FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Spark ate quickly, forcing herself to take a bite of the nutrient disc before stashing it and the pad inside her hidey hole. She sucked on the foul-tasting cracker as she waited for Mag to retrieve her tray, working over her plan in her mind. Thanks to the cameras, she had been able to piece together a rough approximation of the patterns of life on the ship. Mornings were active, with most of the crew moving between the cargo bay and the ship hangar.

Afternoons were also unpredictable, with much activity in the hallways as well as both bays as pilots ran simulations or worked on upgrading their ships. Some of the pirates tended to stick to their cabins, but for the most part they all made an appearance daily in one of the two bays. The activity continued with more of the same into the evening, the only place not accessed except on rare occasions being the engineering section of the big ship. The door to engineering had been closed after the multitool had gone missing, and since then only two people had entered, and they had both used codes to access the room.

Nighttime painted a different picture. Between the Ship’s hours of 2200 to 0600, most of the crew were in their rooms. Spark assumed that they were asleep, but without any cameras she couldn’t be sure. Activity in both bays ceased, and the only activity seemed to be the night watch on the bridge. It would waste most of a day, but if she wanted to get to the cargo bay there was no other option. Spark sighed and lay down, staring at the food tray as she continued to plan. She had seen where they had stored the suits that were pulled from her ship, and she had already made sure that the access code she had built to open her own door would also open the door to the cargo bay, again without setting off any alarms.

Once she had gained access to the suits, she could retrieve her emergency tool kit and her diagnostic pad. With those tools, she could finally work on making good her escape once she had a place to escape to. She had already worked out that stealing one of the fighter ships to escape wouldn’t work, as the controls for the force screen on the ship hangar were under the control of the bridge, and she had been unable to gain access to any of the primary systems. The fighters also were sure to have their own security systems and she did not have time to brute force through a security lockout while trying to make a daring escape.

Spark glanced over at her hidey hole and sighed. The space wasn’t small, but with the shower computer, the multi tool, two pads, the crackers, and her bulky emergency tool kit designed for use with gloved hands, there wasn’t room for anything else, needed or not. The door slid open, and Spark jumped in surprise, quickly moving to the corner of the room and watching as Mag collected the food tray.

Mag glanced over at the creature cowering in the corner and sighed as she retrieved the tray. When she had last visited, the little thing had at least shown some sign of intelligence, though it may have just been fear of the shaking, the noise, and the desire to be comforted that had changed its attitude. Mag glanced at the door, then up at the camera before setting the food tray back down, taking a seat on the floor beside the thin mattress. She looked over at Spark, then gently patted the mattress beside where she sat, inviting Spark to join her.

Spark looked at Mag warily, but at the signaled request, she cautiously moved over to sit beside Mag on the mattress, tail curled defensively about herself forming a sort of wall between herself and Mag, ears flattened submissively.

Mag watched the creature approach, keeping still so as not to frighten or discourage its advance. Once it had seated itself and focused its attention on her, Mag let herself relax a bit. “Not sure if you can understand anything I’m saying, and it may just be for my own benefit, but I needed to talk to someone, and you won’t go straight to the captain with what I’m about to say.” She glanced up at the camera again and sighed, turning away so that her face was hidden from the camera as she continued to talk. “Luckily, the cameras in the rooms don’t pick up sounds. That collar you wear can be used as a microphone, but I checked before coming here and that feature is turned off.”

Spark forced herself not to react to the information, mewling softly and bumping her head against Mag’s side as she listened, playing the part of an innocent unintelligent pet. Mag paused, reaching out to rub Spark’s ears before continuing. “In a few days we will be arriving at a port known as the Last Stand, a pirate port where all manner of illegal and stolen goods are bartered, exchanged, and sold. Many of those who work on this ship were either hired or purchased there, me included. I don’t have good memories of the place, having spent my time in a cage wondering what fate would have in store for me. I guess it could have been worse, I managed to earn my place here and even rise in the ranks. Not too high, but high enough to get a seat at the table, something I doubt any of the other slaves managed to accomplish after leaving that place.”

Listening to the story, Spark recognized the shift in tone of Mag’s voice, leaning closer to attempt to supply comfort as the larger human talked. She was getting information about their destination, something she had been sorely lacking but the more she heard, the less she wanted to have anything to do with the place. She listened attentively, making the mental note that if she were to escape, it would need to be before they landed. Otherwise, she would have to deal with the problems of a pirate run station as well as escaping from the Limitless.

Mag ruffled Spark’s ears, continuing her monologue. “I guess I’m just worried about going back there, it was not a fun time and is full of bad memories. It was the last time I saw my father, when he sold me to a slaver to pay off his gambling debts only to be killed in front of me when the payoff didn’t meet with the loan shark’s approval. I was still a slave, and it took 3 weeks for someone to buy me.” She shuddered, wiping a tear from one cheek. “I don’t really remember what happened during that time, I was sedated a lot and the drugs affected my memories, another reason I think I don’t want to go back there.”

Standing up, Mag brushed herself off and stretched, looking down at Spark. “Nothing I can do about it though; we will be there in about two days now and there is nothing I can do to change that so may as well get used to the idea. You are lucky, Able can’t sell you at the port since he still needs you to trade for that old ship Rick stole, at least not until the meeting is concluded. I’m sorry to say I doubt it will go the way Rick anticipates, even if he does everything Able asks, I just don’t see the profit in him following through with the agreement. My guess is that Rick will be forced to work for us again, probably wearing a collar like the one you have. You will be perfectly safe, insurance that Rick does as he is told to keep you that way. If he tries to take you back by force, I guess Able may end up selling you after he kills Rick, but in my opinion that would be the least desirable outcome.”

Mag stood up and shrugged her shoulders heading to the door. “Not sure why I’m talking to you about this, all you can understand is that I’m paying attention to you. You can’t understand me and even if you did, from inside this room there really isn’t anything you can do to change the outcome.” Spark watched her leave, the door closing with a soft whoosh of air. She moved to listen at the door, then pulled out her pad and checked the cameras. Mag had left her room and headed to the hangar, talking with one of the technicians and gesturing to one of the fighters animatedly. She would still need to wait until late that night to begin her work, but now she had another reason to hurry. Rick was in trouble, and it would be up to her to make sure that she made it home safely with Rick. She couldn’t rely on the trade deal to get home, not that she had done so in the first place but now she knew for a fact that the cards were truly stacked against them and how badly.

Spark moved to her hidey hole and removed the pad, setting an alert for any motion in her hallway before starting the exhaustive work of figuring out just which systems she had access to. It took her hours and twice she had to pause her work as someone walked down her hallway, but nobody entered her room. Finally, she had a good idea as to which systems she would have access to, assembling three plans, one to escape, one to distract, and one in case she was discovered and needed a bargaining chip. By the time Mag returned with her evening meal, Spark was once again hiding beneath the blanket on the mattress against the wall, her things safely hidden away.

Mag left the tray, Spark eating quickly and stashing the cracker, returning to her mattress and feigning sleep. An hour later as promised, Mag returned and collected the food tray. She looked down at Spark and shook her head though she said nothing, leaving the room again after only a momentary pause. Spark pulled out the pad and watched the cameras. She waited until everyone had returned to their rooms, then an extra 30 minutes for safety before quietly making her way towards the cargo bay, watching the hallway cameras for any signs of movement.

Inside the cargo bay, Spark jogged over to a sled loaded with items taken from their ship, pulling open the front compartment on her personal suit and pulling out her tool kit and retrieving her personal pad from its pocket on the suit. The pad was fully charged, having been plugged into the suit’s power system and the suit itself plugged into their ship. Now the suit registered only 43% power remaining, someone must have turned on the suit and never returned it to power saving mode. She switched the suit into standby before checking the cameras again, then moving over to a bin and pulling out a shard of highly reflective metal from within. She moved to the door, checked the cameras one last time then slipped out and returned to her room.

Spark’s first chore was to make sure everything fit into her hidey hole, the small space filled to bursting with all her secret stash but it somehow fit. She extracted the shiny metal fragment and her tool kit, then entered the bathroom. Closing the outer door Spark sat on the sink, using the shiny metal as a hand mirror to look at the back of her collar, using the tools to carefully remove the cover. It took her hours and a lot of discomfort and stretching into odd positions but finally she managed to disable the clasp without setting off the tamper sensor. Once removed, she was able to quickly disable the collar’s active functions, namely the ability to shock her or choke her by shrinking size. She put it back on, the sensors still reading that the collar was active and working properly. She did leave the microphone feature alone, just in case they tried to use it she didn’t want to tip her hand that the rest of the collar was disabled. She didn’t mind them listening to her, though she did make sure her personal pad was receiving the status readings from the collar so she would know if they were listening in.

Spark checked the time, almost 4am. She took out both pads and hooked the small one up to the shower computer then lined both pads through a local data link. They would talk to each other up to 100 feet apart, nothing too great but enough that she could access all three devices using just her own pad. She sat down on the mattress, leaning against the wall as she began programming. As the time for her morning meal approached, Spark set the pad back into the space behind the replicator and went to feign sleep, waking up suddenly as Mag ran a hand over her ears. She jumped away, running to the far corner of the room and cowering as her heart beat a fast staccato in her chest. Mag watched her with amusement, crouched down beside the food tray, Spark’s translator pad lying on the floor beside the tray.

Mag spoke softly, the translator dutifully repeating her words in Kintessian. “Sorry I startled you. Come here, sit, eat. I would like to talk.” Spark calmed down at the soft tone in Mag’s voice, her breathing and heartrate returning slowly to normal as she crept back over to the mattress, crawling under the blanket and reaching a paw out to snag the edge of the tray and pull it close, sticking her head out from under the blanket just enough to eat, watching Mag warily but giving both Mag and the food tray her full attention. Mag chuckled to herself, letting Spark get settled before she too sat down and began to speak.

“The captain wanted me to tell you that in two days we will be arriving at our destination. From that time, your master will have just over one week left to bring us what our captain has requested. We have already received a transmission from your master stating that he has what we asked for and is heading this way, for your sake I do hope he gets here in time. I have been instructed to watch over you, and starting tonight I will be spending my off hours here in this room.” Mag paused, looking at Spark who had stopped eating, ears pointed at her and eyes wide. Mag sighed and reached out to ruffle Spark’s ears, speaking softer now that her message had been relayed. “Don’t worry, Rick will make it here in time if what I heard about his reputation is true. I won’t let anything happen to you, and nobody will bother you while I’m here. I asked for this job, both to be able to stay on the ship and also to protect you. I’m not entirely sure why I want to do that, but I do so here I am.” Mag lay back on the floor, looking up at the ceiling. She remained quiet for a minute, then suddenly sat up, turning to look directly at Spark. Spark for her part let out a soft whine and hid under the blanket, the food tray was mostly empty, she had managed to force herself to swallow down a good two thirds of the cracker along with the meal, intending to clean her plate since she was being watched and had never left anything over before but the sudden movement had startled her.

Mag gently poked the Spark shaped lump under the blanket gently, speaking in a quiet tone. “Please come back out, I’m sorry to have startled you it’s just that well, I suddenly realized that I never told you who I am or got your name. My name is Mag, I’m a pilot and technician on this ship. What is your name?” Spark spoke from under the blanket, her voice a bit muffled but the translator dutifully repeated her words, stretching out the a's as the Kintessian language tended to do the same. “Hello Maag, my name is Sp’Aark.” Mag looked at the translator for a moment, then back at the lump in the blanket. “Spark huh.” She petted the Kintessian under the blanket a few times. “Sorry to barge in on your space here, but it is actually for your own good. I hope you can trust me enough to accept that.”

Spark stayed under the blanket another minute, then crawled out and swallowed down the last of the cracker, licking up the crumbs before looking over at Mag cautiously. Mag blinked, looking back at Spark a moment before comprehending what was going on. “Don’t worry, I don’t have the controller for your collar. I don’t think I need to worry about you trying to hurt me, and the rest of the ship is way more dangerous than this room so no need to worry about you trying to run out when the door is open. I’m sure you realized that we put you in here more to protect you than to keep you caged.”

Spark sniffed at Mag, walking a slow wary circle around her, eyes watching for any sudden movements. Once she finished her examination, she gave a chuffing nod to Mag then turned on one foot and began running at full speed around the outside edge of the room, kicking off the wall at each turn. Mag watched in surprise; the small thing was really fast! After 10 laps around the room Spark pounced onto the blanket, her breathing steady and even, not even a bit winded from the sudden sprint. She looked up at Mag and wagged her tail. “Maag like run?”

Mag stared for a moment, then burst out in a hearty laugh loud enough to send Spark scurrying under the blanket. She petted the lump and tried to calm down. “It’s ok, you just caught me off guard. I’m actually surprised how fast you are, is that normal for your kind? Do all of you run really fast?” Spark poked her head out from under the blanket, eliciting an ear pat from Mag as she responded. “Kintessians hunt, have to faast run to food caatch.” She opened her mouth, showing Mag her many sharp teeth, then suddenly moved forward to grab Mag’s bare arm in her mouth, teeth pricking the startled human’s skin but not drawing any blood. She quickly released Mag’s arm and backed off, licking her lips. “Maag friend nice, no hurt Maag friend, Bring food lots.” Mag pulled her arm back, rubbing the slightly damp spot where Spark had so gently bitten her, perfectly sure that if she had wanted, Spark could have bitten down to the bone, if not broken the bone completely.

The small creature was both fast and had surprisingly strong jaws, and now that she looked at her, also sported long sharp claws on each paw. Definitely not a creature to get on the bad side of for sure. “You are just full of surprises, aren’t you little Spark?” Spark just nuzzled up against Mag and let out another chuff through her nose. “Smaall room smaall, baad for run.” Mag blinked then looked towards the door. “Hmmm, perhaps. Spark, if you promise to help clean up any mess you make, I’ll take you to the big cargo bay tonight after lights out. I want to see how fast you really are, but you have to obey what I say immediately, I will have your remote and your translator on me. If you disobey even for a moment, then I will be forced to use the remote and cause you pain. I don’t want to do that, but it is the only agreement I’m able to make with you.” Spark let out a soft whimper and nodded her head under Mag’s hand. “I listen good.”

Mag stayed until the hour was up, then took the tray and left. Spark quickly went to her hiding spot and watched Mag walk off on the camera, then began rapidly working on reconnecting the shower module through the computer back into the shower controls. The unit wasn’t meant to perform double duty, both as the shower controller as well as the relay for Spark’s cobbled systems, but it would work fine for one at a time. Once that task was completed, she returned to the task of writing her programs, knowing that she would have even less time to work with Mag staying in the room during the night.

As she worked, Spark thought through her interactions with Mag. Her first impression had not been a good one, but the more she interacted with the human, the more it seemed like the standoffish always angry attitude was just a front to protect a much kinder and gentle person. Living amidst pirates of course Mag would need a hard no nonsense exterior but when she thought she was alone, that hard exterior crumbled to reveal a much gentler personality, one that wouldn’t survive on its own in this rough environment without gaining a diamond hard outer shell to protect it.

Spark shook her head and yawned, looking at the clock, 1300 hours, tucking her things back into the compartment. She would need at least another 12 hours to get everything finished, but right now what she really needed was sleep. She curled up under the blanket, only waking again as Mag entered with two food trays, placing one on the floor for Spark and holding the other for herself, sitting against the wall beside Spark’s mattress and beginning to eat quietly. Spark yawned and stretched, moving over to pick at the tray of food, still a bit groggy.

Mag cleared her throat and Spark stiffened, turning quickly to look at Mag where she sat against the wall, one hand holding her tray, the other holding Spark’s collar remote. Spark flattened her ears and whimpered, looking at the remote. Mag for her part smiled and set it aside, returning to her tray. “Sorry about that, had to remind you what was at stake tonight. The captain gave me permission to bring you to the cargo bay, but he will be watching the cameras, making sure we follow orders, both of us.” Spark swallowed and nodded, eyes following the remote until Mag set it aside. “I listen good. Maag see, I listen good, no mistaake.”

Finishing her meal, Mag set down her tray and watched Spark, who had slowly gone back to eating though she kept Mag in her peripheral vision at all times. Once Spark had finished eating Mag stood up, placing the remote into her jacket pocket and moving to the door, though she left the trays behind. “Stay by my side and don’t run off. We are going to go to the cargo bay and let you run around a bit, burn off some of that excess energy.” Spark nodded and moved beside Mag, always keeping in her peripheral vision and matching her pace, letting the larger human lead the way.

Opening the door to the cargo bay, Mag looked around to make sure nobody else was inside before looking down at Spark, who had stayed beside her the whole time. “You really do understand the situation, don’t you.” She tapped her pocket meaningfully. “I’m letting you run around now, but when I call your name, I expect you to return immediately. When I say it is time to go, we go. No arguments. Do we have a deal?” Spark watched Mag, ears pointed her direction and nodded her agreement. “Return when caalled, you choose how long. I listen good.” Spark looked around the cargo bay as if for the first time, waiting for Mag to say she could go exercise.

Mag looked at Spark another few moments, then nodded. “Ok, you are free to run around but don’t make a mess. Knock anything over and you will have to clean it up.” Spark nodded then tore off at top speed down one of the isles formed by the stacked items to be sold and traded at their destination. She appeared briefly at the end of the isle when she leapt up over a stack of crates a good 8 feet high before vanishing again only to appear around the far side of the cargo bay, dodging around piles with agile grace. She kept going for a full 10 minutes, burning off her built up tension and worry, finally returning to sit next to Mag, her breathing heavy but steady.

Mag was impressed with Spark’s agility and stamina, watching her leap and dodge about in the mess of a cargo bay without so much as brushing against any of the containers. She looked down at the Kit, panting but steady after 10 minutes of what looked to be all out sprinting, her appraisal of the little creature going up a couple notches in the process. “Ready to return or did you want to keep going? I had planned to give you 20 minutes but if you are worn out after only half that then it can’t be helped.” Spark grinned and shook her head. Plaay with Maag! You hide, I find! I good finder!” Mag glanced at the wall; a camera visible far up in the corner of the room. “I don’t think I should let you out of my sight for that long, especially with the captain watching. Maybe next time, if we get to do this again.”

Spark nodded though her ears drooped. “I listen. Time to go baack?” Mag kept looking at the camera, nodding to Spark’s words. “Yeah, going back now would be the best option, don’t want to push your luck in this situation. It also means I won’t have to pull out the remote at all. I will do so before we leave, to let the camera see that I did have it and that it wasn’t needed, just for a moment.” She reached into her pocket and withdrew the remote, holding it up for Spark to see before placing it back into her pocket. “Now then, let’s go back to the room.”

Returning to the small room, Mag checked to make sure Spark didn’t have anything tucked into her pockets before letting them back inside. Spark went over and got a drink from the replicator, then crawled under the blanket on her mattress and fell asleep. Mag watched her curiously, then picked up the trays, returning later with a mattress, blanket, and pillow of her own. She set up the bedding in the far corner of the room, leaning against the corner of the wall and closing her eyes.

Mag awoke and opened her eyes only to stare directly back into Sparks where she lay less than a foot away, watching her. Mag sat up in surprise, Spark leaping into the air and running over to cower beneath her blanket. Mag exhaled and shook her head, looking over at the Spark shaped lump under the blanket. “And just what do you think you were doing just now?” Her voice was calm, no anger present. Spark stuck her head out and looked at Mag. “Waas curious. You not like others here, why Maag nice to me?” Mag chuckled and shrugged. “Honestly at first, I wanted nothing to do with you, it was just an order to see that you were fed. I thought you were weak, pathetic, and simple. I was wrong. Spending time with you I learned that there is much more to you than what you show on the surface.”

Spark listened to Mag, her ears flattening back before she retreated back under the blanket again. “You should come with us, Maag. Leave this ship.” Mag stiffened, then relaxed again. Standing up and heading to the door. “Can’t, still have a debt to pay off here. Be right back with breakfast.” Mag left and Spark poked her head back out from beneath the blanket. She had decided she wanted to help Mag, but getting two off this ship would be much more difficult than just herself. It would be tricky, and getting Mag free of the pirates would add another layer of difficulty to the task but with what she had, it just might be possible.