The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5747 Exchange of Favors

Ves sympathized with Sigrund.

It may sound strange for him to harbor any sympathy towards a hybrid alien AI that had killed trillions of people, but they were not so different from each other.

Just as Sigrund had developed an inescapable relationship with the fleeters, Ves also fell into the grip of the mechers.

Once Ves became sufficiently prominent and valuable enough, the Red Association forcibly took him into their fold by 'awarding' him the status of an honorary member.

Although the mechers played nice and dressed this occasion up as a dream come true for many mechers, Ves had pierced through the illusion and knew quite well that the Association had claimed their ownership over him. There was no way that he would ever enjoy true freedom while the mechers exercised authority over him and his work.

The situation that Sigrund faced was similar. His hardcoded programming denied him the ability to go free and enjoy his life the way he wanted to. The former sandman admiral had been imprisoned on the Starlight Megalodon for three centuries before he managed to wrest himself free, yet still he found himself unable to escape the reach of the fleeters.

In short, Ves and Sigrund were both trapped by circumstances outside of their control.

Combined with the fact that their interests currently did not conflict with each other, they both came to a consensus on how they should proceed.

"Both of us are suffering from our fair share of… issues." The RF officer spoke. "We can help each other. You have your talents, while I have my own unique competences. You have strong connections to the Red Association, while I am a commanding officer in the Red Fleet. Logic dictates that we can both benefit immensely if we exchange favors with each other."

Ves had the same idea. He had been thinking about how he should bring up this topic, but it appeared the hybrid alien AI lacked the patience to dance around.

Considering the highly abnormal state of his spirituality, that was not a surprise.

"That sounds nice, but the basis of a stable cooperation rests on fairness. You should already know what I can do more or less. What can you do for me exactly, Sigrund?"

Ves had reason to adopt a more assertive stance. The power balance between the two of them had switched. He had become a powerful tier 3 galactic citizen, which essentially signified that he had just broken into the ranks of high society.

The captain of an RF warship commanded a lot of respect, but that did not change the fact that Zonrad Reze could easily be assigned away from his vessel if he had lost the favor of his superiors. His ability to influence human society was much weaker at this time.

That did not mean that Sigrund had nothing to offer to Ves. Captain Reze began to smile.

"The Red Fleet does a good job at keeping my secondary responsibility hidden from the public. Has your sources mentioned that I am one of the contributors to the Red Fleet's most important AI development program? The volunteers who have chosen to take part in the Auxiliary Warship Program may have already spread word about it. The expansive evaluation and monitoring system known as ARCHIE has helped to integrate them in their new duties far better than any human. While I cannot claim to be responsible for programming all of her core systems, I have made invaluable contributions that no human can match. Even the best AI programmers employed by the fleeters are unable to exceed my work in specific areas. After all, they are only human."

Ves grew a lot more interested when he heard that. "Interesting. Are you offering to supply me with advanced AIs?"

The RF officer nodded. "That, among other services. As you can imagine, I am an expert in all matters related to computing systems. I can upgrade and optimize the AI cores of all of your starships. I can even imitate the structure of my own core to a degree. Think of what you can do with all of that additional processing power. You can complete research and design projects considerably faster than before. Your ship can analyze anomalies and complete simulations in a fraction of the time. If you have a warship, you can even increase the effectiveness of her combat capabilities. From target acquisition to overcoming jamming, there is nothing that advanced computing cannot do. Aside from that, I can also design more compact computing systems for you. From a threat detection scanner to a mech computing core, I can enhance the processing power of any device. Even if I am not familiar with a specific hardware system, I can rapidly master its secrets through learning."

That actually sounded really useful!

Ves possessed a lot of awareness of how computing systems dominated human civilization. Every warship, mech and smaller device was dependent on advanced chips and circuitry to perform their advanced functions.

Humanity had been making use of computing systems for millenia. Their development had never ceased as people possessed a voracious appetite for more computing power.

Nowadays, the development of advanced computing systems had reached such an advanced state that the threshold to master this field had risen to an astonishing height!

There was no way for Ves to casually master this field. He did not specialize in this field and needed to waste a lot of time in order to get close to Sigrund's level of expertise.

The only conceivable way for Ves to catch up to his old 'friend' was to find the right enlightenment fruit. This was difficult as the Tree of Possibilities periodically produced a completely random collection of fruits.

Instead of wasting a huge amount of time or resources on this venture, it was much more convenient if he could rely on another expert to fulfill his advanced computing needs.

Ves could think of many ways for Sigrund to be of service.

The only question was how trustworthy he could be. As much as they spoke with each other as if they were old friends who managed to reunite with each other, they were not actually allies.

Not yet, at least.

"I have to admit that your proposal sounds compelling to me." Ves said. "That said, trust is one of my important concerns. Computing systems are vital because they pretty much run every piece of tech. The developers and producers of processing chips and so on always go out of their way to emphasize the safety and reliability of their products. The nature of their existence means that they can come in touch with some of the greatest secrets of their owners. All of the established computing system companies have all managed to build up stellar reputations for continually proving that they have never tampered with their products. How can I trust you to do the same?"

Captain Reze smiled and spread his arms in a gesture of helplessness. "You can always reveal the truth about me. The fleeters would love to take me into their custody. I do not imagine that I will enjoy what comes next. I took a substantial risk by meeting you. I had already planned to reveal my true identity to you regardless. Is this sufficient proof of my sincerity?"

The RF officer sounded remarkably sincere about this, and Ves saw little reason to doubt that. Sigrund truly came while knowing that he would put himself at a disadvantage.

That was strange.

Ves narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "You're a smart fellow. You don't look like the sort that makes stupid decisions. Why have you come?"

"I am under orders to meet with you and explore the possibility of cooperation."

That caused Ves to grow alarmed!

"The Red Fleet wants to cooperate with me?! Do they know who I am? I'm an honorary mecher!"

Captain Reze shrugged. "We know that, but we can truly use your assistance. The Red Fleet is eager to improve its tech in order to stay a step ahead of the native aliens, but many of our research projects are constrained. There are fellow fleeters who would rather die than cooperate with a mech designer, but there are also more reasonable and open-minded officers among us that are less dogmatic and more pragmatic in their thinking. We have seen what you can do with your living mechs. One of our requests is to determine whether you can bestow similar qualities to a warship."

"...It doesn't work that way."

"You have yet to conduct a serious investigation into the feasibility of our request. Do not say no out of hand. What about starfighters? Is it possible for you to design living starfighters?"

Ves struggled to come up with an answer. "I really don't know. I won't be able to design starfighters in the same way I design my mechs. However, I think I can come up with a few… loopholes… that may just do the trick. It's a bit too complicated to explain. Even if it is possible, I don't see any point to it. There is no way the Red Fleet will resort to using starfighters… right?"

Sigrund's expression did not look good. "Constructing warships is an expensive and resource-intensive endeavor. Constructing starfighters is much more economical in comparison. Let me just say that fleeters are beginning to develop a new appreciation for small craft. The impressive results produced by mechs in the last year has proved that small craft can still be effective in the Red War. Much of what mechs can do, starfighters can do as well."

"That is not exactly correct, but I understand your point. I don't think you fleeters want me to spice up your starfighters, though. Let me just say outright that I cannot help your Red Fleet mass produce living warships."

"What about AI cores?" Sigrund proposed. "AI cores are responsible for controlling many essential systems that are responsible for making warships work. If you can make them alive and expand their capabilities above their existing parameters, then you will already be doing us a favor."

Ves never seriously thought about this endeavor before, but now that he started to think about it, he came up with several unusual ideas on how he could possibly make this happen.

He accumulated a lot of tools in his toolbox. The benefit of that was that he could make use of a wide variety of them to produce new and unorthodox results.

"I… might be able to help, but… I don't have the time to waste on this at the moment. As you may have already heard, I am in a bit of trouble at this moment."

"I have heard. The public inquiry is due to start soon. I can offer you limited assistance."

"There are fleeters who are part of the opposition. Besides, we are talking about a topic related to mechs. I cannot see how a member of the Red Fleet such as yourself can speak in favor of my work."

"You'd be surprised." Sigrund smiled. "I am certain I can convince my immediate superior to participate as a witness in the public inquiry. If nothing else, my testimony will at least prove that the Red Fleet is not unilaterally opposed to living mechs."

This offer was too good to pass up. "I would appreciate it a lot if you can do that, Sigrund."

"If the public inquiry still does not end in your favor, then you can always turn to us for business. I am sure that your unique skillset can assist us in many areas."

"No thanks. I am still a mech designer. I will not waver from my core interests no matter what other people say. They can restrict my living mechs all they want, but I will continue to dedicate my time to them. I am not opposed to cooperating with the Red Fleet in my spare time, but please remember that this is not my main priority."

"Fair enough."