FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

GT-24 shambled out of the back of the SUV with all the grace and agility one would associate with a cement truck. It lumbered and waddled almost comically, its clumsy forearms taking hold of the edge of the door as it braced itself to leap. It landed with a loud thump upon the sidewalk, its massive weight threatening to make the sidewalk crack and crumble, but the cement seemed to endure with only a few sounds of protest. GT-24 braced itself with its arms out in front of it, before it righted itself and looked to its master for orders.

To combat the expanding infestation of dragons, King's Vacuum Services offered a novel solution: mechanical raptors, given a rudimentary AI, that would clear an entire dragon infestation in as little as one night. All natural, no pollution, and the entire thing was done discretely (since if a hotel received a reputation as having dragons, it may never recover.) Dragons were small lizards, most easily distinguished from regular lizards by their colorful scales and the exceptional rate at which they bred. "If you see one dragon," was King's Vacuum's motto, "There are a thousand just beyond sight."

The apartment building that GT-24 was standing before was divided into three separate apartments, each on a different floor. How the dragons had gotten into the apartment was anyone's guess, but as soon as the landlord learned of their infestation, he had called King's Vacuum Services.

GT-24's owner, servicer, and "Master," closed the back to the SUV and armed the alarms. There was no name or logos on the vehicle; it was just a non-descript yellow SUV which could belong to anyone for any purpose. The windows were tinted black and the back was caged in case GT-24 ever started acting sporadically. Wilbur King had never had that problem, but better safe than sorry. Wilbur had been a sergeant in the army, and gotten a degree in engineering, paid for by the state. When he came back to civilian life, he used the money inherited by his father to start up King's Vacuum Services. He still enjoyed going out in the field, however, and had a special affection for GT-24, who was the first fully functioning vacuuming unit he had created. He patted GT-24's head, and scratched beneath its chin, and then pointed a lone finger up the stoop and towards the door.

GT-24 was about five feet tall, if it stood up fully erect, which meant it was miniscule standing next to the 6'3" Wilbur, who still had all the muscles and bulk that came with military service. Wilbur had designed GT-24 for functionality as well as aesthetic. He knew, when he started the company, he needed a gimmick, and many people hired him just for the novelty of having a mecha stomping through their house, snorting up hissing and screaming little lizards.

GT-24 was covered in a metal coat, white in color. It walked on a pair of powerful thighs: two toes at the front of its foot used for gripping and holding, especially when walking over uneven terrain. Its arms were comically short, but that was because the mecha really had no need for them. Wilbur wouldn't have even put them on, but focus groups found the lack of arms disturbing. The intricate circuitry and tubing of the neck was covered in a flexible polymer, black in color, and crowning the neck was its head. Its head was... perhaps a little frightening, actually. It looked something like a skeletal Tyrannosaurs Rex. But it was remarkable and distinct and served as the perfect image for the company's trademark insignia. A pair of smokestacks sprouted out from the mecha's back, underneath its thighs and jutting to the sky. The smokestacks constantly billowed black smoke, and despite the ugly appearance, the smoke dissolved within an hour, just another small marvel of Wilbur's engineering. When the smoke did come out, it had a scent like barbeque. There were other methods to dispose of waste, but like everything else, the smokestacks served a pragmatic and aesthetic purpose: focus groups found something nostalgic about the smoke stack's inclusion, and liked the small of cooked meat.

Wilbur unlocked the door to the apartment building, and held it open for GT-24, who obediently trotted inside. "Go get em," Wilbur said, before closing the door and locking it again. He walked back to his SUV and climbed into the driver's seat. Reclining as far as he could, he put on a pair of sunglasses and closed his eyes, soon slipping into a comfortable nap.

There were reasons for GT-24's artificial intelligence, however limited it might be. A motion detector and preprogrammed set of motions would work efficiently, and indeed, that was what most of King's Vacuum Service competitors used in their robots. Their robots were programmed to vacuum up every nook and cranny of an apartment, behind bookshelves and desks, and for a while, customers assumed that their infestation had been remedied. But if even one dragon was left, it would breed, and soon the infestation would begin anew. Automatic movements simply were not efficient enough for the wily parasites.

But GT-24's programming, and all of the mechas Wilbur had made, was different. It knew to look in the cracks of the wall, ventilation systems, behind bookshelves and desks. But its AI also gave it a desire to do just a little bit more. The AI was programmed not to perceive the dragons as pests, but to view Wilbur as its father and master. And the more dragons that were vacuumed up, the happier Wilbur became, which in turn, made the AI feel pleased and satisfied, and only want to work harder.

As always, when the door slammed behind GT-24 and the bolt lock twisted into place, it spent a moment looking over its shoulder, as if expecting Master to come back in. It did that every time, at the start of every job. When not in use, GT-24 was put into a standby mode, unmoving, with only minimal function of its AI system and its furnace still burning. If robots could dream, it dreamed during those times, but whenever it woke up, Master was there, smiling. Master rubbed its chin and patted its head, and then they went for the ride in the truck. That brief time was when GT-24 felt the most happy and content, and it was always sad when the ride came to an end. But GT-24 knew if it did well, it would make Master happy, and so after a few moments of staring, it stalked into the house, the olfactory sensors housed in its large snout testing the air, searching for the spot where the scent of dragons was strongest.

It found the first nest of the day on the second floor, in what was perhaps an adolescent boy's room, judging by the blue paint and many rapper posters that littered the walls. GT-24's snout bobbed in the air, and his eyes fell upon the bed. It stalked to the bed, and balanced upon one of its muscular legs. Its other leg rose and it gripped the bed with its large toes, and GT-24 drew the bed back. Yes, there was the nest. The boy who lived here must have been smuggling candy and donuts and all sorts of sweets into his room. When he grew bored of the flavor, he simply discarded the half-eaten treats behind his bed, assuming no one would find. That had most likely brought the initial infestation of dragons, and with a basis for their nest, they had quickly spread through the building. As the bed was pulled away and light flooded their little hive, all the dragons turned to see what had disturbed them, and came to stare at the horrifying grin of GT-24. As a testament of it sentience, the mecha's black tongue actually coiled out of his maw and brushed over its lips, in a gesture it had observed Master do many times before. It had deduced the meaning, and it felt oddly right in this situation. Turning the suction of his nostrils on, he lowered his head about a foot from the ground, and all the little parasites felt their precarious grip on the ground start to slip.

A typical vacuum is able to generate suction of negative 20 kPa. That would be sufficient to suck up the dragons, but Wilbur had boosted GT-24's strength to about negative 60 kPa. One single hiss of terror rose up from a dragon in the center of the group, and like a plague, it spread to all the others. Suddenly, they were moving, clawing and struggling against each other to reach the safety of the hole in the wall which led to the main nest.

The first dragon to be taken, sucked by the strong gusts of GT-24's snout, was a youth. Its legs were not fully developed, and so it did not have the strength to fight the pull. It was a horrid sight to watch, as it was taken into the air and pulled towards the black abyss just past GT-24's metallic white nostrils. There was a strangled squeal from the dragon, before it disappeared completely into the darkness, and whatever sounds it made were drown out by the powerful gusts. GT-24 took a step closer, his massive nostrils looming overhead, and now by the dozens the dragons were snatched up by the relentless pull. GT-24 did not have to breathe, of course. His suction was not to sustain his functions, and so there was no break when his diaphragm grew too full and he needed to exhale. It was an endless whirlwind of death as dragon after dragon lost his grip and was pulled towards the nostrils. The rim of the nostrils were smooth and impossible to grip, although each dragon tried desperately to catch hold of something. The suction only stopped when GT-24 happily pressed its muzzle into a large group, but when it pulled its head back up, there were so many stuffed against it snout they caused a clog. GT-24 was angry at that, and looked down at the many dragons who were still at its feet. They were having a similar problem in escaping: so many were trying to fit through the small hole in the wall at once, that none could actually get through.

GT-24 closed its eyes, and prepared its body. The suction began to increase, slowly, steadily, and the dragons let out several horrid screams as they felt their bodies start to compress. The clog was so massive, however, that they did not compress quickly, and the dragons were forced to endure the feel of each bone slowly bending, slowly breaking, until finally they yielded. The clog was pulled through the narrow passage of the snout. Some of the dragons still on the floor looked back, and they saw with great horror as the throat of the mechanical raptor grew large and bulged out. Slowly, the bulge ran down the neck, until it reached the armored cuirass of GT-24's chest. Unable to slide past, GT-24 compressed his throat muscles, squeezing all the dragons tight and finally forced them down his chest cavity.

Once more, GT-24's eyes fell upon the parasites. They had apparently broken their stalemate with the wall, as the group was steadily growing smaller. GT-24 turned his suction on and lowered his head, this time more careful with where he placed his snout. He started with the edges and snorted up the stragglers, toying with them and savoring each individual dragon as it made its journey down his throat. Once or twice he even began to suck up one straggler, only to think better of it and instead press his snout into a larger group, snorting down a dozen all at once.

An alarm sounded in GT-24's head, and it realized its chest cavity was full. For now, it let the dragons to think themselves safe inside the wall; he would finish them off soon enough.

GT-24's design was both remarkably advanced and comically mundane. Individually, there was nothing of particular brilliance: a furnace, several pistons, an engine, wires, smoke stacks. What was amazing was how they all worked together to create the complete unit.

The dragons that GT-24 had snorted up traveled down the long, ebony tunnel of its neck, until they reached a "storage area" of sorts, located where its heart would be (if it required one.) Roughly two hundred full grown dragons could fit comfortably in its chest cavity, but how tightly they were packed, he guessed there were double that. How they squirmed and fought and struggled inside it, it was pleasant in a way GT-24 had not been programmed to feel. For a few moments more than need be, GT-24 enjoyed the squirming it felt, before it focused its brain on dealing with the full chest cavity it had. At first the dragons did not know what was happening. It was dark and loud inside the monster, and the smells were odd and far from pleasant. All around them was the deafening crack and sounds of wires buzzing and pistons crushing. It was so tight and confined inside the beast, they did not notice as things were growing steadily more tight and more confined, until a hissing scream broke out louder than the others. More screams followed, as a pair of pistons began work from either side, and very slowly the walls of the chest cavity began to close. The hundreds of dragons were slowly compressed, their bodies soon popping into sickly, scaly goo.

But dragons were naturally accustomed to confined spaces, and more than a few survived the embrace of the piston walls, even after the merciless squeeze. They were rewarded for their endurance with the walls pulling apart, and given a moment's reprieve before the floor beneath them gave way. Another tunnel followed, another slide into inky darkness, before things once more grew tight. The tunnel was squeezing and pulverizing the bodies of the dragons as they slowly traveled down. The blood and goo of those who had been crushed before served as a lubricant, making their descent down the tunnel that much easier, until they reached a source of light, and found themselves in another holding cell, this one bright and stiflingly warm and smelling no less pleasant.

The dragons were now in GT-24's "belly," which housed the furnace. The ground beneath them was fiery and hot, and only a few managed to take refuge on some garbage which was not so easily broken down by the flames. Others struggled to find someplace safe in the furnace, but their skin burned and their bones melted, the liquids inside their body turning to steam and spilling out from their ears, eyes, and snouts. Black smoke rose from the ashes of the dragons, quickly filling the tight cavern of GT-24's belly. It became impossible to breathe, for those who had lived this long, and they found themselves choking and smothering in the darkness, stumbling blindly. Those who had found refuge on a stretch of garbage tumbled off, landing in the flames.

GT-24 braced itself, and locked all the joints and pistons in its great body. The black smoke that constantly billowed out of its smokestacks suddenly stopped, only to be replaced a moment later with a great release of sweet smelling darkness. In thicker waves now, the smoke escaped from GT-24's back, filling the room quickly and wafting into the walls. The scent of barbeque was pleasing to humans (another marketing ploy), but more importantly: it was intoxicating to the dragons, who found the scent simply irresistible. They slowly started coming out of the hole in the wall, looking up at the giant raptor who had not moved for several minutes. Was it powered down? Had it broken? Were they safe? Most, however, were only concerned with the scent that was wafting through the room, making them feel hungry and oddly aroused. A few wanted to be closer to the scent, and actually began to climb the mecha that minutes before had been mercilessly slaughtering them. They scaled the raptor quickly, aware that it may come back to life at any moment, but identified the black smoke stack as the source of the intriguing aroma. One by one, they climbed, helping each other up, and when they had reached the top, plummeted inside, traveling down the dark tunnel and soon reaching the furnace, where their bodies only added to the alluring smell.

GT-24 returned to life suddenly, and the thousands of miniature cameras that composed his eyes focused upon the large group of dragons that were at its feet. Its vacuum turned on quickly, and lowering down, its snout swept through their ranks, snorting them up in twos and threes. Some did run, but so many simply could not fight the attraction to the barbeque scent. They would not be a problem. As long as his body continued to produce the aroma, they would remain there, but those that ran might escape into a nook of the house he couldn't reach. GT-24 gave chase. It was not hard to reach them. Their tiny legs could not propel them very fast, and also had to push through their enthralled brothers. By contrast, GT-24 was unconcerned with where its large feet fell. It dropped its feet into the boiling mass of dragons, squishing dozens at a time, as its camera eyes fixated on the lone dragons who sought to break from the group. GT-24 shut off the suction of its nose, and instead parted its lips. Its jaws opened slowly, with the creaking sound of metal on metal and the whines of pistons. Its black tongue uncoiled from its mouth, and with the speed of a whip, it suddenly coiled around the fleeing dragon, squeezing it painfully tight around the middle.

The dragon hissed and snarled and scratched at the tongue, desperate to escape, but found the tongue an unyielding coil. The jaws of the raptor opened wider, and the dragon found itself pulled into the awaiting maw, soon disappearing past the shining white teeth which slammed shut with deafening thunder. Its fate was vaguely unclear, until a bulge ran down GT-24's throat, signifying the dragon's descent.

GT-24 turned back to those dragons still alive. Turning the motorized suction on full strength, it lowered its head and once more got to work. Its large nose, and its tongue, swept through their ranks. When its living prey had been exhausted, it licked up what remained of those it had stepped on and cleaned off its feet, swallowing heavily, before looking about the floor but not seeing anything else. So it squatted down, and sealed one of its nostrils off. Then, pressing the open nostril up against the hole in the wall that led to the hive, it turned the suction on its highest strength. No longer could GT-24 see those it snorted, but it could feel them. There were a few full bodies traveling down its nostrils and gullet, and meeting in the already crowded holding cell in its chest. GT-24 was annoyed at the small size of its chest cavity. It took approximately 7.2 seconds to compress the holding cell and transfer the remnants into its belly, but it seemed like an eternity for poor GT-24, who was terrified a few dragons might escape and Master would not be pleased. Quickly, it set its muzzle down and resumed. Soon GT-24 felt the little impacts of dragon eggs in its throat. They almost tickled, in fact, how small they were compared to their hatched brothers, and GT-24 took great delight in suckling each one up. When at last he was finished, and his olfactory sense told him all the dragons had been taken care of, he stalked to each other room, and the process began anew.

There were still three hours until sunrise when GT-24 finished its duty. Master would not come in until well after sunrise. GT-24 was sad about that. It wanted to let Master know that it had finished, and that the apartment was clean, but knew not to leave the apartment under any circumstances. It settled for replaying video of Master's smile and past praise, which made it happy.

GT-24 settled down, curling into a cute ball of white and black, its tail close to its face, its body a near perfect circle if viewed from above. One by one, GT-24 shut down its systems, until only the most basic functions remained. GT-24's furnace could not power down, for without the warmth and energy that it provided, GT-24 would cease to function. Besides, there were still dragons inside its belly, GT-24 could feel them squirming endlessly, beating against its metallic walls. Some were even trying to climb out of the smoke stack, as if that would work. Its furnace continued to burn, incinerating the dragons so there was not a trace of them. GT-24 shut off the optics of its eyes, and allowed itself to go into standby, dreaming, if it could dream. Dreaming about how proud Master would be...