FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A soft beeping sound roused the kit from her slumber, pangs of hunger and thirst forefront in her mind as she glanced up at the dim console before her. Again, the familiar glow of the low oxygen warning light filled her cloudy vision, the gauge below stating quite casually that there was less than an hour of usable air remaining. The recycling system lay before her, a tangle of patched cables and cobbled circuits. She had kept the system running longer than even she had expected, scavenging parts from at first all the redundant systems and when those failed, finally pulling apart the distress beacon controls to try and survive just that much longer on the hope that someone had seen the beacon and were on their way to save her. Growling at the console, she smacked a furred paw against the button to turn off the alarm, not noticing the light on the proximity warning panel until her small prison shook violently, the salvage claw grabbing onto her and pulling her off into the unknown.

Rick Sighed and again scanned the wreckage before him. The last of the salvageable material, a small escape pod meant for emergency use, the last cost-effective item that remained in the twisted wreckage that had once been the civilian transport Opterra. Turning off his monitor and standing up, he took a moment to stretch, working the soreness out of his muscles after sitting at the console for nearly 27 hours dragging pieces of the missing ship into his hold. Legally, the wreckage was to be reported to the transit authority before any salvage work could be performed, but out on the outer rim things had a tendency to be overlooked. Having arrived too late to salvage any survivors, his final consolation was the last item of the day. Usually, he would make good money rescuing survivors but this run had left his sensors dark, no life signs amidst the wreckage. His one consolation however, was the discovery of the escape pod on his final sweep. Pods usually went for a high price on the open market out on the rim, especially if they were in good condition. From what he could see from his cameras, this one was in perfect condition, but he wanted to check that out for himself first hand before posting it to the market boards. Clicking the switch to cycle the air in the cargo hold, he passed the time waiting for the recyclers to raise the oxygen level in the hold by evaluating his catch. Pod aside, the whole load he had, once stripped of identifying markings and some torn down to base materials should land him in the green for at least another month, two if he was lucky and found something of actual value left behind after the pirates had stripped the ship bare before blowing her up in deep space. Suddenly, the light beside the door changed from red to green, the latch clicking open allowing him entrance to the hold, the oxygen levels having reached a breathable level. Keying the door, Rick stepped inside and headed over towards his prize, not yet knowing what was in store for him there.

As her tiny world was pulled away, the kit fought with the cobbled console in front of her, rerouting just enough power to reactivate the main view screen after over a week of darkness. The screen flared to life once more, the area surrounding her filled with the wreckage that was until a few moments ago to have been her tomb. Working the panel, she managed to get the view to shift slightly, now showing her a view of her savior, a rather small salvage transport filling her view. The automated salvage claw deposited her prison on top of a pile of other wreckage then returned to its standby position against one of the far walls, the indicator beside the doorway visible to her reading zero atmosphere. With new found hope she reached out and examined the remains of the distress beacon, but after the first glance she knew it was beyond her ability to repair, the device having performed duties it was never designed to do. Sighing, she watched the small red light across the room, knowing that in just under an hour, it would be all over. Suddenly the light flickered and turned to a steady green color, the door parting silently. She struggled with the pod's external controls, attempting to open the hatch and meet her fate head on, now that she had a chance, perhaps she could somehow survive long enough to reach a habited planet or at least an outpost but those hopes died as she saw the human step into the cargo bay, heading straight for her. A human, it had to be a blasted human that rescued her! She spat in disgust, knowing that if she did manage to survive the encounter, she would probably be sold off into slavery or worse, dumped out the airlock. The outer hatch finally opened; the air that rushed in thin but still breathable. Taking no chances, she leapt from her once tomb into the wreckage surrounding her, hiding amidst the twisting and broken metal fragments and watching the human as he approached warily.

Rick worked his way towards the pod, dodging a pile of debris when suddenly the door to the pod slammed against the outside of the casing. He ran towards the pod, one hand reaching towards the blaster at his side. 'The pod wasn’t active; it was in standby! How could anyone have been inside?' Rick thought to himself as he raced over to look into the pod, still unaware of the creature watching him back from only a few feet away. The sight that met his eyes was pitiful, wiring stripped from boards and circuits cobbled together forming a nest of destruction that would cost a small fortune to repair. The pod was scrapped, and from the looks of things, must have been for some time seeing as how nobody could have survived inside with the oxygen readout displaying empty and the lack of a working recycling system and only the barest dregs of power left in the large onboard batteries. However, if that was the case then why didn't he notice it before? The pod had appeared from the outside to be sealed, so what happened to cause it to open like this now? Rick sighed and slammed the door shut; the pod now worthless to him as anything but scrap. Moving about the cargo bay, he began to sort the wreckage into piles for later processing, not noticing the small gray creature duck through the airlock while he was working.

Working her way out of the cargo bay, the kit perked her ears up and scanned the hallway, sniffing for any signs of food, her belly growling at her to be fed. After only a moment's pause, she headed towards the back of the ship, easily finding the kitchen and grabbing a package of nutrient from the rack. Tearing open the package, she ate hungrily, ignoring the foul taste of the generic food supplement in her frenzy. Having sated the worst of her hunger for the moment she then ran to the recycler, grabbing the drinking hose and sucking thirstily. After she had her fill, she began cleaning up the mess, recycling the nutrient packaging and cleaning up the crumbs that she had dropped while in her rush to feed herself after nearly 3 days without food. The nourishment did her good, as well as the rich air mixture that humans preferred on their vessels. Her strength was renewed and her vision was clear, the fuzzy feeling in her head replaced with the calm clear focus she was used to. Finally finished, and satisfied that the place looked as she had found it, she took another nutrient bar and stuffed it into the pocket of her jumpsuit before heading off to find a hiding place only to run right into the one thing she had hoped to avoid while stowed away on this ship.

Rick finished sorting through the wreckage, wiping the sweat from his brow and heading towards the back of the ship to take a much-deserved break when he suddenly ran into something coming from the back of his ship! He reached for his weapon but by the time he was able to draw, the creature was gone again, heading back into the bowels of his ship. Keeping the weapon drawn Rick approached the galley, calling out in common "Come out! I know you are in there, if you come out now then I may go easy on you." He flexed his fingers, ready to shoot at the first thing that moved should that become necessary. Inside the galley, the kit was backed into a corner, shivering as the human drew closer to her with no hiding spot in sight. She curled up into a ball, cowering behind a few loose containers and awaiting her capture.

Entering the galley, rick scanned the room. The room was mostly empty, the recycler taking up one full wall and a stack of barrels taking up another corner, the rest of the room was empty aside from a small table bolted to the floor and a small heating unit originally used for cooking. Movement visible from behind one of the containers drew his attention. Raising the blaster and aiming at the barrels he again called out to the unknown intruder. "Come out of there, I'm giving you three seconds before I open fire. One... Two..." As he counted, a small form untangled itself from behind the containers. Stepping out into the open the kit glared fearfully at the human, thoughts of escape running through her mind as she looked for a way out but the human blocked the only escape, and he was armed. A very bad sign for her as she had known only two types of humans to carry guns and both of them were bad news.

Rick watched the creature step out, surprised first at its small size and again when he realized that not only wasn't it human, but it was a Kintessian! 'What is a Kit doing here?' he wondered to himself, readjusting his grip on the weapon as he evaluated his prisoner. The creature wore an ill-fitting plain gray jumpsuit, dirty bandages wrapped around the feet and hands suggesting a replacement for proper footwear and gloves, the lack of bloodstains and presence of old looking dirt precluding the wrappings as those which would cover an injury. "What are you doing on my ship? How did you manage to get aboard and are there any others with you? Answer me now." He ordered, watching the creature for any signs of aggression. The kit opened her mouth to respond, speaking in very broken common to her attacker. "Trransporrt destrroy, esc'kape p’odd damage. No otherrs." Rick nodded, watching her carefully, for he could now tell in the light from the galley and the tone of the voice that it was a female, as he took a step closer. "You were in that escape pod? Did you do that to the controls?" Her response was a brief nod, her eyes darting around as she backed against the wall to keep the distance between them. Rick nodded again, re-holstering his weapon and sighing "Well, it seems you knew something about that system to be able to do all that to it, though I'm not sure just what you were trying to do destroying the systems like that. Either way, you don't appear to be a threat. I still have a long trip back to the inner ring and there aren't any places along the way that I could drop you either, being a Kit and all, I'm sure you understand that your people aren't much liked out here, aside from those that a few have taken in as pets. I'd guess that is why you are here too, some rich person keeping you as a pet or plaything and in the commotion of the attack you must have escaped or been helped to escape in that pod." He smiled at her, offering her one of the nutrient bars curiously. "I'm sure you are hungry, you must have been floating out there for nearly two weeks, and I know those pods only have enough supplies for one. Just the fact you are moving around is a miracle in and of itself, not to mention not dead from starvation or thirst."

The kit nodded, feeling a bit calmer now that the blaster was put away. She took the bar and ate it quickly, looking this strange human over curiously. 'Why is he helping me? What is he going to do with me once this ship returns to the inner rings? Am I still a prisoner?' These thoughts and others swarmed the exhausted kit's mind as she felt herself growing sleepy now that her hunger and thirst were abated. Rick seemed to notice this as well, stepping back towards the front of the ship. "You look tired; you can use my bunk while I set the ship to return us to civilized space. I'll check in on you once I finished and perhaps you can tell me what it is you are doing way out here. Oh, and my name is Rick." He then headed back to the cockpit, leaving the kit to find her way on her own. After setting the auto pilot and making sure everything was secured for travel, Rick did as he promised, glancing into his cabin just long enough to make sure the kit was comfortable, watching as she slept for a minute then heading back to the galley to prepare something more edible than nutrient bars for their next meal.