The Mech Touch

As Benny explained his analysis that led to a shocking and arguably impossible conclusion, the Larkinsons became stunned!

While Ves was aghast at how much the Streons had been able to figure out with the data that they had on hand, both Lucky and Gavin couldn't believe what they were hearing!

How could Ves design a mech a century ago when he wasn't even born at that time?!

In fact, his father hadn't been born at that time either!

When the Ouroboros first came to life, his grandfather Benjamin was probably in his diapers.

How could a mech designer who did not exist during this time possibly design a mech?

It made no sense!

Yet as Lucky and Gavin continued to listen to Benny's plain but compelling analysis, they began to entertain greater doubts.

The clues all fell into place. When they saw how the younger Axelar talk and move, even they would be forced to admit that the Terran mech pilot resembled Ves quite a bit at the time!

There were too many mannerisms and speech patterns that clearly deviated from that of a meticulously trained and educated scion of the Streon Ancient Clan. It was irrefutable that a different individual managed to take charge of his body.

The real challenge was to tie Ves to Axelar. It was not enough to make an accusation. The Streons needed to provide strong and incontrovertible proof that a mech designer had somehow done the impossible and designed a mech before he was born!

It turned out that this problem was not that difficult to solve.

"I have studied the footage of Master Axelar when he was compromised to the footage of you, professor." Benny spoke with total confidence. "The analysis that I have presented to you is only a fraction of all of the calculations and pattern matching that I have performed in my head. My brain is highly augmented and much more digitized than the norm. The evidence overwhelmingly points to the conclusion that should not be possible, yet is somehow true. Inviting you here so that I can observe you in person in closer proximity is the final proof that we have sought to finalize our judgment. If my confidence level was 95 percent before this day, then it is 99.99 percent at this moment."

Ves wanted to twitch, yet he feared that would only push that confidence level even higher.

He messed up big time!

He never really thought about it, but how could the Terrans possibly be blind enough to miss so many drastic deviations among themselves?

What was worse was that Axelar Streon was not an ordinary Terran. He was a scion of a Terran ancient clan, and that was a big deal!

The mechers weren't the only people who had a penchant for monitoring everything. The Terrans could be just as bad, and the Streons clearly kept a close eye on all of their descendants.

In fact, Axelar's chief body and assistant was the main person responsible for this duty! Benny Smit was specifically trained to spot this kind of suspicious activity!

Ves had not made it difficult for the Streons at all to detect that Axelar acted completely outside of his established pattern.

Perhaps the Streons had stationed an elite team of operatives nearby.

As long as Ves did anything that threatened Axelar's safety, Benny and the operatives would instantly move into action!

The Senechai was not finished his story.

After providing overwhelming proof that Ves' behavior matched that of Axelar during this life-changing incident, Benny proceeded to play a recording of the auto designer program.

Ves instantly recalled this old and simplistic design interface. It possessed many elements that closely resembled those of a professional design suite, but it had been horribly simplified to the point where it behaved like a building game.

The sight disgusted Ves. At least the auto designer program improved by the Polymath was much more attuned to the needs of proper mech designers.

As the recording of the auto designer program continued to run, the initial version of the Ouroboros slowly took shape before everyone's eyes.

"This is the second major piece of proof that ties you to this incident." The Senechai spoke. "The skills, style, design choices and approach towards the technology at the time are wholly inconsistent to Master Axelar's past usage of the auto designer program. Not only that, but the design approach is wholly inconsistent with that of a first-class mech designer. We have developed a strong suspicion that the true maker of the Ouroboros was either a third-class or second-class mech designer."

"There are many third and second-class mech designers." Ves retorted, though his pushback was likely in vain. "In addition, my design style and design philosophy may be rare, but you should know quite well that the mech community is too vast. It is not impossible for other mech designers to apply similar methods, especially when they are teacher and student."

"We have already considered the possibility that the designer of the Ouroboros is your teacher, but the previous evidence that we have shown has already made that unlikely." Benny shot back. "Aside from that, the design approach to the Ouroboros matches your early works disturbingly well. This is not only my conclusion, but that of a respected Master Mech Designer of our clan."

A new set of projections appeared that not only showcased direct visual comparisons between the Ouroboros and Ves' many mech designs, but also contained a lot of annotations of a highly knowledgeable expert!

Although Ves hadn't been completely stupid and designed the Ouroboros exactly according to his style, he recalled that he hadn't been as careful as he should have been at the time.

Ves never imagined that a sloppy auto designed hero mech would actually be appreciated to the extent that it had grown to become one of the most powerful and renowned mechs in Terran space!

This massive oversight was the root cause why he had not put up his guard. He worried about other problems and never thought about how the Terrans could use all of the evidence he left behind to wait an entire century just so that they could finally trace the culprit!

Ves admired the Streons for their enormous patience and their persistence.

At the same time, he would have preferred for the Ouroboros to get scrapped and the Streons to forget about what happened so that they could never arrive at this shocking conclusion!

As Ves quickly skimmed over all of the technical analysis of the similarities between the Ouroboros and his many existing products, he couldn't even bring himself to deny the truth at this point.

Mech designers understood each other the best. The complications produced by the auto designer could not hide the definite connections between the Ouroboros and his other living mechs!

Benny even projected the only other serious hero mech that Ves had designed in his own name.

Ves took a few steps back as an enormous projection appeared right in front of him. The shape of a very familiar green expert mech rapidly took on definition.

Benny had projected an extremely detailed and properly scaled image of the Everchanger!

"According to our expert, your Everchanger has numerous traits in common with our Ouroboros. It can even be determined with a high degree of confidence that the design of the Ouroboros has preceded the design of the Everchanger. The latter contains numerous similar design elements that are more advanced and refined compared to its predecessor. We can conclude that you somehow inhabited Axelar's body before you designed an expert hero mech for your clan."

As Ves tried to muster up a response to this highly apt analysis, Gavin and Lucky already made their own judgments.

"Meow." Lucky betrayed Ves with his confirming nod.

Even a cat could see the similarities between the Ouroboros and the Everchanger!

Though Gavin possessed better sense than to issue his own response, he privately agreed with Lucky that the two living mechs were most likely designed by the same person.

General Axelar Streon himself issued his own verdict.

"I have piloted the Ouroboros over many years. I have grown familiar with almost every element and quirk of its original design. I believe it is not wrong for me to claim that I am your oldest client, Professor Larkinson. I know what I am looking at when I examine your famed 'living mechs'. It is easy enough for our clan to order a copy of every mech sold by your mech company. I already confirmed the relationship between my old machine and your more modern products."

The Ouroboros released a whistle noise.

Axelar smirked. "My steed can clearly recognize its own siblings. Even if your Pacifiers, your Ferocious Piranhas and your other living mechs are clearly more advanced, my Ouroboros is discerning enough to recognize they possess the same signature as its true designer. It is regretful that you did not see fit to bring your Everchanger with you. My machine is eager to meet with its little 'brother'."

Ves took several deep breaths as he tried to adjust his mentality.

He received so many shocks that his resistance had crumbled. The Senechai and the Renewer of Terra were simply too damn good at this. Ves didn't understand it at the time, but now that he had much greater exposure to first-raters, he knew that he had made far too many mistakes during that sloppy Mastery experience!

What happened today was the consequence of his own actions. Ves had no one else to blame but himself. Ignorance was no excuse for the fact that Ves foolishly intervened directly with the life of a prominent and carefully monitored first-rater.

Ves should have quit that Mastery experience as soon as it became clear he ended up in the mind of a heavy stimulant abuser!

So what if he squandered his points?

He could always earn more and save up for another Mastery experience next time!

Unfortunately, Ves had been so eager to earn his money's worth and salvage the disaster that he had befallen that he changed history forever, and not in an elegant way.

"Okay." Ves glumly said. "You got me. It is clear to me that you have already settled on the answer. Nothing I say can shake your conclusion. I might as well come out and say it. I... designed the Ouroboros. You... have been piloting one of my works all this time."

Though Ves did not like it that the worst-case scenario had occurred, a part of him felt... unburdened by this admission.

Every lie and every secret weighed down his heart.

Ves had always felt bad for deceiving Axelar and his assistant. What frustrated him more was that he could never take proper credit for designing the mech that had served his 'client' extremely well!

The significance of this relationship was huge to a mech designer like himself.

For example, Ves massively contributed to Irene Mox's incredible success. It was highly doubtful that she would have been able to advance to god pilot without the indispensable help of Emma.

The truth was that Ves did not feel much satisfaction or fulfillment for this particular accomplishment.

This was because he was a mech designer.

While it sounded rather strange, Ves actually took more pride and satisfaction in enabling General Axelar Streon to become a successful peak ace pilot.

This was because he had effectively done his job and provided his client with a highly suitable mech.

The Ouroboros was hardly the most ideal mech that Ves could have designed for Axelar, but it met his demands far better than any other fancy first-class multipurpose mech designed by his fellow Terrans!

Ultimately, the admission that Ves just made lightened his heart and eased his conscience.

He felt... more proud and in tune with his profession now that he no longer had to keep this secret to the people that cared the most about the Ouroboros.

Ves even held a bit of gratitude to the Streons for forcing him to admit this explosive truth.

Now, he needed to deal with the repercussions of this confrontation.