Sid Goldstein surveyed the hangar before him. The scattered assortment of Hull Panels, Electrical and Engine components painted a picture of a much neglected hanger. "Well time to get down to business" Sid thought to himself.
He walked around picking up pieces here and there. At times pausing examining things. He scrutinized each and every part before he deemed it fit for the project he was to undertake.
A hour had finally passed before he was satisfied with the wealth of parts he had gathered.
"Well this ought to do it" he half muttered as he went to the workbench. Picking up the tools he needed he quickly worked. He had a robot assistant, which he named Geraldine.
A few hours passed. He looked at his work and then decided he had done enough for today. After having a quick snack, he found a space in the corner and took a nap.
He awoke, attended to his nature's calling and proceeded again.
This ritual of his continued for a full week. On the Seventh day, he stepped back and scrutinized his work.
"Hmmm it does need a little polish but i guess it will do for now." he thought to himself. "I guess its time to call in the boss to have a look at this." he thought.
He punched in a few keys in his PDA and waited the call. "I hope Sunny picks up the call" he said out aloud to himself.
Meanwhile, Sunny was out doing some inventory checking. The latest batch of smuggled goods had come in and were being unloaded while other goods were being loaded in. Sunny was checking up on the procedure and making sure everything was going well.
He noticed his PDA go off and fetched for it.
"Yeah? It's Sunny. What's up?"
***[Hey boss could you come down to take a look at this? (//paraphrasing ]***
"Hmmm? Yeah I'll... be right over. Give me about 30 minutes. I'll see you then."
He had heard from some guys that stepped in past this Sid dude in the hangar that it wasn't the standard kind of ship he was working on apparently.
Sunny wondered what it could be and was eager to find out.
"Hey boys common chop chop! Load that [****] and keep moving!"
Sid Goldstein felt relieved as he stepped out of the washroom. "Nothing better than emptying your bladder when it was close to bursting" He chuckled to himself as he walked back to the hanger.
As he went in he saw a sizable crowd had gathered around his invention, inspecting it.
"Damn !! I hope those guys don't mess up the rig before Sunny comes" he thought to himself. He cursed himself for forgetting to cover it . Now it was too late to do anything.
"Please make room" He announced as he weaved his way to his contraption. As he reached his destination, with arms wide he made an announcement.
"Make some space folks, let it breathe." .
With the crowd looking on he bent down and started inspecting, lest the crowd did touch something. He wasn't gonna take any chances.
When he'd arrived at the hanger to look where the ship had been built, he noticed the crowed all huddled around in a big circle around something small. It couldnt be a space-craft, he thought. Those are far bigger than that circle is.
He wondered out of curiosity though if he was wrong... or maybe it was some sort of part of a ship. Whatever it was he was thinking, he walked up and stepped into teh crowed, moving past to see what was past the wall of people.
He noticed Sid when he made it through.... but also what was next to him. His eyebrow raised in curiosity.
"Boss I can up with this" Sid said as he saw Sunny standing in front of him.
"I give you the PCP, Personalized Space Chopper."
"I used the engine of a civilian shuttle, made some modifications to the exhaust ports with a valve controller to control the exhaust". His hand instinctively went up to the speeder he hand constructed.
"I then welded up a chassis to accommodate the engine and made use of the hull panels to cover it up. I used riveted parts and then micro welded the rivets so that it doesn't come loose". Side let his eyes hover over the body of the speeder.
"Looking at the engine specifications, and its current weight i reckon this will be very fast and quick on the turns."
Pointing to the makeshift seat on the speeder, and to the panel behind it he continued. "Well see these holes here.These are where tubes will be installed and connected to the exo-suit. Well the top tube will provide oxygen and the two lower ones will have fluids running through them to maintain body temperature. This way one can stay longer on this speeder."
Sid studied Sunny's face for any sign of expression. He saw none.
He gulped a bit and then continued."Right here is the control panel. The lower one displays the status of the Engine, the upper one holds the Nav map and UI of the docking chip interface."
He gripped the makeshift handle with his left hand " This is the handles which enable you to steer your ship. This directly controls the valve controller in the engine"
"If you want i can show how the engine steers the ship through the regulation of its exhaust."
Sid looked up at Sunny. Still no sign of any expressions.
Sunny doesn't say anything at first but starts to circle around the ship, getting the crowd to back off a little too and getting down to whispers in excited discussion about this new bike-like-ship. He thinks for a moment, rubbing his chin and squinting a little at it.
He was impressed with the design, to say the least. The assembly looked neat for what was available and as Sunny walks around silently looking it over he can see some good craftsmanship in his work. He reaches over and puts a hand on one of the farther handle bars of the ship, seeing how it fits to the hand. It had quite an 'intimate' feel... the whole ship. Rider to ride.
"A'ight you can show me.... but... the question is... have you taken it out already for a spin? Does it work? Does it come with a suite as well?" Sunny questions him, but he moves his hand over the ship's hull and lets a small smirk out that Sid may or may not catch. A smirk acknowledging interest.
Sunny kneels down at the front of the ship and takes a look at the front part where the engine is situated. "You did the engine yourself too? Or is it perhaps taken from another ship's model and placed into here?" He asks with interest.
"I have used a civilian shuttle engine. I could have built a different engine but the time needed for it ....." He drifted a bit, deep in thought. "But It works ... at least in theory but now to see it work for real" Sid grinned as he finished the sentence
"Well...." Sid said, deliberately pausing for the effect.
"Nobody has ridden this before, i guess I should be the one to do it."
Saying this he pulled out a bag, set it upon the table and unloaded its contents.
Sprawled on the table was an exosuit and a helmet.
"Time to suit up I guess". Sid couldn't help but grin at the prospect of flying it.
10 minutes later
Sid guided his ride into the airlock. Soon he was ejected from the station and was into the frigid cold space.
He pressed the ignition initiator. A slow cranking noise was heard as the motor tried to start the speeder.
"Damn" he thought to himself as the ignition initiator tried in vain to breathe life into the engine.
He stopped and flicked the switches that opened additional valves in the combustion chamber. He tried again.
After a few seconds of whirling noises, the engine roared into life.
"Gawd, this feels.....Goood" he half said to himself.
The feeling of the engine rumbling below him, and the vast expanse of space before him felt exhilarating.
He pushed the thrust pedal and pulled the throttle.
He felt his head go backwards in an instance as the speeder propelled forward.
He felt the g-force tugging at his body as he zoomed into space.
Sunny watched him go off into the air-lock and then caught a glimpse of him out into space. If he made it back alive, Sunny thought, that would be a great little ship.
Freedom and adventure; that is what Sunny thought from seeing the concept of the ship, and he liked it.
He ran off to get into one of his light fighters to go after Sid and see how it performs in space for himself. The station felt suddenly too tight and concealed for him as the 'space-bike' offered the vast emptiness of space as the ultimate feeling of freedom. He found his Arrow and hopped in, turning on all the switches and engine thrusters quickly and not wasting any time. This was something he didn't want to miss seeing.
He made his way to the launch-pad and took off after Sid.
Sid saw Sunny undock. He knew this was the moment which could make or break his future. He had nothing to lose.
He pulled up in fornt of the Arrow.
"She handles great boss. Very light and turns real quick."
Sid thought a bit. He suddenly had an idea. He decided to risk it all.
"Boss, how about you try and catch up with me?"
Sunny couldnt pass up this opportunity.
"Sure give it your best shot"
They lined up their rides side by side.
Sid took in a deep breath. His heart was pounding. "Okay here we go" he thought to himself.
He turned to Sunny. "Ready?"
Sunny barked to order to take off.
He pulled the throttle and zoomed through the asteroid field.
He had no trouble navigating through the Asteroid field. The spaces between the rocks were as wide as a barn Wall to his ship and he easily slipped through them.
Very soon he was past the Cortez jumphole and out of the field. When suddenly he heard a cranking sound and then a high pitch whine. "Damn... looks like one of the capacitators has gone bust. " he half said to himself. He had no option but to slow down his speed. He looked back and saw Sunny finally catching up.
"Holy smokes!" Sunny watched in front of him as they took off and saw the small little croch-rocket speed off in-front of him. He pushed down on the accelorator of his ship and pushed the engine forwards but still saw the space-rocket fly off and become like a fly on his windshield. When he finally caught up he messaged Sid.
"Whatever you did, man... that thing's got some speed! Damn! How'd you fit such a powerful engine into that thing to go that fast?!"