FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 2

Theo slowly awoke in the comfort of a bed. He couldn't remember for the life of him where he was or when he had gone to sleep. In fact, he couldn't remember anything about himself. He quickly searched in his mind for a memory, any memory and failed. He looked around frantically in confusion trying to make sense of what was going on and where he was. Thinking it was all just a bad dream he closed his eyes and pinched himself. When that did nothing, he turned around to sit up. His body, however, didn't agree with him. Instead of turning around to sit up he just wiggled.

"Whoa friend easy now, you have been asleep for a long time and that body of yours is still recovering." Said a rather beautiful looking red fox.

"Where am I? Who are you? And what the hell did you do to me?!" Theo demanded as he tried again to move his body and only managing to wiggle his toes.

"My name is Doctor Fin, we are currently in the medical bay of the scavenger ship known as the Artemis. And the only thing I have done is help revive you from your hibernation. Do you remember anything? Anything at all from yesterday for example?" The Doctor asked.

"I... I can't remember anything except for my name... Theo, besides that it all seems... Blank..." Theo replied.

"That tends to happen with prolonged deep sleep. I am sure you will get your memory back at some point. For now, however, go ahead and keep trying to move your limbs and get the blood flowing properly. I see you can wiggle your toes; can you wiggle your fingers and ears?" The doctor asked waiting patiently for Theo to try.

He did his best, attempting to move his arms and his fingers at the same time. They started to slightly move but the effort was immense. As for his ears, they were not budging at all. Theo gritted his teeth in anger and kept trying again and again. Willing his limbs to move, forcing them to move even a little. Yet nothing happened.

"This is like a nightmare..." Theo said.

"It is only temporary, let me give you something that might help. It will speed up the process a bit." The doctor lifted a device up to Theo's neck and placed the end against his fur. A short soft hiss sounded, and Theo felt warmth rushing through his veins reaching every inch of his body.

"God that feels weird." Theo said.

"Yeah, it travels through your veins and stimulates the muscles in your body. Very effective. Oh, one more thing, we tried getting your identification from your collar, but it didn't seem to be working. You might want to get that looked at by the ship's tech expert. His name is Circuit, one of the ones who actually found you. He has a knack for things like that, maybe he can spark some life into it." The doctor said putting the device away in a cabinet.

"Thank you... For helping me I guess?"

"Don't thank me yet, thank me once you are up and walking and remember everything!" The doctor replied. "Now, I need to go speak with the captain. Please keep trying to move your limbs and if you do get up, please be careful. You have been asleep for a very long time and those muscles of yours need time to... recuperate." The doctor replied before walking to the only door in the room. The door promptly slid open, and she stepped out without looking back. Theo was alone once again.

He tried to move his hands and feet, this time getting a bit farther as he was able to move more than just his toes and fingers. Excitement swelled up within him as he was making progress. Yet any progress he made was extremely slow to his liking. He wanted to be up and about. He had questions, and he needed them answered somehow. Where was this ship, why was he asleep for so long, and what did they want with him? The door opened as Theo was finally able to move his ears.

"Your up! Glad to see it!" Said a tall looking Tiger in a pale gray shirt and black jeans.

"And you are?" Theo asked.

"My name is Kip, I was the one that found you. Along with Circuit. We were the first on the ship you were asleep on looking for a way to power the rest of the ship's lights and basic life support. We found you in the process. Tell me... Were you in some sort of massive battle in that warship? I mean, that thing is old now, a good generation or two old. The things that ship has seen!" Kip replied with excitement radiating from his voice.

"I don't remember anything. I just remember waking up here and that's all." Theo said with disappointment.

"Damn that hyper-sleep sickness has you really bad doesn't it. I know the feeling, once during a long haul they put us all down in hyper-sleep. Turns out we had some big malfunction halfway through and they didn't wake up half the crew to solve the problem. We were asleep for an extra five months before we woke up. I couldn't remember a thing for a good thirty or so minutes. Was a horrible experience. You get it all back eventually though don't you worry." Kip said obviously trying to reassure Theo in any way he could. Though, Theo didn't feel all that reassured or any more informed.

"You said you found me on that ship... Do you know how long I was out? The doctor said I was in prolonged deep sleep but never gave me a timeframe." Theo asked.

"Well, from what Circuit pulled from the computer before it went dead you went into hyper-sleep about 150 or so years ago. The logs read that all the crew evacuated except for the bridge crew. Though none of the ship's manifests had you in them. We would have asked your collar for some identification but, it never responded to our requests."

"Collar, what collar?"

"You know, the thing around your neck. You probably haven't noticed it yet. We all get so used to them once we put them on as kids. I am actually surprised they had collars back when you were in your prime my man. I thought those were just a recent thing requested by the Alphas." Kip said pointing to his own collar.

"See this, its mine. It holds all my identification information, not only that but its how I pay for things, collect money, communicate with people, and how we access the central archive back on Alivon. Right now, we are hooked into the ships computers so ship wide communications are possible along with long range messages. Lots of features these things have, very useful though the AI inside is rather dumb. It just answers questions and not all that accurately I might add." Kip said grabbing a seat and pulling it up where Theo was laying.

"How do you know if it is working?" Theo asked, not sure if his own was broken like the doctor said or not.

"Well, they all give you some sort of visual interface. Sort of like images in your vision that only you can see, a map of the ship, along with any other customizations you have made. Do you see any of that?"

Theo shook his head, his vision seemed normal. Not a single bit of it seemed out of place. No map, no visual icons or overlays of any sort. Just normal sight.

"Damn that sucks, though Circuit could help, I'm sure. He is the smartest electrical engineer I know. Not saying much given that I don't know anyone who is an electrical engineer aside from him but. He is good." Kip said confidently.

Theo wanted to ask Kip to leave. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate his company, but he didn't feel like having company that he didn't know at the moment. Yet he still had questions he could ask, and Kip was the only one at the moment he could ask them from.

"This ship... The Artemis, it's a scavenger vessel?" Theo asked.

"Yup! One of the best! We look for deep space debris and chop it up, break it down, and return it to Alivon for reprocessing. Dirty work but you find some interesting things out in space. Especially when you go past the last planet in the solar system. You would be surprised how many ships are floating in empty space. Just like yours was."

"What do you use the debris for?"

"Well, all I know is back on Alivon it is used for making stuff. Either it gets repurposed into older ships who need it. Resold, or melted down and remolded for newer more modern tech. Precious metals in older ships are hard to come by with the attacks down on Alivon."

"Attacks? What do you mean?"

"Right, you don't know... You probably don't even know what Alivon is do you?" Kip asked.

Theo shook his head. "No, I have no idea what that place is."

"It isn't a place, it's a planet. Alivon is the home world of our solar system. Anyway, about... 100 years ago I would say the major cities of Alivon started to be attacked by a native species we call the Scourge. They killed hundreds of thousands of people and wiped-out whole populations. It was devastating. Mining on the planet halted, food production was cut in half, most of all trade between cities never made it to their destinations without being attacked or just never arriving. I the end the Alphas decided it was best to build a wall to keep out the Scourge and protect the people within. The Capital city is the biggest of the cities and the wall is massive. Reaching far around the city encompassing farmland and a few mining quarries. The other cities are smaller but still big in general."

"So, you bring back what you find to the Capital... And they reuse the material and tech you find?"

"Exactly, and we all get paid for it depending on what we find. This rotation we found your ship. That is a huge find, we will sure get paid handsomely for it."

"You salvaged the ship I was on?" Theo asked, hoping maybe he could still get back on the ship he was found on to try and spark some memory.

"Well, yeah... That was about two months ago... When we found you on the ship you were barely alive. I had to carry you to medical where Doctor Fin decided it was best to put you back under so she could properly revive you. The captain didn't want you to wake up and possibly steal the ship while we were all out collecting what we could find so he ordered the Doctor to keep you under till the salvage operation was complete."

Theo didn't know what to say. He laid there processing the information and kept trying to move his arms. Finally, they started to move slowly. Though it felt like he was being held down by massive weights. His movement was sluggish and labored. His legs moved slowly but he was able to shift himself around and lift his body up to sit at the edge of the bed. Propping himself up with his arms he waited at the edge of the bed. His head spun suddenly; the room seemed to move down constantly no matter where he looked. Even when he closed his eyes the darkness behind his eyelids seemed to shift downwards and he lost his balance. Falling forward off the bed.

"Whoa there!" Kip said catching Theo in his strong arms so he wouldn't hit the floor. "You got to take it slow man, didn't the doctor tell you that?"

"Who listens to doctors anyway..." Theo said before chuckling at his own comment.

"Well... Not going to argue with you on that point. I sort of agree but still. You got to take it easy. Come on back up on the bed you go." Kip said as he helped Theo back on the edge of the bed where he returned to propping himself up with his arms.

"The world just feels like it is spinning. Just need a moment." Theo said.

"Yup, no problem. You haven't had any fluids in you in a long time. Some water might help, do you want some?" Kip asked still making sure that Theo was not going to fall to the floor again.

"Yeah, that would be great." Theo replied.

Kip got up from the chair and moved to the counter that was under the cabinets the doctor had accessed before. Kip reached for a cabinet and looked for a cup of some sort. Finding something rather small but usable he went to the sink and poured some water into the cup. Bringing it back to Theo and handing it to him.

"Go on and take it slow. Don't want you throwing it all back up once you got it down."

Theo took the cup and sipped the water till the cup was empty. Feeling the cold liquid rush down his surprisingly dry throat to his empty stomach. He realized then that he hadn't eaten or drank anything for over 150 years. His stomach growled soon after finishing the water.

"You wouldn't happen to have any food around here also, would you?" Theo asked looking up at Kip.

Kip smiled and reached into one of his jean pockets and handed Theo some sort of bar wrapped with plastic. "I keep one on me now and then, something to munch on when I get stressed or bored. Its just a nutrition bar but that should help a little. Later once you are on your feet, we will head to the mess hall and get you something proper to eat."

"Thanks" Theo replied taking the bar from Kip and slowly pulling the wrapper away. His arms still felt heavy, and his movements were slow, but he was able to bring it up to his mouth and take a bite. It was dry and yet sweet at the same time. Theo didn't like the taste, but he didn't complain. It was something, and something was better than nothing at all.

"Ah you are up! Good!" Said Doctor Fin as she entered the room followed by a tall brown and black looking wolf. The wolf unlike Kip, wore a uniform with the name Artemis along with what Theo assumed was the shape of the ship on his right shoulder. The uniform was black and red with a holographic nameplate on the right side of his chest that read "Capt. Orin".

"Theo, this is Captain Orin... Captain, this is Theo." The fox said.

"It is a pleasure to see you awake Theo." The captain said.

"Thanks, from what I understand I guess I owe you all my life. If you didn't find me I'm not sure who else would have."

"Yes... Well, I apologize for being so blunt but what were you doing on that ship?" The captain asked skipping right to the point without hesitation. He looked over Theo, analyzing him, studying him up and down.

"Like I told Kip, I don't know. I can't remember anything except for waking up here, just a bit ago. I don't know why I was on that ship, what I was doing on it, or why I was put in that pod. I know my name... but that's about it. I can't even remember my childhood."

The captain didn't seem to like that answer in the slightest. His face grew tighter and more stern. The doctor was the first to speak before the captain could.

"His memory will return. This is common with long term hyper-sleep." The doctor said quickly.

The captain looked at the Doctor, then at Theo and replied. "Once your memory returns, I want you to speak with me immediately. Right now, you are an unknown on my ship. I don't deal with unknowns. You could be dangerous and a risk to the whole crew. That said, you have been assigned a living space for now. You are not to leave unless one of the crew fetches you. You will be confined to quarters for as long as it takes for you to remember, or until we get back to Alivon. At that point you won't be my problem anymore." The Captain spoke with authority, and a hint of annoyance that he was dealing with this situation.

"That makes complete sense. I will comply." Theo replied, not knowing what else he could say. He wasn't here to make enemies. On the contrary he just wanted to make sense of everything that was going on.

"Good, Kip will take you to your quarters once the doctor has released you." He looked over at the doctor, then at Kip and they both nodded in agreement to his decision. The large wolf then turned around and left the room as fast as he had entered.

"Charming fellow." Theo said quietly.

"Ah he is a ball of fluff if you get to know him." The doctor said taking a scanner of some sort out of her coat pocket and lifting it up near Theo's head.

"He might seem prickly and sharp, but the doctor is right. He is a good guy. I trust him with my life if things went to hell." Kip said and stood up from the chair. "Doctor, your chair back."

"Thank you, Kip." The doctor said with a smile, not taking her eyes off the scanner.

"Well Theo, everything seems alright. You don't have any strange health issues that I can see. The only thing I can say is that you have some strange markings on some of your bones. Not sure what those are exactly or how they got there. They don't look like a break of some sort. As far as I can tell you seem perfectly healthy aside from that. I don't think the marks will make a difference in your health, so you are free to go. Just make sure to drink lots of fluids and get something to eat when you can. Oh, and don't forget to sleep, very important you sleep. I know it might be a bit scary to do after being down for so long, but hyper-sleep and actual sleep are two very different things."

"Thank you Doctor. I appreciate it." Theo replied.

"You need help getting up?" Kip asked. "Gotta follow the captains orders and take you to your room. After we do that and get you situated, I can take you to the mess hall. He said you had to be escorted and he sure didn't say I couldn't take you to get something to eat after showing you where you will be staying."

Theo nodded at that, and Kip moved to Theo's side. With the help from Kip, Theo was able to get up on his own two feet and take the first steps in over a hundred years. His whole body seemed to pull him down to the floor, but Theo was getting used to the feeling. Using Kips help to take a few steps and get himself stable Theo pulled away when he got to the door.

"I think I will be fine, just be prepared to catch me if I fall over for some reason." Theo said.

"I got you, no worries." Kip replied.

Kip guided Theo down the corridor from the medical bay down to the main hallway stretching the length of the ship. The captain had been kind enough to put his quarters on the same level as the medical bay making it an easy trip. Though, not without a few moments of almost falling over and needing Kip to catch him. They walked slowly down the main highway of the ship down to a corridor that had a sign reading "Guest Quarters" on it. Kip explained that normally these rooms were used as crew overflow quarters but that this rotation they had a normal crew compliment. Three rooms down they walked and stopped at the fourth. As Theo approached the door it didn't seem to open, yet when Kip stood next to Theo it responded instantly and slid open with ease.

"Alright, home sweet home. For the moment that is." Kip said as they entered into the room. A dim orange light radiated from the corners of the room, lighting it up just enough for them to see comfortably but not be blinded. The only furniture in the room was a bed and a desk with a single chair. The quarters he was in was lucky enough to have a bathroom built in, the door for that was along the left side wall from the front door. Next to a set of cabinets and a counter with a small sink. Against the back wall was a rather large window with a view of the deep dark void of space. The bed sat in the corner on the right near the wall with the window, the desk next to it.

"Hey, it looks just like mine!" Kip said, "Though without all the personal touches." He laughed and walked over to the counter and cabinets. Opening them up and showing Theo where the plastic cups were for water. He explained that normally there might be some food in the room. Though they were not prepared for any guests, so it was empty aside from the cups.

"The lights will turn off by voice command. Just ask the ships computer to turn the lights off. You have basic living commands granted to you as a guest. If you want the window closed off so you don't feel like you're floating into the vast void which I do at times you can just ask the computer to shut the window. Simple as that. If you need one of us, just ask the computer for a crew member and one of us should be notified. Oh and one more thing, about the bathro-" Kip was cut short and went silent for a moment. The collar around his neck had a small green light flicker on and stay on for a bit, then turned off.

"Sorry Theo, you will have to excuse me. Seems someone dumped a bunch of cargo containers down in storage and they need my help. I will be right back to take you for food. In the meantime, why don't you rest, have a drink of water, just relax. I will be back as soon as I can." Kip said, giving Theo a gentle smile and stepping out the door.

"Hey Kip?" Theo said before Kip was able to shut the door.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"You bet" Kip said, and with that he started walking back down the hallway and the door to Theo's room closed behind him.

Theo stood alone in the room; the hum of the life support system was all Theo could hear. That and the voice inside his head playing back all the information he had collected up until now. He did his best to walk to the bed and ended up falling onto the cheap cushion they called a bed. Groaning as he lifted his legs up and laid down. He looked up at the ceiling and waited. Trying his hardest to remember something, anything from his past. His eyes started to feel heavier and heavier as time passed and he waited. Until he couldn't keep them open any longer. His eyes finally closing and his mind slipping away into the deepest parts traveling to a distant place in his dreams he could not recognize.

---

He held her in his arms. Keeping her close to his body and feeling her warmth against his. This moment was one he would never forget. Slipping his hands into hers and holding it tight he said something that could not be recognized. She lifted her head and a blurred face looked back at his. She said something back that he could not recognize, and she lowered her head back down on his chest. All was well, and he could not feel any happier than in this very moment.