The Mech Touch

5009.Disruptive Mutations

Once Ves completed his examination of the C-Man, he flew over to the Mars to take a look at this impressive machine.

As an ace mech that was already a masterwork, its god body functioned a lot differently than the god body of the C-Man.

The Mars was an ace mech that had undergone a lot of profound and subtle changes after years of exposure to Patriarch Reginald's willpower.

Its god body did not necessarily help the Mars make any substantial progress into evolving into a grand work, but instead increased the fit between ace pilot and ace mech even more!

In other words, Reginald had effectively hijacked the god body of his ace mech and relied on sheer willpower to altered its mechanisms!

Gloriana did not feel upset about this at all. It was the opposite. The variations to her existing work provided her with a lot of useful research data as well as inspiration for new innovations!

Ves did not pay too much attention to the god body of the Mars at this time. He instead took a closer look at the Original Energy Body System that had attracted Master Benedict's attention.

The skull of Benedict's 'old friend' that was at the heart of his unorthodox system had become a lot more effective all of a sudden!

"Both the Original Energy Bridge System and the Magma Vein System are showing signs of improvement." Benedict told Ves. "The former is much more impacted than the latter due to the inclusion of an element that is highly sensitive towards M87's environmental factors."

Ves nodded in understanding. "Expert pilots are bound to thrive in this new region of space. Even their skulls are able to exert more strength when immersed in a more energetic environment."

"It is regrettable that my Endex System is not experiencing as much of an improvement. An organic skull has many additional qualities that I am unable to replicate with the use of exotic materials. 1 can only study the changes to the Mars to see whether 1 can derive a few lesser improvements."

That made sense.

"I think... you will have a lot more opportunities to reproduce your Original Energy Bridge System in the future." Ves said. "M87 is changing every organism on a metaphysical level. Whether this is good or bad, transcendent organisms are bound to become more widespread in the Red Ocean. It will become easier and easier for you to get your hands on special human or alien skulls. Once we make contact with the natives of M87..."

Master Benedict did not look enthused at the prospect of making contact with the aliens of the massive galaxy.

"Once our civilizations meet, it is highly questionable whether I will be able to live long enough to experiment with one of their skulls." He remarked.

Nobody knew how strong the natives of Messier 87 actually were, but they were bound to be challenging at the very least! None of them would be willing to relinquish their valuable skulls so easily!

Rather than worry about this future calamity, Ves felt it was more productive to focus on more immediate matters.

It was important to him to understand why exactly the Original Energy Bridge System was able to supply more energy all of a sudden.

Ves and Master Benedict soon derived the answer.

"The skull is passively absorbing the richer ambient energies in the environment." Ves concluded. "I can't figure out all of the consequences, but it is gradually changing in a way that makes it more receptive towards energy. It is slowly becoming more effective at its job."

Master Benedict nodded in agreement. "I have already conducted numerous deep scans. The density and structure of the skull have already begun to change. While this is only the beginning, the fact that it is happening at all is a serious portend of the future."

What would the skull look like after years of exposure to M87?

"If this can happen to an isolated skull, what about a living expert pilot?" Ves questioned. "Will their skulls and bones undergo a similar evolution?"

"That is a good question. We should closely track and monitor the changes to the physical and metaphysical conditions of our high-ranking mech pilots."

They chatted a bit more about this topic before Master Benedict shared information that Ves had not come in touch with before.

Master Benedict was a lot better at comprehensive research than Ves. The former Skull Architect was also on speaking terms with a lot of other notable Master Mech Designers. His higher rank also granted him access to high-level information channels.

"M87's background radiation is affecting the Red Ocean much more extensively than you think." He quietly shared to Ves. "The Big Two's upcoming announcement will go into this. What I can tell you is that our new circumstances are not just having' an effect on people and objects that are already interacting' to different degrees."

Ves raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"1 have conducted examinations on other mechs, objects and materials. Did you know what I discovered? Certain materials that have nothing' to do with metaphysics are beginning' to show minor deviations in their properties. One metal has become slightly more conductive than usual. An alloy is able to withstand a little more damage than before. A worthless piece of ore is starting to display the properties of a junk exotic. Even our own body tissue may undergo mutations!"

These were incredible findings, especially when put together!

This was because they suggested a pattern that affected far more objects and materials than the ones that Master Benedict investigated!

"Are you saying that the materials around us are beginning to evolve as well?!" Ves asked in shock!

The implications of this development was just as big as his previous findings, if not more!

"Not every material is exhibiting these signs. For example, a plain block of iron is still the same. Of all of the materials that I have investigated up until this point, only less than 5 percent is showing signs of change. This proportion will likely grow higher as our dwarf galaxy will continue to get exposed to M87's environmental factors, but it is unlikely to get anywhere close to 100 percent."

Ves remained in shock. As a mech designer and an engineer, he understood extremely well how much disruption these changes would cause!

"A lot of existing tech will start to glitch and malfunction over time!" Ves exclaimed! "Electronics will short circuit. Data chips will lose all of their contents. Mechs will lose control. FTL drives may malfunction in the middle of space travel. Anything can happen if the materials that are used to build all of our technology undergo strange and unpredictable changes!"

Even though these changes would eventually grant the humans of the Red Ocean access to a lot of powerful exotic materials, the transition to this new reality was bound to cause a lot of harm and disruption!

Master Benedict could also foresee these drastic implications.

"Every researcher, developer and mech designer must work hard to adapt our current technology to a time where the properties of many different materials have grown stronger. While these changes are happening' gradually enough that we do not have to reinvent our existing mechs and starships on the spot, it is not advisable to rely on the same tech for more than a generation."

Ves groaned. He already paid hundreds of millions of MTA merits to transform his Spirit of Bentheim into a quasi-first-class factory ship.

Now it appears that he would have to ask the MTA to refurbish his flagship again in the near future in order to avoid any unfortunate accidents!

"The Big Two will definitely help our society adapt to these changes." Ves predicted. "It is unacceptable for the MTA and the CFA to let us fend for ourselves. Only an organized response will ensure that our society will remain intact after all of this time."

The Design Department's ongoing design projects would have to be delayed as well. It was not acceptable to use materials that were currently undergoing mutations after getting exposed to M87.

All of the mech designers needed to spend a lot of time to substitute those risky materials with more solid alternatives. This would doubtlessly reduce the performance and increase the cost of their works, but this was the price they needed to pay for stability!

Ves grew so concerned that he insisted on studying the data collected by Master Benedict. He grew slightly more relieved when he saw that the magnitude of the mutations remained faint for the time being.

Sure, only a single day had passed since the Red Ocean became exposed to M87's cosmic radiation, but the materials wouldn't become unrecognizable if these patterns persisted for a couple of years.

"What is happening' will eventually put our civilization on a stronger footing than before." Master Benedict told Ves. "A massive increase in the total supply of medium-grade and high-grade exotics will not only allow us to produce greater quantities of strong mechs, but it will also enable the CFA to construct a lot more powerful battleships. The massive disparity in power between the Red Ocean and Messier 87 will shrink, which will put us on a slightly better footing when we eventually make contact with the larger galaxy's aliens."

He was right. The disruptions to humanity's existing' technological base was not that big of a deal in the face of extinction.

The Big Two were probably willing to pay a much greater price so long as they could catch up to the predicted strength of M87's native alien civilizations!

Ves chatted a bit more with Master Benedict. The latter gathered a lot of other scattered information through his network of contacts.

"Will the CFA change its stance on the taboo on warships?"

"I have heard that the fleeters are fiercely arguing amongst themselves regarding this topic, but that is all I know." Benedict said. "I believe it is unlikely to happen in the short-term, but the probability that the CFA will relent in the next ten or twenty years has increased. You can rest assured that our immediate situation won't change."

Ves looked a little more relieved. He did not necessarily want to embrace a reality where common humans had access to warships again. His clan had a strong advantage in mechs, but once they began to adopt warships, he and his fellow Larkinsons would likely get overtaken by powerful states that had much more infrastructure, resources and research capacity at their disposal!

It couldn't be helped. The development and production of warships was a lot more capital and manpower intensive.

There was no way for the Larkinson Clan to match or exceed the capabilities of the Colonial Federation of Davute!

"What is the MTA and the CFA's stance towards the indigenous aliens of the Red Ocean? Those phase whales are undoubtedly at fault for cutting us off from the Milky Way, but we may need their help in order to return home again."

Master Benedict looked uncertain. "This is an important high-level discussion. I truly cannot say how it will end. It may very well be the case that the mechers and the fleeters are unable to form a consensus. Do we even want to return home?"

That... was an important question. Ves only scratched the surface of how M87 was strengthening' everything around him, but he already felt unwilling' to return to the Milky Way!

Of course, Ves recognized that his perspective was skewed by the fact that he had left behind backup in the form of Veronica.

Even if his human self died at the hands of the tyrannical aliens of M87, a part of him would still be able to live on through his cyborg cat avatar!

That did not mean he treated his main self as disposable. His wife and children did not enjoy the same guarantees. Ves still needed to work hard in order to ensure his family would be able to survive the coming times!