FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

He woke up with a headache and sunlight on his face. Reed yawned widely, hearing the slightest hint of a canine vocalization as he did so and growled at the sound. Fucking Russians. He thought for the millionth time. He scratched his whitish, furry chest and pulled himself out of bed. The clock on his bedside table read 9:45am. He looked through the window, his vision still hazy from his waking. Below, the city was alive as it always was during the day. At night there were the Cybers to deal with in much of the city and in many commercial centres, people needed to worry about the Freaks. As for Reed, he tried not to worry. Sure, there were plenty of thugs in the street looking to roll anyone at all, and even more who'd try to roll someone like him who'd gone anthro. No matter how many mods existed on the market, nobody liked a freak.

Reed dragged himself out of bed and cracked his back, leaning over to open the blind all the way, letting the murky, overcast light into his bedroom. He wanted to log in but after taking a good whiff, he realised that he wanted to shower a lot more. The water was hot, as he always made it. He wanted to feel it through the thick fur that covered his body. Another bottle of shampoo thrown away to join the pile of others in his trash bin. This shampoo shit is getting pricy . . . he thought, realizing that he was going through several bottles a week. Getting dry was an even bigger pain in the ass. He had to spend too much coin on a rig that went in his shower and blew hot air all over him. He knew that couldn't be good for him.

Clean and feeling better overall, he walked back to his room and logged himself in, exploring the vast realm of the Web. He was over Tokyo, neon towers representing the different networks and information banks. He saw the bustle of traffic, the bright flashes of light that went from place to place, indicating the transfer of data and he also saw slower shapes, still moving at blinding speed and weaving around; other surfers like him. He scanned the news, reading that another dome had been built on the moon and that power was being installed in The Garden, the huge orbiting colony that they were building. He was about to check up on some of his business when a window opened up in his field of vision, the word "telephone" blinking on it. He logged out to answer the phone.

"Reed." He said, picking up the thin, metallic handset, he switched the video capture setting to 'off'.

"Reed, it's Pauli." Came an accented voice from the other end, the video was also blocked.

"Pauli? Where've you been?" he asked, feeling kind of pissed.

"Morocco. I brought souvenirs, if you want to see dem." The way Pauli's voice pronounced the words, it sounded like he was offering "shouveneersh". Reed always got a kick out of that.

"Where?"

"My place. Dis afternoon." Pauli said.

"Yeah? See you then." Reed hit the 'end call' button and immediately stood up, disconnecting all of his gear and setting it back down on his desk. The apartment was getting brighter as he jogged from his room to the door, hitting the button for the closet and retrieving his coat from the panel. The killer part was the wait for the elevator which took almost five minutes this time. He needed to get to Pauli's. He couldn't pass up a chance at some new merch to move, especially from Morocco, which had recently become the bio-amp capital of the world. That kind of tech could make someone do just about anything they wanted. Turn men into superheroes. He knew some buyers in the East who'd kill for some of that.

The elevator beeped finally and Reed almost ran inside, slapping the button for the ground floor. He loved the rush he got from knowing he was about to come into some killer product. He could almost feel his bank account filling up, the digits skyrocketing. New merch and a possible new face for his sales; things were looking up for Reed for once. The elevator started moving and his sensitive ears popped. He loved living so high up but damned if he could ever stand the elevator rides. His tail was wagging happily, something that it had started doing on its own after he was changed. He wished it wouldn't, really. He found the whole thing pretty embarrassing. He watched the numbers drop; four, three, two, ground. He jogged out of the building and hit the nearby staircase that would take him up to the upper avenue.

A short walk took him to a small platform that was set alongside a fairly shallow gutter along the side of the raised road. A small console and a sign with "Haven Transit" written on it were the only adornments on the platform and Reed wasted no time hitting the "Call" button on the console. Within a minute, a small metal capsule pulled up beside him hissing to a stop directly next to him. The Haven City Transit Pods "or HCTP's" - were a brilliant invention. Small, one-man pods that ran next to most roads which were invented to replace the ageing busses that were just not able to service Haven any more. Where it took many hours at road speeds to go from South Haven (around what used to be known as Detroit) to North Haven (what used to be Montréal), the magnetically-propelled HTCP's only took an hour or two at breakneck, though controlled speeds. Where once they were just an expensive experiment, there were now almost a million of them zipping around the sprawl that was Haven City, taking people wherever they needed to be.

Reed jumped in and lay back and the pod's glass lid shut over him. Text appeared on the window asking him his destination. He keyed in "3045 St. Catherine Major, North Haven Sector 2" and some text appeared after, first saying it was finding the nearest platform to his destination and then another came up telling him the cost of the trip. "Please press your credit slip against the indicated circle." A pleasant voice requested and he did so. "Thank you. Your account has been debited thirty credits. Enjoy your trip." The voice chimed and then the pod started moving. First it slid sideways out of the boarding lane and then shot forward at over 500 kilometres per hour. The pressure in the pod regulated itself and Reed barely felt the movement of the pod. He hit a button on the transparent display for the radio and relaxed, waiting out his journey.

It was only an hour or so before Reed was back on his feet in the Montréal sector of Haven city, heading towards a nearby apartment tower. He buzzed up and Pauli's voice came over the speaker.

"Ja?"

"It's Reed. Lemme up." The wolf said, waiting for a confirmation message to appear on a monitor next to the elevator. When it did, he hit the button to call the lift and it opened right away, by some stroke of luck. The day was getting better for Reed already. He hit Pauli's floor and within a few seconds found himself at the entrance of a much nice apartment than his, marred by bits of machinery that were thrown all over the place. Pauli was sitting in a chair at the far end of the main room, his head lowered as he tinkered with some little piece of machinery; a hobby of his now but a career before when he had to leave his home in Rotterdam. Reed stepped in and relaxed, always having liked it at Pauli's.

"Yo, Pauli." Reed said, stepping forward. Blinding pain shocked the back of his head and he sprawled forward, holding the back of his head in agony. He turned to see a polished black shoe and a tailored pinstriped pant leg.

"Don't kill him!" a voice pleaded. Pauli's. Reed's wind was knocked out of him when one of those shiny shoes dug its toe into his gut. Reed looked up again, his vision blurry and his head searing with pain.

"Whuthafuck?" he managed to mumble out between clenched teeth. A voice from above him began to speak.

"You moved some implant gear lately, puppy?" a voice taunted. "Some monitors and some neuro-rigs?"

"You do that, fido?" Another voice piped in. Great. There are two of them.

"Fuck you." He spat. A fist grabbed his shirt and pulled him upright just before the butt of a pistol was cracked across the side of his face, dropping him back to the floor. He spat red.

"I'm sorry, Reed! Dey showed up about ten before you did! There's nothing I could do!" Pauli pleaded. Reed believed him. Pauli was slick, sure. But he just wasn't very careful. These guys could have told the poor bastard anything. They probably said they had a package for him or some shit.

Reed had actually sold the rigs they were talking about and he wondered who these monkeys were and why it was that they knew he was the one who moved the merchandise. He worked out of Southern Mid-Haven, and he was a good five hundred klicks from home. Another kick got him, this time in the back. He coughed loudly and rolled over on the ground, his head still fogged from the smacks he just took.

"Quit playing with him, Nino." One of the voices said. "Let's just cap 'em and get back home."

"Yeah, yeah." The one the other called "Nino" said. He aimed at Reed first. Reed panicked but he felt his head clearing, the nanites going to work on the damage to his head. He moved just as the pistol fired, the bullet going clean through his shoulder instead. Suddenly he was on his feet, his vision red from the pain wracking him. He lunged at the one with the gun, his teeth closing around his throat and tearing. His vision was red again but only because his face was soaked with blood.

"Shit!" the other one screamed and levelled his pistol at Reed. A bullet hit him in the side and another went through his other arm, shattering a window behind him. He threw a punch at his attacker, sending searing pain through his wounded arm while he did it. The blow laid the attacker out flat and Reed wasted no time getting in close and stomping the asshole's throat, crushing his windpipe. The man who had just shot him squirmed on the floor for a second and then died.

Reed stood still, panting hard for a minute, his body and the floor soaked with Nino's recently-spilled blood. He spat more blood before doubling over and puking violently.

"Fuck." He said, winded. "What the fuck was that, Pauli? Were those assholes mafia?" he asked, wiping his mouth and puking again.

"Ja, Reed, dey were." Pauli said, his Dutch accent still thick despite years in Haven. Fucking hufter guidos found out it was me who took deir shit." Reed turned his blood-soaked mug on Pauli and snarled.

"You stole that shit from the fucking mob?" he asked. "How could you do something so fucking stupid?" he asked, furious. He was still in a crippling amount of pain and it got to him finally. He moved away from the carnage and decided to bleed on Pauli's nice, white sofa while he waited for the nanites to patch him up. "What possessed you?"

"Sorry, Reed. It was supposed to be an easy job. A couple of mob gophers were going to be moving de shit at night. Me and a buddy decided it'd be a good idea to stop dem on deir way. We iced dem and took their shipment. Den I sold it to you so you could move it." Pauli said. Pauli Vanderwerken was a small, blonde man in his early thirties. He was a tinkerer and a machinist. While Reed had seen him wearing all kinds of things, the thing that never left his face was the pair of goggles on his head. He assumed he used them for his tinkering since one looked like it had a zoom-lens on it. Why he just didn't pony up the creds for the ocular implants that would let him do all that without extra hardware, Reed could never figure out.

"Christ you're stupid." He said, and dry heaved.

"Jesus, Reed. It's not like you've never killed anyone before." Pauli said.

"I've never ripped someone's throat out with my teeth before, Pauli. You try it and see if it doesn't make you sick, shithead." He said, more amiably this time. He never could stay mad at Pauli. "Pick up one of their pieces and let's get the fuck out of here. They know where you live so you need to get the fuck out of here."

"Ja, Reed." Pauli said, almost in a daze and admiring how quickly his long-time friend and business associate regained his composure. "Let's get out of here."

It was only minutes before Pauli and Reed were back at the platform. Reed's wounds had already stopped bleeding and new skin was beginning to form over the bullet holes in his arms and side. He called for a two-seat pod and the two waited nervously, constantly looking over their shoulders, hands wrapped tightly around their new guns. The pod pulled up after about twenty minutes (the multi-seat pods were less common) and within seconds, Reed and Pauli were on their way back to Reed's sector.

Reed's apartment was quiet and that was a pleasant change from the rest of the day to that point. Reed thumbed the panel that controlled the blinds and shut them, sinking the room into darkness. His hand found the lights and turned them on. "You're going to need to lay low for awhile Pauli. You fucked up bad this time." Reed said, fully healed now save for a few dull aches where the nanites were dissolving the bullets.

"Ja, ja. I know." Pauli said. "Idioot, right?" Pauli took a seat on Reed's couch and held his head in his hands. "I've never been dat close to being killed before." He said. The poor bastard hadn't really had that kind of run-in before. Reed felt a little bad for him.

"Don't sweat it, Pauli. Haven's a big place. You'll be alright here." He said. The clock caught his eye and it read 6:30. "Hey. I need to take off for a bit later on. Biz, you know? You gonna live?" he asked.

"Ja. . . I need to find a place to sleep. I shouldn't crash here." Pauli answered. "Is dere a cheap compartment or someting around here?" he asked.

"Yeah, there's a decent joint a few klicks from here. I stayed there a few times when I've needed to lay low. Real discreet. I'll give you the address." Reed said and wrote an address down on a scrap of paper, handing it to the Dutchman. "Go there, lay low and get some sleep. Call me tomorrow and we'll figure out what to do from there." Reed shook his head and grunted as he felt the last of the bullets dissolve inside of him. "Fuck. You know, I've had a lot of shit happen to me Pauli, but today is the first time I've been shot. I don't like it."

"I said I was sorry, Reed. What more do you want?" Pauli said, annoyed and overwhelmed. Reed laughed it off and slapped Pauli's shoulder.

"Just messing with you." He said, laughing a bit. "Now get going. I've got shit to do." He said, slightly more seriously than before. He showed Pauli to the elevator door and within a minute or two, sent him on his way. Reed shut off his lights, collapsed on his couch, stripped off his blood-soaked clothes and let the stress of the day knock him out.

He dreamt of people. He saw the implant bartender from the night before, and the mouse-girl with the short skirt and tight ass. He saw the men he killed pleading for their lives in a club full of kids, assholes and Teks. He felt the beat of the music and the pounding of the adrenaline and then the club was closed and the bartender was mopping up blood off the dance floor. The mouse-girl was naked and asking if he was alright. Reed's hands were soaked red and the mobsters, the kids, the cultists and even those puffy-shirted European assholes were ripped to shreds everywhere. He felt alive and then he woke up to a dark room and clock showing 10 pm.

He dragged himself off the couch and stood in the hottest shower he'd ever taken. The blood was a bitch to get out of his fur and he was at it with shampoo and a comb for over an hour before he felt satisfied. His bathroom floor was cold when he got out of the stall and under the dryer and for once he thought about the Russians who had changed him in a positive light. Without the transformation and the nanite injection, he'd have been very, very dead. He brushed his teeth furiously to get the blood out and put on fresh clothes. He went to throw on his coat, saw the holes in it and tossed it aside, going without one this time. The elevator was there in seconds.

On the street, things seemed different. It was raining a little, but that was far from new. It rained a lot in Haven. He looked up and down his street and finally figured it out. It was the cars. They were not all identical, but they had similar features. They were low, sleek and black with strange, neon-blue glowing tires. He was starting to figure it out. That's when he caught the logo on the grill of one of them: two lines that descended and curved opposite each other to form a sort of circle near the bottom. They were Cultist cars. He noticed a few Teks getting out of one and he looked on curiously, not feeling threatened by them. They walked to the side of a building and stopped. A small metal door opened where they were and they walked into the building, disappearing from sight.

As Reed walked, he saw the cars here and there. It was weird; the Cult of Technology didn't usually go out anywhere in force. The only thing they really showed up for was for the electricity, since they took control of it a few years before. Those were usually just meter readings, though. They never came out in force. Reed actually kind of liked the Cult. They were the most harmless of Haven's gangs. They worshipped technology and used their research to improve the flow of power to the city, making it cheaper for everyone. Even the city's council was relieved and gave them the rights to supply power to Haven exclusively. Tonight the numbers made him nervous.

It was while walking down the street to the club when he saw two cultists walking out of an apartment block carrying a subdued man between them. He was in his underwear. One of them opened one of their car's gull-wing doors and tossed the man roughly inside. One got in the passenger side and the other walked around to the driver's side door and stared Reed down, challenging him to say something. Reed knew better than to call them on it and he chalked it up to business. He had his, and the Teks had theirs. Besides, whatever the Cult was up to, he had better things to do than to stick his head into it. He had enough shit on his plate as it was without having the cult on his ass. He saw more cars on his way to the club and a few more people being thrown into cars and each time he gave the Cultists the same look; the one that said "I didn't see shit".

The wide street in front of the club was surprisingly cult-free and Reed got in line for the club behind a couple of Cybers with pink hair that cast a glow on the wall next to them. He was relaxing, settling into the groove and rhythm of the whole routine. He could hear the muffled pounding of whatever the DJ was playing inside and he could smell the usual smells of the street: garbage, sweat, food, booze and puke. Then another smell caught him; some kind of subtle perfume, like lavender. Suddenly, a hand was on his shoulder and he snapped out of his relaxation, suddenly on guard. He spun around defensively only to see the mouse girl from the night before, dressed differently but still the same. Her skirt was still short and her underwear was still showing, but Reed didn't mind. Wolf or not, he was still a man.

This time she was wearing a short, bright blue top which only came down to just below her breasts, exposing a soft, white and gently-toned midriff. Her skirt was baby pink this time and again, her underwear matched her shirt. He wondered if she did that on purpose. Her tail was wrapped around a leg like it had been the last time he saw her.

"Looks like you made it through the night." He said, looking her over. "Find some poor fucker to take you in for the night?" He asked.

"You're funny." She answered, deadpan. "I crashed at a girlfriend's place."

"I thought you had nowhere to go." He said, frowning. She smiled slyly and laughed cutely.

"I never said she was home."

"You broke in? Are those her clothes?"

"Yeah. She's out of town. Off buzzing in Berlin. I figured she wouldn't miss a few things. Super caught on though." She said dismissively. "Changed the override code on her door. Ah well. Can't have too much of a good thing, I guess."

"I guess." He said. "So you here to party again? Get whizzed on something and try to stab people?" he said, grinning wickedly.

"Fuck off, puppy. I was desperate and high." She said. "You don't have anything, do you?"

"Nah. I'm not doing that shit tonight. I've got biz." He said.

"With Artie?" She asked.

"I don't think you need to know that."

"Aw, come on, Fido." She said. "You can trust me." She said with a wink. The line moved forward.

"I don't even know your name, what makes you think I can trust you?"

"Good point. Well, it looks like you're gonna be heading in next. See you inside puppy." Reed turned around and saw that the Cybers in front of him had been let in. He was getting really tired of being called "Puppy".

"Looks like." He said and walked up to the bouncer, scanning his cred slip and paying the cover.

"Puppy!" the mouse girl shouted after him and he cringed. "It's Anne!" So the bitch has a name . . . he thought as he cleared the door and entered day-glow mayhem that the club was every night. It was midnight and it had been a very, very long day.