The Mech Touch

Once Ves and Gloriana reached the Mech Nursery, they stopped by the infirmary to check up on William.

The Urbesh clansman still hadn't woken up, but there were some encouraging signs. His brain activity began to normalize. The doctors predicted that he would wake up within two or three days.

If William still hadn't woken up by that time, then he needed to be moved to a better-equipped hospital in Bentheim.

Ves preferred it if they didn't have to resort to this cumbersome movement. Not only would it take time to get William back to Cloudy Curtain, there was a chance that William would find some way to escape his clutches.

No test subject was allowed to run from Ves before he was done with his experiments!

"I think William will be fine." Gloriana remarked and gestured at some of the doctors wearing different uniforms. "I've assigned some of my own men to facilitate his care."

Ves noticed that. Some of the medical equipment in the infirmary looked very different.

While he didn't mind the changes, it rankled Ves a bit that she didn't ask for his permission.

"Gloriana… I thought we talked about this. Don't make any unilateral decisions when it concerns us both. The Mech Nursery is still my property."

"Ah, I'm sorry. It slipped my mind."

Ves could already tell that this would be a recurring habit of his girlfriend. Whenever she saw something imperfect that she could address, she would go ahead and fix the problem in her own way.

The root problem with Gloriana was that she was far too used to acting decisively that asking for his approval was still something alien to her. Perhaps she was capable of deferring to others, but the only people she answered to was her mother or other authoritative women.

Even Gloriana stated that she didn't see Ves as a boy, she was very much a Hexer. Her unconscious bias against men and boys still affected her conduct while she stayed with him on Cloudy Curtain.

He foresaw a need to have another serious talk with Gloriana. Not now, though. He wasn't in the mood right now.

Once Ves and Gloriana headed down to their lab, they convened together with the four Larkinson seeds.

They hadn't been staying idle all this time. Ketis had been attentive in guiding their studies while the others were preoccupied with other matters.

"How are the kids, Ketis?" He asked.

"They're all very bright." She replied with a smile. "Not as smart as me, but at their age they're already quite impressive."

Ves turned towards the four Larkinson teenagers and studied them with a scrutinizing gaze.

As expected, none of them could keep their composure when their idol studied them in this manner.

He didn't stare at them because he wanted to intimidate them. Instead, he was looking out for certain abnormal signs.

He finally managed to spot something abnormal. Maikel Larkinson's neck featured a very faint blue mottled pattern.

No normal human possessed skin that looked like this. Unless it was a bruise, it was very likely that Ves detected a disconcerting sign!

"Did any of you undergo genetic modification?"

All four Larkinsons nodded.

"Yes, sir." Rennie Larkinson answered. "Before we got sent to Cloudy Curtain, our family sent us all to an exclusive gene clinic at Rittersberg. The clinic is very renowned there for selling genetic mod templates that increases intelligence when applied to someone's genes."

"I see." Ves said flatly. "How much did it cost?"

"Around 80 million credits per operation."

"That's a very significant amount of money to invest in a person."

Zanthar Larkinson confidently smiled. "Our family is very hopeful about us. We were all doing very well at school before we've been selected to study under you. Now that our genes have improved, I have no problem with keeping up with my studies while spending lots of time here!"

The other three Larkinsons nodded in agreement.

Ves sighed and placed his hands against his hips. "What about the side effects? There's always a catch."

The four of them exchanged awkward glances.

"Tell me now, or I'll ask your parents. Either way, I'll find out."

"You don't have to, sir. We'll tell you. There's a bunch of side effects, but the main one is that we need to hydrate ourselves more often. The gene mod template was derived from an aquatic species."

"Well, that doesn't sound so bad. What else?"

A bunch of other quirks and warnings followed. None of the potential side effects sounded very serious to Ves. No wonder it cost 80 million bright credits per operation at pre-inflation levels.

The side effects were severe enough to make them a bit bothersome, but not so cumbersome to require a reduction in price.

It wasn't really that expensive to apply a gene mod template to someone. The main reason why the price was jacked up so much was that the templates were often licensed from biotech companies at exorbitant prices.

The experts in genetic modification that were qualified to conduct such operations were also very hard to come by. It took a lot of study and training for people to become capable of applying genetic treatments to a variety of different people.

Once Ves finished questioning the four kids, he turned to Gloriana. "What do you think?"

"The template doesn't sound very good by my standards, but its footprint isn't very big. I think there's a lot more room for improvement and alterations. The genes of these kids aren't set in stone yet."

That relieved Ves a little. He was afraid that the Larkinsons had inadvertently ruined the future of their little seeds. Fortunately, they already took these issues into account.

"Are you okay with our genetic mod template, sir?"

"It's fine." Ves casually waved his hand in dismissal. "Genetic augmentation is something that is very common in the upper ranks of society. If you ever find yourself in a position where you can go further, then continued augmentation is pretty much essential. You have to make sure that you apply the right treatments to your genes. I'll talk to the Larkinsons about this later so they'll refrain from doing this again. As for you, don't undergo any further augmentation unless I say so. I'll kick you out myself if I find out you went behind my back!"

"Why are you making such a big fuss out of it? Isn't it good that we've all become smarter?" Maisie Larkinson asked in confusion.

"Not every gene mod template is as good." Ketis answered for Ves. "I can speak from personal experience that applying the wrong templates on you can potentially lock your future or ruin your life. I managed to correct my mistake, but many other people are stuck with their choices for life."

Ves nodded in appreciation towards Ketis. "She's right. Reckless genetic modification is one of the reasons why the second half of the Age of Conquest became such an awful time was because the cutting-edge gene treatments turned many leaders mad!"

"That's in the past, right? Genetic modification is a lot more regulated these days."

Ves and Ketis scoffed. Even Gloriana slightly shook her head!

"Naive!" Ves shouted. "Genetic modification is just as dangerous as before. The same technologies from back then are being used today! The only difference is that geneticists are a lot more careful and actually pay some attention to the repercussions of their works. That doesn't mean that they've managed to remove the effect their treatments have on someone's personality and emotions."

Ves, Ketis and Gloriana each lectured about this topic to the four seeds. Maikel, Maisie, Rennie and Zanthar all grew more grave when they learned how much they risked when the Larkinsons paid for their gene augments.

If the Larkinsons hadn't been diligent enough and paid so much money, they could have all been screwed!

After an hour of lecturing, Ves clapped his hands.

"That's enough I think. We're mech designers, not geneticists. Let's turn back to our work. You four can sit back and listen while we discuss our next projects, okay?"

The four seeds nodded. Obviously, this was not the time for them to raise their hands to ask questions or provide suggestions.

Seeing that the four Larkinsons understood his intentions, Ves turned to Ketis and Gloriana. "Alright, let's get to the next three projects I want to start. You're all up to date on the request issued by MinDef, right?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Then let's talk." He said. "Out of the four variants that MinDef suggested, Gloriana and I have already ruled out the Worthy Soldier. Its concept deviates so much from the Desolate Soldier that it actually calls for designing an entirely new mech."

"Maybe that was what the government was after." Ketis speculated. "If you fell for their trick, then they would have pretty much gotten an original mech design for the price of a variant."

Ves harrumphed. "If they think I'm stupid enough to fall for that trick, then they've severely underestimated me. Let's put that aside and focus on the variants that I've agreed upon."

The three of them began to discuss their thoughts and expectations on the Prideful Soldier, Militant Soldier and Peaceful Soldier.

"I'm not really digging those names." Ketis remarked. "Peaceful Soldier doesn't match my impression of the Planetary Guard. Maybe we should call it by another name?"

Ves shrugged. "If you have any suggestions, then feel free to raise them. I think it's a decent name."

He did not say that because he coincidentally owned a custom ballistic pistol called the Peaceful Repose.

"I don't have much of an opinion on the names. What I'm worried about is how much time we need to spend on developing these variants." Gloriana stated. "Just look at the list of requirements for the militant Soldier and Peaceful Soldier. They're very divergent from the original Desolate Soldier. We'll have to incorporate entirely new components and redesign the internal architecture of those mechs from the ground up. Even if the variants resemble the base model on the outside, their insides won't be anything alike!"

"I know it's a lot of work, but we're mech designers." Ves replied. "I think we can finish these projects in a couple of months, especially if we run them concurrently. In fact, I can finish the Prideful Soldier in a matter of weeks. The demands for this variant are by far the lightest."

Ves could retain much of the same design while substituting some components with cheaper equivalents. He also had to tweak its X-Factor so that it was not as obnoxiously pure.

Apparently, gangs and other underground organizations really didn't like it when their mech pilots acted like goody two shoes.

Both Gloriana and Ketis saw no problem with that.

"We still need some help if we want to run two projects at the same time." Ketis remarked. "Neither Gloriana and I are very useful in this project."

Ketis specialized in swords and swordsman mechs, while Gloriana's strength lay in custom mechs. Neither of them could showcase their full ability in projects centered around mass market mechs.

"I have a suggestion." Gloriana raised her head. "The government settled lots of refugees on this planet, right? Why don't we visit the local administration and see what kind of people have ended up here. There's bound to be a number of destitute mech designers among the refugees who have fled their fallen states. Maybe we can offer them all a job."

Ves looked skeptical. "I'm not sure if any mech designer is among the refugees here. They're not exactly average people. Those who are good enough have probably found better passage, while those who don't meet my standards are better left at the temporary farming settlements."

"That's just your opinion, Ves. Who knows what kind of hidden gems are hidden in the masses. I think we should head out and look for useful people to recruit. This is a great chance!"

Though Ves wasn't initially sold on the idea, he became more and more intrigued as Gloriana advocated for this suggestion.

Was there really a treasure hidden among the refugees?