FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Ok, so here is the re:boot chapter 1. this is how it is going to work. i have already edited up to chapter 7 with no major plot changes yet, just edited word choice and clearer text. it still feels solid its just cleaner i guess and has added continuity with the rest of the story! I plan on posting these chapter edits every 2 days until i hit the actual additions to the old story (which i have removed if you haven't noticed or are just tuning in.) please dont be mad that this is the little i have accomplished recently, i know you wont say so but yeah, im being a bit lazy, i need to get with my current life with school and work and friends haha. without further ado here is New Beginning Chapter one, edits and all im happy with it as i was before, thank you all of you who are reading for sticking by me! haha

Chapter 1

It was a cold and damp morning on the first escort from New York City. A boy with rust coloured hair sat hunched, slumping his head miserably against the side window of a military grade jeep, staring emptily out at the miserable surroundings flashing past. Around him three men sat that he did not know, his dad, and all of his 'essential' possessions that the cheap ass government would pay for them to take along with them. The air was thick with pure nerves, but it was cut down with the hearty laughter of the large muscled men in uniform telling tales of their escapades in battle and bed. JUST what Ricky wanted to hear...

Ricky's dad drove the jeep, and was almost as quiet as his son. His silence caused more by guilt though, rather than anger. Mr Pace had taken this post in the military, and then informed his son of their imminent uprooting only a few short months ago; just four months after 'they' came and changed everything for everyone.

One average Tuesday at the start of that spring, a spaceship of previously unknown origin had touched down on Earth in Spain. It was huge, almost as large as a football stadium, seemingly metallic and plenty mysterious. People around the world worried themselves into fallout shelters, or flocked to see the UFO first hand. Religious hard nuts freaked out, and UFO crazies became popular; that though is not all that changed.

It was soon apparent that the ship was impenetrable, forced entry onto the ship was stopped at every turn. Bullets disintegrated on some form of force field, bombs did nothing to its structure, and even electro-magnetic pulses had no effect on its energy field, yet military officers had no problem placing a hand on the sleek foreign metal. It was as if the shield detected threats and activated only when they were near. Increasingly disturbing factors continued to make themselves known. The estimates for the power required to bring the ship in to earth orbit fast enough to be undetected put the atomic bomb to shame and made Hoover Dam seem like a AA battery.

After three days of long, agonizing, and stressful waiting; three days of worry, panic, and riots; the doors opened and out stepped the three of them. They walked like us, and after a mere three days of surveillance, they had learned to talk like us. They wore clothes complete with our brand names, and they came out of the ship in surrender, asking for negotiations and peace.

But they were not human.

They were animals.

They were the Varius.

The three original ambassadors; Mankind learned later that they were one from each major sect of the beings called the Varius; A tall and sleek hawk from the Avians, a stout and muscled green lizard from the Scaled, and a small but authoritative fox from the Furred. That's right, two legged animals, standing as tall as a man, if not taller, with eyes that looked feral, but had an unnerving level of intelligence shining from behind the primal.

Whether it was shock or fear, negotiations that first day took place there, just outside the ship with ambassadors from all over earth. Hell, World War III had nearly been caused when the Spanish were at first hesitant to let any other country officials in. When they concluded, the three of them returned to the ship unharmed, and soon, using government permission from a handful of countries, they broadcast messages to the people of the world.

Ricky remembered that first broadcast clearly. Him, his dad and Ricky's friend Timothy who had been over when the broadcast aired, watched the TV in Ricky's small shabby living room, with large glazed over eyes.

He remembered how all three had gasped simultaneously upon seeing Shift, he almost BELONGED on the TV. He seemed so fake, so unreal and like a hoax. Sure he had heard the news that animals had landed in Spain, but he didn't know how remarkably... Ricky couldn't put just one adjective to them.

He didn't know how fake, real, human, soft, fierce, kind, beautiful; they looked. In this case seeing was most definitely believing. Predicting this shock, Ricky then realized that Shift had been speaking sweet comforting nothings for the last minute and a half as he and the rest of the country had stared in shock at the fox in a polo shirt, speaking people words...

The fox, who called himself Shift, explained firstly and with a gentle sincerity that they came in peace and meant us no harm. He went on to explain, in perfect unbroken English, (minus a weird slur on his 'sh' sound and an occasional rolled 'R') that he would answer any, and all questions everyone had about their race, truthfully and honestly as he was able to explain.

Shift went on to say that the Varius had just discovered what we called the milky-way, and in turn, Earth. "To be honest, your 'Milky Way' is in a dead zone in the universe. You have no neighbours for many... you call them light years of travel. In truth, had there not been a problem with the Grey Setzer, a mining craft, that required it to stop for repairs, you would have been overlooked entirely, and we would not be here now."

But Shift went on to the main point of the broadcast. Not that it mattered. Had he been talking about the importance of eating pure Uranium and bathing in sewers, the three of them in the shabby apartment in New York City, as well as most of the world wouldn't have looked away or spoken a word to interrupt.

"Now I will endeavour to re-assure you, we come in peace, but do know that there are now more ships on the way. We plan to cross colonize Earth with our other planets."

He let that hang there, wearing for the first time on his (scary expressive) face, a look of discomfort and being unsure. "We would like to transport a majority of your population to what we call 'The Heart.' It is a centre of life with a star much like your sun, where life thrives in the known universe and is generally centred. Earth is over populated and wasted, if we take you elsewhere, we can use your abundance of resources to their full extent, and humanity will continue to survive longer and better."

He let that statement to sink in again, never breaking the hypnotic eye contact with his viewers. "Earth is a rarity, though it's not large or created to last. It does contain samples of about seventy six per cent of all stable and natural elements. It is the harshness of your star Sol, and pure luck that you have so many. We would like to establish a trade route with you. We will collect resources and we will transport your population to safety and sustainability, as well as do whatever we can here to stabilize Earth's sustainability, and make it better for everyone who does not wish to leave, and everyone who wants to come."

Ricky also recalled how silent America fell, like everyone was holding a collective breath in anticipation for the fox on T.V to keep talking. People joked later that they could've actually heard a rat fart, rooms down in their apartment blocks. 'I could hear a pin drop' would do, but they went with rats farting...

"We will first be bringing our people here, and in about four months to a year, depending on the reactions, we will begin the colonization of you to 'The Heart.'" Shift had smiled then, his confidence and poise returning in moments. "We already have a...website...up and running for any of your questions. We will begin public meetings before the other ships arrive, starting in two days' time."

That was it. That was all. It was simple, to the point and heard by everyone with a TV and then some.

Not many people felt comfortable with all of this. Even before the meetings with the public, there was word spreading around the streets, market, and even among kids Ricky's age at school of the secret Varius Agenda. Obviously everyone was scared; No one liked that one word 'they' used. Ricky kinda laughed at the fact that his friends and fellow school goers had already begun to group all of the aliens into the same category based on this one speech. Being a future psychiatrist, Ricky made it a thing to think like one, mostly as a silent observer and very rarely state his own opinions, choosing instead to hear those of others.

That feared word was 'Colonize.' They wanted to come here, remove us and take our resources. Most told stories of the exploits of the explorers and the Native Americans, afraid to be within a hundred feet of the creatures thinking they were at risk of some foreign disease. Others wanted them dead, others still wanted them studied, and the others, the ships destroyed. Very few wanted to let them do what they wanted; or at least very few voiced that.

Ricky couldn't help but be a bit curious though. He wondered, silently of course who else wanted to see what would happen next. Short term, long term and with everyone. It would be a whole other culture, a whole other race, like they had just found a new continent across another ocean that was infinitely more advanced than they were.

Nothing too bad happened though, a mob here, a fight there, no deaths, and no disease for a solid month. The true stress and anxiety sprouted after the operations actually began. Ships were landing; deals with governments were being made. The Varius did exactly as they said they would without fail, and without aggression. They met violence with submission, taking beatings to prove their innocence. When they started living amongst us and attending schools, the kids were quiet and awkward, forming separations in species, and not exactly promoting the unification that Shift had seen, and was trying to promote.

It was fascinating really, if a bit saddening that the two known races of the universe both contained the same flaws, at the same time it was understandable. Ricky could not exactly judge a tiger for sticking with the puma when Ricky gasped every time he saw him and in turn flocked to humans.

It was those few shaky months that led to the announcement that the first humans to go to 'The Heart' would be military operatives and their families. These would soon be followed by civilians, and so on. A week of laughter over the poor suckers who would have to go, and Ricky's dad broke the news.

"We need the money, and to be honest, who else can say they have ever been there?" His dad had argued, trying to make it sound like a fantastic adventure to be lived.

"We don't need the money bad enough to be stuck there for four years at their mercy. Who knows what goes on there dad! Don't you care for my safety? I'll-I'll get a part time job!" he'd stuttered, trying desperately to desperately fix the situation at hand. His dad had joined the military recently in the largest mass enlistment since the September 11th attacks. It was a desk job sure, but he was technically military so he could technically apply.

"No part time job will get the money this deal offers Ricky. Please understand I didn't do this on a whim. Both our government AND theirs will be paying the first wave extra, the credits will total about-"

Ricky had exploded, "CREDITS!? They're paying you in their money. Do you intend to live there after? I sure as hell don't!" he screamed, unable to even comprehend what his dad was saying, unwilling to rationalize any of it.

"Ricky this is a big deal okay!" His dad had shouted back, silencing Ricky's tirade. He wasn't a loud man, but when he yelled you listened. "We have next to nothing here; they say they don't have all the problems we do, because they have space, and opportunity. Even if we decide to come back we will be better off. We can put you through college without a loan, get a nice house; Get me a job so you don't stick around for my sake...Pension," he'd continued, ignoring the look of disbelief that was painted in Ricky's face, silenced of not he was still pissed off.

But that was that. It was already done anyway. There was no point in arguing it further, so instead, Ricky decided to just ignore his father almost entirely. They had rarely spoken for the last three months. Three months of anger, pity, and overall miserableness between the two; a chasm widening between them, and this morning had been no different. They had taken a cab to the army base the night before, and it had been a sleepless night in the cold, military grade room, with the simple bunks, and overall unfamiliar mess he would have to adapt to in the very near future.

The guards had searched his bag like robots, shifting through his boxers and possessions like they belonged to a criminal, and not some seventeen year old kid right in front of them. It wasn't like he'd been hiding anything. One guy had had his magazines looked through, and damn did he have fetishes as alarming as his face was red.

The only issue to arise was that the dick-weeds had wanted to take his mother's lucky necklace away from him. Apparently the hook shaped piece of jade around his neck was a serious threat to overall safety, and anything and everything that could set anything off with the Varius' would be confiscated.

That's when Ricky had had his first meeting with the Aliens face to face and outside of school. A wolf like Varius, a good head taller than Ricky with blue-ish fur and golden eyes had apparently heard Ricky's complaint, and gave the jackass in question the thumbs up that it was a- okay to let Ricky keep it.

"Think this kid could take you out with that James?" The wolf had teased, failing to get a smile from the officer in question. "Oh right, you're all serious on duty." He'd then patted Ricky's head and given him a smile like they were old friends. "Want some decent food in this joint? Come find me later on okay kid? I'm...umm...Sargent Specs, don't worry I won't bite!" He'd said with a toothy grin.

Ricky had been paralysed. He'd had no idea what to do, or how his frozen face had looked staring up at the large werewolf like creature before him. He'd wanted to say thanks, but he'd also wanted to punch the creature between the eyes, and kick him in one place in particular. These guys were why he was leaving. It wasn't that Ricky had never spoken to a Varius before; the schools had tried damn hard to get interactions up between the species. This was just a situational case of nerves where the fact he was leaving and the fact he was in a military base, and the fact that the wolf in question had NO respect for personal space, all added up.

"I don't know about you, but if you guys got one thing right out here its chocolate, you might as well have a bar before yah go, who knows how long you'll be without it." Specs had continued, "At dinner, walk into the kitchen and I'll find you okay?" he'd asked, grinning from the lack of response. "Seriously come look, we aren't going to turn you into stew!" He laughed and rolled his eyes.

Ricky had felt his fists tighten at his side, not really sure how to respond to the wolf. Aggression would be dumb. One, he was military, AND a foreigner; he couldn't get away with anything at a military base should he take offence. Two, Ricky had really wanted that chocolate, he had a major sweet tooth, even into his later teen years. As much as he'd hated to admit it, Ricky would beg for that chocolate. He wasn't a fatty by any stretch of the healthy mind, but he ate like he was; puberty he guessed, not really caring for the actual answer. But the fact of the matter was, the idea of four years without chocolate scared him even more then the idea of sleeping in the same room as one of the Varius, or even entering their ships.

The wolf had walked away, leaving the rusty haired kid to watch him leave quietly, knowing he'd probably scared the kid...his feral counterparts here were a bit on the feared side after all.

The soon to be deports were filed into a room with GI standard bunk beds. Ricky thought it looked like an open morgue. The shiny steel with snow white sheets lined up perfectly in a large whitish concrete room. Nothing decorated the walls, no windows were present because military base Falcon Delta also happen to be a bomb shelter.

It was dead and cold, and for that night, it had still been 'home'; not an actually hearthstone and family history kind of home in a diminutive 'address' sense. This base was not Ricky's home, it was cold and uncomfortable and had no memories. But Earth, the third planet from Sol in the Milky Way galaxy in the outer ring of the known universe was his home. The sky outside was his home, the earth beneath his feet, the natural wonders he had never seen. The people were his people and the animals his own. Trace it back far enough and all of his ancestors were here, his blood and DNA, his ancestral home and entire existence from step one was here on this planet. This was his home and he was leaving. This was his past and he would be the first to stray from it.

Back in the jeep on the throughway, Ricky's fist was currently clenched around the last three squares of chocolate bar in his hands. Damn his love of sugary treats and dessert. He'd almost hated the Varius for being so inviting and kind last night. It was like, if the world he would soon live on WAS inviting and awesome, he would be wrong and all the pain of the last four months would be for nothing. All the silence with his dad would be just wasted time; at the same time he knew he was being unreasonable because he made an effort to push the thought of 'it's either that or the next four YEARS will be miserable' out of his head. It was his first time leaving the Big Apple since he was a little boy visiting his grandparents before they passed. Now it would be his last few hours under the same sky, every human had always been under, and was born and lived under every day for all time, astronauts excluded for mere blips in history.

The ship that would take them to 'The Heart' was obviously Varius. The launch site was located a half hour outside New York City on a different military base. They would arrive, load their bags on the ship, and take the nine day flight into space, at speeds that would make the Milky Way a revolving speck behind them in about an hour; you could either walk around the ship and explore, or sleep in stasis for those days. Mr Pace was very prone to airsickness and had opted to do the stasis. Ricky had lied and said he would join his father in stasis, but was way too concerned and untrusting to go into extended sleep, with them free to do whatever they wanted to him; the idea of reverse animal to human experimentation was prominent in his mind. The last thing he wanted to do was wake up mid-surgery to see how his appendix worked in the flesh or something. Worse of course would be to awake as a head in a tube, watching as they disassembled his body, like something from Dr Who. Sure they had never been hostile, and had never showed signs of sadism, but then again, if they had done so on Earth, they would have been forced to leave the planet or begin an invasion...

The rust haired youth sighed, slacking his death grip on the poor squares of delicious in his hand. He had to calm his imagination down, or he'd go crazy; even if it meant exiting his comfort zone around the Varius, trying, maybe to make friends at the school, unlike the majority of them in his.

At that moment of contemplation, a large hand hit his shoulder. "What about you? You're what? Eighteen? Nineteen? Bang any beauties yet?" The large hairy Italian man asked with a grin like they were discussing hunting or sport. Seriously, the greasy pig just needed a cigar and a suit, and BAM! A star on the Sopranos would be born.

The other two strangers were awaiting an answer as well, maybe not with the same enthusiasm in their eyes, but they still fell silent in anticipation. Ricky smiled a bit to himself, and half blushed when his dad looked up in the mirror, obviously listening in.

"Umm, one, I'm seventeen, I'm just big for my age," Ricky started, trying to find a way to completely avoid the question and save his dignity. This Italian was a very self-centred egomaniac, this was easy. "But nothing I did could compare to that blonde you talked about in PA."

"Ha-ha, damn right, Claire was defiantly something; to bad she had to get home to her son. I could've gone on longer, and I paid the hotel for the whole damn night."

Hook line and sinker. Ricky grinned at the simplicity, looking back outside to watch the scenery wiz by, knowing for a fact they wouldn't bother him again, the other two were too freaked out to care that he'd avoided the question, let alone realize it had been avoided at all. So much to his dismay Ricky's mind went right back to thinking over his situation.

It wasn't the first time his dad had done something so sporadic and life changing. Just after Ricky's mom left he became depressed, and had moved them from apartment to apartment around the city, changing schools, friends and the comfort of a single place to call home. It was kind of a blessing in disguise though. Ricky was used to moving; mind you it wasn't such an extensive move usually. At least Ricky didn't remember what a solid home felt like, so now he didn't feel like he was losing one in the address sense.

Then, a glint broke the tree line, following them to the end of their trip. Chain-link. The fence ran the parameter of the base, a tower every few feet with guards posted. It was a very warm welcome; Ricky couldn't have felt more welcome if they had had the guns pointed straight at him. Oh wait, armed guards...

The fence gave way to a single gate, a large black man accompanied by two small yellow and blue feathered Avians checked there id's. The birds were lanky and small, but fierce and full of authority, they didn't ask for the Id's, they demanded them.

The next ten minutes blurred together, the next thing Ricky knew he was at the door to the ship that had mesmerized him and the world for those first three days. It was SO much bigger in person, but shockingly bland in appearance close up. It was large and shiny for sure, but there was nothing flashy about it. It had its shape formed in the metal known now as Depsul, and it had its name and number in blue paint. Nothing more, nothing less, only the bare essentials.

Then, with his breath still held, he was pushed inside by the gentle but firm hand of his father. "Here we go," his dad breathed, not looking at his son, "Ready?"

Ricky scoffed, the comment being so ridiculously dumb it broke his hypnotic stare at the ship. "Yeah, completely ready," he said with an annoyed sarcasm. His dad didn't hear him though, or just ignored him. Soon all those who wanted stasis were sent to the stasis chambers. Ricky and less than a quarter of the crew walked to the cabins, led by an otter in the most laid back Hawaiian get up ever.

The waterdog had on short khakis, saddles, and a brightly obnoxious flowered shirt. He guided them to a room with what looked like airplane seats meet theme park ride. The soldiers knew exactly how the foreign apparatus worked; Ricky needed help from the very friendly otter, who then sat next to him.

"Launch will begin in forty-five seconds people, brace your-selves for the initial thrust!" The otter called, turning to Ricky with a smile on his face, "I'm Alex by the way."

Ricky blinked a moment, not really believing that was his real name, "Ricky," he said simply.

Alex laughed, "I changed my name silly," he said, apparently noticing the disbelief and being just as friendly and Sergeant Specs had been, like they were already good friends, "I was born Amarandius, but that's a mouthful," he paused, looking back up, "Twenty seconds!" he shouted, quickly returning to Ricky, "You're very brave you know."

"Going to a foreign place by force isn't bravery," Ricky laughed, trying hard to smile and see it as a joke from another's perspective.

"I wouldn't have the guts to be the only kid of your age and species on a foreign planet," Alex threw in and then gripped at the arms of his chair as a rumble started.

Ricky froze, looking up at the otter. "Excuse me? The only one of what?!" Ricky shouted, looking around frantically, the rows of adult faces catching his eyes, not one of them fresh young soldiers; No, all of those eyes were seasoned.

"You didn't know?" Alex said surprised, "You're the only human going to 'The Heart' under the age of twenty eight. THREE SECONDS!!!"

Ricky's head started to spin with new fear and rage. How dare his dad not know! How DARE he not tell him of this! "Mother FU-!"

"ZERO!!!" Alex shouted, and the world went hazy in front of Ricky's eyes...