Gears and Pistons | | Bayverse | | Book 1

Chapter 1 | | A Sudden Member of an Unexpected Party | |

"One need not fear the darkness if they have but the stars to light the way."

★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Sparks litter the concrete floor, spraying in all directions as they're commanded to weld two pieces of pipe together. A young woman stands at the source of the grinding metal; her hair tied back in a messy ponytail and a welder's mask shielding her face. Her project is an old Triumph TR65 Thunderbird—a grand motorbike in the making for roughly three years—and she would claim it to be her greatest creation.

For five years Toby Williams has bent and molded metal into shapes of her own desire, though her thoughts often find her looking to the night sky of Los Angeles, California; often naming every star in sight and more. The night became an escape for the young woman, starting the day she watched the life fade from her mother's eyes as she lay in the hospital bed struggling for breath. Margret Hills—her mother's maiden name—had adored the stars and believed in life amongst them, and passed that belief down to her only daughter, who now studies the galaxies and solar systems beyond the visible universe.

Now as the end of her high school years is in sight, Toby feels overwhelmed by the choices and responsibilities—though familiar with most—thrust into her inexperienced hands that are only trained to hold a welding stick and the delicate tools for studying the sky. Though the last two weeks of school have her screaming for freedom from her hell-hole of a house—and escape from her repetitive life. Every day is the same routine; get up early, eat breakfast, run for the bus, attend classes, miss out on lunch, attend more classes, run to the auto shop, work for five hours, walk home, avoid her father, eat a rushed dinner while doing homework, and go to bed. Nothing has changed since she was eleven years old; the year her mother died.

A blaring alarm rings deafeningly in the open workshop of the Auto Repair Shop, causing Toby to sigh lightly as she momentarily halts her work to shut up the mind-numbing sound. She lifts up her welders mask to locate the device creating the annoying noise; the fluorescent lights shining off her pale, sweat sheened cheeks and smoothing the details of her upturned nose. Icy blue eyes scan the surfaces of the workshop, growing quickly irritated from the infuriating sound ringing from her phone. A groan of annoyance leaves the young woman's lips as she discovers her phone on the table behind her, hidden beneath a pile of scattered blueprints of half-planned projects and inventions.

She quickly picks the device up with a gloved hand and her eyes widen upon reading the glowing screen. Ten thirty. Good gods, how had she managed that? And with school in the morning too. After panicking slightly for a minute or so, Toby shuts down the welder and puts it away in its proper place before rolling away the "almost" complete motorcycle; she had practically completed it this time, now she only needed to give it a proper paint job and she could take it for a spin. The woman smiles to herself—a small piece of her growing freedom slotting into place.

With effective efficiency, Toby cleans up the small repair shop with a small grin on her face, unable to stifle the pride growing in her chest. Her gloves fly across the shop to land in a messy pile upon a small desk as she tosses them aside and ties her flannel shirt around her waist, revealing her toned arms. With a quick adjustment to her knee length denim shorts, she grabs her backpack from a hook on the wall. She's still smiling as she exits the shop from the back way—the employees only entrance that leads into a wide alleyway—and locks the door behind her. The smile only falters when she hears the sound of several engines echoing in the alley.

'What the hell?' A single car is unusual enough back here, but multiple? Not to mention the bizarre noise of clashing metal that definitely does not belong to regular vehicles. Ever the curious type, Toby walks silently towards the strange event that lies just out of her sight.