The Mech Touch

The exploration team cautiously exited the emergency escape room.

As soon as they approached the heavily-fortified exit gate, it automatically unlocked and slid open.

A long and spiralling tunnel lay ahead. The Larkinsons steadily ascended as they followed the lengthy tunnel. They walked for over 300 meters before they finally reached another thick gate.

This time, Ves had to type in another code in order to open this secure gate. Ves figured that it was not connected to any central systems, but instead operated in isolation. This was a good way to prevent someone's escape route from getting cut off by some nefarious infiltration party.

With the help of their awfully-helpful gem, the exploration team soon managed to pass through this barrier.

They entered a wide open space where the same bone metal material covered the walls and ceiling.

Different from the cramped spaces of before, the Larkinsons finally encountered some actual base components.

Ves turned his view to the sides to see several identical fleshy growths that looked like tumors. Each of them was covered by thick energy shields, which basically screamed that these organic machines were very important for some reason.

He had no idea what he was looking at. All he could tell about the massive, mech-sized growths was that they appeared to be quite critical.

"What am I looking at, Dr. Perris?" He asked.

The entire reason why he brought a civilian biomech designer along for the ride was to clarify matters like these. The knowledge that she possessed was far more valuable than an extra soldier in his opinion.

The woman in question stared in amazement at the massive organic machines.

"Hello? Is there someone home inside your head?"

"Oh! Uhm, my apologies, sir. I didn't expect to see such a sight. What you're looking at is some of the most impressive power generators in the LRA. While I do not recognize this model, I estimate that a single one of them already provides enough energy to power an entire capital ship!"

"That much?!"

Ves may not know anything about organic power generators, but he was fairly well-versed in the properties of conventional one. It was incredibly difficult for a single power generator to service all of the energy needs of an entire capital ship. This was especially the case when they were smaller in size.

Right now, the hall they were in boasted six active organic power generators!

A facility that needed that much juice was definitely promising. All of that power had to be utilized in a productive manner in order to justify the existence of all of these power generators.

It appeared that the escape route that the exploration team had just entered led them straight to one of the hearts of the facility!

"This shouldn't be the only source of power in this facility." Dr. Perris guessed. "As impressive as this looks, the rumors I've heard about the kind of research that takes place in a pinnacle lab should be considerably more demanding than what these power generators can sustain. At the very least, the lab should offer considerable redundancy in case any of these generators fail."

Ves nodded in agreement. Her logic was sound.

"That still doesn't take away from the fact that this is one of the more important locations in the pinnacle lab. There ought to be an access point somewhere that we can use to obtain more information or expand our limited access level."

The living gem eagerly tugged him to the side. After tapping the cold bone metal wall, a projected interface appeared into view.

After inputting another laborious pass code, Ves apparently gained access to a secret control interface.

A few minutes passed by as the gem instructed Ves to activate several coded settings. He had no idea what he was triggering, but he had trusted the gem to this extent already. He did not feel it was doing anything malicious.

Soon enough, some strange set of passes materialized into existence.

"Materialization technology!" Dr. Perris gasped. "As expected of a pinnacle lab! I've heard that every facility is equipped with a lot of tech supplies by the MTA!"

"This is nothing." Ves dismissively said. "There are several different grades of materialization technology. Making a few simple passes is very different from materializing an entire mech."

The passes were rather odd, thick and heavy. Ves could already guess that they contained a wealth of advanced circuitry.

Still, no matter what kind of underlying tech they contained, their function was rather obvious.

"I guess these are our access passes."

He distributed them to everyone. Even Lucky received a smaller one that magnetically attached to his back.

"Meow!..."

"Hey, don't scratch that off! You might die if you do that!"

That caused his cat to settle down quickly.

Ves felt a lot more secure after receiving the passes. Carrying the physical tokens was much more reassuring than purely relying on software changes.

"Can you provide us with a map or something?"

Unfortunately, that was beyond the gem's means for some reason.

After it finished directing Ves to activate some hidden settings, the gem pulled him towards the exit. Once the exploration team left the power generation room, they moved through a few pale and eerie corridors while encountering nothing of note.

The corridors were completely empty and devoid of any objects and markings. Nothing he had seen so far allowed him to confirm that he entered a pinnacle lab as opposed to some other top secret facility.

It was only until he entered the next hall that Ves truly felt he entered the right place.

The space the gem had led him into was some kind of research lab dedicated to the study of a certain kind of arthropod exobeast species.

The exoskeletons of the giant insects stored in cultivation vats were like crystals. They shone in the light and looked incredibly hard.

There must have been something special about this odd exobeast species if they were being studied in this kind of high-quality lab. He spotted over fifty different lab machines in this hall. Some of them were organic in nature, but the majority looked more familiar to him. They must be the MTA-supplied lab equipment.

"Dr. Perris, try and access the servers if you can. I want to know what is special about these creatures."

While he was mildly curious about the research conducted in this room, he just wanted to see whether her new pass granted her access to sensitive research data. He also wanted to see whether the automated lab defenses would turn against her for attempting to access highly confidential data.

The worst did not happen. When Dr. Perris navigated the menus of a projected terminal, she was able to call up all of the research data without restriction!

"This is amazing, sir! Whatever you did earlier allows me free reign over the local server! It's a pity that this computer system isn't connected to the rest of the facility. Every research lab appears to be an isolated silo in terms of data transfer."

Ves wasn't surprised to hear that. "That's natural. It would be too easy to steal all of the research data if they can be accessed from a central location. It's not worth the convenience to leave this risk open."

Even though he hadn't explored much of the pinnacle lab as of yet, he already gained a preliminary understanding of the architect of this facility. The Supreme Sage was meticulous and careful. He took the design of the pinnacle lab seriously and followed all of the expected security precautions without cutting any corners.

He was probably underestimating the security measures even now!

"So what did you learn about these alien bugs?"

"They're not a naturally-recurring species, sir." Dr. Perris explained as she rapidly read through various documents. "Project Arvalix is an attempt by the Supreme Sage to design a specific species of organisms that is capable of generating a specific venom that is useful for other applications."

"What kind of applications are you talking about?"

"All I am able to ascertain at the moment is that this venom is exceedingly lethal to ordinary humans but can be quite helpful to certain types of biomechs. I can't tell you any further about the uses of this special venom because the local server doesn't contain any specific references aside from a single mention of Special Project 'U'."

"Well, that's revealing."

Ves pretty much lost interest in Project Arvalix. Neither these strange designer beasts nor the venom they produced sounded relevant to his own interests.

"Is there any of this special venom in storage here?"

"No , sir. The lab operations here have stalled ever since the Supreme Sage.. died. The designer beasts have all died and the venom put in cold storage has deteriorated despite being freezed."

"Okay. Let's move on then."

So far, he was not very impressed by the research taking place inside this facility.

That soon changed when they entered the next research lab.

The interior layout looked almost identical to the last one. The only difference was that the cultivation vats didn't contain any designer beasts or exobeasts.

Instead, they contained the bodies of humans!

Ves immediately felt a bit agitated when he saw their partially-covered bodies. There was something about these muscular men and women that sent him on edge and caused his intuition to go on alert.

He approached one of the tanks while Dr. Perris attempted to access one of the terminals. When his armored feet stopped before a semi-transparent vat, he peered through the odd yellowish liquid and studied the state of the male cadaver floating inside.

The man used to be a soldier. Ves had no doubt of this judgement. The athletic body was toned and muscled in a way that reminded him of elite mech pilots.

There were two other indicators that clearly denoted that the person inside the vat was a soldier and most likely a mech pilot. The left side of the corpse was heavily marked with burn damage. In addition, the right side of the body bore various tattoos that servicemen typically acquired. One of them even referenced a Lifer military mech regiment called the Molier Steelhawks.

Yet as Ves stood in close proximity to the vat that held the corpse, he started to feel more and more unsettled for some reason. There was something about the body of this mech pilot and the ones stored in other vats that made him suspect there was something abnormal about these experimental materials."

On a hunch, Ves decided to concentrate his mind and expand his spiritual senses.

As he began to perceive the body using his other senses, he immediately felt an abnormality within the brain cavity of the deceased soldier.

"It's… empty?"

He sensed a spiritual void in what should have been the most important organ of a mech pilot and any human for that matter.

Ves circled around and saw to his astonishment that a very neat hole had been drilled in the back of the dead body's skull!

A shudder ran through his body.

What was the use of extracting the brain of a dead mech pilot?

He suddenly heard a feminine gasp. Ves immediately turned to Dr. Perris, who had just taken a few steps backwards from the terminal she accessed.

"What did you learn?!"

"Sir… this is…"

"Explain!"

"Well… I don't really know how. The Supreme Sage.. I never thought he could do something like this. I… according to the top secret documents I've accessed, the bodies stored in these vats aren't regular humans. They're… expert pilots."

"...Say again?"

"Each of the specimens here used to be expert pilots! Some of them are Lifers, but at least half of them originate from other states!"

Expert pilots! Ves finally knew why he felt so strange about these fit and muscular individuals. They were demigods, transcendent human beings who had reached a state of life that was far beyond regular mortals!

The bodies of these honorable former heroes should have been buried in magnificent tombs. They deserved highest honors, yet instead the Supreme Sage robbed them of the treatment that they were owed in favor of performing dubious experiments on their brains!

"What exactly did the Supreme Sage do with the remains of these expert pilots? Where did their brains go and why are they separated from these bodies?"

It took a few seconds for Dr. Perris to gain the courage to speak again.

"If I am interpreting these documents correctly, then the Supreme Sage himself sought to.. harvest and… refine the extracted tissue matter into a specific substance."

"What is the application of this specific substance?"

"It is used as an ingredient for the production of…" She trailed off as her emotions roiled.

"Finish your sentence!"

"I'm sorry, sir! It's just.. if I am interpreting this correctly, the specific substance is a key input material for the production of high-grade life-prolonging treatment serum! Although I cannot determine whether this is one of the standard formulas used by the Big Two or a substitute formula developed by the Supreme Sage, the serum that is ostensibly being developed and produced in this facility is partially made out of the remains of deceased expert pilots!"

Thunder rang through the minds of Ves and everyone else in the research lab. Even Lucky dropped his maw.

This revelation was too shocking! The implications of what she claimed was so great that Ves couldn't even begin to wrap his mind around this controversial discovery!

It was one thing if this taboo research project was just an isolated attempt by a single unethical biotech researcher to develop a substitute formula for the insanely rare and expensive serum offered by the Big Two.

It was another thing entirely if the formula that the Supreme Sage worked on happened to share a close resemblance to the formulas used by the Big Two's own serum production departments!

"What.. is the name of this research project?"

"Project Cain."