FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chief palmed the access pad next to the large bulkhead door, and it slid upwards into the ceiling. Why this door was here was a mystery to him. It didn't seal off anything. The walls on either side of the door were perforated with pipes and wiring, and the empty holes where some others had been removed. There wasn't anything dangerous or fragile stored behind it. There was only another three meters of decking, ending in a wall of large ducts and ubiquitous access panels, none of which were for critical systems.

The space was currently being used to store a portable plasma cutter and photonic welder, both of which were securely strapped to the wall to prevent them from rolling about.

To the left, toward the aft of the ship was a small half set of steps which led up to another empty space in the ducting. If it had not been for a pair of poorly located pipes, and the complete lack of flooring, the space could have been usable.

Chief wheeled a large maintenance dolly through the door. A tight fit which required him to climb over it and pull it through from the inside. Once through the door, he palmed the pad on the inside allowing it to close. Uncovering the cart he inventoried his treasures.

Metal panels, framing members, short rough cut brackets, lighting bars, and an oddly shaped piece of deck plating with a large semi-circle missing from one corner.

Stowing and securing all of the pieces against the wall, he touched the panel again and wheeled out the now empty cart and returned it to the maintenance dock.

Over the course of several months, chief repeated this procedure, each time unloading a cart full of various scrap and disused items into the dead end behind the door.

Finally the day came when the Lyandra returned to her home port on Maramus for scheduled maintenance and minor refitting. The majority of the crew took leave. Having no place to go, Chief remained on board the ship.

Once the dockyard maintenance teams had begun their work, Chief retreated to his secret stash behind the door. Using the portable welder and cutter he began working on his clandestine project, and by the end of the week there was no sign of his collection of scrap.

After the crew returned and the port authority gave them clearance, they were underway again.

Chief had managed to scavenge half a cart full of items from the ground crew before they had left, and was in the process of secreting it in the space behind the door, when the sound of Lance's voice made him jump and nearly drop a box of fragile electronics.

"Chief, I know that you have been keeping scrap behind this bulkhead, and while there are no rules against it, in the interests of safety, you should know that every time you close this door I can no longer see you", said the AI as his green hologram flickered in the hallway outside the door, "I know that none of the items you have stowed is illegal or stolen, but I cannot determine what you are doing in there, or if you or the ship are in any danger, so it is my duty to inform the captain."

"Lance, wait. What if..", began Chief as he stumbled through the door, shaking a coil of wire off of his foot, "What if I gave you eyes in there, so you can see me? Would that be acceptable?"

The AI's image remained where it stood, staring at the ferret for several seconds saying nothing.

"Give me a break, Lance. You've been watching me do this for months. You can give me one more day", begged Chief.

The hologram tilted its head at him. "One day", said Lance, then his image dissolved.

Chief let out a deep sigh, then returned to the room behind the door.

---

Just before the morning shift was scheduled to start, Lance received a notification that new hardware had been connected to the system. Optics, audio, and holo-emitters. Lance inwardly cringed when he saw the manufacturer and their estimated age, but it was better than nothing. He made the necessary adjustments to his data feeds, added security filters, and connected to the new devices.

As the optics came on-line, a room appeared in Lance's consciousness. His mental map of the ship's interior knew approximately where this new puzzle piece should fit, but its orientation was all wrong. There was a door, but it was not the one in the bulkhead he had been watching Chief use for months.

Thinking that perhaps Chief was trying to trick him by giving him a different angle to another room, he compared the image to all of the other rooms he had access to, but nothing matched. This room was oddly shaped, and too jumbled to be mistaken for any other room.

Then the door in his mind opened, and Chief walked into view. Chief's lips were moving, but he could hear nothing. Lance tried to tell Chief this, but could tell that his audio signal was not making it through either. Rechecking the data stream, and hardware version, he confirmed that he was sending the correct data. 'It must be a hardware issue.' he thought to himself.

Activating the holo-emitters, he could see a hazy, slightly out of focus image of himself appear in the room, just behind Chief. Unfortunately for Chief, he did not see this happen, and nearly cracked his head on an overhead pipe when he jumped in surprise.

Lances image cupped his ears and shook his head in the negative, then moved his lips rapidly with no audio to accompany it. Chief frowned, and rushed over to an open access panel, pulling at a bundle of wires and bending them about. Lance heard some snapping and popping as the audio cut in and out, then was greeted with the familiar rumble of the ships engines and Chief's swearing.

"I think you got it", said Lance, now able to hear himself in the room as well.

"Yes!", shouted the ferret, as he bundled the mass of wires with non-conductive tape, then shoved the mess back into the panel and slammed the cover shut. "Still working?"

"Yes", replied the AI.

"Good enough", said Chief with a smile. "What do you think?", he asked, gesturing all around the room.

Lance's image turned in place, glancing up and down to give the impression that he was examining the room, while in reality he could now see all of it, all of the time. "Its.... different", said the AI.

Chief beamed, admiring his own work.

"Chief, where are we?", asked Lance.

The ferret looked confused, then recognition struck him. "Here, look", he said, as he opened the door, and stepped down three stair treads.

With the door open, Lance could see into the adjoining room, and that finally matched something he could identify. His optics in the hallway leading to the dead end recognized it as the room behind the bulkhead door, and now Chief was visible from that angle as well.

"Now I know where, the question now is, how?", asked Lance. "This space should not exist. There should be some heavy plasma conduits running through this location."

Chief shrugged as he stepped back into the new room. "I don't know. It was just an empty hole, when I found it."

"You built this entire room? Walls, deck plating, and everything?", asked the AI, "From scrap?"

"Yup, the lockers, the bed frame, the lighting, your optics and emitters. Everything." said the chief proudly with a grin. But the smile slowly faded as he saw the look Lance was projecting at him. "What?", he asked.

"You realize, this will all have to be evaluated and checked for quality and safety, don't you?", asked the AI. "You cant just make modifications like this without verifying structural integrity of the ship is still intact. Even the integrity of the room itself will need to be checked. You wouldn't want the walls to tear away the moment they encounter real gravity."

"I built most of it while we were in dock on Maramus, so that should be ok", explained Chief.

"What about Racca? Or Mephus?", asked Lance. "Gravity is not exactly a constant for us, you know? Just ask Reg about it."

"Gravity doesn't pull, it sucks", quoted Chief, bowing his head, all too familiar with his bosses opinion on the matter.

"I'm afraid I will still need to inform the Captain", said the AI, sounding as though he wished otherwise, "And Reg."

Chief nodded. "I couldn't keep it a secret forever."

"Would you rather tell them?", asked Lance.

The ferret glanced around his little room, and then back at the glowing image of the cat. "No, you better do it. It might take me weeks to build up the courage."

Lance nodded. "I will try not to make a big deal of it. Make it seem innocuous."

"Thanks, Lance", said the Chief.

Lance's image turned about, appearing to survey the room again, and finally turned back to Chief. "It looks really good", he said with a smile. Then his image dissolved.

---

In the galley, Reg was just starting to come to terms with being awake, and beginning his day with a hot breakfast, when Lance's glowing form materialized in the seat opposite him at the table.

Reg looked up at the cat's face, and raised an eyebrow when he saw the huge grin on it. "Did you win the pool, again?", asked Reg.

Lance ignored the jab at his uncanny tendency to win most of the crew's gambling money. "You will not believe what the new guy has been doing in Deck 3, Aft."

---

Later that day, Chief stood in the hallway, outside the open bulkhead door, head bowed staring at the floor. Beside him, Reg leaned against the wall, picking at his nails, while the flickering image of Lance stood opposite, bouncing lightly on his feet.

All three snapped to attention when the Captain descended the steps from Chief's new room and into the hallway, though the ferret could barely bring himself to lift his head to face him.

The old Raccan turned and looked back into the new room, tilting his head questioningly as though he still didn't believe what he was seeing. Then he poked the door button with a finger and the sliding door to the room slid mostly shut. A small gap remained as the servo motors strained against an unseen obstacle, then it snapped shut violently the last few centimeters.

The Captain shook his head and approached the three men. "You built all of that from scrap?", he asked Chief.

"Yes, sir", replied the ferret.

"And you let him?", he asked turning to Lance.

Lance suddenly looked surprised. "I.. well.. I mean, I didn't know what he was doing. I thought he was just hoarding scrap, like most engineers", he said while turning to look at Reg.

The rabbit suddenly looked defensive. "Of course we do. You never know when you might need spare parts to patch something up in an emergency", said Reg.

"That is not a patch", said the captain gruffly, pointing to the wall behind him, "Apart from the twitchy door, that is a nearly regulation crew cabin!"

Chief looked at the floor again, but smiled to himself. 'Nearly regulation' he thought to himself, smugly. Then the captain asked a question that had never occurred to him. A question that made him instantly regret having ever started the project.

"How much does it all weigh?", asked the captain as he turned to look at the door again. Reg turned to Lance for an estimate.

"From what I was able to inventory visually, I would guess more than fifteen hundred kilograms, but no more than two thousand", said the AI.

"Thats a big margin of error", said Reg.

"Not more than a rounding error", replied Lance. "It is difficult to determine how much mass is involved, since most of it was already part of the ship before it was re-purposed here."

"That is still nearly two tonnes of mass we could have done without. Two tonnes of dead weight that we have been carrying around and wasting fuel on", said the Captain.

Reg stepped forward and placed his hand on the massive frame of the bulkhead. "What about this door? What if we eliminate that, how much mass does that save us?"

"That is a structural bulkhead", said Lance, "you can't just remove it."

"Just the door itself, leave the framing intact", said Reg, then pointed to the holes in the wall on either side of the frame, "There is no reason to have an air-tight door here anyway."

"The door itself, the motors and counter-weights would be well above two tonnes", admitted Lance.

"So what you are telling me, is that we have been pushing around a couple tonnes of unneeded mass for years now?", asked the Captain, still facing the new room with his hands on his hips.

Lance nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Recommendation, sir?", asked Reg, after a long silence.

"Well, I cant have you tearing it all back out", said the Captain. "But, its too small and poorly located to use as additional cargo space."

"I suppose it could be used as a crew cabin", suggested Reg. "It is not very convenient for access to the showers, galley, or toilets, but being close to the engines, and other vital systems, it would be an ideal location for a Chief Engineer's cabin."

Chief's ears folded flat to his head. Was Reg really considering annexing the room he had just spent months building to use as his own personal cabin?

"That is not a bad idea", said the Captain, "Did you have someone in mind?"

"I had not given it much thought, yet", said Reg.

"Wait, what?", asked Chief, suddenly confused.

"Needs to be someone efficient, with a keen eye for innovation", said the Captain.

Reg nodded, "Someone that can work long hours. Sometimes double and triple shifts."

Chief's eyes kept darting back and forth between the Captain and Reg. When he turned to look at Lance, he found the cat with an enormous smile on his face.

"Somebody that can make due with the materials at hand when the exact parts aren't available", said the Captain, now starting to smile as well.

"Somebody that knows exactly where his towel is, when in the shower", said Reg with a smirk.

Chief found himself slowly backing up.

"So what do you think, Chief?", asked the Captain. "Do you think you are ready to make that name into a title?"

"What?", sputtered the ferret.

"Chief Chief", said Reg with a wry smile. "Becka will love that on the record books."

Chief was still confused, the fur on his head sticking out in all directions.

The old raccoon approached and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "I'm retiring, Chief. I've named Reg as my replacement. After this trip, he will be the Captain of the Lyandra."

It took a few seconds for it all to sink in. "I'm sorry to hear that, sir", he said finally, "About your retirement, I mean", he added quickly when he saw one of Reg's ears go up.

"So far its just you, Reg and Lance that know. I will be making a formal announcement in the Galley this evening", said the Captain, his face very serious, "So do you think you are up for it? Promotion to Chief Engineer?"

The ferret smiled broadly. "As ready as Reg is to be Captain", he said.

Reg's eyes popped and Lance burst into laughter. "He's ready", said the AI, as his image dissolved.