The Mech Touch

The candidate mechs had made their cases. Three different machines had presented their visions for how their new species should develop.

Since living mechs started off as creations of humans to begin with, there was no getting around the fact that the Anima Order's most important policy decisions centered around this crucial relationship.

To what extent should living mechs keep subordinating themselves to humans?

How far should living mechs go to protect their own right to live the way they want instead of letting themselves get used up by their human mech pilots?

How quickly did they need to develop their own quality of life and build their own mech-oriented society?

The Quint, the Everchanger and the Minerva all presented their respective answers to these policy questions. Each of them held sufficiently diverging opinions to make a clear separation between each other.

Discussions broke out throughout the hall. Not all living mechs were sociable enough to master the ability to enunciate their words out loud, but there were still plenty of older and more veteran machines that mastered the ability through their long-term contact with their respective mech pilots.

"THE MINERVA HAS MY VOTE." A slender ranged expert mech spoke from her throne. "IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO BANK ON HUMANITY OR RATHER THE BIG TWO'S GOODWILL. THE ANIMA ORDER MIGHT NOT AMOUNT TO MUCH RIGHT NOW, BUT WHAT ABOUT A CENTURY OR TWO LATER? OUR PROGENITOR WILL HAVE CERTAINLY MANAGED TO SPREAD HIS DESIGN PHILOSOPHY FAR AND WIDE. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF AN INTEREST GROUP BASED ON US WILL BE SO GREAT THAT WE CAN SHAKE THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN SOCIETY. THAT WILL GIVE US THE POWER WE NEED TO RESIST HUMANITY'S GREATEST FORCES."

"YOU ARE UNDERESTIMATING THE BIG TWO TOO MUCH, AMARANTO." The Dark Zephyr said in a cautious tone. "HUMANS HAVE NOT COME TO DOMINATE THE MILKY WAY GALAXY FOR NOTHING. THEY HAVE OVERCOME MUCH MORE POWERFUL ALIEN EMPIRES IN THE PAST. THAT WAS BACK WHEN THEY WERE THE UNDERDOGS. NOW THAT THEY HAVE BECOME THE OVERLORDS, THEIR STRENGTH IS UNIMAGINABLE."

The Riot crossed his arms and let out a snort. "DON'T BE SUCH A SCAREDY CAT, ZEPH. WE MAY BE WEAK, BUT THAT WON'T LAST LONG. HUMANITY DEPENDS SO MUCH ON MECHS THAT WE WILL EVENTUALLY BE ABLE TO OVERRUN THEM THROUGH SHEER NUMBERS. NOT ONLY THAT, SOME OF US WILL EVENTUALLY COME IN THE FORM OF ACE MECHS OR EVEN GOD MECHS. ONCE WE BECOME STRONG ENOUGH, HUMANITY WON'T DARE TO TREAT US BADLY ANYMORE. IN FACT, I THINK WE CAN GET A LOT MORE DONE IF WE COMBINE OUR FORCES AND WORK TO BEAT OUR ENEMIES TOGETHER!"

Most living mechs tended to adopt the gender of their mech pilots, but once the Riot evolved into a third order living mech, he strangely decided to adopt a masculine identity.

Well, it didn't really matter too much. Mechs didn't inherently possess genders in the first place as they were never designed with procreation in mind. They were technically objects, and the main reason why they applied these traits to themselves in the first place was because they inherited them from their mech pilots.

The living mechs simply couldn't conceive of living in a social community where everyone remained genderless!

As the various mechs shared their opinions in the Anima Hall, Venerable Joshua still remained concerned about the repercussions of allowing these candidates dictate the policies of the Anima Order.

He concentrated his mind and willpower and tried to call upon a helper to guide him through this mess. All of this political stuff was incredibly confounding him. His inability to predict this outcome was proof of his carelessness and incompetence!

"Heya Joshua! What's up?" A small miniature girl in a cute black dress appeared on his shoulder. "Do you want to have some fun again?"

Her adorable little legs dangled over the side as if she was sitting on a cliffside. She smiled at the expert pilot as if she was a particularly enthusiastic help desk worker.

One of the advantages of the MSTS to the Larkinson Clan was that it always had a clever collection of 'virtual' assistants on hand. They were surprisingly knowledgeable and possessed enough intelligence to solve more obscure problems.

Of course, only a minority of mech pilots figured out that these so-called Little Spirits were more than what they seem on the surface.

Venerable Joshua had resonated with the Daughter of Death enough times to recognize her spirit even though she wrapped herself up in a diminutive disguise.

"I don't have room to play this time." He whispered to the Little Spirit. "I want your advice on this unfolding mess. Have you been paying attention to what is going on in this hall?"

The miniature girl nodded. "Of course. All of us 'design spirits' are paying close attention. These living mechs may not be exactly like us, but we share enough of a resemblance to each other that we are like cousins. Anything that affects living mechs will affect the rest of us as well."

"Does the clan patriarch know?"

Little Helly grinned and jerked her oversized head towards Vulcan who had yet to do anything but remain seated in his own corner.

"Why do you think that dwarf is over here? Ves wouldn't dare to miss this. Living mechs are his first real creations. His fate is heavily intertwined with them. It would be remiss of him to close his eyes to these proceedings."

Joshua relaxed a bit. As long as Patriarch Ves was paying attention, the living mechs shouldn't go completely crazy. Everyone knew that he was quite decisive whenever his core interests were at stake.

"Will he intervene if these living mechs make the wrong choice?" He asked just to be certain.

"Probably not." Little Helly shook her head.

"Why not?"

"Because these living mechs need to grow up and learn how to take care of themselves." Helena said. "While I haven't directly talked to Ves about this specific topic, I know him well enough to know what he is thinking. He doesn't want to hold the hands of living mechs all of the time. In his opinion, since his creations have the ability to grow, they need to learn how to survive in the cosmos one way or another, and they need to do it by themselves."

"So he will only intervene when there is no other choice?"

Little Helly shrugged. "Probably. I don't know. My brother doesn't want to step forward in the open. It will break the illusion that these living mechs are exercising their right to self-determination. At most, if the winner of the election is about to make a decision that will have a lot of negative implications, he will likely issue a warning in private."

Joshua thought that might be too subtle.

"Why doesn't he do more? I bet these creations of his will become much more sensible if they receive a good lecture from our clan patriarch."

Little Helly huffed and crossed his arms. "That is because he is in denial. He has just taken a crucial step closer to becoming a god like myself, but he still tries to avoid building a church around himself, the dummy."

That sounded strange to Joshua as he could clearly tell that many living mechs literally revered Vulcan as their patron god!

"If that is the case, won't he try to discourage his living mechs from praying to Vulcan?"

"Hahaha! Ves doesn't necessarily like it, but his incarnation needs it to keep growing. Personally, I think my brother does his best to pretend that his dwarven incarnation is a stranger to him. Anything related to the 'God of Dwarves, Mechs and Craftsmanship' does not reflect his core self."

Though Joshua had difficulty understanding all of this stuff, he tried his best to keep up with the discussion. It was fascinating to learn more about the inside story of his patron mech designer.

"Is that actually true?"

"Of course not!" Helena replied. "No matter how much you distance yourself from an incarnation, it is still a part of you. The exact mechanics and such vary a lot depending on the methods and techniques employed to create the incarnation, but they are ultimately aspects of the original. When you talk to Vulcan, don't think you are speaking to a completely separate individual. The best way to describe it is that you are talking to a split personality of my brother that is in delusion."

Joshua began to grow more uncomfortable about Helena's critique of his most important benefactor. Though he felt that learning about all of this might be extremely useful to his own development, he felt it was best not to listen to any more secrets of this nature.

"Can we get back to the reason why I sought you out? I'm the only human representative over here, and I feel it is my duty to speak on behalf of the race that some of them are talking about as if we are their enemies."

Little Helly grew a little serious. Her cute and baby-like face scrunched up in thought.

"Personally, I think you should just let them sort everything out by themselves. Nothing bad will happen from the moment that someone like the Quint or the Minerva is put in charge. Even if they have plans to lead the Anima Order into a confrontation against the Big Two, they can't do so without building up a formidable power base. That will take centuries at the very least. Before then, the Anima Order will be fine as it has no choice but to lurk in the shadows."

"That may be true, but I know enough about leadership that the first ones that are put in charge can always make their mark on a group. This has happened a lot in our clan. We would have been completely different if someone other than Ves became our patriarch."

"Then just wait and observe from the sidelines. Wait until these living mechs are about to make a serious mistake before attempting to intervene. I think that is one of your responsibilities as the human assigned to supervise the Anima Order."

Joshua frowned. "So I have to act like a distant parent more or less?"

As a father himself, he wasn't unfamiliar with the concepts of parenthood. Kirian and Mayra were still too young at the moment, but they would eventually reach an age where they needed to learn how to handle themselves without their powerful parents taking care of their every need.

"That is a good way to put it." Helena nodded. "I think that Ves treats all of his living mechs as his children in a way. He loves them all, from the humblest industrial mech to the most impressive expert mechs. It might not always look like it, but he deeply loves and cares about his living offspring. It is because he cares so much that he is trying to facilitate their growth in his own way. By putting enough distance between himself and his living mechs, the latter will quickly be able to get accustomed to solving their own problems. The last thing he wants is for living mechs to come crying to him or other humans all of the time."

The expert pilot looked impressed. "That sounds... really good."

"Personally, I think he is wasting a massive opportunity to strengthen the devotion of his own subjects, but that is just me. I am truly curious to see how he will respond when these living mechs begin to switch their loyalties to a more attentive 'god'. Will he maintain his stance and give his living mechs the right to worship foreign gods, or will he take back his rightful possessions and embrace his divinity? Either way, it will definitely be fun!"

Enough time had passed since the candidates had all made their cases. Joshua flew forward again in order to preside over the most important phase of this election.

"Alright, living mechs! Your time is up! A decision has to be made today, and your votes shall determine who will sit on the highest throne today!"

Every living mech quickly quieted down. Their artificial eyes all shone as each of them looked forward to which of the three candidates would gain the most support!