Scavenger

The heavy thuds of footsteps filled the vast junkyard as the rain poured. A young girl ran as she was being chased by several men. She panicked and hid behind a big piece of steel.

"Find that brat!" The man shouted from the distance.

The girl's breathing became heavier and she tried to move further away from the hole she went through. Her pants snagged onto a piece of wire and it pulled some of the garbage down causing it to crash over her.

"There you are! Nowhere left to run kid." The man said as he pulled the girl out of the garbage.

"Let me go!" The girl shouted.

"Do you know how much the gadget you stole costs? Give it back or else!" The man demanded.

"Put the kid down." A tall man in a hood stated.

"Mind your own business bozo." The man replied.

"I don't take no for an answer." The tall man mumbled.

He drew his stun gun and shot the man holding the girl. He took the girl and carried her over his shoulder before running away from the junkyard.

"What you did was brave kid. It was also stupid. You don't just steal from Gutao." The tall man stated.

"I had to, I would've starved if I didn't." The girl replied.

"You don't have to steal anymore. What's your name?" The tall man asked.

"Call me Kjēl." The girl stated.

It's been 6 years ever since, not much has changed but Kjēl lived under a roof and ate warm food on a table. It was all thanks to Shigo, the man who took her in and treated her like a daughter. Kjēl now works for Shigo and she collects scrap metal to trade in Shigo's shop. Their colony is one of many in the Jupiter-sphere, theirs is located farthest from Jupiter and is considered the slums. The wastes from other colonies are brought to theirs and are segregated. Kjēl is one of the people who live off the garbage of others. Once she finds good scrap metal, she trades it for units in Shigo's shop. The metal is then melted and recycled before being transported to merchants who either sell the metal to XenoMars or Jupiter-Astra.

"Shigo, don't forget to drink the medicine I made you. I'm heading out to collect scraps. Send message." Kjēl stated before her earpiece beeped.

Kjēl took her speeder bike and took off to the junkyard. She began with her work of collecting scrap metal. She dug through the colony's garbage in search for pieces of metal. She did her usual rounds and found as much as the last time.

"This should be around 200 credits now. What else should I get?" Kjēl mumbled as she looked around.

She sees something glimmering under the garbage and she went closer. She took her metal detector and scanned it, it was a positive so she began digging it out. Kjēl shone her light over the large piece of metal and noticed a familiar mark sculpted onto it. She continued digging through the garbage and found a small lever, she thought it was broken so she pulled it and the big piece of steel began moving. It opened into a drop and Kjēl fell inside, she was inside what looked like a cockpit. She snooped around and pressed a button by accident that activated the operating system in the cockpit. The monitors lit up and Kjēl was startled, she jumped back and fell onto the seat of the cockpit.

"What the hell is this? I can't understand the text, is this a vehicle?" Kjēl mumbled as she continued to figure out the monitors.

One of the Monitors was displaying a symbol and a name under it. Kjēl called Shigo and told him to meet her at the junkyard, she wanted to show him something she found. Shigo closed his shop and rushed to the junkyard where Kjēl was waiting.

"Come on, it's over here. I thought it was just the cockpit but it's the entire ship under all these rubbish." Kjēl stated as she tugged Shigo's arm.

"A ship? What would a ship be doing all the way out here?" Shigo asked.

"I don't know either but it's still working till now. I mean, the monitors are still displaying the status of the ship." Kjēl replied as she walked hastily.

"What did the monitors say? Have you found the model?" Shigo asked once more.

Kjēl helped Shigo climb up and into the cockpit before showing him the display on the monitors. Even Shigo couldn't understand most of the words but he was able to find out the model of the machine. He told Kjēl that the technology seemed like it was old, very old as a matter of fact. Shigo told Kjēl that he would help her dig it out and they could decide what price to put on it.

"Let's come back tomorrow and continue digging it out. Cover it with something for now." Shigo ordered.

"I will. Do you think we can still get it to fly?" Kjēl asked.

"I used to work on ships before, I'll try my best in fixing this then you can take it out for a ride. How about that?" Shigo stated.

"Hmm...yeah. I'd like to take this old timer out for a spin." Kjēl replied as she closed the cockpit and covered the ship with garbage.

Shigo then went with Kjēl as they rode back to his shop and opened it again. Kjēl went out to the back to gather the tools and started filling up the excavator with fuel. Shigo contacted one of his trusted assistants to take over the shop for a few days while he takes care of some business. Now that everything is prepared, they returned to the junkyard and began excavating the ship out of the heap of garbage. It took several days but it was worth it. The ship was even better than they first imagined it to be.