The Optimum Project

Chapter 5

Quad bike

After moving the shipping container to our loading dock, and after a lot of maneuvering, we successfully loaded it into the central cargo bay and secured it with varying degrees of straps and clamps.

My father sat up from where he had just finished tightening a strap, "that's the last one, if you still want to you can head over to that junkyard," I was already running out the door as he called out "but take the quad and be back in an hour for pre-flight check!"

I yelled an 'ok' to him over my shoulder and ran into a side door where I found myself in the main hallway of the Selena. I jogged down the hall to the cockpit, passing my room, my dad's room, and the kitchen. I opened the heavy door leading into the cockpit and leaned in, after scanning the wall for a moment I snatched the keys to the quad off their designated hook, and pulled down on a lever labeled 'Container 3'. As I jogged back to the door I could hear the groan of the hydraulics work as one of the separate cargo compartments opened, revealing an old black and red quad bike.

The old bike was modified to take fuel-cells and had a used GPS on the front, mounted just before the seat started and reached toward the back of the frame. I smiled and pulled up the seat, pulling out the matching red and black helmet and putting it on. Straddling the seat I kick-started the bike and pulled out of the compartment, I pulled over toward the main cargo doors and waved to my dad as I gunned the engine and headed through the port and towards the junkyard.

I raced down the little dirt road at 40 miles per hour, well past the speed limit for these old roads. If you couldn't already tell, I'm big on salvaging stuff, from drones to freaking toilets (I did refurbish one on a bet, got 20 credits) and often times it's come in handy. I've used my salvage skills to upgrade the Selena's computers, find engine parts and so on, but most of the time the things I build end up blowing up in my face.

I pulled up to the junk yard and payed an entry fee, after they opened the gate I immediately guided the small quad towards the back, where some of the good stuff might not have already salvaged. I hopped off the quad in a good sized clearing and looked around for any parts I would definitely need, I brought up my wrist exposing my digi-watch, (which I salvaged) and pulled up my "look for" list, which read:

1. size 4 fuel coupling
2. speakers for the intercom system
3. a microprocessor for the carrier's piloting and navigation computer

I looked around the area I had stopped in, and after a few minutes of looking I found an old fighter that was missing the engine and its two wings, my guess was that it had been in some guys garage and the wife didn't want it so he chucked it here, the wings had probably been used for scrap and the engine for any good parts. I walked up and peeked into the cockpit, a mass of multicolored wires occupied where the navigation computer was supposed to be. I sighed but then noticed that the cockpit was lined with speakers, they weren't the right size, but I could rig them up to my room and the coms so I could listen to music but if my dad called me the com signal would mute the audio.

I smiled and jogged over to the seat of the quad, opening it up I pulled out a Philips screwdriver and an adjustable wrench. After jogging back over I successfully pulled out the speakers and put them in the quad's seat, which, (along with the speakers) now only held a few rags and the helmet. I turned and looked around the area again before noticing a decommissioned carrier. it was much larger than ours and looked like it had been put there yesterday. I started to climb the pile it sat upon, knowing full well that the computer would be too big and too heavy to take out of the carrier and down to the ground. After reaching top of the pile and the carrier I went over to the emergency release lever and pulled, the latches that held the door released their grip and I pulled at it until the door popped off and fell down to the ground with a clang. Pulling out my phone, I used the screen as a light and started looking around. I noted that the speakers in the ceiling were intact, and I smiled, if there was enough power in the cell they left in the engine I could test the speakers.

I made my way to the cockpit of the ship and was not surprised that the navigation computer was here, I looked around and saw a picture on the wall, it showed three men in front of the ship at what looked to be its christening, the caption only confirmed this, reading, "the crew of the neutron at her christening, 2152." I raised my eyebrows at the date, most ships like this are sold to the first person to pay, not scrapped.

I looked around, asking almost to myself "what got you here?" I got up and pulled the needed parts out of the navigation computer, along with an upgraded processing chip that probably cost a pretty penny, and then pulled out the three speakers I needed for the coms after I did a quick check, and after putting them back in the quad I climbed back up and looked in some of the rooms, lifting mattresses for any hidden treasures, after the exercise in futility I made my way to the cargo hold, where I found a a few crates.

After prying them open and finding one with a military grade scout drone I knew something was up. I looked around and didn't see anything out of the ordinary, I pulled it out of its crate and figured out it was just dressed like one, closer inspection showed that the small cannons it packed were fake, and after a little more rummaging I found the control antenna that is normally connected on the outside of the ship and hooked up to a computer, I dug deeper and the manual told me that it was some sort of scanner that could double as a transmitter. I laughed, the disguise making sense now, no one would be crazy enough to shoot an alliance drone. I got up and carried the parts and the drone one by one down to the quad bike, I didn't find the fuel couplings I needed but it was going to be a while before the one we had broke and the quad was full. I hopped on the quad, and making sure I hadn't missed anything, headed back to the port.