The Mech Touch

"Things are much simpler when I don’t have to care about the lives of my test subject."

The newly-christened beast rider underwent a battery of tests, most of which yielded changes in her physiology and brain structure.

Nothing much had changed, but the transformation hadn’t stopped at all. Captain Orfan grew quite hungry and ate thrice as much food as usual.

Ves didn’t understand the changes Captain Orfan experienced, but the doctors and the exobiologists buzzed all over her medical examinations like a pack of wolves.

She wouldn’t be getting free anytime soon.

A handful of exobiologists continued to stay with Qilanxo and tried to study whether she experienced some changes as well, but they found nothing so far. To Ves, it appeared the disparity in size and strength between the two was too great.

"I never knew you could impart something so amazing to your chosen." He said to Qilanxo after he approached in front of her head.

While Qilanxo interfaced with Captain Orfan’s mind, a lot of data transferred back and forth. The translation filter Ves worked hard to develop did its job and converted the thought patterns from one format to another.

That didn’t mean he could read the data, though. Something like that could only be accomplished by an advanced specialist in neural interface technology. Even Iris Jupiter was far too young to achieve something as difficult as that.

Qilanxo hadn’t responded to his comments. She closed her eyes in contentment as if she immersed herself in some pleasant thoughts.

"What did you learn from Captain Orfan? Hopefully it isn’t something too sensitive."

Captain Orfan should know better than to reveal classified information, but the problem with neural interfaces was that the stronger mind could forcefully compel the weaker mind to cough up all kinds of information.

They didn’t think something like that happened though, because Captain Orfan’s mind didn’t suffered any signs of stress that usually came about when they attempted to resist a forceful entry. Something similar to the effects of the mental resilience training sessions would have happened.

Qilanxo finally opened her eyes after a minute and gazed at Ves with a profound-looking eye. It was as if she saw Ves in a whole new light.

"I take it you understand who we are what we mean by stating that we come from beyond the stars. There is a vast human civilization beyond this planet’s turbulent skies. Aeon Corona VII is nothing compared to the might of our collective strength."

She released a roar that sounded a lot more subdued than Ves had heard before. In his judgement, she sounded as if she took his words a lot more seriously this time.

It was still too difficult for a native who never traveled beyond a couple of ancient cities on a single Super Earth to comprehend the magnitude of a galactic civilization. Just the distance from one star system to another sounded ludicrously far to her. What was a light-year?

Ves kept Qilanxo company and chatted with her for a while. He tried to coax out of her what kind of changes a chosen of a sacred god went through, but the sacred god only roared some platitudes in response.

Either she didn’t know, or she didn’t want to spill the beans.

In any case, inquiring her was an exercise in futility. He bid her goodbye and visited the infirmary again. He spotted a familiar face and approach her as she studied their new beast rider’s medical records.

"Dr. Tillman."

"Mr. Larkinson."

"How is Captain Orfan doing?"

"Her body stopped experiencing changes." She said. "The doctors here assure me that her body isn’t at risk, and from what I’ve seen so far, I have to agree. What happened in the test is fascinating. This must be why the blessed people worship the sacred gods so much."

"Can you tell me what exactly is changing?"

"She is growing fitter and stronger. More interestingly, her genes are changing as well. Her genetic makeup is starting to transition into that of the blessed people!"

"What?!" Ves became startled. "How can a simple man-beast connection change someone’s genes?!"

The exobiologist shrugged. "You tell me. You’re the expert in this area. All I can say is that Captain Orfan’s body is behaving as if she received a high-quality gene boost elixir! A foreign influence has made use of some unknown form of energy to fuel these changes in a surprisingly mild manner. This is just the start. Over the course of a couple of months, her body will slowly adapt until she becomes genetically indistinguishable from the blessed people!"

Ves had not expected the man-beast connection to be able to change a mech pilot to such a fundamental extent. Was this good news or bad news?

By all rights, the blessed people derived much of their genetics from the commissioned officers of the Starlight Megalodon. Their genes underwent a high degree of optimisation that allowed them to be stronger, smarter and more capable than the average baseline human.

Yet the blessed people also experienced further genetic changes that allowed them to adapt to the planet a little better. The largest change of all was that their brain structure incorporated what amounted to an organic neural interface.

It basically meant that once Captain Orfan completed her transformation, she wouldn’t have to rely on the beast rider neural interface that Ves and his subordinates painstakingly developed! She could easily interface with the god species through her body’s newly gifted capability!

"You could say that Captain Orfan has literally been blessed by a god." Dr. Tillman joked. Of course, in her eyes, a sacred god was anything but divine. "Do you think her organic neural interface allows her to interface with a mech from a distance?"

Ves widened his eyes. "That.. could actually be possible. The effect might be even better if it’s done by her than by a native. After all, the blessed people and cursed people both possess radically different thought patterns. In contrast, Captain Orfan is a proper mech pilot who doesn’t need a translation filter to pass on proper instructions to a mech."

What did this mean? It basically meant that Captain Orfan got the best of both worlds! She maintained her compatibility with mechs while simultaneously gaining the ability to outright hijack the control of a nearby mech through sheer mental power!

The natives on the other hand could only interfere with the operation of a mech. They couldn’t pass on any proper instructions, so they wouldn’t be able to turn a mech’s rifle against their own side.

In truth, the potential possibilities sounded frightening to Ves. If Captain Orfan really gained these abilities, then she had basically become more than a mech pilot. She transformed into the next step after that!

"Sacred gods are sacred for a reason!" Ves sighed. "Maybe that is the true meaning of the existence of the sacred gods. Anyone who interfaces with them are no longer mortals, but are gifted with strength and power beyond the human norm."

His words hid an even deeper implication. The man-beast connection already showed off the capability to transform someone’s body to their very genes.

What about their minds? What about their brains?

Ves feared an even more radical possibility. What if Captain Orfan somehow became affected by Qilanxo’s substantial spirituality and received a bit of its potency?

What if Captain Orfan, who had always been stuck in the stage of advanced pilot, showed signs of becoming an expert candidate?

For someone who originally didn’t seem to have the aptitude to advance to expert pilot, suddenly gaining the chance to become one after bonding with Qilanxo sounded extremely explosive!

If the galaxy knew that any average mech pilot could become an expert pilot through interfacing with a sacred god, then so many rich and powerful influences would descend on Aeon Corona VII and strip it of everything valuable!

Still, even if this forceful advancement to expert pilot was possible, it shouldn’t have come without a price. Qilanxo expended a small but significant amount of higher-dimensional energy stored in her god crystals. Her brain activity also experienced a lot of fluctuations.

Ves didn’t think it was likely for her to interface with dozens of people every day and grant them the exact same boon. He simply couldn’t believe that something as miraculous as this transformation came for free.

Maybe that was why she didn’t seem so eager to talk to him earlier. Now hat he thought about it, she seemed a bit more tired than usual.

Of course, all of these thoughts were far too radical to bring up right now. He turned back to Dr. Tillman who silently waited for him to finish his internal deliberations. Among scientists, they knew how important it was to give someone space to compose their thoughts.

"One of the goals to turn our mech pilots into beast riders is because we wanted to communicate with Qilanxo and tie her together with us. The other goal is to find out what is special about beast riders. I don’t want this to stop."

Dr. Tillman nodded in agreement. "I admit I’m interested myself, but it is far too hasty to push her to interface with Qilanxo so soon after her body just experienced drastic changes."

"We can’t wait that long. The ground expedition is about to move and I hear that Captain Byrd and Commander Lydia have almost finished deciding on our next course of action."

The discussion on where to go and what to do next raged on at the upper level. Some advocated for heading straight towards the Starlight Megalodon, while others thought it would be worthwhile to approach an ancient city to trade or coerce them into revealing some of their secrets.

If the two commanding officers decided to risk an interaction with an ancient city, then having Qilanxo by their side would help their chances immensely. The sacred gods and blessed people that inhabit the ancient cities tended to be insular and extremely wary of foreigners.

"I’ll take your request under advisement, but it is truly a little irresponsible for us to allow the good captain to become exposed to this external influence again. Especially since we don’t even have a complete grasp of all of the changes."

They parted on uncertain terms. Ves wanted to make haste, while Dr. Tillman wanted to understand what had changed after a single interfacing session. She also took the side of the doctors who worried about Captain Orfan’s health.

Two days later, the Flagrant Swordmaidens finally packed up their camp and began to move. A procession of mechs and legged transports slowly began to march after a lengthy break!

Qilanxo followed after the slow-moving heavy transports. She regained her usual reticence after the first time she interfaced with Captain Orfan. Lieutenant Dise kept her company while her other beast rider was still being monitored in the mobile infirmary.

The large dwarf tribe they left behind regained their freedom. The wildlings imprisoned in the temporary internment camps gained a lot of trauma from their ordeal. Many dwarves were missing, particularly their chieftain, beast riders and their best warriors.

More importantly, they no longer enjoyed the protection of their bonded wild gods!

This instantly broke apart a long-standing tribe that dominated this region for decades!

Many dwarf warriors attempted to fight for leadership, but all their struggle did was to accelerate the tribe’s collapse. Many workers lost their jobs and the underclass as a whole began to starve as the tribe hadn’t been moving anywhere.

Encountering the foreigners with their giant machines had been a disaster for their tribe!