The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5738 Ector System

The Ector System was a beacon of human civilization in the Red Ocean.

While it was not as well-developed as the central star nodes managed by the Red Two, Ector had become a veritable paradise for private shipbuilding companies!

Ector V's most prominent feature was not its heavily urbanized and industrialized surface, but the myriad of high-

tech shipyards orbiting around the globe.

Their sizes, shapes, architecture and technologies varied considerably depending on their construction date and ownership.

However, they all made second-class orbital shipyards look like shabby junk shops. The expense put into their construction made it clear why their owners were loathe to sell them to other parties.

They were too damn precious to build!

Almost all of the shipyards in orbit of Ector V had been constructed with the help of bountiful financial and resource support from the old galaxy.

Without the enormous economic interests from the Milky Way subsidizing the constructing of all of these high-tech facilities, there was no way that the immigrants of the Red Ocean could amass such an enormous concentration of shipbuilding potential.

With 20 capital shipyards, 78 sub-capital shipyards and 48 repair drydocks, many orbital bands had been completely overtaken by these massive orbiting giants.

They were so large and prominent that many of them could probably be seen with the naked eye on the surface of the planet!

"Amazing, are they not?" Ves grinned as he continued to appreciate the shipyards and all of the cargo traffic that flowed between them. "Hopefully, one of these shipyards will be mine after the end of the grand auction."

"Meow." Lucky listlessly responded as he floated behind Ves' back.

Ves had almost forgotten about Lucky back when he was about to depart from the Keynar System.

He had sent his gem cat on a covert exploration mission in the hopes of uncovering hidden cosmopolitans or evidence that suggested that people were not what they seemed.

Unfortunately, Lucky hadn't been able to catch a cosmopolitan in the act of plotting any nefarious moves.

Either they weren't present on Keynar, or Lucky had been poking around in the wrong places.

It was basically impossible to identify a cosmopolitan if that person did not speak or act like an alien lover, so observations alone were probably not enough to catch them in the act.

What Lucky did manage to do was hack into a lot of databases and steal a lot of random data.

The chances were great that the vast majority of data was useless to Ves, but there might be a few nuggets of useful records among them. The task of filtering out anything of value among an entire ocean of junk was incredibly cumbersome, however.

Given the source of the data, it was not convenient to leave this job to mechers he was traveling with. It was not acceptable to hand it over to the Black Cats as Ves would have to transmit his entire haul over an unsecured channel.

Ves decided to skim through the database himself. He did so as discreetly as possible by partitioning a part of his mind on manually going over a lot of miscellaneous data.

Lucky had grabbed bits of everything during his days long exploration trip. He obtained everything from experimental logs, accounting ledgers, personnel files, procurement lists, design specifications and even literature.

Naturally, much of the data taken from organizations based in a second-class port system was useless to Ves. He had access to much more valuable stuff from the Red Association. What other parties treated as valuable trade secrets was simply not relevant to a tier 3 galactic citizen.

Just when he thought that Lucky failed to gain anything of value, he suddenly hit the jackpot when he stumbled upon a small library of ancient cultivation treatises!

The scanned texts had all been translated into standard language, which allowed Ves to gain a cursory understanding of what they were all about.

The contents initially delighted him, but that did not last long.

He stumbled upon clues and snippets of information that cast a much more ominous light on the cultivation treatises!

Ves frowned and stopped his examination. While he badly wanted to get at the root of the latest mystery to fall onto his lap, he could not afford to get distracted at this time.

His overarching goal at this time was to successfully navigate his way through the upcoming public inquiry.

It would do him little good to conduct an investigation if his living mechs were no longer allowed to be sold anymore!

He let out a tired breath. "I need to know what I am dealing with. Let's go, Lucky."

"Meow."

Ves and his cat left the observation chamber and moved to an office compartment.

Two mech designers had already arrived beforehand. Jovy Armalon and Vector Loban suspended their chat and looked up at Ves with grave expressions.

"Ah. You have arrived. Good. Please sit so that we can share our findings."

When Ves took his seat, Jovy briefly summarized what he and his network managed to discover.

"The format of the public inquiry has become known. It will last 3 days in total, each day dedicated to exploring a specific subject."

"I see. Do I have to be present on all days?"

"Not necessarily, but I recommend you do so, if only to stay in the loop and prevent any misunderstandings from occurring."

"So what will we be talking about?"

"On the first day, the panel of experts is mainly tasked with exploring and analyzing the existing and future potential for living mechs to develop autonomy. In order to discuss the problem, people first need to recognize that it exists. The opponents of your works will do whatever they can to amplify any risk and danger."

That caused Ves to frown. "As far as I know, there are no causes where living mechs have abused their autonomy and turned against thier pilots or the people they are supposed to protect."

Both Jovy and Vector shook their heads.

"There may be edge cases where the truth is difficult to discern. There may also be cases that have failed to reach your ears due to misunderstandings or other issues." The Transhumanist mech designer said. "You can be assured that your opponents have all of the resources they need to dig up every suspicious case. I advise you to be mentally prepared to answer for any possible misdeeds committed by your autonomous living mechs."

Ves almost growled. "I will do so as long as the cases are real, Vector. If they are not, then it should be my opponents who will have to answer for themselves."

Jovy took the word again.

"Once the first day has passed, the panel will reconvene on the morning of the second day. The central topic of discussion is whether living mechs have any place in our society. They introduce a lot of changes to the mech community that may or may not be desirable."

Vector leaned forward. "Your role is important here. You must present your living mechs in the best possible light. Only by emphasizing the many benefits of your work will you be able to tilt the scales in your favor."

"I can do that." Ves said after a brief moment of thought. "It is not the first sales pitch that I have given. Am I allowed to talk about the Carmine System?"

"No."

"No."

Both mechers offered the same response without hesitation.

"Why not? I bet that a lot more people will be inclined to accept my work if they know that a lot of norms will gain an opportunity to pilot a mech in the coming years."

"The rollout of Carmine mechs must be carefully managed to minimize the disruption to the current order." Vector Loban said. "Announcing them too soon while we do not have any suitable models for mass adoption in place will lead to severe unrest and confusion. This can do real damage to society and ultimately the war effort."

Jovy brought up another reason. "I have little doubt that the promise of Carmine mechs will instantly convert a large proportion of opponents into supporters, but… have you truly won the argument if that is the case? The fundamental problem that the public inquiry was meant to solve will still remain unaddressed if you make this move. You cannot bribe your way out of this issue. The human race has a long history of relying too much on artificial intelligences and paying the price for their lack of concern. You need to prove to the public that your living mechs are either not a threat, or that their gains outweigh their demerits. Only when you have put this particular matter to rest will you be able to sell your living mechs without encountering any opposition based on safety grounds."

The Survivalist was right. Ves needed to win this debate the proper way instead of trying to postpone it by dangling something shiny in front of people's faces.

"Okay. I get it. I will keep the Carmine System under wraps. That will make my case a lot harder, but I think I can manage."

Jovy smiled at Ves. "It is good to see that you are still confident. Let us move on to the third day. This is the most decisive moment for you, because the central topic is to determine whether living mechs should be allowed to proliferate without changing any rules, or whether we should impose restrictions regarding their sale and usage."

"Who do you refer to with 'we', exactly? Do they even have the power to enforce their judgment?"

"We will get to that later, Ves. For now, just assume that they can definitely enforce their rule throughout human-occupied space. There are at least three possible outcomes to the public inquiry. The most ideal outcome that you should be striving for is to maintain the current status quo. Living mechs can be sold without any official restrictions. It is up to the consumers to make their own judgment about whether they want to make use of mechs that can develop human-like intelligence and autonomy one day."

"How likely will we be able to secure this outcome?"

"No one can tell you that, Ves. There are too many interests and too many variables in play to make an accurate assessment."

"I see."

"The second possible outcome is that the opponents will impose partial restrictions on the use of living mechs. This can range from suspending their sales in certain zones, to forcing you to prohibit your living mechs from promoting to third order living mechs."

"What?!"

Ves grew so outraged that he stood up from his seat, causing Lucky to be startled.

"Meow!"

"I will not deliberately cripple my living mechs, especially when the only reason to do so is to placate the fears of ignorant people. My products are not killer AIs waiting to exterminate humanity the first chance they get! They are our partners, our helpers and maybe even our family. Making them smarter and more autonomous is only meant to help our troops, not hinder them in any way."

"We know that, Ves, but not everyone is able to accept this claim of yours. If the public inquiry proceeds so badly that your arguments hold no sway anymore, then the worst case scenario may happen."

"And that is…?"

"The total suspension of sales of your living mechs." Jovy slowly responded. "On top of that, a recall of all of your living mechs that are in private hands. Not all living mechs will be recalled if this verdict is made. You can probably allow your clan to keep making use of your products. Our Association operates outside of normal boundaries, so we can keep your living mechs as well if we have any. The real setback is that you will no longer be able to sell your living mechs to general clients and customers. You can still sell other mechs to customers, but you will only be permitted to do so if your products do not contain any of the properties deemed objectionable."

"How… how likely will this happen?"

"The chance is low, but not impossible. If I were in your shoes, I would develop a contingency plan based on this possible outcome."