Project 447

The garage

"BRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIINGGGGG!" I slapped my hand down onto the stop button. I hated alarms. It was now 7:30pm, leaving me forty-five minutes to get ready and go to work. I slid out of bed, accidentally waking Gormiana. "Mreep?" she squeeked. "Sorry, Gor, I have to go to the garage," I said. She went back to sleep. I slipped on my work clothes, a pair of worn jeans, a cap, and a tank top. I then quietly stepped out into the main room and out of the house. An eerie feeling crept over me. Last night someone scrome and I nearly jumped off my bike. It's dangerous to be out at night. Patrol drones will stop almost anyone who's out before dawn.
    Finally, after about a thirty minute ride, I arrived at the garage. I worked as a mechanic with Yanna. We mostly repaired dinged up cars and the like. In our free time we messed around with spare parts that Yanna would find in the dump near her camp in the lower garbage slums. Mostly junk but every once in a while we'd find something of worth. Speaking of Yanna, it was weird she wasn't here yet. She was almost never late.
    The door slammed open. "Hey, Yanna," I exclaimed. I could always tell when it was her. She had a habit of slamming doors. "Hey, Rain, how're you, tonight?" She said through a thick Meliacos accent, which was something like a British accent from before the UTN. "Fine. Tired," I said whilst putting on my work gloves. "Good to hear," Yanna replied, "So, what're we working on, tonight?" I smiled and lifted the sheet off the vehicle lain in the middle of the room. It was a shimmering silver hue with two red stripes, and was about one and a half meters in length. It was a 12390 Moglar turbo bike. A hoverbike of tremendous value and style. "WOAH! Is that the 12390?!" Yanna asked in awe. "Yup," I shot back with a massive ear-to-ear grin. "I've always wanted to ride one of these," Yanna said, still staring unwaveringly and dumbstrickin. "Well, maybe today will be your lucky day. If we can get this beauty up and running again, she'll need a test drive," I turned and gave a knowing look accompanied by a kind smile. "REALLY!? I get to do the test drive!?" Yanna asked me, along with the rest of the block whom I'm certain heard her. "Yep. If we can get her maglev stabilizer working, she's all yours," I said with a grin. Yanna wasted no time putting on her work gloves and getting right into the work. "Hell yeah!" she said, wearing a childlike enthusiastic grin, "Let's get our hands dirty."
    About twenty minutes passed. We had used that time to disassemble the exoshell that housed and protected the mechanisms of the bike. "I think I found our problem, Rain," Yanna said, peeking over the bike. "What?" I replied. "Looks like the subzero mimicdrive is obstructed by something. I think I can also see some rubble blocking th-" A massive, silent moment passed. "Yanna?" I said, concerned. I looked up to see her face cold and still with fear. "Yanna what is it?" I repeated. She swallowed. "It's blocking the fusion regulator," She finally said, slowly. A shiver crawled down my spine as the realization hit me. "Well shit," I said with a troubled look. The fusion regulator was what kept the reactor contained. Without that, even turning the bike on for a second would mean painful radioactive death for everyone near as the toxic materials escaped into the atmosphere. "Let's start there," I said, decisively. Yanna nodded in agreement.
    Yanna turned around to get the tools we needed. Then we began. We slowly unbolted the fusion reactor and removed it so it could not be accidentally activated. Then we cautiously and surgically removed the rubble that was blocking the regulator and checked it for damage. A crash came from the back of the garage. "Rain! Yanna! Beautiful night, eh?'' said a booming voice. "Ay, sir," Yanna replied, "We got a 12390 ,tonight, Faundil!" Faundil was our boss and the owner of the garage. He was kind enough and a fair boss. We liked working for him, and he liked bantering with us while we worked. "A 12390? Wow! Haven't seen one o' them in ages," He said, "How's the going?" "Fusion regulator gave us a scare, but all that's left now is to fix the subzero mimicdrive so that maglev stabilizer functions correctly," I replied. "Smashing," he said with a grin, "I'll be in the back doing some paperwork and messaging the bike's owner that she'll be crackin' to go, soon." "Sounds good," Yanna said, "We'll give a shout when the bike's ready."

    After the bike was finished, we took it out to test drive it. "Are you ready, Yanna?" I asked with a massive grin. "You have no idea," she said excitedly whilst donning a dark cowl. I walked the bike to the test sight. It was a small junk plain which we had cleared out for testing stuff. It was right on the edge of the higher garbage slums. I lowered it off its retractable wheels and gave Yanna the key. "Let's do this!" Yanna yelled enthusiastically. Truthfully though I could barely hear her through the helmet. She straddled the bike with a brave spirit. "RRRRRR," the bike purred as she revved it. The maglev stabilizer kicked on and the wheels retracted as the bike began to hover without support. "WOOOOOOOOOOO!" I yelled. I'm certain Yanna did the same but who knows since neither of us could hear each other over the bike.

    Yanna readjusted herself on the bike for a moment. Then she leaned forward and the bike took off like a hungry coyote chasing an appetizing roadrunner!