Outrun - Chapter 476 - Passing Time (Patreon)

I spent the next two weeks holed up in my workshop, working on everything from the gravity gun I was going to make to setting up the stuff I’d need to make the next tier of Aether Imbued bullets. I even started to work on armed drones that’d be helpful through a drawn out fight rather than one time use fireflies. They were still very much a work in progress. Especially while I waited for Luna to program them.

The time I wasn’t in my workshop, I was either attending classes or counseling sessions. They made up the minority of the time, though. Between helping Nael out during most of the day and tinkering at night, I barely even had time to sleep let alone anything else. 

The fruits of my labor were finally starting to pay off, though. For one, my Gravitite rifle was finally done. I was calling it the Moon Gravlock, and its output was downright frightening. Even with its power greatly reduced and firing normal rifle rounds, it easily kept pace with anti-tank rifles. At least, the outright force of its shots did. Most of my bullets couldn’t keep up unless I supersized them. 

The Gravlock had an added bonus of being totally silent since it shot with gravity instead of gunpowder. As long as the projectile didn’t go supersonic, it was completely silent. I reworked the Whisper module from my coil weaponry to give it such an option if I ever needed it. The Gravlock was built for power, though, and it provided that in style.

More importantly than the Gravlock, my days with Nael hadn’t been fruitless either. I wiped sweat off my forehead as I washed off and sanitized my hands. Behind me, Nael finished his checkups on the latest patient to visit Absolom Clinic. “You did better this time, kid. Maybe could’ve used a little more synthskin here.”

I looked back to check out what he was talking about. The patient, his arm newly replaced with chrome, was totally unconscious as Nael poked at where this chrome met flesh. “More? The connection point was already covered, though.”

”People with new chrome always scratch at it.” He shrugged, and started to apply a thick layer of synthetic skin using a brush. “Better they feel a bit weighed down and scratch off the extra layers than tear the stitching.”

”Oh…” Chek, that made sense. I thought back to how Mira was after getting out of the lab. There was more going on, ‘course, but cyber rejection was a real and prevalent issue. “What about the nerve connectors?”

That was the part I was really worried about. This was the first time Nael let me fully do the surgery to link up a piece of chrome by myself. Almost all of my focus had been on ensuring the patients nerve-endings were connected in a way that wouldn’t aggravate them more than necessary.

The medek shuffled to the side, and pulled a scanner over the patient’s arm to double check. ”Couldn’t have done better myself. You sure you just started this?”

“I learn quick.” That, and there actually wasn’t that much difference between working on tech and working on a person. Flesh and bone was just a dozen times more complex, but the basic techniques and all of that was the same. It helped that the chrome arm was one of my designs from the Foundry. 

”So I can see… honestly, in terms of mechanical skill, you’re almost there.” Nael pushed the sensor to the side and lifted a bottle of medicine I’d prepared. “It’s the chemical I’m more worried about.”

“Why do I feel like this is a final test?” I sighed and wiped off my hands. “Was the medicine wrong again?”

”Let me put it this way.” Nael shook the bottle of pills. “You hate this guy, don’t you? Otherwise, five pills a day is enough to cause partial paralysis.”

”…” Yeah, medicine was still a struggle. It hardly mattered if my mechanical skill was there for surgery if I couldn’t provide the proper care afterward. Granted, had this patient been someone I knew, I’d just hit him with my blood. Universal Donor made me a really good blood pack when it came to medicine. 

Nael replaced the bottle with five other ones. He checked the monitors one more time, and then added a sixth just in case. Upon seeing my questioning gaze, Nael turned the monitor around to me. “Remember to always check the patient’s medical history. Martin here has a history of blood clots in his family, and he isn’t exactly a spring chicken anymore.”

”What about the other five, then?” I asked. I leaned down to look at all of their labels. Most of them were chemical compounds I couldn’t ever hope to pronounce. 

“Cyber rejection for the most part.” Nael pointed to the first two bottles, and then went through the other three in turn. “This one’s to dull his nerves in case they flare up, this one’s to help him sleep, and finally this one can paralyze his nerves in case something goes horribly wrong.” 

“As thorough as ever, Nael.” I stood back up to my full height, which unfortunately got nowhere near his. “Almost wish you’d come with us to Lathvin.”

”My old bones aren’t good for traveling anymore. ‘Sides, my patients can’t travel too.” Nael patted the man who just got his arm replaced. “You’ll do fine in a pinch.”

”What if I’m the one that needs operating on?” It wasn’t likely… but then again, I was ‘bout to get a bunch of chrome before we left. There was unfortunately a pretty good chance my chrome caused me to glitch at least a little. I would’ve liked some more time to get used to the stuff, but I didn’t even have most of it finished yet and we were leaving in about a week. 

“Then I’d be in even bigger trouble. I can’t go running around like I used to, kid.” Nael turned off the anesthetic keeping our patient knocked out, and shuffled over to wash his hands off.

”Used to?” I asked. Did Nael used to be a merc in the day? No, with his skill, I could see him being a Nightrunner. That must’ve been a really long time ago, though. He spent a while with Medtech at the very least.

Nael didn’t give a reply. His lips pinched shut like he hadn’t meant to say that. Instead of trying to explain it away, he just locked down and totally ignored my question. If he didn’t want to talk about it, then that was fine. I definitely wouldn’t force the man.

”Hey, listen, I’ve got a bunch of new chrome I want to implant.” I scratched at the back of my neck and shifted the subject. “Nothing too crazy, but there’s a lot of it.”

”Custom built tech?” Nael asked. It looked like he was already running through the surgery before I even showed him the stuff. “It’ll stand up to your electogenesis?”

”It should.” I’d designed it all to play nice. Just because that’s what I wanted, though, didn’t mean that’s how it would go. Chrome was finicky, and all my stuff was experimental. “I’m not coming in so I can finish working on all of it.”

”That’s fine.” Nael waved his hand. “You sure you want to leave the country with freshly implanted chrome? The last time you got new stuff didn’t go so well.”

”I know,” I said a little too quickly. “I, uh, I’ll have my teammates look out for me. I’ll pop some pills if any of them say something.”

“Pills only go so far.” He watched me carefully as if seeing through me. After a moment, he slowly nodded his head. “Fine.”

”You’re not going to tell me no this time?” I laughed lightly. It still spooked me that he outright shut me out back then.

”You’re in a way better head space, kid. ‘Sides, you look happier.” Nael lifted a hand as if to shield his eyes. “You’re practically glowing compared to a few years ago.” 

“Aw, thanks.” I stuck my tongue out and flashed a V at him. The motion sent a tremble down my spine, but it was worth it as I watched him physically cringe and look away. “I gotta get going.”

“Get out of here.” He waved his hand back in my direction, and set down a chair. He picked up a book, Neon Sprawl, and flicked through the pages.

”See ya, Nael.” I waved to him, and moved to gather up my stuff. I had a meeting with Fox and Bear about my sprite form in a few hours, and I wanted to swing by and get something to eat first.

— — —

I dropped into the snow of Nine Peaks already in my fox form. My fluffy silver tail wrapped back around myself as if to push out the chill in the air. “Yip.”

”Shiro?” Vulpes appeared a few seconds later with her tails swishing behind her. She brushed up against me, and used the universal translation spell. “Sorry I’m late.”

”I barely waited.” A shiver went down through me. “What’s with the snow? It’s nearly spring.”

”Mmm…” Vulpes looked away as if embarrassed. One of her tails curled in front of her snout. “My lady’s trying to convince Bear that it's December again.”

“Oh…” Fox… why couldn’t you just be normal for onc—that thought immediately shut down as another chill went through me. I wasn’t sure if it was Insight or the cold, but better safe than sorry.

Around us, several other foxes were stuck suffering in the blistering cold. Where there was misery, there was a fox to rub the miserable ones’ faces’ in the snow, though. Several other foxes happily played around in the fluffy stuff, diving below and popping out randomly. 

Standing between two pavilions, a small snowball fight broke out between eighteen foxes. It quickly spiraled into an all out war as more and more foxes got dragged into the fight.

Vulpes shielded me from a flying snowball, and shot a glare at the fox sprite that threw it with telekinesis. The fox practically shriveled as he shrunk back—only to be hit from behind by a rolling snowball bigger than it was. Said snowball was being controlled by a three-tailed sprite walking on top of the snowball. The ball was then unceremoniously sent careening into the rest of the defensive line as the three-tailed fox was sniped off and flopped into the snow.

”Hah.” A light chuckle broke out of me at the sight. Fox sprites… I guess I should say as expected of Fox’s sprites? The queen of chaos herself had a serious influence on her sprites, whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. 

We moved up the steps, and slipped into the main pavilion. The moment we entered, the mirth radiating through me froze. The entire throne room was filled with so much tension it was like a cold blade pressing into my chest. Even Vulpes shivered right next to me.

At the center of the tension stood Fox facing off against Bear. “I’m telling you, it’s December! You slept way too long, and skipped over a year again.”

“And I’m telling you that’s not possible. I bought an alarm clock this year.” Bear glared back at the eidolon, and grabbed a floating keg. He ripped off the wooden top, and gulped deeply of the substance. Seeing the massive, runed bear glaring was enough to make me shrink back.

”Uh-huh. And where is that alarm clock now then, mister Bear?” She waved a paw at him as her tails lashed behind her in annoyance. “And since when have I ever lied to you?”

”All the time,” Bear grumbled without missing a beat. “And… I rolled over and crushed it.”

”Aha!” Her tails flicked upright in triumph. “The truth comes out! I’m telling you, it really is December! Am I really that untrustworthy?”

”If I had to pick between you and Crow, I’d pick Crow.” Bear crushed her confidence mercilessly.

”R-really?” Fox shrunk back as if hurt by the big bear. I could see it in her eyes, though. It was all an act to trick him into believing her. 

“At least with Crow I know what I get.” Bear shrugged, and sat back on his hind legs. His two arms, runes peaking through his fur, wrapped around a keg of whiskey like it was a teddy bear. “He always lies. Especially if he stole something again.” 

“It really is December, though! Ugh, why don’t you believe me?!” Fox cried in aggravation and turned to us. Her eyes lit up, and she put on a surprised expression. “Oh, Shiro! Look who’s finally awake! C’mon, it’s December, isn’t it?”

“…” I just mutely stared at Fox. Did she really want me to lie to the bear? The massive bear that looked like he could crush me if he just sneezed? 

‘Sides, he probably knew what I was thinking anyway… I tried to summon up the interface, but it didn’t come. At the very least, she put up an anti-scrying barrier to keep him from checking with anyone else. If nothing else, Fox was at least thorough in her schemes.

Bear finally seemed to notice me, and leaned forward on his keg. “Ah, Shiro… tell this crazy fox that it’s May, will you?” 

“…” It’s April, though… I looked between the two eidolons, and slowly took a step behind Vulpes. That was one argument I really didn’t want to get in the middle of.