FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Time passed quite slowly. According to the way the humans measured their time, a week had passed. They had shown us how to use their devices, so that we could learn. There was even a community that we were allowed to interact with on the strict rule that we were not allowed to upload photos of ourselves. Doctor Halcyon seemed to think if we revealed ourselves, then that may be dangerous. We did have one photo. It was pinned to the wall of our ward. All ten of us, with the Doctor in the middle. A memento of his success, he called it. Looking back, it was a mistake. At the time, we found it comforting. We had offered to assist burying the forty others that never woke up, they had all died within the first three days of our lives. Our request was denied, which hurt, but they didn't want us seen on the surface yet.

So we stayed underground. Learning what we could and what we wanted. On the sixth day, I was having a conversation with someone that portrayed themselves as an otter, when they asked me a question; "Is this you and Lightstrike?" he followed this comment with a picture, the picture. My blood froze. "It looks like you. Very realistic, who did you commission?"

I was dumbfounded. For a moment I could only stare at his words before I came up with a response. I typed that I didn't know the artist, the image was a gift. Then I ran. I was terrified. Maybe the doctor's caution had rubbed off on me, but I was shaking when I scrambled to a halt outside his office, causing an exclamation of annoyance from a worker I almost knocked down. Composing myself a little, I went to knock on the door when it opened.

"So what's the commotion Night?" He had taken to calling us by shortened versions of our names. "You're shaking. Are you ok? Come, sit." He gestured to the guest chair he always had clear. He pulled out a blood pressure monitor and went to wrap it about my arm when I waved it away.

"I am not ill, Doctor." I had stopped calling by his name when I found out that he preferred the title of doctor. "I don't know exactly why, but I am terrified."

"Take a deep breath, and tell me," He sat in his chair, hands clasped as he leant forward. "What set off this feeling?"

"I saw our picture."

"In the ward?" he interrupted.

I shook my head. "Online. Someone I know found it and recognised me and Lightstrike."

At the first word of that sentence, the colour drained from the doctor's face. "Show me."

Leading him back to the terminal I had been using, I showed him the chat history. When we got to the end there were a fee comments then a question. "Hello? Where did you go?"

"Tell them you had to run to the toilet," the doctor suggested, and I did so. I followed it up claiming I had to go as I was being called away.

"I know that otter," Doctor Halcyon said bitterly. "She is friends with my son, though I don't believe I have ever met her in person." He moved to the intercom unit beside the door, typing in a code, he ordered for his son to be brought to his office. "Night, go to my office and wait for me there."

I did as I was told. He was our father after all, and we treated him as such. But to see his real son, I wasn't sure how to feel about that. I waited for a while, the time seemed to drag by. When I heard voices outside the door. The Doctor, what sounded like security guards and an indignant younger voice, demanding to know why he had needed an escort.

"How did you get the picture?" I heard clearly. Once the guards had left.

"I'm tasked with monitoring your department, Dad, you know that."

"You could be discharged, dishonourably for sharing classified information."

"What? You were hiding a birthday gift in your classified files. It's not like it's actually got anything to do with your work. I know about the virus program, but that's on hold at the moment isn't it? An entire wing quarantined, five workers dead. The mice have built themselves a pretty nice colony in there, though their food will run out soon."

"I'm impressed you know about that. But I would like you to meet someone."

The door opened, a young man stood looking into the room, his smart military posture dropped as he laid eyes on me, his shoulders sagged as the horror of realization sank in. "Oh shit!"

"Meet Nightstorm, in the fur," the doctor pushed his son inside. And closed the door.

I raised a handpaw in greeting, "Hi, I believe we've spoken online, Shorak, the dragolf isn't it?"

I took a moment for my words to sink in. "Um, yes. Hi."

His loss for words would have been cute in any other situation. But now, I was actually angry at him.

"We can't stop that image," the doctor said as he took his chair. "We can hopefully control whatever damage comes from it. Which I hope is none. Nightstorm here was shaking with fear when he saw that picture online, we have drilled into them that we must not put out any photographs."

"Them? They're all real?"

"Yes, we are," I had the courage to speak, only barely disguising my feelings. "And I hope we get to continue to be. I think I have learned enough from overheard conversations, to know that this side of the project here was not exactly authorised, but it fell into the same remit and they had funds to spare after the other wing was quarantined."

"You're more observant than I give you credit for, Nightstorm." Hearing my full name from the doctor made it sound like a reprimand.

"I believe I might know where we came from as well."

"Oh, do tell," the doctor seemed to be testing me.

"It's quite simple. You look at our shape, we do not look like other animals, our physical structure is different. We started out as humans, and you used advanced genetic manipulation to alter our appearance. We were comatose for three months after the procedure, which you refined in that time and created Arco and Draks."

"Very good Night. Your human families were told you were sent out to the middle east. This week, when all the others died, we staged a transport crash, claiming no survivors. We thought it best, as you could not remember them, that they should have some closure as to why you would never go home."

"Wait a minute," the doctor's sun chimed in. "Arco and Draks were not names associated with that picture. You mean there are more than just the ten?"

"Only those two. The project was entirely voluntary, and they were the last volunteers. Random members of the public that showed up at the gates one day, demanding to be given access to the program," the doctor related. "That fox somehow knows things. He won't let on how, but he knew the exact circumstances of the revival of the ten, and that only ten would survive the procedure. He claimed that this procedure was the only way to save himself. And so far, has refused to say from what."

A knock came at the door. The frosted glass revealed a form with pointed ears beyond. "Come!" The doctor said.

The door opened to reveal Arco standing there. "Speak of the devil?" he asked.

"Exactly." The doctor growled. Don't worry, this isn't one of my premonitions, I was just eavesdropping. I found this online." He presented a printout of the photograph on an alternative news website, the article written in language intended to stir up fear and claiming we were real.

"You have three days. Get those cryo chambers working. We'll need them." Arco's voice was flat, his ears half back, emphasizing his sincerity.

"Three days until what?" the doctor's son asked.

"I'm not sure. But it's a day that fills me with dread. We need those cry chambers. Nothing is more important now. Draft as many staff as you can to get that project up and running."

"Well, you've been right so far, I'll get it done." The doctor said flatly. On hearing this Arco turned and left the room, the first time I'd seen his bushy tail with no movement. He was terrified. "I've had a team working on some weaponry for you and your fellows, Night," the doctor turned to me. "If my gut is right, you may need them, they are very experimental. There is nothing else like them on the planet right now."

Standing, the doctor silently ushered his son from the room before turning back to me. "Night, gather your group. I have noticed they look up to you, maybe because you were first to awaken. I'm going to make a guess here, but since Arco mentioned the cryo project, I can think of only one reason why. You and your friends must sleep. There are ten of you, and ten cryo pods under construction."

"That makes sense, in a way, how long will we have to sleep for?"

"I don't know. But that damn fox has me shaking now. We must get that project finished in time. I hope you can allay any fears of your group."

"I will try, Father." He smiled at my use of that title.

"Go," he held the door open for me.

For the next three days, the entire place was in a frenzy of activity. Trying to get the cryo project ready in time. I think I managed to explain what was going to happen to the satisfaction of most of us. Mortimer, the male wolf, hated the idea of having to have a long sleep again after such a short time awake. We worked with the teams on the project quite closely, learning what we could about the technology and helping when able. The room they were being built in was a solid bunker. Originally built as a nuclear bunker during a period they called the cold war.

The third day was drawing to a close. The cryo pods had power and appeared to be working, but we had not tested them yet. We were having dinner with the staff in their large canteen, sharing jokes, and laughing at how loudly Rossoco, the male polecat, had yelped when someone had stood on his tail.

Our reverie was broken by a terrible sound. A rumble, that shook the floor and left the lights shaking on their wires. The room fell silent for a brief moment before an alarm had us cover our ears. A voice came over the intercom. "All hands to combat stations. We are under attack, repeat, we are under attack, all hands to combat stations." The sound of another explosion and the power died. Emergency lights flickering into life.

All the soldiers in the hall ran through a single door. Once through, others started to block the way with tables and chairs. We had no assigned combat stations, so to start with, we just stood around, not sure what to do. Arco unclipped something from under the table in front of him. A combat rifle. He checked the ammunition clip before raising the weapon to his shoulder and checking down the sights. "You lot know where you should be going." Draks and I will cover you. You must survive, you are too important."

The sound of gunfire reached us through the blockaded doors, slowly pattering into silence. "Night," Arco shouted, "Get your people out of here." He ducked behind the table as an explosion obliterated the barricade and some of those standing too close. We dove to the floor as ceiling tiles fell across the room.

Draks bounded forward, no weapon in hand, a great gout of flame emerging from his mouth as he landed in front of the hole. Arco roughly picked us up and pushed us towards the door we needed. As we heard a roar of pain and rapid gunfire. Looking back, I saw the dragon collapsing to the floor.

"Draaaaks!" Arco screamed, tears filled his eyes instantly. Turning to me he yelled one word. "Go!" I went. I heard him start firing, then a yelp as he was hit. We ran, we knew the way well enough that despite the limited light we made the journey quickly. As we started the pods working I insisted everyone else get in before me.

As I locked the last of the units over Blackear, I heard stumbling footfalls from feetpaws. Looking through the door to the room, I saw the fox stumble against the wall. "Get in, I'll lock the door."

"What about you?" I cried.

"I'll be fine," the smile he gave told me that I should trust him.

Climbing into my pod I attached the tubes and monitoring pads before activating the sequence for all the pods.

I looked over to the door and watched as it began to slide into place. I could see figures coming up the corridor. Arco turned and began firing again. I watched, helpless as I saw him go down as he took a shot to the leg. Four more shots burst through his torso, spraying my capsule with his blood. He fell to the floor but refused to stop firing until the last of his life was spent. The door closed, with a hiss and blocked all further sight.

I felt my body starting to go cold as the system added something to my bloodstream. Looking around at the others, I saw a few of them crying. Slowly my eyes grew heavy as the air around me cooled, my breath condensing into a mist in front of me, coating the inside of the capsule with a thin layer of ice. I felt my heartbeat slow as the chemicals within me did their job. Finally, my eyes closed, and I felt a tear run down my cheek.

****

I felt warm. The sensation spread invitingly throughout my body. The darkness in front of my eyes held a reddish tinge and I realised I was waking up. It had barely been seconds, I thought. I felt another tear roll down my cheeks. I didn't want to open my eyes. I knew his blood would be there to greet me.

"Wake up sleepyhead." The voice was familiar. I refused to believe what I heard. I opened my eyes, I had to know who had spoken. Standing over my pod was a fox, white hair atop his head, his black tipped ears exactly as I had only just seen them. He treated me with a smile. The same smile I had seen but moments before. Looking out of the capsule, there was his blood stain. Old and brown, but still there. As the warmup cycle finished he opened my pod and helped me to my feet.

I was unsteady, my muscles felt like jelly, I was glad of his support. I looked up at him from my half standing position. "How? I saw you die."

"And I'm touched that you cried for me. I can see the stain in your fur. But no, I almost died. But not quite. Enough that our attackers believed I was dead. Hell, I believed I was dead. For about an hour I think. They ransacked the place. Destroyed projects, set fires, did as much damage as they could before setting off some kind of explosive in the canteen. I'm not sure what it was, but my skin burned as I got close to the remains of the device. The humans were dead. I managed to pull Draks body outside. It took three days for him to regain consciousness. I'm not sure what happened to Doctor Halcyon. I came back to look for him. I never found his body. I didn't hear any word of him afterwards either. He just vanished."

Setting me down on the floor, the fox began to work on the other cryo pods. As I watched him work, I saw others, mice standing three feet tall, moles, badgers, otters, all larger than they should have been, and all helping to wake us up. Standing on their hind legs that still looked like hind legs, with their raised heel and thick muscly thighs. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.

"Who? What? Where have these others come from?" I stammered out.

"Say hello to Nightstorm, folks. First of the Ten." They all turned and gave various manner of greeting. Each one given with reverence. "These are members of my tribe. You know, I tried to get you guys out that first day. And every few days after. I had to recover from the terrible sickness I got every time I came down. I learned that the device our attackers used was called a dirty bomb. It released radiation to stop anyone ever getting in again. A few years passed before I was able to get the device out of here. It took a while, working by myself. I ended up recruiting some help. I set up a small village on the surface. These are my villagers, the new life. Humanity vanished in those first few years. I'm not sure what happened as my time was spent trying to get you guys out." He helped Lightstrike sit beside me.

"But these guys appeared around the same time. They were smaller then, but every generation has been getting a little larger. They couldn't survive the radiation down here, so we had to wait, we created a body of law, similar to those the humans had. Our most sever punishment was radiation cleaning. A death sentence to any, but we barely had to use it. Draks managed to find me some special suits used to protect from radiation and it became a job. No more than a few hours at a time were permitted, but, as time passed, we managed to clean this place up. Only when levels dropped below a safe amount did the door allow itself to be opened. I'm kind of surprised the systems here are still running. It's the only place with electricity. I don't know what they were using, but the computers work, and I found something that makes them speak. She's been a great help in teaching me. Anyway, I'm babbling on. You are going to need food. Lets get you up to the surface."

The fox pulled me to my feet, I returned the favour to Lightstrike and we supported each other as Arco led a procession through the semi-ruined facility, the others all awake and being helped by the villagers, as the fox had called them.

"How long were we asleep this time? You made it sound as if it was a few years," I asked groggily.

"More than a few, I'm afraid." He looked me straight in the eyes. "Five hundred."