FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The ship hovered over the city, calmly navigating the air channels. The soft rumble of the motors muffled by the music playing directly into my mind. A courtesy of the transport company to its passengers. As you looked outside to the sea of airships coursing through the sky, weaving around skyscrapers, their blank sides covered in the impossible forms of Augmented Reality Objects. One building was covered in thick green vines shaped like their products, another had an array of advertisements that made a cross, another showed small bits of news all around the world, one had lifelike company mascots doing all sorts of acrobatics, while another one showed the rise and falls of shares in the stock exchange, and some had games characters fighting all around the building’s surface.

It was close to three years since you had come to the capital, and you were always amazed by the difference between this place and my home planet. Instead of the endless fields and the mineral treatment factories of your home, there were only companies and malls. The green blue rivers that ran all over your world, replaced with the criss-crossing airways. The calming sounds of animals and the trees didn’t hold a candle to the never ending stream of media that constantly assaulted your mind. But above all, there was a lack of warmth, of connection, which always reminded you of what you had lost, gnawing at your resolve. Even in this small sector of the capitol, more than 60 million people lived. Human, wolves, orcs, bovines, cats, avian, reptiles. All the species had carved a place inside the sector, yet loneliness was a constant staple in everyone’s lives, regardless of species or income. This airship was a good example, its sturdy carbon walls held a good 30 passengers, all comfortably sitting only millimeters away from each other, nothing there to keep them from talking, but no one word was exchanged, their eyes focused on whatever images their com’ was sending to their minds.

Back when you had just arrived to the capital, you had been foolish enough to try to start a conversation, but the seething look of disgust and anger from the middle aged wolf, had been enough to teach you better. Now, you had to content yourself with whatever music you could get, or suffer through a conversation with some of the public access ConBots, their unrefined algorithms adding grating sounds to every word, and more often than not, trying to get you to buy some product or another. You sighed in resignation, ready for another day of cold indifference when the lights flickered. For a moment, the flow of information stopped, an error message popping in front of you. Before you could read it, the whole ship shook, more error messages appeared in your screen, and then, the ship fell a couple of meters. Your body losing contact with the seat, for a few seconds your body floated, and then it hit the seat with full strength. Somehow, you managed to keep on the seat, unlike the old taurus lady across the aisle, whose muzzle had hit the floor, a small trail of blood running down towards her him.

The lights turned red, all your error messages were dismissed, a brightly colored phoenix, barely 10 cm tall showing up in front of you, the blurry edges of form a tell tale sign that she was an ARO. She wore a black and gold vest, a blue orchid resting on her left breast pocket, showing her allegiance to the airship company.

"We’re experiencing some trouble with our engines." She said with a high pitched voice, her words filled with the cold detachment of technology. "All passengers please fasten your seatbelts and follow my instructions."

You saw two silver objects at the edge of your vision, followed with two weights settling against your chest. With quick movements, you grabbed the buckles and fastened your seatbelt. Chaos was already settling in on the ship, the phoenix VI doing little to ease the fears of the passengers, your own included. There was a quiet but persistent murmur, curses, prayers, cries, you could hear all of them clearly, and a part of you hated it. The ship shook once more, and this time you could feel as the floor tilted, your body rotating with the seat. You were falling., you leaned forward, settling your face between your knees, covering your heads with your arms. With each rise and fall of the ship, you felt like your heart followed, going all the way up your throat, and falling all the way down to your stomach. Nausea soon invaded you, and only by clenching your teeth hard could you keep it at bay. The others weren’t nearly as silent. Screaming, wailing, sobbing, retching.

A loud siren pierced your ears, silencing all others sounds. The lights flickered one last time, before they all went off. The VI barely had time to give her last message before her existence was ended.

"Brace for impact" Read the blood red letters. Then, there was darkness.

You woke up later, the first thing you notice is the strong smell of smoke filling the air. You cough a couple of times, your throat raw and dry. There’s something crushing you against the warped floor. There’s a spike of pain coming through your limbs as feeling returns to them, followed by a cold and uncomfortable presence in your abdomen. You try to move, but a heavy weight on top of you keeps you in place. Finally, you manage to open your eyes. For a moment the world is a blur, the shapes are unrecognizable blobs of darkness. Then you recognize the form of a heavy set orc resting on top of you, his face resting on your shoulder, a gash crossing his face from temple to shin, vermilion blood pouring out from the wound.

You tried to shuffle down from under him, but you had barely shifted your hips went pain erupted from your abdomen. With the pain, came a new sensation at the back of your mind, like a veil rupturing, there was something like white noise at the back of your mind, a muted presence that felt just right, natural. It calmed you, let you think clearly. But you knew there was no time to explore it. You needed to know what was going on in your abdomen. You tried to move your left hand, but the orc’s weight was crushing your left side. With no other choice, your right hand dove between the space left by the orc’s chest and yours, it snaked deeper, carefully parting the muscle, until your fingers touched the wet fabric of your shirt. With a bit of effort you pushed it in deeper, your finders grazing the edge of a sharp object. A viscous fluid covered it, and with shaking fingers you traced it down to your abdomen, a sharp paint erupting as soon as you touched the wound. Biting your lips, you moved your finger across the surface and confirmed your fears, it was too wide.

Your hands moved up the plastic, and the moment your hand touched his wound, a rush of information overran your mind. An unknown orc couple, old but happy, waving you goodbye. The sun going down, the coolness of the air robbing your green skin of warmth. A small human, his seatbelt broken, falling towards you. Fear, pain, sadness, anger.The moment your finger left his skin, the new sensations ceased. You yanked your hand out, looking at your trembling hand in equal parts fear and wonder. Your bronze skin drenched in blood. You breathed a sigh of relief. You heard a grunt come from your left, a groan leaving the orc as he tried to move.

"Don’t move. Don’t move. You’re hurt" you said, keeping your hands far away from his body.

"W-what? What happened?" he asked in a gruff voice. He shook his head, orange eyes slowly coming into focus. Looking at me. "You. You’re that human. Are you alright?"

"Something pierced my abdomen. And I feel like I got hit by a bull head on. But I’m still alive. You?"

"I, I think I’m okay. Just, let me try to." He grunted, his face twisting in pain as he scrambled to his knees. You felt blood rushing back to the rest of your body, as his weight was removed. Prickling spreading through your body like wild fire. You hissed at the odd sensation.

You heard a growl from your side, the orc leaning against the remains of airship’s wall. His clothes, like yours, were ripped all over, showing shallow cuts all over his body. He had a hand on his side, a small trail of blood his fingers.

"How bad is it?"

"I. I think I can move. Just, just give me a minute."

You gave him a nod, turning your gaze to the rest of the wreckage. The scenery wasn’t pretty. The sleek design of the airship was gone, along with the roof. most of the seats were crunched together, a coffin for all the unfortunate passengers, a pool of blood forming around pile of carbon and metal. You could see smoke rising from the front, even as it rouse high into the blue sky, it made it hard for you to breathe. And you could only hope, the fire would not extent

Muffled sobs came from the orc. No doubt he had seen what had become of the other passengers. A quick look confirmed your fears. He was trembling, covering his mouth with both hands, tears streaming down his face, his wounds forgotten. He launched himself to one side, barely settling on his hands and knees before he puked. Even then he kept crying. His body heaving with every retch. It took him a minute to stop retching. But by then, you could feel the heat of the fire closing in.

"They’re dead. They’re all dead." he sobbed, hugging himself tightly. "All those people"

"Don’t worry big guy. We’re gonna get out of here."

"But, they- We could have- We still can" He broke down, bawling his eyes out. It was a strange sight for sure, a tough up, a giant by your standards, falling apart, while you, a human impaled by a piece of plastic, laid there quietly. You would have laughed, if it didn’t hurt.

"Hey, hey, it will be okay. I promise, we will make it out." A sudden thought filled your head, it was strange, and unusual, but a part of you said it was right. In the same way you knew how to stand, and how to breath. "Here, give me your hand."

The orc extended his trembling hand, taking yours tenderly into his. Like the last time you felt a wave of information fill your mind. You could see him, and you could see yourself. His thoughts became yous. His feeling clashed against yours. But this time, it didn’t overcome you. You directed it, shifted, moved it to that new space inside your mind. You took in his fear, his pain, his sadness, and changed it for your courage and resolution.

"We will make it" you said in unison.