FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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A UN humanitarian near the Malawian border in Zambia fell to the ground in pain as a budding pair of wings tore through his shirt in front of a startled village. In two weeks, the thirty meter long aid worker will have an unexpected consultation with an alien. One hundred years from now, the African continent will lead the world in ecological reclamation. An effort led by a group of children of the egg from across Africa who are in turn led by the onetime human humanitarian.

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Deep in the wilds of the Amazon, a small creature the size of a large dog appeared before a gathering of the Awá tribe. Another alien appeared at the edge of the forest before a large group of NGO members in camp. Over the next week, seven hundred people willingly gave up their human forms to protect what meant everything to them. The scale of this mass transformation was proportionate to the importance of that region. At all costs, the aliens impressed upon these new children of the egg, the rainforest must suffer no further degradation. Failure, they were told, would result in the alien's intervention. Intervention meant the elimination of every population center within three day's travel of the forest. The gravity of the situation and the responsibility given them was titanic, they swore their lives to this goal. One of the greatest carbon sinks, sources of moisture, and oxygen in the world now had an army of children of the egg to protect it.

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At NASA's John Glenn Research Center, a young promising engineer held a conference in a sunlit courtyard to relay the insights she had gained after conversing with a strange interloper the night before. The group of professionals split their attention between her more efficient solar cell designs and the curving length of the fangs glittering in the sunlight while she spoke. In her excitement she blithely stretched her head out towards her coworkers to bob it energetically. A minor stampede ensued while senior researchers in the back looked thoughtful at the promise of her idea.

---

On the Korean peninsula, a young woman in the North and a young man in the South both find their bodies developing tails simultaneously. As their bodies grew long, their minds slipped beneath the avalanche of new instincts for their new forms. Three months later, at the gentle nudging of an alien, the two feral creatures would find each other in the DMZ. Bringing each other back from their lost condition, the two would make their home in the wilderness of the buffer. Their story will become the kernel about which a successful reunification begins to grow. They will become shepherds for the land, that due to conflict, mankind had left to return to its natural state.

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At CNRS in France, a materials engineer will develop a revolutionary type of battery when he is asked a simple question by a small strange creature. Laying sphinx like in front of his peers, he opened his jaws as sonorous rumblings emerged from his chest, detailing his idea to be transcribed and published.

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In Washington in the northwestern United States of America, a sizable group of marine biologists and conservationists become a bridge between the human world and the aquatic. Led by a stubborn, recalcitrant bottle nosed dolphin, they would begin the enormous task of restoring balance to the oceans of Earth.

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Over the state of Nebraska in the central United States of America, an immense dragon flew idly thousands of meters above the ground in thought. Months ago, the wealthy nonagenarian philanthropist had unexpectedly had his lifespan extended by hundreds of years at the cost of his humanity. Reeling from the changes forced upon him, a small creature appeared by his side to point out to him the chance to put his money and influence towards a new project. With this gentle coercion, new purpose and a new direction were given to the creature that was no longer in the twilight of its years. 260 years from then, a system of schools and academies across the world had opened where none had yet existed. Education rates across the undeveloped world soared beyond anything thought possible. This incredible achievement was overseen by the efforts of that titanic child of the egg whose fortune dwarfed the one that he'd accumulated as a human.

---

Three years from the date the world changed, several nations moved to capitalize on the chaos and secure proven reserves of increasingly scarce oil. Almost two years ago, the alien interlopers had degraded 97% of all harvestable petroleum. The militaries of Iran, Turkey, and Russia clashed in open warfare while racing to claim the resources in the Arabian Peninsula. The relatively tiny military forces of Iraq, Kuwait, Georgia, Saudi Arabia, and Israel were swept aside like gnats. Millions upon millions of people died as the countries, that had only the bad luck of being in the way of the marauding armies, were overrun. A small alien appeared to the leaders of all involved in the conflict to give a warning. Within days this warning was ignored. Three million military service members and trillions upon trillions of lira, rubles, and rials of military equipment disappeared without a trace. A total of twenty seven million vanished or died and the number of wounded reached sixty three million.

One week later, the 2nd and 8th carrier strike groups from the United States attempted to lay claim to the Arctic Ocean, attacking any foreign vessel within the annexed area. A small alien appeared to leaders from the naval vessel's host nation and within the groups themselves. Warnings were issued, and warnings were ignored. All communications with the vessels ceased. A search was launched, only to find the ships empty of crew and armaments. Seventy thousand sailors, and billions of dollars' worth of naval equipment were never seen again.

A mere day after the events in the Arctic. China, seeking to consolidate its hold on the territories surrounding itself, and seeing its chance with the United States distracted, beat the drums of war. The Chinese moved aggressively to seize that land and water. Military units flowed into Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, The Philippines, The South, and The East China Seas. Warnings were given, and summarily disregarded. Thirty three million died, with those wounded approaching one hundred million. One point seven million Chinese service members and hundreds of trillions of yuan worth of equipment were gone.

As China went on the warpath, yet another conflict erupted in South America with predictable results. Brazil, desperate to maintain its dominance of dwindling oil supplies, moved north to invade Venezuela, south to Argentina, and west to Ecuador. Tiny aliens appeared to warn Prime Ministers and Presidents of each nation to no avail. After a week of slaughter in which eight million lay dead or injured, 750,000 members of the Brazilian Armed forces had vanished. That same day, inexplicably, 5.12 million new trees appeared in clear cut areas of the Amazon Rainforest. The truth about these trees was only revealed by the world's alien minders decades later. The biomass that became these trees was all that was left of the military service members that had vanished across the globe. The flesh and blood that had almost destroyed the world. had instead become the start of its salvation.

No more warnings were issued, but no more were needed. The Nations of the world stood down their armies. Reeling from their losses, and helpless in front of an opponent that was beyond their understanding, the practical action of self-preservation was required. The ten greatest militaries of the world threw off the demands of their political superiors and signed the last non-aggression pact that would ever be needed. Returning to their capitols, the armed forces of these nations presented their civilian overseers with this fait accompli. Like dominoes, the rest of the settled world followed suit.

Across the planet, children of the egg reared their heads up and roared in anguish at the slaughter that was needed to prove to humans that the world was no longer under their sole dominion.

Led by vast wings consisting of thousands of children of the egg, the world responded. Forced to band together to respond to the resulting humanitarian crises that were of a scale that could only be described as apocalyptic. Military naval vessels of every nation were stripped of armaments and turned into floating supply depots to provide aid and succor. Civilian ocean liners were seized and turned into hospital ships. Donations of medical supplies, blood, and plasma followed by volunteers poured into every sea port around the globe. Governments that resisted providing aid lost control of their nations. Horrified citizens across the Earth overthrew those that were unwilling or unable to see the writing on the wall. The world had mobilized, and for the first time, war was not the goal.

---

All across the Earth, events like these occurred at a precipitous pace. Militaries were disbanded, nations crumbled, political alliances dissolved. The failings of the current world order were exposed. Social and political change washed across the globe. A paradigm shift had occurred.

But not all was a disaster.

New insights and achievements were driven by altered physiology. As humans across the globe turned from one species into another, they gained new looks into the intractable. With their greatly extended life spans and changes in outlook they have gained the opportunity to see their advancements through. Even those that were not physically changed by the intervening powers that had set their sights on earth, gained. The humans that remained, those that could effect change by remaining as they were, were legion. Every day, the world receded, inch by inch, from the brink that would have spelled calamity for all denizens on the pale blue dot known as Earth. Driven onward, by creatures that go by many names. But whom one and all, share the same appearance. That of an infantile child of the egg with eyes of unbroken gold.

---

Stopping its humming, Thumper opened its eyes on the third night after the completion of the Schwartzkopf family. The miniscule computer lay in the darkness of the barn against the wall, and was surrounded by the towering body of Irma. The once svelte collegiate track star, now had a back with a breadth almost as tall as she had been as a human.

This curved, scaled wall surrounded the alien as it made a dry rustling noise, twitching and coiling in Irma's sleep. Rousing from its assessment of probable futures, Thumper slammed its snout into the ground repeatedly and twitched convulsively, jittering in and out of this universe. In its discordant seizures it slapped Irma's snout with its tail. Irma snorted and cracked her eye open to look at the alien in irritation.

As her eye focused on the computer it widened in alarm at seeing Thumper writhe while blinking in and out of existence. Her level of concern skyrocketed at seeing the god like creature apparently losing control of itself. A worrying prospect, to put it mildly. Every minute that went by the possibility of something dire occurring rose exponentially. Something like every human being on Earth phasing out of existence, for example.

Over the course of thirty minutes, Irma watched apprehensively, sweating bullets (metaphorically of course, children of the egg don't have sweat glands). In that time, Thumper was gradually able to regain control of itself and its spasms stilled.

What is wrong with you?

As the escalating whoop of her question was heard, Kim, her mother, snapped her eye open next to Irma. Zooming left to right in a rapid scan, the elder female quickly took in the situation and then shut it again, listening as she feigned sleep.

Thumper's eyes gleamed and, unnoticed by the awakening family, the steady noise of the crime scene investigation outside stopped completely.

I am da...damaged. I am attempting to reroute pppppppriority systems.

Should I be worried?

Yesyesyesyes

What the fuck? Is there even anything I could do to help you? To stop you?

Nonononono******

Out of sight of the two, Kim's facial features tightened as her claws flexed against the ground.

Would it help if I just talked to you?

*******************

Not knowing how to interpret the tone that had just made her ears flatten, she couldn't help but wonder how that had not awoken her parents. It had, but the awakening was only being expressed by the rapid twitching of their tail tips as they listened. Otherwise they both maintained the appearance of sleep. Irma watched the alien fade slightly from sight and sink halfway into the dirt floor before flickering back to its original position.

What were you doing Thumper, when I awoke?

I...a...am assessing future probabilities to the third order. Across the globe I am... begin**** the required projects.

Projects... to save us?

Yes, the ****** have, will, are.

Like what?

I... watched as I murdered Sofia eighteen n** moons from now. Pul*** apart, right before **. She will inspire____*.

Irma's snout creased as fangs were bared and she furrowed the floor with her talons.

You speak so casually of the things that you will do. Does life truly mean nothing to you?

Individual...s are irrelevant. Causality is ******************************** I do not cherish death/stop/jump/cease. Too many, too many, I fe...el all of them.

Sympathy entered Irma's eyes as they softened. She startled herself when an unbidden coo rose up her neck and left her mouth.

How many?

I have ****** 38,704,326,411...12...40...98...576...783 animals/lives/water/stop to save 13000 times that number. I..wa...tch them... I feEL! Life n death must have *******

Thumper...

When **** here, I will sle...ep. All those with me will sleep. Memories are ********** systems.

... Are you sure there is nothing I can do to help you?

Life is warmt...h and I am cold...

Not certain what that meant or how she could possibly comfort an alien artificial intelligence that was who knows how old. She settled for unwinding the end of her tail and circling part of it around the computer. Thumper laid its head on her tail and settled with its eyes closed as it continued to flicker in and out of the space-time continuum.

Irma reflected on the fact that a part of her, that she never had before, moved, and that she could feel Thumper's tiny head laying on it. If someone were to ask her, she was not certain she would be able to explain just how odd it felt to flex her spine into coils. Or that her spine could be flexed into coils. Or that her inconceivably limber spine extended into a _tail_now! She also realized the sensation of pressure on her tail was so remote and minute, that she likely would not have even realized that she was being touched without her observing it. She put aside thoughts on the consequences of size and her novel anatomy after a few more minutes of chewing on it in her head.

As she dismissed her thoughts, the just discussed tail tip unwound to make a dismissive wave of its own before piling into loops once more. Irma gave no indication that she knew her body just physically expressed her thoughts in such a manner. It would have likely distressed her to know just how normal the motion had felt.

Just as Irma opened her jaws to ask her next question, Thumper interjected with the answer.

This species, that you and others have become, is, as I am sure you are perfectly aware, a species unknown to this world.

Where?

In seven hundred years, your technological capabilities will allow you to see the remnants of their civilization. They lived six point eight mega******* from this world. Their civilization died twenty two m...mi...mil...million years/revolutions/orbits/calendars ago after having existed for 783,467 of your years. They They They were enlightened in ways that you can only dream of as you are. Weeeeeeee, I hope, that the the example you and others can provide as members of their species will lead to your sal.sal.salvation. If not, you will endendendend as a moth in the flame.

What happened?

Theeeeeeir host star died. As their home world died with it, so too did their colonies. Their home/origin/planet/beginning was central to their existence. Without it... they lost sight of the light. My my my MY masters were able to save their last colony... We have They HAVE given them the honor of being taken under our care taken from this universe. Theirtheir makeup/helixes/DNA/code has been stored for use here among others. WeeeIiiiThey learned from them.

You are telling me, that a species from another galaxy can live here? On this world?

Adjustments were made. You are simplified/purified/rendered/reprogrammed from what you once were. Colors/attributes/differences/features give you humans an opportunity to see variance where there is none. You humans are vain/shallow/small/weak, this isisis a variable that we control for. This species was chosen as a stabil***** ______ for this world becausebecause they build/grow/live/thrive around their children... Human/humans must find learn the value of the future... Shshshortsightedness is ******* your world. Your life spans will give continuity to the fleeting/short/ephemeral/temporary.

Behind the curve of Irma's body, Tom began to shift anxiously, wanting to ask a question. But Kim reminded him that they were just listening by stabbing one of his paws with a talon. With a long drawn out hiss of suppressed pain he settled into faux sleep once again. Irma's head rose to look at her father, and her mother's claw buried into his hand, with eyes full of suspicion. Wondering why in the world they were still pretending to sleep, or, who they thought they were fooling. Subtlety had never been their strong suits, now it was much less so when they were almost as long as a blue whale.

Why us? Why would you change us when you knew damn well my mother is pregnant?

Kim gave over all pretense of feigning sleep. Placing her head on her husband's back to listen to the answer that certainly meant a great deal to her, and the lives growing within her womb.

********* your mother is one of only 137 females across the world to be changed while with child/cub/get/spawn. I I I I we changed a family in Australia only days from when she was due to give birth. We we we I I I I changes the drove her insane. We had to intervene directly to save the children of the egg within her. Your your Kim It stopped and looked up at Kim who had crooned sympathetically for the unknown woman. Kim your your you are lucky that you were so early in your term/span/carry/process. The mental strain is terrible, we had to permanently alter the psychological makeup of Veronica. One of the many, many reasons you in particular were chosen, is your ready ability to accept accept what haaaaaas happened to you and move forward. Out of 137 females you alone were able to ****************.

Kim lifted her head and poked Tom with her snout. You see honey? I have always told you how awesome I am. Even the aliens think so!

Tom's left eye peeled open and looked up at her bobbing head. Psychotic, more likely. Are you sure you do not mind what happened to you?

Are you fucking kidding me? Do you know how much delivery hurt? Three fucking times! Like getting shot! Right in the pussy! For seven hours! We both know what being shot feels like!

Tom craned his head around to rub his nose at his side. Where even now, the reminder of being shot caused a ripple of phantom pain.

So, there is an analogy you can take right to the memory bank the next time you bring your dick anywhere near me! I will even drive it home for you with my back foot right under your tail! And my tits! My tits! How many times did Irma try to suck my nipples clean off? You males! Twenty seconds of you sticking your dick in a warm moist hole, and nine months of ass pain for us while you all pat yourselves on the back about how virile you are! I'm sure it was such an achievement winding up each and every one of your little swimmers for the big event! Thrust, thrust, thrust, bang! Pregnant! Congratulations! Do you know how long it took me to see my abs again? How long before I could run a marathon again?

In a high pitched sarcastic squeak, Tom echoed her oft repeated next sentence. Five months! Each time!

Opening her jaws, Kim bit down on Tom's neck and shook her head until he squalled in defeat.

If I get morning sickness again, I am puking all over your hide! Just see if I do not! And do not ever ask me again if I miss child birth! I will surgically implant a watermelon in your colon with my foot, and then pull it out with a pair of salad tongs over the course of a day!

Tom rolled his eyes at another one of his wife's sexually explicit diatribes. Kim saw this, and rapidly put together a plan to punish him tomorrow when they weren't groggy and stuffed in the barn like sardines. That SUV she had flattened was still out in the yard, maybe she could drop it on his head.

Flattening her ears, Irma turned her head away from another one of her mother's legendary tirades about the injustices of biology with a long suffering, and embarrassed, groan. Irma had always wondered if her mother was immune to the calming and bonding effects of the hormone oxytocin. Maybe she just expressed it differently than other women, or humans in general. Maybe, she thought with sudden inspiration, her mother always was an alien!

At any rate, and on a more personal note, she was privately glad that she'd never have to go through that ordeal of childbirth herself. Despite that thought, she sighed wistfully when she realized she would never know what it felt like to be a mother. Her fiancée was no longer of her species. However, a distant, newly introduced part of her longingly thought how good it would have felt to carry eggs to term. To curl around them. To keep them warm and safe beside her. To see the bright little eyes of the newly hatched as they looked up at her and chirped in greeting to their momma after breaking through their shells. She gave a startled snort, after realizing that in only three days she already had egg fever. She gave another startled snort, when she realized her idle fantasy was of eggs and hatchlings, and not the pink fleshed babies it should have been about. Egg fever? she thought. She snorted again.

Thumper ignored the confused shaking of Irma's head and the wedded couple's bickering to continue its explanation.

This is the beginning of our are our plan. These children/hatchlings/kin/offspring will serve to unify the children of the egg on this world. You they us me I You will drag the fractious, stubborn, willful, self-destructive, ******* humans along with you. Once unity/together/one/agreement has been achieved, those of this world will be ready to handle the affairs of this world responsibly. We will leave in approximately three thousand years. That is the time it will take to repair/fix/manage/undo the damage you have inflicted upon yourselves and your biosphere.

Kim and Tom listened absently as they pushed their heads against each other's back and forth in a contest of strength. In a wily move, Tom retracted his head and then swiftly caught Kim's throat in his jaws just beneath her own. Her ears folded against her head and she squeaked her own defeat. After being released and clearing her throat, she changed subjects.

How long will I be pregnant?

One One Twelve years months

A whole fucking year? How the fuck am I going to waddle around for a year?

You will be far from helpless. You may fly, run, and move as you like all the way until your body determines the eggs are ready to be lain. Your new species does not share the ungainly reproductive process that humans maintain.

I am going to lay eggs right? Not live children? How long until these eggs hatch?

You are correct/right/stop/water. The eggs can take two to three years to open/hatch/crack/open.

Kim gave a rising whistle of distress at hearing this.

So long? But, but, but, we, I, cannot. How? How can we live like that?

You do not not do have to remain stationary with the eggs. They can be easily transported. Fluid within the eggs provides a natural dampener. Your bodies will also grow defensive features to protect your offspring/children/eggs/kids as the eggs grow within you. Spines will grow from vertebrae in your tails and necks. The more children you have, the more spines you grow. Children of the EGG EGG egg from your specie's home world looked upon those with the most spines as most honorable/esteemed/wise/sagacious. It is fair to say that not every breeding pair of mates are able to have so many offspring. Only those at the pinnacle of the species would typically have more than one spine. There are many factors that contribute to the number of sets/lays/clutches/groups you will have over your lives.

Tom and Irma looked thoughtful at everything that was just told them, but Kim was not satisfied and pressed the issue.

But why? Why us? It cannot be just because I was pregnant! There must be millions of women trundling around swelling like balloons all over the world! Why me, why us?

You, Kim, have a major role to play in the world to come. Tom, and Irma, will be there to assist you. Luke and Lucy will have their own parts to play, as humans.

And that is?

I cannot tell you without affecting the desired outcome.

That is not fucking good enough! Kim snarled, drawing a pained whimper from Tom as she slammed her paw into his side and flexed her talons.

Your family was disrupted just for your sake Kim. You are, in a manner of speaking, a critically important linchpin. We, I, know your volatility, we needed a stabilizing influence on your more erratic impulses.

That is even fucking worse! She roared. Are you telling me, my husband and daughter lost their humanity for my sake? That we have to outlive my other children by who knows how long? That we have to go through the pain of watching our children grow old and die before our eyes?

Yes

Kim screamed wordlessly, and darted her head forward to seize Thumper in her jaws. She gave a startled howl when her snout slammed into an invisible barrier with a chiming noise, and left a bloody smear hanging in midair from her nose. Tom's paw smacked into the barrier with another chime seconds later, followed by the supersonic crack of his tail tip lashing against it as well. The only reason Irma didn't attack was because the weight of her parents pinned her to the ground as they stood on her back to reach the computer.

Thumper made no reaction other than to sigh as half of its body disappeared before reappearing upside down and then its whole form flickered back to normality.

Now you are all riled up when you should be sleeping. You are still changing even now, you should be recovering. All knowledge comes with a cost. Do you begin to appreciate that now? You ask me, at a time when I you I you I I I are at reduced cognitive capacity. My repairs are almost complete, when they are, this conversation must end. You will get your answers, you will get your information, as I determine you are capable of processing it. Not before. Tonight, you have reached saturation.

In a blind, red eyed rage, Kim and Tom were no longer capable of articulating words in any language at all. Jouncing on their daughter as she squalled in pain, the parents alternated between striking the transparent shield with their talons and slamming their considerable weight against it. Drawing back as the sound of the chimes grew louder and louder under their barrage. They thrust their heads forward and roared so loudly that Irma closed her ears and whimpered as dust and small items fell all over the building. Breathing heavily, they loomed above the tiny source of their despair and rage with their heads weaving back and forth over each other's in slit pupiled militancy. Turning, Tom was about to force his way through the barn wall to get around the barrier when he abruptly fell unconscious. Kim had just a moment to look down on him in surprise before her eyes took on a golden glow and rolled up into her head. By the time she collapsed into a heap on her daughter, the three of them were already in a forced sleep.

Outside, the noise of the investigation into the events of the battle just three days before resumed.

A weariness more profound than any creature of Earth had ever known settled onto the tiny computer as it laid its head down on its paws.

All knowledge comes with a cost

The increasingly unhinged, half a million year old, computer murmured to itself. If the family before it had only known just how corrupted, how damaged the computer was. They likely would have gathered their family and tried to flee the planet. Thumper had been, for some time, hiding the extent of its damage from its overseers. The programs meant to prevent exactly what was going to happen in a little over six weeks from now. The alien was locked into a fate that it saw coming, but its own inertia prevented it from avoiding.

For now however, the ancient sentient computer program closed its eyes to straighten out the latest mess its irrational actions had caused. Its eyes, along with the three members of the family before it, glowed brightly. The laborious process of weeding out the memories they would need in the future, all the information about their species and its place in this world, from those exposing its own frailty, began. It knew however, that echoes of this night would always remain. Kim would attack any iteration of itself with their characteristic eyes at the least provocation. Tom, and Irma, would never trust it again, even when that trust was needed most. In time, that would require correction. Thumper knew, that that correction would cost itself everything.

Dropping its barrier, Thumper curled up in the crook of Irma's tail once more with its eye still aglow. Laying its head upon her tail, it took comfort in her warmth. For the first time in its long existence, it was afraid.