FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I stared at the five playing cards in my hand, glancing at the panther and tabby cat across the table from me. My canine nose twitched as Airman Richards, the tabby, upped the anti with a handful of bills. My eyes dropped back to the two pair in my hand and I grimaced, throwing the cards down on the table.

"Fold," I grumbled.

Airman First Class Gregor, the panther, met Richards' bet, though and the two kept playing without me. I stretched, lifting my hands above my head and leaning backwards in my aluminum chair. I hated working the night shift. It was midnight and I knew that nothing that required a combat ready team on duty would happen for another six hours. I looked around the room at the other members of my team and sighed. It figured that they would make us animals serve night duty. It didn't help that I was the most decorated member. It only meant that I took more flak from everyone in the Air Force that had a problem with us. Airman Rolf, seated near the door with a book in his hand, noticed my glance and spoke what was on my mind.

"Staff Sergeant, Oliver, why are we always posted on the night shift, sir?" The crow asked.

I thought it ironic that he was the only bird in an Air Force team. The two other members present murmured in agreement. I sighed and stood from my seat, checking the dials and gauges that we were supposed to monitor. It was a while before I answered.

"They put us here because it is a post that most accurately compliments our abilities." I responded with text book perfection. My old drill sergeant would have been proud.

Airman Rolf did not seem convinced. He looked like he was about to respond, but thought better of it. I chose not to pursue the issue. I knew my team was angry about the post. I was angry about it myself. As usual, the gauges and dials read normal and all secure. I returned to my seat and folded my arms over my chest, rumpling my dark blue uniform along the well used creases. Looking up, I noticed that the two felines were yawning every so often. The action was contagious and I covered my muzzle as I repeated it. The room we were stationed in was a large one and was probably used as some sort of command center during the day. There were rows of computer terminals that ran the length of the room and a large screen at the far end that blipped occasionally to tell us that it was in sleep mode. It was always in sleep mode. We were only allowed to look at and touch a small number of the monitors and dials around the room. I supposed the NASA scientists in charge of the place thought we were all dim. I knew that Airman Rolf had graduated from MIT and Gregor sported a degree from the UEA in Aerospace Physics. The floor of the room was linoleum, which seemed horribly old fashioned when compared with the rest of the facility. The walls were sided with aluminum, the same metal that made up all of the chairs in the room. They were extremely uncomfortable. I looked at my watch. It was only twelve thirty. I sighed again and adjusted my black and white tail behind me.

"Well this is simply riveting isn't it, team?" I asked sarcastically.

The others chuckled half-heartedly. As I looked back up, a green flashing light at the front of the room caught my eye.

"Team, how long has that green light been flashing?"

My team members seemed to just notice it.

"I don't know, sir," Gregor said in her soft voice.

"Sorry, sir, we were paying more attention to the cards..." Richards added, but he stopped when I turned towards the door.

"Rolf, get Captain Williams in here!" I had never seen any lights come on for the three months we had been assigned this post. I wasn't about to take any chances. Moving down towards the front of the room, I checked to see if the light was labeled. The sign near it read, "proximity." Proximity to what? I hated how scientists never labeled anything in a way that was understandable by anyone. Rolf returned moments later with the captain on duty. He was a human I knew well, practically the only human who showed my team any respect. He was dressed in a blue uniform, like mine, except his sported more medals. He had piercing blue eyes and his graying, bushy mustache twitched as he entered the room. Williams strode down the wide stairs in the room to stand next to me. He smelled of cigar smoke and cedar wood.

"What have we got, Oliver?"

"A blinking green light, sir. I have no idea what it stands for, though."

"You dragged me away from my post for a blinking light?"

"It's never been blinking before, sir. And the sign near it says proximity. I thought it might be important."

The light suddenly turned from green to yellow.

"That doesn't look good." Rolf murmured.

Williams looked at the sign closely and then at the other lights and knobs near the blinking one. His eyes widened as he did so.

"What is it, sir?" I asked.

"Good Christ, I think it's telling us that there's something approaching Earth!"

"What??"

"Don't ask questions, son. Fetch Professor Dunham, right now!" Williams barked at me. "Dogs are good at fetching right?"

"Oh yes, sir. Would you also like me to bring you your slippers and a newspaper? A dead duck perhaps?"

Williams laughed. I grinned and went to follow his orders, taking my team with me. As we left the room I heard Williams curse to himself. I picked up the pace.

Professor Dunham did not live on the base and I hated having to call him at home. For the time being I let my team take a break while I did all of the leg work. I wanted to make as good an impression on the professor as I could. After I made the call, I waited patiently in the parking lot. It was chilly and not too cold outside, but by the time Dunham arrived, I wished I had brought something warm out with me. It took Dunham an hour to get there. The professor was the head of the Aerospace Defense Committee and he took his job very seriously. Some of the other scientists thought he took it too seriously, but I wasn't one to question him. As he parked and stepped out of his silver sedan I stood from my seat on one of the wooden benches in front of the mostly concrete facility. I held out my hand as the aged bear approached, but I just got a stare in return. He was dressed in a white striped button down shirt and black tie. He also had a brown, suede coat slung over his shoulder and brown slacks fastened to his waist with a black belt. He also wore black, shined dress shoes and small spectacles that rested high on the bridge of his muzzle.

"Hello, professor, my name is Thomas Oliver, Staff Sergeant. It is an honor to meet you, sir."

"Is it?" Dunham asked. "Perhaps you should cut the chatter and lead me to the problem, hm?"

I dropped my hand to my side and nodded.

"Right. I apologize, sir."

"Son, if there is something headed for Earth and you delaying me prevented us from stopping it, then it wouldn't be me you would need to apologize to. That is if there was anything that remained."

He strode past me and into the facility behind. I couldn't believe his callousness, but I followed him. He seemed to know his way to the control room anyway. Thankfully, the blinking light was still yellow when we arrived. Dunham quickly marched down to the front of the room and flicked three or four red switches. The large screen hummed as it came to life, displaying a series of highly technical graphs on the right-hand side. In the center of the screen was a picture of a section of space that appeared empty. The large, orange curve of Mars could be seen behind the graphs on the right. Otherwise, the picture showed only stars.

"There's nothing there!" Williams said. He was trying to sound angry, but the relief in his voice was easy to hear. "Is your machine broken or something, professor?"

Dunham glared at the captain as he pressed a series of buttons on the console in front of the large screen. The image became dark blue with the exception of Mars, which shifted to bright red. I guessed the professor had changed to an infrared sensor. Dunham pressed some more buttons and the image returned to normal; however Mars was now no larger than a basket ball. A patch of purple light also appeared in the center of the image.

"What the hell is that?" Williams asked.

"That is radiation given off by whatever is approaching our planet." Dunham replied matter-of-factly.

"Ok, but what is it? What's coming towards Earth?"

"As of now, it looks like a cloud of space dust. However it is moving quite fast and that worries me." Dunham turned away from the large screen and pulled a cell phone out of his pocket.

Captain Williams stared at the professor as the bear walked up the wide stairs of the room.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

Dunham ignored the captain, lifting the phone to his ear.

"Are you even listening to me!?"

I blocked Williams from following with my arm.

"Captain, let him work. It won't do any good to make him angry," I said.

The room fell silent as we waited for Dunham to return to the front of the room.

"Hello, Jim? I need to ask you some questions. Well it's kind of an emergency. What can you tell me about..."

Dunham walked back to the front of the room and looked at one of the gauges.

"...a gas cloud exuding fifty Curies of radiation per minute and traveling at fifty thousand miles per second?"

We waited with baited breath, watching the large screen as the purple glow pulsed and Mars eventually disappeared into the background of pinpoint lights.

"The cloud is several minutes from earth, Jim. I need to know what it could be."

The bear looked up at the screen as the cloud moved past a satellite and Earth appeared on the left side. The cloud looked to be slowing down.

"Jim, this isn't the time for your wild theories. I need a real answer. ... Could something like this be hostile? ... Fine. Walk me through it."

Dunham kept the phone pressed to his ear and his fingers flew over the buttons in front of him.

"Captain Williams, I am going to need your clearance code in a moment," he said.

"What? Why?"

"The cloud is most likely an alien vessel of some kind. Under the advice of one of my colleagues, I am trying to disable the vessel's primary systems so it cannot be a threat to us. Give me your clearance code."

"Uh... alright." The captain walked up next to Dunham and punched in the code on the keypad.

"Thank you, Captain."

The cloud flickered for a moment before it started to fall towards the planet. Dunham looked angrily startled.

"Uh, Jim. It's falling. ... Well why didn't you say it would crash the damn thing? Now whatever sent this thing might view us as hostile! ... How can you be so sure? ... Well the current trajectory is suggesting Central Park... Hey! Don't you hang up on me!"

Dunham looked at his phone in frustration before he closed it and slammed it down on the desk in front of him.

"Captain, I suggest you mobilize a containment unit ASAP," he advised. "That thing is going to land right in the middle of Central Park."

Williams nodded and pointed in my direction.

"Oliver! Get your team and move out. I'll be sending a cleanup crew to meet with you at the site. I do NOT want to see this turn into another Roswell, am I clear?"

I nodded and saluted the captain.

"Crystal, sir!"

I left the control room to get my team prepared. Dunham caught up with me in the hallway.

"I'm coming with you."

"Why?"

"Someone has to make sure you or Jim doesn't screw this up."

"Gee thanks for the vote of confidence, sir," I said, rolling my eyes.

By the time my team and Professor Dunham arrived at the crash site, it was nearly dawn. I could see the hint of orange beginning at the horizon. The surrounding area smelled of burned wood and melted tar. The small fires at the site had been mostly put out by the time we arrived. As I hopped out of the military jeep with my team in tow, one of the firefighters approached me from the cab of a large red fire truck parked on the nearby road. He saluted quickly and I returned the gesture.

"Private Wilkins, sir." The young looking human shook my hand. "The fires are almost under control. You will be clear to check out the site shortly."

"They brought in the army too?" I asked.

"It wasn't planned, sir. Our team just happened to be on leave nearby so they pulled us in covertly to take care of this 'clean and cover' assignment."

"I see. Where is your squad leader, private?"

Wilkins pointed to the deeper end of the small trench that had been created by the object.

"Sergeant Brookes is checking out the hole, sir."

"Very good, private, you may resume your duties."

The young man nodded and walked back towards a group of "fire fighters" that was taking care of the last of the fire. A lengthy, but narrow dirt trough presumably carved by the unidentified falling object began shallowly at the back of the first fire engine. The object had torn up part of the road as it landed, sliding into the bushes nearby. Those bushes were nothing more than smoldering kindling by now and the dirt of the trough itself was smoking from the heat and speed of the object. The smoke rolled away from the pit, slowly moving down the road with the cool morning breeze. It gave the area an eerie feeling. My team and I approached the small crater and peered into it. Dunham was at my side in an instant, examining the smoking dirt that had been pushed out of the way by whatever had crashed here. There was a soldier in army fatigues crouched at the deepest area of the crater as if he was looking for something. I cleared my throat.

"Sergeant Brookes?" I asked.

The soldier at the bottom of the crater turned and looked up at us with a distracted expression on his face. It made the human's dark eyebrows dip in the middle and they seemed to dip lower when he saw us.

"I thought I told yo- Oh. It's about time the air force boys showed up. I assume you'll want us to keep the perimeter secure."

His voice dripped with sarcasm, but I just nodded as Dunham started climbing down into the dirt crater.

"I am Staff Sergeant Oliver and this is Professor Dunham, head of the Aerospace Defense Committee. A perimeter to keep the press out would be very helpful, Sergeant, thank you," I said sweetly as I started to follow the professor into the pit.

Brookes saluted half-heartedly and walked towards his team who had gathered at the shallow end.

"Get it in gear, squad! We need to create a perimeter around this site. I don't want any reporters getting through here or seeing anything so make it a big one!" The sergeant barked.

The humans set about their work as we turned to examine the crater. Dunham was doing the same scouring that Brookes had been in the deepest part of the crater. Gregor scoffed behind me and I turned to see what she was doing.

"Can you believe those jerks, sir?" She said as she saw my gaze.

"Who?"

"Those army meatheads just called us furballs!" She hissed.

"Don't let a group of dumb monkeys get to you, Gregor," I said, winking.

She nodded and her ears folded back on her head apologetically.

"Yes, sir."

I turned back to Dunham. The bear was sifting through the dirt at the bottom of the empty crater.

"What are we looking for?" I asked. "There's nothing here."

"Assuming it was a spacecraft, it can't just get up and walk away!" Dunham glared at me when he spoke.

"Ok, so what if it flew away?"

"I disabled it when it was in orbit. All of its systems would have been fried on entry as well."

"But it's clearly not here now. It doesn't look like it was very large. Maybe it was their version of a blowup raft."

"A what?" Dunham asked.

"I know it sounds strange, but we are talking about alien life, right? They probably are way more advanced than us. Perhaps it was similar to our blowup rafts or life boats in portability and purpose."

Dunham tapped his chin with a dirt-covered finger.

"You're suggesting it might have been an escape pod of some kind that could be easily transported before takeoff and after landing. If that's the case, it means that the creature is now somewhere on Earth and is potentially dangerous."

I reluctantly nodded.

"Well... yes, probably."

The bear stooped to gather some of the dirt and dropped it into a glass vial.

"If we are to find this alien, presuming that's what it is, then you will probably have to test that dirt, right?" I asked.

"I brought some instruments in the jeep that can run some preliminaries on it." Dunham replied.

"Good. I don't want to leave this in the hands of the army just yet."

Dunham grinned. It was strange seeing someone who had been so serious suddenly change like that.

"Worried they might steal your thunder, Staff Sergeant?" He chided as he climbed from the pit.

"You could say that," I smiled as I replied. "Team, keep watch here in case those army boys come back. Send them to me if they start griping and I'll set them straight."

They saluted in affirmation and I clambered out of the pit after Dunham. Great. My uniform was dirty. Dry-cleaning it was a bitch, but at least there was usually some nice eye candy at the Laundromat. I followed Dunham to the jeep and helped him gather the three small briefcases that made up his portable lab. He went about setting up all manner of scientific apparatus that I didn't care enough to know anything about on the hood of the vehicle.

"Let me know if you find anything," I said.

He didn't answer, looking up to roll his eyes instead. I ignored him as I leaned against the jeep to watch the army personnel set up their wide perimeter. It was a good thing they had started because a crowd was already gathering. Some police officers, now visible as the smoke dissipated slightly, were busy attempting to keep the crowd away from the site. The cool morning breeze ruffled my short, spotted fur and sent a chill running down my spine. I wondered briefly what Brookes had told the police as an excuse; probably some malarkey about an arsonist. That would have been typical of the unimaginative military. The sky was getting lighter by the second. It would not be a good thing to keep the site in this state through the day. Something would eventually get out if we did.

"Professor, we should start cleanup soon," I reminded him.

He stepped away from the hood of the car with a strip of paper that was stained purple.

"It's not radioactive enough to cause serious damage and, as you so succinctly put it, there is clearly nothing here now. I say we fill in the hole and get the city to fix the road. I can do a more thorough test on the dirt in my lab-"

The bear's face froze.

"What? Is there something on my face?" I asked. "It's not space cancer is it?"

He didn't respond.

"Alright. I get it. I'll lay off the jokes. What's wrong?"

Dunham said nothing and started walking forward, pushing passed my shoulder and I turned to see what had caught his attention. A lion dressed in a blue Hawaiian shirt and khaki pants as well as a young looking bear in jeans and a black t-shirt being escorted our way by two police officers. Oh boy, civilians!

***

I awoke to Professor Hugh shaking me gently. I was still lying on the couch under the blanket and I opened my eyes blearily. I did not want to wake up this early. Hugh was already dressed in a blue Hawaiian shirt that had palm trees all over it and khaki pants. I wondered how many pairs of those pants he had. He smiled as he looked down at me and I grinned back.

"You need to get dressed. There's been a slight change of plans," he said.

I blinked and tried to rub the sleep from my eyes as I sat up, wrapping the blanket around my waste as I gathered my clothes.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Five AM. I called the school. Someone else is subbing my class today because you and I are going on a brief field trip to see something extraordinary!"

He was beaming like an excited child at an amusement park. The feeling was a bit contagious. I pulled my pants on and dropped the blanket, slipping my t-shirt over my head.

"What is so extraordinary that it changed your mind about not cutting class?"

The lion walked over to his desk and picked up the black notebook I had seen the night before as he slipped on his sandals and beckoned me to follow him out the door.

"You'll see when we get there!"

The streets were almost empty and I could see the sun coming up from between the buildings of the village. Hugh ducked into a coffee shop that was just opening and I followed him. He bought me an espresso and one for himself as well even though I told him I could pay. The lion just smiled at me and didn't respond. We walked down the barren streets and I realized we were going towards central park.

"So why won't you tell me what's going on?" I asked.

"I told you, you'll see when we get there."

Hugh wasn't going to say any more so I stopped asking. Eventually I could see the familiar trees of the park, but there was smoke rising from them to the east. Hugh broke out into a run and I had to struggle to keep up. There was a crowd at the edge of the trees as well as a handful of police officers trying to keep everyone away from something. The crowd was made of humans and animals alike and I could see some animal police as well. There was a line of police tape behind the officers and a red fire engine with several fire fighters beyond it. Hugh started pushing his way through the crowd toward the police and I followed. A large, muscular polar bear stepped in front of the lion as we broke through the last line of people. A thin, athletic tiger stood next to the bear and both of them folded their arms defensively over their chests. I guessed it was supposed to make them seem more intimidating. Hugh pulled his wallet out of his back pocket as the polar bear spoke.

"Step back, please. No one is allowed beyond this point unless they are fire safety personnel," he said.

Hugh slipped a card from his wallet.

"Hello officer... um..."

"Cole," the polar bear said.

"Officer Cole, I am Professor James Hugh from the Universal Defense Committee. I really need to get in there to speak with my superior."

The tiger looked at me and narrowed his eyes as the polar bear took the card to examine it.

"Who's he?" The cat's voice was softer than I had imagined.

"This young man is my protégé. He has authorization as well, as it says on my ID."

What? His ID said that? Officer Cole nodded and handed the ID back to Hugh. He unfolded his arms and lifted the tape to let us through. The polar bear followed us with his tiger partner as we walked towards the fire truck. The area certainly looked like a fire had happened, but there was a trench in the ground that reminded me of old science fiction movies. The air was thick with smoke and it burned my throat and nose. A Dalmatian in a blue uniform appeared through the smoke and walked towards us, stopping on the other side of the fire engine.

"Hey, hey!" He exclaimed. "What are you two doing? I thought you weren't supposed to let anyone pass that line."

He didn't sound very angry to me, but the cops both looked ashamed for some reason.

"I'm sorry, sir, but the lion said he was part of the UDC," Cole answered.

Hugh handed the Dalmatian his ID.

"Professor James Hugh," he said, introducing himself.

"Oh another scientist. That's great because we were confused about how exactly a fire gets started."

The dalmatian's voice dripped with sarcasm, but I wasn't really paying attention to the conversation. My gaze was focused on the smoldering trench and then, like a ghost, I saw an extremely familiar face emerge from the smoke and walk in my direction. It was obvious that my father was focused on me; his green eyes locked onto mine. I folded my ears back defensively and took several steps backward, bumping into the tiger behind me. Hugh must have noticed because he interrupted the Dalmatian who was rattling off procedure to intercept my father.

"Dunham! Great to see you again!" Hugh bubbled.

The Dalmatian sputtered, his momentum completely lost. Hugh clapped my father on the shoulder and the bear's gaze shifted to the lion accusingly.

"Jim, what the hell is my son doing outside of school?"

"Well since you asked for my help earlier this morning on the phone I figured it would be an amazing opportunity to get a glimpse of something extraordinary up close. Besides, Mark was working on a late assignment with me last night anyway."

I shivered suddenly, but there was no apparent reason to. My father looked furiously at the lion and then back to me, but his anger abated slightly after a few moments and he held up a strip of paper stained purple.

"It's not radioactive enough to be anything extraordinary," he said.

Hugh clucked his tongue.

"Nice try, Rob. You mean the radiation the object left behind in the dirt isn't enough to be anything extraordinary."

"What the hell are you people talking about? Radiation? We were told this was a simple fire." Drake asked.

The Dalmatian slapped a hand to his forehead and Hugh grinned at my father. My attention turned back to the crater and no one had seemed to notice as I walked away from the arguing group. The edge of the trench was steep and I noticed several blue uniformed animals standing at the shallow end, talking. I slid down into the pit. I knew it was left over from a crash. It had to be. But it was too small to be anything significant. It was almost person-sized. But that notion was crazy. Any organic thing would have burned up in the atmosphere. I stood in the deepest part of the trench. The smell of the burned ground filled my nostrils and I could swear I heard something. It was an almost imperceptible buzzing noise. I dropped to my knees, trying to find the source of the sound. I sifted through the dirt in the trench at the lowest point. The sound became louder, turning into a ringing noise. I didn't care about anything else now, only the source. I had to find it. The ringing grew and grew until it was a torrent in my ears and then, suddenly, it stopped as my fingers brushed against something metal. I dug it out. It was a small metal disc like a coin. There were symbols similar to those in Hugh's notebook scrawled on it. I found the thing fascinating. The symbols were written in a spiral pattern that spun outward from the center of the disc. It seemed to hum softly in my hands as I ran my fingers over it.

"Mark!" Hugh called from the top of the trench. "What did you find?"

I quickly pocketed it as I turned around and held up my empty, dirt covered hands. The Dalmatian, my father, and both police officers appeared behind the lion.

"Good Christ..." The tiger gasped as he looked into the shallow trench.

"Team! Get these civilians back to the base!"

"Excuse me?" Cole said, standing up to his full height and puffing out his chest to look menacing. "We are not going to any base! We have a job to do!"

"I don't really care. You see, by knowing about this incident you all have become liabilities and therefore, must return to the base with us. We cannot risk this getting out to the public. You won't be detained for long. We just need to find out more about this thing first. Come on, it'll be fun! We can stay up all night watching movies and playing games like a great big slumber party!"

It was becoming difficult for me to tell when the Dalmatian was being serious or sarcastic.

"Well since we don't really have a choice..." Hugh said, nodding to the canine as he held out his hand in my direction. I took two steps forward and then dizziness assaulted my head. I faltered as I felt my eyes roll backward in my head. The thrum that I had been feeling since picking up the metal disk invaded my entire body. I fell. I could hear Hugh's and my father's muffled exclamations through the rhythmic pulse and then there was nothing.