The Mech Touch

"Did you make it in the Friday Coalition? No offense, Carlos, but you don't look like a Journeyman."

"None taken, old friend. It's not that bad. I didn't make much progress at first, but I had a plan. I used the rewards I've earned from the CRC to take additional courses that would help me become a second-class mech designer. Remember those candies you've fed me? That has helped me a lot with passing all of those difficult courses. Anyway, when the Komodo War grew hot, a lot of lucrative jobs became available that helped me integrate into the local scene."

"I'm happy that you managed to pick up your life after you have left." Ves said with genuine sincerity in his tone. "I don't even mind that you completely betrayed my trust and stabbed me in the back by telling everything you knew about me. I would have done the same if I was in your place."

"Thanks, Ves. That means a lot to me. I have done my best to milk you dry. Nowadays, business is booming. The Friday Coalition is investing a lot of money and resources to rebuild the territories that used to belong to the Hexadric Hegemony. I'm continuing to get a lot of practice and I hope that I will eventually be able to hit Journeyman before I become 50 years old. I know that doesn't sound impressive to a mech designer of your caliber, but not everyone has a superrelic in his possession like you. I think I am doing quite well for an ordinary person."

"You are." Ves affirmed. "I don't look down on you, Carlos."

"Don't lie to me. You totally are looking down on me. I'm the dirt that is beneath your booth. You have advanced so much in the last ten years that you have begun to hobnob with high-and-mighty MTA Masters. As for me, I'm still working in the trenches as a lowly Apprentice."

"...I guess you're right." Ves said. "I do look down on you, but that is a natural response when a superior mech designer meets an inferior mech designer. You're not much different from the assistant mech designers who are working diligently in my Design Department. I can easily hire hundreds of them at a time, you know? There are so many of them that they aren't worth that much unless they have exposed their talents at an early stage. In my eyes, most Apprentices are simply normal people. They are decent and all, but they're too… plain to have what it takes to take a step further."

"And you think I'm one of those plain and boring guys?"

Ves nodded. "Yeah. I don't know the full details about what has happened to you lately. While you look a lot more successful and content with your life, I don't feel the drive in you that is common in most high-ranking mech designers. You haven't even mentioned your design philosophy to me yet. Are you truly committed to your work?"

Carlos, or the facsimile posing as him, paused for a moment. "I don't know. I clearly think that I am doing enough, but it may not be enough for other people. I am pretty happy with where I am, though. I have a good life in the Friday Coalition and I've even started dating. I will see where my life will lead me. I am not in a hurry to become a Journeyman. I overcame my feelings of jealousy towards you. I have accepted that I will never be as good as you, but there is no need for me to feel upset about it. Everyone has their chances. Mine are not as great, but as long as I work hard enough, I believe I can make something of my career."

"And what if you can't?"

"Then I'll just accept the fact it was never meant to be." Carlos shrugged. "I'm fine, Ves. I am totally over it. Mech design is not the beginning or the end. It just is. There is more to my life than trying to catch up to you in vain. You may look down on me for that, but this is what it is like for little guys like me. I'm not good enough to attract the attention of the Polymath."

An awkward silence ensued. Ves didn't know what to say. He was glad to hear that Carlos ostensibly accepted his lot in life. He was much better than he was back when they had separated.

"Talking to you like this is nice, but I know that the real Carlos won't pick up on any of this." Ves eventually said. "I feel tempted to call the real you once I have dealt with my current ordeals. I… I was always afraid to contact you or even check up on you, but… now I feel like it could do us both a lot of good if we just talked with each other like old times."

"We've grown older, haven't we?" Carlos grinned.

"We have."

"Well, I would love to catch up on you further, but I've reached the end of the line." Carlos spoke as his body began to fade or phase out of existence. He waved at Ves. "Anyway, I appreciate the talk, even though my real self won't remember most of this conversation."

"Wait a second. What do you mean by 'most'? I thought you said that the real you isn't involved!"

"That's not entirely correct, old friend." Carlos shook his head. "Look, I can't explain this either, but don't let this stop you from speaking frankly to the guys that come next. All I can say is that the real Carlos who is blissfully living his life back in the Friday Coalition will obtain an impression of my current feelings. He will feel better as if he has received closure in his life. Do you understand?"

"How can you prove all of this? Can you explain— hey, don't leave yet! I'm not done with you, Carlos!"

Carlos left at the same time the environment shifted.

In one moment, he was standing in the middle of his first mech workshop.

In the next moment, he appeared inside the office of a place that shouldn't have existed any longer.

Now that Ves had become primed to what was going on, it didn't take as long for him to recognize this environment.

"Marcella Bollinger."

"You called, Ves?"

Ves turned around and beheld his first ever business partner. The mech broker and veteran didn't look much different from the last time he saw her. The fact that she hadn't been as affected by the passage of time suggested an uncomfortable truth.

"You…"

"It happens." Marcella casually replied. "It's not your fault. The galaxy is dangerous. No place in human space is safe. I used to be a soldier so I have always accepted my mortality. So much fighting took place in the star sector that you have left that it was always possible for any of us to croak."

"I see." Ves nodded. "Well… since we are obviously meant to talk to each other, let me ask you this. Why did you sell me out to the authorities?"

"Why wouldn't I?" She retorted. "I don't know if you have noticed, but I am, was, a citizen of the Bright Republic. No matter whether the government or the Friday Coalition that is backing the suits wants to grab a hold of you, I obey the law and follow orders like a good citizen should."

"Don't you feel any remorse for betraying my trust? I thought we were friends, Marcella. I thought you were the kind of person that would honor our relationship."

"We were business partners, Ves. There is a difference." The older and much more muscular woman corrected him. "Sure, I got along well with you, but I only invested in you because I recognized your potential to earn a lot of profit for me. My hunch turned out to be right and I was happier for it, up until the situation changed. Once you started making enemies that were way too powerful for us to handle, it was no longer worth it to maintain our previous relationship. I don't like it any more than you do, but I am not so eager to abandon everything I've built and run away like you have done."

"Was it worth it to sell yourself out to a state that was corrupt to the point where the founding families practically ran the Bright Republic as their own personal backyard and where the Friday Coalition could swoop in and override everything?"

Marcella Bollinger stood as straight as a military serviceman. "I was a soldier, Ves. I served in the Mech Corps. I pledged my loyalty to the Bright Republic and nothing could have changed that. Even knowing that my state is full of warts and other ugly parts doesn't change anything as far as I am concerned. Orders are orders. No matter whether they are issued by a Senator of the Tovar Family or a faceless bureaucrat of the central government, it is all the same to me. I have always been trained to obey."

"...I see."

"Are you upset, Ves?"

"No." Ves shook his head. "Too much time has passed for me to feel any resentment towards you. To be honest, I can fully understand your own position. It's too hard to refuse the whims of those who hold authority over you. What you have done wasn't really all that bad now that I look back on it. In the end, you taught me several lessons."

"What lessons, exactly?"

"For one, I can never put my unreserved trust in my friends. Their interests always weigh more than whatever sentiment they hold towards me. They would screw me over in a heartbeat if this is the most rational course of action. You have taught me to always watch out for this and make sure that I always remain useful to the parties that want a piece of me. I think I have done quite well for myself ever since."

"What is the second lesson that you have learned from me?" Marcella curiously asked.

"That it is best to never put myself in a position where I have to answer to a higher authority." Ves replied. "All of the times I got screwed over by one government institution after another has driven me to remove myself entirely from their rule. I painstakingly built up my Larkinson Clan as a sovereign fleet-bound state so that I would never put myself or my friends in a position as yours. This has also worked out well for me. Few people are able to get a hold on me anymore."

The specter of Marcella sighed in disappointment. "I wouldn't have wanted you to learn those lessons from me. Isn't it great to embrace service in all of its merits? It is not as if you would have ended up badly, Ves. You showed value and people wanted that. The Friday Coalition could have become your greatest backing. Instead, you ended up consorting with Hexers of all people. Don't you feel any guilt for providing material aid to a group of people that has embraced a horrible ideology?"

"Nope. If you think I feel any regret for getting turned away from the Friday Coalition, then you are wrong. In hindsight, I think hooking up with the Hexers was the best that could happen to me at the time. I have witnessed the ugly side of the Friday Coalition so many times that I would have never been able to trust the Fridaymen."

"They're not that bad, Ves. You have met and befriended several Fridaymen."

"And I have met more Fridaymen who would have liked to do nothing more than to end my life." He snorted. "Don't talk to me about the Fridaymen any further. They are too consumed by their infighting to value their friendships. The Hexers on the other hand may hold awful ideas, but they are much more honest and sincere. The fact that they have honored their friendship with me time and time again has earned my respect."

"You also aided and abetted their aggression towards the Friday Coalition. The Komodo War killed a lot more people because of the effectiveness of the Hexer mechs that you have designed."

Ves scowled. "And I'm supposed to feel guilty for that? The Fridaymen targeted me first. I never wanted to antagonize them. What I have done is justified revenge. Besides, whether I helped the Hexers or not, I have always made sure to maintain my distance. If I stayed chummy with the Fridaymen, then the Coalition would have assimilated me sooner or later, thereby limiting my potential. The Hexers are much more abhorrent as you have said, which made it a lot easier for me to avoid them as much as possible. I ended up better for it because the clan I have founded has grown into a formidable independent power that has much better growth potential than the Hex Federation. That is a win in my book."

Marcella sighed. "It is clear that we will never see eye to eye on this issue. No matter. It is fine as long as you are happy. Anyway, I hope that you will remember everything good that I have done for you. I truly did not want to turn my back on you and I tried my best not to surrender more than what was expected of me.