FSE

Furry search engine

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Having spent much of the early morning having no luck scanning for, or trying to contact other pods, Key activates the pod's homing beacon and grabs his pack. The storm last night was all lightning, thunder, and high winds. There was no precipitation.

With the sun coming up, Key now gets to see the area. A quick survey of the other pod tells Key that it's beyond salvage. What the entry and landing didn't damage, was by the storm , and most of the smaller pieces are gone. He looks around at the plants, for the most part, they appear undamaged.

When the light hits them, they start to unfurl their branches. He's only a little surprised. "The plants protect themselves from the storms too, huh."

Avy, who's perched on his shoulder, taps once, confirming his suspicion.

Glancing at the little creature, he asks, "Same thing you did?"

Avy taps once again.

"Are those storms frequent?"

Again, a single tap.

Key sighs heavily, and starts collecting the shelter sections. "I better keep that in mind when I set this up."

As he starts to strap the sections together, Avy hops from his shoulder and skitters off into the brush.

Key finishes tying the bundle, then grabs the empty pack from the pod and starts loading the supplies in it, and his other pack. About the time he's finished making everything fit, Avy comes back and starts tapping repeatedly on the stacked sections.

Giving the little creature a curious look, he asks, "What? You find something?"

Avy bobs anxiously and gives the stack a firm, solitary tap.

"Relax. I'm almost done here," he chuckles.

Closing up the packs, he stands and slings one on his back, and picks the other up by its handle. When he reaches for the sections, Avy hops to the ground and starts off again.

"Don't get too far ahead."

Having been following Avy through thick brush for nearly an hour, they break through into a decent sized clearing. Key stops for a moment to survey the area, but Avy keeps going. Seeing this, Key quickly catches up.

"Where're we--I mean, is it much farther?"

Avy abruptly stops and turns, looking around. It then scratches an X in the ground.

"Here?"

The small creature bobs its body, then scurries up a meter tall embankment.

Noticing the embankment, Key looks around. Avy has led him to an area that's looks like it was once a small marsh, so it's lower than much of the surrounding area. According to Drudge's map, this is part of the same river valley that he crashed in.

Suddenly curious about the lack of ground water, Key asks, "Does it rain here?"

Avy appears confused for a moment, then lets out a sad trill and taps once on a rock.

"No rain," he mutters to himself. "Wonder why?"

Drudge answers his musing, "With the ambient temperature as it is, any rain that would form, would immediately evaporate."

"Yeah, I figured that." Key places both packs at the edge of the "marsh" and unpacks the shelter parts.

Setting one of the shelters aside, he starts to arrange the remaining pieces.

* * *

With the shelter up, Key's returned to his original pod to salvage all he can. Aside from the two empty packs, he's brought an energy cell and a portable converter. Everything else is in the shelter.

After using the converter to make a few tools, he starts to dissect the pod. Anything that he thinks he can salvage, he removes and puts in a pack. He starts with things like the onboard computer core, empty power cells, even one of the seats.

Realizing that he's going to have too much for the packs, he removes a section of the outer hull from the outside of the pod. Using some wiring from inside the pod, and a few well placed bends to the panel, he turns it into a crude sled.

As he continues to dissect the pod, Avy skitters over to Alice's grave and sits there for a moment. Then, using only a leg tip, it traces the name and date. After a moment, it turns back to Key. Then, letting out a sorrow-like coo, it burrows down into the rocks.

Being too busy to see this, Key stacks a few more things on the sled, then checks to see if it's too heavy.

"That's probably enough," he mutters to himself. "Avy, I'm heading back home."

As he starts pulling the sled, he mulls that though over.

Home.

Yeah, it's home now. Just him and his friend Avy.

He stops. Where's Avy? He looks around, but not seeing the little creature anywhere, he calls, "Avy?"

He stills his mind for a moment, hoping to get an impression or a word clue, but nothing.

With a heavy sigh, he says, "Well, I suppose you know your way around. Be careful little one."

He then gives Alice's grave a long, sad look.

Feeling alone again, Key drags the sled back to his new home.

Avy burrows till it finds Alice's body. Saddened by the discovery, it starts to shift itself a bit and starts tunneling sideways. Soon, Avy finds itself near Alice's head. After balling up, Avy secretes its shell and begins to concentrate.