The Mech Touch

After Ves handled all of the necessary affairs that required his personal input, he finally cleared his schedule for the time being.

Sure, he still needed to approve a lot of plans and make all kinds of decisions, but none of them were particularly time-sensitive.

The more people wanted to urge him to make decisions, the more Ves wanted to pull back and postpone the issue.

The scariest part about obtaining a lot of wealth all of a sudden was the possibility of squandering it all on wasteful and ineffective initiatives!

Ves would never be able to live with himself if he screwed up a fantastic opportunity to make the Larkinson Clan rise all at once!

He told everyone to slow down and research their options. He did not necessarily disapprove of big expenditures, but the clan should better get its money's worth!

As many leaders in the Larkinson Clan started to build a case for their own initiatives, Ves decided that there was nothing stopping him from taking a vacation this time.

"Gloriana?"

"Yes, husband?"

"Let's start our vacation."

"Now?"

"Yes. There's no better time to do so. Our last expedition was a wild ride. I've accumulated so much stress that I have a growing urge to spend a week on activities that aren't related to our work. Will you come?"

His wife hesitated for a moment. She looked back at her terminal where she was studying the records of different Journeymen who had caught her eye. Each of them had the potential to enrich the Design Department.

"Can it wait, Ves? I would like to study these names first. While none of them have applied to join our clan, they are still available for hire. As long as we offer enough incentives, it shouldn't be too difficult to obtain their services."

Ves shook his head. "All of that can wait. Even if our competitors snap these talents up, there will be a different list of names within a week. A lot of people are constantly pouring into the Red Ocean. The job market isn't short of Journeymen."

"That is only the case for mediocre or problematic mech designers. Real talents are still scarce. We need to put in a lot more effort to entice them into joining our clan."

He grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the terminal. "As I said, all of that can wait. It makes little difference if we start recruiting this week or the next. Now let's go grab our baby daughter and bring her along to see new sights."

Upon his insistence, his wife eventually acquiesced and set her current priorities aside to make landfall.

The descent of their transport was even more ostentatious as before. Ves knew quite well that possessing a lot of wealth meant that he attracted a lot more attention than before, and not always of the good kind.

Davute VII was a trading hub that attracted all kinds of different people and organizations, so the Larkinson Clan did not want to take any risks.

The security regime of the planet was still restrictive towards mechs, but the authorities gave a bit more leeway to the Larkinsons this time.

Perhaps they heard that the clan returned with a lot of phasewater. There were a lot of different companies and organizations in Davute that would love to get their hands on a couple of kilograms of this substance, so the locals treated the Larkinsons a lot differently this time!

Ves smiled contemptuously when he heard how much easier it was to assign an adequate security detail to him and his family.

"You're not a random low-level pioneer anymore, boss." Gavin Neumann said as he rode alongside Ves and his family in the shuttle. "Several big names have issued personal invitations to you. It might be nice to accept a few of them. As long as you can befriend these local overlords, our subsequent business activities will go a lot smoother."

"Don't do it, Ves." Gloriana advised as she tied her daughter's hair into cute little pigtails. "We are hot commodities right now, so we shouldn't sell ourselves too quickly. Scarcity makes us more valuable so let all of these parties wait for a time."

Gavin nodded in agreement. "She makes a good point. Other parties will not easily turn away from us as long as we retain a lot of phasewater in our possession. However, we shouldn't play coy for too long. If it becomes clear that we are extremely miserly in our spending, we will make a lot of people impatient and frustrated towards us. If we want our clan to operate in Davute with fewer barriers, we should selectively conduct business deals with a couple of players just to show that we can be negotiated with. This is an excellent way to obtain more exclusive concessions such as starships, desirable plots of land and specialty goods."

Ves briefly fell in thought. "You can open up discussions with these parties, but don't move too quickly with them. Let these people make their bids to us. Once I am done with my vacation, you can bring the more serious ones to me and I will consider them on an individual basis. Does this sound good, Benny?"

"We can make this work."

To be honest, Ves did not expect the local community to become a lot more welcoming to the Larkinson Clan. As Ves met with a group of very friendly dignitaries at Kotor City's spaceport, it became increasingly clear that a lot of people were willing to accommodate the various needs of the triumphant Larkinsons.

From obtaining the right to operate more mechs in a planetary environment to receiving permission to carry heavier armaments, a lot of rules no longer became as restrictive.

"This is the power of wealth." Gloriana knowingly commented. "These people and organizations will all play nice with us as long as we have money and phasewater to spend. However, from the moment we run out, all of our flatterers will immediately turn their faces."

Ves already figured this out. "That's natural. If there is one thing the Red Ocean isn't lacking, it is greed. Most people traveled to the new frontier in order to get ahead in life and build a better future for themselves. Now that we've made it, there will always be a lot of jealous people who want what we have earned through our own efforts."

He maintained a relatively relaxed attitude towards these changes. He did not want to bother himself too much about managing all of these new social interactions. That was what the rest of his clan was for. He just wanted to forget about all of his burdens and relax for a time.

Once they got all of the formalities out of the way, they boarded an armored shuttle that brought them to their first destination.

Escorted by a squad of Larkinson mechs as well as two expert mechs in the form of the Riot and the Everchanger, Ves was not concerned about his vehicle getting blasted from the skies.

Hardly any mechs were out at this time as only a few organizations possessed the right to field them in such a densely populated area.

"There's been talk about tightening Davute's security regime." Gavin noted. "There are those who are in favor of granting fewer exceptions and those who believe that this port system needs to attract more big spenders. For now, it isn't clear where the winds will blow."

Ves crossed his arms. "I'm not going to spend time here anymore if I can't bring my own mechs anymore. I've exposed myself to way too much trouble without enough reliable protection on hand."

"I will keep paying attention to this discussion."

"You do that. Have we arrived at the Art District?"

"We will touch down in a minute."

When the shuttle settled down in the landing zone, a group of honor guards emerged from the vehicle first before Ves and his family stepped out into the open.

As its name suggested, the Art District was the place to be for any art enthusiasts. Even though construction was still on-going, the initial colonists already set up lovely streets, magnificent art academies and many unique little workshops.

As Ves and his group stepped onto one of the main avenues, they became acquainted with the emerging culture of Davute.

Musicians were plying their trade on streets while a virtual artist set up a gallery at a nearby park.

Flower beds featuring alien flower species covered the environment with a mixture of new and exotic scents.

The maintenance bots that tended to the plants and kept the streets clean looked a lot better as well. The district government had commissioned individual artists to paint over their surfaces with all kinds of pleasing colors and objects.

"Look! It's pink, hihihi!"

Aurelia was so amazed with all of the new sights that she ran off to a nearby garden bot that was pruning one of the bushes that lined the main avenue.

"Miaow!"

Clixie made sure to keep up with the energetic young lady.

The garden bot's surface was originally white, but now it was overwhelmingly pink. The artist also added in several pretty pretty flowers in order to make the bot even cuter.

This caused the bot to attract a lot of kids!

When Aurelia came close, the garden bot already paused its work and made a few cartoony sounds.

[Why hello there, young lady. Are you enjoying your stay in our Art District?]

Aurelia grinned and reached out to the garden bot!

"Miaow!"

"Careful!" Gloriana said as she arrived to pick up her daughter. "Don't touch everything you see. Bots can be dangerous."

"I wanna touch!"

"You can touch many other objects, and they're all cuter than this pink bot. Now leave it alone so that it can go back to work."

"Okay…"

Their daughter gained plenty of stimulation as Ves and Gloriana brought her to various different places.

They entered a bakery where Ves tried out the local specialties.

They stepped into a water park where Aurelia got soaked trying to chase after the floating water streams.

They visited a small museum that was dedicated to a visual art movement that had reached its peak around 200 years ago. Its basic premise was to find beauty in the traces created by the movement of small exobeasts on a canvas.

Although Ves was still grasping for the overarching meanings of these artworks, the swirling patterns and organic traces fascinated him for reasons that he couldn't explain.

"Pretty…" Aurelia said as she eagerly took in all of these new and interesting sights.

An ordinary child of her age probably wouldn't have been able to understand anything, but Ves and Gloriana's daughter was no ordinary kid. Her intelligence became more apparent the more she became exposed to different attractions.

"Mama! Maaamaaa!"

"What is it, sweetie?"

"What is that?"

"Those are reptilian exobeasts, Aurelia. Their owners probably brought them over here because they resemble dinosaurs."

"So big…"

Ves and Gloriana both experienced a lot of joy as they continued to show Aurelia around. This was just the first of many happy family trips they wished to make in their lives.

They would probably become a lot busier once Aurelia gained a bunch of younger brothers and sisters.

Gloriana leaned against Ves' arm. "You were right to take me along today. I love this so much. It's so nice to put down my responsibilities and spend more time as a family. A part of me doesn't want this day to end."

"I feel the same way." Ves smiled as he basked in all of the warmth and love. "It's a shame we can't go to as many places as we want."

He briefly turned his head to gaze at the mechs floating high above their heads.

Their mech escorts maintained a higher altitude in order to avoid disturbing the locals. While that worked to an extent, the mechs weren't subtle at all and constantly attracted eyeballs from every direction.