Created G.H.O.S.T. System - A Cyberpunk Story

The two were clothed, though still slightly wet, as they went back to the operating room to retrieve Hannah.

"How's your head?" Trace asked Ko, as they stopped outside the doors and looked in through the viewing windows.

"Tender, but it no longer feels like I'm trying to cook my brain. I just have a headache right now." She replied with a wince, cradling the back of her head. "These machines took a lot more concentration than I initially thought they would. Older technology might have worked, but I definitely prefer what we have now."

"As long as you don't do something stupid like that again, I guess." He sighed and pressed his forehead against the glass, his eyes flicking from her to Hannah's unconscious form. "Is she alright to be moved?"

Ko scoffed. "She just went through a surgery that made what you went through with your arm and side look simple and easy on the body. I'm sure you still remember how long it took you to recover from that."

He winced and nodded, his entire side and shoulder flaring up at the mere mention of the accident. "Okay, well, she still needs to be moved. Getting her out of the hospital carefully won't be too hard. The roads back during the drive though… well, that is going to be another matter entirely."

Nothing needed to be said about what they would do if someone tried to accost them on the way back.

Using a few rolling tables, they were able to carefully bring her out to the truck and then place her in the front passenger seat. Trace had Ko get behind the wheel and then he himself hopped in the remaining backseat. It was a precaution just in case they were chased or stopped by raiders or overeager gangsters. Part of the back window opened, allowing him easy access to aim the railgun or scout rifle through. There was also the window on the rear door, which also went down.

The back seat was the best spot in which to sit if he needed to defend the truck.

Hopefully, none of that would be needed, but things happened, and with Hannah in the vehicle with them, they couldn't take any chances by going off-road to escape.

Leaving the Air-Force Academy scarpo town was easy despite the recent struggles they had undergone. Everyone who lived there had been freed, and the people from Manitou Springs were still around, attempting to explain what had happened to the others. Both sides were angry with the other, as they had lost people during the conflict. Though, most of the people from the other scarpo town had been lost to Trace's efforts.

He prepped the railgun and opened both windows, just in case. "If anyone shows up, just keep driving like normal," He told Ko. "I'll take care of them. "It's more important that we don't cause any issues for Hannah."

"I know," Her voice was tight with concentration, as she focused on driving as carefully as possible. "I'm more worried about the overall condition of the road affecting her than anything else. The ride out wasn't exactly the most smooth."

"Yes, well, I was driving as fast as I possibly could. Also, hit that switch," He pointed to the switch on the dash that controlled the suspension. "It'll lower the truck some and make the ride smoother overall."

It wasn't exactly recommended that you do it while the truck was in motion, but you could. A few moments later, the truck was a couple of inches lower to the ground and the excess air had gone into the airbladders that cushioned the ride.

The extra height hadn't truly been needed anyway, with how large the wheels on the truck were.

Ko kept the vehicle at a fairly sedate forty miles an hour, not daring to push it over that. There were far too many potholes and damaged sections for her to be comfortable with any more speed than that. At forty, she still had some time to react if an obstacle came up. Any faster than that though, and she feared that would no longer be the case.

Of course, that also meant that their trip back to Denver was going to take that much longer. Especially as there were sections where she simply wouldn't be able to maintain that speed or would need to go off-road the same as Trace had on the way out. The situation sucked all around, but it was what they had to deal with. They could whine about it later, after it was all over.

They reached the first off-road section without running into anyone. The lights on the truck illuminated a broad swath of space in front of them. When they had first come out of the hospital, it had been over thirty hours since they first arrived. Ko really needed to rest. Unfortunately, that wasn't in the cards for her just yet.

They needed to get back first. Right now, she was operating on a mix of adrenaline and physical stimulants.

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The light bar on top of the truck kept everything in the area lit as Ko sped through the burned husks of dead trees. Dodging stumps and holes as she slowed even more.

It turned out that the raiders had been dozing in their cars, and that their lights woke them up as they passed.

Halfway through the off-road portion, lights appeared behind them as a group of raiders surged to catch up. The normally mostly quiet electric motors could be heard whirring loudly in the distance as they were pushed to their maximum outputs.

"Are you going to shoot them?" Ko demanded as the truck skidded back onto the poorly maintained pavement.

"I'm just waiting to make sure that they are actually raiders, and not just some overeager idiots we woke from their naps." He replied, having been playing with the settings in his eyes in an attempt to see past the glare of the bright headlights.

The truck accelerated as she mashed the pedal to the floor. "Trace, if we get shot because you are playing around, I swear I'm going to have Deckard put a virus in your NetConnect, assuming we make it back."

He chuckled and brought the railgun into position, checking the power setting on the side. He wanted to disable them, but not at the cost of his own truck. He still remembered what had happened to the rear glass panel on his car.

At the last second, he paused and pulled out his earbuds. "Put something in your ears if you can," He called up to Ko. "This might get a little loud." He stuck as much of the barrel out the rear window to carry the noise away, but there was no guarantee of how successful it would be.

Putting his finger on the trigger, the targeting reticle came into being as he ducked behind the scope.

He squeezed the trigger and felt the inside of the rifle cycle as it shot another metal bolt into position. There was a brief whine as the super-capacitors charged, and then it was ready to fire again.

Shifting his aim from the smoking heap that had been a pursuing vehicle, he pulled the trigger again. The target veered to the side as its front end dipped. A moment later, it hit a pothole and flipped into the air with a spin, ending its chasing abilities. His aim had been a little off and he had hit one of the tires.

The last three cars slowed down for a few heartbeats, seemingly unsure of whether they wanted to continue. One fully broke off from the chase, while the other two accelerated once more and kept coming after them.

Before, they hadn't been firing at them, only chasing them in an attempt to get closer. Now the sound of gunfire began to fill the air. Their aim was erratic, and the distance didn't help, but they had gotten serious at last.

Fortunately, Trace was in a much better position to fire from with some stability and precision.

The third shot from the railgun ended another car's forward momentum, and a moment later, the fourth joined it as a smoking pile of rubble.

In the end, the noise hadn't been too bad.

More importantly, at least in his opinion, as he felt the vents on the underside of the barrel along with the rest of the gun, it was now much cooler. All the changes he had made to it had worked. It was probably still a bad idea to fire the rifle as an automatic or for more than a few shots in a row. However, the channels and vents appeared to be working rather well to disperse the excess heat. At least that was the case on a speeding vehicle, where there was a lot of cool air flowing around it.

More tests needed to be run, but the concept had at least proven to be viable.

They caught sight of more headlights in the distance, but none of them approached. The surviving car, the one which had veered away, seemed to have spread the word about them. Raiders liked soft targets for the most part. They weren't afraid to take on harder, more protected, or armed caravans, but those were usually planned affairs. Their day-to-day raids were against lightly armed and armored edgers and other people. Not someone who could destroy vehicles in a single shot.

That was someone you avoided, that was corpo-level hardware, and not one of the small corporations either.

Trace's use of the railgun had earned them a peaceful trip back to Denver. It had also gotten them noticed, and not in a good way.

A couple of hours later, Ko slowed to a stop at the city's border checkpoint. As a mender, even just one still in training, she had certain privileges, one of which she displayed right then.

"Coming back from a recovery operation with my patient. I need to get her to the clinic as soon as possible." She showed the officers working the border her credentials along with the work order from Sevorah.

"That the edger you brought along for protection?" The officer asked, shining his light inside the truck at Trace.

"Yup, it's his truck. He's sitting in the back to take care of any raiders pursuing us."

"Alright, best of luck to your patient, and be careful if you head out there again. We've been hearing strange rumors about certain activities that some of the corporations are getting up to." He tapped the side of the truck and stepped back, waving them through.

"What was that?" Trace asked in disbelief. "They never tell me any juicy tidbits of gossip."

"Maybe that's because you're always referring to them as pigs and jell-sucking fly munchers."

"Hey, I've never used that second one, but I like it, so now I'm going to. I can't help it. The basic hair rugs have never been nice to me and anyone I know."

She shrugged. "The police aren't corpos, so they can't afford doctors. When they need help, they turn to us menders just like everyone else. They know it's in their best interest not to get on any of our bad sides."

"There it is." He agreed. "That's the real reason."

"Shut up. Have you sent the message to Sevorah yet?"

"Yeah, I did it as soon as we were in range." Trace checked the last message he had gotten from the woman. "She says to pull around to the back, that she has the emergency doors all prepped. Uh, she also mentioned that you are not to help with this particular surgery. Instead, Anna will be assisting with everything. She wants you to go home and get some rest."

"I would-" A jaw-cracking yawn interrupted her before she could finish. "Protest that particular order. Especially with how much I have already done to her. The fact of the matter is though, that I'm dead tired."

Trace felt bad for making her drive the rest of the way back to the city. If he had known they would remain undisturbed for the rest of the trip, he would have swapped out with her long ago.