FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Reunion: Chapter 7

A red trans-car sliced through the cold rain at a high speed over the countryside of New Earth. The weather was quickly becoming unforgiving as winds battered the brush below and the sky darkened with thundering clouds that were preparing to give off a lightshow. Small flickers of neon blue bolts hopped around the insides of the angry clouds giving off maddening booms that could be heard for miles around if there were any around other than those inside of the soundproof vehicle.

Marcel stared out of the side of the trans-car as it sped away from the last known location of his friend Emil who had vanished from the face of the planet several days ago. He had done what he was told and contacted officials back at the city to tell them that Emil had found something. He was surprised to learn that it was expected since at that moment all of the dead zones on the planet disappeared and began to transmit data. Something had happened and officials were more interested in learning about that than finding one person. It was an outrage, and one that Marcel had made clear. Eventually after ranting into the ear of a government human resources manager for several hours did they send some people to help him look for his friend.

Despite the help of two young and eager officers, after three days of scouring Emil's last known location, nothing was found. There was no sign of him what so ever, there wasn't even the drone he had been sent out to find originally. On the last day they had tried to use the trans-car the officers had used to come out there to scour the area since Emil would have had to walk if he went anywhere, but even that yielded no results. They were eventually forced to end their search when it became clear that they weren't going to find him.

Marcel looked out of the side window of the trans-car, resting his muzzle on the arm rest of his seat as he moped at losing his friend. He watched the water droplets land on the window and then quickly fly off in the high wind. One second there, the next gone. It confounded Marcel how Emil simply disappeared. There was nowhere to go. The city was most definitely not within walking distance since it took several hours by trans-car to get there. He should have been found, even a body would have been better than finding nothing.

The sad dog shook the thought out of his head. No body meant that Emil could still have been alive. As long as that remained true, then there was still a chance to find him. He would schedule time to go out again. Since it had been more than two days, Emil was officially missing and another search party had to be sent out, if not by the planetary government, then by the city council since Emil worked for them.

As if reading his mind, one of the officers, a man of twenty three with blonde hair that was cut short so it stayed just above the ears turned in his seat to look back from the front. "Cheer up a bit mate." He smiled weakly. He was feeling down as well at their failure to find even the slightest hint at where the man was. He didn't know much about what had happened, but all he needed to know was that there was someone who needed help. "I'll get the necessary paper work to the right people to make sure another search party is sent out." He frowned a bit, remembering that the government had refused to send anyone out at first. "If you also send up a formal complaint about the lack of action, I'll back it up and they'll have to do something."

"Thanks." Marcel sat up straight and looked at the man who was offering an extraordinary amount of support despite not even knowing him. "I'll do that."

The officer nodded and turned back around and watched the incoming news feed that all government issued vehicles got in case something happened. Something was happening, it had been occurring for the past three days. No one knew why the dead zones were transmitting data. It was heavily encrypted and was being transmitted to the other sites. There were teams at each one of the sites, but they couldn't find the source of the signals. Some people thought that it was a sign of an imminent invasion of sorts which they were true, then New Earth would be in trouble.

The New Earth military was more like a militia. All members were volunteers and mostly just acted as security for government facilities. There had never been a need for anything bigger. There were the ships in space, but most had been outfitted to act like large transports, their guns hadn't been operated in decades and there were no munitions factories for naval ships. The one thing they did have was the Canis, some of which were psionics and even then very few were trained for military combat. Most psionics found themselves working in civil engineering, helping to build infrastructure.

The officer shared the worry that New Earth was vulnerable. There was no plan to defend the planet, they would more and even if nothing did come, being prepared for the worst wouldn't hurt.

Emil ran his hands down the sides of his face in an attempt to get blood flowing. He wasn't getting much sleep out of confusion and fear. He had essentially been kidnapped by a computer that was refusing to let him go. Any attempts he made to bargain for his release were denied. He hadn't been physically abused in any way, but it didn't make the complex he had been wandering around for three days any more appealing.

He had free reign to go wherever he wanted since he had been given user status, which he didn't even know the meaning of or what it really did for him in the long run. He didn't exactly need to get out, as far as he could tell, there was no danger, but he wanted to go home and leave this all behind. He worried about what his family was thinking, if they thought he was dead or merely missing. Marcel would be looking for him, he knew that. If Canis had one crippling weakness, it was their loyalty to friends. It was sort of sad to see how much a Canis would do. He never took advantage of it, he always asked Marcel to do things he would ask any other colleague, it was just that he knew Marcel would do it while someone else might refuse.

The thought of the dog desperately looking for his lost friend put a smile on Emil's face, a smile that quickly faded as he turned a corner that only led into a long dark hallway. The walls were a dingy steel as far as he could tell, the entire place was made up of metal and gave it a very industrial feel that was not homely in the slightest. He didn't know exactly where he was going, he had left the area where he had initially come out of the elevator after it became clear that he was not leaving.

Every time he had asked to be let out, he got the same robotic response. "I cannot do that at this moment." Sometimes the computer would tell him to remain patient, but patience was a commodity he was quickly running out of.

He had stopped talking to the computer, being fed up with its stubbornness and in turn, it had stopped speaking to him. The only sign that he was still being watched was the containers of food and water he found every so often in his path. The water was water, but the food was a strange paste that smelled of rubber and tasted bitter. He had been assured that it was edible and it had kept him going strong, but what Emil really wanted was a good ol' fashioned grilled cheese sandwich with ships and a beer.

The hallway that Emil was walking down was relatively darker compared to the other parts of the facility he had visited. He had seen what looked like a server room of sorts with thousands of pillars that had wires and cables coming out of it. There was a large empty space that had to have been a kilometer long which he couldn't figure out the use for and also lots of random storage rooms that had raw materials or partially completed circuitry in them. He hadn't bothered to ask what they were for since that curiosity that had ruled his life did get him into the current situation he was in. He would ask once his freedom was assured. He thought of his freedom as an absolute, though in the back of his mind it was more of an "if."

Slowly the lights in the hall came on as if responding to his presence, but it was just a mere coincidence. Being at the right place at the right time. The entire facility was slowly coming on line as massive geothermal generators which were far beneath where Emil was and tapped the planet's core began their slow waking process and fed the facility power. This was happening all across the planet as various facilities came online.

Then suddenly the lights turned red, casting the hall into a foreboding blood red hue.

"What's going on?" Emil shouted out, knowing that he would be heard. His eyes darted around and he wondered if he had finally wandered somewhere he wasn't supposed to go.

"Unidentified ship has been detected in deep space." The computer replied instantly and in a neutral tone. That calmed Emil down some, the computer wasn't about to kill him, or so he hoped.

"There are lots of ships flying around." Emil stated what was an obvious truth. New Earth was surrounded by a flurry of activity. Much of it was to and from the planet to its one moon where there was a large mining operation. Some more went out to mine asteroids and occasionally a private ship would go out to explore the system or take a look at the other planets. New Earth was the only terrestrial planet near the sun. The other six notable planets were all gas giants, each one a unique swirl of colors that had attracted people ever since the first colonists. "There's always going to be some ship in deep space."

"You do not understand." The computer said with some sternness that annoyed Emil slightly. "I have information on all ships from your kind. This one is different. It has come from out of the system."

That got Emil's attention. The larger New Earth ships did have jump drives, but they were never used out of fear of losing a ship. The navigation computers were programmed to jump out of the system, but didn't have the necessary information to jump back. The New Earth colonists had no idea where they were in the galaxy and without that key piece of information, any jump was a one way trip. "You mean a ship that wasn't ours jumped in. As in aliens?"

The computer stayed silent as it processed how to properly communicate with the human that it had tagged as a user. It was a term that had been programmed to it which gave administrative power to an intelligent life form to prevent the computer from making decisions outside of its programming which was to defend the planet and its inhabitants. The only reason why it did not indulge this information was simply because it was not asked for it.

"Affirmative." The computer finally responded.

Emil leaned up against the wall and ran his fingers through his hair that was starting to clump. He would need to take a shower. Every time he breathed in, he caught a slight whiff of himself which made him wrinkle his nose and sneeze. "What does that mean?" Allen asked, bringing his mind away from his poor hygiene.

"Defensive protocols are being activated. If there is a threat, it will be eliminated." Even as the computer spoke, machinery began to activate. The dust that had settled on the ageless automated tools that had laid dormant since the previous inhabitants of the planet had gone extinct was shaken off. Raw resources that had been stored were being refined and slowly being turned into parts for machines of war.

"I don't follow." Emil felt like he was expected to understand all of the things he was being told, but he had no idea. He was a scientists, he understood variables and formulas. The only protocols he knew were decontamination and safety protocols for a lab.

Unable to anger, the computer was more than willing to explain what was going on. "I am tasked with the defense of this planet and inhabitants by an means necessary. This facility and thirty four other similar ones are equipped with fully functioning manufacturing plants. Facilities located within gas giants are capable of capital ship construction while planetary ones are for frigate and terrestrial defense construction."

"You're going to defend the planet and my people?" Emil asked, just wanting to clarify that there was no danger to his family and friends."

"Affirmative. Construction has begun. The first ships will be ready in six planetary days."