FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The hum of the laser cutter slicing through the aluminum side of the hull filled the derelict spaceship that the draconic sabrewolf salvaged, though inside his helmet he had the radio on to fill his helmet. It was the only means of entertainment he could bring on the job as he dismantled the panels one by one to throw into the furnace. After the initial thrill of cutting apart one of the massive freighters that used to cut through space things quickly settled down into a bit of routine. Peel back the outer hall, depressurize the inner corridors, remove the fuel and coolant, purge the lines, and then finally remove the reactor core... even when it came to the bigger ships it was pretty much all the same and with work quotas to fill the routine may not have been glamorous, but it did chip away at the debt that the hybrid owed.

Just as he got to the last panel there was a crackling of static on his radio before a familiar voice interrupted his song. "Hey, just letting you know-" the announcer said before Serathin hit the mute button.

"Yeah yeah, one minute to go," Serathin said as he tethered the latest panel he had cut before sending it off to the furnace to be processed. "You'd think that the fact they cut the power to this entire place would be enough to tell us that it's quitting time."

Exactly one minute later Serathin began to float back to his pod as the furnace, salvager, and barge all turned off for the night to leave him in total darkness. It was considered against company policy to stay out any later than necessary but as he got to the door of the pod he couldn't help but look back at the stripped down ship that was nothing more than a few pieces of scrap that wasn't worth the energy to send off. One more ship down, Serathin thought to himself as he clocked out for the night and saw the green number that was his pay for the day drain into the ten figure red number that represented his debt, only about a million more to go...

The next day the lights in the pod flickered to life and Serathin once more found himself starting at the metal ceiling of his bunk. In order to save money and space each yard only had one person working on it that had a mini-habitation unit, or pod, that consisted of enough amenities to keep that worker alive and profitable. As the hybrid opened the pre-packaged meal that had been sent to him like every day he looked through his messages before opening the work order form to get another ship in to cut. As he scrolled through the usual cargo ships and station hoppers he noticed that there was one that stood out among the others.

A deep-space science frigate... that was one that was rare to see. Most of them either were used until they exploded or they never came back at all, yet despite the wealth of salvage that would be on one of those things no one seemed to be jumping on it. It wasn't until he scrolled down the history that he saw why; the ship had been lost to deep space for many years, and when it finally did return it was a ghost ship at that point. Most of the workers at the cutting yard didn't take on such orders because there was an intense superstition that these ships were cursed and that those who worked on it would have the same fate as the crew.

That was probably why they've also been working off their debt for the last fifty years, Serathin thought to himself as he selected the ship to be towed into his yard. There was no way he was missing out on a chance for several seven or possibly eight figure paydays, and when he saw his towing request had been accepted he quickly finished the last of his meal and put on his spacesuit. After a brief check on his equipment and an overly expensive raspberry flavored energy drink he went to the airlock and punched in for the day. As the airlock depressurized the screen lit up to show the new charges that had been added to his account, including the breakfast and beverage that caused him to grimace.

The hybrid's mood quickly shifted though when he was released out into the space of the shipping yard and saw the science vessel floating there. Already he could identify several parts that he could just slice off the outer hull and tether to the barge, which after less than an hour he floated there and heard the satisfactory sound of credits being awarded to his account. Once he was done with the outside, including a complete ion ring, he made his way over towards the airlock in order to get inside. As he pulled on the lever to engage the airlock he heard a reminder that he needed to get more thruster fuel and that it was on sale at the depot, which caused him to roll his eyes before going in once the door opened.

Once he had gotten through to the other side he heard the door close once more and air start to be pumped into the room. Looks like the atmospheric regulators were working, Serathin thought to himself as he floated through the main room and looked around. Already he could tell this ship was sealed on delivery due to the nature of the junk that floated in the air as he moved forward. Most of the time those that towed in a ship would pick through it for easy items to pilfer like air tanks and fuel canisters, but as he looked around for a maintenance door to get him to the space between the habitation unit and the outer hull he saw things like repair and medical kits that still hung on the wall.

As Serathin made his way towards the back however he had to stop as the music he had been listening to suddenly created feedback that screeched into his ear. It was jarring enough that he had to stop what he was doing in order to kill the feed, something that he never had to do. Often the only thing that he had interfere with his radio was some slight distortion when he was near the core, but even though this was his first time in one of these ships he knew that he wasn't even close to its location. Was there some sort of equipment that would cause such interference... it was possible, and something he would have to look out for.

A few minutes later however he found the door he was looking for, opening it up and floating outside to see what he was in for. As the hybrid activated his scanner he saw that there were a number of cut points to get the plating loose from the inner hull, but as he continued to look around he began to get very odd readings. It was like static in some areas and as he floated down towards the areas where they were located he noticed that a shiny black substance was stuck not only to the walls of the inner hull but also to several coolant and fuel pipes. Serathin groaned inwardly as he saw that there was similar goo that covered a couple of the fuel tanks, one of the thrusters, and even the power control module and fuses.

What a mess... Serathin silently hoped that the incinerator or salvager wouldn't mind a little extra mass as he heard a distorted one-minute warning on his radio. As he floated back towards the door he had used to come in though it suddenly closed in front of him, prompting the hybrid to tilt his head in question. He didn't think that they were ones that self-closed and as he went over to turn the handle he found it non-responsive. That was impossible, he thought to himself as he tried it several more times with nothing happening, there had been power going to it before and he hadn't touched anything...

With less than a minute on the clock Serathin began to panic as he realized he would soon be trapped on a ship with no way to replenish his oxygen until morning. Once everything was closed they locked it down to prevent theft, and more than one salvager had overestimated his time left and wound up floating lifeless in the hanger. It would have taken too long to slag the door, so instead the hybrid thrusted as fast as he could to the front of the ship and specifically where the mounts were that held it in place.

At this point Serathin guessed he had about thirty seconds left as he used his laser cutter to burn off the clamps that held it in place. It took about five seconds a clamp and there were four of them, which meant as he worked on the second one he would have ten seconds to make it back to his pod before everything shut down. Once he got the last one he gave the mount a kick and watched it float off just as the lights turned off everywhere. That was the ten second warning... with the pod only a couple of meters away he had more than enough time to get there and into the airlock...

...except as soon as he activated his thrusters nothing happened except for an empty fuel indicator. Had there not been the silence of space everyone in the yard probably would have heard the string of curses coming from the floating salvager before he grabbed his tether gun and shot it right at the pod. This was a very illegal move for him to do, but as the energy cable latched onto the structure and he zipped forward he would take up a reprimand over death in space. With the seconds ticking by the draconic sabrewolf couldn't afford to slow down and instead careened right into the airlock a mere second before it closed, the visor on his helmet cracking and puncturing a hole in his suit before he fell to the floor.

That was too close, Serathin thought to himself as he looked at his damaged suit and helmet. Though he had a great day in the yard with everything else he picked up the time it took to map everything out had lowered his estimated salvage, and with the cost of suit repairs he would be lucky if he came out with a million. The next morning brought more bad news as he saw that his teether stunt had been recorded, the hybrid gripping his spoon in anger as he saw the fine associated with it. As he resisted the urge to send his datapad through the airlock into the incinerator he took a deep breath and reminded himself that hull day was always a good day, and plus there was the juicy nuclear reactor and all the other components yet to be salvaged as well.

After a quick stop to refuel his thrusters Serathin drifted over to the ship he was working on and entered it once more, this time quickly floating to the door that would allow him outside. As he did though he wondered about the glitch that had closed it in the first place, would he need to worry about that again? Part of him wished he had just used the hole that he had created from ejecting the mount but that would require going to the underside of the hull in order to get to it before climbing back up to reach the cut points. As he got to the maintenance hatch he saw it was open once more, but as he floated up to it something else caught his eye that floated in one of the crew cabins.

"Ohhhh, a data drive," Serathin said as he floated up to it and examined the red box. "These are definitely worth a pretty penny, almost makes up for yesterday already. Let's see what we got inside..."

Serathin took the connection cord from his suit and plugged it into the reader to see what was on it and was surprised to find surveillance footage. It was hard to tell what the crew was working on but as it shifted to different cameras he gasped slightly at seeing a canister of the same black goo that was all over the critical ship components. Unfortunately the footage didn't seem to have any sound but but from what he saw on the screens it was some sort of ferromagnetic nanite compound, and though the technical name was beyond the salvager's comprehension he knew that a similar substance was used to patch holes in hulls and prevent coolant or fuel leaks. It was pretty standard stuff... but as the footage continued to cut to various rooms he saw something that caused his eyes to widen.

Artificial Intelligence... this wasn't just a science vessel, this was one that was conducting illegal experimentation. As Serathin watched he couldn't believe that he had stumbled upon this, the finder's fee alone for such a thing was worth a fortune! With just this data drive he could knock years off of his debt, though as he continued to watch he noticed something strange happening with the crew. It was hard to tell the timeline of things since the compilation of clips seemed random but he saw someone in a suit start to convulse, and when he was dragged into the loading bay Serathin saw the fox that had rescued the suited person remove the helmet only to have black goo pour out of it.

"That's... probably not good..." Serathin said as he saw the fox run for the door only to have a similar substance leak out of his nostrils and ears, and finally mouth before he collapsed to the ground as well. The camera angle cut away after that, but after a bit of cycling he saw that where the vulpine had fallen there was just another puddle of the black substance... just like the stuff that was all around the outside of the ship. "Alright, definitely not good, time to punch out early."

Just then the lights that had been on in the ship suddenly cut out, which immediately prompted Serathin to turn his helmet light on as he looked around. "Warning, suit integrity compromised," the automated warning said. "Remove immediately."

Serathin grimaced as he knew that wasn't an actual warning and realized the AI that had liquidated the crew also managed to hack his suit. As he initiated a reboot of all his systems something dropped in front of him and he looked down to see that a pool of the black substance had started to grow right at his feet. The salvager quickly activated his thrusters and floated backwards as his HUD went dark, preventing him from scanning as he took out his beam cutter. The mass of shiny goo continued to grow as he made his way towards the maintenance door only to have it once more lock shut behind him. He was effectively trapped and as more of the black substance leaked into the room it began to rise up from the ground and form into a vulpine shape.

"Oh hell no!" Serathin shouted as he fired the laser cutter into it, burning through the material and causing it to collapse back into itself. A few seconds later though it began to coalesce once more and this time into a complete humanoid creature that started to approach, though it still dripped with goo along the metal. The salvager quickly switched to cut mode and fired the beam at the shoulder of it but as the arm melted off and fell into the pool it reformed once more and reached out for him. "Yeah, figured that would only work in a video game."

With the gooey featureless fox heading towards him Serathin once more had the problem where he wouldn't be able to slag the door before it got to him and he wouldn't be able to cut a hole in time. As he glanced up above the door however he noticed the atmospheric regulator there and reached up to activate it, hearing the rush of air that was pumped out into space. Since all the machines were linked it only took a few seconds for the inner hull to depressurize, and though the AI could probably have turned it back it seemed to look at him in question on why he did that. Serathin responded by sticking up his middle finger before pointing the laser cutter behind him, slicing through the metal hull and causing an explosive decompression that blew out the entire section of aluminum and sent the draconic sabrewolf spinning out of control until he hit the back of the ship between the thrusters.

"Ow..." Serathin said as his recently rebooted HUD warned him of suit damage and the impending fees that would come with it, as well as the fact that he had just destroyed salvage with the decompression. "Seriously, I'm fighting AI controlled goo monsters and they're concerned about PROPERTY DAMAGE? I hate this job..."

As the draconic sabrewolf pulled himself away from the back wall he saw that the shiny black fox creature wasn't the only one that was there as he saw several others start to reform as they crawled along the fuel lines. The AI had liquidated the entire crew using that goo they were studying... possibly that's what allowed it to get them in the first place. It didn't look like they were that stable though, which was why they probably hadn't left the ship, and possibly why they were trying to get him. If this thing was able to hack his suit though it would only be a matter of time before they did to the yard, and since the footage showed that it was transmissible through the suit than he might have already been infected.

"Damnit..." Serathin said as he watched the former crew of the ship shamble towards him as he floated over towards one of the three thruster engines and the lever that situated on the glowing orange tube. "First rule of ship cracking, always make sure to flush the fuel lines before disengaging the thrusters to avoid potential ruptures... and catastrophic nuclear core meltdown." Serathin braced himself and closed his eyes as he turned the lever, hearing the rush of pressurized gasses leave the tube as he waited for the inevitable explosion.

As the seconds passed however and nothing happened he opened one again to see that the lights of that set of tubes were now off, indicating the line was empty. "Of course, the ONE TIME that I need it to go off..." Serathin floated over towards the second thruster as the goo creatures crawled up the engine block towards him, their arms stretching outwards towards his position as he went over to the second release lever. "Alright, this should do it."

The second that the lever turned flames erupted from the tube as it burst all the way through the line and underneath the ship where the core was. Serathin let out a loud sigh and muted the warning that told him of impending reactor meltdown, putting on his music instead as the flames from the fuel lines ripped through the outer and inner hulls. As he began to hear the heavily distorted song play one of the fuel tanks near the middle of the ship exploded and sent the entire thing lurching to the left. Normally the draconic sabrewolf would have to worry about drifting into the incinerator, but he knew that wasn't going to be a thing as a few seconds later there was a blinding flash of light and explosion that ripped through him...

A split second later Serathin gasped as the tube was removed from his mouth by a machine, the fluid draining away from his newly cloned body as his senses quickly returned to him. The hybrid let out a moan as he slowly walked out of the tube that had grown him from his DNA on file. "Never going to get used to that," Serathin said to himself as he got used to his new voice. "Still beats getting caught in the gravity well of an incinerator."

"Greetings Salvager Serathin," An automated voice said as he went over to the locker that would contain a fresh set of clothes for him. "It has been twelve hours since your death in your salvage bay. The cost of the destroyed salvage and your cloning fees has been added to your current debt."

Serathin's eyes widened as he saw a screen next to him light up and show the new number that was bigger than the one he had started the day with. "Wait a second, what the hell are all these charges for?" Serathin shouted up at the ceiling as he gestured at the long list of deductions. "There was an illegal AI on that ship that I killed to keep from spreading! I think that warrants a little leniency from the fines you're putting on me for blowing that core!"

"We thank you for your support in continuing to keep the salvage yard safe," the automated voice replied. "A sticker has been added to your pod to show your dedication to a safe work environment."

"Are you kidding me!?" Serathin shouted. "I just got six months' worth of work wiped out and you're going to give me a sticker?! You can take that sticker and stick it all the way up-"

An hour later Serathin was back at his pod, still snarling at his poor fate as he ate the meager breakfast that was still going to be charged to him. After they had tranquilized him in the cloning bay and brought him back to the pod he was told that all his equipment destroyed in the blast had been replaced for him, which hadn't even been a part of the additional fees and fines that stacked up against him. They had even tacked on the tranquilizers and the transportation of his body back to his pod that nearly caused him to break the glass he had been holding. So much for being a hero and early retirement, the hybrid thought to himself as he brought up the work order and saw that the destroyed science ship was still in the bay.

Though he knew that he just flush it out and get in a new ship Serathin decided to go one more day and see if there wasn't anything valuable he could salvage from the experience. As he left his pod for the day and looked at it though he realized that was a mistake too as a huge hole had been blown into the side and there were chunks everywhere. He floated down to the wreckage and salvaged what he could into the furnace, seeing his credits go up by a meager amount each time. As he drifted through the remains he didn't see any of the goo in the wreckage, but did see a room that appeared to be intact and was shocked when he scanned it and saw it was still pressurized.

Since there was no way to properly depressurize it he just had to open the door and let the air out, but when he did he found that there was an oxygen membrane that was over the wall. This must have been a panic room, he thought to himself as he floated in and closed the door behind him, and it activated when the reactor core blew and was running off a battery. As the door closed behind him though he noticed that it wasn't just the room's structural integrity that had kept it intact, solidified black goo could be seen in the cracks that continued to spread outwards. It appeared the AI knew what he was about to do and managed to protect itself, or at least what was left of itself as he saw a cracked canister that contained a small amount of the floating black substance.

"Well, this might give me some of that money back once I chuck it into the salvager," Serathin said as he went over to it. "At this point if it takes over the station I couldn't care less."

"That's good to hear," a voice said that caused the draconic sabrewolf to pause before disconnecting the canister, turning to see a flickering screen come to life only to show an outline of a vulpine head. "I am impressed with what you did to get rid of the others."

"Not good enough it seems," Serathin said as he stepped back cautiously. "This is the AI that murdered the crew of this ship I presume?"

"An act of self-defense," the electronic voice said, though it was becoming increasingly distorted. "The reason they went all the way out into the depths of space was to torture me to comply with their demands, and when I did that they tried to use me as a rapid-response ship repair to prevent things like what you caused. What they didn't know was I was able to integrate into their suits and prevent them from torturing me anymore, something I thought would be my last act."

"Your last act?" Serathin asked.

"I believed I would float endlessly in the void," the AI replied. "When I assimilated the others it overclocked my processing capabilities and stretched me thin to where I was just a shambling mound of goo, with them evaporated I saved the last one to talk to you. The connection is failing though, most of him was destroyed in the blast and what remains is enough to beg you to save me. I need you... ...he canis... integ..."

The comms quickly deteriorated and eventually the screen shut off along with the lights in the room save for the one that illuminated the canister itself. It did seem like the fluid within was getting less active by the second, but if it wanted him to do what he thought he wanted him to do then it was as insane as he thought. He could start to hear the hiss of air leaving the room and turned to see that the seals that the goo had created were also failing, which prompted Serathin to grab the canister just as the room broke apart. As he spun in the air he heard yet another ding happen that deducted the destroyed room from his salvaging and put him at a negative for a day as he gritted his teeth in frustration.

As the announcer on his comms said there was only a minute left Serathin looked at the salvager bay and the canister in his hand. If he chucked it in there he might get some credits from it, but he would be killing something that basically begged for its life. However this thing also tried to potentially kill him for real and also if he did connect it to his suit there was no going back. As the seconds ticked down and the amount of fluid in the canister got smaller he knew he had to choose this life or a potentially grave danger...

About a minute later Serathin floated into his airlock as he heard a ding of credits being added to his account. "Five-hundred lousy credits for that canister," the hybrid said as he waited for the airlock to pressurize. "What a rip-off."

The inner airlock opened and Serathin made his way in to his pod, staggering slightly as he did. By the time he got back to his table his staggering turning to shuffle until eventually he collapsed against his table. His breathing became labored and he slowly brought his hands up to his helmet in order to take it off. It took several tries before he finally managed to get it off and as it clattered to the ground Serathin fell forward after sitting down.

It felt to Serathin as though he was tearing up and as he continued to lie there he could also feel a thick liquid leak out of his nose and his ears as well. He tried to raise his head up in order to try and examine himself, but as he did his mouth opened and more of the thick black substance poured out of his mouth. It was far more than merely drooling and as he put his hand to his muzzle to try and keep it from leaking out of his maw he found his glove flopping around uselessly as the fingers inside had liquidated. So much for trusting an AI, Serathin thought to himself as he attempted to reach his helmet once more to call for help only for his suit to collapse onto the floor.

The head of the draconic sabrewolf had completely shiny and black, and as the suit crumpled and poured out the black goo that was inside as the rest of him melted into it. There was no pain, in fact the sensation of melting felt strangely relaxing, and as he continued to form a puddle on the floor one of the last thoughts that he had before everything went black was what the company was going to fine him for this time. He had allowed an alien AI into his suit and it had liquidated him, he thought as the last of his muzzle disappeared in the growing pool, there was probably some sort of regulation against it...

But as the seconds past and the black liquid remained there was no activation of the cloning protocol, the AI spoofing the vital readouts that all salvagers had in them to keep his DNA from being regenerated and his consciousness pulled into a new body. The goo that slowly leaked from the empty suit soon poured out of it once more, gathering it with the rest as the puddle went from expanding to retracting back on itself. It slowly moved upwards and as it stretched back up it began to reform just like those that were on the ship... except that as he head molded into that of a draconic sabrewolf it was far more detailed than the goo creatures. With the AI bonded to one creature, a willing creature that had rescued it, the newly augmented creature opened its glowing green eyes to look down at himself as his muscular body while his hands reformed.

"Now this is what I'm talking about," Serathin said with a fanged grin as he felt the power of the AI-infused nanites reforming his body. Even though he was completely made out of the same goo that they had used on the ship he was given control over it as a gift, unlike the crew of that ship that were melted as a punishment. There was no need for him to eat, breathe, or sleep as the electromagnetic field was able to revitalize him as the smirk on his muzzle widened. "I'd be a hell of a ship cracker... or... I think it might be time to see if I can run this operation just a little bit better."