Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

sat on the edge of a work stable and watched the CMS Industrial Foundry work. Or the CMSIFinator… name still pending. My legs swung idly as I ran through a few other ideas. Maybe the IFinator? Or the… I should probably ask Mira for help, shouldn’t I? She was busy though with her whole troubleshooter thing. She was apparently getting the office set up to start accepting requests.

Should I go call someone? Maybe Sean or Torren would hang out with me… or maybe not. It’d been a while since I talked to either one of them. Things had changed since then—I’d changed so much since then.

As for me, I’d just been sitting here. Everything was up and running. After leaving Knight Winslow, I came back here and finished the setup. Even the micro nuclear reactor in its side room was flowing smoothly without any issue. I’d need to set up some capacitors and energy storage at some point for it, but other than that it was all good to go.

A manipulator arm slid down across the machine and picked up a freshly sintered part, easily clicking it into place to finish up the frame of a Roughrider. It was working perfectly. I’d only had to stop it a couple times to fix minor issues, but it was almost good enough to just let it run.

A half-assembled autominer drone sat just next to me. I was going to take it apart to add hover jets, but I’d lost interest halfway into the project. I flicked out and knocked lightly on it with my knuckles. The reinforced metal chimed.

“Haah…” I sighed and checked my HUD once more. What now?

I leaned back onto the table and stared up at the ceiling. I’d done it. I had all the money I could ever want, I had infinite production set up with just a bit of maintenance, and I was safe. There wasn’t anything pressing on my shoulders anymore.

I slid off the table and lightly brushed my tools. There were still things I needed to do, ‘course. There was always something if I looked hard enough. More autominers, a new kind of weapon, Mira’s power armor, a body for Luna’s new SAI hound—the list went on endlessly. I just felt a little… drained? There was nothing pushing me forward like there had been for so long.

The autominer dead sensors stared back up at me. Whatever. I could work on it later. Not like it’d walk off while I wasn’t paying attention. I looked around at my other devices, and most of them were busy working away to produce various products. More Fireflies for one. They were exceptionally useful.

Should I go see Nael? He always knows how to cheer me up. I glanced around my workshop one more time and then went to gather some things before heading for the clinic.

——

I slid through the door, causing the bell above to ring lightly. The scent of clinical cleaner, motor oil, and something medical washed over me in a wave. “Neal?”

”Shiro! How you doing, kid?” The medek sat off to the side of the room. He pushed a bookmark into his book and tossed it carelessly to the side onto one of his counters.

”Don’t let me distract you.” I glanced at the cover of the book. “What were you reading this time?”

”Neon Divide.” Nael sighed and shook his head.

If the book critic himself was shaking his head, then that wasn't a good sign. ”Is it that bad?”

”It’s…okay. The author seemed like they had no idea what they were doing.” The man nodded to me. “What brings you this time?”

”Can’t I just stop by to see my favorite medek?” I grinned and moved over to him.

”You can, but you don’t.” He eyed me from head to toe. “You look fine.”

I pulled my bag off my shoulders and revealed a Captain Absolom action figure. “I’ve been a bit busy lately, so I only have a couple.”

Nael slid over in his chair and picked up the plastic figure to hold it up into the light. “Your detail work is a lot better.”

”I’ve had practice.” Hopefully, it was better all the way around. I’d incorporated some designs into that thing to significantly boost its structural integrity. It should be able to survive even the toughest mauling now. My first models were likely already torn apart by some kid. “How’s business?"

”Fast. You?” He tucked one of the Captain Absolom figures into a cabinet, right next to one of each of the other models I’d made. The others were set off to the side on the counter.

”Slow, suddenly.” I slumped back onto the counter and sighed. “I hit my big goal, and was thinking about getting some new chrome.”

Nael nodded like he suddenly understood something. “Feeling lost?”

”A bit.” I’d been struggling to survive since day one, and now I didn’t need to struggle anymore. I had more than enough money to live off of for years without issue. I just… I didn’t know what to do.

I went back to my workshop after making all the sales, started up the Industrial Foundry to start producing bikes, and then just… sat there. For over an hour. I could count the times I’d just sat somewhere completely lost like that on one hand. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

“I just… I thought I’d feel taller or something.” I sighed and shook my head. It was stupid really. I’d checked, and nothing could make me taller short of a miracle.

”You’re still the same height.” He chuckled and nudged a rolly chair to me. “Take a seat.”

“Thanks.” I spun the chair around and took a seat. Honestly, I didn’t know why I was talking to him about this. I had an actual counselor now thanks to Mira… He just felt safer, maybe. “I… I just feel kind of empty now.”

”Shiro, you’ve been working yourself to the bone ever since I had to clean out chunks of a torn apart eye from your skull.” The man rolled over across from me. “You ever watch Dune Racing?”

”No. I haven't had much time for stuff like that.” I knew what it was, though. I guess I did have the time now, too. If I wanted to, I could just be idle for years off that 15 million. I didn’t need to buy food or water with the canteen, I had a secret base, infinite power, and protection. I could survive without issues for decades if need be. It was everything I’d always wanted.

“You should. It’s pretty interesting.” He shrugged and leaned back in his chair. “They build those vehicles for one reason—to redline from start to finish. Every piece and part is tuned for the big race. Then, when they cross the finish line, what happens?”

”They win?” I sighed. Where was he going with this?

”They coast.” He waved his hand slowly like a wave.

I rubbed my face. I could see where he was going with this. He was much better at this kind of thing than Vulpes had been with her river analogy. I still wasn’t sure what all of that meant. “So I’m the car? It doesn't feel like I won though. It just—I feel stalled.”

”Then you’ve just lost your goal.” Nael shrugged.

”I… I don’t know who I am without a goal.” I’d built myself up entirely around survival and digging myself out of that pit. Now I was out though. What was left of me?

He leaned back and studied me like I was a medical scan read out. “You’re Shiro Tsukuyomi.”

”Har har.” I stared at the floor. It reminded me of just after my parents died, back when my life came crashing down around me. “I just—I thought I’d feel different. Don’t they say money solves all problems?”

”It's more money, more problems.” He leaned over to a counter and pulled out a dataslate. “You said you wanted more chrome? Hand me your jack, kid.”

I opened the slot on my wrist and pulled the thing out for him to access. ”That’s not comforting.”

“Wasn’t supposed to be.” He plugged it into his dataslate, and a warm wave of electricity arced up through the wire.

I let out a soft laugh and shook my head. “So am I supposed to just pick another massive goal and start over?”

I could do that. Okay, new goal. Become the number one corporation in Aythryn City. Bam, it was massive and I could work at it for decades without ever achieving it.

”Maybe.” He looked up from the dataslate and met my eyes. “When you were chasing the last one, what about it drove you? What felt good?”

“Survival.” That was about as strong of a driving force as anything. “Um… maybe solving issues and getting better?”

Watching my numbers go up was pretty entertaining. There was nothing like seeing a Skill jump up or earning a Perk for all of my efforts. That’d slowed down drastically though. I hadn’t even gotten anything for the last gig I ran through. Was this my peak?

“The growth cycle.” Nael tapped around on his slate and unplugged my jack. “I can see that.”

”Growth cycle?”

“Stress, overcome, recover, repeat—its how muscles are built.” He waved a hand around the clinic. “It’s what drives most people to medeks and chrome, actually.”

”So I’m in recovery?” I shot back. “It feels like I’m rotting.”

The smile on his face faded and he focused on the dataslate. He tapped around on it and then nodded his head sharply. “It’s a dopamine crash, actually."

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s perfectly normal, Shiro.” He tossed the dataslate onto his counter and crossed his arms. “You just need to rest and recalibrate. Take some time to recover and focus on a new goal. Maybe set one that isn’t so survival coded.”

”Easier said than done…” I sighed and shook my head. “What about new chrome?”

”I won’t put anything in you.” He rolled away and eyed me like a feral cat. “Outrunning it by upgrading isn’t a good idea.”

”It’s my body.” I snapped at him. “I’ll just go to someone else—“

Nael’s Cues shifted subtly. I bit my lip and cut myself off. There wasn’t anyone else I trusted to install chrome other than him. Why’d I say that? Maybe he was right… I was being a little more irritable compared to normal. Or should I say I was being short—no, now wasn’t the time for jokes.

”And I’m your medek, Shiro.” His tone stayed completely calm and steady like I hadn’t just snapped at him. “If you start stacking chrome to avoid this, you’ll crash harder and start glitching again.”

A shiver went down my spine. That wasn’t an option. I still had nightmares some nights about the last time that happened, and it was almost a year ago now. The last time was brought on by unfortunate circumstances, but I had a feeling if I glitched again it’d be much harder to recover.

The clone flesh was starting to throb pretty consistently, though. I thought they said it’d last five years at the very least… then again, it’d undergone all sorts of modifications thanks to the interface. Maybe it wasn’t a surprise that it was going downhill. “What about my eye?”

“I’ll take care of it. The nerves are probably degrading slightly.” He stood up and waved me up to his surgical chair. “Clone flesh isn’t reliable.”

I could see that. I sighed and shuffled over to the surgical chair. No wonder it was so cheap if I had to replace it every six months or so. Might as well charge me a subscription at that rate. “What am I supposed to do, Nael? What goal should I set?”

”I don’t know, kid. That’s something you’ll have to figure out yourself.” He patted me lightly on the shoulder and went to gather supplies. “Think about it, yeah? You have plenty of time.”

I watched him go while my thoughts descended into chaos. “Chek.”