Of Neuromancy and Iron Wills 7 (Patreon)

I grinned as I ran my hands over the first thing I purchased for myself. It was a little ironic, given how I was in the process of dragging this world into a cyberpunk future, but I didn’t care as I carefully lifted the antique Winchester M1895 out of the shipping box. The last lever action rifle that John Browning designed for Winchester, and it was such a good design that it was still in production to this very day. I took my time carefully inspecting it, looking for defects, dents, or any other sort of damage to it. After that, I took it apart and went through the process of cleaning it, just to err on the side of caution.

“Hey JARVIS,” I called out, after I’d finished and reassembled the rifle.

“Yes, Mr. Gibson?” the AI asked.

“Tell Toni I have a new to me toy I’m taking out for a test run, I’m off to the gun range!”

I put my new rifle into a rifle case along with some rounds and all but raced out to my car. So sue me, I was excited to try out one of the best guns ever invented.

I drove out of LA, past the suburbs to a dirt and sand covered range where a few other people were at, they mostly looked like families teaching their kids proper gun handling. Something I heartily approved of. I got myself set up at an empty table and got out my rifle from the case, making sure that the barrel pointed downrange. As I got out my ammunition and started loading it into my new M1985, I mentally went over the most basic rules of gun safety.

First rule of gun safety: never point a gun at anything you aren’t prepared to destroy. Second rule of gun safety: always treat a gun as if it were loaded. Third rule of gun safety: keep your finger off the trigger and outside the trigger guard until you’re ready to fire. Fourth rule of gun safety: pay attention to what you’re aiming at, what’s between you and your target, and what’s behind your target.

I don’t know the exact percentage, but the overwhelming majority of accidental shootings were from people who didn’t follow the above rules. In any case, I slipped on a pair of safety glasses and some foam earplugs, and lined up my first shot. A deer-shaped target, maybe fifty yards away from where I was. Closing my left eye, I took in a deep breath, held it, and then let it out as I squeezed the trigger.

The butt of the rifle kicked against my shoulder, as there was a burst of fire from the end of the barrel, and there was a puff of dust a good twenty yards behind the target I was aiming at. Phooey. Bringing the lever down, the spent cartridge flew into the air as I brought it back up, closing the rifle and leaving it ready to fire again.

All in all, I spent a good four hours just shooting at different targets, hitting what I was aiming for maybe half the time. I didn’t really mind, I’d had a lot of fun just plinking. Still, it was getting late, so I packed up my stuff (making sure to retrieve all the spent cartridges), and headed back to Toni’s. I stopped by a decent grocery store on the way, I was in such a good mood I wanted to make something damn good for dinner. Toni was waiting for me when I got back, a bemused expression on her face as I walked up with a whistle.

“Have fun?” she asked.

“A blast,” I told her as I took my rifle and ammo back to my room before going back for the groceries. “I may be working on some of the most advanced tech in the world, but there’s something special about holding something that was invented over a century ago and is still in use today.”

“Speaking of advanced tech,” Toni said leadingly as I started getting set up in the kitchen. “Uncle Obie was rather reluctant to approve of the new patent you put in to be filed.”

I looked up in confusion, while mentally trying to figure out which one she was talking about. By this point I’d provided over a hundred fifty different patents through Stark Industries. Fortunately for me, Toni realized how little that had narrowed it down, and clarified, “The Cyber-Neuro Integrator, for hooking up prosthetic limbs to the nervous system. He said it would have the FDA all over Stark Industries.”

I blinked in confusion, “I thought the medical sterilization field would have done that?”

Toni chuckled, “Sterilization doesn’t have the same ‘playing God’ vibe that something blatantly meant for cybernetics does.”

“Touche,” I granted as I got the little potatoes cut into quarters. Those got tossed into a pot of boiling water to cook as I brought out the steaks.

“What exactly are you making?” Toni asked as I pulled a small bunch of toothpicks out of a box.

“I’m wrapping these steaks in bacon, and I’m going to make use of some of the garlic rosemary compound butter I made the other day. The spuds, once they’re cooked, will be tossed with a bit of olive oil, rosemary, crumbled bacon, and sauteed onions,” I answered as I moved between dishes.

“… are you planning on giving us both cholesterol problems?”

I waved the question off, “I’ll just make us some replacement hearts, no big deal.”

“Now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear,” Toni joked with a laugh.

[hr][/hr]

I looked over the datafiles and final schematics of the Mark II. The first test of the completed armor suit was going to be this evening, and I wanted to make sure I was fully read in on the schematics. Plus I had a few things I’d prepared on my own for this. I remembered the icing problem, and had brought it up with Toni. She’d made some modifications to the outside of the suit, but just to be on the safe side, I had put together some drones that would catch her if anything went wrong.

Everything looked good, the modifications to the outer shell should keep it from shutting down like it did in the original movie. I sighed in relief, leaning back in my chair. Before I picked up the tags I’d used to mentally interface with JARVIS and stuck them to my head. There was the weird feeling and influx of information again, and after a moment I straightened up in my chair.

Connecting to my drones was easy, and in a moment, all six activated. They flew out from the corners I’d stashed them in and hovered in front of me, and I connected to their camera feeds. Now this was freaky, seeing myself from six different perspectives while I was looking at them. I closed my eyes, to better sort out the information flowing into my brain. Okay, that worked. Time for test two.

“I see seashells by the sea shore,” all six dones said in unison, in my voice. I felt my lips curl into a smile, speakers and microphones were working.

For the next test, I had one drone fly out of the garage and perform several maneuvers, while the other five hovered in a myriad of shifting formations. Multitasking was proving to be easier than I expected, which was a good sign. With a grin, I pulled the drone back in, and set them back into their stations. I had a good feeling about the test tonight.

The rest of the day went as expected, I finished work I’d been doing on a VTOL emergency response vehicle, stopped by an antique store on the way home and treated myself to a set of blacksmith’s tools, and was home in time to whip up a quick stir fry (bell peppers, onions, potatoes, and some leftover steak) for dinner with Toni. What? I like cooking and I’m good at it. Toni’s last attempt at cooking completely ruined the pan she’d been trying to make eggs in.

Soon enough, it was time for the test. Toni slipped on the interior frame of the boots, and mechanical arms began assembling the rest of the polished metal suit around her. It was breathtaking to see it on a movie screen, but that was nothing compared to watching it with my own eyes.

“JARVIS, ya there?” Toni asked as the faceplate connected to the rest of the armor.

I put the tags on as JARVIS answered, “At your service, ma’am.”

“Engage head’s up display,” Toni ordered as I slipped into the suit’s systems alongside JARVIS.

“Check.”

“Load all preferences from home interface.”

“Loading,” I chimed in, leaning back in my chair and closing my eyes to block out as many distractions as possible.

After a few seconds, all the systems were uploaded, and Toni spoke up, “Alright, start virtual walk around… check all control surfaces.”

All the flaps and panels to help adjust the suit in flight lifted, the concealed weapons doing the same. JARVIS and I both carefully monitored the results of the test, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary or unexpected.

“Test complete,” JARVIS said, a hint of satisfaction in his tone. “Preparing to power down and run diagnostics.”

“Uh, yeah, tell ya what: do a weather and ATC check, start listening in on ground control,” Toni shot that idea down. I started warming up the drones and hacking into LA ground control while JARVIS argued with Toni to predictable results. “JARVIS, sometimes you gotta run before you can walk.”

I felt the grin spreading across my face upon hearing that, and Toni fired up her thrusters before soaring out of the garage, whooping in joy as she got a handle on the movement and pressure changes of flight in the suit. My drones followed her, and I kept a careful eye on the suit’s read outs and onboard diagnostics.

“Handles like a dream,” Toni said as she flew past a ferris wheel. “So Will, how’s it feel being so close to my body?”

“You do remember that the suit doesn’t have pressure sensors, right?” I asked through the suit’s interior speakers. “All I’m feeling is an itch on my nose.”

“Spoilsport,” Toni said with a chuckle, as she left her cruising flight and shot straight up. “JARVIS, what’s the SR-71’s record?”

“The record for fixed wing flight is eighty five thousand feet, ma’am,” JARVIS answered, a quiet note of resignation to his voice.

“Records are made to be broken!” Toni quipped before she pushed the suit’s thrusters to the max.

I held my breath as she reached the point we’d calculated the ice would start forming. Then past it. When she hit the point where the ice build up would cause cascade failure, and kept going, I let out a sigh of relief. The modifications had worked, Toni wasn’t going to be careening to the earth in a prison of ice and metal, one wrong move from becoming a smear on the ground.

“I think this is the limit for how high the suit can go,” Toni announced, just shy of ninety thousand feet above sea level.

“Not bad for something made in your garage,” I joked as Toni flew back down to Earth.

“Watch yourself, Mister. Keep that up and I’ll kick you out of the house.”

I just laughed, glad that I didn’t have to use the drones.

“Ma’am, Mr. Gibson, there appears to be an unexpected power outage covering half of Los Angeles,” JARVIS interrupted, pulling both TOni and I from our banter.

I redirected one of the drones to look over the city, and sure enough, roughly half of it had gone dark. I felt a chill run down my spine. How many hospitals were now without power, how many surgeries, life support systems, intensi-

My worry was interrupted as a bright white beam shot out from somewhere in the black out, and collided with Toni, ice crystals rapidly forming over the entirety of the suit moments before it lost power.

“TONI!” I felt myself scream as she fell.