The Mech Touch

Gloriana yawned as she waited for her last appointment to begin.

Originally, she was supposed to listen to the sales pitch of the previous developer, but that meeting quickly went from bad to worse.

"Hello, beautiful." Dr. Remind grasped and kissed the back of her hand.

"I am starting up a brand-new company that is based on exploiting my brilliant new high-tier smart metal system. I believe you can see as well as I that my new Pritchard-Fovon Smart Metal System is destined to become the ultimate standard of second-class smart metal systems in the Red Ocean. As my first and most attractive investor, I will give you a preferential deal. If you invest just 100,000 MTA credits into my new enterprise, you can obtain 20 percent of its ownership! If you invest today, I will give you an additional 2 percent on top of that! Decide quickly or you will miss this unforgettable deal!"

"Sorry, my lovely lady, I cannot tell you the full specifications of my Pritchard-Fovon Smart Metal System. It is still in active development so I have not finalized its specifications at this time. I also have to practice good information security and prevent my competitors from learning what I have done and try to develop their own versions. However, I can absolutely guarantee that my PFSMS is fully capable of keeping up with the rigors of combat between high-tier expert mechs. You can trust my word!"

Suffice to say, Gloriana could not make it past half of the man's presentation before she subsequently shouted him out of the room!

She not only drove the scammer away, she also requested Director Aperson to blacklist the developer from the Bronze Paradiso!

For his part, Director Aperson showed enough contrition for his bad recommendation.

"My apologies, Madame Wodin. Doctor Ermind previously comported himself in a more proper manner." The man briefly bowed. "He was charming and polite without crossing any boundaries. It appears that the reason why his behavior has worsened is because he is under a great degree of financial pressure."

"His funding has run out?" Gloriana guessed.

"That is the most likely explanation. As you can imagine, conducting any research and development activities on smart metal applications can burn through hundreds of not thousands of MTA credits. This may not sound like a great amount to a woman of your stature, but it is a fortune that many product developers cannot attain through their own efforts. The only opportunity they can realize their dreams is to attract outside investment."

"If Dr. Ermind has achieved at least partial progress with his Pritchard-Fovon Smart Metal System, then he should have attracted the attention of at least one investor."

"That may be true at the beginning, but I can imagine that the investor's interest in the PFSMS has soured when Dr. Ermind presented his latest results. His new smart metal system may not offer as much improvement as the investor hoped. It can also be prohibitively expensive to the point that it is impossible to earn a profit from commercializing it. A typical investor who bets on volatile investments such as this will know when it is time to stop and focus on other promising opportunities."

"I see."

The tech industry was just as competitive as the mech industry. There were lots of scientists and engineers who were working on developing new tech and applications.

As long as these ambitious inventors succeeded in developing an attractive new mech component or system, they could sell the rights to use their product to many different mech designers and mech companies!

"Well, the next developer you are about to meet should offer a much more interesting solution to you." Director Aperson promised. "She is absolutely more credible than the clown who attempted to deceive you. She can probably obtain the investment that she needs from other sources. It will just take a longer time to secure what she needs if she fails to secure an agreement with you. In my personal opinion, she might just possess what you need to give your ambitious expert mech design a powerful advantage."

"I shall see for myself."

The final developer who arrived at the Bronze Paradiso and entered the room held herself with much more confidence and grace than the previous individuals.

The reason for that was that the final guest was in a league of her own! There was a much greater gap in age, academic accomplishments and business success compared to the previous four inventors.

"Madame Wodin." The older woman with dignified gray hair greeted the host. "You have expressed interest in one of my active research and development projects, is that correct?"

Gloriana walked up and shook the newcomer's hand as if it was an honor for her to do so. "That is correct, Professor Almar. When Director Aperson told me about your TESMAS, I believe it is the most powerful smart armor system that is currently in development in Davute."

"That is not an inaccurate assessment. It is curious that Director Aperson had chosen to leak the existence of my Appelar Project to a Journeyman such as yourself. The TESMAS that I am developing is supposed to be confidential. I was about to refuse your request and nearly did so if I did not research your clan. Fortunately for you, the clan you belong to has the capital to transact with me and my development institution."

Gloriana respectfully nodded. The professor was right. It was difficult for a Journeyman to gain the attention of a researcher with so many accomplishments.

Neihy Almar built up a formidable list of accomplishments in the 150 years she was alive.

Back in the old galaxy, she became involved in the research and development processes of dozens of applications based on high technology.

When she grew knowledgeable and experienced enough, she transitioned into a lead developer who received the right to start her own research projects!

She eventually chose to depart from the old galaxy and continue her work in the new frontier. She subsequently arrived in Davute and assumed the position of a senior professor at the University of Kotor City.

She also became the founder and lead developer of Melmen Advanced Systems with the help of all of the money and resources she had earned up to this point. She successfully recruited numerous accomplished academics and researchers to kickstart her R&D activities.

In short, Professor Almar was bound to become a stalwart in the region's tech industry and mech industry!

The future scientists and engineers that she would teach and the high tech products that her development company would release onto the market both ensured that she would have a significant influence in Davute's technological scene!

Now, Professor Almar was about to present one of her most advanced R&D projects to a Journeyman who was over a century younger than herself!

A projection silently appeared next to the professor. It displayed a typical nanomachine that could form the base of a smart armor system.

"I believe you are already familiar with this. A mech that makes use of smart armor technology can come in at least two basic forms. The first form is a mech with an armor system that completely consists of smart metal. The second form is a mech with an armor system where the smart metal only exists beneath the surface. My Appelar Project is centered around an advanced version of the first form."

She silently changed the projection so that it displayed a beefed up version of the previous nanomachine.

Gloriana leaned closer and eagerly studied all of the changes and additions that strengthened nanomachine design.

Even though the nanomachine was tiny in size, its technological sophistication exceeded her understanding!

However, she still recognized a few superficial similarities with some of the previous product presentations.

One particular element reminded Gloriana of Professor Makeorim's EVSAR.

"Is this a high-powered smart armor system?" She guessed.

"Correct." The professor highlighted a portion of the nanomachine. "These sub-components here can receive energy and convert it into a short-ranged energy field that is relatively powerful at this scale. When trillions and trillions of identical nanomachines produce the same field at the same time, the overlapping and mutual reinforcement of all of these fields will produce an unheard-of degree of strengthening at this level of technological sophistication."

"What is the strengthening factor?" Gloriana asked the most crucial question.

"My preliminary estimation of the strengthening factor of the first generation of our TESMAS is that powering it at maximum capacity will strengthen its overall damage resistance by 1200 percent."

1200 percent.

The numbers slowly sank into Gloriana's mind.

This meant that supplying TESMAS with energy would make it 12 times more difficult to destroy a mech with this high tech system!

Compared to the measly 347 percent strengthening of the previously-mentioned EVSAR, there was no way that Professor Makeorim could compete!

However, nothing came for free. Aside from demanding an even greater amount of energy to sustain its exceptionally powerful state, TESMAS was also reliant on another crucial condition in order to realize its insanely high strengthening factor!

Professor Neihy Almar had no intentions to deceive Gloriana on this matter.

"TESMAS stands for Transphasic Energized Smart Metal Armor System." The old woman stated with deliberate words. "You should be intelligent enough to understand what the latter five words stand for. It is the first word that truly defines and weighs down this research project. The reason why my TESMAS possesses transphasic properties is because a small proportion of the nanomachines are different from the others. They differ in the fact that they contain a microscopic amount of phasewater."

The projection changed yet again. The new nanomachine looked similar to the previous one at first glance.

However, Gloriana keenly noticed that the third nanomachine had replaced some of the subcomponents of the previous version in order to make room for a tiny container along with several tiny parts that helped with stabilizing the machine.

"Phasewater." Gloriana whispered with awe. "You actually found a way to develop a nanomachine that can not only carry phasewater without falling apart, but also leverage the power of this exotic to produce beneficial effects!"

"Exactly." Professor Almar proudly smiled. "You cannot imagine the enormous amount of technical challenges my team and I have overcome in order to progress our Appelar Project up to this point so soon. TESMAS will be one of the most powerful and advanced specialty solutions of Davute in the near future. It is our ambition that some of the most powerful expert mechs and ace mechs will at least partially carry a version of our TESMAS."

The senior professor and researcher did not raise her voice, but there was no way to deny her passion and ambition.

Mech designers weren't the only innovators who dreamed about changing society through their inventions!

Gloriana had full confidence that Professor Almar was able to fulfill her ambitious goal.

However, despite the fact that Melmen Advanced Systems already attracted enough investors, the progress of the Appelar Project had slowed due to a crucial shortcoming.

"How much phasewater is needed to equip a typical medium expert mech with full TESMAS coverage?" Gloriana asked as she braced herself for the answer.

"...Roughly 5 kilograms, give or take 800 grams depending on the exact design of the expert mech. The amount of phasewater needed to equip a machine with TESMAS can be cut by half or more if you are satisfied with partial coverage, but that will also reduce the benefits."

5 kilograms was an astronomical sum to put into a single mech!

A typical shipbuilder only needed a fraction of that amount to equip a starship with a powerful superdrive!

Even minidrives did not require such a huge amount of phasewater in order to work!

However, despite TESMAS's extravagant resource requirements, its effects encompassed far more than physical strengthening!

"The transphasic properties of my smart armor system can impart many simultaneous advantages to a mech." Professor Almar calmly explained. "First, the TESMAS mech will gain a large degree of resistance against spatial effects and attacks. Second, the mech can partially go out of phase, thereby reducing its susceptibility to attacks and other effects. Third, by partially phasing out of the material dimensions, it can cut itself off from incoming sensor and communication signals, which effectively means it becomes considerably more difficult to detect. Fourth, it can anchor itself in space, allowing it to manipulate its flight in unexpected ways or leverage force as if it was standing on land. Fifth, TESMAS's fully energized state should strengthen the performance of a minidrive, allowing a mech to speed up its warp travel or FTL travel by two or three times…"