FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 2

Herik stepped out of the public transit module and pulled up the collar on his heavy jacket. He slouched slightly as he stepped into the rain which continued to fall on the city, hoping the high collar would keep the water from running down his neck and soaking his fur. The lupari quickly descended the stairs from the transit platform and made his way towards the border of the southern end of the city. He could see it just down the block. It was the most recent addition to Darrintin, four years old, an entire new district in the process of being built. A wall separated it from the rest of the city proper, though the wall was only fifteen meters high. It was composed of advanced duracrete with a hyper-alloy steel framework inside, specifically designed to prevent almost any vehicle from crashing through it; a barrier to protect those who lived beyond the wall. As he drew closer to it, Herik saw lights clearly illuminating a sign on the wall. It read 'New Eden' in bold letters, both in UTO standard and in terran English below it. A smile spread on his face as he saw those words. Behind those walls were almost ten thousand humans, part of the first wave of immigrants to flood out and embrace the stars and space outside of their own world.

The lupari walked over close to the wall, a neishor peacekeeper nearby acting as guard. There was always one there at all hours of the day, just to make sure some foolish youth or other citizen did not cross over the wall and cause no end of trouble for the far smaller race of humans. He presented his PK emblem to the massive guard who nodded in response. Herik went up to the edge of the wall, easily able to look over it. He brushed his hand across his wet brow, flicking water away, and lost himself in the view of a tiny city scape spread before him. It was like looking at a perfectly detailed one-tenth scale model of civilization. The architecture of the buildings was mostly blocky and lacking the esthetics he was used to seeing in many UTO structures, but they appeared sturdy and stable. Lights shone out of myriad windows and neon signs flickered in the dark before late night store fronts. To many of the other races and even in the media it had gained the moniker of Toy City, but to Herik it was much more. It was home to Amy, which made it his favorite place in the entire city.

He stood there for a few minutes, just appreciating the district and catching a few glimpses of humans scurrying about in the rain. They were just as eager as anyone else to get out of being drenched. With a chuckle, Herik pulled himself from the sight and headed towards the building just to the left of the wall. The UTO standard building was only three stories tall, which made it over four times the height of the little wall. The sign over the entrance doorway declared it the Union Hall. It was a diner and meeting place for both humans and the other much larger races of the UTO to comingle and get to know each other better. It was an extremely trendy place to go to and was packed most hours of the day by UTO citizens wanting to get their first glimpses of humans in the flesh. By this time at night, well past high moon, there were only a handful of folks who usually went there. Herik and Amy were usually part of that crowd, but tonight he wanted to try something a little different at first.

He stepped inside and took comfort at the immediate warmth and lack of rain falling on him. Resisting the urge to shake his head and fling water all about, Herik snatched up one of many towels hanging on a peg board just to the side of the entrance. He dried his fur off, deposited the damp towel into a receptacle for it, and made his way over to the main eatery location. Herik quickly ordered himself a cup of coffee, a human drink that was only found here in Union. It was extremely expensive due to the sheer amount that larger UTO races would consume at once in a single cup. Herik was twenty two meters tall, a far cry taller than the barely two meters tall for humans. So the cups of coffee he drank were lots bigger than human cups, but to him it was worth it. He paid for the drink and a few meat sticks, then took a seat towards the rear of the diner on the second floor eatery. That was the spot with the wide transparent polymer windows which allowed one to see past the wall and overlook New Eden.

The lupari settled into a seat at a table that was flush up against the window. A ledge ran all along the inside of the window at table height and connected with each table found there. The tiny humans could take the mini-transport trams along the ledge and get off at the table they chose to have a meeting with whatever larger person they were going to see. Herik's eyes focused on the human scale booth and table attached to the main table, just so humans and 'giants' could eat together in the same place. He also knew that those trams ran out from the diner hall and connected to stations along the wall, so humans could get home easily and never have to worry about moving through the potentially dangerous larger city area.

He took a sip of the coffee and winced at its bitter taste. He always forgot to put the sugar in it. Herik grabbed up some sugar tablets at the table and dropped them in. At least this stuff always helped clear his head after having some drinks for the night. Amy introduced him to it two years ago. He smiled as he remembered how he blamed her for trying to kill him the first time he drank it. She laughed for hours at him, especially when all the caffeine in it made his ears start to twitch uncontrollably. The lupari then looked closely at the tiny booth to make sure it was still there. When he saw the little scratched in words in the plastic table top, 'Amy-n-Woof,' he felt fully at ease. He still couldn't believe that she etched that into the table with a knife, right in the middle of a crowded day. She was utterly fearless.

He ate a little and drank some more of the hot beverage before pulling out the small case from the inside of his jacket pocket. Herik carefully opened it up to reveal his Proxy. These were the newest measures taken by the local peacekeepers to allow the non-human members of the UTO to enter and enforce the law in the human sized New Eden on even terms. First introduced five years ago in the corporate sector, they quickly caught on in other fields of society. It was estimated that in no more than another two years Proxies would be available for public purchase. Herik's Proxy was a humanoid robot, vaguely shaped like a male lupari. It was complete with digitigrade legs, a mechanical tail, and ears that could swivel and move similar to the real thing. Through the use of a Proxy, any non-human size UTO peacekeeper could safely enter New Eden and enforce the law without endangering any humans or their buildings due to their size.

He took out the Proxy and set it upright on the table. The lupari then pulled out the neural interface jacks and plugged them in, put on the virtual reality goggles, and inserted the ear buds. When it was fully activated he would see through the Proxy's artificial eyes, hear through its audio receptors, and speak through it vocal speakers using the little communicator attached to the goggles. He had spent three months in training to get used to controlling one of these extremely expensive toys and was good enough now to handle it easily. Herik leaned back in his seat and transmitted the activation codes to the Proxy.

The inside of the goggles blocked off all sight to the outside world his eyes normally saw and replaced it with the view that the Proxy had. It was as if the world had suddenly become gigantic to Herik. Everything looked insanely big now. He turned his head, the Proxy's head, and saw himself leaning back in the seat. The first time he had seen the world from the point of view the humans did all the time, he panicked and pulled out from the Proxy. It took two days to get accustomed to that. After that, it was much easier. Again, it was Amy that helped him, assuring him he could do it and that he had to use it to come see her in New Eden and have dinner at her place. Two months later he did just that. At least his Proxy sat there while she ate and taunted him for an hour on how good the steak was she had.

The Proxy took a few steps, Herik getting used to it and running diagnostics to make sure everything was in order with it. Finally, once it all checked out, he headed towards the transit dock at the table's edge. He ordered a tram to come and waited the few minutes for it. The Proxy entered the sleek enclosed vehicle when it arrived then was whisked off towards the tunnel that led out of Union Hall. He always loved to see the city at this size. It became even more of a marvel, the Toy City suddenly blown up to real city size. It really was all just a matter of perspective.

Minutes later the tram docked at the stop he needed to get off at, the one closest to Amy's residence. Herik walked along and looked all about, like a tourist to a new world, his head whipping left and right as fast as the Proxy could turn. He halted it when a pair of humans walked towards him. Both stared in shock at the Proxy, it was still a very rare thing for common civilians to encounter them. Herik raised up his hand and waved at them.

"Good evening citizens. Nice night aside from the rain isn't it?" he asked, his voice came out clearly through the speaker in the Proxy. The man and woman, middle aged humans, nodded in mute agreement with Herik and stared wide eyed at him as he walked off. They noticed the peacekeeper emblem on the Proxy and the man mumbled something about 'Robocop', though the allusion was lost on Herik.

The Proxy was waterproof, so the rain did it no harm at all. Herik took his time walking down the human district's streets and looked at each building as he passed it. He stopped by a store, closed for now, and peered through the window at the goods for sale inside. Human items, exported off earth to this world for human consumption and purchase. How he longed for the day when humans could share their products with the rest of the UTO on a more even basis. Amy claimed that the human entertainment industry put the entire combined entertainment complex of all the other member races to shame. She was sure that Hollywood would eventually corrupt the rest of the UTO just as it did on earth. Herik had to see this for himself as he did enjoy watching a good deal of tri-vid films, especially falashai cinema.

He finally arrived at Amy's residence. It was a three story building and she was on the third floor. The Proxy stepped inside the entrance vestibule and pressed on the button to alert Amy of his arrival. The paw of the Proxy tapped on the ground. Due to the neural interface even common physical tics, such as Herik tapping his paw, was frequently displayed by the Proxy. He waited over a minute and pressed the button again, then a third time two minutes later. Herik scowled while the Proxy's mouth opened in reaction to his growing concern. He began to get a bad feeling about this. Amy never took that long to answer him, nor did she fall asleep if she knew he was coming over like tonight. That just wasn't her. He had the Proxy activate its internal yutri and call Amy's number. Another two minutes passed and there was no answer. Her comm did not even slide to message mode.

Herik took no time to deliberate what he should do next. He slammed the Proxy against the light inner door and broke it open immediately. He ran inside and rushed up the staircase to the third floor, taking three steps at a time in his haste. The Proxy halted before the door to Amy's apartment and Herik stared at the portal. It was partly open; the door lock damaged and kicked in. The Proxy lowered its hand to the right thigh which opened up and slid out a pistol. He gripped it firmly, the safety on it unlocking only when held in the Proxy's hand. Herik shoved the door open and went to enter the room but felt the Proxy shudder and stumble instead of moving in smoothly. A warning flashed before Herik's eyes that his neural link efficiency was suffering due to his elevated anxiety. He had to calm down. That was the key to making the Proxy work well. The lupari took a few deep breaths, calmed himself slightly, saw that the link was stable once more, and then entered the apartment.

The lights were still on and the sound of music playing clearly came through the Proxy's audio receptors. He held the pistol before him and swept each room as he looked for Amy. He recognized the music playing. She introduced him to it. Genesis. The singer was Phil Collins. The song was Follow You, Follow Me. Herik's heart ached. That was their song together.

He entered the living room and saw the scene before his Proxy's eyes. The room was a shambles. Her lamp was broken, the vid screen was on the floor, and her favorite painting askew on the wall. The glass coffee table before her couch was shattered, fragments of glass all over the rug. There was a stain of blood on some of the fragments.

Herik's Proxy rushed through the rest of the rooms of the apartment, crying out her name as loud as he could. Nothing. She was not there. He saw no sign of her. Her bedroom was also a shambles, her belongings strewn about. He felt his panic rise again, the Proxy shaking in response to it. His heart pounded in his chest, the sound thrumming in his ears like a beating drum. It was happening again.

His sister, shot and killed for thirty credits on a street in the middle of the night.

The Proxy shook and connection warnings flashed all across the screen before Herik's eyes. It was about to shut down temporarily to preserve system stability of the Proxy.

She was all the family he had left. His parents both died when he was young. Amy was all he had left. He couldn't lose her. He needed her.

Herik saw red flashing across the screen. If filled his entire view. He did not know if it was the screen itself or his mind playing tricks on him. Rage and fear tore through him, built to a crescendo... then stopped.

Herik went dead calm. All red lines in the Proxy cleared and system shut down was averted.

The lupari lowered the pistol and slid it back into the inner holster of the Proxy's leg. The leg plates slid over and concealed the weapon again. Herik's focus was clearer than it had ever been before. His gaze ran over the bedroom and he began to take stock of all of Amy's things that he saw. He recognized a lot of it. He saw money and a few pieces of jewelry that she owned; mostly rings and a bracelet. She did not dress gaudy often and her clothes were more functional than fashionable. Nothing was stolen. He even went through her, what was the human word, wallet. All her identity cards were there as well as her three credit account cards. He dropped the wallet and stalked out of the bedroom with a purpose.

In each and every room he saw signs of her things being tossed about, but nothing stolen that he could see. His search ended up in the living room again. More Phil Collins played. Land of Confusion. He liked this song as well, though he barely registered it playing in the background.

He moved about, looking for anything that could have been a clue or hint as to what happened. He found her yutri. It was broken, apparently smashed deliberately or stepped on. They did not break from simple falls out of a person's hand. They were too well made for that. Herik had the Proxy kneel down by the blood stain. He carefully lifted up a few pieces of glass that had the blood on it. This was human blood of course. If the human was from this world, from inside the city, it would match DNA files accessible by the peacekeepers. A panel opened in the forearm of the Proxy and he deposited the glass fragments inside it.

He turned his head and suddenly noticed it; a piece of cloth was almost hidden under the couch. The Proxy reached over, shoved the couch back slightly, and took the cloth in hand. It was a small white rag or handkerchief as the humans called it. He raised it up and stared at it closely. He could make out some discoloration on it. Those were likely sweat stains. That meant a scent. If there was a scent, he could also use that to his advantage. The cloth went into a second evidence case inside the Proxy.

His final sweep of the room revealed slight dirty prints and streaks left on the floor. Marks left behind by three different people, the humans who attacked her. The Proxy took image captures of each partial print and filled in the details of the full print via visual inference software running in it.

Herik had the Proxy stand up and sweep about the room one final time. Amy was not robbed; this was not a random crime of opportunity. He was sure she was not murdered. At least she wasn't murdered here in the apartment. Amy. His Amy was taken from here by human assailants. Why and where she was taken to he was not sure yet, but he was going to find out. Even if he had to tear apart the entire city, both New Eden and full size Darrintin, Herik was going to find his Amy.

In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins began to play as the Proxy made its way out of the apartment.