Snippet #2281528

Kit Gray had been busy with customer vehicles since opening up shop. For nearly two hours, now, she lay underneath a hover capsule with a broken rear axle, humming to some old tune on the radio while she worked, the only other sound that of her tinkering, until, at long last, she put both feet flat on the ground to either side of the skateboard she'd been using as as makeshift workbench and pushed out from underneath the vehicle.

"I really need to fix this place up," she muttered, looking around at her workspace. She set her wrench to one side and stood up to brush off her dusty coveralls. "Well, that takes care of that."

A bit disoriented from doing the horizontal mambo with her latest job, the mechanic glanced around the garage, searching until her eyes came to rest on the thin stack of shipping and delivery records beside the radio on top of the table across from her. She pushed aside a few odd wrappers and picked up what was left of the morning's mug of coffee to reveal a brown ring marring the corner of the top record. Taking a swallow of the cold, creamy liquid, she licked her fingertip and leafed through the first three pages, talking aloud to herself. "So, what's on the agenda this afternoon? Let's see... Colch, Collins, ah... Caracona." She grasped the page between thumb and forefinger and edged it out, mouth parting into a grin as she recognized the alternate name she handwrote at the top right corner. "Says here, we have a special delivery for you. Shipping is C-O-D, and it looks like you're a long-term customer, so no delivery charge. Due in one hour, hmm? I know just who to call."

Of course, there was no one else to call, but she was nonetheless eager. Eyeing up the stack of boxes in the far corner, she twisted the dial on the radio to kill the volume, and pressed for the big red button on the wall above it, activating the intercom she'd jury-rigged and connected to the apartment. Kit had to admit, she especially loved pressing that button.

"Hey, Speedy? You remember that order that came in yesterday?" She waited only a beat before continuing without giving him a chance to reply. Ricky knew her routine well enough already, anyway. She'd send him off to drop of packages while she finished filling in invoicing she'd drafted up on her little typewriter. They'd sometimes meet and grab a bite for lunch on the way to Ticktock, the weathered old shop where she worked evenings, and if he still had things to do at the garage, he would head back to finish if they didn't already close up shop before leaving their complex. "Get your butt up here," she said in that easy, informal tone she reserved just for him. "I have another job for you."

After gulping down the rest of her hours-old beverage, Kit settled down with a hot, somewhat fresh cup from the copper percolator on her desk, and swiped a bunch of past due utility bills into a wastecan to make room for the garage's repair invoices. Her mind rampant with mass calculations and esitimates of the week-end's net profit, she ran a hand through the disheveled twin plaits in her dark brown hair, briefly considering the addition of 'Hire a Secretary' to her mental list of 'Things to do When I Get Rich.'

Upon receiving the delivery order, Ricky wasted no time in getting up off the bed he was lazing around on. He was down by the time Kit got herself another cup of coffee, eager to finally do something today, which had been rather uneventful so far. The job that his pal had been working on didn't require his assistance, so he just stayed in the apartment listening to the radio, looking at the streets through the window.

"So who's the lucky guy you're sending me off to, Kitty?" the former thief asked playfully. Anyone else who addressed her by that name would've been sporting a black eye by now. Ricky enjoyed having such a privilege.

Without looking up or breaking pen stroke, she said, "Actually, this time, he is a she. You know the girl who works out not too far from the junkyard? Tilletha Caracona, but everyone calls her Tylt, one of our regulars. She ordered some miscellaneous parts from the catalogue last week I had to pay out of pocket for, plus offered to buy out our extra scrap metal from those welding jobs last month. Figured we could use the extra cash to meet our quota."

"If only we had more customers like her, am I right?" Ricky added. He practically knew the route to Tylt's place by heart now.

"Yeah," Kit agreed with a chuckle. She stopped writing and dotted the end of her description for today's job. Finally sitting upright, she gave a rather cat-like stretch and leaned over the back of her chair. Her eyes found the flying machine suspended from their ceiling as she handed Ricky two neatly folded invoices, one for Caracona, and the other for the lucky bastard who had dropped off his hover capsule yesterday. "With any luck, I'll have enough leftover to buy the last couple of parts to get that bird in the air next week... Oh, and speaking of guys, when you stop by to give Mr.-" she took the second invoice briefly to catch a glimpse of the heading at the top of the page before handing it over. "Gerranraip-" she tried the name on her tongue a little akwardly. Gare-an-rape. Guessing at the pronunciation of oddball surnames had never been her strong suit. "-his invoice, you might infer the consequences of his offering to pay to see me take off my overalls and cover myself in grease when he comes to pick up his vehicle tomorrow. I'm a mechanic, not a stripper," she said with a glower. "I don't get paid to dance around and look pretty."

"Don't worry, I'll make him see sense if he tries to make a big issue about it," the mechanic's apprentice said with a certain implying tone in his voice before quickly switching back to normal. "Still, if you were paid to look pretty, we'd have to charge extra for people who stop by!"

Kit turned round in her chair to throw a half-hearted punch at his stomach. "You're lucky I like you."

"And that makes me luckier than any other bloke I know," Ricky retorted, although there was indeed a bit of solemn truth in those words. "Anyway, I'll get going now, shall I?" Without waiting for much in the way of an answer, he started to collect the packages into a small backpack. Both of 'em knew what the answer was gonna be, anyhow.

"What would I do without you?" she said rather quietly with a half-smile, nursing her coffee while he packed. She wasn't much for expressing herself too seriously, but she always made sure to show her appreciation for him in small ways here and there. Since showing up, he'd taken a load of weight off her shoulders, and given enough time, she was sure the two of them could really turn the shop around. "You still want to meet up for a late lunch before I go back to work tonight?" she asked, between sips. "I'm buying."

"How could I resist such an offer?" he replied, grinning. With little other conversation exchanged, Ricky left the garage and bolted down the street towards Tylt's place, dodging and jumping over any obstacles that were in his way with ease.