The Mech Touch

When the MTA made a commitment, it quickly delivered on it. Only a day after Ves made an agreement with Master Dervidian, an MTA frigate called the Alacritous Stork portal-jumped into the Davute System and matched orbits with the Larkinson fleet.

Soon enough, thirteen junior researchers teleported in one of the conference rooms of the Blinding Banshee.

Due to the controversial nature of the experiments that Ves had in mind, he thought it was best not to conduct them on the surface of a busy planet.

The Blinding Banshee was the right venue to test the MSTS. As long as the Tutor Project did not have to move, the espionage vessel offered enough room to test its revolutionary new simulation program.

Aside from that, the Blinding Banshee also contained a lot of high-security cells that could discreetly and securely contain a lot of sensitive prisoners.

Ves had especially boarded a shuttle that brought him all the way back into orbit so that he could meet with the researchers and supervise at least a portion of the experiments.

The mechers that teleported inside the conference room looked younger and less senior than he expected.

Master Dervidian was most definitely capable of mobilizing senior researchers if he wished. It was curious that he decided to send a bunch of brats who were predominantly in their twenties and thirties.

Despite their high backgrounds, the MTA researchers that showed up did not assume an air of superiority that was characteristic of their kinds.

Ves did not need to ask any questions to know that they had been briefed beforehand. That was pretty nice and thoughtful of Master Dervidian. It saved him the trouble of showing who was in charge.

The junior researcher at the lead hovered forward and made a strange salute with his hand.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Larkinson. It is an honor to meet an accomplished mech designer such as yourself. I am Yarach Stimmons, a research assistant serving on the Paracelsus Optimus. Master Dervidian has recently commanded my colleagues and I to assist you in your research. We have brought specialized lab equipment to collect additional data and thoroughly determine the effects of your new invention on different individuals."

Ves shook hands with the young man. He could immediately tell that the guy was more than just a researcher. He was a Journeyman who possessed a lot of curiosity towards the Tutor Project.

If the training mech design was valuable enough for someone as impressive as Master Dervidian to intervene in its development, then it had to possess extraordinary properties! There was no other reason for such a formidable figure to make so many moves just to assist a mech designer who wasn't even a part of the Association!

"I don't really understand what each of you can do. Can you explain your expertise and how you can facilitate my research?"

"Why certainly." Yarah Stimmons nodded without any fuss. "I am a Journeyman who specializes in neural interface systems. Master Dervidian chose me for this assignment because I have thoroughly studied the risks and dangers of interfacing with mechs. I possess a considerable understanding of human biology with a particular focus on the brain and how they react to different forms of interactions with neural interfaces. I am mainly tasked with detecting and registering any possible degradation to the health of the mech pilot."

The other junior researchers reported their professions, their specialties and their presumed roles in the upcoming study.

None of them were mech designers aside from Mr. Stimmons. Many of them were medical specialists who were highly knowledgeable about human physiology or psychology. Each of them were supposed to monitor and study the health and state of the test subjects as they trialed the MSTS under various circumstances.

Soon enough, the topic of the discussion shifted towards the test subjects that the MTA frigate had brought.

"We have brought a total of 420 experimental test subjects." Stimmons revealed to Ves. "With 40 first-class mech pilots, 300 second-class mech pilots and 80 third-class mech pilots of varying degrees of skills, origins and specialties, we should be able to collect a sufficient amount of starting data to gain a preliminary understanding on the safety and the soundness of your Mental Simulation Training System."

That was more than enough test subjects to obtain the data that Ves needed! He was quite impressed by how many mech pilots the Transhumanists were able to bring on short notice.

However, he recalled that they did not belong to him. Ves could only borrow them from the MTA.

"How much control am I allowed to have over the test subjects?"

"We will have to discuss that in detail later on, Mr. Larkinson. The experimental subjects are valuable assets that we have only put at your disposal in order to understand the safety of your MSTS and how far we can push the boundaries before anything breaks. One of the assignments that we have received from our superiors is to test your new system out under extreme circumstances. In order to fully understand the conditions where it is safe to use by the general public, we must explore the circumstances where it produces detrimental effects towards its users."

This was easy to understand. It was not enough to declare the MSTS safe after using it under normal conditions.

There were lots of stupid customers in human space. No matter how many safety instructions Ves issued with his product, there were bound to be dummies who utilized the Tutor Project and the MSTS in conditions that were outside the scenarios that he envisioned!

Rather than remaining ignorant of the consequences of using his spiritual system in unknown circumstances, it was better to explore them in advance and thoroughly understand the consequences of misuse.

After Ves chatted a bit more Mr. Stimmons, he did not object to these plans. He saw how useful it was to explore all of these extremes and anticipate any potential disasters in advance.

They soon began to get to work. It turned out that the Blinding Banshee didn't need to host the test subjects or serve as the venue of the experiments. The Alacritous Stork was already set up to collect all of the data the MTA needed on the effects of Ves' invention on different mech pilots.

Both sides were impatient to start. After Ves filled in the research team on what they needed to know, they soon made the appropriate preparations.

Ves, the MTA researchers teleported to the Alacritous Stork and began right away. The MTA also brought over a prototype Tutor Project mech and thoroughly scanned its frame to understand its technical properties.

There were no surprises on this front. While its ability to morph its limbs and proportions to adapt to the physiques of different mech cadets was rather interesting, it was nothing new to a mech designer like Yarach Stimmons.

The truly valuable property of the Tutor Project was its ability to connect to the MSTS, which was supported by Vulcan, not the mech itself.

This also made it easy and convenient for Ves to hook up other living mechs to the MSTS in the future.

"We shall start with testing your MSTS with an ordinary adult second-class mech pilot." Stimmons said. "We are aware that your Tutor Project is designed to be piloted by mech cadets, but we have not brought many of them due to their relative scarcity."

"I see. Well, there shouldn't be too much of a difference. If something goes wrong with the initial test subject, then we should fix that first."

Stimmons summoned a random second-class mech pilot and forced the man into the cockpit of the Tutor Project.

The mechers had already modified the cockpit of the prototype machine to make sure its pilot remained 'in control'.

Ves deliberately did not request or summon any information about the test subjects. He did not need to learn their backstories and how they ended up in the hands of the Transhumanist Faction. He only needed to know their basic piloting properties.

The man that the mechers had chosen to become the first person to connect with the Mental Simulation Training System did not look like a criminal or pilot at first.

He possessed the demeanor of a professional soldier and did not seem to harbor much resistance against his captivity.

The first test subject complied with each instruction and dutifully activated and interfaced with the prototype as instructed.

"Everything is within tolerance so far." Stimmons stated. "Let us test a number of basic parameters before connecting the test subject to the MSTS."

After making sure that the prototype itself was functioning as expected, they soon moved on to the critical moment.

There were numerous control options for the MSTS.

There was a setting that allowed the mech pilot to activate it on his own initiative.

There was another setting that required the permission of both the living mech and pilot to engage the MSTS.

Then there was a setting that would not allow the Tutor Project to connect to the MSTS without permission from a mech instructor or other supervisor.

Right now, the prototype had adopted the latter setting, so Ves personally had to press the button before the prototype performed the critical act.

He leaned forward as soon as he did so and examined the mech that was standing silently in the hangar bay of the Alacritous Stork.

Yarach Stimmons and the other MTA researchers did not really notice anything special. Though the sensor readings displayed a few changes in activity, the only obvious change to the Tutor Project was the fact that its third eye began to emit bright blue light.

Ves had added this setting to the mech as a symbolic representation that the mech pilot had cast his mind to an entirely different reality, one that was entirely illusionary and crafted according to his own design.

A few awkward minutes passed in the control room where he and all of the MTA researchers were studying the telemetry transmitted by the mech and the sophisticated sensor systems.

While Ves had no doubt that the incoming data was all valuable, Stimmons did not look entirely pleased with the current state of events.

"Mr. Larkinson." He spoke up. "Did you include any interface that allows us to observe the mech pilot's interactions with  your MSTS? While we can observe our test subject's mental and physical changes, it is difficult for us to understand the context of these fluctuations without knowing what is taking place in the active simulation program."

Ves blinked. "Oh. Sorry. I overlooked this issue. Let me arrange a solution."

He thought for a second before he pulled out the Hammer of Brilliance from his toolbelt. He communicated with Vulcan for a moment before placing it on a console.

The hammer glowed with power before it projected a spiritual illusion. Vulcan directly used the relic as a channel to transmit the 'live footage' of the ongoing simulated environment it had created for the inaugural user of the MSTS!

Everyone grew interested as they looked at the first glimpses of this mysterious new simulation program.

At first glance, it did not look different from ordinary simulations. The Tutor Project had deployed into an empty arena and was fighting against an identical Tutor Project mech.

The only unusual part about the current simulation battle was that the opposing machine was controlled by a remarkably skilled and clever 'AI pilot'!

The test pilot was no slouch, though.

As mech pilot with military training and experience, the man quickly familiarized himself with the properties of the Tutor Project and skillfully utilized its default loadout of a sword and shield to resist the aggressive adversary!

Soon enough, both sides traded more and more blows as they maneuvered around the battlefield.

As a premium training mech, Ves designed the Tutor Project with both defense and mobility in mind. It was fairly well-protected while also possessing enough mobility to agilely move around the battlefield.

The only truly disappointing aspect about the Tutor Project was that its offensive power was considerably below average.

This was not considered a disadvantage for training mechs as their lethality was supposed to be limited in the first place. It wouldn't do for mech cadets to be in control of a combat machine that was capable of blowing up an entire campus building if it lost control!