FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Beep... Beep... Beep... The console in front a young humanoid male wolf keep making that sound, he yawned and leaned forward to get a better view the screen. Four screens showed him basically anything that might hit the ship or the ship might encounter. That was a problem with flying in space, there is more than one direction to worry about. Most things that drift through space is just small rock or things that the shields on a ship can deal with, but the thing that tripped the scanners off was something bigger than a rock and was giving off some kind of old distress single.

"Michael, please tell me it's not another big metal rock again?" Called a middle man from the captain's chair. Alexander Flint was second in command of the ship. Him, Michael and few others made up the second shift 'Hermes'. It was an odd name for a ship, but the captain felt that it was more than fitting for a ship like theirs. The crew called themselves privateers, but everyone else called them pirates.

"Afraid not sir. It's giving off some sort of distress single."

"Do we know who they might be?"

"No, sir. It's nothing like what's on file." Michael turn to look over at Alexander waiting to see what they should do. Alexander let out a long sigh and got up to stand next to Michael. His trained eye give the screens a quick glance before tapping his comm badge.

"Bridge to transport room 2. Is anyone alive down there?" There was a few seconds before com beep and a rough voice came through.

"Oh, yeah. We all died in a horrible explosion."

"It's nice to hear you too, James."

"What'd be need en?"

"I need you transport in an object that is just a little ways in front of the ship. Think you can handled it or do I need to send wolfy down to help you?" Alexander grinned over at Michael as James yelled over the com.

"I don't need that mutt down here making a muck of things. Jeez, it be in cargo bay one waiting for ya to take a look." Alexander and James took Michael into their little group as a way to keep the only new guy ever to join the crew in ages safe. They would every now and again give him a hard time, but when it came to the transport. James doesn't even let the captain touch it.

Alexander tapped Michael on the shoulder and motion for him to follow. Michael followed behind as they walked down the many hallways and lefts to the cargo hold. It doesn't take long, the ship wasn't the biggest out there. James was standing by the door waiting for him. He was broad shouldered cat morph with a few scars across his face. His hair was a sold shade of gray, he told everyone who asked how old he was that he always had gray hair because his body already knew of the stress he would face ahead of him. The ship records said that he was nearing sixty.

He greeted them as the door open for them to walk in. Michael never really like the cargo holds, saying that they always felt like they were thirty degrees colder than the rest of the ship. Everyone else would told him to shut up and that he had a fur coat. The cargo hold was a massive room and right dead middle of the room was a metal object that Michael had found on the scanner.

"Is that what I was picking up on?" Michael rush over to the object to look it over. The other two chatted between themselves as they joined him. The object looked like it could hold someone on the inside. It was a kind of round tube with a glass window that was in crusted with ice. As Michael started to study it, there was a steady beeping coming from it before there was a loud hiss and the face that was toward him slowly open up.

Inside was a human girl, barely clothed just enough to cover. She had long blond hair that was just past her shoulders, which nicely framed her face. One thing that drew his eyes was a tattoo on her right arm, it was a barcode. He was to focus on that to notice that she was slowly waking up. Michael was wondering if that tattoo might be helpful for something. There was a scream before he found an arm being pressed into his larynx and his back being slammed into a nearby create.

"Who and what are you?" Came a sweet and yet mad voice. Michael was kind of taken aback as he realized that it was coming from the girl.

"I'm Michael Blackfoot and I'm a wolf." The words were a little muffled due to his air pipe being pressed on. The girl keep her eyes focused on his before she give a little cough and blood landed on his shirt and her sky blue eyes rolled to the back of her head. The weight she had on his larynx was gone as she fell to the floor. Michael eyes grew wide and his fingers tapped at his comm badge. "Michael to Med bay. Need two to beam their directly. Now!"

Before Alexander and James could get to him, Michael and the girl were gone in the sparkly light of being transported. They didn't linger in the cargo hold, they turn tail and rush the many decks to get to the medical bay.

Michael and the girl reappeared in the middle of med bay. The only doctor on the ship rushed over to them and wasted no time getting the girl on med table. Something came out the side of the table and started to shine a light down on her and the doctor was looking at the screen that was beside the bed.

Michael just stood back, knowing better than to be in the way. Last time he was in the way the doctor yelled at him and even after everything was done, the doctor want back to yelling about how it was not safe for him or the patient. The table made a few beeps and the light thing want back into the table.

"Is she going to be alright?" Michael made to move closer before the doctor held up a hand to stop him as he grabbed something from the table and jabbed it into the girls arm. The doctor turn around to face Michael. The doctor was about the same age as Alexander, but without the full head of hair.

"I assure you. She will be fine, just be glad you got her here when you did."

"What do you mean, Doc?"

"I will keep it simple for you. She had something we haven't seen in over three hundred years and was in the last stages of the illness. I would say she may have had another thirty minutes before it would have stopped all culler functions. But it was nothing to cure." Doc smiled, happy that he was able to something besides making sure crew didn't lose a limb. Michael was about to ask him something, but Doc cut him off. "It was cured little over a hundred years ago."

Michael just nodded his head and looked over to the girl. The tattoo was still bugging him. Why did this girl have one of a barcode? "Doc, do you think you could get me a image of that tattoo on her right arm for me?" Doc glared at him and shocked his head.

"Sorry, but I can't do that. If you really need to know more about the girl, just come back when she wakes up." Doc's words were firm and Michael knew there was no way of getting the doctor to change his mind on the matter. Doc said it was something about rights of the patient and that he had to keep any information between them till otherwise give permission from the patient.

Without another word, Michael left the Med bay and want back to the cargo bay. On his way he passed Alexander and James. They stopped him and questioned him about what is going on with the girl, he told them the same thing Doc did. They seemed pleased that the girl was doing okay and asked him what he was going to do now that his stiff was over. In fact his stiff was over with about fifteen minutes ago. Michael told him that he was going to give the thing that the girl was in another look over before he took a nap.

The rest of the trip to the cargo bay was uneventful. He was kind of glad that there wasn't anyone else there to bug him while he tried to find out more. The tube thing was still standing in the middle of the room with the door open. At a closer look there was what looked like writing on the sides, but they were too faded to read. The inside where the girl had been, it had a look of what some of the really older cryo tubes just with a few things that didn't match up.

Michael had a few ideas of what this is, but he really wouldn't know for sure till the girl woke back up. The tube she was in was kind of banged up and with everything he had looked at, there wasn't much to look at now. A yawn escaped his snot and with nothing better to do, he made his way back to his room for a quick little nap.

-&-

Michael's ears twitched a bit as there was a light beeping sound. He let out a loud groan and tapped his comm badge that was on his night stand. "Michael here." There was a few seconds of silence before the steady voice of Doc came.

"Hello, Michael. I hope your nap was a restful one."

"It was till you called Doc. What's the news on the girl?"

"I'm happy to inform you that she is awake."

"I'll be there in a few. Thanks for the update." Michael jumped out of bed and as he rushed out his room he grabbed his ship jacket. Getting back to the Med bay took a little longer due to the number of the crew that was busy doing their own jobs on the ship.

The doc turned around as Michael walked in. The girl was seated at a table with a cup of water in front of her. She looked a little better from few hours ago and she one of the spare cloths Doc keep for anyone. She looked up and her eyes grew wide and fall out of her seat trying to back away from Michael.

"Get away from me!" There was fear in her voice. This caused Michael to blink a few times. The girl who have him pinned to a create not that long ago, was not backing away from him in fear. Before Michael could try to calm the girl down, Doc has started to push him out of the room.

"I believe it would be best if you step outside for a bit." Doc give one last shove and the door slammed shut before Michael could even protest. He stood outside the door for what felt like a lifetime. Michael had taken a seated position by the door and fallen asleep. The door whooshed open and Doc looked down at the sleeping wolf.

"Michael, may we have a moment before you enter?" Doc asked, but Michael knew better than to take it as one. When Doc asked for a moment to talk, he was telling you. So he just nodded his head to Doc as he got back to his feet.

"I had a talk with our captain and his second about what should be done with the girl."

"And what did they say?"

"They would like you to question the girl and be guide till she is accustomed to the ship and her new life." Doc smiled and moved out of the way for Michael to walk in. Michael give a sigh and walked in. He guessed this was his chance to learn something about the girl and maybe why she had that tattoo on her arm for.

The girl was still at the table she was at before. She looked kind of paler than before, Doc must have told her about what the year was and informed her about the current standings of things. If just judging off the cryo pod. That girl missed out on a lot more than what Doc can tell her about.

Michael took the seat on the other side of the table, he really didn't want to get pinned to a wall this time. The girl looked up at him, this time her eyes didn't have fear in them like the last time, but shock. "Are you feeling any better?" He asked in hope of breaking the ice and to show her that someone besides Doc was worried about her.

"Yeah and thank you for asking." She give him a weak smile.

"That is good to hear. I'm guessing that Doc filled you in on few things?" Michael would have tried to smile, but thing about having a snot is that when you smile, all your time are shown. And he thought that might be a little much for her to deal with.

"That he did. Is it really the year three thousand four hundred eighty-six?"

"Afraid so. Can I asked you something real fast?" He asked and she just nodded. "What year were you frozen in?" There was a long pause before she could answer his question.

"It was sometime late twenty-one twenty-one. They told me it would keep me alive till a cure could be found. No one told of sending the dang thing into space." She kind of looked to the side of the room and glared at someone who wasn't there.

"Wow that was way back before the first official cryo tubes want into use for long space travel." His face showed a little sign of pain as he mentally slapped himself as he never asked the girl her name. The girl let out a little giggle and smiled at him, it was one of those 'it's okay, you just forget one important thing first' smiles. "You know my name, but I never got your name."

"Maire Dawn, Mr. Blackfoot." She held out her hand and wait for him to shake it. He gently grabbed her hand and give it a light shake. "It's pleasure to meet you under better conditions."

"It is. So the captain of the ship and his first officer has asked me to a few question to understand how you came to be on our ship. And I have been also tasked me with being your guide. I hope that is okay with you." Michael tried to sit up straight in the chair and have his jacket look decent. He wanted have a look that the captain would be proud of, but at the same time something else made him to look nice for the girl.

"I didn't think that a wolf would be this well shy or I guess I shouldn't have guessed anything at all. Cause I never knew a talking wolf till today. But back to your question. I'm fine with you asking me stuff and being my guild." Her face turned a little red as she felt like she was rambling a little too much. She was in the same boat as Michael. Something in the back of her mind told her to just keep talking.

The silence was going from 'this happens from time to time' to 'someone needs to talk right now'. Michael was the first one to talk, he started to ask her basic questions from what kind of job she had to where she lived before getting frozen. He found out that she was a college dropout, lived alone in some place called Florida, back on Earth. He did his best not to ask questions about friends or family, to him it was still kind of soon for her to deal with realizing that everyone she had loved is gone and have been so for a very long time. Maire started to go into detail about how her family started traveling across the country before she was frozen.

After what felt like her life's story, Michael could see tears slowly run down her cheeks. He moved a hand to wipe the tears away from her face. She give a little sniff and smiled up at him. "Thank you. I really mean it."

"Think nothing of it. You just woke up not that long ago in a world you have no clue what is going on." Michael jumps out of his seat and holds out a hand. "Let's go for a walk. Sitting and talking is too formal for my liking." She took his hand and got up from her seat. "And walking just might do you some good."

Their little walk around the ship a good idea. It give Maire a chance to start using her legs again and to see the place she will living on for a while. There were spots where he would point to something and explain what it was and what it did for the ship. The conversation started out her asking him questions about the ship to them talking about more personal things.

Once things to tell each other was over, Michael tried a few jokes and Maire did laugh at them. He never thought that he would have this nice of time with some girl found floating in space for years behind what Michael felt like counting. He chalked it up to life just being random. Maire let out a yawn and Michael checked his watch. It was getting late and he still needed to find out where Maire was going to sleeping.

Giving his comm quick little tap. "Michael to Captain Whitetip or Alexander. I have Miss. Dawn here needing a room. Where can I guide her to sleep for the night?" There was a little static as he waited for either of them to respond.

"This is Captain Whitetip. I been thinking this over and talked it over with Alexander. And we agreed that you are a grown puppy and would be fined for her to sleep in your cabin till we can find a more permanent room for her." The amused tone of the captain caused Michael's eyes twitched and let out a sigh.

"Okay, Captain. I will get her settled in before I come on for my shi..." He was cut off as Captain cleared his throat.

"Your shift started a few hours ago. I don't think it would be fair for Miss. Higgs to leave after taking over your shift. So take the day off and help Miss. Dawn feel more at home. Have a nice day, puppy." There was a chuckle before the comm cut out. Next to him Maire was tried to hide a giggle, but it wasn't really working out for her.

"Puppy?"

"They call me that cause of my youthful appearance?" He tried to say with a straight face. Maire giggled and leaned on him. "I guess I should take you to our room." Michael started to lead the way to his or now their room. He kind of understand why the captain told him to share a room with her.

Their walk to his room was cut short as the ship give a violent shake that caused Michael and Maire to lose their balance. The lights in the corridor dim and the red warning lights started to flash. The ship shacked again and what sounded like an explosion happen somewhere. The warning system started to inform crew to make their way to a nearby safety seats.

Michael grabbed Maire and started to pull her hard down the corridor as fast as he could. His head turned left and right in attempt to find safety seats for them. The world around him become a blur as his heart started to race. Space was a wonderful place to be, but it has drawbacks like anything. With chance of flying through some rocks ranging in size from peas to things a little smaller than a moon.

As they round into a new corridor, there was one safety seat and Michael almost throw Maire into the seat. Once he was sure that she secured into the seat, his worst fears started to come true. The captain's voice came over the ship wide comm. "We have had brush with a large asteroid field and have suffered heavy damage and need to make an emergency landing on the nearby class M planet. Please find a safety seat and get ready for a rough landing." As the message ended the ship started to shudder and Michael could feel the temperature slowly rise.

Maire looked up at Michael as he pulled down what she thought was an air breather like what was on planes. The new air that came to her was cold and crisp to her lungs. The look she seen on Michael's face was something she would never forget. His eyes shown fear, but the rest of him was calm and collect. She guessed that he was putting on a brave face for her.

She knew that she was scared and didn't know if she was going to die. Tears started to roll down her face, but before they could make it halfway down her face, something warm lightly touched and removed the tears. Maire looked up and seen Michael smiling at her. That smile told her so much, it told her that everything is going to be alright. There was a loud bang and the sound of metal being ripped off. The last thing she remembered before the world went black, the wall behind Michael was ripped open to the blue sky. The wind in the corridor became so strong that it started to sting parts of her face. Not having anything to really hold on to, Michael was stuck out the hole, Maire could still his face as he was pulled out, it had that smile.

As she screamed for him, something came down the corridor and bashed her in the side of the head. The last thought she had was, 'Why? Was I not meant to be saved? Did he pay the price for me to live?" A single tear ran down her face as her body was tossed around in the safety seat.