FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

With the storm finally passed, it's night. Key works on the com from the outside. So far, he's had to replace the antenna, and several of the connectors due to massive amounts of caesium scorching.

Drudge has figured out that the storms coincide with the presence of the closest moon, they're created by the atmospheric tides. While he's not specifically sure, Drudge believes the moon's gravity is pulling the water in the air upwards, making a vertical draft that pulls air in from around it.

This process creates a massive toroidal vortex that blows everything towards the center of the storm. Drudge estimates that the storm could cover several thousand square kilometers and luckily, with where they are, they only catch the "edge" of it.

Letting Key work, Avy stands by the shelter's door. She's intently looking up into the sky, studying the position of the other two moons. She works her fingers rapidly as she does, making calculations in her head.

Key, we have about ten days left.

He looks up to the sky. Are you sure? He's learned he doesn't have to actually talk for her to "hear" him.

She works her fingers again. Yes.

Key quickly turns back to his work. Having swapped out the scorched parts, he's now reassembling the com.

It doesn't take him long to finish, and he's soon back inside.

After grabbing the probe's tablet, he says, "All right Drudge. Testing, testing, one two three."

He watches the tablet intently, and it soon lights up with much higher power readings.

"We need an urgent distress message. Include our position and situation."

"Acknowledged. Compressing data...message ready."

"Loop and transmit. Let us know if there's any messages that come in."

"Acknowledged."

How long do you think it will take for some to show up?

Key sits in his chair to think. "Well, I guess it depends on how close someone is."

Avy sets down on the cot. Where's the closes place?

He leans forward in thought. "Well, there's the T-los colonies, a few small bases, even some research stations."

She sighs, then lays down. We need to seek better shelter. This won't protect us from the freeze.

Key moves to lay down with her. "I know. Are there any caves nearby."

She edges closer to him. A few, but many other creatures will want to be there too.

"Then, in the morning, we should go check them out. Maybe setup a small shelter in it for us."

Why would we need a shelter? We could just hibernate.

He tilts his head slightly to look at her. "Humans don't hibernate."

Oh. She's quiet for a moment, then asks, how do humans reproduce?

Embarrassed, Key turns red as he remembers his last actual date with Alice. "Well...uhm..."

Avy puts a finger to his lips, sparing him from saying anything further. You're thoughts were enough.

Curious, he asks, "Figured out how you mate yet?"

She sighs. All I know is that it has something to do with my tail.

"Your tail?"

He starts to sit up, wanting to reexamine her tail, but she stops him. I know you are curious. I am too, but that can wait. Now we sleep. We will have much to do.

Unable to argue that point, Key puts his arm around her and lets himself relax.

* * *

Coming up on their third cave, they can tell instantly that this one is much deeper. With the opening being smaller, Avy lands and follows Key inside on foot. He pulls out his flashlight and shines it around. He's offered one to Avy before, but she had indicated that she can see just fine without.

As with one of the previous caves, some of the creatures have already taken to hiding in it. Key takes his bio scanner out and starts scanning the various creatures he sees. As he does, Avy tells him the names she knows them by, and Key repeats the names so Drudge can log the data accordingly.

As they pass through, Key realizes that all the creatures are huddled together, even the prey are with the predators. Is this normal that everyone gets along in here?

They're all afraid of what comes. In here, all are safe, even from each other.

They continue deeper and find a split, one cave goes downhill while the other goes up. Shining his light each direction, Key sees that the lower cave is filled with more creatures. Upwards, they only go a short distance.

Avy also looks, then asks, Which direction do you think?

Key thinks for a moment, then whispers, "Drudge, show me air flow patterns. Indicate warm versus cool."

Several ghostly arrows appear, some are blue for the cooler air, while others are red for the hotter air. They all move slowly, according to the airflow.

"Looks like the air is heated down there, goes up there and comes back down through here." Key shines his light into the upper cave. "I want to see where this goes, and see why no creatures are up there."

Avy nods. I will wait here. I need to rest a moment. Don't worry, I am safe.

Key nods and heads up the cave. He's soon past all the creatures and comes to a corner. The cave narrows considerably, but he can still pass. As it widens out again into a moderately sized cavern, Drudge notes a sudden increase in temperature.

"Where's the extra heat coming from?"

"It's radiating up from the floor."

"Do you think that heat source is stable?"

"Should be, we are more than ten meters in and more than that below the surface. Geothermal energy should keep this cavern stable for several years."

He quickly heads back down to Avy. "I think we've found a new home."

She nods. Shall we start moving the shelter?

He nods. "Part of it anyway."