The Mech Touch

The lesson was surprisingly informative. Not only did Professor Larkinson weave his previous lesson into the narrative of the conference, but he was also candid about his motivations behind his decisions.

That surprised students such as Klaus the most. They never thought that they had any chance of reaching this level of decision-making in their lives. This was the sort of lesson that aspiring politicians and heads of states would kill to attend!

Instead, the professor was baring much of his own analysis and thought process in front of 250 future mech designers or businessmen!

Still, given that Ves Larkinson was a mech designer himself, he was living proof that it was never a luxury for these students to learn how to handle themselves in junctions where they were in the rare position to decide the future of red humanity!

"Much of red humanity have grown up in fairly comfortable and civilized environments that are defined by centuries of peace and prosperity." The professor told them all. "This means that they have grown up while internalizing a set of rules that allows them to optimally navigate a peaceful and prosperous environment. The problem with that is that they are ill-equipped to handle situations where these conditions no longer apply. War will soon be upon us all. The rules have changed, and if we are to survive, we must adapt. What many people disagree on is how we should change. The Polymath's Unity Plan has its good points, but it puts too much power in the hands of a single leader. You can look back on human history to figure out why developing an excessive dependency on a single point of failure has never ended well for everyone involved."

The Terrans were especially opposed to the reforms pushed by the Unity Plan. It was almost universally reviled throughout the Terran Alliance.

This was also why the Terrans had developed a sudden liking for Professor Larkinson! While the exact story about his involvement was not quite clear to the general public, it was certain that he had played a small but fairly influential role in defeating the Polymath's overly expansive and intrusive master plan!

"Let me be honest with you." The professor continued. "I did not expect my contributions to vault me to a tier 3 galactic citizen. I did not expect to have an actual say during the voting session. However, when these realities had been thrust into my lap, I rolled with the situation and took advantage of the situation to represent my own interests. It was fortunate that I did so, because there were way too many delegates that had a very different interpretation of the facts and the consequences of their decisions."

A new projection appeared that showed three different hierarchical structures.

The Unity Plan became highlighted first.

"In theory, this one offers the greatest clarity and the least amount of waste. There is one ultimate authority on top that everyone else must answer to. So long as an extremely clever and highly prepared leader such as the Polymath takes charge, everything should go right. That is what a disturbing amount of mechers thought, but I thought differently. What is the single most important reason that such a leadership structure should concern everyone?"

Many hands rose in the air. Ves decided to give the word to Ryan Shuku.

"The greatest source of concern to many people is lack of trust." Ryan answered in a clear but also careful tone. It was never a good idea to criticize a Star Designer directly. "There is no counterbalance in this hierarchical diagram. The term for the sovereign is supposedly unlimited. It is unclear how a different person can replace the current leader after a term or if there is demand for change. There are no legislative chambers or courts that could divide the leader's power and keep each other in check. There are no means to stop the leader from abusing all of that power. In summary, the entire Unity Plan can only work if the tyrant has enough force to prevent serious challenges and is able to indoctrinate enough people to support this flawed hierarchy despite all of its flaws."

"That is a good dissection of the Unity Plan's greatest flaw. Still, if anyone could have pulled it off, then the Polymath is probably the best candidate if we use an objective measure. It is only the assumption that she would handle her duties in a responsible manner and that she will refrain from abusing her position to advance her own personal interests as opposed to the people she supposedly serves. The fact of the matter is that I do not trust her to hold my best interests, and it is not a stretch to think that she does not think highly of your interests either."

No one disagreed with the professor on this point.

"What I also find objectionable about her plan is that it treats everyone as if they were children. Much of humanity had already been deprived of a lot of rights when the Big Two rose up and reduced every star nation into reduced states. What the Polymath sought to do was to take over even more control over decisions that should actually be determined by ourselves. We should be able to choose where we live, who we work for, how we spend our money and more. That is an intrinsic aspect of what makes us human and so successful throughout the years. The Unity Plan encroaches way too much on these basic rights and seeks to 'prevent' us from making stupid and wasteful decisions. What does this say about the creator of this plan?"

All of the students who were previously eager to raise their hands and demonstrate their quick thinking had become remarkably mum at this time.

Even Klaus did not have the guts to voice his opinion even though he had clear opinions about this subject matter!

The professor smirked at this unusually quiet display. He did not look like he faulted his students for their discretion.

"Alright, since no one appears to have any clue, then let me answer my own question. The Polymath... doesn't trust anyone but herself. I am not a psychologist or anything, so I won't comment on how it must frustrate her to be surrounded by so many less intelligent people all of the time that frequently make suboptimal choices. What is certain is that her blueprint of red humanity essentially sends the message that she cannot trust us all to make good decisions that promote red humanity's survival, so she must make all of the important decisions on our behalf. Whether she is right to consider us all stupid, what about her? What if she is burdened by her own set of flaws? How can we trust her to be the only truly knowledgeable, impartial and incorruptible individual out of our entire civilization?"

This was another question that was not convenient for anyone to answer.

"We can't." The professor said seriously. "To me, she turned out to be no better than the rest of us. Her responses to certain developments have proven this assumption. This is also the reason why her base of support has collapsed all of a sudden. Ultimately, I think the Unity Plan might have gained more acceptance if the Polymath treated herself as our equal. If she did, she would have respected our input more and appointed more of us to positions of power that could keep her in check. Of course, that was completely unacceptable to the Star Designer as we must seem like neanderthals in her eyes."

The professor spoke a bit more about the Unity Plan. Klaus didn't feel comfortable how the man was willing to criticize and castigate one of the most powerful humans of red humanity with few restraints!

It made his listeners profoundly uncomfortable as they all feared whether they might get into trouble with the Polymath or her supporters one day!

Still, there were way more benefits than downsides to maintaining their attendance to the professor's courses. None of them had any intention of backing out and missed what may be their only opportunity to get close to one of red humanity's future leaders!

While it was anything but certain whether Professor Larkinson would be able to maintain his incredible momentum, what if he succeeded?

This might be the only chance for someone with poor opportunities like Klaus to enter the big leagues!

He briefly swept his gaze around him. A lot of other students probably had the same idea. Even the scions of powerful clans might not be opposed to abandoning their original ambitions so that they could develop a close relationship by a mech designer who was just two steps removed from reaching the ultimate tier of galactic citizenship.

Klaus clenched his fist. The competition to earn the professor's favor had already begun. He needed to find ways to stand out and excel in his own way so that he could successfully catch Ves Larkinson's attention!

This semester was his only chance to transform his life.

The upside to enrolling to all three of the professor's courses was that Klaus had many more opportunities to show his face.

However, the downside of doing this was that Klaus would have no way to intersect into the man's path after the semester was over!

Klaus did not think that the professor would appreciate it if Klaus failed to earn a passing grade and had to redo the course all over again.

"Alright. That is enough about the Polymath and her Unity Plan." Professor Larkinson eventually concluded this part of his lecture. "Let's move on to the alternative that I could have cast my vote upon. Perhaps I would have done so if the circumstances were different. Of all of the three proposals, the Diplomacy Plan is the most grounded and least intrusive one. It does not impose a lot of unwelcome changes to our society. That sounds great, right?"

Not a single student held any enthusiasm towards the Diplomacy Plan, just because it was a much more acceptable alternative to the Unity Plan did not mean that people had to like the radical change in policy with regards to alien relations!

Ves let out a sigh. "Aside from the enthusiasm gap, there are two fundamental problems with the Xenotechnician's blueprint. The first is that it asks every red human to abandon one of our common ideals and sources of pride. We have always considered ourselves to be stronger and more superior than the aliens around us. While it may sound like self-delusion, the pride and courage that wells up in our hearts are very real. Without the confidence and conviction to go all-out in our fight against the aliens, how can we retain any spine when we enter into any serious conflict with our existential enemies? The Xenotechnician has spent so much time trying to understand different alien races that he may have lost sight of what it means to be a human."

Did this guy not care about how his opinions about the Star Designers might leak and spread among the rumor circles?!

How could he speak with so little respect and assume he could get away with his remarks?!

"Aside from going against what makes us all humans, the Diplomacy Plan also contains another major flaw that is much more relevant to the lesson that I have taught. I can understand why the Xenotechnician is willing to entrust the cosmopolitans of all people with the responsibility to forge friendly ties between red humanity and receptive alien races. However, this Star Designer puts way too much trust in a group of people that have proven to be selfish, unreliable and outright treacherous on many occasions!"

The looks on many of the student's faces showed that they agreed with the professor's assessment of the cosmopolitans.

"Just because our circumstances have changed does not mean that the cosmopolitans have suddenly turned into angels! If the Xenotechnician entrusted the work to a proper group of diplomats with more reputable backgrounds, then that would have addressed this giant flaw. It's a pity that the Xenotechnician is so eager to maximize the success rate of his plan that he has put insufficient weight on the question of whether the cosmopolitans will actually abide by their promises! Never put your fate in other people's hands, especially if they are a bunch of deranged fanatics who have a history of treachery!"