The Mech Touch

The panel grilled Ves intensely about the Carmine System and its enormous implications.

When Ves realized the Carmine System for the first time when he completed the Bastion, he mainly fixated on two specific functions.

First, the Carmine System enabled an existing mech pilot to increase their effective control and synergy with a bonded mech. The comprehensive combat effectiveness of the combination was bound to increase, especially when the pilot and mech were already strong by themselves.

Second, the Carmine System could be used as a standalone control mechanism. This could theoretically enable norms who did not possess the right aptitude to pilot mechs, if only barely.

These were the main functions of his latest invention as far as he was concerned. He barely spent any time on thinking beyond these two features. Either of them were already amazing and groundbreaking enough to completely transform the mech community as he knew it. This was because his work catered to both the lowest and highest segments of the mech market!

However, the three older and much more experienced leaders on the secret panel possessed much broader visions.

They were in touch with many more aspects of society than a young Senior Mech Designer. Their positions of power also granted them a greater understanding of the actual state of the mech industry and how mechs affected every aspect of human society in different ways.

Any single variable could completely upset the current balance and order of human civilization!

It was the job of these high-minded leaders to fully contemplate as much of the consequences of introducing new technologies as possible.

This was why this secret session had to be held. Master Vayro Goldstein had thought way beyond Ves when he initially learned of the Carmine System.

He knew that this invention was too great for him to pass judgement on by himself. This was why he called over representatives from the two other sub-factions of the Survivalists so that they could form a proper consensus on this issue.

The Master Mech Designer currently leaned over the bare alloy table as he expressed increasing interest in what the inventor had to say about his explosive work.

Ves clearly looked out of his depth as he struggled to formulate his words on a matter that went deep into speculation territory.

"I... cannot speak with any authority on any aspect of the Mech Body Merger Process. I have obviously heard about it, but I have never worked that closely with any ace pilot that has entered this process. I only have a shallow understanding of the four phases of this process. As far as 1 can determine based on the information that I have collected, the Blood Pact's effects share a lot of similarities with the operation union phase. However, I would argue that they are ultimately different."

"In what way?" The Mace of Retaliation asked.

As a peak ace pilot who was capable of entering the Mech Body Merger Process but lacked the courage to do so, anything related to this subject always aroused his intense interest.

His domain field shook and became more focused as he directly conveyed his mental state to the surrounding people.

Fortunately, those present in this secure chamber were all strong enough in their own ways to remain unaffected by the Mace of Retaliation's extraordinary willpower.

"From what 1 have read and heard about the operation union phase, the ace pilot forms a complete and permanent mental bond with the mech. The two are intricately joined together in a way that already blurs the line between the two. It is not quite clear anymore where the pilot ends and where the mech begins as far as operations are concerned."

The representative of the Fist of Defiance nodded. "That is a simplified but correct description."

"The Blood Pact is different from that." Ves proceeded. "One thing that is common with the first phase of the Mech Body Merger Process is that it forms a permanent bond. However, I am not sure if this bond is the exact same kind as the one you are more familiar with. The Blood Pact can only be formed with living mechs. It may be that your ace mechs are also alive in a sense after being subjected to a lot of willpower baptism, but I don't really know as I have never examined such an impressive machine in person."

"Our ace mechs become more than simple machines after years of usage." The Mace of Retaliation spoke. "I believe I know what you are alluding to. Every pilot wants his own mech to be his own. In many cases, that may also include a desire for their mechs to become more... alive, if only in a limited sense."

That was handy to know. Ves continued his analysis.

"Another point of difference is that 1 am not sure to call the Blood Pact a complete bond. It starts out weak and grows in bandwidth and resilience over time. This proves that there is still a lot of room for improvement. The operation union that you are referring to sounds a lot more drastic. Instead of forming a weak bond and building it over time, you create it directly in one go, which is much more drastic and much more dangerous in my opinion."

That caused all three members of the panel to develop interesting thoughts.

Master Vayro Goldstein tapped his finger against the alloy table. "Are you suggesting that forming a Blood Pact to complete the first phase of the Mech Body Merger Process is a safer alternative to the conventional method? What about the other phases? It sounds as if your Blood Pact includes variables that may also lower the difficulty of completing the second and third phases."

The Blood Pact sounded like a bond that brought a pilot closer to his mech on a mental, a physical and spiritual level. It was no wonder that the members of the panel thought that Ves' invention had strong relations to the Mech Body Merger Process!

Ves quickly raised his palm. "1 am making no such claim, Master! I do not have enough empirical data or theoretical knowledge to make any judgements on this matter. I can only state that while this theory sounds plausible, I would never subject anyone to experiment to see whether it is true. I only developed the initial versions of the Carmine Systems a few months ago. I have broken completely new ground with this invention, and it is clear that there is a lot of depth behind this tech. I will require years of research to clarify all of the unknown variables. I will be able to provide a lot more answers to your questions at that time."

The three panel members all looked frustrated by this unfortunate reality, but there was little they could do about it. They were all forced to hold back to an extent.

That did not mean they were done with their speculative questions.

Master Xena Wintress decided to open up a new inquiry.

"Please bring up the schematics of your Bastion again."

Ves obediently did so. A wireframe diagram of the Bastion came to life and displayed a lot of technical details of every single technological aspect of the expert space knight.

Under normal circumstances, it was incredibly stupid and dangerous to expose the full and unredacted design schematics of one of the trump cards of his mech army.

However, Ves couldn't get away with withholding this design considering how it played a central role to the development of the Carmine System.

He did not think that any of the panel members were duplicitous and dishonorable enough to leak the design to others. They were all tier 2 galactic citizens, which meant that they were preoccupied with much greater affairs. It was beneath their station to abuse the trust of an associate.

After she spent a dozen seconds on studying the design of the Bastion, Master Wintress took control of the projection and discarded every component aside from the biomechanical parts that made up the Carmine System.

She then began to weave her hand as if she was spinning a web. Parts appeared in rapid motion and slotted in like raindrops falling from the sky.

Before Ves knew it, Master Wintress had designed a complete first-class multipurpose mech around the unchanging Carmine System!

It took only a minute for her to design a complete mech in this fashion!

The impressive display of design ability completely mesmerized Ves to the point where he had missed the female Master's latest question.

"...Larkinson? Are you paying attention? I am asking you to determine whether this is a viable mech design, and if not, elaborate on the reasons why you believe it is defective."

"Oh." Ves snapped out of his professional fascination. "Uhm, I don't have a thorough understanding of first-class mechs, but the first point I would like to say is that the Carmine System can come in different varieties. The one I designed for the Bastion is specifically designed with Jannzi's DNA and blood type in mind. Technically, she should be able to pilot this mech of yours, but her existing Blood Pact prevents her from 'cheating' on her existing bonded machine."

"Is it possible for other pilots to interface with the mech based on this design?" Master Wintress pressed. "What if we attempt to use a clone of Venerable Jannzi Larkinson as the test subject?"

"I... sincerely don't know what will happen." Ves admitted. "It heavily depends on how closely the clone is able to match up to Jannzi. I know that it is impossible to produce clones that possess the abilities of high-ranking mech pilots. They just don't have the willpower for it. However, as long as the clone is functional in other ways, the Carmine System should be able to accommodate her as it is not inherently exclusive to high-ranking pilots. At most, I will have to make targeted adjustments to its biomechanical design in order to optimize it for low-ranking mech pilots."

He had no idea why the Survivalists wanted to know this. Were they planning to produce millions of clones based on DNA of successful high-ranking mech pilots?

Master Wintress proceeded to make adjustments to her rapidly generated mech design. She stripped a lot of large and bulky components of the first-class mech and molded it into a slimmer and less bulky light mech.

"How does the mass and volume of a mech affect the Carmine System? Will it improve in performance if the mech is larger or smaller?"

Ves blinked. "Uh, I don't think it matters too much. It should work equally well on light mechs, medium mechs and heavy mechs. The greater concern is how much capacity it takes to integrate it into a machine. It produces a proportionately greater impact on lighter mechs as any additions in the design are more noticeable."

"Is the size of your Carmine System fixed or variable?" The female Master pressed.

"Uhm, certain aspects are difficult to downsize." Ves answered. "The most essential mechanisms of the Carmine System are the components that are responsible for circulating the blood of the mech in the body of the pilot and vice versa. I admit that my design for these systems is not the most sophisticated. I opted to keep it simple and rugged to the best of my limited abilities in order to maximize its reliability and resilience under heavy stress. I suppose that a mech designer with a much better grasp on advanced biotechnology can do a much better job on this end. To be honest, these mechanisms are just a means to an end. What truly makes the Carmine System work is the E energy construct that exists in other dimensions."

Master Wintress' sharp eyes glinted as she took in this insightful answer. She began to weave her fingers yet again.

An entirely new design emerged. This time, the scale was a lot smaller as she developed a radical variation of the Carmine System on the spot!

Her grasp on biotechnology was far greater than that of Ves. She also had an excellent grasp of sophisticated biotech systems that could do the same jobs as the components of the Carmine System but at a much more reduced scale!

Once Wintress completed the design of a superficial miniaturized version of the Carmine System, she began to add a lot of technological components around it. Only a short amount of time passed before she developed a 'mech' that was barely larger than the human body!

To call it a mech was actually a misnomer. Master Wintress did not even bother to add a neural interface to the design. Its scale and design characteristics had more in common with a suit of combat armor rather than a mech.

Yet the inclusion of a deep control mechanism that enabled the 'pilot' to directly interface with the 'machine' was a design element that combat armor lacked!

A traditional suit of combat armor might include shallow interfacing methods, such as forming a normal data connection with the cranial implant of the wearer, but the responsiveness and fidelity of this method was not sufficient enough to turn the heavy suit into a second body.

Ves looked utterly confused as he struggled to define the latest work of Master Wintress.

Was this a mech or a suit of combat armor?