The Mech Touch

Though Ves was both impressed and horrified by what he learned, he still retained enough awareness to know that this was all a deliberate ploy.

By exposing his superior technological prowess and capabilities, the Xenotechnician made a powerful show of force.

Ves no longer dared to dismiss this old and eccentric geezer as a senile old man who had fallen behind the times.

It was foolish to underestimate and dismiss any Star Designer to begin with. Though the Xenotechnician had made the weakest and most pathetic impression during the opening speeches on the first day, that did not mean that he was any less competent!

The Xenotechnician did more than strengthen his own impression.

By demonstrating his ability to circumvent his colleague's security measures with apparent ease, he had also managed to diminish the aura of invincibility that the Polymath had steadily accrued!

For all of her confidence and clever plans, the Polymath was not without her flaws. Her blindspots and weaknesses sounded serious enough to put her judgment into question.

Now that the Xenotechnician had made his point, he proceeded onto actual business.

"I have to admit that I did not fully understand the value that you can bring to the Polymath and society at large. I scheduled this meeting after hers with the express intention to learn what she seeks from a curious Senior like yourself. I must say that I am pleasantly surprised by what I have managed to learn. Our own intelligence documents on you and your organization have gone through great lengths to underplay these 'kinship networks' of yours. The Polymath and her subordinates have done their best to protect you and keep their knowledge of your greater works to themselves. What they have done is not quite proper, but it is of no consequence now that I have been brought into the loop."

The Xenotechnician sure had a penchant for disparaging his fellow Survivalists and mechers. The man showed so little concern about all of the damage his words could do that Ves had grown numb by what he heard.

"I... am not sure about what you know about kinship networks." Ves cautiously replied. "I have no knowledge about the efforts that certain mechers have taken to keep it hidden. I did forge a general understanding between myself and both the Survivalists and the Transhumanists to protect my work and fend off any unwelcome interests from other parties."

The Xenotechnician nodded. "That is a wise course of action. You have managed to produce a remarkable amount of revolutionary and disruptive inventions that pose a great threat to the interests of too many stakeholders. Times have changed, however. Our entire race is pressed against a wall. If we do not employ our best solutions in the best possible capacity, then we will all go extinct. On that, I find myself agreeing with the Polymath."

Ves blinked. So the Xenotechnician was able to get along with his much younger peer on at least a few issues.

"The Polymath has a clear idea on how she wants to make use of my kinship network, Your Excellency. 1 am not sure what you have in mind. Do you want to form your own kinship network that is centered around yourself?"

"Ah, no." The much older mech designer immediately responded. "1 am ideologically opposed to an excessive concentration in power. I object to her plan as I do not think it behooves our race to be subjected to the rule of a solitary authority figure. That said, I am not principally opposed to the use of your kinship networks. They purportedly come with many benefits that can increase the cohesion and confidence of entire population groups. I am of the opinion that we can strike a more comfortable balance by setting up multiple kinship networks of roughly equal strength. In this way, we can take advantage of their benefits while simultaneously preventing any form of abuse from dooming our entire civilization. The rival kinship networks can also keep each other in check."

Ves actually found this alternative a lot more palatable than the proposal made by the Polymath.

Putting her in charge of everything sounded like a disaster in the making. Too much could go wrong, and if anything was directly related to the Star Designer, there were too few people that could stop her from overreaching!

Spreading more kinship networks around would be like doing what he had already done, but on a much wider scale.

Yet that was not the extent to the Xenotechnician's plan.

The old man started to grin like a shark as he leaned forward and stared directly into Ves' eyes.

"Let me ask you a question. These kinship networks of yours... according to the intelligence that I have only recently perused, they encompass more than humans, is that correct?"

"Uh..."

"Your Larkinson Network has not only managed to forge many bonds with many of your peculiar 'living mechs', but also formed connections with all of the cats and other pets that are part of your clan! How fascinating! I cannot believe that I have not taken note of your Larkinson Clan sooner."

Of all of the possible traits that the powerful Star Designer could fixate upon, he set his sights on the fact that the Golden Cat also forged bonds with a lot of living mechs and pets.

Ves already had a good idea where the Xenotechnician intended to take this argument...

"Several days ago, Xena informed me of how we can leverage your wonderful companion spirit fruits as strategic trade goods. I agree with her assessment. My analysis on all of the major alien races leads me to the conclusion that there are multiple angles that we can take to negotiate a favorable diplomatic arrangement where we can employ your fruits as a means of guaranteeing continued cooperation. Your kinship networks can extend this strategy further."

"In what way, Your Excellency?"

"The best method to forge greater understanding between two vastly different alien races is to find more common ground." The Xenotechnician answered with a grin. "What better way to foster mutual understanding than to bring both humans and aliens into the same kinship network! Do not insult my intelligence by claiming it is impossible for this to happen. I am certain that it is technically feasible."

This suggestion did not come as a complete surprise to Ves. He already suspected that the Xenotechnician would come up with this kind of idea. It definitely lined up with his previous arguments and ideas.

That did not mean that Ves remained unaffected. He seriously questioned the wisdom of binding humans and aliens together in the first place.

There was too little trust between the two races! Right now, red humanity was at war with practically every native alien race of the Red Ocean. There was no way they could bury the hatchet and get along with each other as if neither side had spilled an enormous amount of blood in the preceding years.

The Xenotechnician already had a proposal to ease humanity into cooperating with friendly alien races!

"I am well aware of the deeply rooted biases against aliens in our society." The Xenotechnician spoke with clear disappointment in his tone. "These biases are not entirely justified. It is right to disregard the interests of the aliens around us when we are in a strong enough position to rely on ourselves to maintain our survival. That is no longer the case. If you have listened to my presentation on the first day, then you should know how heavily outnumbered we are. Converting enemies into allies is a necessary step to buy precious time for us to bolster our chances of survival. It just so happens that one particular group of humans has already laid much of the groundwork for this possible cooperation."

Ves inwardly groaned. He knew that it would come to this. The Diplomacy Plan proposed by the Xenotechnician could not circumvent the involvement of one of the most controversial groups of human dissidents to have emerged in modern times!

"Are you suggesting... that I should bestow a kinship network to the cosmopolitans first?"

"My plan entails more than that, Professor Larkinson. I suggest that we should give the cosmopolitans the right to add friendly alien collaborators to their own network. By gradually expanding this kinship network with both human and alien individuals, the cosmopolitans can transform their long-distressed resistance organization into a true pan-racial movement that they have always aspired to make! As long as we provide enough support to the initiative, then we stand a good chance of creating a more human-friendly counterweight to the Red Cabal!"

That... was a crazy idea!

It sounded both brilliant and radical to Ves! While most people considered the cosmopolitans to be traitorous rats that should be squashed whenever they show up, the Xenotechnician actually wanted to rehabilitate them and turn them into the vanguard of an initiative that sought to bind red humanity's fate with that of other 'friendly' human races!

Were the rumors true? Did the Xenotechnician maintain much closer ties to the Cosmpolitan Movement than anyone previously assumed?

There had to be an explanation why he was willing to overlook all of the backstabbing and acts of treachery committed by these loathsome human traitors!

"I... do not think the cosmopolitans can be trusted, Your Excellency. They are partially responsible for letting the Great Severing happen in the first place. They stole lots of human intelligence and high technologies and handed all of this sensitive information over to the aliens. A lot more deaths and a huge amount of assets have been lost due to their destructive intervention. Given everything they have done so far, why should we extend our trust towards them and turn them into the centerpiece of your Diplomacy Plan?"

"Because it is what they intended to do from the beginning." The old Star Designer replied. "The goals and motivations of the Cosmopolitan Movement are not secret. Use your logic, Professor Larkinson. While misguided, the cosmopolitans advocate for a future where the lines between humans and aliens have blurred. Multiple races must put aside their mutual differences and find a way to coexist alongside each other. The ultimate goal is to form a strong multicultural and multiracial society that combines the strengths of every race. While many people such as myself disagree with their radical and destructive methods, I cannot deny that their end solution is exactly what we need to form a stronger front against the much more concerning threats that originate from Messier 87."

It appeared that the Xenotechnician was just as concerned about the unknown but likely overwhelming threat posed by the native aliens of the nearby supergiant galaxy!

His argument made a lot of sense in this context. As far as the Xenotechnician was concerned, the ends justified the means.

If the necessary means entailed relying on a bunch of filthy cosmopolitans with a huge amount of human blood on their hands to save the rest of red humanity, then so be it! They could talk about recriminations later as long as most people get to stay alive after the cosmopolitans had done their jobs.

As much as Ves disliked this entire notion, he had to admit that the Xenotechnician truly presented a workable plan.

"Will the cosmopolitans truly agree to help the rest of humanity? I mean, they have spent so many millennia undermining us at every turn. What if they are unable to shake off this long-rooted habit? What if they have forgotten about their original mission and only wish to wipe us out for exterminating so many of their compatriots."

The old man shook his head. "Your fears are unfounded, Professor Larkinson. They are persistent, but they value their goals and ideals above anything else. They have never aspired to destroy our race. They sought to cut us down to size so that we become more amenable to forming alliances with receptive alien races. In that, they succeeded. Now that we have fallen into a heavy disadvantage, the cosmopolitans are doing the reverse."

"Wait, really?"

"Our intelligence has already observed this change in policy. The cosmopolitans have stopped providing so much overt aid to the native alien civilizations. Instead, they have begun to reach out to human organizations like ours with the express purpose of offering their assistance. It is in their best interest to facilitate our diplomacy and prevent our extinction. That is how we can be assured that we can trust them with our lives. In any case, your kinship network grants us an additional guarantee. We do not have to believe in their sincerity alone." 11 11

The cosmopolitans may have screwed their fellow humans over a lot of times, but that was in the past.

Total alien dominion was apparently not their goal, so they merrily chose to side with humanity once again to prevent one side from overpowering the other!

All of this sounded fine on paper, but Ves truly found it difficult to stomach all of this duplicity.

Could Ves truly bring himself to reward the cosmopolitans for all of the human deaths and tragedies that they had contributed towards?

There was no justice in this course of action!

If not for the fact that the Xenotechnician made a damn good case that this might actually save red humanity, Ves would rather kill every cosmopolitan on sight, much as loyal humans had done since the end of the Age of Stars!