FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The monorail zipped silently though the lavish tropic underbrush, zooming toward some unseen location. The islands were breathtaking, South America had some pretty secluded places, seldom touched by mankind. This island was one such place. Home to Prophecy's most advanced research and development laboratories, The Lazarus Labs. On board the sleek three carriage monorail was a small assortment of journalists, reporters, university and college students and some representatives from APEX.

They were all invited to this prestigious location for various reasons. At the front in the first carriage were the eager and excited college and university students. Handpicked for this amazing opportunity from various institutions worldwide. For them this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, a foot in the door here would set them up for life. Sat square at the very front of the carriage was Margu Mutanba, age 27, around 6'6 and built like a Rugby fullback fullback. He was just starting his last year of study at KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. He had an intimidating physical stature about him, bald and built with the eyes of a tribal hunter. He was studying for a degree in biology and botany.

Sitting a few seats behind him was Kirstin Dallas, a young 21 year old from Mexico who was studying a small number of things at Harvard. Mostly meteorology, geology and palaeobotany. Behind Kirstin were two students from the Harbin institute of Technology. Zao Mei and Ku Lin. Both were rather short at 5'1 and 5'4 respectively. And both competing in the field of micro robotics. Next was Joel Mathews, African American, born and raised in Portland and studying Robotics at the Portland State University in Oregon. Sat more toward the back of the first carriage was French student Andre Warren from the Strasbourg University in France. A country that was not doing too well as of late, with a rapidly growing anti-technology cult being formed and ongoing riots against the French government. Lastly was Japanese student Ikuri Tomonaki studying at the University of Hosei. She was looking to get a degree in computer science and programming.

These seven students were all sat around pretty much in silence, watching each other or just looking out at the vibrant tropical coastline of the island as the monorail whipped by silently like a ghost. Behind them in the second carriage were the journalists and reporters from various news outlets in the area. None of them were really of not besides a few independent freelance types, notably a mister Jonathan Grant, formerly a reporter of the New York Times times. He turned freelance after the New York Times started editing his work to keep atrocities in the east quiet.

In the third and last carriage were just two individuals. One was a representative from APEX. A central European cooperation mainly associated with chemical research. The other figure was Evelyn Darrow, a 41 year old woman with a grizzled appearance. Stern looking eyes and permanent smirk.

All of these people were here for different reasons, life opportunities mostly, though the reporters were most likely only going to cause problems. As the Monorail came around a sharp bend, the landscape opened up and the Lazarus facility suddenly sprang into view. It certainly looked as if it were out of place.

Crisp modern looking buildings made mostly of glass and painted cement, dull tones of concert dotted by small patches of bright mulch, wood and green garden beds. All tucked away on a small plateau overlooking a wide lagoon on the coast. The monorail approached along a steep mountain side, passing through a station mounted into the rock; the mountain itself was actually a dead volcano, hallowed out for the facilities purposes. The monorail zoomed through the station and began to slow down as it descended steadily toward the main facility. Sliding into a concealed station on the third floor of the main building, where it silently and swiftly came to a stop. The doors slid open without ushering a sound and an automated voice chimed out.

'Welcome to Lazarus main facility, please use caution when exiting the monorail.' In a steady fashion the passengers disembarked. Being greeted by a large sterile looking room with wide wooden lattices, hung from the ceiling in regular intervals that were laden with ferns and flowers. Besides that the room was empty, painted white all over, which short, sets of broad stairs leading up toward a turnstile fashioned checkpoint.

Stood there to greet the curious looking passengers was two lone figures. One was human, the other however was not.

The figure that stood there nervously beside the sharp looking intelligent woman was Passé Luis, a young man from France who moved to live with his aunt in Canada twelve years ago. He stood upright, fidgeting anxiously with a small glass tablet in his hands. He had a meek looking disposition to him. But most noticeably of all, he looked like a 5'3 pine marten. The woman who stood beside him was none other than Doctor Sophia Roswell. Head CEO of Prophecy, and Luis's aunt.

Twenty years ago, the US government, specifically a branch of the pentagon, had approached numerous genetics companies and firms. Wanting to commision the development of a serum that would give America's military forces heightened natural senses. Essentially, they wanted to turn their soldiers into bloodhounds.

They sunk everything into that project and Prophecy had taken the contract. They made the serum, but the side effects were too serious to put it into effect. Thus resulting in the project being put on ice in a vault somewhere in Canada. About four years ago, that vault had been broken into, and the serum; due to poor and improper storage, had escaped.

Now it was known as the Feral Virus and Prophecy was doing their best to find a vaccine or cure for it. Not much of the world knew of it or the effects, but everyone knew that something bad had happened up in Canada. That was why the reporters were here, so Dr.Sophia herself could address things properly.

Sophia greeted the group with a smile, noticing her nephew's nervous disposition, she gave him a light nudge and spoke in fluent French.

“Ne soyez pas nerveux Neveu, respirez, détendez-vous." Passé jumped a bit, but nodded and took a few deep breaths in to calm down. Sophia then stepped forward, brushing a lock of her long rose coloured hair from her face.

“Greetings everyone, welcome to the Lazarus facility. My name is Dr, Roswell. I'll be your chaperon of sorts during your visit." She said whilst smiling. Almost immediately Grant stepped forward, notepad and pencil in hand, a curious look in his sterling greyish eyes.

“Question Doctor. Does Prophecy hire individuals infected with the feral virus often"? Grant was a blunt person, he always had been since he was young. All the other reporters and journalists there were still unloading their suitcases full of camera equipment and sleek electronic tablets. Grant was old school, the 53 year old from Cameroon had little else besides his trusty notebook and a satchel that contained his Canon EOS M200 and an assortment of various lenses. Sophia's gaze narrowed in on him immediately, listening to his question with an intense, yet calm focus, before she replied.

“Indeed we do Mister Grant. We employ roughly one-hundred and sixty so persons throughout our various facilities, laboratory and installations worldwide. Mostly our Alaskan and Canadian facilities, for obvious reasons. My nephew here however has nowhere else to go. Thus he is one of several onsite stage 5 persons here at the Lazarus facility." Grant's head went down to his notebook as he began to take notes. One of the other reporters quickly piped up, Alisa Mendoza, channel 10 news, US.

“That seems a little dangerous doesn't it? What if it's contagious, the virus is airborne right"? Sophia's cold, sombre gaze was enough to tell everyone in that room that Miss Mendoza had just made a massive mistake. Her voice took on a rather cold, almost lifeless tone.

“Miss Mendoza. I'm rather insulted, I would have thought that a reporter of all people. Whose job it is to know the subject they are reporting on. Would be aware that once the virus matures to stage 5 within a host, it becomes impotent and thus, unable to propagate and spread further. My Nephew here, who is a 'he' not an 'it' is assuredly incapable of infecting anyone or otherwise spreading anything besides the common cold, influenza or perhaps an STD." Sophia's gaze remained fixed on Mendoza as she quickly shut her mouth.

From there Sophia had the passengers form up into two groups. Sophia tended to the reporters, Passé took the students. Everyone there by invitation had to undergo a quick fingerprint scan and DNA test. To make sure they were who they said they were. At the very back of both groups was Darrow and the APEX representative, a man named Lobe, H. Lobe. Both watched the process in silence. Neither of them required any verification, Lobe was a bored representative, so pretty high up in terms of the corporate ladder. Darrow was Prophecy so there was no need.

“Alright everyone, please follow me in an orderly fashion." Sophia said. Passing the sleek glass tablet she held to Passé as he fell in step beside her. The students went first, with the Reporters staying behind to set up their equipment, they would be taken on their own separate tour by another senior member of staff. Sophia was adamant about that as she had little patience for those vultures. Let them be someone else's issue.

Sophia led the small group of students up the stairs and through the turnstile checkpoint after handing out visitors ID's to everyone. Beyond the checkpoint was a lengthwise corridor of elevators and stair cases leading up and down to the other floors. To the right hand side this hallway extended out of the building and onto a long wooden deck with glass railings that overlooked the plaza's below. To the left was an access hatch to the elevator shafts.

Everyone piled into the leftmost Elevator on the forward facing wall. There were several floors, ranging from B2 to F5. Currently on F3, Sophia pressed the button ladled G for ground floor. With a soft jolt the Elevator began to slide downward. Sophia gave her Nephew a sideways glance, he'd already fallen into a deep conversation with Andre. The two of them speaking rapidly in French. Andre asking Passé various questions with genuine curiosity. It was good to see him socialising. Next she cast her gaze around at the others, making silent observations about them one at a time.

Over four hundred thousand applicants took the test to receive an invitation. Of those four hundred thousand, around forty-two had scores impressive enough to catch Prophecy's attention. From there they had all chosen which facility or institute they wanted to have the chance to intern at. These seven had chosen Lazarus, the leading genetic, biotechnology and synthetic research laboratory in the world. Everyone in this elevator was a major in the either the field of robotics or biology. Save for the exception of Ikuri, who had gotten an invitation by recommendation from her father, Takada Tomonaki. Head Programmer for the most of the automated systems employed in the Poseidon and Hephaestus facilities. Both related to clean energy, hydroelectricity and geothermal respectively.

The elevator came to a gentle stop, the doors slid open and Sophia was the first one to step out, followed immediately by Passé. The lobby of the ground floor was what you'd expect, sleek, white, very modern in design. It was an open space, lots of tall glass paneled windows, brightly coloured leather sofas, and lots of indoor plants. The high ceilings were laden with hanging gardens, with the lights being contained mostly in the floor.

“Welcome to Lazarus. Here we have three main divisions of research and development. There's the Bio division, led by Dr.Paul Simmons. His research is mostly focused on developing more potent medicines and vaccines for today's modern diseases. Among other things. There's also the Robotics division, headed up by Dr. Arthur McManus. He's responsible with developing synthetic organs and robotic prosthetics for the civilian market. He's very enthusiast about his work. Lastly, there's my division. The Genetics division. I'm working on some rather complicated things related to gene splicing." Sophia explained as she strode out of lobby and into a wide open set of sun bathed plazas. She stopped and gestured around her with a smile. As the monorail shot back out of the arrival building station and climbed back up toward the mountain. Zipping overhead silently.

“There are six main sectors of the facility. Where you stand now, is the social sector." Sophia explained. The students all looked around with various levels of interest and intrigue. Sophia gestured to the building they had all just come from.

“Originally the arrival building here was the laboratory. However, we decided to expand four years back." She then gestured to the second building that stood a few meters away, before continuing. “That there is the command building, were our onsite IPC security personnel watch over the island and keep everything in check. It's a fairly boring building so we won't be touring it." She was about to move toward the low stone wall that both buildings hugged closely. The Testing enclosure was the second or third largest structure on the island. But before she could get a word in, Passé tugged on her sleeve, and shoved his glass tablet PDA into her hands.

With a raised brow, Sophia read the message displayed upon it.

New York Situation under control.

APEX agent confirmed operating in NYC area.

Unknown agent confirmed operating in Manhattan.

Asmari holding position.

Reassigned to Lazarus facility. Shadowing Lobe.

Regard any security system glitches or anomalies as hostile.

Sophia frowned for a second. Asmari was the head of military operations at the Bulwark facility. That was the quarantine wall erected along the border of Canada and America. Canada and Alaska were pretty much lost to the feral virus, it being an airborne vector, one would think a wall; even one only five hundred meters tall, would do much to stop it from spreading. The wall however was lined with low atmospheric filters, designed to suck in huge quantities of air, and scrub them of everything but oxygen. The virus acted a lot like mustard gas, it stayed relatively low to the ground, barely ever exceeding three hundred meters high in terms of vertical spread.

“Unfortunately it seems I am needed elsewhere." Sophia said, sending a quick reply before messaging Doctor McManus.

“Doctor Arthur McManus will take over from here. If you would all be so co-operative as to remain in the Plaza area until he arrives. Passé will point him out to you. Please, do enjoy the Plaza restaurants and cafes." With that Sophia nodded to her Nephew and promptly made her way toward the command centre building. As soon as she was inside, Sophia strode to the elevators, punched the button labelled F9 and took out her own glass tablet. Waiting for a response from the short message she had just sent.

It came within a few seconds of the elevator jolting into motion.

Lobe moved to main facility building.

Executing perimeter security sweep as a precaution.

In contact with J. Cassidy.

On standby. Need to talk sometime soon.

Conference with Marshal, Tomonaki, Joseph and Neil?

Sophia let out a sigh as she read. Whatever had happened up in New York was causing more than a bit of pain. As the elevator came to a halt and the doors opened to the operational command centre for the whole island. Sophia typed a second, short response.

Copy.

Someone had better tell me what all this is about Killswitch.

With that, Sophia collapsed her glass tablet until it was nothing more than a thin metal cylinder. Composed herself and stepped out into a wide, bland cement hallway. Armed IPC soldiers standing guard at every door. Sophia made her way into a long conference room, closing the door behind her and taking a seat at the head of a sleek, narrow wooden table. She took out her tablet and set it into a perfectly sized indentation in the table in front of her.

She waited a moment, before the lights in the room faded and four holographic figures appeared in the room. Said figures were Marshal Gates, head of the Tartarus facility. Takada Tomonaki, head of the Poseidon facility. Joseph Francisca, head of the Odysseus facility and Neil Mathews, head of the Hephaestus facility. They each greeted Sophia with a nod.

“Greetings everyone and thank you for this rather unprompted conference call. I've just gotten word from up north that the New York incident is under wraps." She said. A few murmurs of relief were issued before she continued.

“That being said. Keep your guards up. I'm about to see if I can get Cassidy in here, I've a few things to talk about with him. Takada, how's the student program at Poseidon going? Have they arrived yet."?

Takada's hologram shook its head. The fifty seven year old took his round rim glasses off to polish them as he spoke.

“No. Not yet, there is a storm system further up the coast that we think might be delaying them. We're also shutting down the main turbines. There's a clog in the L3 column. I'll have to send someone down to look at it. So I might as well send a team down to do some cleaning. The barnacles are building up again."

Sophia nodded. Moving her gaze over to Gates who just shook his head. Sophia's gaze then snapped over to Mathews. “What about you Neil."?

“Student's arrived an hour ago, been pretty quiet since then. Few sonar pings, Caleb thinks it's a pod of dolphins. Apart from that, not much to say."

Sophia breathed a sigh. The student program was a new thing and it had Sophia rather stressed out, she already had a lot on her plate. “Alright, Joseph how're things down in Sao Paulo."? She asked.

“La Cocodrilo and her gang are keeping this pretty quiet. As always." He replied with a yawn. There was a moment of silence as Sophia rubbed her temples, everything seemed quiet. Sophia did not like that, when things were quiet, it usually meant something was wrong. For the last three months it had been pretty hectic and loud. So everything suddenly being quiet made her nervous.

“Alright then. I'll leave the four of you to get back to it, like I said. I've got to talk to Cassidy about a few things then I've got to get back to my group of students before Simmons gets a hold of them." She said, leaning back in her chair and tapping a button on her tablet. At once the holograms disappeared and the room brightened again. There was a lot going on today. The student program was one thing, but the reporters and journalists too? Sophia knew that group was going to be hard to control.

She sat back up after a few moments of quiet thought. Tapping away at her tablet.

Cassidy.

Need to talk to you ASAP.

I want to know what the hell is going on up in New York.

Come meet me in the conference room.

Sophia would not have to wait too long. A half hour later just as two Jeeps were pulling up outside. There was a knock on the door.

“Enter."

In stepped a lean sinewy looking man. He had a sharp angular jaw, short wavy cappuccino hair and gloomy sunken eyes that were hazel in colour. This man had quite the reputation among the IPC. He had earned himself many names over the past twenty years. El Diablo, Ignis ille, O homem em chamas, Le demon. Sophia however knew him simply as Jericho Cassidy.

“You wanted to talk sis"?