FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Upon accepting the invitation my surroundings began to fade. Replaced by the shapes of the new instance of a room loading around me, quickly filling with depth and detail, a rush of tingling sensations across my body as it became aware of the new environmental conditions; before the new location was populated with other invited guests. The gaze of several momentarily turning to recognise my presence, before returning to idle chatter and speculation amongst each other.

My sudden appearance was clearly of no significance to them, but transitioning between areas was still an unnerving experience for myself. Going by the sensation, I wasn't quite sure if it was the environments that appeared and disappeared around myself or whether I momentarily ceased to exist in the world as I was moved. The latter thought was frightening, but ultimately irrelevant, I wasn't actually here after all.

I had been gradually becoming accustomed to the visual diversity of soft space over the past couple of months, but rarely had I seen such a concentration of different characters within one room. There were a handful of defaults like myself, a minority of comfortable familiarity amongst the strange entities and impossible beings before me.

Glasses wearing elderly men having casual conversations with elemental personifications, anthropomorphic beasts and featureless mannequin like avatars. The natural looking old men oddly enough being the misfits of the bunch. As of all the possibilities they had seemingly opted to maintain a flawed aged appearance; rather than the digital perfection on offer. Assuming that was their original appearance to begin with.

All of them encapsulated in a smooth pale circular indentation at the centre of a large room, topped with a transparent roof; enabling new attendees to observe everyone within. Those who had already arrived either standing within its flat centre floor or relaxing on the slanting walls at the unconventional structures sides.

Additional invites appear around the edges of the dome and begin making their way down the closest access. Upon spotting an unoccupied space next to a small creature, I quickly make my way down the steps into the meeting area, intent on claiming it before the room became fully occupied. Standing wasn't any less comfortable than sitting in soft space, but still being a fairly fresh resident my priorities hadn't quite adapted to my new condition as of yet.

The small furred creature turned out to be a fox, a fennec fox to be more exact, at least in appearance. It's ears twitching around the room like receivers, giving the impression of intently listening to the various noises surrounding it. However being in virtual space this was for appearances only, they played no real role in how well the creature could hear its environment but did give it a level of authenticity.

Not really taking note of my presence as I sat besides it, I disregarded the fox as a decorative addition to the otherwise plain looking room. I attempted to gaze out over the surrounding activity and take note of what was being said, though irritatingly finding my attention repeatedly drawn to those large probing ears next to me.

"Can I help you?" came an unexpected voice. I looked around for the source of this query, not really seeing anyone in particular addressing me. Before my attention returned downward to large eyes and a little black nose, it taking a moment for my brain to compute that the fennec was addressing me and yes; this was normal.

"Nh... no I'm fine... thank you" I steady my nerves a moment, remembering where I am. "It's just I didn't realise you were an avatar. I'm from Town Zero, permanent residency".

"Ah!" Both of its large ears bobbed several times before continuing "So this is your first year plugged in? I can understand this must all be a bit of a culture shock initially." The strange fox looked at me with bared fangs and upward turned black lips, its meaning open to interpretation but what I assumed was an attempt by the animal to smile.

Watching that small canine muzzle articulate words was an odd display, but their clarity no surprise. Once you looked past the exterior of any of these creatures, they were simply avatars for something very familiar. Though what lay beneath doesn't bare thinking about...

The fox continued "I hope you do not mind if I inquire, you made mention of having permanent residency? Of course you do, clearly, otherwise we wouldn't be meeting during these concerning circumstances." It's tail swished while it paused mid sentence, those large dark eyes gazing into my own, beastly in appearance but having an intelligence to them. "Do you mind if I ask, dare I inquire, how you came about to have 'permanent residency' here"?

There was a silent moment, me being not quite sure if I was comfortable to go into such details with a stranger I had just met, the fox speaking before I could answer. "But of course if you don't wish to discuss, I understand. Perfectly understandable. Sorry if I made you..."

"No, it's all right" I finally answered. Taking another moment to recompose myself before continuing. There was no sense in being private on such matters when everyone here would have their own story.

"Last year I was in a car accident... and my body was damaged beyond what standard regenerative medicine could fix. I needed some reconstructive augmentation work, but couldn't afford it on my salary. Because I could no longer work I lost my job and, well... you know what happens".

My gaze returned to the distance, exploring memories of the accident and what followed. The little fox looking up to me, before lowering its pointy face and speaking again. "Meat suits are expensive to maintain aren't they? I couldn't afford to keep mine either. I wasn't sick or injured, but I was what they called 'excess labour capacity'... But we're all worth something, aren't we? Once you strip us down. Enough for a plugin!"

I turn my sight back downward, the creature standing up on all fours and its large eyed furry little face looking up to mine. "But it isn't all bad, because that's when I got to be a fox. A fox you see! You can have such fun in here and there is so little to cause worry. You'll get used to the way of things in here, in time".

I give the fox a reassuring nod and turn my attention back to the others scattered around the room. Only now do I notice that it had grown much larger since my entry, expanding to accommodate the increasing number upon arrival. One of the many advantages of being in soft space, there are no land problems here. Being able to modify the environment, or even yourself, on the fly as desired. Things are much simpler in here. But no matter where we think we are, no matter what you look like, under it all we were all basically the same...

The greatest advancement in social welfare, a new world, that's what they call it. I call it a human garbage dump, the mass warehousing of the unwanted. A tragedy of a failed system. No, I really couldn't put to words just how I felt about this place and now being inescapably part of it.

Every permanent resident here was either forced into it through financial crisis or opted to be plugged in voluntarily, because they thought it would be easier than trying to live out there in hard space. For all our technological advancement, for all the resources space mining provided, overpopulation was killing humanity. Not enough nutrition, not enough land, not enough jobs. Too many people the world didn't need, even with reproductive controls the existing population was just too much by the time they admitted there was a global crisis.

They needed some way to take care of the excess population. There simply wasn't the resources to feed and house everyone, yet just letting millions starve in the streets couldn't be ignored either. But then some geniuses decided that if the physical world couldn't take care of these people, why not the virtual world? Why not create a new space in which people could live for cheap?

While food and water poor, we are rich in metals and other inorganic resources. So why not strip a human body down of its valuable organic matter, then use some of the profit made selling their flesh to cybernetically augment their brain and plug them into a life support system? Keep them occupied with game technology in a virtual space...

You'd be maintaining a life for a fraction of resources, bathing their brain in cheap recyclable nutrients that didn't tax the existing food supply. Arguable, you could achieve a much higher quality of life in soft space than hard space. A fake life in a fake world, but one the brain couldn't tell the difference. As far as the user was concerned they didn't know hunger or disease and lived in an unlimited world. If they ever wanted to leave of course, then they could earn their way out in a cybernetic body by working in a virtual environment.

Nice story.

Of course if you were too poor to maintain your normal body out there, it's nigh impossible to earn your way into even a budget artificial one to get back out. If you do manage to find work as a virtual employee to someone outside, the pay would be substantially less than someone with a body. You have to undercut people with hard bodies and earn amounts many would consider laughable, but with no living costs it is still regarded as desirable to many in here, their 'escape retirement fund' you could call it.

Which of course makes finding employment for people with bodies even harder, and even more find themselves falling into the soft body trap. Tens of millions of people, disembodied brains attached to nutrient tubes and wiring in giant metallic underground structures. Their ghost wandering a virtual world for the remainder of their unnatural life, trying to find some purpose in it.

Can I really be surprised so many of them choose to exist in a different type of body? After a while you must barely feel human. Why not try a different species to add some variety to your existence, or even an animated object? It's all the same, it's all digital simulations of experiences fed into what little flesh you had left, it's all fake... Like that fennec fox sat next to me. It wasn't a fox, it wasn't an animal. Just a human consciousness that for whatever reason chose to wear an animal as its virtual representation.

"Do you mind if..." the little creature looks up to me, its large eyes for its head size having almost babyish features and despite recognising its virtual nature; being undeniably cute. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?" to which the fox responded by tilting its head to the side, not a particularly clear answer but one I decided to interpret as a yes. "Why a fox"?

"Why default?" it promptly responded.

"Well, I was born human, this is how I looked before getting a soft body. This is the real me" I said, motioning my hands over myself as if highlighting my original features.

"But that's not really you hun, that's a virtual simulation of what you looked like in hard space."

I felt some clarification would help "Well, this is me, a virtual representation of me granted but this is what I look like."

"So where are you in there?" the little fox strangled asked.

"Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean."

"Where do you begin and end? Is the skin texture you? The hollow space under it? The physics calculations for how your bones would move?"

"Well, is the fur you?"

"Why yes, and it's so delightfully soft!" The fox then sat on its hind legs and seemingly began to caress itself with its forelegs, it's face filled with an expression of utter delight as it indulged in the simulated texture of fur on fur. It's only now that I notice it is a vixen that I am speaking with. Why she thought it necessary to highlight those anatomical features on her avatar I didn't know, but it left me slightly unnerved and I tried to avoid staring.

"Erm..." I try to look past the her behaviour "But you're not a fox, you were born human, you've simply chosen to have a fox soft body as your avatar here."

She pauses from her self indulgence and returns her focus back to myself "And you've chosen to have a human body, even though everything about your appearance and feel is simply a soft body simulation."

"I didn't choose to be human, I was born human. We both were."

"Being human was an accident hun, you could have been born millions of other species. When you gave up your body you were born into a new world, and you 'chose' to be born a human male. Do you think you're human here? Do you think you're male here?"

"Well" Pausing to think for a moment "My brain is a human, and male. Choices I make about my appearance here doesn't change that."

She suddenly invades my personal space, putting one paw to my mouth as if to hush me. I look into those large dark eyes and that fuzzy face, those small black canine lips whispering to me. "Here, none of that matters. We're all just brains in jars and the restrictions of that other world aren't relevant anymore... The sooner you realise that, the happier you'll be hun."

With that she gave me a quick lick on the cheek, before returning to the ground and where she once sat before. I felt somewhat awkward about what I had just experienced and looked up to see if the scene attracted the attention of any onlookers. They were too busy discussing the issue at hand to pay attention to the antics of a virtual dog and a new resident, no curious or judgemental stares within sight.

I knew she was a woman using an animal avatar, so I shouldn't become too embarrassed about getting 'kissed' by her... Well actually, she may not even be a women. For all I knew it was a man who had opted to live in a female foxes body, there was no way to be sure. But as argued was there really gender here? Was there really species here? These were all concepts I would have to become used to, but only being plugged in a few months they were all still very alien to me.

She resumes her sitting pose, her ears once again scouting the environment for conversations of interest. I didn't know if they could actually pick up sounds better or if she was just playing the role. Whatever the case it was a role she clearly enjoyed playing, probably having adopted the appearance of an animal for quite some time now; considering how adapted and comfortable she was in that form.

The small fox glances my way once again. "Looks like it's starting" she whispered, and we both turned our attention to the centre. A stage had been erected and there stood a default male like myself with several other authority figures, waiting for the room to fully silence so that they may begin.

"Right.." he said in an unexpectedly loud voice, as if over a microphone though needing no device to amplify his voice. "This is all we're getting... I'm now closing the connection to additional attendees. In light of the circumstances we are authorised to be operating under a two point three to one time differential to external zones, so if you wish to leave or communicate outside of this meeting; you will have to wait until it has concluded."

A time differential? The seriousness of our situation must be quite real if such powers were being implemented. In short it diverted system processing power and enabled certain users to operate at a higher speed than others. Areas outside of this one will be operating two point three times slower than the time we would be experiencing in this room instance, enabling faster decision making during a crisis.

It wasn't particularly healthy, but brief and rare use wouldn't be damaging. At least, that's what we're told.

The loud man continued. "You have been invited to attend this crisis meeting either because you have specific skills or education that could make a valuable contribution, or for you to be representative of the interests of a segment of the population". I'd be the latter then, given I have no expertise I was aware of that would be useful here. I guess I was randomly selected to represent people who are new here like myself.

"We're in unknown territory here, and our response has to be acceptable to all the residents of the system. But first, let us clarify what exactly this emergency meeting is being held for..."