Bonus Story: Reuniting With Humanity's Long Lost Fuzzy Friends (Patreon)

Hey guys! :D So this is a bit of a spur of the moment thing, but I had an idea I really wanted and needed to write out, and I wanted to share it with you guys as another fun bonus story! It might be a bit rough around the edges as I wrote this quite late into the night and early into the morning depending on how you look at it haha, but I really hope you guys enjoy! :D 

Two thousand years ago, we were attacked.

We didn’t know who did it.

Nor did we know what exactly transpired.

What we do know, is that from that point onward, humanity would never be the same again.

The world as we knew it was irrevocably changed and there was no chance to return to the brighter days of old.

For humanity was the only species left standing on our once blue and green marble, now reduced to a barren gray from the biological and conventional attacks that rendered anything outside of our scant few bunkers all but dead.

But we didn’t lose just our own, as even our furred friends were not spared from this onslaught. All that remained of their legacy was the rare instance of a pre-fall photograph or video to remind us of the companionship that had been ripped from us all.

Now, after centuries of careful and methodical reconstruction, we were ready to reenter the galactic scene; and forge our way through the stars once again.

As we made our way across the cosmos we’d prepared ourselves in every possible way we could.

With ships brimming to the teeth with all manner of weapons our scientists could cook up. From kinetic batteries that could lob projectiles at three fourths the speed of light, to plasma weapons that could cook an entire atmosphere in a matter of hours, to laser focusing arrays that could vaporize exposed hyper steel in a matter of seconds.

We were prepared for every eventuality.

We were prepared to face those faceless monsters that had stripped our future away from us.

What we weren’t prepared for, however, was the eventuality that we were wrong.

For we were, most certainly very, very wrong.

When our ships caught wind of a massive stellar object not of our own design, we’d expected the worst. Especially when considering the size and scale of the artificial construct in question.

The construct was spherical, about 20 miles in diameter, and with skyscraper-like protrusions alongside what looked to be docking support struts jutting out from what we could only describe was its equator.

We’d assumed whatever species was responsible for this had created this expressly as a tool of war.

But that assumption, as with almost all of our assumptions, couldn’t have been further off from the truth.

When we first approached the craft, no hostile intent was inferred by its docile state. No weapons charges were detected, no shields were brought up, nothing. It became a matter of genuine concern whether or not this whole thing was a trap. But even if it was, we knew we were prepared.

So as the request for a boarding exchange was accepted, we equipped ourselves with all manner of weapons and tools we’d need should we find ourselves in an unexpected engagement. From power armor that added a good foot to our height, to weapons that could raze an entire town, we boarded the alien craft with fear and trepidation in our hearts.

We expected a disgusting amorphous mass of tentacles and slimy tendrils. We held our breath for the oozing skin of a creature that exuded death from every pore. We steadied ourselves for unspeakable horrors.

What we instead found were three sets of beady little eyes staring at us from a smoky, dimly lit corridor. These eyes were low to the ground, about a foot or so, making me think that these three eyes belonged to some amorphous blob of a creature with multiple sensory organs

They blinked rapidly, as we heard chitterings and yaps being exchanged back and forth.

These chitterings soon stopped as the eyes turned towards us once again, as one of these shadowy silhouettes tapped on some unseen console, and the lights quickly illuminated to a brightness with which we could all see comfortably in.

What we saw was the very embodiment of how wrong we were about the galaxy at large.

What we saw wasn't a Cthulian horror. Nor was it an existential horror.

It wasn’t even a normal horror.

What we instead saw were three, very small, very compact, very portable, and very pettable furry critters.

The same critters that had been ripped from us all those millennia ago.

In no particular order of cuteness, we saw a fox, a cat, and a dog.

All three of them locked eyes with me, their tails wagging faster and faster, all in synchrony, before finally all three leaped up, hopping in place as they shouted loudly using the translation suite we’d sent them.

“NEW FRIEND!”

I was singled out, and as the three critters now ran laps around my feet, I heard a flurry of conflicting voices each with their own takes on this unexpected development.

“FRIEND!”

“THE LEGENDS ARE TRUE!”

“THE TEN LEGS ARE GONE, NOW HERE ARE THE TWO-LEGS!”

“TWO-LEG FRIEND!”

It was at that point that I had to put a stop to the rambunctious crowd, kneeling down to meet them at more or less eye-level, as all of them now stood there perfectly behaved and very much polite, with their maws wide in joy and their tongues hanging out as they panted excitedly. “Alright, alright. So, let me get this straight. By two legs, you mean-”

“FRIEND! PEOPLE! HUMAN!” The three barked, yipped, and meowed out all at once.

“Okay… and by ten legs you mean-”

“THE BAD THINGS! THE THINGS THAT USED TO LIVE HERE BUT LEFT!” The three once more replied at the same time, save for the fox that looked to the side in the first show of emotion here that wasn’t just excitable peppiness.

“The bad things that left us all alone…” It yipped out meekly.

I turned to the rest of my colleagues at this point, who looked on in utter disbelief as it was clear that it was I who needed to take the initiative.

“Alright.” I stood back up, trying to take stock of the situation. “Okay.” I muttered to myself. “You don’t have to worry about a thing, because you won’t be alone anymore.” I smiled. “Because we’re here to stay.”

The cat and dog duo beamed brightly at this, but it was the fox who stood out once more as he got up even closer, and plopped himself at my feet. It was then that he addressed me, his vulpine eyes locking with my own.

“You promise?” He yipped out.

“Yes, and we’re going to get you outta here too, if you want to, that is.” I beamed back with perhaps the first true smile I felt forming across my face in ages.

After a few moments of careful consideration, the fox shifted its weight to its hind legs, steadying itself on its small shaky feetsies as it reached up, body extended, and with both arms outstretched towards me. With both of its paws barely reaching over its little head, and with eyes that matched the meek and pitiful yipping and whining that followed, it spoke without hesitation.

“Uppies?”

“W-what?”

“Uppies? Uppies for promise?”

This was the moment that my reality came crumbling down around me, as I felt a warmth I’d never felt in my entire life.

I read a passage once, from an old book that survived the fall. Something along the lines of ‘you don’t really realize what’s missing, until you find that thing that makes you whole’.

It was only now that I actually, fully, comprehended what that pre-fall author meant. As I felt all of the fear, the anxieties, the existential dread and worry melting away, shearing the cold and analytical facade I’d been wearing for my entire life, as a latent side of me emerged to take its place.

Without hesitation, and with little in the way of anxious worries, I lifted the little thing by its shoulders, holding it up before me as its bushy tail flicked back and forth excitedly. It started emitting a series of noises I’d never imagined was possible from a creature as small as this, what with the gaggle of yips in rapid succession that almost sounded like it was laughing in utter joy.

After what felt like an entire minute of this furball writhing in utter excitement in my hands, I noticed more beady little eyes from further down the corridor.

Soon enough, the rest of the first contact team was swamped by a deluge of excitable furry friends. All excited to be reunited with their long lost friends.

And it was clear on the faces of scientists, diplomats, and soldiers alike, that the feeling was mutual.

=====

It has been a good year after the incident now known across the human sphere of influence as The Great Reuniting.

Things have calmed down now, especially with the rehoming initiative as our now intelligent furry friends have integrated well into their own niches and roles within human society.

An interesting trend had emerged which acted as a simple fix for the issue posed by the ergonomics gap between those of our quadrupedal friends and their newfound world constructed with human use in mind. That trend being the use of many a human shoulder as a perch for everyday activities. Most people didn’t mind this. In fact, most were eager to help. As just about anyone was ready to do what we needed to make our furry friends feel right at home amidst our cities and stations.

Though a large chunk of the population still remained on what we now call the Wandering Sphere, a moniker given to this mobile space station by its furry inhabitants.

After much discussion and data cracking of the base’s systems, it seemed as if after wiping out much of Earth, the aliens had taken it upon themselves to toy around and experiment with its creatures. Before suddenly, and without warning, disappearing from the station, and the entire galaxy altogether.

The station was rumored to have intergalactic capabilities, and so, armed with a new set of tools, and a newfound resolve, we were bound to set course for another galaxy. Poised to track down the perpetrators of the fall, and to save others from the same fate.

Together, and with our newfound furred friends, we would take on the faceless ones.