FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Prologue

(part one)

It was just as the sun was setting over the horizon as Kevin slips on his sandy brown jacket against the chilling winds of autumn, he is standing outside the gates of an abandoned warehouse. The 23-year-old young adult red panda had just gotten off a cab in the middle of an old industrial block, close to the city of Los Angeles, California.

Despite wearing the jacket and t-shirt over his auburn brown fur, the chill still crept its way through. Though, this could have just been his nerves instead of the weather. The Déjà Vu of the deal he was about to make, creating a large amount of anxiety within him.

He picked up the black military-style briefcase he brought with him, thoughts of backing out of this shady deal running through his mind. These guys buy from everyone on the black market, seeking nothing but the prototype Gate-Way, currently sitting inside the briefcase he is now holding. They're greedy and have no regard for life if it means getting what they want.These facts are what has Kevin's nerves currently ablaze. The only solace in all of this is the fact they pay well.

The prototype Gate-Way is a ring-shaped device with fancy machinery workings all around it. This device has the power to create an entrance through any material, temporarily distorting its properties to allow anything to pass through it, but only from one side. It's the first step to what people would call a 'Portal'. This prototype could be the stepping stone to the future of this type of technology. But it doesn't come without risks. First, it's highly unstable and incredibly unpredictable. Safe transportation through the portal is not always guaranteed. Also, the user risks being disintegrated if any part of their body should stray outside the boundaries of the portal, the shear force of the travel, ripping their body apart within seconds. That discovery during testing trials is the reason the project has been suspended until further notice.

Being one of the associated engineers on the team that worked on the prototype, allowed Kevin access to one of the older models. He knew that taking such a device to sell for self-gain was wrong, but he needed the money to clear his gambling debt; almost a quarter million total now. Besides, he also knew that the project wouldn't have made it this far without his efforts to design a portable power supply for the device itself. The way he sees it, it's like cashing out on an investment.

With each step he took, he was making his way deeper into the warehouse that looked as if it had been left to rot for over a decade now. Abandoned cargo of various sorts and sizes, seemed to make a maze out of the place. The slightest sound in the deafening silence, made his ears twitch in response. Kevin emerged from the maze, out into a clearing of sorts, where he spotted a dimly lit office on the scaffolding with two furs inside. One of them exited the office, walking a few feet out the door. He was a tiger who stood close to six feet, tall wore a black coat and a black fedora.

"Are you the seller?" he queried, with a rough voice that sent a chill down Kevin's spine.

"Y..yes!" he stammered, as the tiger beckoned him to come up to the office.

The tiger held the door open for him to enter, before locking it shut on the knob. His partner was a Doberman, dressed in the same outfit, both being much taller compared to the red panda's five foot, five-inch stature. The Doberman, now by a desk, instructed him to place the briefcase he was carrying, besides a silver one already on the desk.

"This is five hundred thousand in unmarked bills. It is yours once you show us the device is working." the Doberman grinned, as he gestured towards the stacks of hundred dollar bills in his silver briefcase.

"O..okay." Kevin gave a weak smile back as he pulled the prototype free from his black case, setting it up on the far side wall of the office.

He turned the device on, and with a soft hum, a status light started to blink and the interface sprang to life. He hit the activation button, as static washed over him causing his fur to fluff up a bit, a flash of white light blinded the furs in the room for a short while, before revealing the outsides of the office within the warehouse.

Kevin turned around to see the looks on their faces, total amazement was all that could be seen.

"Observe!" as he took a binder of paper on the desk to his right and threw it through the portal. The binder of papers landed on the warehouse floor with an echo ringing out from the other side. With that, he ended his demonstration, as he shut down the device.

"Now then let us do business." the tiger begin.

"You can check that the amount is as agreed upon." he stated, waited for Kevin to finish taking the device off the wall and setting it back into its protective casing, before moving over to the desk to check his promised cash.

Kevin let out a yelp of pain while he was in the middle of counting his money. He was struck in the back of the neck, and began to fall to the floor, slowly losing consciousness. He could hear and see a little of what the duo was discussing, which ultimately, was his fate.

"Brother, orders are to secure the device and tie up the loose ends." the Doberman recites.

"Yes! Which is why it would be the best time to test this drug." the tiger replied, as he took out a metal casing from his coat pockets.

The drug which was being mentioned is called APTX. APTX is an abbreviation of 'Apoptoxin' and, as the name implies, it involves the activation of apoptosis; the mechanism by which cells kill themselves. APTX contains ingredients which have other functions as well. It contains a component which activates telomerase, an enzyme which lengthens the caps at the end of DNA, whose length, limits the number of times a cell can divide. Basically, it's a poison that would kill the fur and leave behind a very messy red pile of goo.

The tiger took out one of the four identical red and white looking capsules and a test tube containing water. He shoved the drug into the red panda's mouth, before flushing it down his throat with the tube of water. Placing the test tube back into its case, before turning off the lights, he left the office with his partner holding both cases, the device, and the money, leaving the red panda to die alone in the darkness.

As Kevin lay in the darkness, fighting for consciousness, he felt his body starting to heat up, his blood boiling and his bones feeling like they were being run across a cheese grater. His whole body hurt, and his organs felt twisted and tied together. His heart rate was increased beyond any normal limit, allowing his to hear his own blood rushing through the veins in his head. The pain was absolutely unbearable. And with that, his conscious mind faded into darkness.