The Mech Touch

Ves knew he entered into hot water as soon as Virtual Rear Admiral Ordoth supplicated himself in front of him and acted like he was greeting an exalted figure.

Normally, Ves would feel flattered if someone worshipped him like this, but the problem was that Ordoth acted as if he was meeting one of the most exalted figures of one of the most dangerous underground organizations in the galaxy!

If the CFA or the MTA mistook Ves as a member of the dreaded Five Scrolls Compact, he’d immediately be branded as a terrorist and be hunted down relentlessly!

As the silence stretched on, Ves quickly tried to think of a way to deal with this completely unexpected situation. He tried to align his observations.

First, Virtual Rear Admiral Ordoth appeared to be on the side of the Five Scrolls Compact. Perhaps a spy or infiltrator from the Compact aboard the Starlight Megalodon infected her systems with this aberrant AI for some hidden purpose.

Second, for some reason or another, the dwarf not only mistook Ves for a ’Holy Son’, but also a ’Holder of the Metal Scroll’. Both of these titles sounded extremely important in the trans-galactic cult.

First, the organization itself likely revered scrolls since their very name included mention of it. If Ves took a guess, the Compact didn’t worship any scrolls, but five separate scrolls in particular.

Ves tried to recall what he knew of the Compact from Dr. Jutland’s rantings and ravings, but he didn’t hear too much about their inner workings. They consisted of several branches such as the Life Branch. They also appeared to be able to learn precious knowledge from scrolls named after elements. Dr. Jutland explicitly mentioned that he glimpsed the Earth Scroll and a Water Scroll.

Five scrolls. Two of which were already exceedingly valuable that it practically brought a crazy exobiologist like Jutland into ecstasy.

A Metal Scroll. Ves could not fathom owning any scrolls, let alone something as mysterious and impressive as one of the five main objects of worship for a galaxy-spanning cult!

Except...

A realization struck him. Since when did he first get involved with the Compact?

Since his father went missing and Ves received the Mech Designer System out of the blue?!

Was the System the so-called Metal Scroll that the Five Scrolls Compact so revered?!

Nothing else in his possession even came close to the System in terms of possibilities and might!

Did this mean that the Earth Scroll and the Water Scroll were in fact Systems as well? Yet why did that sound wrong?

He needed more information. Preferably without giving anything away or prompting the virtual rear admiral to turn hostile.

Should he be honest and admit he inadvertently got his Metal Scroll from his father who likely filched it from the Compact somehow?

Hah! Ves would be an idiot if he admitted that!

Should he take on an arrogant air and pretend to be a highly-placed figure within the Five Scrolls Compact?

That wasn’t a good idea either. Ves knew none of the rituals or codes the members of the Compact used to recognize each other. He knew that secret organizations tended to be very particular about these matters.

Then what kind of role should he play? Without being able to pretend that he was a member of the Five Scrolls Compact, he didn’t have many options. Perhaps he should just play somewhat close to the truth but be sparse in the details.

Ves narrowed his eyes as he quickly formed his plan within a span of ten seconds. That wasn’t long enough for Ordoth’s supplication to him to stretch on for a suspicious amount of time.

"Rise." He spoke with an assertive tone of voice. It was the kind of tone adopted by someone with status, but not quite someone who ruled over an organization as expansive as the Compact. "Please clarify why you believe I am the Holder of the Metal Scroll."

[Your Holiness, your lifeblood doesn’t lie.] Ordoth said as he hesitantly rose. His worshipful eyes glowed at Ves as if he was a savior. [There is a marker in your lifestream that is only present on current holders of the Sacred Scrolls. This is only known to the senior leadership of the Compact. By chance, my creator is one of them, and he has left the means of identification behind on this ship. As soon as Starlight Megalodon first scanned your body, a small device discreetly sampled your blood and immediately detected the marker, but dismissed it as an unimportant piece of junk. Yet I know better!]

Damnit. Ves frowned deeply at that. If this was true, then he was at risk of being found out whenever his blood became exposed to one of the senior members of the Compact.

Certainly, the galaxy was big and the chance of bumping into the leaders was small. Yet as Ves advanced his career and increasingly gained prominence in the galaxy, he couldn’t rule out encountering them, upon which his exposure became a very real possibility!

Ves set those concerns aside for the moment. He could worry about avoiding the rest of the Compact later. First, he needed to deal with this virtual dwarf who believed he was the future savior or something.

"Admiral, please elaborate what you understand about the Metal Scroll."

Ordoth looked up at Ves with an increasing measure of doubt. [The Metal Scroll is one of the Five Sacred Scrolls. I heard it got lost and destroyed during the Great Betrayal. That was a terrible time. The traitors got away with the Fire Scroll and the Wood Scroll became in the void of space. The fighting for the Metal Scroll became so ruinous that it actually broke and disintegrated! My creator and his fellow brothers and sisters all believed this Sacred Scroll to be lost! Yet it seems the immortal gods are smiling upon the Compact, as the Metal Scroll has returned in our hands! Hahahaha!]

Ves only frowned deeper at the implications this virtual dwarf seemed willing to tell him. He was wondering why he found the System to be both overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. As far as he was concerned, Ves always treated the System as his own exclusive shopping mall.

To hear that the System actually held an exalted status within the Five Scrolls Compact was really something else! It was as if someone dumped a weapon of mass destruction on his lap! This hot potato burned much brighter than he thought!

Hearing Ordoth’s reverence for the Sacred Scrolls and mention that the Metal Scroll became lost, Ves saw an opportunity to clarify his identity a bit. He couldn’t keep pretending to be this so-called Holy Son when he truly didn’t know anything about the Compact besides some hearsay.

"To tell you the truth, admiral, I am indeed holding an object that I believe to be the Metal Scroll. However, I inherited it from my parents, who told me nothing about its true status."

The virtual rear admiral stopped gloating and threw a perplexed expression at Ves. [Is Your Holiness not an inducted brother of the Five Scrolls Compact? No matter. Your parents are likely exiles of the Compact. That does not change the fact that you are a Holy Son. Each of the Sacred Scrolls carry the essence of the immortal gods! Only the worthy are allowed to glimpse at the words of the gods, and even fewer have proven worthy enough to be a holder of a Sacred Scroll! Exile or not, as the Holder of the Metal Scroll, you are chosen representative of the immortal gods in this reality!]

Ves let out a breath. It seemed he gambled correctly. The status of Holy Son was so high that Ordoth didn’t seem to care about his questionable history.

"Admiral Ordoth, now that you are aware of my lack of depth, could you please fill me in on the Five Scrolls Compact?"

The dwarf frowned. [My apologies, Your Holiness. My creator has implemented a contingency in my programming. On the event of his death, the vast majority of what I know about the Compact has been erased from my data banks. If any other human or virtual individual knows of my affiliation, my existence will be wiped out immediately. The only reason I can still tell you this much is because my creator long hoped one of the faithful would arrive at the Starlight Megalodon and complete his unfinished mission.]

Ves tried to ask him some questions about the Five Scrolls Compact. While the dwarf lost a lot of details about the hidden organization from his data banks, he still retained enough tidbits to enlighten him to the horror of the Compact’s influence and might!

[Have you ever heard of ’the Big Two’?] The physical projection of the dwarf adopted a contemptuous expression. [The Mech Trade Association and the Common Fleet Alliance convinced humanity that they are their saviors and protectors. Pah! The two are nothing but rebel off-shoots of the Five Scrolls Compact! Long ago, the founders of the Compact obtained the Sacred Scrolls and gained enlightenment from their texts. They gained an unimaginable amount of power and influence and propelled humanity’s rise behind the shadows. Tell me, Your Holiness, did you believe humanity’s meteoric rise during the Age of Conquest is a coincidence?]

"It’s not?"

[The rapid innovations the Compact introduced to humanity closed our technological gap against the dominant alien races and allowed us to triumph against them before the arrogant aliens realized our threat! Yet as humanity and the Compact grew more powerful, some of our brothers and sisters started to be consumed by greed. Certain factions within the Compact wanted to keep the Five Sacred Scrolls to themselves. This conflict culminated in the Great Betrayal that saw several Sacred Scrolls lost! Over half of our members turned into thieves and traitors who attacked the Great Temple, took away the Fire Scroll and persecuted our loyal brothers and sisters! Nowadays, the traitors bask in the light, while the Compact scurries in the dark.]

A sinking feeling overcame Ves. The depths of this grand conspiracy reached far wider than he thought! "Does this mean that the MTA and CFA used to be part of the Compact?"

[That is exactly the case, Your Holiness! We used to be one, all-encompassing organization! We all partook in the revelations of the Sacred Scrolls, preparing the galaxy for what is to come.]

"What is the purpose of the Compact? What are you preparing for?"

Ordoth grinned fanatically at Ves. [Why, to prepare for the coming of the immortal gods! The Sacred Scrolls are the gifts of the immortal gods from a galaxy or reality far away from us! We do not exactly know where the immortal gods reside, but their Scrolls foretold a time when they will arrive at our galaxy and elevate us all into the ranks of immortals! All of our brothers and sisters await the day of our ascension, yet the predecessors of the MTA and CFA ruined it all! Those thieves and traitors want to claim the Sacred Scrolls to themselves and reject the coming of the immortal gods! Blasphemers!]

Mixed feelings welled up inside Ves. Just this story revealed galaxy-spanning secrets that only the most powerful humans in the galaxy should know. Someone like Ves was so small that he could easily get crushed between the weight of any of the three trans-galactic organizations that competed over these Sacred Scrolls!

The revelation that the Five Scrolls Compact used to be the driving force behind the rise and probably the fall of the Age of Conquest changed his entire conception of human history. Ordoth’s assertion that the MTA and CFA used to be branches of the secretive Compact irrevocably changed his perception of the Big Two!

Even though Ves had long shed his innocence regarding the self-proclaimed protectors of humanity, he always regarded the MTA and CFA with respect. Now, he didn’t know what to think about them. They used to be part of a conspiracy, but stabbed the Compact in the back and crippled them to the point where they became running dogs in the dark!

Worst of all, somehow Ves became entangled into this murky whirlpool. He never imagined the Mech Designer System to be involved with such grand events in human history!