FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

He flew until the sun was low on the horizon. Everything had felt like a dream induced by some really good drugs. A dream that was suddenly very real.

Everything came crashing down for Sam as he reigned in his mind. Lacy had been the one who crashed through the door. She had seen him jump into the air and called after him. His subconscious was screaming at him to leave and he now cursed himself for listening.

The ground below had changed drastically from the lush green forests to snow topped pines. Trees were sparse and the ground was covered in snow. A reindeer bounded across a particularly sparse section of ground away from the sunset. Something spooked it.

Sam spread his wings as far as they went and slowed to a glide. At the slower pace he could just make out the rumble of large engines and heavy equipment. A few miles to the northwest a caravan of trucks were rolling through the trees towards some destination. The black paint looked fresh and the tires new. The design was completely alien to him as well. Somehow they struck him as military but the simplicity and lack of visible weaponry was throwing him off. There seemed to be a trail the trucks were following that ended at a clearing ten miles ahead.

He easily reached the clearing before the trucks and found a spot to hide. One of the trees on the far side of the clearing had a sturdy branch with a great view. It took a few minutes but the large trucks rumbled into the clearing and spread out. It seemed strange that they would start unpacking supplies and equipment without setting up a perimeter and ensuring they were secure; whatever they were doing. The men and women didn't rush around long, maybe an hour, before they settled in for their tasks.

One last person was walking around the field. She seemed to be in no rush and took her time to climb on top of a truck. The only instrument she carried was a laptop which she rested in her lap. Sam watched her concentrate for a moment before a sensation passed through him. It was weird, somewhere in between numbness and tingling, and was very brief. Just enough time to be unsettling. The girl glanced around warily before turning back to her laptop and typing away.

Sam crept around and hopped up onto the truck, surprisingly silent, and sat down behind and to the right of the girl. "So what are you doing?"

The girl didn't even miss a beat in her typing, "just working on a book I've been writing. I'm allowed to so long as my spell is in place."

"What spell? Is it dangerous?"

"It's a sentry spell. It will alert me to anyone who breaks the barrier."

Sam thought this girl was a loony but considering what had just happened to him, just rolled with it, "what happens if someone was inside the barrier when it was cast?"

"Oh, nothing much. I might notice the field passing through them as it spread. That isn't likely though, there isn't supposed to be anyone out here for another... hour.... or so?" Sam saw the sudden realization of what had just occurred flash across the girl's visage from the side. Confusion gave way to embarrassment before her face paled to an unnatural white. Sam felt another wave pass through him that made his ears tingle.

Sam barely had enough time to flick his ears back before the girl looked at him and screamed bloody murder. Sam braced for the pain of a woman's scream but nothing prepared him for the sensation he actually felt. If someone had told him that people shoved red hot steel spikes in his ears, he would have believed them. His vision darkened and blurred to the point he thought he would pass out and at some point his hands reached to cover his ears. He never noticed the movement until a warm wetness pooled against the pads of his palm and the acrid smell of blood reached his nose.

He had no idea how long the woman had been screaming but it felt like an hour. She had stopped the scream and Sam dared open his eyes to see what had happened. As his vision returned the woman stood before him sweating, with a profuse nose bleed, as she stood on shaky legs. His hands were dyed crimson with the blood soaking the fur up to his elbows and he couldn't hear anything around him through the ringing. Glancing around he finally noticed the half circle of commandos, around forty in total, aiming automatic rifles in his direction. He stared at them for a minute before he noticed the woman's knees give out. She fell towards him in slow motion as his hearing clicked to the sound of a man shouting 'open fire!'. Sam didn't even think as everything went into auto pilot. In one swift motion he caught the woman and leapt off the rig as the men all began firing. A few rounds grazed his skin leaving thick gashes in a few places before he was blocked by the armor of the truck. He roughly leaned the girl against the front tire of the vehicle before leaping back up and flying into the trees.

---

Ananda woke up some time later still leaned against the tire. Everything hurt from her massive release of energy against that winged creature. Most beings aren't able to handle the screech for more than a minute before passing out or their head explodes. That one had lasted a full fifteen minutes and only got bloody ears while she had expended all of her energy and passed out herself. For some reason she was still alive though and that confused her. That creature looked like a Vey'Ral and they've never shown pity on anything else, even their own kind. She needed to find that being again and find out why it didn't kill her.

She got up and glanced around at the emptiness of the camp. There were a few guards protecting their stuff but she could hear everyone else out searching the forest. She figured they wouldn't find the being any time soon and sent out a search field again, looking for the empty space that she felt earlier. Sure enough it was only a hundred yards out into the forest and within the minimum search distance of the commandos. As she walked up to where the tree stood that had the empty space in it she gave it some consideration.

"Stupid! Stupid stupid stupid! Why the hell did I come out here? I need to get back"

Sam couldn't help himself, "I agree. Most would think you were rather unintelligent for walking out here, in the cold, by yourself, when there is a known entity you are looking for. If I was hostile then I would've agreed more."

Ananda froze and looked up into the tree where it came from. She could barely make out the bloodied arms of the thing she had just encountered through the tree branches. "You... you aren't going to hurt me, are you?"

"You wound me! Why on earth would I do that? I could've just left you on top of that rig and let them shoot you up if I was going to do that. Save my own energy and avoid a few bullet wounds in the process."

She watched as Sam calmly climbed down out of the tree, "why are you out here and in our camp at that? Where do you come from? What are you?"

Sam winced at the 'what are you' remark but didn't let it get him down, "I was just flying around when I saw your convoy moving towards that clearing. Your vehicles didn't look like anything I had seen before and I was curious. As for where I came from, I was sitting in this very tree while you guys made camp and went about your business. Beyond that I come from down south. How far I couldn't tell you as I have no idea where I am right now. And I have no idea what I am. I WAS human just a couple days ago though. That stupid green gunk did this to me."

Sam was finally on the ground now and Ananda could get a good look at him, "what do you mean you were human a couple days ago? That's impossible! No changes are that fast! And I hope you don't mean the green gunk I'm thinking of. I really need to report this to Terry."

"Wait, Terry? Agent, about yay tall, kindof balding, always looks like he has a stick up his rear?"

Ananda laughed at the description, "if I ever described him that way I'd be in big trouble, but yes. You've met him?"

"Yeah. He came to me while I was in the hospital twice. I've been through a lot since and wished I could talk to him again."

"Well he's currently in the camp if you wanted to talk to him. I'm Ananda, by the way."

She held her hand out to Sam and he shook it in return, "Sam. How did you do that painful scream anyways? I've never gotten an ear bleed from someone yelling before."

"Oh, that? It was a spell. I'm a witch actually. I've never met anyone who could handle that for more than a few minutes without passing out. I've heard of people's heads exploding if enough force is applied to the spell though."

"Interesting. So how much about this world is being hidden from the general public?"

"More than even I know, and I'm a part of it!"

They talked and laughed their way back to the encampment. Sam couldn't help but think he would have dated this girl if he were still human or at least male. On that same note he also knew his father would not approve.

His brief recollection was cut short when he heard the electric whine of something charging. He didn't understand why the sound made him so apprehensive. A glance over to where the sound came from proved why with a man standing in a firing stance with a strange weapon in his hand. Sam threw his arm out to push Ananda away right as the man pulled the trigger. The last thing he remembered seeing was the man's psycho happy grin before everything went black.

---

Waking up was slow and painful for Sam. His whole upper body felt like he went ten rounds with George Foreman and didn't dodge a single blow. A few voices worked their way to his ears but were too fuzzy to be understandable. Finally one voice was close enough and loud enough to come through clearly, shouting something about a monster that was going to rape and kill everyone. He tried opening his eyes to see what was going on but everything was still dark. He tried shifting around but found a mask over his mouth and nose and a thick liquid surrounding him. The voice returned shouting about healing their own demise. Whoever this person was they sounded like a religious fanatic.

Sam only had a vague memory of what put him in this situation. The last he remembered was talking to Ananda about random silly things. His thoughts were interrupted by the click and hiss of air locks disengaging and a bright light spilling in from a crack that formed in front of him. As the crack widened with a mechanical hum he was blinded at the sudden change. His eyes adjusted to the light quickly but he still couldn't see out of the tube he was in. For some reason he couldn't focus on anything. He could make out someone pacing back and forth and making elaborate hand gestures towards his audience and the tube Sam was in. The person was still spouting out lies and obscenities about him as well.

"What is going on?"

"See! It lives! You will all rue the day you protected this beast! Stop this nonsense and put it down before it heals! Your women and children are not safe whi--" His voice cut out suddenly as though he was knocked out. Sam just waited to find out what was going on. He could see people milling about near his cell but all were speaking in too quiet of a tone to make out.

"Hello? Come on people. This is not very funny being left in the dark. What is going on out there!? Can't you at least have someone talk to me while you mill about?"

A figure moved close enough to the tube for him to partially make out their shape, "Sam?"

Sam screeched at the volume of the voice, "OW! Less volume! Seriously these ears aren't here for decoration Ananda!"

"Sorry, this better?" At his nod she continued, "Don't worry, we're trying to figure everything out. Illren was claiming you were from a certain parasitic race but nothing added up. How are you feeling?"

"Like I pissed off Pacquiao. What is this goop and how did I get here?"

"It's an advanced regeneration serum. Basically high tech amniotic fluid. We use it when someone is critically injured. Frankly I'm surprised you can still talk after getting your rib cage completely crushed. The damage was extensive."

Sam suddenly remembered the pain right before blacking out. "How... how long was I out?"

"We were expecting you to be out for the next week but you chewed through the sedatives in about twelve hours. It's early morning now."

"So twelve hours in a tube, floating in some healing gel. What else are you guys doing to me?"

"Well we're running a DNA test to see what you are but its been running for an hour with nothing coming up yet. We did rule out Vey'Ral though which is a good thing." She paused in thought for a minute before continuing, "you definitely are not a modified human though. We only have 23 chromosome pairs while you have 47. So far only two known races have that much and you don't match either."

"Why is it good I'm not this so called Vey'Ral? It even sounds angry."

"They are a parasitic race. They literally survive by raping and impregnating mass droves of females from the other races. Kindof like the species movies."

"That is... horrible! Jeez I'm glad I didn't come up as one of those. But what about those two you said I couldn't be. Why not?"

"Well you kindof look like a cross between the two but that is impossible, they can't cross species. Either way, you are a very advanced life form with most likely a long life span and what looks like a fast regeneration rate. Your bones are almost completely healed and the only thing left is some internal bruising."

"Well that is a relief. So what did happen to me anyways?"

"Well numb nuts, Illren, fired his percussive pistol at you at full power which crushed your rib cage and shot you backwards into a truck at a high speed. The truck is totaled and we'll have to tow it back to base but you survived the hit. You're very resilient!"

"You're being oddly informative. So what you're saying is I survived something that should have left me a bloody skid mark on the side of the road and I healed within twelve hours and I am an unknown species of alien. Is there anything else I should know?"

"Nope! That about covers it. Terry wants to talk to you soon as we let you out but he's wandered off to take care of a few things thinking you wouldn't be ready to come out in the next week."

"Oooh! Even better! I can get out of the nasty goop?"

Ananda couldn't help but chuckle at Sam's enthusiasm, "yes, yes. We'll begin draining the tube as soon as your health reports are.... And they're done! You'll be out of there in just a few minutes."

"So while this thing drains I have a question. How can you remain calm and make even a near death experience seem like no big deal? It's slightly unnerving and I'm not sure whether to be disturbed or thankful."

"Eh... it goes both ways. I've gotten both reactions from it. That's just how I am though: always looking on the bright side. Never know when someone might need their moping derailed."

"Didn't even give me a chance to mope. Not that I was going to anyways." Finally the fluid began to drain away leaving Sam feeling sticky and greasy, "Oh, gross! Is this stuff supposed to feel this nasty?"

"Umm, no actually. It's supposed to fall away. There's nanites in it that are supposed to clean and rebuild tissues on top of cleaning itself off the individual. We usually lose a percentage over time but even then it's a low value."

"Yeah well I feel like I was dipped in a vat of cheap oil. Think you can hose me off quickly before I catch a cold out here in this snow?"

"We might be able to. We have a tank we use to clean the trucks but can always make an exception."

"Anything will do at this point. This stuff is disgusting."

One of the techs Sam didn't notice manning the panels of the contraption he was now exiting looked around alarmed, "Ananda, we have a problem. Only two percent of the nanites made it back into holding. Something removed them from the fluid!"

"Uh oh. That's not good! Admin is going to have our asses for this! Can you find out where they went?"

"Already done. The nanites were all... absorbed by Sam here? That's strange. She doesn't give off any signals from them. Maybe we just need to rescan." She pulled out something that looked akin to a hand held grocery scanner and waved it over Sam.

"I swear I don't have a price tag!" Ananda and the tech both chuckled at the comment, "but seriously, what is so bad about me absorbing them?"

"Well it isn't quite the absorbing part more so the fact we can't find them." The tech held up a tablet to Ananda, "wait, scratch that, we found them. They have been deconstructed and integrated into your bones. The titanium from their bodies is now like carbon fiber in your bones." With a sigh Ananda handed the tablet back to the tech.

"That's kinda cool but I take it that is something really bad for you guys?"

"Let's just say that there is a seven digit cost per ounce on those things and we lost ten ounces of them to your bones."

"Oh, ouch. Sorry guys. Can I still ask for that hose down?"

"Yeah, sure. Right over this way."

In the process of hosing down Sam he noticed something odd, "hey, Ananda? What temperature is it out?"

"Fahrenheit or Celsius?"

"Fahrenheit preferably."

"It is currently twelve degrees out. Why do you ask?"

"Well because I don't feel cold at all. Even dripping wet and standing here naked I feel warm."

Ananda just stared at him in awe, "that is interesting. And look! The water is jut sheeting off your fur and feathers! It doesn't even stick. Man, our scientists are going to have a field day with you! You will be such an interesting subject for them to study."

"Wait, what? Scientists?"

"Yeah! We have a team of scientists who study everyone who comes through our facilities before they get sent off world to begin their lives anew amidst more of their kind. That's right we still need to figure out what you are before we can send you off too. Oh! Let me get your stuff. It was a good thing you didn't have much in that backpack of yours or it would've gotten crushed from hitting that truck."

"Yeah, umm, thanks. Let me just get some clothes back on so I'm not walking around in the nude all day. I'm just going to step around the truck here so I'm not in everyone's view. I feel awkward dressing in front of people I don't know."

"Oh, yeah sure. No problem, Sam. I'll just wait here for you."

Sam smiled uncertainly to Ananda as he walked around the vehicle. He was glad the vehicles were all the size of school buses as he stepped around to get his clothes back on. The shirt and kilt were both a little torn from the impact but didn't look in too bad of shape given the circumstances. Sam's thoughts went somewhere he wished they didn't have to, though. Here he was trying to avoid being picked up by the authorities and either carted off world or experimented on and Ananda was saying that they planned on doing both to him. It wasn't worth it. He decided then that no one was going to use him as a guinea pig. He threw on the backpack and pulled it tight, hoping the straps would be strong enough to hold under pressure. He adjusted the diamond engagement ring on his finger before giving a silent good bye to everyone from his old life. In his moment of clarity he leapt high into the sky and took off through the sky.

"Wait! Sam! Don't go! We're just here to... help you. Oh Terry is not going to be happy about this." Ananda's features fell as she watched the large flapping silhouette fade away into the horizon.