FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

As a foreword to this upcoming tale I would like to quickly give a rundown of what readers should expect. Currently this story does not have any highly NSFW aspects to it, although it does involve a variety of mature themes and language. As the story progresses, NSFW aspects may come into play at some point in the future and if it does I will note it as such. From what I can tell, there are quite a few well written steamy hot sex stories currently available on this site. If that is what you are looking for in this tale, I'm sorry but at the moment you will have to look elsewhere.

This is one of my first stories I have ever posted or shared publicly and as a result I'm sure it will be riddled with errors and incongruities. I ask that you please let me know if I have made any such glaring or obvious errors (preferably in a respectable manner) and I will do my best to remedy them in the future.

As with many stories on this website this tale is meant for people over 18/21 and may contain elements that some readers find offensive, including but not limited to the following:

Chapter

-Furries

-Homosexual Relationships

-Heterosexual Relationships

-Gore (Both blood and Presidential Candidates)

-Sex (Of any kind)

-Abuse (Verbal, Physical and Emotional)

-The Color Blue (Whether it is Indigo, Teal or even Navy)

If you find any or all of the above list to your disliking I would ask that you not scroll down or read any further. To the remainder of the folks, please enjoy and I would love to know what you think.

All characters are fictional and any names or they may share with persons, both fictional and non-fictional are purely coincidental.

All characters and fictional locations are the intellectual property of banditfromtheeast © 2017

All Rights Reserved

Beyond the Stars

Chapter Five

"Decompress"

The air hissed away at the airlock, before the exterior door slowly opened up, exposing the insides to the vacuum of space.

"Minor thrust adjustment in five seconds, please hang on"

Sampson's voice over the intercom was as cold as ever, and the monotone was forever engrained in the young wolf's mind. Caillyn watched through the small window on the inner airlock door as the final eight bodies floated out into the vast expanse beyond. There were no tears, no sobbing or feelings of any sort. His heart had become a stone and his soul cold.

For several minutes he watched the last of what he could call his second family float out and away from his life. The cold electronic voice once again began to draw him back to reality.

"Mr. Kaldo, I'm sorry, but there are other matters we need to attend to. We cannot lose focus now"

"Shut the door Sampson, let's move on" the wolf's quiet voice unwavering and emotionless.

As the hangar module once again began to spin up to match the rest of the ship, Caillyn crossed off another task on his mental checklist.

His next task was to replace a dozen memory modules from Sampson's mainframe. As it turns out, the biological members were not the only ones to suffer from the effects of the harsh radiation. Several of Sampson's components had failed due to the sudden surge of particles from the reactor. Most of the AI's information stored on the failed drives were able to be recovered and backed up before the physical hardware was fully defunct. However the word "Most" does not mean all the information was able to be saved. Several of the AI's memories along with widespread information regarding maintenance procedures and operating checklists were permanently lost with the failed components.

He worked in silence for nearly an hour, replacing the worst of the memory drives with blank ones, providing the AI with more space to allocate data and backup vital information. Sampson did not speak throughout this procedure, though Caillyn didn't mind, he was more than a little sick of the machine's voice.

As he finished with the mainframe the first real signs of the radiation poisoning were starting to become evident. The wolf had developed a small cough with blood pooling in his mouth every time he had a small fit.

Caillyn continued with his next job, unphased by his up and coming ailment. He began to bring large amounts of rations from the cargo holds into the medical bay, his new home for the foreseeable future. The proximity to a variety of medications and equipment dictated that this would be the optimal place to ride out his illness through the next few weeks. Both he and Sampson were uncertain about how mobile Caillyn would be through the thick of his illness and wanted to prepare as best as possible.

The wolf finished stacking the last bit of supplies in the operating theatre when the first major fit occurred. What started as a small cough had quickly escalated to violent and bloody hacking. The wolf was brought to his knees gasping for air as blood spewed out of his mouth. As it finally subsided he sat back against the stack of boxes to try and regain his strength.

"Mr. Kaldo you need to begin treatment immediately, please take a full dose of C-2819, located on shelf 3 of cabinet 9" demanded the voice over the intercom.

"Yeah ... I know Sampson, just gimme a minute" the wolf rasped back. He was panting heavily, his body and mind both exhausted. He had now been awake for twenty long hours and could not take much more before he would need a solid bout of rest.

He spent a few more minutes regaining his composure before getting to his feet, padding over to the cabinet and injecting himself with the correct serum. He gazed around the room a moment, checking the last few items off of his mental list. Only a single item remained, contacting home and sourcing the program that began the tragedy on the TOOF.

"Sampson, please load the communications logs on the tablet in here. I want to find out what happened"

"I can establish a remote link to the communications terminal, but I am unable to access the content directly. All information regarding security access and functions relating to my use of the Kelta Array was lost during the reactor incident."

The young wolf paused and looked up at the ceiling

"Well that's rough, just do what you can" He almost wanted to feel a little sorry for the machine, but after what it had put him through he felt no remorse.

"Please standby, the connection is being finalized"

A few moments passed by during which Caillyn coughed up a little more blood through a much gentler and shorter fit.

"Mr. Kaldo the connection is established but may I make a suggestion?"

"And what's that?" the wolf was more than a little apprehensive

"Take a shower and clean yourself up while you can. This is likely going to be a long few weeks, and you have already gone fifty three days without a proper chance to groom yourself. The messages can wait another hour and can be viewed while laying in a bed. A shower on the other hand can not."

Caillyn started to get angry and was preparing to tell off the computer when he caught his reflection off one of the aluminum cabinet doors. The greasy red-eyed figure looking back at him was nearly unrecognizable. He looked awful, which also accurately matched how the wolf felt at that very moment. The computer was right in this case and he was likely not going to be able to have a shower for some time. Plus the steam might help a little with his cough.

"Sampson ..." he said aloud, staring at his reflection "you're right" the final two words came out in nearly a whisper and were followed by a heavy sigh. He slowly began to make his way to one of the recovery rooms off of the operating theatre. Inside one of the adjacent bathrooms he set the shower to high heat and steam before he peeled the layer of disgusting clothes off of him. He looked at himself in the mirror more thoroughly, he had lost a bit of weight, mostly in muscle mass, over the past few weeks. All in all though he seemed to have survived his weightless ordeal in reasonable physical condition.

As he poked and prodded at his fur in front of the mirror, a relaxing tune began to play over the intercom. He paused for a moment, before he turned around and opened the door to the shower.

"Thanks Sampson" he mumbled before entering the cascade of water pouring down from the ceiling

"Don't mention it" Sampson replied quietly, knowing full well that the wolf could not hear him.

What was originally meant to be a short shower, turned into a long and drawn out ordeal. Caillyn couldn't get enough of the water pouring over his body, along with the shampoo washing away the filth and remaining artifacts of his incarceration. By the time he finally felt satisfied with his condition well over an hour had passed. He turned off the water and engaged the dryers. The walls on all sides lit up with warm air that pushed past him before being vented up and into the roof. Like the shower, he could not bring himself to rush through this process.

He walked out, both fully dry and nude in search of a fresh pair of clothes. The infirmary was well stocked with a wide variety of attire and he selected what he deemed the most comfortable. He picked up one of the tablets and took it to his bed, it was time to contact home.

Caillyn went through the usual routine of logging into the communications station and sent out a request for a face to face communication. In a few moments he would be talking with mission control, and together they could figure out what had happened and how he could get home.

Several moments passed while he waited for a response and he began to browse through the list of messages that had been cached on the Kalael Array, the first one on his list was the protocol test program that had ended up killing the crew. It was not the first message that was sent from Kalael, but was sent with a mission critical tag, meaning it would be the first message to be downloaded when they connected to the Kalael Kelta Array. No communication of any sort was present in this message, and the sender was only identified as a mission administrator account. Very little to go on, but with some time and help from mission control they could probably narrow something down.

With still no response from mission control the wolf ran a diagnostics check on the communications system. All systems normal with both an up and down connection with the Kalael Array. He sent another request through to mission control and went back to the messages. Approximately 1200 in total, mostly video messages to the crew from their families. As most of these were private and personal in nature they could only be accessed by their respective recipient. He sorted out the non-mission messages that were not addressed to him which brought the total number down to eight. He started in, his request for a video conference still pending a response. He went through the remaining messages one by one. His family and close friends initially tried to keep him up to date with the goings on in their lives, but after the first few, the time span between them grew drastically. He had never been an overly popular guy to begin with and had never found someone to call his mate. He was one of several siblings and could understand why his mom would be busy. It is hard to raise a family as a single parent. He finished watching the last of his personal messages, his great-great grandfather had passed away at the age of 962. The wolf wanted to shed a tear in his memory, wanted to feel sorry for his lose, but felt nothing.

He pulled the tablet to his chest and exhaled loudly before returning to the screen. He became a little confused when he noticed the send date of his final message, well over a year ago. Nobody in his family or friends had sent him anything since then.

He scowled a little bit before closing his personal messages and opening the mission control updates. Only five messages came up.

The First was a highlight reel and commemorative documentary regarding the launch of their mission and the subsequent celebrations.

The Second was a one year anniversary of their departure, the whole mission control staff was present for the video. Cake was served.

The Third was a two year anniversary, the control staff were once again all present eating cake.

The Fourth was a small text message sent shortly after the third:

"Political upheaval in northern continent, currently assessing impact on mission parameters"

The fifth and final mission update was sent three days after the Fourth and was the final message to be received by the TOOF.

Caillyn begrudgingly opened the file, unsure of what he would find. An old silver furred wolf sat alone in the mission control room of the space centre, his face wrought by the passage of time. Caillyn quickly recognized the facility director who slowly turned up to look into the camera.

"My Children ... the children of Kalael ... they did it, the madmen actually did it. I don't know who started it ... and I guess at this point, it doesn't really matter." The old wolf looked down for a moment and wiped away a tear on his cheek.

"I gave up my personal life to pursue my dream of space exploration, and would do it all over again, if I was given the chance. I personally want to thank each and every one of you for taking part in this journey and I can only hope you find what you're looking for out there." A bright flash emanates from off screen, prompting several muffled voices to yell and cry out. The facility director briefly looks over, a sad expression spreading across his face as he returns to face the camera.

"Do not come back home, there is nothing left for you here. Goodbye my children, may you find a new home among the stars..." he raised his right paw as a salute while he softly smiled with tears rolling down his cheeks. The light off screen becomes brighter and brighter before the recording cuts out to static. The video then ends.

Caillyn said nothing, did nothing and felt nothing. He sat in alone in his silence for over an hour before he made another move. He replayed the short video over again and again, ingraining every action and word of the old wolf in his mind.

The young wolf rescinded the request for communication with Kalael and was about to set down the tablet before he decided to check one more thing. He pulled up the message with the self-executing protocol and checked the time it was sent; eight hours prior to the launch directors message. He still couldn't identify who sent it, and it was looking like he may never identify the culprit. Did it really even matter at this point anyways? He removed the security codes from the messages before he placed the tablet on his nightstand. Caillyn walked out into the operating theatre towards the cabinets filled with various vials of medication.

"Is there something wrong Mr. Kaldo?" asked Sampson over the intercom

"I ... need something to help me sleep" replied the young wolf calmly. "Sampson, please do a full ship-wide diagnostics check and prepare for departure"

As he waited for Sampson's response he loaded up and injected himself with small doses of both a sleep aid and a sedative, just enough to take the edge off.

"Fission reactor remains inoperative, all other systems are nominal. Were you able to establish a course of action with mission control?"

"The plan is in motion, we will depart immediately"

"Adjusting course for Kalael, trajectory is calculating now" stated Sampson's

"No ... we're continuing ahead with our original destination" the wolf said yawning as he crawled into his bed situated in the recovery room off of the operating theatre.

"Is that a rational decision considering our circumstances?"

"I've removed the login locks on the messages we've received, they'll explain everything. Depart when you're ready. Don't wake me up Sampson, I need a good nights sleep."

With that the wolf put his head down and immediately fell into a deep and dreamless slumber. Sampson slowly worked his way through the messages he could access. Caillyn was only able to remove the locks on the messages he himself could access, meaning the thousand or so remaining personal messages were unwatchable. As he finished analyzing their final message, he made the necessary calculations to arrive at their original destination. The fusion reactor began cycling to full power and the Stellar Drive was activated. Once again they were on their way to an unknown and exotic world with nearly another three years of travel ahead of them.

They were completely alone

End of Chapter Five

Thank you for taking the time to read this, or scroll to the bottom of the page. Either way I would like to personally thank you for it. I would greatly appreciate any constructive criticism on the work and if you have have any ideas for plot that you would like to see in the upcoming segments, please let me know.