The Mech Touch

"So let me get this straight, Ves. You made contact with a powerful alien leader. Not only did you manage to convince it to conduct a major trade deal, you also persuaded it to get onboard your insane plan to raid the Phase Kingdom."

"Correct. The last part is conditional on our ability to lure the Swarmers to the Phase Kingdom. Before our task force returned to Fort Fishblood, the Cerebral King had transferred a lot of data about the fish-whales and more specifically the Swarmers. I've already passed this data repository to the Larkinson Biotech Institute."

"And what is this I hear about our mechs getting pulled into spontaneous duels and sparring sessions against the Evolver fish-whales?"

"Hey, nothing went wrong. Everything went fine as far as I could tell. The language barrier and cultural differences aren't as difficult to deal with as we thought. As long as we approach each other with good intentions, we will be able to forge new friendships by focusing on what we have in common."

This was a lesson that Ves had applied in many different contexts. While he was surprised how easily his troops managed to break the ice with their fish-whale counterparts, he had no reason to reject this development.

Calabast looked suspicious at what she heard. She never put her faith in luck and happenstance. If something favorable or unfavorable occurred, there had to be an underlying reason why it unfolded in a specific manner!

"These fish-whales have never encountered a race other than themselves in their lives. They adapted to the existence of humans and mechs remarkably quickly, don't you think? Doesn't that make you wonder whether they have contacted outsiders before?"

Ves tapped his armored finger against the table. "I did, but I soon rejected it. The fish-whales genuinely behaved as if they haven't met outsiders before. The fact that they did not act aggressively is not an automatic sign that they are plotting a conspiracy. I think our glows must have played a key role in convincing the fish-whales to hang out with our mechs. The fish-whales shouldn't have much experience with this phenomenon."

This was a plausible explanation. Those who did not have any experiences with supportive glows often reacted positively to them during their first encounters. That may have fostered additional trust from the fish-whales.

Ves and Calabast continued to argue about other related topics. The spymaster did not hold back in grilling Ves about the dubious decisions he made during their first proper contact with the Evolver fish-whales.

Meanwhile, their pets engaged in a different sort of conversation.

"Meow?"

"Squeak."

"Meow meow."

"Squeak squeak!"

Lucky curiously sniffed Arnold's form that was currently clad in a custom protective suit that accommodated his extra legs.

The mutated beast turned design spirit had done well since the Larkinsons adopted him. His chubby form had grown a little fatter, which was a sign that he was not short of nutrition these days.

What was more impressive about Arnold was how his spirituality had grown by leaps and bounds. Not only did he possess more spiritual weight, he also became affected by the high-quality spiritual feedback provided by Venerable Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson.

"Squeak squeak."

"Meow meow."

"Squeak!"

"Meow!"

When Lucky jumped on top of Arnold's suited body, the gem cat acted smugly as he pretended to ride the mutated arganid clisenta.

Arnold initially tried to shake the annoying cat off his back, but the cat was too good at staying in position!

"Squeak!"

Three different copies of Arnold appeared in the blink of an eye.

No matter how good Lucky was at sticking onto an exobeast's back, there was only one of him and three of Arnold!

The identical copies Arnold did not last long. They barely appeared for a second before two of them disappeared.

Lucky lost his grip and floated in the air as the Arnold that was originally beneath its paws disappeared from existence.

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

The Arnold that had initially appeared to the left couldn't help but gloat. He had become a lot more proficient in his abilities as of late!

While the two pets continued to fool around, their owners began to discuss the deeper repercussions of the first dialogue between the expeditionary forces and the Evolver fish-whales.

Calabast picked up a secure data pad from the table and scanned through the list. "This trade deal you've managed to negotiate with the Cerebral King requires us to transfer a lot of valuable goods to the Evolution Kingdom. Let's see what you have promised. I see you have already taken the initiative to transfer a basic map of the Red Ocean as well as short encyclopedia descriptions of all of the major races that occupy it. You even threw in additional entries related to phase whales in the information package!"

Ves looked confused. "What's wrong with that? We don't have to pay anything to pass off information."

"You idiot! You are reducing our greatest advantage over the fish-whales! The knowledge that we hold of the galaxy outside of Purgatory is one of our most desirable negotiating chips. How could you have given it away so easily?"

"There are several reasons why I chose to give the Cerebral King an idea of what is outside." Ves calmly explained. "The alien leader didn't sound like it, but I could sense the intense curiosity and fascination he held of the outside universe. If I did not satisfy its curiosity, I doubt it would have been willing to increase the scope of the trade deal to this extent. Once I threw in this concession, the big fish became a lot more open to trading its more valuable specialty goods."

Calabast crossed her arms and sighed. "Maybe you are right, but you didn't have to give them a map. That is one of the more valuable pieces of basic information that we could have traded away."

"I don't think so. I mean, the fish-whale race has been stuck in Purgatory for all of their lives. What does it matter if they get a basic map of the Red Ocean? I'm not stupid, you know. I made sure that the map isn't detailed enough to be used for navigation. One of the reasons why I gave away this map was because I wanted to increase the Cerebral King's desire to cooperate. If I dangle the hope of escaping Purgatory in front of its fish head, the creature will have extra reasons to cooperate with the only party that has managed to breach the divide!"

The map was like an appetizer to the alien. Ves intended for the transmitted information to satisfy the Cerebral King's demand for information but at the same time generate even more interest towards the wonders of the Red Ocean!

Giving them additional information about the phase whales was a calculated move on Ves' part.

He wanted to give the fish-whale hope that he would one day be able to meet one of his 'gods' in the flesh!

Of course, Ves also reminded the Cerebral King that the phase whales weren't that easy to find. The elusive organisms were good at hiding and had a habit of disappearing into pocket spaces.

Ves hinted that the only way the Cerebral King could seek them out was if it absorbed a huge amount of phasewater!

"Hm, that is actually quite clever on your part." Calabast smirked. "Lying about the amount of phasewater it takes to achieve warp travel is a devious lie. There is no way the Cerebral King can gather enough phasewater by relying on the meager sources in its own territory. Its desire to escape this pocket space and seek out its creator will fuel its desire to obtain more phasewater."

To be honest, Ves wasn't sure whether the Cerebral King bought this story. Even if the creature doubted that it needed so much phasewater in order to travel across the stars, there was no harm to possessing too much phasewater.

The more phasewater the king fish possessed, the faster it moved and the stronger its phasewater-based abilities.

The information package that Ves had handed over to the Cerebral King made it clear that the outside universe was not a safe place!

Even though Ves had conspicuously left humanity's invasion out of the picture, the dwarf galaxy had never been a paradise of peace and civilization.

As Calabast listened to Ves as he explained his reasoning and motivations, she tentatively nodded.

"I wouldn't have resorted to such direct measures, but then again you didn't have much time on your hands. The choices you've made are forgivable since you had to resort to haste and immediate benefits in order to convince the Cerebral King to agree to a more extensive deal. Still… these other concessions are not trivial either. Let's see what you have promised. Aside from the information package that you have already transferred over, you also agreed to transfer 2,000 tons of low-grade exotics, 2 million nutrient packs, 30 mech-grade power reactors and a single starship-grade power reactor."

"Do you have a problem with that?" Ves asked.

"This is way too much, Ves!" Calabast snapped. "The information you have transferred to the Evolvers has reduced our information advantage. The materials that we are in the process of shipping over will skew the balance of power between us and the fish-whales. The Cerebral King can quickly make use of the power reactors and other materials to increase its battle strength. The goods that the king fish has promised in return are much more difficult for us to convert into advantages. It will take years of dedicated research before they can be used to empower our mechs. That won't help us in the short term!"

"You have a point, but it shouldn't make a difference. The reason why I agreed to give them those power reactors is because it is to our benefit that they gain an immediate power boost. The stronger they become, the greater their confidence. You should have seen how reluctant the Cerebral King looked whenever I talked about attacking the Phase Kingdom. Only by boosting the strength of the Evolvers can we convince them to overcome their institutional inertia and accept that the circumstances have changed!"

Giving the Evolvers power reactors was like giving wings to a tiger. As long as the Cerebral King was smart enough to make proper use of the energy output of the reactors, the fight against the Phaser fish-whales shouldn't be as one-sided as before!

Calabast scrolled through the list displayed by the data pad. "Let's move on to the concessions that you have extracted from the fish-whales. In exchange for the concessions that you have made, the fish-whales promised to provide us with basic information about fish-whale organ design and production. The Cerebral King has also agreed to supply us with 50 sets of partial Evolver fish-whale skeletons, 30 normal fish-whale organs and 1 'king-grade' fish-whale organ."

"That's right. Do you have any questions regarding these demands?"

"Let me ask you this. Why the fish-whale skeletons? They're not actual phase whale bones, you know! This is literally biojunk!"

"Maybe you're right, but I beg to differ." Ves replied. "The bones of the stronger fish-whales are quite tough and hard. They are also decent carriers of my design philosophy. Even if they aren't as useful as I hoped, I can still use them as raw materials for totems and other remarkable products."

Calabast didn't fully understand this argument, so she decided to move on to complaining about the next points.

"And the organs? What do you intend to do with them? Are you thinking about integrating them in our mechs? I seriously don't see how you can make it work. These organs are designed to strengthen fish-whales. There is a huge distance between this and augmenting mechs!"

Ves chuckled. "I think you are misunderstanding something here, Calabast. While I do have the intention to figure out whether it is possible to integrate those ready-made organs in future biomechs or cyborg mechs, that is not my main purpose. My actual goal is to combine our possession of the finished goods with the basic knowledge on organ design that we've received to reverse engineer this application of phase whale biotechnology!"

The woman finally comprehended his underlying motive.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Ves grinned. "Exactly."