The Mech Touch



What would people do if a magical ghost cat abruptly showed up in front of them without any warning?

They would definitely feel confused, that was for sure.

Out of everything that had happened to Venerable Irene today, she never expected to be confronted by a strange cat that looked like a projection gone rogue!

Had the Iron Hedgehog been hacked?

Did the Bontues manage to slip malicious code in the programming of her expert mech?

Had the mech technicians who serviced her machine decided to prank her by slipping in a joke AI in the operating system of her Iron Hedgehog?

Irene quickly snapped to attention and thoroughly inspected the state of her expert mech. All of her inspections showed that the software of her machine was not compromised in any fashion.

Besides, her intuition already told her that the strange cat whose purple fur was embellished with moving star trails was not a projection.

It was something different.

She experimentally stretched out her arm and passed it through the body of the odd-looking cat.

Her limb did not encounter any resistance, but her willpower allowed her to sense that the cat was not completely without substance!

The cat was made up of an intangible form of energy that felt alive and surprisingly human.

Her instincts did not detect hostility or ill intent from the strange life form, so she refrained from pulling her pistol from her holster.

She still remained on guard, though. Irene knew better than to rely solely on her intuition to distinguish between friend and foe.

There was no explanation where this cat came from. She knew just as little about the creature's intentions.

"What are you? Who are you? Why are you here? What is your allegiance?"

The cat possessed friendly but undoubtedly intelligent eyes. Irene stared deeply into them in order to glean the intentions of this strange apparition.

A part of her attention shifted to the small but bright gem that was set in the center of the cat's forehead.

It was brimming with power of a different sort. Irene detected a lot of threat from that intangible gem.

The cat possessed the ability to threaten her life.

This realization caused her to raise her guard a bit more. One of her hands was already hovering over the grip of her holstered sidearm.

"Answer me!" She roared in her cockpit!

"Mrow mrow mrow mrow!"

"..."

It was at this time that Irene remembered that she had no way of understanding cat speech.

An awkward moment of silence ensued as the expert pilot and intangible cat both became stumped by the situation.

The cat eventually swished his black-tipped tail and raised his furry paw yet again.

"Hello Irene." A male voice spoke from the animal.

"You can speak like a human?!"

"I can."

"Identify yourself, then! Who are you and who do you represent!?"

As Ves used Blinky to converse with Venerable Irene while keeping his real self hidden as best as possible, he became troubled by the questions.

Ves could read Irene's thoughts, so he knew that she would definitely not trust anything from the strange cat unless he clearly identified himself.

Though Ves was tempted to lie and call his cat Benny or something, his intuition and judgment told him that he wouldn't be able to get away with falsehoods.

Expert pilots possessed an uncanny intuition in this regard. Since Ves and Blinky were actually attached to her mind, Irene's ability to sense anything amiss had become extra strong!

Ves had no choice but to alter his strategy and adopt an approach that he had reserved for interactions with ace pilots.

"My name is Blinky." The cat spoke in an accent that was so close to galactic standard that Irene could not figure out where he originated from. "I am the Star Cat, and I am here to help you navigate through this crisis. To be more precise, I wish to lead you back to your fellow Quillims who are also trapped on this planet and work together with them to escape the trap prepared by the Bontues."

Though Irene still remained incredibly vigilant of this odd cat, she already started to relax a bit as she detected no malice from the random creature.

The cat did not hide its intentions and conveyed a lot of sincerity. It was hard for Irene to remain hostile in the face of such a cute and friendly feline.

There wasn't anyone else she could talk to anyway.

If Irene was still in the company of her fellow Quillim soldiers, then she would have turned to her officers and let them sort out this strange cat.

However, now that she was beginning to admit that she was out here all alone, she became much more open to talking to this odd creature.

"Tell me what you want to do." She demanded.

The cat gestured outwards with his paw. "It is not safe here anymore. The Bontues have already sent one wave of mechs to sweep these ruins. They are most certainly aware that those mechs have fallen. The next wave of mechs will be even stronger, as I am sure that their command is aware that you and the Iron Hedgehog had fought here. No matter whether your enemies intend to kill you or capture you, there is no way for you to escape their clutches if you foolishly stay in place."

A surge of anger and indignation welled in her mind. The thought of enemies coming to attack her almost caused her to go out of control!

It was only due to her discipline and willpower that she managed to suppress this violent and disastrous impulse.

"What do you propose then, cat?"

"The name's Blinky. Don't forget it, please. I am not a thing. I am an intelligent cat! I even have a university degree, you know!"

Irene's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"No school has ever enrolled a cat as far as I am aware. Where did you graduate from, Blinky?"

"Ah, that is not important." The cat rolled his body in the air. "What I want to say is that I want to urge you to flee this site as soon as possible. If there are any surviving Quillims who remain buried and stuck underneath the surface, then there is no feasible way you can pull them out in the time you have left."

That caused her mood to darken. She hated the thought of abandoning the Quillims who trusted her and fought alongside her for years. It was against her principles to callously leave them behind.

The cat rolled his eyes. "I know what you would rather want to do, but that will only lead to the defeat of both you and anyone trapped underground. You have sworn an oath to protect the Quillim Principality, right? You will do your state a massive disservice if you foolishly put yourself at the mercy of the Bontues. Don't be selfish. Do what is best for the Quillims who can still be saved."

Irene shrugged with her conflicting desires and ideals.

Fortunately, her pragmatism and sense of duty overcame her emotional attachments to her mech battalion.

"Tell me what you have in mind, Blinky."

The cat smiled and moved his forepaws in an animated manner. "You need to reach the city of Dershin. If the headquarters of your invasion force has survived this calamity, then it should have already transmitted orders to recall all mech units in the field. You may be powerful, but you are not strong enough to save yourself in your current state."

The expert pilot frowned. "I cannot make it back to Dershin in time. I am piloting the slowest expert mech in our mech army. The damage to its legs has dragged down its speed even further."

"I know. That is why you need to hijack a vehicle that can take you away. There shouldn't be any left intact in the center of this city, but the outskirts are less affected by the crash. If that doesn't work, you can always move to a neighboring town or city and find transportation there, though I think that won't work out for you since the Bontues will catch up to your expert mech by that time."

Speed was of the essence. Irene understood this truth, so she did not object to the cat's suggestion any further.

Her Iron Hedgehog began to turn and move in a specific direction. She had already called up a map of the original city and identified an industrial district located in the periphery of the city that was most likely to offer suitable transportation.

Irene remained silent for a time as she continued to study the data that was still stored in her expert mech.

The fall of the command net had caused her to lose access to a lot of useful information, but she could still form her own conclusions.

"Why are you helping me?" She opened her mouth and asked. "You never gave me a clear answer to these questions. I still don't exactly know who you are. You are clearly not a Quillim, and I seriously doubt you have been dispatched by the Rubarthans. This is not their style."

The purple cat smirked and arrogantly lifted his feline head. "Oh, you would be surprised. I would have you know that I am descended from pure Rubarthan stock! Anyway, it is inconvenient for me to expose my true identity and allegiance to you. Some pieces of information can be extremely dangerous. It would do you more harm than good to know who I am. Instead of guessing who I am, it is better to focus on saving your own life. The only way you will be able to fight the Bontues another day is if you escape from Korinna V."

The woman understood that, but that did not mean she was satisfied with knowing nothing substantial about the cat who had offered his services out of the blue.

"Is there nothing you can tell me at all, Blinky?"

"Hmm…" The cat looked thoughtful and started to rub his furry chin in a very human-like gesture. "If you truly must insist, then I suppose I can reveal who sent me to you. You may not know of him at this time, but I can guarantee you that you will be well acquainted with this name in the future. You can thank Mr. S. for allowing me to guide you through this crisis."

"...Mr. S.?"

"You will find out later." Blinky said. "He is older than you think. He is powerful beyond your imagination. He is a font of endless knowledge. He can decipher every mech. He is a tool of humanity. He is hunted by society. I am not exaggerating to you when I state that Mr. S. unfathomable."

Irene formed all kinds of guesses based on Blinky's vague descriptions.

"Is he a mech designer? A Master Mech Designer? A… Star Designer?"

The Star Cat teasingly squinted his eyes at Irene. He never responded with a direct answer, but his attitude already said enough.

"We are nearing the industrial district." He told her. "Focus the sensors of your mech on the lots that still look intact. At least a third of the complexes still remain standing. That is good. I suggest you first make your way over to that logistical center at the end of the street. There is bound to be a depot there that might have the transportation that we seek."

She did as instructed. Once her slow-moving mech finally intruded into the logistical center, her machine quickly approached a large depot for transport vessels and found a single damaged aerial vessel.

The Iron Hedgehog stopped in front of the small industrial transport and scanned it carefully.

Irene frowned again. "The good news is that it is probably flight worthy. The bad news is that it is completely locked down. I won't be able to unlock and fly this Bontue transport."

"That is not a problem. I can take care of that. I will have the transport flying within fifteen minutes."

"You can hack a transport vessel?!"

"I am a cat of many talents. Mrow~"