FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Matthew leaned back. He held a cup of coffee under his nose, taking in its warmth and the sweet smell of vanilla creamer. It was his fourth cup of the day, but such was the life of a software engineer. He had been up late and the morning had come sooner than he would have liked, an unusual chill discouraging him from crawling out of bed. The forecast had called for rain later on in the day; it would be a nice reprieve from the heat wave that had taken hold of the city over the last week. A good excuse to drink more coffee, he mused.

His gaze traveled between the three monitors that sat on his desk. Programming code, documents, and various programs occupied the screen space. His project deadline was fast approaching, but he was stuck; bugs in the system had caused his forward momentum to slow to a crawl and sadly, he was at a loss as to what could be causing the problem. He took a sip from his coffee as his cellphone vibrated on the desk. He snatched it up. "Hello?"

"Good afternoon."

It was The Voice. He sat up and quietly put down the mug. "And good afternoon to you. How can I help you?"

"I received a call from our client a few minutes ago. They informed me that their experts have verified the integrity of the package and were quite satisfied. Good work."

"Thank you."

"As usual, your payment will be wired shortly."

"I appreciate it."

The Voice was quiet for a moment, an uneasy silence floating between them. "Did you encounter any ... problems in completing the assignment? Any unexpected obstacles?"

Matthew paused, his brow furrowed at the odd question. Did she suspect something? What was she implying? His mind calculated his next response and chose his words carefully. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

"I see," The Voice said. "There have been whispers and rumors on the Realm to the contrary."

"Well, I assure you that those rumors are unfounded."

"Glad to hear it - I would hate to cut ties with such a talented individual. I have several more contracts in the queue - one or two may be worth your attention. Would you like me to keep you apprised?"

"Of course," Matthew replied. The extra work would be nice, he thought. Last night's job hadn't quite gone as planned and he had kicked himself over it all morning. He would never admit that he had been off his game, but if he could tackle something bigger, something more complex, he was positive that he could lay any doubts to rest. Plus, the extra money wouldn't hurt.

"Very good then. Until next time," The Voice concluded and promptly hung up.

Matthew set the phone down and took hold of his coffee mug once more. He sat there for a long minute, cup held in both hands as his mind churned over the phone call. It didn't sit well with him that she had asked about last night's job, that there were whispers of him failing. He had gotten in and out without too much trouble, but her insinuations and the rumors led to more questions. How did others know? Was he being watched? He took a sip as he looked to the top of his cubicle wall. Two gentlemen stood on the other side and looked down at him.

The man to the right was his supervisor. Middle-aged and mild-mannered, Charles was a Fenilee who was sharp as a tack and always friendly. Able to bring a certain humor and lightheartedness into almost any conversation, it was unusual to see him without a smile on his face. In all the time that Matthew had know him, he had always been in a cheerful mood; seeing him with his brown-furred ears drooping slightly and his face solemn was reason enough for concern.

"Hey, Charles," Matthew said, "what's up?"

"Matthew, this is Detective Engly," Charles said, motioning to the other Fenilee standing next to him, "he's asked us for assistance with an ongoing investigation he's working on. The company, of course, is happy to comply with the request. Would you be okay answering a few questions for the detective?"

"Of course." Matthew stood up and stepped around the barrier before extending a hand to Engly. "How can I be of help, detective?"

Engly took the offered hand and shook firmly, his long ears bouncing slightly by the motion. Standing just a hair taller than Matthew, he looked the part of the stereotypical detective. He was older, looking to be in his early fifties, his face unshaven and worn from the many years spent working late into the night. More than that though, he looked tired; like he too had been up last last night. "I appreciate the offer, Mr. Roth."

Matthew shrugged and cocked his head to the side a bit. "Sure thing."

"Mr. Roth, we have a room set aside at the end of the hall to allow some measure of privacy. If you wouldn't mind?" Engly asked.

"Not at all. Please," Matthew replied and motioned for the two to lead the way.

The two Fenilee walked ahead of Matthew, conversing softly. Matthew overheard Charles asking something about how many other employees the detective was going to pull aside over the course of the day, but he missed Engly's response. Instead, he focused on the other software engineers and project managers they passed, none paying them any heed. The whole floor was in crunch mode, working long hours to meet their project deadline at the end of the month. At least he could put the notion of all eyes being on him aside.

He watched Charles veer off to go take care of his other responsibilities, leaving him and the detective alone. He was on his own now. He cast a smile in Engly's direction as he crossed the threshold into the small room. This could get interesting, he thought.

"Please, have a seat." Engly motioned to a nearby chair as he shut the door behind them. He walked around the table and withdrew a small audio recorder, placing it on the table before taking a seat himself. "I hope you don't mind if I record our conversation? For the record, of course."

Matthew shook his head and took a seat. Even from across the table, the distinctive acrid stench of cigarette smoke that clung to the detective assaulted his nose. He did his best to ignore it. "Not at all, sir."

"Very good." He took out a small notebook and pen to take a few quick notes. "So, just so you understand, Mr. Roth, you are not under arrest. You may choose to decline answering any question if you wish and may leave at any time. Do you understand?"

"I do."

"Great. Now, can you please state your name for the record?"

Matthew sat up straight. "Matthew Roth."

"And your profession?"

"Junior software engineer."

"And your address?"

"1532 South Grand Avenue, Apartment 486."

"Thank you, Mr. Roth." Engly put down his pen and interlaced his fingers. "Shall we get down to it, then?"

Matthew nodded.

"To clear up any possible misconceptions, my name is Robert Engly. I'm a senior detective with the Realm Enforcement branch of the Central Intelligence Bureau."

Matthew felt his heart skip a beat. His first reaction was to make for the door, to take his chances and make a run for it, but he didn't. Somehow, he remained calm despite the surge of adrenaline that pumped through his veins. He focused on the detective, fighting off the twinge of lightheadedness. "And what is it that you feel I can do for you?"

"I've been assigned to track down an exceptionally skilled computer hacker. We have a long list of individuals who, including yourself," Engly said, motioning towards Matthew, "we feel may help us catch him."

"May I ask how I ended up on this ... list?"

"Well, we call it a Potential Association List-"

"P.A.L.," Matthew scoffed. "You really gave it the acronym of P.A.L.?"

Unphased, Engly continued. "This list is compiled by an individual's employment history, educational background, collected data, and so forth. Your name is on the list because our database algorithms have classified you as being a potential association of the hacker. Or, at the very least, perhaps having some knowledge or insight into his actions."

"So am I a suspect?" Matthew leaned back a bit, folding his arms across his chest.

Engly tapped a finger on his pad of paper several times while he considered the question. It was a bold inquiry, one that could easily push the young man into keeping silent or worse yet, demanding a lawyer. He sized Matthew up, noting that he was young, friendly-looking enough, and more than a little defensive. If the information on him was any indication though, he was incredibly bright. A suspect? he thought, by any measure of the word, absolutely. "Not at this time, no," he lied.

Matthew chewed on the detective's words for a moment. What was said told him that he had nothing to worry about, but Engly's look said otherwise. The inquisitor was hiding something, that much was certain, but he couldn't be sure what that was. Matthew knew he was in trouble. "Pardon me for saying so, sir, but I fail to see how I can help you."

"We could use your help in narrowing our search. Like traditional law enforcement work, a great deal of investigation and deduction is required in tracking down criminals on the Realm. The intelligence we've gathered places the hacker somewhere within the county. At a little over four thousand square miles and six million people, you can imagine how it may look to us."

"A needle in a haystack?"

Engly conceded that fact and nodded. "That is why I've asked you, as well as several of your coworkers, for your cooperation. Your help would be greatly appreciated."

"Alright."

"So tell me, Mr. Roth ... do you know any hackers?"

Matthew couldn't help but smile a bit. Right to it then? he said to himself. In any case, I undoubtedly know more than you do. "Hackers? No, I don't believe so. Though, I know a good deal of programmers and people in the IT field, as you might imagine."

"Obviously. Your line of work would lead to that conclusion. What about your time at university? Did you know anyone there who might fit the profile of the hacker type? Someone incredibly smart, perhaps quiet or reclusive? Someone that perhaps ... had strong opinions or wanted to be recognized?"

"Sir, you just described more than half of the students I went to school with," Matthew replied. "I would say that there were more than three thousand people in my university that were in technology-related programs. Heck, the dorm building I was in had something like two hundred fellow students who were all in some computer-related course of study. There were the gamers, the coding prodigies, the IT security specialists - basically if someone had a hard-on for the inner-workings of computers, they were most likely in my dorm building.

"Now, there were a few in my hall who claimed to be hackers," he said, making air quotes where appropriate. "They were little more than wannabes though. Setting up proxy servers, torrenting the latest tv show, sneaking a relatively harmless virus onto a friend's computer - that sort of thing. In all, there is no one that I can think of as having the drive to be a hacker. At least one that would warrant the attention of someone like yourself."

"So no one stood out to you, then?" Engly asked.

Matthew shook his head. "Not really, sir, no."

"I see." The detective wrote down several notes in near-silence. After a few minutes, he stopped and looked up at Matthew. Sitting up, he rolled the pen between his fingers. "Okay then, what about your professional opinion on the suspect?"

"Sir?"

"As a programmer, I suspect you know a thing or two about computer security?"

"A little. Not to the level that you are looking for though," Matthew lied. "Without knowing anything about the hacker, I don't feel that I can really give my professional opinion."

Engly thought a moment, mulling over what he could say to help move the conversation along. He smirked. "Well you see, the reason we've been able to narrow it down as far as we have is because he's been getting sloppy lately."

"Is that right?"

"Mhmm. The thing is, he used to be extremely difficult to track. Always covered his tracks, never left anything behind - that sort of thing. It was incredibly hard to get any bearing on him whatsoever. Lately though, he seems to have ... I don't know, lost his touch. As a result, we've been able to close in on him."

"Interesting," Matthew mused. Throughout this interview, he wondered when the detective would make a jab. Sure, he had made a mistake last night, but he had been successful in the end. He didn't feel that he had lost his touch - far from it, actually; he had yet to meet a problem that truly challenged his skills. It was an obvious ploy by the detective to have him tilt his hand, but he didn't have any intention on giving Engly the satisfaction. Still, he couldn't clam up; that would be a red flag for sure. "Perhaps he's bored?"

"Bored?"

"You said he was an exceptional hacker - perhaps he feels that there are no other prizes worth his time?"

"An interesting notion." Engly scribbled some thoughts onto his notepad. "Do you think he is just looking for a harder challenge? Something to prove his mettle? What do you think he is looking for in particular?"

"I can't say what he may be looking for, but based on your comment of him losing his touch, that would be my best guess."

"This is your professional opinion?"

"It is."

"I see." The detective wrote down several lines of notes before flipping through several pages. "Well then, I think that about covers it."

"Is there anything more I can do for you, Detective Engly?"

"Not today, no." Engly stood and extended his hand.

Matthew rose and shook the offered hand.

"Thank you, Mr. Roth. If I have any more questions, I'll be in touch."

He raised an eyebrow in humor. "Don't leave town?"

The detective smiled wryly. "Have a good afternoon, Mr. Roth."

"And you, sir." Matthew stepped out of the room and exhaled slowly in a quiet, controlled manner. Unable to shake the thoughts that occupied his mind, he meandered towards the bank of elevators at the end of the hall with measured steps. Engly is after me, he reaffirmed. He knows. How the hell could I have been so careless to put me in this position?

He came to the end of the hall and pressed the button to go down. Tilting his head back, he closed his eyes and attempted to calm his nerves by focusing on his breathing. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," he muttered.

The impact of a paw on his back tore him from his thoughts. Startled, he turned around. "Oh! Hey, Fenris."

The Vius'Karr standing behind him grinned back wolfishly. "Hey yourself."

"Is it that time already?" Matthew inquired as he pulled out his phone to check the time.

"Mhmm." Fenris murmured as he straightened his silver tie and smoothed his gray suit jacket. He glanced back at Matthew. "You look like hell."

"You don't know the half of it."

"The detective?"

Matthew looked over at his friend with a raised eyebrow. "How did-"

"I granted the approval for him to interview employees," Fenris interrupted. "I didn't want to, but telling the Central Intelligence Bureau otherwise would have been problematic. In the interest of not stepping on any government toes, it was necessary."

Matthew grunted and locked his eyes forward. He knew what his friend was referring to, but it irritated him all the same. The company thrived on government contracts. It was lucrative, but concessions had to be made. His immediate concern was the detective, however. Engly knew more that he was letting on, that much was certain. Depending on what that was and how the rest of his interviews went, it could lead him straight to Matthew. That couldn't happen.

The ding of the elevator bell pulled Matthew back to the present. The two stepped into the awaiting elevator without a word and turned to watch the brass-colored doors close. A soft hum overhead occupied the silence left by the absent conversation, the electric motor propelling them in their descent to the ground floor.

After several moments, Fenris turned to Matthew, eager to change the subject. "We still on for lunch?"

"Of course. I was counting on it." Matthew focused on the reflection of his friend. Fenris was about his age, a foot taller, and covered from head to foot paw in jet-black fur. That's what his father must've looked like when he was younger, he mused. Knowing that he couldn't maintain the sour attitude for the whole afternoon, he relented. "So how was your meeting?"

"Terrible." Fenris' shook his head. "Everyone is concerned because of the political climate between Luen and Varennia. Have you kept up with the news in the last couple of days?"

Matthew shrugged. "Not really."

"Well, let me sum it up for you: Varennia is threatening military action against Luen and Luen has stated that they'll defend themselves should Varennia attack."

"Damn. What caused all this?"

"Varennia is claiming that a Luen strike team was responsible for an attack on their northern border. Luen denies it, of course, but that's how these things start." Fenris sighed. "At this rate, there will be war within the month."

"You think so?" Matthew turned his head, skeptical at his friend's prediction. "War between Luen and Varennia after nearly three hundred years?"

"Mark my words."

"But why war? Sure, there has been tension between them over the last few years, but war?"

Fenris looked at Matthew a moment before shrugging. "I couldn't say. Regardless, the board of directors isn't happy right now. The mere talk of war has driven sales into the ground in almost all of our divisions. Quite simply, people are scared and that's bad for business. We're going to have to scale back if things continue."

Matthew shook his head. "How did your father take it?"

"He wasn't there."

"Oh?"

"Mhmm." Fenris rubbed the back of his paw along his muzzle. "He had to catch a flight this morning to Luen."

"Why Luen?"

"The military had some concerns about one of their contracts. Undoubtedly a result from the threat of a full-blown war."

"Well at least that division will turn a profit," Matthew jested.

Fenris chortled. "I suppose."

The elevator came to a stop and the doors parted, revealed a spacious lobby of glass and polished marble. It was modern with a touch of old world class, something that Matthew could definitely get behind. Still, despite the office building being the headquarters for the company, he felt it was still a bit too opulent.

Fenris led the way into the lobby, continuing his train of thought. "Anyway, he didn't have to go to Luen personally, but he did - you know how my father is."

Matthew followed the Vius'Karr into the lobby. "Of course. Your father didn't build this company over the last thirty years by only working nine-to-five. I'll admit, he's had a fair bit of luck and one hell of a ruthless business attitude, but all that work has paid off in spades."

Fenris turned his head and smirked. "You don't have to tell me."

"What can I say, I have the utmost respect for the man. That, and he was kind enough to set me up with a job here." Matthew walked alongside his friend as they strolled past the security desk. His stomach growled. "So, where are we going?"

"I was thinking the new sandwich shop over on 5th," Fenris responded. "They're supposed to have real cute waitresses there. Sound good?"

Matthew pushed open one of the glass lobby doors and was met with the chilly afternoon air. He grinned. "Sounds like a plan." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked towards the street, passing by the large brass-lettered sign publicizing the technical division of Darnel Industries.