FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

spark growled at the screen, tapping the key to shut down the test with more force than was truly necessary. She stared at the now blank screen, her anger and frustration still not abated in the least. She had taken tests in almost every subject she could imagine and even a few that she didn’t understand at all. The last set of tests, on the history of Altair 6 had especially troubled her as she hadn’t even known that the planet existed before she met Rick and how was she supposed to know anything about a place she had never even been? She turned in her chair and looked towards the door. Her mobility was still far below her usual level and just walking felt strange. She knew it would take time to get used to all the changes, and some of the feelings were old and familiar but no matter how hard she tried she just couldn’t get her legs to work the way she wanted them to.

Hopping down from the chair Spark managed a few steps towards the door, just enough to see down the hall where Rick was running the preflight checks. Assured she wouldn’t be seen Spark dropped to all fours and scampered down the hallway to the washroom. She was embarrassed, she had been taught that it was uncivilized not to walk upright and had been punished for forgetting on numerous occasions when she had first been what, captured? Taken? She still didn’t understand why she had been taken away from her den and family, given the treatments and the modifications then placed in the home of the person she was supposed to call master. She shook her head to clear away the old memories, none of that mattered right now and she still had two more tests to take before she could go to the cargo bay and work on her exercises.

Rick checked over the flight systems, the small exploration vessel he called home was not in the best of condition. He had hoped on selling the salvage he had gathered and repairing his ship, possibly even earning enough to trade up to a newer model but most of the proceeds from his last trip had gone to acquiring the paperwork for Spark and then new clothes. He had been lucky, as the paperwork had allowed him to provide the proof needed to make Spark a legal citizen on Altair 6 after her operation and also allow him to legally adopt her into his care. That paperwork was official and more importantly legal and binding, regardless of the validity of the paperwork that had been used to procure it. Using the remaining funds from selling his cargo and a bit of his savings he had been able to make the most critical repairs and fill the fuel tanks so the trip to Drakon shouldn’t tax the ship too badly.

Changing the display Rick scanned the job boards, again looking for anything that would offset the trip to Drakon. He discounted the three requests for transport, not wanting to deal with passengers or trouble Spark any more than necessary. He had noticed how shaky her legs were when she had moved to the terminal to start her first round of testing and wanted to keep her from feeling embarrassed in front of strangers when she was still in recovery. There were two requests for materiel transport, one was outside the scope of what he could haul but the second was in his capacity. The compensation for the job was enough to cover the fuel costs and the advance on the job would fix the issue with the landing gear, something he had put on the list of low priority fixes but should have been higher up on the list. There wouldn’t be much room in the cargo bay once everything was loaded, and the ship was small and cramped for one person let alone a traveling pair but the trip would only take a few days.

Rick accepted the job and set up the delivery, then stretching stood up to go see how Spark was doing on her tests. Arriving at the bedroom Rick was surprised to see the screen turned off and Spark nowhere in sight. He paused and glanced about the room. The work station against one wall, a single chair that could move from the terminal to the small table by the door. His bed took up almost half the available space, Spark had been sleeping on a pile of blankets on the floor beside the bed, next to the shower unit. A small closet, enough for the few clothes he had, as well as the ones he had purchased for Spark that were now occupying the top of the small table. The facilities were down the hall by the kitchen, a small room with a waste recycler and sonic wash. Beyond the kitchen was the engine room where the recycling system as well as the storage tanks for water and fuel were kept along with life support and the shield generators. It was a good ship, had served him well but looking objectively Rick realized that with the changes going on he would need to seriously look into upgrading his home and soon, especially if they were going to be doing runs between Drakon and earth.

Spark exited the washroom and paused in the door, noticing Rick leaning against the entrance to the bedroom. She moved slowly, taking her time and focusing on placing one foot before the other. Rick turned in time to see Spark walking towards him. Her movement seemed a bit awkward but the doctors did say it could take a few days for her to move around normally, even longer to regain her usual dexterity. He smiled and knelt to give her a hug. “Everything ok? Any pain or numbness?” Spark stumbled the last few steps, Rick catching her and pulling her up into an embrace, surprised when Spark returned the hug, even nuzzling her cheek against his. “No pain, but it is hard. I’m not used to walking upright with these legs. I can do it, but it is easier at least right now to go to all fours.” She blushed, looking away shyly though she had told the truth. Her species weren’t natively built to walk upright, though they did have the ability though balancing was difficult.

Rick nodded and rubbed her back. “If it is easier to move on all fours then it won’t bother me, though you may want to practice walking upright as well since we will be visiting Earth often. For now, you do what is most comfortable and we will figure the rest out as it comes ok?” Spark nodded and stepped back, dropping to all fours and moving past Rick to the terminal. Again, Rick noticed that the room seemed smaller, more cramped. He had lived here for 5 years, and never once had the ship seemed small but now it was almost claustrophobic, the hallways too narrow, the rooms too small and the safety features inadequate. Chalking it up to the stress of being a sudden parent and guardian he returned to the cockpit while Spark started back into her testing, the delivery should be arriving soon and there really was much to be done before they took off for Drakon.

Finishing the last of her tests, Spark closed down the terminal and headed to the cargo bay. When she arrived, she found the bay packed to bursting with shipping crates. She sighed, walking back to the bedroom and beginning her stretches. Half an hour later she had finished all the exercises that she could within the small room. She stopped by the cockpit and asked Rick if she could go outside to finish her exercises and he walked her outside, giving the ship exterior a final check while she ran laps around the ship. It was slow at first but after a few laps Spark seemed to get the hang of running again and was soon laughing as she ran around and around their small home. She had forgotten how much fun it could be to just run, feel the wind and the ground beneath her paws. She was almost sad when Rick called her back inside, the last of the safety checks completed they lifted off.

To pass the time on the long trip, as well as to exercise her voice Rick had Spark tell him of her past and how she came to be in the escape pod where he found her. At first Spark was reluctant, not wanting to remember what life had been like before she met Rick but when he suggested it may help him in her recovery, she grudgingly agreed to share her history. “I was returning home from a hunt with my parents, bringing the day’s catch home to my younger siblings. When I returned to the den there were strange reptilian creatures there, I think they were Graalkin though I didn’t know what they were at the time. My siblings were already locked into cages, separated by gender and two singled out for their fur markings. I charged in to rescue them but something hit me from behind and when I woke, I too was in a cage, my parents were tied up by the fire and my older brother was being cooked for the evening meal along with our catch.” She shuddered at the memory of the lizzardfolk hissing and eying the cages hungrily.

“They took me and my siblings to their ship, packing us into the cargo bay. I was removed first, being sent to a place where the walls were white and the smells burned my nose. It was at this place that I learned about pain. I was strapped to a bed and a human in a white coat came in. He started on my left foot, removing the metal cuff from my ankle and flexing the foot painfully. I cried out and he looked at me with a strange expression on his face. Then he broke my ankle. The pain was intense, and by far the worst pain I had ever felt before. He continued shaping my leg, snapping the bone then applying nanite paste to fuse the broken pieces back into the desired shape. I passed out when he reached for my other leg, a cast holding my left foot in the shape he desired.”

“When I woke, I saw bandages covering my middle, felt the awful pain in my feet and belly and throat. I tried to cry out but the pain that shot through my neck and throat knocked me out again. It was from that point that any sound above a soft mewl would cause terrible pain in my throat. I hurt all over, inside and out when I came around again. The doctor was changing my bandages and it was then that I noticed that my fur had been shaved off for the operation and what was left was now a dingy grey color. I found out later that all my fur had been changed to that color at the request of my new master. He had wanted ‘An obedient pet that did not stand out and didn’t make much noise.’ The modifications to my feet were both to meet his requirements as well as keep me from running off.”

“It took two weeks for me to heal enough to begin training, and all I remember of that time is much pain and the idea that I must always walk upright, must always obey the master, must always be quiet, must always stay clean, and must always wear clothes. I’m not sure just how long I was in training but by the time I was sent to meet my master, the fur had grown back where they had shaved it and when wrapped up my feet didn’t hurt nearly as bad, though walking on my heels as they taught me was awkward and painful. I think it was during the training that I was taught to understand the human language though speaking it was something beyond me at the time.”

“My master met me for the first time in his study, a room I was forbidden to enter again once I was part of the house. He was an inventor, and the study was filled with books and various projects that he kept on stands. I was brought before the master by the doctor and was presented with what I was told was appropriate clothing, a grey jump suit and dark cloth strips to wrap around my paws. I was forced to change there before him, then sent to another room where the house servants kept their supplies. The head housekeeper didn’t like me and decided that I would be given a large basket to sleep in, a blanket tossed into the bottom for padding. I was then ordered to move the basket over to a corner of the kitchen out of the way, since they didn’t have a room they could give me. I found out later that there were plenty of rooms, but the head housekeeper didn’t want me to shed and ruin a perfectly good room that could go to one of her other employees.”

“My life in that house wasn’t good. I was restricted to only the kitchens, the gardens, the servant’s dorm and on invitation various other rooms. I was tasked with cleaning the floors in those rooms and any others that the head housekeeper deemed appropriate. I was also tasked with entertaining the master’s three children and was allowed to be in other rooms of the house with their presence. My first time I was found out of my boundary I was beaten severely and refused food for a whole day. After that I made sure at least one of the children was in the room, or the master himself so as not to be out of bounds. I spent my time in the gardens, usually curled up in the sun or exploring the various flower beds. When I came inside dirty the first time I was again beaten then thrown into a sonic shower. The sonics didn’t help the bruises and I swore never to return dirty again if I could help it.”

“The master’s daughter was in her late teens when I arrived and was always showing me off to impress her friends. She would dress me up, then parade me around for her friends to see. I was then left to change back into my usual attire and place the outfits into the wash baskets, the collection of which became another of my tasks once they realized I could do so quietly and keep unseen in the task. The Master’s two boys, one was 6 the other 11, loved to play with me and would throw things for me to retrieve or play hide and seek. We usually played in the garden, and though it was fun I had to be careful not to get dirty, not to hide too well and especially not to win. The younger boy would always find me, even if the older one was able to walk right by my hiding spot. I did this on purpose because the older boy tended to catch me by grabbing and pulling my tail or ear while the younger would pounce on me and hug me like my younger siblings when they were practicing attacking prey.”

“It took four years, but I was eventually allowed anywhere in the main house, as long as I remained unseen and my chores increased to include all the hard wood floors in the house, to which there were many. Only a few rooms were carpeted, and I was never allowed in those rooms. They consisted of the private bedrooms, the study, Master’s workshop, and the main meeting room. The master’s daughter had moved out by this time, and the older boy had lost interest in me as a pet so I spent my time following the younger master who was now 10 years old. He was the one who taught me to speak, oddly enough though we kept it our secret. He also helped me learn to read and better understand what was being asked of me so I guess I do owe him a bit for that. A few months later he went off to school and I never saw him again. I was on my own and though I had my chores there was nobody that called on me regularly so I began sleeping during the day and staying up late at night to do my chores and once I was finished, I would hide in the study where they would not look for me, reading the master’s books. Once I was almost caught when I fell asleep reading but luckily nobody missed my absence before I woke up. I learned most of what I know about mathematics and mechanical engineering from those books and that information saved my life in the escape pod.”

“Just before I met you, the master had completed a new invention and was traveling to show it off at a conference on Earth. He took me with him as a demonstration subject, one of the rare occasions I was allowed outside the property. We were on the master’s ship, heading to earth from out in the rings where my master lived when pirates attacked. They took the master and his invention, then began to loot the ship. I hid inside one of the escape pods attached to the cargo bay and watched, disabling the sensor that would show life signs in the pod and read it as in standby mode from the outside. That was the easy part, the hard part was when they had finished unloading the cargo and moved the large explosive device into the cargo bay. I managed to disable the launch thrusters that would automatically launch the pod towards the nearest habitable planet once ejected and released the docking clamp without setting off the sensor that would alert the ship that a pod had been launched.”

“The pod floated away from the ship quietly, I thought I was far enough away but the shock wave from the explosion still hit the pod, destroying the exterior scanners and damaging the emergency beacon. I was able to disable those systems, as well as the thrusters and navigation systems to conserve power and keep myself from getting launched at random into the unknown. I still had proximity detectors and life support as well as fluid recycling but as the days went on, I had to reroute power to keep critical systems running and eventually had to disable the recycling system to keep from freezing or running out of air. I barely had enough spare working parts to fix a toaster when you picked me up, and less than an hour of air, having shut off the heat to get even that. The proximity alarm went off, then the salvage claw grabbed the pod and you know the rest.”

Spark stopped then, clearly worn out for the telling but relieved to finally give voice to all the hardships she had gone through to get here. Rick was again impressed at her guile and ingenuity, as well as her luck. Pirates rarely took prisoners, those they didn’t kill or take as slaves were tortured, used as playthings until the pirate boss was ready to move on then those lucky enough were spaced through an airlock and those unlucky were left to die in the explosion that generally followed in the wake of such pirate attacks. Most pirates would stay around to make sure that none of those left behind made it into an escape pod, using such escape attempts as target practice. He also knew first hand that her skills were amazing, and to be self-taught too. He wondered how many times she took something apart and was unable to put it back together in working order, having to put it back and let someone else discover that it no longer functioned, or functioned improperly. He may have to ask her some time, but right now she was asleep in his arms, leaned against him while he leaned against the headboard of his bed where they had been talking. He placed her into her nest of blankets, then headed to the cockpit to check on their course.

Drakon was an agricultural planet, the twin suns giving a long growing season. The climate was hot, with most of the native wildlife living in the ocean that covered 60% of the planet's surface. The dominant species on the planet was Twilexian due to the climate and long days that mimicked their home planet. The only humans on planet worked the space port, rarely venturing out into the fields. Though self-sufficient, the planet boasted a high volume of imported goods from Earth, primarily food stuffs and manufactured goods. Rick had been here before, even been out to one of the farms. Most humans tended to be fearful of Twilexians or Twills as they called themselves. Their appearance causing most humans to be fearful and distrusting. Twills were sensitive to emotions, drawing off this unease and in their attempts to calm their guests, tended to increase the tension instead since their idea of calming was to emit a series of rasping clicks and swaying motions with raised arms. For that reason, the space port only hosted a handful of Twills working the loading docks, the rest of the workers being humans who had long since lost their fear of the strange creatures.

Rick had more interaction with Twills that most, having spent 2 years serving aboard a Twilexian transport during his early years before he had a ship of his own. Contacts he had made then had been influential in getting him the job today to transport produce sourced locally and exchange it at one of the orbital space ports around Earth for freight bound for Drakon. Most Twilexians tended to stick to their planet, or the three other similar worlds where they had migrated during the last Twilexian civil war. Klixxt was an oddity, preferring the company of humans and after having spent considerable time amongst them had adopted enough of their mannerisms to offset the social disparities of the species. Rick had only heard of three Twills that had successfully managed to meld with human society and of those three Klixxt was by far the most prominent and the most liked.

The results arrived shortly before their arrival at Drakon, Spark looked over the report, her ears drooping. She had scored very well in mathematics, reading, and mechanical engineering, well enough for post graduate level but her history, economics, and social studies among others were all painfully low. There was a list of classes she would be required to take, along with a new test that would gauge her aptitude in mechanical engineering to place her qualifications for a degree should she pass the general education classes. The three-day trip had taken its toll, leaving her feeling anxious and moody with no way to burn off the excess energy and stressing over the pending results of the testing. Now that she had those results, they were the source of increased stress and anxiety. She dutifully called Rick in to see her results, embarrassed at the low scores but surprised when he ignored those and instead praised her for doing so well on the mathematics and engineering. “From what you told me the last few days; you have never been given classroom teaching so I didn’t expect much. Your reading and mathematics scores are quite high, and they even sent out an extra test for you to get a degree. I’m very proud of you sweetie, we will work together on the rest. We have time you know, since we will be doing a lot of travel over the next few months back and forth from Earth and Drakon.”