The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5760 Master Cantor’s Lecture

The opposition looked a lot more composed than before.

The recess had done them a lot of good. They received enough time to figure out their individual stances and formulate new arguments.

This was a little problematic for Ves as he was no longer able to figure out their thoughts.

His prior talks with the various representatives had given him a decent understanding of where they were coming from. That was until Astrid Jameson detonated a bomb that scrambled everything.

As people started to swim back to their respective places and seats, it became clear that there was a lot more tension in the water.

The stakes had been raised. The public inquiry no longer remained confined to living mechs anymore. It seemed as if it also turned into an initial referendum towards cultivation.

This was why the amount of people tuning into the broadcast had skyrocketed. Even an idiot living in a backwater third-rate colonial state could understand the implications of cultivation.

In a dwarf galaxy where the numerically superior native aliens exerted a huge amount of pressure onto red humanity, people were willing to chase after any opportunity to gain more power!

Both sides bore the weight of all of this attention. Ves was more than happy to oblige the people who wanted to obtain power through more exotic means. He wasn't sure whether the opposition was as eager to allow the masses to gain more power.

Once everyone had arrived, the moderator raised his hand. "The recess has expired. The session shall resume. The opposition has the word."

Out of the numerous representatives of different groups, Master Alice Cantor swam forward and placed herself in the center of the speaking pit.

Ves was afraid that she would get her turn so soon. As a representative of the Mech Supremacist Faction, Master Cantor was most suited to counter Ves' various claims about cultivation and living mechs.

The surprising turn of events may have caused her faction to fall into confusion for a time, but it clearly did not weaken her resolve. Her fiery gaze already indicated that she remained unwavering in her crusade against living mechs!

"People of red humanity." The 300-year old Master Mech Designer spoke with the gravitas that came with age and authority. "Many of you have heard shocking information about secrets that we intended to divulge on a gradual basis over the span of a decade. The existence of E energy radiation has revived several phenomena that have brought about profound changes to our race and society. We wished to avoid the spread of panic by overwhelming you with the truth all at once, but that ship has sailed. We ask for your understanding in our endeavor to protect our civilization. I can promise you that we will offer all of the clarification you need after the end of this public inquiry."

Her message was framed as an apologetic explanation, yet her firm and authoritative voice made it clear that the Red Association did not expect to be questioned or challenged about this affair.

Now that she got this out of the way, she shifted her accusing gaze right towards Ves!

"Let us get back on topic. It is public knowledge that Professor Ves Larkinson has received the support of the Red Association. That does not mean he has earned unanimous approval. There are members of our Association that have questioned the wisdom of promoting a mech designer whose works undermine the very foundation that mechs rest upon."

Where was she going with this? Ves continued to listen carefully as the old Master continued to address her audience.

"Mechs are made with a purpose. What we have withheld from you is that mechs did not originally come about to grant humanity a more controllable and efficient means of waging war. Mechs certainly have many advantages over warships, and they are growing even faster in the Age of Mechs. As much as I would like to elaborate on this subject, I can only explain one crucial advance for this session."

She silently activated a projection that displayed a familiar theoretical model. Ves had employed it in his first speaking turn.

"As you can see, the basic model of mechs is comprised of a mech and a mech pilot. Professor Larkinson is correct that mechs are not designed to stand alone, but must always be accompanied by trained mech pilots to reach their full combat potential."

A projected teaching rod extended from her wrinkly hands. The tip of the rod began to draw a circle around the two concepts.

"When a mech pilot interfaces with a mech, a unique and magnificent process occurs where the mech pilot begins to connect his mind with the electronic control systems of his much larger machine, thereby forming what is known as a Man-Machine Connection. The two have united together where the mech pilot offers his superior training and control in exchange for the massively superior strength and protection of the mech."

This was all basic mech theory so far, but Master Cantor soon began to take an unexpected turn.

"Pay attention to the protection aspect." She said as the tip of her teaching rod tapped onto the bubble that stood for the mech. "What most of you are easily able to comprehend is that mechs offer protection against all manner of damage that can easily destroy the bodies of vulnerable humans. Depending on the defenses of the mech and the magnitude of incoming material attacks, the machine can withstand all sorts of familiar attacks such as laser beams, kinetic rounds, explosions, gamma radiation, gravitic fields and more. However, what is not as obvious is that mechs can do more than that. One of the secrets that we have withheld from you is that the neural interfaces in use today are incomplete. They simplified versions of more complete variations that offer greatly superior protection against non-material threats."

What!?

Ves looked shocked, and so did everyone else! Few if any people expected Master Cantor to drop a bombshell of her own! Her revelation might not be as massive as that of Lieutenant-Commander Jameson, but it certainly had untold implications for the entire mech industry!

When Ves turned around to face his mecher advisors, neither Jovy nor Vector showed they had any clue what Master Cantor was talking about. They most definitely had not been informed that the neural interfaces built into the vast majority of mechs in use today were actually the discount versions as far as the Red Association was concerned!

The old woman who decided to hold a lecture of her own used her teaching rod to draw a bright blue circle around the concept of mech.

"This barrier is the representation of the material protection offered by the mech. Every machine that meets the definition of a mech is equipped with a combination of physical armor, energy shields, ECM, superior maneuverability and possibly more exotic forms of damage mitigation. These measures are solely designed to defend against attacks that can be produced by the enemies that you are all familiar with. In the four centuries after the start of the Age of Mechs, there has never been any significant need for alternate forms of protection that is largely based on neural interface technology. The Mech Trade Association has therefore decided shortly after its inception to withhold this aspect."

To think that there were so many mech designers and mech pilots who worked around neural interfaces without ever realizing that they were the kiddy versions meant that the MTA had succeeded in its conspiracy!

The mechers had become so successful in protecting these well-kept secrets that the lower and middle layers of their very same organization had also remained ignorant of the truth!

The question now was why the mechers deemed it necessary to uncover this buried secret. Ves had a feeling he would find out the answer very soon.

Master Cantor clearly understood the immense significance of her revelation. Any member of the mech community that had yet to tune into the broadcast did so in a hurry in order to understand what the mechers had withheld from their mechs for such a long time.

The old woman smiled. "Our organization has made a verdict to only reveal the existence of this greater functionality when numerous criteria have been met. The return of cultivation is the most vital trigger of them all. As we shall explain in a later press conference, cultivation and those who practice it pose an existential threat to our civilization. The stability of our society is at risk of crumbling due to the proliferation of so-

called cultivators whose worst impulses have been magnified by at least an order of magnitude. In order to guard and preserve our current order, we need a weapon that can not only contain these future madmen, but also protect the sanity of the mech pilots who are being placed in the frontlines of this new struggle."

Her rod tapped onto the bubble, causing it to gain an extra word.

"In contrast to the ordinary mechs that you are familiar with, true mechs are equipped with a complete version of a neutral interface. The latter may also be equipped with a number of other components that complement their distinctive capabilities, but they are otherwise identical to normal mechs."

True mechs. Ves had never heard of products that carried this distinct label. It made mechs sound much more powerful than they should.

It held greater weight to people such as Ves because it sounded similar to True Gods. Was there a solid relation between the two, or was it just a coincidence?

Amidst intense public interest, Master Cantor continued to explain what exactly defined a true mech.

"The complete neural interfaces of true mechs are capable of forming a much deeper and more intense connection between a mech and a mech pilot. I am told that the experience is so much more demanding that mech pilots must meet more stringent demands and undergo specialized training before they are allowed to pilot true mechs. In exchange for meeting the additional criteria, these pilots are able to shield their minds with the potent digital protection offered by a powerful machine."

Master Cantor's teaching rod drew a second circle around the concept.

In contrast to the bright blue circle that signified the material protection of a mech, the purple circle clearly signified protection against other kinds of threats!

"The defining characteristic of a true mech is that it offers varying degrees of non-material protection depending on the quality and the design of the complete neural interface. At its highest specifications, a true mech can protect a mech pilot against virtually every form of mental influencing, from the famous glows of Professor Larkinson's living mechs to the oppressive domain fields projected by ace pilots."

The old Mech Supremacist grinned as she drew a much larger purple circle around the combination unit of true mech and mech pilot.

"However, true mechs were not originally designed to counter the aforementioned contemporary threats. Their real purpose is to protect the mech as well as the mech pilot against the esoteric powers wielded by cultivators. As you shall discover in the future, what cultivators may lack in hard power, they make up for it with trickery and illogical abilities. True mechs can offer much greater protection against the most obscure attacks launched by cultivators, thereby forcing these dangerous individuals to resort to more straightforward and material attacks. In other words, true mechs can effectively force enemy cultivators to fight on their terms, thereby putting power-hungry criminals with delusions of grandeur at an insurmountable disadvantage!"

Ves became gobsmacked by all of the revelations.

The revelations made by Master Cantor completely took him by surprise, yet as he thought more about them, they happened to make a lot of sense!

He had always questioned how it became possible for the MTA and CFA to succeed in their rebellion against the tyrannical leaders of the Five Scrolls Compact.

The existence of these so-called complete neural interfaces and true mechs plugged an enormous hole in the story!

It turned out that the earliest iterations of mechs used to be a lot more powerful when deployed against a specific kind of threat!

Now that cultivators were about to emerge among the population on a much wider scale than any time in the past, the Mech Supremacists apparently felt it was necessary to stall the momentum of this massive trend.

According to their own principles and ideals, mechs and mech pilots must always retain their primacy over human society!