The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5715 Planned Collaborations

On the day of his departure, Ves kissed his children on the head one last time before saying goodbye to them for a time.

"Do you have to go yet again?"

"Why can't we come with you, papa?"

Ves chuckled as he rubbed Andraste's hair. "I am not going on a vacation this time. This is purely a business trip. The stuff I am scheduled to take part in are not particularly fun for you. It is better if you stay home and attend your school as usual. I don't want you to slip in your grades. It is really hard to catch up to your peers after you have fallen behind."

His wife snorted when he said that there would be no fun. She clearly held a different opinion on this matter.

"Do not take long." She instructed Ves. "You must return right away once you are done. Also, make sure you attend our remote design sessions whenever possible. Just because you are not able to be physically present in our design lab does not mean you are exempt from work. You should at least keep up with your own studies. The archetech version of the Dark Zephyr is cumbersome to design. I could truly use a qualified helper that can assist me in exploring the right solutions to the astronomical amount of problems that I have to solve."

After exchanging a few words, Ves made a signal so that the Tarrasque would teleport him up to the heavy cruiser that was hovering in high orbit.

A squad of bots automatically brought his luggage away while Ves moved to the closest lounge in order to meet the resident mech designers on the ship.

"Hello again, Jovy. Hello to you as well, Professor Loban."

"Please call me Vector." The Transhumanist responded as he and Jovy stood up from their seats. "Since you are on a first-name basis with my Survivalist friend here, you should be more familiar with me as well."

They all sat down and ordered refreshments that quickly materialized on a nearby table.

"So I guess I will be staying on this ship for a while." Ves said as he took a sip of his tea. "How have the two of you been getting along?"

Jovy and Vector looked at each other.

"We have become more acquainted with each other. We frequently work together whenever we test the Carmine mechs."

The two mechers did not appear so different from each other. They were both Senior Mech Designers from the Red Association.

Vector Loban was a bit older, but he could still be counted among their generation. He certainly proved his competence by advancing to the rank of Senior before his 50's.

Between the two of them, Ves still preferred Jovy's company. This was not just because the man had proven his trustworthiness several times over the years.

Ves had gotten a decent glimpse at the personalities and the motivations of the two RA Senior Mech Designers.

From his brief contact with Vector, the Transhumanist had proven to be dedicated to his cause.

He was just as crazy as the other Transhumanists when it came to seeking a way to transcend his mortal limitations!

Jovy on the other hand came across as a typical Survivalist. Though Ves understood that the Survivalists could be even more crazy at times, they were usually calm, rational and most importantly predictable.

The problem was that Ves did not have a choice on which mecher he could interact with. Ever since the Transhumanist Faction sent Professor Vector Loban to the Bluejay Fleet, he had made it clear that he was here to stay for the time being.

"So what do you think of the Carmine mechs being tested aboard this ship?" Ves asked.

"They are fascinating. You have clearly made an effort to integrate biology more extensively with a handful of your experimental mechs. I have learned many clues on how a Carmine System interacts with other biological systems. The only disappointment is that none of your experimental works are first-

class mechs. There are many differences between a first-class and second-

class mech."

"I know. I am still studying. I think I have already acquired the necessary knowledge to design a very simple first-class mech, but that is not my goal."

"Both of us are waiting for you." Jovy said. "Vector wants to collaborate with you to design a first-class Biocarmine mech, but I would also like your cooperation to design a special mech that can play a significant role in the future."

Ves raised his eyebrow. "Oh? You mentioned this desire before, but you never really shared any solid details on your proposal. What sort of first-class mech do you want to design that necessitates my involvement?"

The Survivalist smiled and waved his hand. "We can leave this discussion for later when we are ready to work on it in earnest. For now, I can tell you that I think it is possible for us to design a highly experimental mech that may have the power to attack one of the links in the chain that makes hyper technology effective. The aliens may not show it at the moment, but we have gathered enough intelligence to know that our adversaries are working hard to incorporate hyper technology in their warships. Once they become available in larger numbers, we expect the Red Cabal to launch a major offensive. I think we must be ready to blunt their assaults and deprive them of their latest advantages."

The idea certainly sounded interesting to Ves!

He had never heard of a mech that directly targeted the effects of hyper technology. Such a product would certainly become more useful once the aliens adapted to hyper technology with the help of the cosmopolitans.

"I would be glad to cooperate with you on such a project, but you need to give me at least a year before I am ready to tackle such a project." Ves responded. "In the meantime, I can mull over the idea and look into numerous possible design solutions that can give real teeth to this mech. I already have a couple of ideas in mind, one of which is based on one of my older works."

They continued to chat a bit about this proposal, but not too much as it was still too soon to get serious about this first-class design project.

Technology was still advancing at a fairly rapid rate. New discoveries and innovations related to hyper technology came out every day, and E-

technology was picking up its stride as well. Perhaps a fancy new tech might come out in the following months that would have major implications for their upcoming design project.

Ves eventually turned to Vector. "By the way, I haven't remained up to date on the state of the Yuri Machine. How is it… he… doing?"

It was not clear whether Jovy was authorized to know about the Yuri Machine, but Ves did not care.

Fortunately, Jovy had been appraised of its existence due to his involvement in the study of Carmine mechs, so Ves did not break any rules.

"The Yuri Machine is just beginning to settle into its new accommodation." Professor Vector Loban responded. "I am no longer in charge of it, so I do not have a complete understanding of its condition. From what I have been told, long-term exposure to the glows of your Pacifiers has done wonders for the mental health of its captive mech pilot. Yuri Enfame still misses his human body, but he is at least able to find fulfillment by browsing the galactic net and watching all sorts of interesting drama broadcasts."

That sounded encouraging to Ves, but it was far from enough to reverse the travesty of what had happened.

"Consuming entertainment alone does not constitute a fulfilling human life." Ves argued. "Yuri will only be able to enrich himself for so long. He needs to regain a real semblance of life in order to restore his mental health."

"We are working on it, Ves. Our interest in restoring Yuri is greater than you know. We hope that he will eventually be able to take control over the enormous physical machine that he has become attached to. To that end, we are considering whether we should bring the Yuri Machine to a special individual in order to properly diagnose its problems and investigate whether it is possible to solve them by relying on brute force. The greatest issue with resorting to this measure is that there is a long waiting list. Do not expect us to make quick progress."

"What Vector is saying is that if the Transhumanists cannot improve Yuri Enfame's themselves, they will try and ask the Evolution Witch to handle this case in person."

That certainly attracted Ves' attention!

"Is the Evolution Witch free enough to examine a single anomaly like this? I would have thought she is busy with far greater concerns."

"You are not incorrect about Her Divinity, but the Yuri Machine is absolutely worth her attention. We are merely trying to see whether we can resolve its many problems without making use of our last resort right away. The Evolution Witch's time is precious beyond comparison and should not be squandered."

That stopped Ves from raising his request to schedule a meeting with her. He clearly needed to bide his time and prepare a large enough concession to convince the god pilot to leverage her powerful God Kingdom to reproduce a sample of Yondu Milk.

Ves had not forgotten about this goal, but he figured it may be best to wait until he and Vector have completed their first collaborative work before trying to solicit the Evolution Witch's help.

She was not a god pilot to be taken lightly.

Unlike the Destroyer of Worlds whose intimidating relationship was interspersed with stories that emphasized her kindness and her empathy towards the bottom half of human society, the Evolution Witch had always been described as a radical visionary.

She had inherited many of the bad traits of biotech researchers such as an extreme interest in conducting dangerous experiments and constantly pushing the limits of what was possible with biology.

If not for the fact that her cause did not completely fall out of line with the interests of the mechers and the fleeters, it was easy to imagine that the Evolution Witch would become just as much of a pariah as the hated cosmopolitans!

When coming into contact with a powerful figure that had shown little restraint throughout her career, it was best to keep everything strictly business.

Ves turned his attention back to the anomalous machine that still remained a cause for concern.

"I don't know what you Transhumanists are capable of, but… I think the Yuri Machine is beyond your capacity to solve. It has become an incredibly tangled and contaminated living mech. It has grown stronger, but also lost almost all semblance of control. That is not a condition that you can simply undo by untangling all of the messy threads. I speculate that the only way to truly restore Yuri Enfame is to go forward and keep pursuing further changes. Just like how the Evolution Witch managed to solve her congenital defects through continuous evolution, I think that the Yuri Machine can achieve similar results by following a similar trajectory."

Both Jovy and Vector look thoughtful at this suggestion.

"This does not sound like a reliable solution." Jovy remarked.

"It can work." Vector thought. "Undoing evolution cannot be done. Evolution is a journey that can only traversed in one direction. The Evolution Witch is an expert in this manner. She will be able to guide the Yuri Machine like no other god pilot."

"Please keep me informed if the Evolution Witch actually does anything to the Yuri Machine."

"I will keep your request in mind, but I cannot make any promises." Vector said with an apologetic expression.

"Just do the best you can. I at least want to know if the Evolution Witch has found out the true cause of the Ultimatum's sudden transformation."