FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

1.

Nicolai Capernibun studied the eyepiece of his telescope. He scratched his floppy ear and hummed thoughtfully.

While it is true that the good denizens of Floofington Hills were known more for their fungal based agriculture than their astrological sciences, Nicolai was always one to buck convention. He hopped down from his stool, a regal floppy eared brown bunny. The peak of young rabbit physical prowess even though his passion was in the sedentary observational sciences. This was due to his strict belief in a well rounded life that included an intricate fitness regime... but that isn't really relevant to our story.

He hopped across the soft floor of his one room mushroom house. His telescope took up a goodly amount of his living space, but there was still room for his all purpose workbench and a small but comfortable bed.

He opened the third drawer from the top left and removed a sheaf of parchment. He scanned through the elegantly written notes and calculations, checking and double checking and triple checking his work.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," he shook his head. His math was flawless. There was to be... an eclipse!

Nicolai was level headed. He knew that the big burning orb of gases would not really disappear, that sunshine would eventually return to the rolling countryside of Floofington Hills, but his fellow bunnies? They were another matter.

Nicolai leaned back and thought ruefully of the time the town crier stubbed this toe causing him to miss a shift of shouting the day's news down in the marketplace. The bunnies had jumped to the conclusion that society had collapsed. Nicolai spent the next week and a half going mushroom to mushroom convincing the occupants to unboard their windows and stop digging bunkers that threatened to undermine their homes foundations.

He glanced at his large telescope. Well, there was nothing he could do to stop the eclipse, but maybe he could convince the other bunnies that there would be a new dawn. But that might just spread more panic.

Nicolai decided it was time for a walk.

***

It was late, but a good walk to get the blood flowing always helped Nicolai think.

If his calculations were correct -and he was sadly sure they were- the giant space-cloud would drift between the Earth and the sun in three days time. Actually, two days time, but the bunnies of Floofington Hills had no clock and thus no way of knowing it was past midnight.

Nicolai hopped down his hill. The little village was fast asleep. No candles burned in any of the windows, no gleeful songs drifting up from the warrens and no chirping birds flitting between the colorful gardens. To be expected at this hour, for sure, but what was not expected was Skippy.

As Nicolai hopped past the entrance to the warrens -now used exclusively for mushroom cultivation since the bunnies relocated to the surface of Floofington Hills. Perhaps it was that Nicolai had lost himself in thought, or maybe it was Skippy's penchant for leaping before looking. Either way, Skippy exited the warrens and entered the space being occupied by Nicolai.

"Oof!" cried Nicolai as he fell.

"Oh goodness me!" yelped Skippy as he fell.

The two bunnies rubbed their heads for a moment before realizing what had happened.

"Skippy? What are you doing awake at this time of the night?"

Skippy was a sandy furred fellow with long steady ears and an abnormally puffy tail. "Tending the tunnels of course. What brings you out here?"

"Puzzling out how to avert a disaster."

Skippy jumped up and held his head. "Oh no! Has Rutherford taken another sick day?"

"No, no. I'm afraid this is a little more complicated than our over reliance on a single town crier." Nicolai accepted Skippy's outstretched hand and stood.

"Well, what is it then?" Skippy's curiosity had been piqued.

Nicolai sighed and patted the other bunny on the head. "I would not wish to trouble you with the burden of such a problem until I have puzzled out a solution."

"Aw, come on!" Skippy protested. "Wasn't I one of the first you were able to convince when we all thought society had collapsed?" That was true. "And aren't I the rabbit who helped you build that big fancy looking-machine that's poking through your roof?" Also true. "And aren't I one of the most levelheaded bunnies in all of Floofington Hills?" He was not.

Nicolai considered Skippy. If anything, he was industrious, and like his fourth-cousin used to say: 'in a crisis, an industrious bunny was a useful bunny.' It was an oddly specific bit of wisdom, now that Nicolai thought about it, but it was a wise saying all the same.

"Alright, Skippy. First let me ask what you know of space clouds."

Skippy promptly began to scream.

***

It took Nicolai two mugs of hot cocoa and a few hours to calm his friend down.

"Now, now, my excitable friend, you see why this has me worried." Nicolai said calmly. "The unknown and unfamiliar can be frightening, which is why I fear for Floofington Hills' serene ambiance as much as the average bunny will fear the space cloud."

Skippy blinked. "What is a space cloud? You never got around to telling me."

Nicolai knew he owed his friend the truth, but making the unknown known could be an awful lot like pouring water on a fire. Hissing and billowing steam followed by mushy disillusionment. On the other paw, when your mushroom house is burning down, those natural theatrics become significantly less... significant.

"As far as the top bunnies of science can say," he being both the top bunny of science and the only bunny of science within at least a hundred leagues, could speak authoritatively on the matter, "space clouds are clouds, of our planet and countless others, that become too fluffy," fluffy being a technical term amongst rabbits, I assure you, "and begin to rise. If they do not turn into rain, they continue to rise until they drift free of the atmosphere and float freely in space."

Wide eyed Skippy did his best to process this. "So... like a cloud. In space."

"Yes," Nicolai chirped. It often took him several attempts to explain astronomical phenomena.

Skippy leaned in. "And we should panic because...?"

"No, Skippy," Nicolai pushed his floppy ears back, "That is why we shouldn't panic when a giant space cloud drifts in front of the sun, bringing global darkness for more or less a full day."

Skippy promptly began to scream.

***

Several additional cups of hot cocoa and a comforting blanket later, and Skippy had exhausted his alarm. Nicolai, though, had not.

"You see, Skippy, imagine the entirety of Floofington Hills reacting in such a manner and there being no one to offer hot cocoa."

Skippy stood up, eyes wide and puff of a tail shimmying. "Oh goodness me! This is indeed a pickle of great proportions."

Nicolai nodded in sad agreement.

"The darkness wrought by this giant space cloud will surely disrupt our fair Floofington Hills," Skippy pounded a fist into his palm.

Again, Nicolai nodded in sad agreement.

Skippy put a foot atop his chair, striking the quintessential hero's pose as he gazed toward the mushroom's ceiling. "And it falls to us to save the day!"

Yet again, Nicolai began to nod in sad agreement before fully processing what his excitable friend has said. "Wait... Us?"