FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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"Ah, crap. That EMP blast Capisa mentioned busted our zero matter converter. At this rate we won't be able to use FTL until we can somehow find a replacement part."

Dajar's statement made Calventis sighed. Zero Matter converter was the most crucial part of a space-jumping ship. Its main weakness was how exposed it was to the space. If the ship was hit with a direct EMP blast emitted from the planet, it would be like what they saw right now.

"So we're stuck here until help arrives?" replied Calventis.

"Well, no, if we can ask the station of any spare converters." Dajar exhaled. "So much for a start of a great journey. Have you told them the problem yet?"

"Well, that's the reason why they are going to the station, right? We are stuck here, guarding the ship with...this mammal."

"Oi, I'm not a mammal," said Rose taking out some food reserve for the three of them. "I'm a Lycan."

"Sorry, but I have never met other mammals aside from humans," said Calventis. "Is that offensive to you?"

"It's usually the reverse. Are you not satisfied with me here? We can guard this ship better than others, you know."

"Nah, I'm not a fighter type," said Dajar. "I'm just an assistant shipwright..."

"I don't mean our specialty, Dajar. You know soon enough."

Calventis then took one sip of a cup beside him, where he felt something that taste like grassy herb. He then asked, "What is this?"

"It's tea. This is tea time, after all."

"In my culture, grass herbals are so rare that you need to pay a lot just to get some," said Calventis while drinking the tea. "You won't believe how this beverage is actually used for truce."

"But being Let's son, you have a fair share of tea in your life, right?"

Calventis chuckled. "Father won't let me drink one, even if we have an abundance of grass herbs. His reasoning being that we are living in the middle of an arid region. I only drink it on special occasions."

"Well, what a shame. Maybe next time, you can go to Vitania and meet me and my husband. You can drink our tea the way you want it to."

"Thank you, Mrs. Van Helsing."

"Hey, that's a Terran speech pattern! You know a lot of it from Let, didn't you?"

"He loves his openness."

Meanwhile, the other group reached the research station and were greeted by two Saurians. The Saurians looked a lot like the old dinosaurs that went extinct when dragons and other lesser races survived a catastrophic meteor blast that decimated them, with dragons only surviving because of their heat resistance and elemental prowess. These two looked like they were evolved from raptors, but retained their beastly visage. Most Saurians they knew had humanoid visage, with hints of their dinosaur ancestry on their anatomy.

They waited in the lounge when another Saurian went out and said, "I heard you need some converters?"

"You have some available?"

"Yes, I have some necessary equipment for your ship, guests, but in turn, I want you to do some work for me."

"We are ready for what you want us to do," said Dairyu. "That's what we want to actually do when we ask you for the part. It's not the way we do think to not give something in return."

"Aren't you black scales supposed to be...paid by your government?"

"We work freelance," said Seiryu. "Not all black scaled draconians are Warriors, so you know."

"Acknowledged." The raptor-like Saurian then pulled out a tablet and showed them a hologram of some sort of the forested area around the station.

"We don't really need much," said the Saurian. "We just need you to plant a beacon in this coordinate. But this is no easy task."

"Let me guess, there are a lot of dangerous wildlife inhabiting the jungle," said Capisa. "Well, we can fend them off..."

"No, don't kill them!" The Saurian interrupted. "This is not some hunting ground!"

"Whoa, calm down! We never mentioned killing anything!"

"Sorry for that outburst. Our station here is not for colony, so when anyone mentioned 'taking care of' we immediately thought it is for killing the creatures. We don't want you to make any damage to the nature. We haven't research anything more than the plants and small animals. We only have three exo-biologists."

"Wow, you are understaffed."

"Don't worry, black scales. After you plant that beacon, we can scan the jungle wildlife without even risking ourselves into the jungle. We'll conduct an exploration after our proposal for...able-bodied research team is approved."

"May I ask why such project is not funded more?" asked Dairyu. "I thought your race is a leading race in exo-biology."

"Oh, about that...most of our resources are used for historical and anthropological purpose...did I spell that correctly?"

After Dairyu nodded (Saurians had a problem talking with common space language due to their language being used primarily in their scientific research), the Sauran continued.

"Lost histories can be encumbering, so we prioritize the research for that field, instead of natural science. We feel that our knowledge on nature is advanced enough, but for some Saurians like me, it is not enough." He then made a weird noise under his breath. "Still, our history is very ancient, and we lost many of them. I can't blame our people's scientists for making that decision. Oh...sorry, did I talk too much? I'll go fetch the beacon."

The Saurian then hastily walked towards the sliding door. After he went past it, Dairyu said, "You don't trust him?"

"How can you tell?"

"Saurians are honest alien race, Seiryu. Their reptilian appearance does not make them liars. As for how I notice, your breathing went unsteady for a while."

"Dairyu...I was only dead for some days. I still remembered when that fleet lied to us. You can't blame me."

"At least you can get closer to Capisa." When he noticed Seiryu's surprised expression, Dairyu said, "Don't deny it. I can hear you call his name when we walked here."

"W-well, that doesn't mean I am accepting him!"

"Hey...I can hear that, you know," said Capisa.

"Shut up, Capisa!"

Dairyu sighed. "That sums up things."

Right at that moment, the Saurian returned and gave Dairyu the beacon, which looked very ancient in Terran standard, before the Orient remembered how Saurian technology looked like.

"Huh, looks Xepotec," said Seiryu upon seeing the beacon, which was shaped like a small cogwheel and engraved with many inscriptions that looked ancient in Terran standard.

"Based on our history, we helped the Xepotecs," said the Saurian smiling. "Oh, don't worry, this is not a thousand years old technology. It is just designed so it can blend with nature more. We don't want it to be destroyed by some...interested animals, right?"

"Alright...so we just go in there, put the beacon at the coordinate, and get out without harming any native animals," said Dairyu repeating the mission's briefing. "Got it. We'll be back with the results."

After they went out of the reception area, Seiryu looked at the beacon and said, "Do you think this is a trap?"

"Seiryu, Stop being so goddamn paranoid and get on with the job. It's starting to get annoying."

"But I...forget it. It's always the same reason." The black Orient then looked around. "Why are we returning to the ship?"

"In this kind of job, we need an animal to guide us from harm."

"You mean Rose? Isn't this a little bit too dangerous for her? I mean, I know she's a Lycan, but this is not Terra. Those animals might be in a higher kingdom than her."

This time, Dairyu didn't want to reply, knowing that it would be the same as asking Seiryu of his paranoia and skepticism, with the latter only telling the older Orient, over and over again, that he was still fresh from the death. Rose agreed only because she was also an exo-biologist, and she needed to conduct some experiments and specimen collections so as to not bore her. She needed the research fund for her sons' education and for Amhyr, who was trying to get a freelance bodyguard job after knowing that Rose wouldn't be able to help them financially because of her own goals.

In the jungle, they followed the coordinate and to leave breadcrumbs (which is a signal ping detailing their last known location) for them to go back to the ship. For an alien planet, the place was surprisingly cool despite of the presence of alien trees. Alien critters, which weren't as different as Terran critters in appearances, roamed freely around them, watching the three explorers eagerly, as if waiting for them to do something interesting for them.

After walking through the jungle without anything eventful, they wanted to take a rest. They could still find the coordinate from the tablet, but it was still far deeper into the jungle. Geographical scan around them indicated that they were in an elevated ground.

While breaking out the tea and cookies (per Rose's tradition), they talked to each other about the state of the jungle and the beacon's purpose. Again, Rose made Seiryu's paranoia unfulfilled when she said that the beacon was eco-friendly and wouldn't harm any wildlife.

"Saurians are known to be one with nature. I have a Saurian friend called Nulatahl. She was an expert on these things and right now she's in that giant galaxy exploration ship. Love how she becomes a true scientist of her dream," said Rose while pouring a cup of tea from the thermos.

"Dream big, huh? How about you, Rose?"

"I might be hundreds of years old now, but I may not have that kind of dream anymore. I have children now, Ryu. Well, I'm not good at raising my own cubs, but Amhyr have a knack on it, which is ironic, really."

"You're still lucky you have good twins," said Dairyu. "I...uh...might have a problem with legitimacy."

"Oh, I know that already, Ryu. Your ghostly friend told me." Upon seeing Dairyu reaction, Rose chuckled. "Oh don't be so surprised, Ryu. It's just a matter of perspective. You have your own history before we met, so I don't want to judge you. In fact..."

Rose sniffed something in the air and her ears went up, indicating that she was alert. She stood up and sniffed around. Dairyu sensed a change in air pressure and knew something was coming to them. It wasn't a critter, and it was big enough to cause a change in wind pressure.

"Can you find that creature, Rose?" said Dairyu while drawing his tranq rifle.

"I don't know. It might be taunting us or masking its presence. Either way, there is another sharp smell that I can't explain."

"Uh, now that you said it, something's cooking," said Dairyu while sniffing the air. "Whoever cooking in the middle of this jungle knows the natural ingredients around it."

"Yes, but it is also causing problems with the nature. Let's try to find the source of the smell first."

"How about if we plant the beacon first, then go find that smell?" said Seiryu. "I'll leave the tracker signals along the way. We need to get that converter."

They followed Seiryu's suggestion and went to plant the beacon at the designated coordinate. When it was planted, it made a silent whirring sound as the gears of the beacon turned counter-clockwise. It suddenly emitted laser sweeping projection that scanned the immediate surrounding area. After that, it became silent, with only a blinking green light on top of it. Then, the beacon vanished, or more precisely, cloaked, becoming transparent.

"Alright, that's one thing done. Now let's check the source of the smell."

"Uh...we may have a problem here," said Dairyu after getting through a nearby bush. Rose and Seiryu followed him and was surprised by what he saw.

It was a camp of some sort, with a hollowed giant tree fashioned to be a decent home shelter. There were many remains of the wildlife around there. Bones and carcasses were scattered around the fire pit in the middle, which was currently roasting a freshly caught hog-like creature. The smell that made them interested was the presence of herbs local to that planet stuffed inside the creature. Yet, there was something different with the food they saw. Upon touching it (Orients had scales with varying fire resistance), Dairyu pulled his hand in surprise.

"What's wrong? Is it hot?"

"No...it's just...the bones were crushed. Something...or someone...cooking this creature had a strong grip."

"I think I know what can do that," said Seiryu with Rose looking at a track. It was from something long and thick. It had been around the camp for a while.

"So you mean we are trespassing its territory?" said Dairyu. "Is this the camp of that thing stalking us?"

"Whoever or whatever that is, this giant snake thing is clever enough to mask its smell," said Rose while trying to find its scent. "It may have adapted to this jungle's wildlife, and..."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Rose felt her body being crushed by a strong invisible grip. She was gasping for breath as her chest was being crushed. Dairyu and Seiryu became alert, but they couldn't find anything.

Seiryu then took the risky way. Pulling out his sword, he stabbed Rose. Yet, instead of hitting her, the sword was floating on mid-air as something started to materialize around Rose.

The thing materializing was a giant snake body that looked like a cross between a constrictor (from its muscled and big body) and a rattlesnake. But when they followed the body's length, they saw that it was just the lower body, while the upper body was vaguely humanoid, ending with a snake's head. The humanoid body was wearing something like a leather strap and makeshift armor. Tattered cloth wrapped around its neck. It had more scar than they thought would be possible for a snake, except if it was a naga.

"Holy shit! I never thought they actually exist!" exclaimed Seiryu while trying to pull his sword. The naga, surprised by the sudden pain, released Rose and climbed the tree again. Seiryu quickly tended to Rose, who was gasping for air.

"That bloody snake almost crushed my ribs!" said Rose trying to breathe normally.

"Can you get its scent?"

"Well, no.... It's clever. It masked its scent by blending with the trees and...somehow, its ability to cloak made it even harder to sense."

Before they could come up with another plan, however, the naga attacked them again, this time rushing through the tall grass and grabbed Seiryu unexpectedly. With the force and immediate crash towards the nearest tree, Seiryu wasn't able to concentrate on controlling any water dew around the trees. He was also disoriented when his head hit the hard trunk. He was then face to face with the naga, with it glaring at him with its sharp blue snake eyes, occasionally hissing towards Seiryu, spitting out poisons that, while not potent, was annoying.

Dairyu and Rose wanted to help, but the snake was versatile enough. He pulled out a makeshift bone knife and throw it towards Rose, which hit the ground in front of her. Dairyu wasn't able to get to his weapons when the naga used its tail to make a sweep that made the black Orient lost his balance and fell.

"Are you his people?" said the naga while hissing. "Answer the question, reptilian!"

"What are you talking about? We are just doing some errand!" said Seiryu before a knife was put in front of his face.

"I can cut through your vein and you'll be dead in 5 minutes. Now tell me, who sent you?"

"Dude, we are just doing an errand for the research outpost! I don't you who is chasing you!"

"That outpost does not have any exploration team until later, and I know their uniform. You must be here for something else, right? I am not going to be their slave anymore. You hear me?!"

"What in the world?"

The naga got distracted enough that he didn't realize Dairyu was grabbing the tip of his tail, which was a rattlesnake-like appendage. All the sudden the naga yelped and lost his concentration, losing his grip on Seiryu.

"You...oh, god...wait, stop!"

Dairyu, perplexed by the naga's sudden change, wanted to make sure that the snake wouldn't bother them anymore. He squeezed the tip, at first to incapacitate the naga, but instead, it was moaning hard like he was having a sex with someone. This surprised and made them embarrassed for doing that.

"I...I give up," said the naga, feeling defeated. "I can't...believe you found my weakness."

"O...kay, this is unprecedented," said Rose. "I heard many times that snakes become weaker when their tail was out of the way, but I never would have thought he would be...sexually aroused by it."

"At least we can tie him up and take him to the research outpost," said Seiryu while getting a nearby vine. "But still...he does make a good cook."

An hour later, after following the breadcrumb signal they put on the road, they finally reached the open grass plain. It was still at the same time and day as the first time they went inside, but knowing that each planet had different day and night cycle, they could see how there was perpetual daylight.

The Saurian who gave them the job was astonished and surprised when he saw a naga on Dairyu's and Seiryu's back (he was too long to be carried by an Orient), properly restrained. After putting the naga down, the Saurian stared at him, where he promptly turned away. After a while, the Saurian said, "Just unbind him, dark scales. He's not an animal. He's one of us."

After seeing their genuine surprised reaction, the Saurian sighed and said, "Like you Terrans, we also have races living in our worlds. He belongs to the Sslathas race, or in your common language, he's a Viper."

"He doesn't look like a Viper to us," said Seiryu while releasing the vine keeping the naga's mouth shut.

"Vipers don't do space travel often. They are forest dwellers and not many are exposed to modern life. They are the closest to nature than most of us."

"I chose my travel as I see fit, Drosaurid," said the Viper who quickly pulled his hand away from Seiryu.

"How long have you been on this planet? Did you hitchhike a supply ship?"

"I have reasons you don't need to know. Just leave me alone and let me live my life inside the jungle."

But before he slithered away, the Drosaurid caught the Viper's tail and saw something, which made him hiss.

"You're an escaped convict, aren't you?" said the Saurian. "Just as you know, we don't take criminals here, even if you are living among the local nature. I'll call the..."

"Wait, stop!" The Viper knew he was in a bind, and he said, "Yes, I am a convict, but I am not inside a prison for a crime."

"You have a prison mark, and we cannot be sure if you are lying or not. Even if you are telling the truth, they will still take you in."

"Just don't! I am warning you drosaurid. I am not going back into that stink hole again!"

"Uh...I don't want to butt into your law, but I remembered having heard something called 'extraterrestrial amnesty' from one of your council members," said Dairyu, which took the drosaurid's attention.

"Are you telling me you are going to take this Viper as your prisoner? Well, that is possible with pending paperwork, but are you sure? He might be a dangerous criminal lying to us."

"I am sure he's not. Right, Viper?"

"But even if he plead for amnesty, he needed to work in your ship as a..." The raptor-like saurian gulped. "As an...underpaid workforce."

"You mean as a slave, right?"

When the Drosaurid nodded sadly, Dairyu sighed. "What's with aliens and slavery?"

"Well, he told us that he was a..."

"Stop there, reptilian," said the Viper hissing to Seiryu.

"Anyway, we are not taking him in as a slave, okay? We only needed an extra crew who can do provisions in our ship. We don't have a cook and we really need one."

"We have seen how he cooked," said Rose. "While it looks normal in our eyes, the fact that it was made by a Saurian was extraordinary."

"Are you Terrans serious? We don't object to that, but you still need..."

"Just screw the paperwork, Saurian. We have our own risks."

Both the Viper and the drosaurid were hesitating, but nevertheless, the drosaurid returned to the outpost while saying, "We'll deliver the converter to your ship."

After the vanished behind the door, the Viper looked towards the group and said, "Why are you helping me, reptilian?"

"Are you going to tell him that you are sodomized in prison? Look, we don't care with your criminal past, unless you are a wanted criminal with bad rep," said Dairyu. "I am not an official, but until we can determine your worth, you are going to work as our chef."

"You really want a Viper as a chef? Not all kitchens are big enough for me."

"Just stop questioning and get the hell onto my ship," said Dairyu, his patience getting thin. "Ancestors, you are so picky in jobs, huh?"

As they walked to the ship, Dairyu wanted to know his name, so he asked, "Anyway, what's your name?"

The Viper just made a grunt and said, "Xsatuki."