Bytesize 1.1

I dunno. It just kinda popped into my head. Honestly, I have only a vague plot so far but I'm working on it. So updates might be a little slow while I figure out where the story's going and how it's gonna get there. For now, here's the first byte.

Bytesize 1.1

Daizy stared out into space. Or rather she stared at the vidscreen showing the view outside of the ship which was the aforementioned space. She was beginning to hate the sight of space because, once the inital excitement had subsided, space was, in fact, fucking boring. It had been incredibly exciting two years ago, when she'd first bought this spaceship and left the miserable planet of Exerion Prime for the first time. But after two years of blundering through space it had become dull. It wasn't just the bleakness of the everlasting blackness that filled the vidscreen. There was also the fact that she shouldn't be seeing space. Or at least, not at this speed. She moved over to the comm unit and pressed the transmit button.
"Jules, we're out of lightspeed. What's going on?"
There was a long pause filled with static and then Jules' not so deep voice over the comm.
"The lightspeed engines are fucked!"
"That's not what I want to hear Jules. You're my engineer. Work on it. I'll comm you back in ten minutes and I want to hear good news."
She left the comm and flicked on the ship's autopilot. Under the power of the sublight engines it was more than capable of making sure they didn't hit anything. The ship though, was falling apart.
Daizy thought back to those early days working on the salvage yard and one day in particular that had set her out on this crazy path. A new ship had been towed in for salvage and as always she'd checked it over. There was nothing of any real interest until she found a hidden compartment beneath the captain's seat holding an ancient bottle of some spirit. A droid scan had revealed it to be whisky; not only that but a whisky of incredible rarity. She'd checked the flight recorder next and found the last entry pretty cryptic. All it consisted of was the Captain saying "Find Talus." and holding the whisky bottle up to the screen. There was also a set of co-ordinates that were incomplete, missing the reference star that would render them viable. She'd wiped that last entry and took the whisky bottle. That was what got her here. Quitting her job, selling the whisky, buying this heap of junk under the impression it would last far longer than it did. Truth was, she'd been taken for a fool. She got a fair price for the whisky but not for the ship. The lightspeed engines had been on their last legs two years ago and now Jules had his hands full just keeping them running.
Jules.
She buzzed the comm.
"Jules. Make me happy."
"The lightspeed engines are fucked!" said Jules once more.
Daizy sighed and tried the comms again.
"Zeke?"
Another long pause. More static. Even the comms were on their last legs. Finally a robotic voice came back to her.
"Voice pattern Daizy: Yes Daizy?"
"Zeke, meet me in the engine room."
"Affirmation: Yes Daizy."
Zeke came with the ship. He wasn't the best droid around. A little slow if Daizy was honest, which she almost always was. But he had his uses. He was humanoid in design and bipedal and she'd grown fond of him, even if his verbalisation module was somewhat screwed. She checked the autopilot once more to make sure it really was engaged then made her way to the engine room.
The scene when she got there was bizarre. Jules was half wedged in some machinery, just his wiggling legs visible, making intermittent clanking noises and swearing profusely while Zeke stood by repeating "Unknown protocol" in his same robotic monotone.
"Zeke, engine status." she said.
"Engine status is 'fucked'." mumbled Jules from inside the machinery.
"Scanning." said Zeke.
Daizy waited. Minutes passed, Jules cursed.
"Zeke?"
"Scanning." said Zeke.
"I think he needs a new scanning unit." said Jules.
"Scanning."
"Zeke for fuck's sake..."
"Engine status: Unrepairable."
"He said that last time." said Jules, clambering out from the mass of pipes. "This time though, I'm inclined to agree with him. We need a new lightspeed engine Daizy. Until then, sublight is all we've got."
"That's gonna cost most of our money." she sighed. "Zeke, how far to the nearest hospitable planet?"
"Scanning."
"Too far." said Jules. "I already checked. We're sitting dry out here."
"Then we're going to need a tow." Daizy bit her lip, "I'll contact Gast..."
"Don't say it!" yelled Jules."
"...on." said Daizy.
"Dammit!"
"Like it or not, Gaston's our only chance." said Daizy. "I don't know anyone else with a ship big enough to tow us. If you know otherwise Jules..."
"Nearest hospitable planet is Alph..."
"Forget it Zeke." said Daizy. She looked over at Jules. He was filthy, covered in engine oil and sweat. His dark black hair squashed from its usual spikey form into a tangled mass on his head. He was Gromularian which was basically a four foot high humanoid and Daizy's old friend from the salvage yard. She'd let him in on her plan from the start, knowing she'd need his skills if she was ever to find Talus.
"Clean yourself up Jules. I'll go see if I can get the long range comms online long enough to reach Gaston."
Jules threw a mocking salute.
"Aye aye, cap'n."


Back in the captain's chair Daizy tapped away at a computer keypad until the long range comms finally located Gaston's Ident signal. She paused, then decided there really was no other option and hit 'call'. It didn't take long for Gaston to answer and his image came up on the vidscreen. Gaston. Like the vast majority of races in the universe he too was humanoid though with some notable differences. The off-yellow skin for one and a third eye upon his forehead. All three eyes were insect-like compound structures. He smiled when he saw Daizy.
"Ah Dai-zee. To what do I owe ze pleasure?" he asked in his inexplicably French accent that always emphasized both syllables of her name.
"I need your help Gaston." said Daizy, "Our lightspeed engine conked out and we're stranded. Any chance of a tow?"
Gaston raised an eyebrow and she could see the metaphorical glint in his eyes.
"Sweet Dai-zee. I am a very bee-zee man. I would be sacrificing my other obligations..."
"I'll pay you Gaston."
"Four hundred credits." said Gaston, smiling.
"Two fifty." said Daizy, "I have a new engine to buy Gaston. Cut me a break."
"Fine, fine." said Gaston, waving a hand dismissively.
"Thanks. I'll send you our co-ordinates."
"Ah one more thing miss Dai-zee. As much as I trust in our long standing friendship... I must ask for ze credits up front."
"Yeah, sure."
Daizy slammed her left hand down on the palm scanner and transferred two hundred and fifty credits from her biochip into Gaston's account. The transaction must have been successful because Gaston grinned and nodded at the vidscreen.
"Merci. I shall be with you presently."
Daizy killed the vidscreen. Stupid slimy frenk. She hated dealing with Gaston. He took every opportunity to keep a close eye on Daizy for one simple reason. Talus. It had taken her the better part of the first year to discover exactly what Talus was. Back in the early days there had been a planet called Earth on the brink of ecological collapse. The humans living there had done the most logical thing they could do. They had escaped to the nearby planet of Mars. But the newly terraformed Mars didn't have all the resources Earth did and so they left behind a basic colony to produce the goods that they couldn't on Mars until there was nothing left on Earth to use. The last ship to leave Earth was a massive cargo ship called Talus. Legend had it that something went wrong as Talus neared Mars and instead of penetrating the planet's atmosphere the cargo ship was instead slingshotted out into deep space. And that was the last anyone ever saw of Talus. Millennia passed, the neo-Martians colonised other planets, met and interbred with other sentient races and eventually Talus' existence was forgotten. Or almost forgotten. Rumours of it still existed, that treasure trove of ancient Earth artefacts presumably still out there somewhere. But there'd never been any proof of its existence. At least not until Daizy had found the whisky. That was the proof that Talus not only existed but had been found by the ship's captain. At the time Daizy hadn't known it, but selling the bottle of whisky had confirmed the rumour and now many spacefarers hoped to make their fortunes by finding Talus. The search was on once more. And both Daizy and Gaston spent their days trying to find it.
Daizy took one last look at the autopilot, just to be sure, then made her way down to the shower cubicles.

The ship had three shower cubicles although at any given time only one of them would be working. She managed to find the working one on her second try and stood under the lukewarm water. Finding Talus would make her rich and save her having to take on odd jobs just to make ends meet. All she had to do was find it and beat Gaston and countless others to it. And speaking of odd jobs, they were going to have to find something to do to earn some more cash now they had the engines to replace. That probably meant a cargo run. She finished her shower and dried herself off then checked herself out in the mirror. She ran a comb through her bright blue hair that hung midway down her back. She'd inherited that from her father and her pale skin from her mother. Mixed race, half-Exerian, half-Talimarian. Could have been a worse mix. At least she had the standard number of limbs, heads and eyes, which unlike Gaston's were also humanoid in nature if a pale yellow colour. As if he could sense her undressed state the incoming comm signal sounded and she knew Gaston had arrived even before she pressed the button and heard his voice.
"It eez I, cherie. Gaston, your rescuer."