FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Rick guided the ship into the station, landing on the designated platform and sending out a request for unloading of his cargo by the receiving company. He headed back to the bedroom, finding Spark at the console diligently engrossed in her studies. He tapped on the frame of the open door to get her attention. “We just landed, care to stretch your legs?" Spark bounced out of the chair, almost to the door when she realized she forgot to save her progress. She returned to the console, giggling as she hit the save button and closed down the program. Rick followed her outside; her mobility had improved greatly with her running around on all fours, though she still had issues walking upright. Outside the ship the temperature was hot, the air thick with moisture. Spark waited for Rick to reach the bottom of the ramp before starting to run laps around the ship, always keeping Rick in sight at all times. Her coordination had improved and she loved running. On her 19th lap she noticed a large Twilexian headed their way, running over to clutch Rick's leg as the creature approached.

Rick looked down at Spark in mild surprise, then followed her gaze to the large creature approaching them. He lifted his arm and made a gesture to the creature, pulling out a device that suddenly emitted a burst of rapid clicks and whistles. The Twill stopped in its tracks, returning a query of clicks and whistles that the talk box translated into text, apparently surprised and delighted to be conversing with a human in its native language. Rick gestured to the cargo bay, tapping a button on the device that responded with another set of noises. The Twill gave a bark, then sauntered over to start the unloading.

Spark stared first at Rick, then the device he was holding. If she was correct, that was a talk box, a device with preprogrammed phrases that could be activated to speak in a non-native language. She had read about them in a book, but like most things had never actually seen one herself. Rick noticed Spark's interest in his talk box and grinned at her. “I spent two years on a ship as the only human, had to have one of these to communicate. Been invaluable and I can program simple messages on the fly if the presets don't do what I need them to. Can also hook it up to a terminal and change the presets though that takes longer than using the type interface." He handed it to Spark so she could look it over, turning his attention to the work at hand.

The Twill, Axa'Gaath was the name the talk box translated for it, was already busy unloading the small cargo bay. The creature, like all of its species was strong, carrying two crates at a time one under each of the large over muscled fore arms as it walked from the cargo bay to a grav sled, depositing its cargo before returning for another load. Rick estimated 10 minutes tops and the cargo bay would be completely cleared, down from the 34 minutes it had taken to pack using grav sleds and lift loaders. He marveled again at the strength of the Twill, their outward physical appearance belying the gentle nature they shared. Twills were not aggressive by nature, preferring to solve problems through conversation or in extreme cases contests of strength, or poetry. Rick had once been given the opportunity to witness one such interlude, and the translator did not do the interaction justice though the onlookers seemed impressed and the winner was even praised for their verbal dexterity.

Spark took the offered device, turning it over in her paws and examining the interface, careful not to activate any of the buttons. She opened the casing and mentally traced the circuits; certain she could build something similar herself now that she knew how it was laid out. She resealed the casing and handed the device back to Rick, heading into the ship to continue her studies. Rick waited for Axa'Gaath to finish their work then headed towards the spaceport admin building to finalize the paperwork for their first round trip to Earth.

Spark closed the terminal, the screen fading to black. She hopped down from the chair and stretched, hearing the airlock cycle she scampered to the door to meet Rick. Rick was about to call for Spark when she emerged from the bedroom, scampering towards him almost rebounding off the wall in her haste. “Woah now, what's the rush? They weren't expecting us here so soon so we will have about a week before the shipment will be ready to be loaded. In the meantime, I have a surprise for you that you just might enjoy." Cocking her head to one side, Spark gave Rick a curious mewl. She wondered what sort of surprise he could have in store for her, but trusting him enough to follow along readily.

Rick led Spark out to the spaceport then through the administration building. Heading out the back door Spark stared at the large transport ship parked there. Rick led her up to the main hatch and keyed the lock open. “Go ahead and take a look around, let me know what you think ok?" Spark peered into the ship, the hallway was twice as wide as the one on Rick's ship, from the look of the outside it would have cabins for at least 20, 4 cargo bays, one shuttle bay, a large kitchen and an entire engineering bay. She guessed that there would be at least one recreational room along with the bridge and the captain's quarters, a large eating area to compliment the kitchen, a medical wing, and at least a crew compliment of 6 required to fly including a cook, two engineers, pilot, copilot, and medic. She whistled softly, the sound echoing down the hallway.

Spark walked carefully to the first room nearest the airlock, the room looked to be a large surgical bay but where there would usually be machinery and beds all she found were spots on the floor where they had been bolted at one time, everything of value having been removed long ago. She headed to the next room, this one a storage closet. One shelf still contained a single container, the inventory tag listing the container as being filled with blankets. She continued down the hallway, glancing into rooms as she passed. Each one seemed to at one time have housed a resident, the rooms large and spacious but now anything that wasn't bolted down and even some things that were had been moved out leaving large empty spaces. The design of the ship had living quarters and medical facilities on one side, cargo and shuttle bays on the other, and a central area that housed the kitchen, the eating area, and a recreational area though anything useful had been again stripped out long ago.

The back of the ship was the engineering section, and to her surprise Spark found that very little had been removed from this one section of the ship. Life support was still intact, as well as the shield generator, engines, recycling system, and even a large storage tank capable of holding 2,000 gallons of water. The technology was old, probably 50 or 60 years older than anything in service now but if it still worked then it would last at least that long again. These older systems had a tendency to be stubborn, refusing to die even when half their systems failed unlike the newer models that were so temperamental.

Scampering down the other side of the ovular hallway Spark peered into the various bays, noting that there were grav sleds, loaders, and other machinery parked as though abandoned in two of the cargo bays, another had a stack of plasfilm canisters and large rolls of plasfilm wrapping as though someone had just finished crating up all the items that were removed from the ship. The kitchen was bare, as she had expected. Everything of value or use had been taken, even the large heating elements had been removed. She headed to the last of the rooms, entering the bridge of the ship. The room was much larger than she had imagined it would be, large couches sitting where normally there would be chairs in front of the consoles. She went to where the captain's chair should be, activating the console. The screen dutifully blinked to life, displaying a rather impressive number of errors and warnings. From the diagnostic it appeared as though the only systems that were working were the power plant, though two of the 3 reactors were shown as offline, the shield systems that protected against space debris, and the waste recycling system though the water level in the tanks was at critical levels. Structural integrity appeared intact though the forcefield generator that was used for the shuttle bay and to maintain structural integrity while the ship was in flight was offline, possibly to save power. Life support was among the critical warnings, as well as atmosphere control though the open hatch could be a contributing factor.

Spark returned to Rick; her exploration having taken her nearly 45 minutes. She told him what she had found, mentioning that the door to the shuttle bay had been locked. He led her to the bay and unlocked the door, a small shuttle sitting on one of the 4 landing pads. “My ship could fit in here, if we stripped out the storage racks. Would need to use the grappler to get it in and out but it could work. The owner wants to keep the shuttle for lunar work, along with all but two of the loaders and grav sleds. They take the shuttle up to the 6 moons regularly. That tells me the shuttle bay doors work, but the rest of the ship hasn't been used since the admin building was finished so if we can get it flying, I was told we could have it for the salvage cost, about 500,000 units. To give you a reference, my ship would sell at roughly 200,000 units so we will need to take out a loan just to get the hull but it could be ours."

Spark stared at Rick; her mouth slightly gaped as she struggled to comprehend what he was suggesting. The ship they lived in could fit into this ship 10, no 20 times over. It could even fit into the shuttle bay alone! A ship this size on the market would sell for easily 12.4 million credits, and they were willing to let it go for only 500,000? She had to admit, it was in pretty bad shape, unable to fly, life support nonfunctional, and most of the rooms scavenged bare. It would be a monumental task to get the ship livable, to replace what had been stripped would cost a fortune on its own and with only two loaders and two grav sleds, it would be difficult to make proper use of the cargo bays. She realized her mouth was open and closed it, then licking her lips asked the one question that had been nagging at her. “Why?"

Rick smiled, enjoying the look of dumbfounded shock Spark gave him. At her question he shrugged, closing the door to the shuttle bay and starting to walk towards the bridge. “Well, it is a bit of a story." He started, noticing that Spark was keeping pace with him, ears pointed at him attentively, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. “You probably aren't aware, but about 100 years ago humans landed here and managed to enter into trade negotiations with the Twills that lived here. They were a nomadic group, moving from one camp to another and hunting a large avian creature that was native to the planet. There were only about 60 Twills at that time living on the planet in 3 different tribes while the human colony was already over 200 settlers. Since the Twills had settled the planet first, the Earth Planetary Federation decided to cede ownership of the planet to the Twills in return for allowing a small settlement, the spaceport we have today."

Rick paused, taking a breath dramatically before proceeding. “The Twills, as you probably figured out are carnivores. They don't have any use for agriculture but they do have a natural talent for it. When this was discovered, it was agreed that the Twills would begin farming the acres and acres of lush farmland that existed in the eastern and northern plains. That produce would then be shipped to and sold on Earth by a human representative. In return, they would receive shipments of livestock and other meat products to sustain their numbers, their avian food source having dwindled from over hunting. That arrangement has worked out very well in the Twill's favor, and they now have 100 farms with a population nearing the 300's on the planet, sustained by the shipments we will be bringing in from Earth and other colonies. Remember, it isn't just us that are bringing resources here but there are also other ships, like ours now, that are small and can only carry so much at a time. This ship was originally a Twill transport but after the last hunting party landed it was stripped for resources and left behind. Since then, it has been a source of parts when they set up the space port, a temporary admin building before the one at the spaceport was finished, an emergency shelter when a storm threatened to tear down the spaceport before they got the shield generators in place and as of late was bet and lost in a poker game to a good friend of mine."

He smiled at the incredulous look Spark gave him, nodding his head sagely to her. “Yes, a good friend of mine, my old captain Tal'rekk'ek, now a farmer on the northern plains. When I found out we were waylaid here I enquired about the old hulk out back and was told that he was the owner. I got him on a vid link and we worked out a deal. He has been hounded by the spaceport to move the ship, but without a working generator for the integrity field that is impossible. He assures me the engines still work, though he thinks one of the reactors may need an overhaul. The spaceport is willing to give us the time we need to repair the device, but I think if we reroute the matrix from the shield generator to the structural integrity field it should allow us to lift off and at least relocate to a better landing spot before the two month deadline."

Her mind swimming with possibilities, Spark focused her thoughts on that immediate problem. The main shield grid was definitely powerful, able to protect the large ship from collisions from micro meteors and space debris. That much power would definitely overload the structural integrity forcefields if applied directly but with a sufficient buffering system in place, as well as a flow regulator to limit power spikes it may just work. That and if the engines worked after so many years, why, they could set down anywhere on the planet and use Rick's smaller ship to ferry parts to and from the larger ship. She nodded slowly to Rick, noticing him watching her intently. “I think I can make that work, especially if we don't need to go into orbit. I can't say how long we can stay airborne; the fuel levels are low and atmospheric flight will drain that in no time. Where did you have in mind to set it down once we did get it ready to fly?"

Rick shook his head, amazed: this creature, who only weeks ago stumbled onto his ship on the verge of death, had gone through hell in a painful, life-changing medical procedure, and was taking classes to improve her education while going through physical rehab, had been willing to not only help him, but agreed to being adopted into his family. She was his daughter, his engineer, and his friend. He hadn't had many friends, most of them alien, and his family was either dead or living back on Altair 6. It had been a fateful meeting indeed, and the excitement that Spark was exuding at the prospect of fixing up this ship was quite contagious. “The spaceport wants to build another building here; we are only required to move the ship about 200 yards. There is a field just past a shed that I was told would be a safe spot to land but I was hoping to find a spot where we wouldn't have to move again once planting time came around. There is a river about 6 klicks away that has a water reclamation plant along its bank. There is an old landing pad there, back from the days when they were first building this place and needed large parking lots for the transports coming and going. I asked permission and if we can get this bird to fly, we are allowed to park there as long as we need to get her space worthy again."

Spark ran a few mental calculations. '6 klicks, that would take this ship about an hour and a half in sub orbital flight.' She estimated the fuel use required based on the estimated weight of the ship listed on the display on the bridge and decided that they would have enough fuel with about 530 gallons remaining after the trip. The fuel tanks would hold 500,000 gallons when topped off, so that much fuel would be only enough to keep the lights on after the trip but it would do until they could procure more. Looking up at Rick she nodded again, smiling. “It will be close, but I think we can manage that. I'd like to go to engineering and check the status of those other two reactors, as well as see just how badly damaged the structural integrity field is. I've never worked on systems this large before, but I read all about them in books so I think I can manage."

With Rick's nod of approval, Spark scampered back to the engineering section while Rick sat down on the strange captain's couch and began going over diagnostics from the bridge. Upon arrival, Spark noticed that the shield generator was larger than she was. The massive device powerful enough to put up a bubble of protective force around the entire ship to protect against impacts at near the speed of light. Conversely, the smaller generator beside it was barely her size. She keyed the panel beside the unit and was surprised when pages of alien script began scrolling past her view in rapid succession. Ricks voice came over the speaker system just then. “Spark, I'm working to adjust the display output from Twill to common, give me two minutes before you try to access any of the display screens."

She giggled, keying off the screen and heading over to look at the two reactors that were currently powered down. It took her the better part of an hour to compare the offline units to the active unit but her diligence paid off when she tested the screen on the first, Rick's modifications to the active language had apparently been successful. The display showed green lights across the board, the reactor ready to power up though the current mode was set to standby. She sent the reactor through a diagnostic check just to be safe, then activated the panel on the second reactor. As she feared, this one had an ugly red flashing light next to one of the readouts. She opened the access port and topped off the lubricant tank, then moved to replace the worn crystals in the intermix chamber with fresh ones from the growth chamber. The old crystals were placed in the growth chamber to be regenerated, the red light changing to green when she ran the diagnostic test on the second unit. Crisis averted; she returned her attention to the generators.

Two hours later, Spark slammed the access hatch closed with disgust. The generator was intact, all the various parts accounted for and tested but still she couldn't get the system to come online. Once more she tapped at the control panel, running through the diagnostic test for the 10th time. The readout displayed the same error she had seen for the past hour. 'Alignment failure, unable to activate'. She growled at the console, baring her pointed teeth in aggravation just as Rick stepped into the room, coming to check on her progress. “Well, that doesn't sound too promising." He joked, taking a look himself at the readout. “Hmm, did you check the connections on the secondary linkups?" She nodded, blushing because she had gotten so angry and had let her natural instincts take over. “Three times, they all checked out. I even reconnected the entire board manually in case there was a loose wire." She heard a whine enter her voice as the frustration built and forced herself to calm down. Rick tapped the screen again and the view changed to one of the entire ship, a red blinking dot located in the third cargo bay. “What about the backup systems?"

Spark let out a surprised bark and jammed a claw at the red dot in exasperation. “You mean there are two?" This time the whine was plainly evident, her incredulous response showing her full frustration with the task. Rick chuckled, reaching down to ruffle her ears gently. “Twills usually build a redundant system into each of their main systems, to take over should the main one fail. Both systems have to check out before a system can be turned online, but once online they operate independently, taking up the load of the other as situations arise. One of the reasons Twills usually have two engineers on board, one to work engineering and the other to work the backup systems." Rick opened the side panel, searching inside a moment then pulling a jumper bundle off the main board. Immediately, the screen beeped and the red flashing warning vanished, a low hum emanating from the generator as it stirred to life.

Looking at the display, Spark noticed that some of the grav plating would need repair or replacement, faults showing up in sections of the grav plating throughout the ship but that could just be age or lack of preventative maintenance. The forcefield generators worked, and the shuttle bay door field that kept the bay pressurized while the massive outer door was open thankfully showed green on the board. A red blip showed her where in the storage bay the secondary console was supposed to be located, the readout showing the entire unit to be offline. She keyed a test of the magnetic plating and all forcefield emitters, the test showing 3 hours 20 minutes until completion. She looked at Rick and sighed. “I never read about any ships having an entire backup structural system, what other systems have full backups?" Rick pursed his lips, thinking a moment. “The main shield system has a full secondary backup, structural integrity, life support, and I think the recyclers. The bridge systems are duplicated there as well, and the entire ship can be run out of that station if other sections of the ship are compromised."

Mentally checking off the systems, Spark decided that since it looked like the primary systems were in working order, she should go take a look at these secondary main systems before she drove herself crazy. She tapped the screen thoughtfully, expanding the view to show the location inside the third cargo bay, in the back corner against the inner wall. She headed over and found the entire area contained inside its own room, spacious for her but it would have been terribly cramped for a Twill. She turned on the various panels, pulling up diagnostic reports. The shield generator showed a fault in the second coil that would have to be replaced and the filters on the life support system would need to be scrubbed and possibly replaced as well. The panel for the structural field showed a fault, but after checking inside the panel she was able to find the loose wire that had come loose when the backup recycling system had been removed. That unit was completely missing, the spot it had occupied conspicuous by its absence.

Spark asked Rick for a data pad, then began making notes on the things that would need to be replaced and what things she would need to keep in reserve to replace parts due to wear and tear. She finished her list, then headed first to the kitchen, then to medical, adding their requirements to her rapidly growing list. As the list grew, she went back and added a column for priority. Top priority items that were required to repair the ship were listed with a 1, items that were needed but not required for the first flight were labeled with a 2. Things that were necessary for orbital flight were labeled with a 3 and those parts that were spare replacement parts for critical systems were labeled with a 4. Spark copied her list, sending the copy back to their ship and showed it to Rick. “We will definitely need the items under the 1 and 4 list before we try to move the ship, but as things stand, I think it will fly. Only way to know for sure is to do it."

Rick scanned the list, most of the items wouldn't be an issue to acquire though a few were on the expensive side. Grav plates, spare coils, the replacement recycling unit, and a replacement growth chamber to replace the one that had overgrown into a solid mass for reactor 1 were the big-ticket items, the entire list coming to a staggering 111,285 credits if purchased new. He was fairly sure he could come up with some of the required parts from second hand dealers, but the coils would need to be purchased new and they alone would cost 43,000 credits from a federation supply base. Showing Spark the list, he tapped the coils and growth chamber. “Think we can salvage these from somewhere? I'd hate to have to pay premium and the station charges way more than they are worth, especially around Earth." Spark looked at the items and nodded. “If we find another transport like the one I was stranded in then I think they can be salvaged, grav plates too if you aren't too picky, along with some of the circuit boards and wiring from section 3. Trouble is getting salvage rights to anything stranded inside federation space. I just finished a class that went over the legal rights of salvage and anything found inside federation space has to be reported and the requisite time allotted for the owner to step forward before any salvage operation can take place or risk penalties and fines including but not limited to damage of private property and criminal trespass."

She frowned at the list again, tapping various items and creating a third list. “I think if we can get to a salvage yard, we may be able to manage these items at below market prices if we do the removal ourselves. Some yards allow it with a waiver that says you break it you bought it. There should be a salvage yard around Neptune in Earth solar system that will have what we need, and it is a legitimate dealer that buys old ships for scrap cost and even supplies a shuttle for use in salvage operations. Of course, you pay by the part so getting a box of transistors could become pricy but I'm sure we can make a deal if we find sufficient parts to make a bulk purchase offer." Rick blinked, he hadn't known there was a salvage yard near Neptune, or that you could go and buy single parts from derelicts. The things he had needed he always just took from what remained from pirate attacks, but since that wasn't an option here and if he could haggle with the owner of the site, it may just work out.

“Spark, how do you know all this?" Rick asked, the astonishment evident in his expression. She smiled at him and offered her ears for scritches, which he supplied as she smugly gave him his answer. “I know we will be doing salvage work in the future, and that your ship needed parts so I took a look at the legality and where we could acquire what we needed at the lowest price. Outside the federation, it would be a simple matter to find a ship that pirates had hit and gather what we needed but there are so many rules inside federation space that it makes it hard unless we are willing to sit on a find for weeks before work can be performed. Also, there are fees associated with salvage and we would still have to pay those on anything we picked up but if we went to a scrap yard then all that hassle is avoided." Rick tousled her ears and stroked her back, enjoying the feel of her warm fur against his palm. “Sounds like you did all my work for me yet again. I'll have to ask the boss to give you a raise, maybe a promotion to chief engineer once we get this bucket of bolts flying again." He couldn't help but laugh at the incredulous expression she gave him for that comment, her reply taking him completely by surprise. “Chief Engineer Spark, I like how that sounds."