The Mech Touch

His Excellency Hendrick Polt did not show off the majesty of a Star Designer like the Polymath once did in front of Ves.

Instead, he came across as an amiable university professor who had come to a popular educational broadcast in order to give a popular science lesson to an audience of laymen.

Even his outfit looked fairly subdued for a man of his status. His refined suit and lab coat made him look more at home in a fancy laboratory than the highest halls of power.

Ves understood enough about public relations that this was a deliberate show on the Star Designer\'s part.

This was a time of great change and uncertainty. The people needed to trust in the institutions they looked up to for protection and guidance.

The Mech Trade Association had always maintained a dual image of projecting strength while also portraying itself as a benign organization.

Right now, the MTA clearly wanted to emphasize its \'nice guy\' aspect, so the great Lord of Thermodynamics put on a more subdued show in front of the scared and nervous humans of the Red Ocean.

The old man\'s soothing voice and strong confidence in his own facts made people feel as if he could be relied upon to provide all of the answers to their questions.

Messier 87 may have introduced a lot of weird and new variables into everyone\'s lives, but as long as the excellent scientists and researchers of the Mech Trade Association were around, humanity was bound to decipher every new secret!

In contrast, Fleet Admiral Stanley Argile adopted a more martial posture. His dress uniform was bedecked with real and projected medals. His rich blue cape amplified his stature. A conspicuous masterwork laser pistol hung onto the side of his waist.

His tone and words also contained less optimism. The powerful CFA admiral was not one to mince words.

"He\'s so scary." Marvaine remarked as Stanley Argile spoke.

"He\'s always been that way." Ves told his children. "He is one of the leaders of the Argile Spaceborn Clan. This is a group that has always supported more aggressive and expansionist policies. It is for good reason that the Second Main Fleet of the CFA has taken the lead in the invasion of the Red Ocean. If he has won the right to speak to the people trapped in this new and foreign region of space, then that means that the Big Two will most likely insist on maintaining a hostile posture towards the indigenous alien races of the Red Ocean and Messier 87."

Aurelia\'s eyes grew sharper when she heard that. Her political acumen was impressive for her age.

"Does that mean that we won\'t try to reconcile with the aliens?"

Ves shook his head. "Old habits die hard. No matter what, each of us have inherited the pride and steel of the victorious heroes of the Age of Conquest. Too many people will not be able to transition to a new reality where they need to lower their posture and treat fellow aliens as equals. I think that the Big Two are least able to stomach this transition. Their hegemony over humanity will come under threat when people look elsewhere for power and protection."

What he did not tell to his children was that he suspected that the cosmopolitans played a huge role in enabling the Red Cabal to pull off the Great Severing.

After all, if not for all of the tech, materials and intelligence provided by these human traitors, the indigenous aliens of the Red Ocean would never have been able and willing to implement their doomsday plan so early in the invasion of their dwarf galaxy!

Whether the ancient phase whales and their lackeys succeeded in their attempt to save their native civilizations from extinction was still in doubt. They escaped the reach of the Milky Way, but Messier 87 may end up being worse!

After the two powerful individuals completed their brief science lesson about Messier 87\'s basic astronomical properties, the Lord of Thermodynamics finally brought up a matter of great importance.

"Messier 87 is an extraordinarily active conglomeration of energy and matter due to its multiple fusions with other galaxies. Its galactic center is filled with dense and hot interstellar medium. These are the building blocks of stars, but due to the immense mass of the Dark Source as well as the active disruption and turbulence produced by its jets of matter, much of this interstellar medium is unable to form into stars. They either end up feeding the supermassive black hole or get ejected outward due to the intense forces of gravity and forces within the violent core of this supergiant galaxy. As a result, this enriched interstellar medium is not only able to permeate through M87 in notable concentrations, but also affects our new position at a reduced level."

The dour-faced fleet admiral began to explain the initial results of the Big Two\'s investigation into the effects of exposure to M87.

"Combined with the dispersed products of the closest jet of matter, the Red Ocean is exposed to a multitude of exotic energies and particles that are far in excess to the background radiation generated by our familiar Milky Way. With the help of our best scientists and detection equipment, we have been able to identify and analyze a number of them. What I am about to tell you may alarm you, but remember that every problem has a solution."

A new projection appeared which showed a diagram that displayed all of the identified components of M87\'s background radiation.

Many of them already looked familiar to many people. M87 generated strong radio waves that could produce quite a lot of interference but was otherwise not a big deal.

What was more alarming was that it also generated a lot of X-Rays as well, especially in its hot and dangerous galactic center.

Still, as long as starships and settlements built up enough radiation shielding, it was not impossible for people to survive and thrive in those areas.

The problem was that M87 produced way more than ordinary electromagnetic radiation!

The projection highlighted a fairly large and mixed component of cosmic radiation.

"E radiation is an exotic energy type that is known to us back in the Milky Way. It is a rare variation of exotic energy in our home galaxy, but it is particularly abundant in Messier 87. We are only exposed to a fraction of the rich E radiation produced by the supergiant galaxy, but this has great consequences to the lives of every human, alien and even lifeless materials. E radiation cannot be measured through conventional detection equipment as it is predominantly based in another dimension. This also makes it impossible to block it. While lower levels of E radiation is harmless, persistent exposure to the current level of background radiation will induce mutations that will gradually change every human over time."

What?!

While the children all looked concerned, both of their parents looked shocked at the moment!

Ves and Gloriana exchanged deep glances with each other. They possessed a far greater understanding of what this so-called \'E radiation\' represented.

It was nothing but another label for what Ves called spiritual energy!

Ves glanced towards the Lord of Thermodynamics and saw that the old man did not show any objection towards the public introduction of E radiation!

"The Big Two are going through with this." Gloriana remarked with undisguised shock. "They have truly agreed to expose the phenomenon of psionic power to the masses!"

"What is psionic power, mama?" Andraste asked.

"It\'s what certain people call spirituality, pumpkin." Ves explained. "It is the stuff that makes up your companion spirit and what makes our mechs and mech pilots so special."

"It is also the energy that can turn mechs and people into gods!" Gloriana chimed in. "As long as you are able to leverage it correctly, each of you are destined to become as strong as the Superior Mother!"

Ves became preoccupied with the implications of this complete reversal in policy.

"It is understandable why the Big Two chose to let the cat out of the bag. M87 generates so much psionic energy that its effects on everyone and everything can\'t be hidden. By announcing it at the start in this historic speech, the Big Two are signaling to the people in the know that they want to change our society\'s relationship with this potent energy type."

"I have to admit that it is clever to describe it as exotic energy." His wife remarked. "Exotic materials are already familiar and embedded into the lives of every human. Introducing psionic power as a related concept will lower everyone\'s fears of the unknown."

After letting the fleet admiral talk a bit, Hendrick Polt took the word again.

"We are only just beginning to study the long-term effects of prolonged exposure to significant levels of E radiation, but we can already state that it can benefit many people\'s lives for the better. As we have mentioned earlier, E radiation is a mutation factor, but it is not completely uncontrollable. It mainly affects people\'s cognition. Individuals who are strong in mental will, intellect and creativity will find that they have become stronger and more effective."

A new projection appeared which showed a diorama of different high-ranking mech pilots and mech designers at work!

"E radiation has the greatest influence on mech pilots and mech designers, as they are most familiar with interacting with exotic energies and exotic materials. Mech pilots will discover that their willpower can be actualized to a greater degree than before. E radiation also lowers the difficulty of attaining breakthroughs. We predict that our society will welcome a much greater quantity of expert candidates, expert pilots and ace pilots in the coming generation."

"What?!"

Though Ves and a number of other people already figured this out, the announcement made by the Star Designer generated a quake through all of the humans in the Red Ocean!

Countless mech pilots cheered or gained a lot of hope after hearing the benefits of E radiation!

Many of them already began to entertain dreams about going on an intergalactic expedition to Messier 87.

Would it be possible for each of them to evolve into god pilots so long as they reached the center of this highly active galaxy?!

Ves wasn\'t so sure about that. He did not miss the fact that His Excellency Hendrick Polt deliberately left out the last rank in his explanation.

"Mech designers such as myself will also be able to derive great benefits from E radiation." The Lord of Thermodynamics said with a smile. "We are the most proficient at controlling and manipulating this energy type. While we must all learn how to harness E radiation in this new and ubiquitous form, all of our mech designs and potentially other works shall be able to derive greater strength and additional effects from our changed environment. Other scientists and professionals will be able to work with E radiation as long as they learn new knowledge. Our Mech Trade Association will soon begin to publish textbooks that will teach every professional how to make productive use of this exotic energy type." n n

...

Ves and Gloriana both became speechless for a moment.

It dawned on them that the Big Two wanted the people of the Red Ocean to quickly master and proliferate the uses of E radiation on a wider scale!

Since it was impossible to ignore E radiation, humanity in this new and unfamiliar cosmic region may as well embrace it and maximize its use. This was a wise course of action as the native alien civilizations most definitely enjoyed an enormous head start when it came to exploiting the power of E radiation!

The Lord of Thermodynamics continued to paint a vision of a new society where humans and their tech had morphed into versions where exotic energies elevated everyone and everything to a higher level!