FSE

Furry search engine

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I picked up the small morsel of... whatever THAT is, and slowly brought to my mouth. The others were watching, waiting for me to either die or fall in love with it. The second it touched my tongue, my mind was racing with flavors and tastes.

I couldn't properly describe it if I tried, but that little fruit was the most flavor packed thing I'd ever had.

"My god, this is amazing..." I picked up another one and ate it quicker that time, and Gamma and Alpha were still starring at their bowls of the scarlet fruit.

"I'm glad you like it. Try dipping it in this." Skjorn pushed a bowl of a golden cream in my direction, and I carefully dipped the fruit into it. The cream changed the dynamics of the fruit, and made it more of an ambient taste to this medley of wonder.

"Dear god... I'm not eating the Infinatum's food ever again."

"Uh, Carter, you're going insane." [Alpha]

"Just eat the damn the fruit."

"But-" Gamma picked up one of the fruit and shoved it in Alpha's mouth, and Alpha fell in love with it as I had moments before.

"My god, Gamma. Eat." [Alpha]

"Wait, what if you're both just trying to trick me into eating something completely disgusting?" [Gamma]

"I'm curious to see how you'd respond to the rest of our food. I mean, this is unprocessed, straight from the pod." [Skjorn]

"Pod? Like, pea pods?" [Me]

"Uhh... Maybe? I'm not well versed in your foods, but sure."

"I thought it was fruit. It tastes like fruit." [Alpha]

"What kind of fruit?" [Gamma]

"Umm... blue berries, I think, but with the texture of chocolate." [Me]

"Mmm... No, it's more like sour raspberries with the texture of pudding." [Alpha]

"You're both wrong, it's the Vaesple Bean, and it tastes like Vaesple Bean porridge, minus the porridge." [Skjorn]

"Porridge?" [Alpha]

"Ew." [Gamma]

"I'm game to try it." [Me]

"But... It's porridge." [Gamma]

"But, it's got this in it."

"It does taste almost exactly the same." [Skjorn]

"How? It's got ground oats in it." [Alpha]

"Uh, it's texture is like porridge, hence the translation from our langauge to yours is... porridge. It's actually called-" He suddenly made a short string of clicking sounds and snapped a little bit.

"Da fuck?" [Gamma]

"Yeah, our language consisted of clicking, snapping, and clapping. I never learned very much of it, and actually just said something like circle. Our language was efficient, but... yours held potential for Dravinity's attention, and potential for communicating with your kind."

"Ah." [Alpha]

"Gamma, eat!" [Me]

"Fine!" He popped the Vaesple Bean in his mouth and his eyes widened as much as possible.

"My christ..." [Gamma]

"Right?" [Alpha]

"So, you seem to be enjoying your brunch." [Skjorn]

"Brunch, what?" [Me]

"Uh, we have longer days than you. Much longer. Long enough that we need five meals a day, hence, breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner and supper. In that order."

"You know those last two are the same thing, right?" [Gamma]

"You know there aren't any words used to describe a would be late night snack, right?"

"Hm. True."

"So, I thought you said eveerything here was alive? I mean, what about the walls?" [Alpha]

"They are alive. Look." Skjorn got up, went over to the wall, and rubbed off a layer of dirt and soot. Underneath, was a greenish grey massive, with things moving inside of it. It was a perfect brick, and appeared to have a layer of gel on it's sides, locking it in place with the other cells next to it.

"So the entire world is alive? How is that even possible?" [Gamma]

"Yeah, what about deep underground?" [Me]

"Well the planet's alive too, but in a different sense than most everything here. It consists of massive tunnels running throughout the planet, pumping liquids and air across it's surface and through itself, sustaining hundreds if not thousands of ecosystems in pockets. Only a few have been mapped. For all we know, there could be other intelligent life in it. Biocrate isn't a planet as simple as yours, and it-"

I heard Gabriel's voice from the outer wall, "Uwnzfleld!" Immediately everyone started to pack up whatever they were doing and headed into their homes. Lights turned on and the sky began to darken.

"... and it certainly isn't as forgiving. Come on, we need to get inside." Skjorn got up and we began to follow him in, asking the obvious question.

"Uwnzfleld is a certain bacteria. A week after we launched your nuclear missile at our enemy, this bacteria started rolling across the planet. Their life spans are shorter than minutes, but they pile up quickly and consume most things smaller than them."

"Wait, would they eat metal?" Gamma had stopped and kept looking back at the city gates.

"Yes, of course they do." [Skjorn]

"Oh god, they might get the ship." [Alpha]

"Who's to say they stretch as far as the ship?" [Me]

"It doesn't matter, we need to get in, we only have ten minutes!" [Skjorn]

"No, we need to make sure the ship is safe!" [Gamma]

"I'm sure-" [Me]

"It's outer hull is made from spacemail, and that bacteria is certainly going to rip right into it!"

"Okay, right. Skjorn, we'll be back. Hopefully." [Me]

"What? No! You'll die!" Skjorn grabbed my arm and pulled, trying to drag me inside.

"Then use ASCII codes to send a message to the Infinatum." I ripped free of his grasp and followed the others, but he caught up with us.

"Fine, if you won't listen, then I'm coming with you."

"Why? Won't you die?" [Alpha]

"Won't you?"

"Probably not." [Gamma]

"Probably wrong."

"Then stay back."

"And lead to interplanetary war? No. If you die, then you're people will just assume we killed them. If I die too, they'll have proof it wasn't intentional."

"That's not questionable." [Me]

"Put on your helmets, it'll protect you better from the Uwnzfleld."

"What about you?" [Alpha]

"Not important." He pushed ahead then stopped. "I completely forgot that I have no idea where your ship is."

"Come on." I tugged his arm a little as I went past him. At first, crossing the plains in front of the strange, living fortress was easy. We saw the wave of sand-like bacteria flowing across the plains, but what was really unsettling was that it was a bright blue bacteria. Not a reddish or yellowish like I thought, just cyan. Looking at it burned my eyes, but Alpha noticed that it had a point. It was directed and aimed at the fortress.

When we reached the forest was when things got weird. First, Skjorn claimed the forest was the over grown ruins of the idiots who denied the advancement of the civilization. Second, he complained about a weird noise coming from it. I remembered he'd mentioned nuclear missiles, and I switch to a geiger counter on my HUD. The forest was higher than anything we'd seen on Earth. The ambient radiation here was lower, too. We knew that from planetary scans. We didn't know about the strange, irradiated forest, however.

"You can't go in there, there's too much radiation. You'll probably die in minutes." [Me]

"What's radiation?"

"Really? Of all our inventions and discoveries, you decide to ignore the most important one for the weapons you built and used?!" [Gamma]

"Well, I get the idea behind it, but it can't effect life. It can't."

"Ever heard of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?" [Alpha]

"That was the blast-"

"Point is, you need to go back." [Me]

"But I can't! Look at the town!" He pointed in the direction of where we came, but it was all just a cyan blur.

"Great. Enjoy dying out here." Gamma turned and headed into the forest.

"What- no! I can't-... I can't let this be the end of it! Finally, our two peoples meet, inventions, machines, creatures, entire worlds can be born from our minds and cultures, and you're just willing to post pone that because I'm not wearing one of your stupid suits?!"

"Look, unless you can make a bacterium shield from lead, you're done for." [Me]

"Bacteria- huh. Gimme a second or two."

"What?! It has to take longer... nevermind." I could barely finish my sentence when he held out his hand and a strange bubble formed around it, slowly reaching up around his body. It was black, and solid, but it was probably made entirely of lead.

"Can you even see through that?" [Alpha]

Skjorn's voice was muffled, and just barely audible, "No. You guys mind leading me?"

"Not at all." Alpha poked his back, and the bubble of lead wasn't fully solid. It was unsettling, seeing this black bubble in an anthropomorphic shape following me.

About an hour went by and we finally made it to the ship, following the compass that pointed to it. Once there, we got inside, and had Skjorn remove the shield. It changed from black to white, then faded from existence.

"Okay, could you not spew lead into our ship's air supply next time?" [Gamma]