Boiler to show up."

"We don't know what happened to the rest of the station," Seth added. "The repair bay was the only part of it we found in the debris field we ended up in after passing through the rift. As far as we know, the rest of the station is still intact."

"It's an O'Neill class station - a big cylinder with sections that rotate in opposite directions to provide gravity. Losing a big chunk of it would've thrown the whole station out of balance, but they have emergency protocols that would've shut the centrifuges down and thrusters that would've kept the station in orbit." Marissa glanced at Seth and reached out to grasp his hand. "We have to believe everyone's still okay."

He nodded. "We'll find a way back, somehow. We've got to."

"I hope so. I'm still having trouble sleeping without Boiler in our bed. It's just ... not right."

"Me, too. I couldn't bear it if we never saw her again."

"Yeah."

Astra's voice came from the nearby panel. "I apologize for interrupting your conversation, but I've picked up a distress signal."

Asuka stood immediately and turned toward the door. "Details?"

"A ship is under attack." Astra paused before adding a line that sent a cold surge through Seth's guts. "The distress message contains a mention of the Hive."