The Mech Touch

He remembered how shocked he became when he thought about the possibility that he had inadvertently developed the solution that could save Benjamin Larkinson's life!

Brain damage was one of the most feared afflictions in the mech community. Meeh pilots of all stripes wanted to avoid it at all costs, because once their brain tissue received serious damage, it became doubtful that they would ever be able to pilot a mech again!

Ever since the Larkinson Family arrived in Davute and folded into the Larkinson Clan, Ves and his clansmen had spent a significant amount of effort finding a remedy for Benjamin's condition.

Alas, despite the best efforts of the Larkinson Biotech Institute, there did not appear to be a solution.

"It is not impossible that the MTA or the first-rate superstates have advanced their medical science to such an extent that they possess not one, but multiple different solutions that can put high-value mech pilots back into the cockpit." Director Ranya Wodin once told Ves. "Yet if they have any, they have never made it available to the general public. The cost is either prohibitive or the tech has too many restrictions. If you cannot find any mention of this through your channels with the Mech Trade Association, then it is likely impossible to find a solution for your grandfather's condition."

Ves had little choice but to surrender to the prevailing consensus. Once a mech pilot's brain suffered enough injuries, then the conditions that made it possible for them to establish a stable connection with a neural interface no longer applied.

·ƈθm Any attempt to establish a connection by force would never end well for the pilot in question!

Yet was this truly the case now that the Carmine System offered an alternative solution?

Now that Ves came up with the idea, he could not get rid of it anymore. He felt that he owed it to his family to restore his grandfather's broken wings.

It may be too late to reverse the damage of his deterioration and restore him to his prime, but that didn't matter!

As long as Benjamin managed to regain a few decades of life, that was a lot of precious time where he could continue to witness the Larkinson Clan's rise and see all of his grandchildren grow up into wonderful descendants.

Ves barely had time to put his speed design skills to use when he received an important notification.

The MTA had come!

Fortunately for all of the residents of Davute, the Antazella de Osiris did not make a return to the busy port system.

Instead, a small and unobtrusive MTA frigate arrived one day. Such vessels came and went from time to time, so they never really attracted a lot of attention.

Different from previous transits, the frigate that arrived in orbit happened to bring along a small group of mechers who had been assigned to evaluate the latest masterwork mech produced by the Larkinson Clan.

When Ves submitted his application to the MTA, he requested for the Survivalist Faction to send their own people again.

The Phobos was an expert mech that was almost as significant and revolutionary as the Dullahan Project. Ves did not want complete strangers to poke around and ask uncomfortable questions about the primary components of the Geist System.

The bad news was that the Survivalist Faction hadn't been able to put its people on the inspection team this time.

It turned out that another faction managed to call dibs first!

"Don't worry, Ves." Gloriana said as she and her husband entered a secure underground chamber that was especially built to house the Larkinson Clan's precious expert mechs. "I am acquainted with the people sent by the Association. You may be close to the Survivalists and the Transhumanists, but I have always kept in touch with the Mech Supremacist Faction. Expert stealth mechs are a rarity in the industry, and one that has become a masterwork is especially worth examining."

"I know, honey, but just because you know them does not mean that I trust them with our clan's latest trump card. Every parameter related to the Phobos is valuable information. Who knows what the Mech Supremacists will do with the detailed scanning data that they will collect today."

"They won't mishandle the data. I will make sure of that, Ves."

He directed a dubious look at her. He seriously doubted that his wife held significant sway among the Mech Supremacists. She was still a tier 10 galactic citizen as far as he could recall, which meant that the mechers regarded her in a slightly better light than ordinary space peasants!

Ves had the feeling that the Mech Supremacists did not come for the sake of his wife, but for himself!

Sure, the Survivalists and the Transhumanists already treated him as their property, but that did not mean that others could join the party as well.

The air buzzed and shimmered before them. Soon enough, over a dozen different individuals emerged straight in the middle of the secure chamber!

"Welcome to the Cat Nest!" Ves greeted the new arrivals with a friendly smile. "It is a pleasure to meet you and receive you in my humble facility. The masterwork expert mech that we have prepared for your inspection is standing right behind you. Feel free to start your operations."

The various mech designers, engineers and other specialists began their work right away. They flew into the air and surrounded the Phobos from multiple directions before they began to scan the expert mech with their handheld scanners.

Only a single figure stayed behind. The woman wearing a labcoat put up her blond hair in a simple ponytail.

The enthusiasm and energy radiating from the mecher made it clear that she was a mech designer.

Ves could even tell that she was a Senior Mech Designer, one who advanced earlier and made a lot more progress than himself.

His wife happened to be acquainted with the leading mecher.

"Professor! We are finally able to meet in person!"

Gloriana and the other woman smiled in a friendly manner as they approached and embraced each other in a hug.

"Ves! Let me introduce her to you! This is Professor Gina Cavenish. She has a Class I design philosophy just like myself. She specializes in designing intermodular mechs. While our work diverges greatly from each other, we have many shared interests. She has taught me much about what I need to take into account when trying to perfect different mech designs."

Ves took a second look at Professor Cavendish.

Intermodular mechs was a concept that he had rarely heard about. It was an approach to building and using mechs that only wealthy first-raters could adopt.

The premise of it was rather simple. Rather than load batches of complete and fully functional mechs onto a fleet, the organization instead stuffed a lot of modular parts into tne carrier vessels!

The idea was to build up an elite mech force made out of the finest mech pilots.

Whenever the fleet had to deploy its mechs into battle, the crews aboard the carriers quickly fit together a lot of different modular mech parts that were all part of the same mech ecosystem.

The incredible variety of different mech parts and systems enabled the elite mech force to always deploy the right machines for the right job!

Ves personally thought it was stupid, though.He couldn't stand the thought of leaving an excessive amount of spare parts behind. They did nothing but take up a lot of precious space inside the hulls of all of the carrier vessels!

There were only a few circumstances where it made sense to utilize intermodular mechs.

For example, the top competitive teams often toured around in large starships that carried a lot of parts for their competition mechs.

If the mechs in question ever incurred a significant amount of damage, it was easy to restore its condition by slotting out the broken parts and putting intact ones in their place

If the competitive team managed to advance to the next bracket and face a tough opponent, the mechs could easily change the configurations of the mechs by installing alternative parts!

In any case, intermodular mechs were extremely difficult and expensive to design. Any mech designer that was brave enough to design them deserved a lot of respect, especially if they managed to retain their sanity!

"Mr. Larkinson." The other Senior greeted Ves. "I have heard much about you from your wife and my associates within the Association. I have only taken a brief glance at your new masterwork, and I can already conclude that you are truly as impressive as they say."

"Thank you for your compliments. I still have many other ideas in reserve that are even better than the Phobos. It will take time to realize all of them, though."

"We eagerly await their completion so that we can continue to admire your craftsmanship. Speaking about that, would you like to explain in your own words how you have come to turn your Phobos into a masterwork mech?" "That will require a lot of explanation." Ves briefly frowned. "How much do you know about living mechs?"

"I have a good understanding of living mechs, Mr. Larkinson. I have read our internal files on this new category of mechs. and your wife has been especially informative about their nature and properties. I am not an uninformed laywoman."

"on."

"To be honest, I have a great personal interest in living mechs." The mecher continued. "They are largely antithetical to my own work, but that makes the contrast so fascinating. I hope to develop a better understanding of the nature and the definition of mechs by coming into contact with your living mechs."

"Well, I would love to tell you more about them, so long as you can accept my claims."

Ves began to give Professor Cavendish a short explanation on how he managed to turn the Phobos into a masterwork mech.

Though he glossed over a lot of details, so much so that he practically skimmed through the Geist System and his Ascension Paths, the other Senior did not look disappointed.

"Your theory that there are more factors aside from the material that can determine whether a mech meets the standards of a masterwork is also supported by many of my colleagues within our Association. They may have different assumptions about the weight and composition of different variables, but the overall idea is correct."

That was quite useful to know!

"What are the variables that your Association has identified so far?" Gloriana eagerly asked.

"There is no broad consensus on the variables that affect the creation of a masterwork mech, but we have strong suspicions the novelty and uniqueness of a mech can play a small but helpful role. Another variable that I personally agree with is how innovative it is. Your clan is particularly known for this, so that may partially explain the high frequency of masterwork mechs in your clan."

Ves deeply agreed with the theories that Professor Cavendish put forth. He just never thought about it from this angle.

"Anything else?"

"There is a group within our Association that faith and belief can play a major role as well, but it has never been truly confirmed. The masterwork mechs are just as prevalent in religious states as more secular states. Religion or the lack of it does not appear to make a measurable difference, but it may be that our researchers have applied an overly narrow definition of belief."

This was a much more contentious topic and one that Ves was not eager to talk about.

"I think that a mech designer must rely on his skills and more objective factors in order to make a masterwork. That is the only way to output them more consistently."