The Mech Touch

After the conclusion of the eventful testing session, Ves came away tired and bewildered.

Events did not proceed according to his expectations. His stay during the conference went completely off the rails ever since he held his own closed session on companion spirits.

His profile grew increasingly higher to the point where his work on the Carmine System had attracted the definite interest of a number of extremely powerful figures!

Now that had been informed that he should prepare for a personal meeting with each Star Designer who presided over the entire Survivalist conference, Ves had a feeling that the idyllic days that he enjoyed in the past few years would finally become a relic of the past.

"The greater my profile, the greater the target on my back." He grumbled as he sat on his bed.

He had temporarily bid goodbye to Jovy and returned to his assigned stateroom within the Khamatar Reign.

Ves had gone through so much stress and work recently that he felt it would help a lot if he took a short nap.

It would have been even better if he could enjoy a full night's sleep, but he did not have the luxury of time.

"Everyone is short on time. Even the Star Designers are working as hard as they can to increase red humanity's chances of winning the war."

The current climate demanded everyone to step up if they had the ability.

Obviously, the leadership of the Survivalist Faction had fully figured out that there was far more depth to Ves than he usually displayed on the surface!

Companion spirits, the Carmine System and the transcendence glow were only a handful of the advantages that he had accrued over the course of his career.

Even though he was technically just a Senior Mech Designer, each of his major innovations were already inventions that could make any Master Mech Designer proud!

The fact that he was still in the early to middle stages of his career and still had an abundance of potential increased his value even further!

Ves just had a first-hand glimpse on how the mechers treated people based on their perceived value.

A norm with no discernable genetic aptitude like Leon Di Maggio could be expended at will without any concern to the Association. Providing real test data by fatally pushing him beyond his limits was probably the greatest value that he could provide to the experimenters!

A pilot with A-grade genetic aptitude such as Krio Delamar received much better care and attention from a bunch of Master Mech Designers because he had the potential to become great with the help of the Carmine Raider.

Although Ves had little reason to be concerned as he resembled Krio far more than Leon from the perspective of the mechers, he still did not feel so great about the mechers hooking their tentacles in him even further.

Compared to a compassionate organization like the Larkinson Clan, the Red Association was much more utilitarian in nature.

Subjective feelings had to take a backseat for more important priorities such as efficiency and logic. Everything and everyone was reduced to numbers that represented their value and utility to the Association and human civilization.

While this approach had contributed massively to the rapid rise and enduring dominion of the original Mech Trade Association, it also produced a culture and a set of rules that encouraged the mechers to treat everyone like chess pieces.

This problem was especially exacerbated within the Survivalist Faction! Its unofficial motto could pretty much be summed up as 'the ends justifies the means'!

In this callous and heartless environment, Ves knew it would only take one big mistake for him to lose his favored status and get unceremoniously booted from the Association's VIP list.

He was not the only associate to have discovered the real nature of the Association. There had to be a lot of other clever people who understood this truth far sooner than himself.

That did not change anything to them, though. So long as the mechers and the fleeters stood above humans, people had no choice but to play their game!

"Hm, I wonder what these upcoming meetings are all about."

He still had a few hours before he was scheduled to meet with the Polymath.

There was absolutely no point in trying to overthink a private discussion with the woman who had a good chance of winning the prize for being the smartest individual in the entire dwarf galaxy.

Trying to outfool a woman who had managed to speedrun her way to her current rank was pure folly!

Ves knew that he would come into the meeting at a heavy disadvantage. The adverse information symmetry alone ensured that he would never be able to gain the initiative in any conversation.

Since that was the case, Ves shrugged his shoulders and laid on his bed.

He decided to clear his mind and reset his mental balance as much as possible so that he could face the relatively young Star Designer in a healthier state.

Sleep came easily. The loud and disruptive alarm that he had made sure to set up beforehand jarringly pulled him out of his pleasant slumber.

"Urghhh..."

Ves yawned as he slowly raised himself to his feet and moved over to the bathroom.

After he freshed himself up and changed to a nearly identical Larkinson patriarch outfit, he placed his relatively unassuming teal badge on his chest before stepping out of his stateroom.

Predictably, Jovy already waited for him outside.

"Let us grab a quick bite."

They moved to a smaller and more private restaurant within the Khamatar Reign and started to fill up their stomach with materialized fruits and croissants.

Ves started to detest the foods produced in this fashion. Although the clever food production method was capable of generating dynamic variations of the same foodstuffs to keep everything from becoming too static and unchanging, there was no heart and soul in any of these products.

He much preferred to eat the pretentious meals prepared by the excellently trained chefs back at home. Gloriana often went a bit too far in micromanaging the meal plans for her entire family, but at least she gave the chefs enough space for them to vary and improve their craft with their own unique touches.

"It's kind of strange." He suddenly said.

"What is strange?" Jovy curiously asked.

"Look at all of this." Ves spoke as he swept his hand across the breakfast items on the table. "The Association is regarded as the holy land of mech design, yet all of these foodstuffs are pretty much commodities in every sense of the word. How can an organization that prizes creativity and individual expression show so little regard for the art of filling one's stomach?"

Jovy shrugged his shoulders as he did not really care for this subject.

"Our Association is not entirely uniform. Food policy is handled by the people in charge of individual facilities and starships. Their personal tastes determine what sort of food is being served. I have been stationed in places before where actual people are still in charge of cooking meals."

"I see."

The Red Association was hardly a monolithic organization. This example showed that individual leaders only possessed partial authority over the organization. Power was divided between many different top figures. This made it impossible to get anything done quickly as it took too much time and effort to win the support of the majority.

Ves had to keep this situation in mind when he met with the faction leaders.

He quickly finished his cup of coffee and began to stand up. "It's almost time for me to meet with the Polymath. Do you have any word advice before I go and have a good talk?"

Jovy stared deeply at Ves. His gaze was a lot more serious than usual.

"You have already received all of the advice you needed to hear to acquit you well. Perhaps the only words that I can add to that is that if you receive any offer, you should withhold your judgment until you have heard out the others. Do not prematurely commit to any action."

That was good advice.

"I thought you would state a few more words in support of the Polymath."

"I have already explained my relationship with her earlier. Besides, I doubt you would pay much attention to any endorsement from me. I know you well enough that you like to make up your own mind about matters."

Ves chuckled. "That's right."

When the time of the meeting came, Ves felt the tell-tale signs of getting teleported yet again.

He was growing tired of this sudden and dangerous method of teleportation. Anyone in control of the teleportation systems could easily dump him in a chamber filled with plasma or out in open space without a protective suit to shield him from vacuum.

Ves clearly needed to get his hands on a device that could block any form of teleportation if he wanted to keep himself safe in the future.

While he was sure that the Red Association sold such devices in its Merit Exchange, he would be a fool to put his trust into products that were most assuredly riddled with backdoors.

In any case, once his body emerged in another location, Ves saw that he had ended up in the middle of a large and opulent office.

Carpeted furnishings, projected images of outdated but excellently designed mechs along with a realistic window that showed a panorama of different planets all caused the compartment to acquire an expansive feel.

Ves steadily moved forward before he stopped in front of a desk. He made a formal bow in order to convey his proper respect towards one of the few Star Designers who were effectively in charge of the Red Association.

"Good day, Your Excellency."

The relatively young Star Designer dressed herself in a refined blue suit that was mostly covered by a silky white lab coat that looked deceptively simple.

When Ves studied her garments closer, he noticed that the lab coat actually possessed numerous similarities with the archmetal outfit of the Xenotechnician.

"Sit." The woman spoke in a commanding but normal-sounding human voice.

As Ves sat on the luxuriously comfortable chair that was placed in front of the Star Designer's desk, he couldn't help but grow a bit more nervous as he waited for what the powerful mech designer had to say this time.

He really hoped that she wouldn't try to scan him for the possession of the Mech Designer System yet again. He was not sure whether it could keep itself hidden in its current state.

It did not seem that the Polymath was paying a lot of attention to Ves at the moment. Her eyes appeared hollow as she was handling a lot of other affairs that demanded a much higher proportion of her vast and powerful attention span.

Ves actually felt a little more at ease at this clear sign of neglect and disrespect. He much preferred it if this supremely powerful figure did not consider it worthwhile to direct too percent of her supremely powerful intellect to this puzzling meeting.

The good times didn't last, unfortunately. Two minutes passed by before the Polymath finally deigned to start the conversation.

"We meet again, Professor Larkinson."

Ves almost twitched his mouth into a rueful smile. "Yes. I... did not expect that I would be sitting directly in front of you so soon."

"Neither did 1, but my projections on you were flawed. It is irritating to base my conclusions on incomplete and erroneous data. This is partially why I have called you here. 1 desire to clarify the truth and correct my model on you so that everything will be in order once again."

She stated her intention in a cool and professional tone. It was as if she found a bug in a computer system and wanted to squash it before it could do any further damage.

Her words sounded chilling.

The Polymath proceeded to lean forward as her hollow eyes seemed to drill straight into Ves' head.

"Answer this question. Where is Mr. S.?"