Hi there. I am a dog. If you are ready, we will talk about things in the Universe that are smaller than dogs. You will learn about particles and tools and the very advanced ball. These are all important small things.

You’re listening to The Voice of Dog, and today’s story is “Puplift: A Dog's Guide to Space, Chapter 2” by Tempe O'Kun, who is the staff writer at Culturally F'd, and the writer of the Windfall and Sixes Wild series by FurPlanet Productions, and you can find more of his stories on his FurAffinity or his SoFurry account.

Companion video: Culturally F'd, with art by Sam Pipes and music by Bearywell/Jinpa

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You’re listening to The Voice of Dog, and today’s story is “Puplift: A Dog's Guide

to Space, Chapter 2” by Tempe O'Kun, who is the staff writer at Culturally F'd,

and the writer of the Windfall and Sixes Wild series by FurPlanet Productions,

and you can find more of his stories on his FurAffinity or his SoFurry account.

Please enjoy

A Dog's Guide to Space, Chapter 2” by Tempe O'Kun, read

for you by the author himself.

This was “Puplift,

Puplift, A Dog's Guide to Space

THINGS SMALLER THAN DOGS

The Universe is really big.

But many of the things inside it are smaller than dogs.

We will talk about them.

TOOLS

Dogs can do lots of things.

Humans and dolphins and AIs can help us do even more.

But to do more things than that, we need tools.

Tools are made by doing science to problems until someone

thinks of a way to fix them.

If that way is an object, it is called a tool.

DOG TOOLS

By doing science, dogs have made a lot of good tools.

Here are some tools.

Cyber Hat

If you wear a hat like this, your brain can use tools.

You have to practice thinking into the hat, though.

Goo Gun

Humans and dolphins and even dogs sometimes are doing the

wrong thing, like breaking important things or being on fire.

These people are not bad, really, but they need to stop.

With a goo gun, you can shoot lots of goo on them.

The goo is very sticky and foamy.

It usually stops them.

If it does not stop them, you shoot them with even more goo.

Grabber Belt

Dogs have no hands.

The humans are very good and help us a lot.

They are very busy, though.

Sometimes, a dog needs to use tools without them.

We invented a grabber belt to grab things.

They are good if you do not want to put a thing in your mouth.

Hover Boots

Humans are tall and put things on shelves so they are not in our way.

Sometimes we need those things, though.

These shoes float you up.

You have to stand still with them or you will tip over.

Jet Pack

Dogs are very good at running.

Sometimes, though, we need to fly in space or up in the air.

A jet pack moves you that way.

Lab Coat

Dogs do a lot of science.

To keep the science from getting in our fur, we wear a special white coat.

It has special goggles that go over your eyes to see human colors and changes its

shape to protect you and is easy to wash.

It also shows the humans we are doing science, in case they

want to do the same science.

Nose Filter

Some smells can hurt you.

To keep them out of your nose, you wear a nose filter.

It lets regular smells through.

Take this with you if you think you might smell dangerous smells.

It is important to smell The Universe safely!

Smell Keeper

When you wear it, this hat remembers everything you smell.

You can remember smells you forgot.

It does not work for dolphins.

It works a little for humans.

You can even save a smell and show it to someone else.

Service Vest

Dogs have lots of fur, so we do not need clothes.

Sometimes we wear them anyway.

This clothing holds your tools.

We put special colors on them that we cannot see, but the humans can.

It helps keep them from being confused.

That way, they always know what our job is.

Other dogs usually know what jobs dogs do because they smell like their jobs.

A service vest turns into a space suit in space.

Talking Computer

This is a special computer that lets dogs talk.

Usually, we wear it on a collar so it does not fall off.

Very Advanced Ball

A ball is good because you can chew on it.

A very advanced ball bounces where you tell it.

We use these to play games and sometimes for some science.

Sometimes, we use it to send a ball to a friend because they

might like to chew on a ball.

Very advanced balls also blink a light so you can find them in space.

HUMAN TOOLS

The humans do science too!

They are so smart.

They made lots of useful things.

These are some of them.

3D Printer

When we are exploring outer space, we need lots of things.

This box makes those things.

It needs matter to work.

The matter has to be the right type.

It has to be enough matter too.

Some of them can print a cheeseburger.

Life Bubble

Sometimes, ships leak.

If you get leaked out into space, try to bring a life bubble.

It is a plastic packet that fits in a pocket.

In space, it puffs out to be a big bubble around you.

It has air and a radio beeper and a light blinker.

Those are important so you are alive and someone finds you.

Radio

Humans are so good at talking.

They made a special machine that lets people talk when they are far apart.

That is nice.

We use it to talk to humans who might be lonely.

Sometimes, we do not know them when we start talking, but we

have very advanced friend science and soon they are not lonely.

Vehicle

Humans can walk for a long time, but are not fast walkers.

They have machines to go faster.

They will let you ride on them, if you ask.

These are called a vehicle.

They move on the ground or into the ground or on the water or

into the water or into space.

You can put them on a spaceship or a space station or in a house, but only

put them in a room with a very big door.

Small doors are only for people.

DOLPHIN TOOLS

Because they live in the water and are a different shape,

dolphins need special tools.

Dolphin Mobility Suit

This robot walks around with a dolphin in it.

It is big and sometimes breaks things.

Do not let it step on you because it is very heavy and could hurt you.

Jet Pack

Dolphins like to fly.

It reminds them of swimming.

They use jet packs.

It is usually okay.

Sometimes, they break things.

They use them in the sky or in space.

Squirt Gun

With this tool, dolphins can spray water very far.

They are supposed to use squirt guns to move things they

cannot reach from the water.

Most times, that goes really well.

Sometimes, they spray water where water is not supposed to go,

like on a computer or a cake.

Wet Suit

Dolphins need to stay wet.

Usually, this is not a problem because the ocean is very wet.

When they are not in the water, they wear special clothes that

can pull water out of the air.

AI TOOLS

The AIs have very good tools.

They usually live in a computer, not in a body, so they make things with

little robots called nanomachines.

They are very small, like germs.

They will not make you sick, though.

They have no smell, so do not try to smell them.

You might sniff up nanomachines that are trying to do something important.

AI Core

An AI needs a place to live.

They usually live in big computers, but they can live in

little computers called AI cores.

They are small enough to carry in your mouth.

They are very tough.

They are made by nanomachines, but they are solid.

That is good, because you are not supposed to carry nanomachines

in your mouth, because you might swallow them and digest them.

You cannot swallow an AI core.

It is too big.

If you swallow an AI core anyway, please tell someone.

You cannot hurt the AI, but it might get stuck in your guts.

Construction Nanomachine

A jar can hold a lot of nanomachines.

If you dump them on something, they will turn it into something else.

It is still made of the same stuff, though.

AIs have you dump these out and make buildings and space stations and things.

They work very fast.

FTL Drive

AIs are very good at math.

They can do so much math that they can go faster than light using this box.

A whole ship can go with them.

Faster-than-light is a good trick and lets us go to lots more places in The Universe.

Medical Nanomachine

If you get hurt, nanomachines can fix you.

You have to squirt them on.

They look at your DNA and make you look like your DNA.

If you have cybernetic parts, they will try to fix those too.

Nanomachine Maker

This box makes nanomachines.

Unlike germs, most nanomachines do not know how to make more of themselves.

It also makes a bucket or a jar to put the nanomachines in.

Sometimes, the bucket or jar is also nanomachines.

That is useful if you do not need a bucket or jar when you are done.

Nanospindle

Sometimes, you need thread or string or rope.

To help you, AIs have a needle that pokes into anything.

It makes a very strong thread out of the thing it is poked into.

It builds a little structure to stay where you put it as it

eats the rock or other thing.

It can make thread out of air sometimes.

If they are scared the thread will break, they use lots of

them together to make ropes.

Repair Spray

This is a can.

You spray it on something and it fixes it.

The spray has to know what the thing is.

It only shoots out as many nanomachines as it needs.

That is good.

We would not know when to stop otherwise, because they are too small to count.

SMALL SPACE THINGS

Alien Germ

Sometimes, we find space germs.

They are on planets or rocks or sometimes just in space.

We help the humans do science to them.

They could make a new medicine or a plastic or maybe a cheese.

Alien germs probably cannot make us sick, but we are careful anyway.

We want to find aliens who are not germs or are smart germs.

Then we could be friends with them.

Helper App

People are very smart, but they cannot remember everything,

unless they are an AI.

We use a computer program to remember for us when there are too many things.

It is called a helper app.

If you are supposed to go to the groomer, but the groomer is busy that day, the

helper app will remind you not to go.

It is not an AI, just a program.

It talks, though.

It lives in your tools.

Particle

The Universe has lots of particles.

Even you are particles, since you are a little part of The Universe.

They are too small to see, but some you can smell.

Sometimes, we find particles we have never noticed or are doing

something we have never seen.

If we find those, we stop and do science to them.

Sometimes, we make a whole new technology.

Most of the time, it is just for science.

Science is good too.

It is good to know what your particles do.

Robot

Some tools can move and do things on their own.

They have wheels or propellers or other ways to move.

Most of them are smaller than dogs.

They fix things or bring you things or show you things with a camera.

Robots are good tools that anyone can control.

Sometimes, you will not be sure if you see a robot or a cyborg.

You can tell a robot is not a cyborg because it does not have a brain inside.

If you are not sure if someone has a brain inside, you can ask.

Ask them if they are a cyborg, not if they have a brain.

Then you will not make them sad.

People have not been cyborgs for very long, so they might

feel sensitive about it.

END OF CHAPTER TWO

Now that we have talked about some things that are small, you can stop and ask a dog

if you have questions about small things.

Chapter 2” written and read for you by Tempo,a fluffy dog in a cowboy

hat, with music by Bearywell.

As always, you can find more stories on the web at thevoice.dog, or find the