FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"You're awake. That's good," was the calm declaration.

Field blinked several times, as if emerging from a fog. Everything slightly out of focus. He was on his side, 'in the fur' ... in the hay? There was no mistaking the scent of dried alfalfa, especially when you grew up on a farm. He sat up, or tried to. It took a moment. The air was warm, even muggy. Like a mid-summer afternoon right before a storm rolled in. The kind of storm with heavy lightning. He rubbed at his cheeks for a moment, whiskers twitching. "W-what happened ... "

"I was worried your mind wouldn't survive the transition." Not exactly an answer. "But I had to take the risk. My apologies."

The voice. "Adelaide?" She was silhouetted in front of an open doorway. Those winged arms making for such a distinct, sensual outline. But it wasn't a door, after all ... rather, a sliding window. On the south wall. And they were two stories in the air, right? It all came back to him. The experiences. He knew this place: his family's barn. He hadn't been here in years.

And it was at least a month away, at maximum warp, and there was no guarantee it was still around. The Federation, ever since Luminous' warning to the snow rabbits and the crew's subsequent exile, had been wracked by prey uprisings and predatory retaliations. It was as close to civil war as you could get. For all Field knew, his family was dead. His home burned to the ground. Off-world intelligence was hard to come by. There was no way of finding out for sure. Helpless as he was, he tried not to think about it.

"How did we get here?" he finally asked, dishy ears swiveling keenly.

"I'm afraid there is no 'here' ... here," the pink-furred bat explained, padding closer. Sauntering. Oh, the cadence of her hips. And the alluring way her fangs poked past her lips. She was just as bare as he was, and clearly enjoying it. "This 'place' exists between two points. It is impermanent. I used my abilities to create it, as a 'meeting room,' if you will." She spread her winged arms, stretching. A slight bow. "I removed you from your realm when you came into contact with our device. Contact is not necessary for retrieval, but it was convenient."

"What?" A blink. "What device?" A pause, whispering, "You're not Adelaide ... "

" ... no. Obviously. Not in spirit. But I have inhabited a re-creation of her body ... " She gave herself a look-over, brows arching in curious approval " ... to make you more comfortable." A toothy grin. Looking back to him. "A basic probe of your mind indicated you have a great deal of ... what do they call it? Desire? Affection? Love? For this creature. She means a great deal to you." A husky chitter-noise. "You derive great pleasure from her existence."

"She's my mate," Field replied, shyly.

A sage nod, beginning to circle him. Her bare foot-paws lightly crunching upon the loose hay. "Mates." A distant nod. "We used to take mates. Millennia ago. Back when we were trapped in physical forms. We now have much more satisfying methods of achieving 'intimacy' and 'reproduction' ... much less messy, too."

He blushed, at this. Ears going rosy. "You're not a fur. You're an alien." A twitch.

"I am not a fur, correct. An alien? To me, you are the alien," the faux-Adelaide pointed out, rolling her shoulders. Trying out every muscle she could move. "It is all relative." She stopped moving. "I aim to see, firstly, if you have enough tolerance to be of use to me. I suspect you do. But I must be sure ... "

He wasn't sure how to respond to that.

" ... you must be judged."

He didn't like the sound of that. Where did this 'alien' get all this authority? "And if the verdict is bad?" he had to ask.

She ignored the question. "Tell me the last thing you remember before coming here ... "

"I didn't come here. I was brought." Another twitch. "What device were you talking about, earlier? That artifact I touched? What does it do?" Field pressed.

"You are curious." An approving smile. "The last thing," she repeated, in Adelaide's gently-dominant tone, using her advanced powers to incite him into cooperation, "you remember ... "

" ... watch your ears. The ceiling gets a little low, in spots," said the head archaeologist. Simona. A snow rabbit, of course. They were in a cave system on the snow rabbit Home-world, in the Southern Hemisphere. On Kendra Province.

The mouse ducked, whiskers twitching. The beam of his paw beacon bouncing erratically.

"Field and I aren't exactly anthropologists. Or historians. Is there a reason you invited us here?" Adelaide asked.

"You are a bat. You have telepathic abilities." A quirked brow. "Therefore, you tell me."

"Everyone always tells me to tell them," Adelaide observed, wryly. It got obnoxious, sometimes. But she acquiesced. "You want to show us something, and you think we'll be able to help you identify it. Or activate it, maybe. With our 'cognitive reach'. Something important. Something the public doesn't know about yet ... "

"Mostly right. And, as for the last bit, it will remain that way ... " A serious look. "You will both keep this to yourselves."

Field nodded. "Of course. I can be quiet as a mouse ... "

A dry look from Simona.

" ... when I ... uh, need to be," he finished, faltering.

Adelaide chittered with mirth. Cheesy jokes. Mouses. That was pretty lame, though. "Would you care to elaborate further, Simona?" Adelaide asked.

"Doctor Simona."

"Doctor." Snow rabbits were too proper, sometimes. "About what you want us to see? And do?"

"I shouldn't think a telepath would need any elaboration whatsoever."

"A common misconception," the bat explained. "I can only sense generalities. Basic information. I can't read specific, pointed details unless I bite you, and ... " A cheeky glance. " ... you don't have a penis."

"You could always overlook that," Simona said, lightly, with a restrained smile. Her ears bent over, lazily.

Adelaide returned the expression. "I tend to lean the other way. Besides, us bats have a very complicated sexuality. You wouldn't know what you were in for."

"Meanwhile, us rabbits have a very simple one: fuck often." Her bobtail flickered sensually at this.

Adelaide chittered with mirth. "Well, both our species are flourishing. I'd say nature knew what it was doing."

"Its rewards do seem to be as equally lavish as its punishments," was Simona's worldly response.

Field just blushed, deeply, throughout this whole conversation. His ears flooding with blood. Hot beneath the honey-wheat cheek-fur. Were those two flirting with each other? They are, aren't they? I suppose you flirt with Kody and Wren. You have no room to complain, he told himself. And, besides, you're thinking about sex, too. Don't deny it. Your mate's a bat, and this is a cave, and caves are metaphors for female, uh ... parts. Mm-h. That's actually really romantic ...

... Adelaide, sensing his thoughts, gave him a wink.

His dimples began to show.

The snow rabbit continued, getting back on topic, "We have uncovered an artifact. A device. Very ancient, and yet ... " They turned a corner. A ramp. It led down into an open cavern. " ... we believe it may still be important. Our scanners aren't giving us much, but we have strong reason to believe it is 'psionic.' Only operable by someone with mental powers. Its builders clearly possessed telepathic abilities, based on what we've read. And you are the only bat in our territory, that we know of. And, as luck would further have it, you were also directly in orbit. Rumor has it that you have 'rubbed off' on your mouse, so it seemed prudent to invite the both of you."

Adelaide nodded. "Do you have any clue what species these ruins may have belonged to?"

"They weren't mammals. That is about all we know, from the texts we have deciphered. Nothing visual remains of their appearance. At least, nothing we've uncovered yet. We think we may be close to finding some data files. But being able to access them with our technology will be problematic. And we aren't sure if everything they made requires a telepathic presence, or ... " A sigh, trailing.

Field stayed close behind Adelaide as they reached the cavern floor. There were tents. Big flood-lights. Several snow rabbits working diligently, slender ears twiddling with distinguished concentration. "I, uh, didn't know there was another sentient species on your world before yours."

"Neither did we. These ruins are changing our perception of our home's history. Perhaps a greater mystery than the builders themselves is what happened to them," she added. "Extinction, perhaps. Or maybe they fled before the planet became so 'wintry'. It used to be a jungle world ... and then an accident. An Ice Age. And my species developed into its current sentient state, with our 'mental freezes' settling in."

Field's ears swiveled as he listened. "You don't feel emotions?"

"We do. They are just slightly restrained. In the rare instances that snow rabbits' 'freezes' have been compromised, due to radiation, or brain damage ... they became feral. To the point of madness. You could say, deep down, that we are too passionate for our own good. So, nature had to install us with safeguards. Or God. If they are not, indeed, one and the same." She pointed with a black-padded, off-white paw. "In this tent up here." A hop-skip. "Again, I would like to keep what we find a secret. Most snow rabbits should be logical enough to find out their history has new wrinkles, but one can never be sure. We need to be certain of what we've come across before we unleash it. Knowledge is power, is it not?"

The mouse nodded quietly at this ...

" ... and then I ... or she? Simona. Showed us the artifact. And I touched it? Or, no, Adelaide did, first. She probed it with her mind. She actually got quite a lot from it. Said it belonged to some kind of travel device. Tunnels, like the caves. Linking places. Said some other things, and then handed it to me while she kept talking. I felt a shock, and ... " A confused head-shake. None of this made sense. "I'm dreaming ... "

" ... I suppose that depends on your definition of 'dream'. Perhaps life itself is a dream? And the afterlife is the reality. Or perhaps nothing is real whatsoever, and is all a construct by some unknown force. No reality. No time." She allowed that to sink in. "Or, then again: everything is real, with everything beholden to time." Faux-Adelaide sank to her haunches, beside him. Her rudder-ish tail cutely jutting to the side. "Perhaps we make our own realities. Does this feel real?" She touched the mouse. His chest. Placing her paw flat against it, directly over his heart. "How quickly it is beating ... "

A shy nod.

"And this? Real?" she continued, fingers dancing down his belly. Stroking his butterscotch pelt. She shifted to her knees, now, to get more comfortable.

"Mm-hmm ... " He swallowed. It was hard not to get aroused. She was exactly like Adelaide. Except for the eyes. And this felt good ...

" ... it's been so long since I had a body." Her paw went below his waist. "Or felt another's." She touched his mouse-hood. Curled her fingers around it, one by one. "A silly-looking thing, but ... quite intriguing ... "

A sensitive wriggle. "Um, h-heh ... you ... " A squeak. Using his paws to push hers away, shyly. " ... you didn't bring me here to breed, did you?"

An odd, toothy smile. "No. It is too 'quaint' an activity. As I said, we have evolved to experience far better things." A slight chitter. "But now that you mention it ... "

He swallowed, trying to focus. Was she teasing him just then? That was a very Adelaide thing to do. Flustering him up. So she could, in turn, calm him down. Sexually. And, uh, stuff. "Why are we in this loft? Am I physically here? Or just ... is this really me?" He looked down.

"Your body remains where it is. Where it was. Your consciousness, though, is here. Now. As for this environment? I called it up from your memory. Someplace private. Does the straw make you uncomfortable?"

"It's hay." An annoyed scrunch-face. Everyone made that mistake. "Hay is green. Straw is golden."

"Golden. Like you." She stroked his fur, gingerly. "Is it true that you 'roll' in hay ... when mating?"

More blushing. "That's just an expression."

"It must have a basis in actual experience."

The mouse twitched. " ... I, uh, wouldn't know."

Faux-Adelaide peered at him, deeply, with all-black eyes. And an all-knowing guise. Or so it seemed to the simple mouse. "Really?" She cupped his cheek with a blunt-clawed paw. "Nonetheless, you are an innocent creature. You have a pure soul. Your species has a reputation, and I see, more and more, you are living up to it." An approving nod. "That is why we chose you."

"We? So, you're representing a group?"

"I speak for my kind. Yes."

The mouse considered for a moment. "Why not speak to Adelaide? She's a good fur ... "

" ... yes. She is. But she would kill to protect you. You, however, are a pacifist. You would not kill anyone."

His whiskers twitched, wondering if that made him weak. "No. I wouldn't."

"We admire that. Life is precious. And an even greater mystery than death." A deep breath, nudging him. Pushing him onto his back. And straddling his hips, she began to spill everything at once. "The artifact you found is a remnant. It was part of a 'gateway,' if you will, into other corners of the galaxy. Indeed, the universe itself. We constructed these gateways on countless worlds. Many were destroyed. Some were not. And, instead, became buried over time. They allowed instant transport from one planet to the next. No need for ships ... "

"That must've taken a great deal of resources to implement," Field breathed, his paws unconsciously going to her hips. The curve of them. The supple softness of her feminine pelt. "And a lot of time." His paws, then, slid back. Around. To her rump. He liked to hold her there.

"It did, on both accounts," she admitted, murring. "But we were driven. And we were telepathic, as well. Even more advanced than your mate is, now. If you can imagine. We strove ... and, eventually, evolved beyond the physical plain entirely. Into non-corporeal beings."

"So, you didn't go extinct ... "

An obvious smile. "Would you be talking to me if we did?" Her sweeping ears arched, slightly. A pause. "What is that chirping noise? Incessant clicks and chirrups, above us ... " Craning her neck. " ... masterful aerialists!"

"Barn swallows. They nest in rural buildings. Ones that aren't sealed off." Field bit his lip. "Isn't this your re-creation?"

"From your mind, remember. You know this place better than I." A pause, tilting her head. "Your bat cannot fly. Even though she has wings?"

"They used to be able to, but that was a long, long time ago. When they had smaller bodies."

Flapping her winged arms. Flap-flap. "I see. Even as decoration, they are quite striking."

"I know ... " A dreamy sigh.

A side-glance, reaching out. Quickly catching something in a pink paw. She showed it to him. "This is chirping, as well."

" ... oh, that's a cricket. Adelaide actually eats ... "

Faux-Adelaide popped the cricket into her muzzle. And chewed.

" ... them." Whiskers twitched. Eyes boggling. "Eh. She, uh, normally bakes them first ... "

" ... flavor-ful. You eat these, as well?" Chew-chew. Swallow.

Field made a face. "No. I try to avoid meat." A pause. "But Adelaide sometimes slips bugs into my food when I'm not looking. I couldn't hurt crickets. They're too nice."

A chuckle, and faux-Adelaide hunched over, nose to nose. "As are you. Though, technically, what I ate was not a 'real' cricket. Just a facsimile." Noticing his flushed ears, his quickening breath, she realized, "This is your favorite 'position,' isn't it? When mating? What do furs call it? Cowgirl?" Being in this form was more fun than she'd anticipated.

"Uh, w-well ... " The mouse burned.

" ... modest, also," was the whisper. "That is what they call 'cute,' yes?" A wink, and then she continued with her story. Sitting back up. Massaging his chest, and gently grinding to his hips. "Where did I leave off? Oh, yes. Unfortunately, after we 'left' your universe, we were no longer able to police the gateways. As other species evolved, they began to use them. Often, as weapons. They ended up annihilating each other."

"Annihilating?" Field squeaked. Lord, she was distracting him. She knew that, right? And he couldn't take his eyes off her breasts, and how they moved.

"You are echoing me," she teased, black eyes glinting. She ceased her movements. Allowing him to better concentrate. "We were pained by these developments, of course, but believed that lessons would be learned and the gateways would finally go away. But more species than we anticipated have risen to sentience. And they are, on the whole, far more aggressive than the biologics of our own time. We have growing reason, then, to believe history will repeat itself. Perhaps in a much more catastrophic way ... "

"How does that involve me ... "

"Our influence in your realm is limited by our separation from it. We cannot physically go back. We can only communicate with those who share our mental prowess ... "

"H-heh. Eh." A self-deprecating squeak. "I'm not mentally prowed. Or, uh ... " That's not a word, Field. " ... I don't have that," he finally said. His tail snaked randomly.

"Do not underestimate yourself, dear mouse. When you came into contact with the 'electric moon,' and when your mate began to join with you, daily? A latent area of your brain was activated. You may not understand it yet. But it is there. Enough to allow this meeting to take place."

He closed his eyes for a moment. He was beginning to get a headache. But how was that possible, if this wasn't really his body? I don't understand! But there was no use arguing. "Alright ... " He opened his eyes, again, blinking a few times. "What are these gateways, really? What makes them so dangerous?"

"The gateways are merely controlled wormholes," faux-Adelaide explained. "The inherent power of them can be, with the right skill, un-tethered from the framework of the gateways themselves. And set loose. The free-range wormholes can then be used to deploy fleets, swallow moons ... destroy planets. We should have disabled them before we left, but our transition happened faster than we expected. Besides, we imaged, like us, other species would use them for peaceful exploration. Communication. Commerce." A hopeful smile that faded, into sadness. "We had no idea some could be so malevolent. We were very much like your own species. Like mouses. Perhaps naïve, but ... "

" ... I've never even heard of gateways," Field insisted, wracking his brain. Not even in childhood stories. He'd heard of wormholes, but ... " ... maybe you're being paranoid? The snow rabbits aren't going to hurt anyone. All they want to do is breed."

"Maybe they will hurt others, maybe not. If the Arctic foxes broke the 'cold war' and launched an assault on the snow rabbit Home-world? Would they use a wormhole weapon, then? If they knew they could?"

"But that's self-defense. You have to be able to defend yourself ... "

"The death toll would be enormous. Millions. Billions."

"This is all theory and speculation," Field insisted.

"Agreed. But bear with me." She began rubbing him again, but soon stopped. "While the snow rabbits would use restraint, being prey, the wasps ... " A sigh. " ... insects are relentless, single-minded. The hive mentality. Even in our age. The wasps have already found a gateway, on another world, and are close to deciphering how it works."

"And you know this ... how ... ?"

"We know." Again, cryptic. And a non-answer.

"So, they're going to invade? Like Pyro said?"

"Eventually. The use of one gateway requires that at least one of the others be active, as well. They are an interconnected network."

"Do they know about the gateway on the snow rabbit Home-world?" Field asked.

"No. The snow rabbits do not even know of it yet. But the wasps are dedicated harvesters of information. It will not escape their attention for long." A pause. "Your ship will invariably be on the front lines of any conflict with them. We need you, therefore, to possess the information ... to be able to stop them, if necessary. You will be our failsafe plan."

A confused headshake.

"There is something else: wormholes, you see, are not merely about traveling from place to place, through space. They are also passageways through time. Travel through space ... is travel through time. The wasps have already tried 'future travel' ... Pyro told you this, as well."

"Yes, but ... " A frustrated sigh. Mumbling, pawing at her belly. Wanting to lick the velvety membranes of her wings. He couldn't help it. He was naked. And so was she, and she was exactly like Adelaide. Even had the same scent. How was he supposed to feel? " ... you're telling the wrong fur. Really. Tell the snow rabbits. They're so logical and smart."

"But, as I said, they hate the Arctic foxes." She arched, closing her eyes. Stretching those winged arms. It felt good to stretch. To move. And then she relaxed. "We have no guarantee they would not use such information against them. We are certain you will not use it, not unless it becomes a last resort." She caressed his cheek with a paw. "You needn't understand. In fact, you should be happy." A reassuring smile. "We are giving your life a greater purpose."

"I already had purpose," he defended, a little angrily. Just cause he was a mouse, didn't mean he was worthless. "I'm a commander. An artist. A lover ... "

" ... noble things, to be true. But not everyone will possess the scientific wellspring we will embed in you. Some spend their entire mortal lives working to possess this information. You are being gifted it. Think about that." A pause. "Perhaps that sounds arrogant. But it is the truth. Knowledge is power."

His whiskers twitched. "That's what Simona said ... "

"She was right." A nuzzle. "We will plant the information into your instinct. Your innate consciousness. After you leave here, you will not be fully aware of it."

"So, I'm going to forget all this? Like it never happened?"

"It will be shrouded until its rediscovery is necessary."

"Who decides when that is?"

"When the time comes, the memory will activate. Trust me." Laying atop him, again. Her dexterous bat-tongue snaking out of her muzzle and doing lazy laps through his cheek-fur, grazing his whiskers. "You have a pleasant, earthy taste." Her tongue retreated. And she finished, "You will then have the know-how to put an end to the wasps', or anyone else's, wormhole ambitions. You will be able to end the gateways, at least. Though not the war, itself, unfortunately."

"How? What does that mean? An 'end' ... like, I can implode all the gateways at once, or ... "

" ... I'm afraid I cannot tell you that."

"Will there be side-effects?" Twitching, in a sudden panic. "Do I have to die to implement this plan?"

"Again, I cannot tell you that."

"That's not fair!" he squeaked.

She put a finger to his lips. "Field. Darling." Using Adelaide's voice. Her tones and inflections. Her words. "You will understand in due time. You will be alright."

A sigh. "You knew ... you knew that Adelaide and I would visit that 'dig,' and come into contact with your device, and ... "

" ... yes. We glimpsed it."

"Did you go into the past? And manipulate events to get us into the cavern?"

"One must never go into the past. The risk is too great. Even the wasps are aware of that."

"Yeah. Pyro said that. But, then, he said a lot of things. I don't know how much of it was true. Cause Wren ... or, not him, but his future self? Came back to the past. Or, at least, projected himself back ... " A deep breath. " ... and it didn't unravel the fabric of space or time."

"Because your captain did not listen to his elder's advice. And order was kept. Had he listened? It would have caused damage."

"What kind of damage ... "

"For every change that's made in the past, a potential reality, an originally unrealized future is spawned. Like ripples. The bigger the splash, the bigger the effect, until there are so many potential realms and realities that ... "

" ... what?" the mouse whispered.

" ... even we do not know the answer to that. But we are certain it is not good. Realities that aren't meant to be," she whispered, "must not be. Stability will be threatened, otherwise."

"Like, stability of the universe? How's that possible?" Field breathed inward through the nose. "If you're so powerful, why are you relying on me? Can't you do it yourself ... "

"As I said, again ... please listen." She touched his ears, gently holding to the rims.

He shivered in slight pleasure.

"We can no longer exist in your realm. Hence this meeting place. This middle-ground. You have been chosen. It is not open for debate. The decision has been made. We created the gateways. We need to end them ... " Faux-Adelaide let go of his ears, now, and leaned forward, her forehead to his. His whiskers were quivering. " ... you will help us do that."

"Why can't I just end them now? Just give me some code or super-information ... soon as I'm back in the cavern, I'll deactivate the gateways. Or whatever. I'll do it." An anxious, weary squeak. "I promise."

"Your mind would be compromised by such a rapid influx. You need time for this to properly soak into your subconscious. And you need more than an artifact to access the gateway superstructure. You need to find an actual working gateway. You will be able to deactivate all of them from there." A pause. Realizing, "You are scared ... " A sniff. "I can smell it. You are trembling ... " A note of sympathy. "Oh, Field ... "

" ... d-don't do this to me." Sniffling, beginning to cry. All this responsibility. All this danger. His prey-like anxiety was churning intensely.

"It will be alright." She whispered this directly into his ear, intimately.

"Do you know that for sure?"

"You will be alright," she repeated.

That only scared him more. He didn't know why, but it did.

Faux-Adelaide then sat up on a final time, still bare. Still straddling him. But asking, "Would you like to see what our forms looked like? Back when we had them ... "

"If you want ... "

" ... I am asking you," she breathed. "Do you want to know with whom you speak?"

A twitchy nod. He did, actually.

" ... do not be frightened," she cooed, sitting back up. Spreading her winged arms, shimmering. Growing in size. Changing in color. Wings moving from her arms to her back, breasts flattening. And within a few seconds, just like that, Field was being straddled by ...

" ... oh ... a dragon," he breathed. He hadn't expected that. "I thought you were a myth. Like unicorns."

"We were very real, once. We still are. Just in a different way. As I said: it is all relative."

He was in awe, slightly. She was giving off a very powerful, mystical vibe in her natural form.

She snorted, her nostrils flaring. Her talons parting his chest-fur. Her scales a pearly blue. Her wings almost translucent. She was completely alluring. " ... if there is something you would do for me? Before you go?"

He swallowed. Looking to her, innocently.

"I would like a kiss." A pause. "Maybe more. Though I denied that earlier ... " A sheepish survey of his face. True, mortal sex wasn't nearly as good as the non-corporeal kind. But, still ... " ... I do not know when I will get another chance. And life is about 'experiences' ... "

" ... uh-huh." A nod. Butterflies in his stomach (or so it seemed).

"Do not worry," she teased. "I will lead." And she bent down, hovering, her scaly muzzle tilting, zeroing in, and making full, luscious contact with ...

" ... Field?"

A groggy squeak. He felt her 'feelers,' those telepathic tendrils. In his head. Even before he opened his eyes. "Adelaide ... " Blinking. Not remembering what had just occurred. It was all buried, now. The last thing he remembered ...

" ... you got shocked by the artifact. You passed out."

"W-why?" He sat up, clearing his throat, looking around. They were still inside the tent.

"We don't know," said Simona, charcoal-dipped ears twiddling. She was tapping at a scanner, furrowing her brow. "But we were clearly right about it's 'pisonic' linkage."

Adelaide, with protective concern, insisted, "I'm having Kody give you a full check-up when we get back to Luminous."

"I feel fine," Field insisted. He was standing, now. Wobbling a little. His tail doing zigzag patterns.

"I wanna be sure," she insisted. And, then, to Simona, "I think this 'artifact' is part of a larger puzzle. A single piece to a bigger machine ... whatever it belongs to has to be here, right? Maybe a little deeper ... "

" ... an ancient star-ship, perhaps?" Simona wondered.

"No. I got no sense of stars or space ... "

"Perhaps an 'automobile.' Well ... regardless, there are a few more things I would like you to see and 'probe,' if you would? Field can be exempted. I think, perhaps, his mousey mind isn't able to process all this."

"His telepathic abilities are still kinda latent," Adelaide explained. She took hold of his paw, affectionately.

Field followed her, zoning out while they talked. Fingers laced together. Feeling strange. Like he'd had an out-of-body experience. But it only lasted a minute before he shook it off. His thoughts returning to these artifacts. And, also, to caves and moving in and out of them, and Adelaide, as well.