The Mech Touch

\"Miaooooow! Miaoooow!\"

Cats. Cats everywhere. As soon as Ves touched down at the busy spacepart with his entourage in tow, he immediately confronted hundreds of free range cats!

The entire spaceport adopted a very friendly cat theme. Smiling animated cats projected all over the place delighted the children of the families that had just begun their vacation.

Of course, many families also brought their own cats along. Organic cats, mechanical cats and virtual cats all meowed at each other as if they were chatting to each other like humans!

Strangely enough, Lucky refused to partake in the pointless exchange of meows. Like an emperor among peasants, the gem cat merely stuck up both his head and his tail as if he awaited the adoration of lesser cats!

...

Unfortunately, hardly any cat acknowledged Lucky’s existence! This was an absolute travesty to him! Didn’t these cats realize that an eminent example of their kind was among them? Did they just dismiss him as if he was a common house cat?!

\"MEOOOOOWWW!!!\"

Ves dinged Lucky’s flank with his knuckle. \"Pipe down, Lucky. Don’t cause a disturbance here. There are kids around and lots of security to ensure nothing spoils their fun!\"

Amidst all the bright visuals and friendly cats, a lot of guards and bots patrolled the halls in order to keep the peace.

Naturally, none of the guards wore intimidating suits of armor. Instead, they wore bright uniforms with cartoonish cats depicted across their surface. Every security guard maintained a smile or at least a friendly demeanor in order to present a happy facade. Even their weapon had been designed to resemble cat-themed toys!

\"Don’t mistake these guards as weaklings.\" Nitaa warned them all. \"The men who guard a busy spaceport like this one are skilled in many different areas. Not only that, but they are very perceptive and can spot anyone that poses a threat to public safety.\"

Crindon nodded in agreement. \"Even their weapons are deceptively capable. All the extra components shaped like cat limbs or cat tails are additional modules supporting alternate firing modes. They can discharge a variety of both lethal and non-lethal projectiles.\"

\"Can you guys relax?\" Gavin complained. \"We’re here for a holiday, right? There’s no reason to assess the strength of the guards!\"

\"Benny is right. I know you’re just doing your jobs, but don’t look too jumpy.\"

Compared to Nitaa and Crindon who were warily looking everywhere for potential threats, the two nobles who accompanied them looked much more at ease.

\"Thanks for bringing us along, Mr. Larkinson.\" Imon Ingvar said. \"Staying cooped up on the Ion Tracker for months on end is not how I envisioned my first mercenary mission.\"

Casella Ingvar whacked her brother’s side. \"You should be lucky that nothing has happened! We’re still earning our pay even if we never have the opportunity to fight. Our presence alone serves as a deterrence!\"

The group slowly moved out of the spaceport and took a cat-shaped transit vehicle that brought them straight to a nearby city.

Not surprisingly, Ves stood out from the crowd. Most visitors consisted of Sentinel commoners or middle-class foreigners looking to experience something novel and different.

While Ves did spot people with means at the spaceport, they were few and far between. The Eron Continent held very little attraction to power-hungry people who desired to enhance their reputation and prestige! Hugging friendly cats all day was not going to do their stature any good!

\"Mr. Larkinson, can I ask you a question?\" Imon asked.

\"Sure.\"

\"Why did you decide to visit the Eron Continent?\"

Ves smiled. \"Why not?\"

\"Eron is just for kids and cat lovers. There’s nothing related to combat or mechs going on here!\"

\"Exactly. Before I visit the Asco Continent in order to try my luck, I want to see the other sides of Felixia first. If the cat on my shoulder isn’t obvious enough, let me tell you that I adore cats!\"

In truth, he liked dogs and other animals as well, but right now he wanted to maintain the act of a cat person!

Fortunately, Felixia made it really easy for people to love their cats.

Even now, various photogenic cats lounging in the cat-shaped vehicle lounged on the laps of delighted passengers. Children, women and even men couldn’t help but surrender at the cuteness emanated by the friendly cats. Lots of squeals and petting ensued!

Just as a white long-haired persian cat neared their seats was about to hop onto Ves’ lap, Lucky suddenly hissed.

\"Meow!\"

\"Maw!\"

The persian cat jumped like a frightened kitten and immediately bolted through a small cat-sized tunnel beneath the seats! His fluffy white tail snaked through the gap like a withdrawing snake!

\"Why did you do that, Lucky?\"

\"Meow.\"

\"I pet you practically every day! I’m not your exclusive property, you know. Sometimes I’d like to touch real fur instead of your bony hard shell!\"

\"Meow!\"

Ves could only admit defeat against his unyielding cat. Lucky often acted aloof when they were by themselves, but now that Ves visited an entire planet filled with cats, his pet suddenly turned into a jealous husband!

Gavin and some of the others tried to stifle their laughs and hide their amusement.

\"Seriously though, I’m also visiting Eron for another reason.\" Ves explained to his group. \"There’s a lot of pets and services related to genetic modification for sale. Both cats and humans undergo a lot of changes every day.\"

\"Are you interested in getting cat ears or something, boss?\"

\"My genome can’t take anymore additions. It’s already highly optimized and adding different organs will just mess that up. I merely want to take in the sights and see how popular these services are. I think genetic modification is making a resurgence again.\"

Truly, catgirls and catboys thoroughly redeemed the awful reputation that genetic modification once acquired during the latter days of the Age of Conquest!

A couple of them were even not too far away in the transit vehicle! Their distinctive cat ears decked with fur in the same color as their hair attracted a lot of envious glances from the other passengers!

Once the vehicle arrived at its destination, the passengers arrived at a parking zone that lay right in the middle of a bright and beige-colored city!

Trees, nooks, boxes and lines stretching over their heads provided a myriad of places for cats to saunter or doze upon. Meows echoed throughout the streets as thousands of cats played with themselves or the gleeful visitors who bought various toys and snacks from the nearby vendors.

\"So many cats...\" Gavin emptily muttered. \"This is a cat lover’s heaven!\"

To Ves, he felt as if he entered a cartoon version of a city. Almost everything took on a cat theme as even the cleaning bots looked like mechanical cats!

\"Look Lucky, unlike you, your cousins are being productive! You could learn a thing or two about them and be more useful for once!\"

\"Meow!\"

Lucky angrily swatted his head with his tail. It was a travesty to equate him to a cleaning bot!

\"Oh come on, lighten up, Lucky! This planet should be paradise for you! Go play around for a while!\"

Ves grabbed Lucky’s body off his shoulder and placed him on a raised perch shaped like a large cat bed. An organic feline meowed in curiosity as Lucky suddenly dropped.

\"Miaow..?\"

\"Meow!\"

\"Miaow!\"

The organic cat jumped on Lucky and both creatures quickly started to wrestle around!

Ves led the others away while Lucky became engrossed in teaching the other cat a lesson!

\"Is it okay to leave Lucky behind?\" Gavin asked.

\"It’s fine. Don’t you see the others letting their pets run all over the place? Eron is a place where all cats can indulge in themselves, not just the ones who were born and raised here from the start.\"

If Ves wanted to interact with other cats, having a jealous and possessive companion like Lucky around made it very difficult for him to do so!

Indeed, once Lucky got distracted by all of the pleasures that Felixia had to offer, Ves managed to pick up pleading cats and hugged them without any interruption.

Even some of his other companions had become swayed by all the fuzzy cuteness surrounding them. Imon held a bright green cat exobeast with two tails while Casella cuddled with a larger tiger-striped house cat.

\"You know, a part of me wants to live here forever. There’s an endless amount of cats to play and cuddle with!\" Gavin exclaimed as he lifted a hefty maine coon in his arms. \"Do you notice the lack of outside transmissions? Eron is completely cut off from the worries and troubles of the outside galaxy. I can’t even access the galactic net from my comm.\"

Their comms only connected to the planetary network. Only the most urgent messages got sent through, and to receive other messages the guests had to visit a specialized comm center. Ves recognized this as a deliberate measure to provide their guests with an uninterrupted cat experience.

\"I feel the same way, Benny. If House Laterna didn’t prohibit companies from setting up shop in their star system, I would have been tempted to move my headquarters here as well!\"

The Eron Continent’s cat attractions thoroughly won over their hearts. The sheer amount of cuteness in sight overruled their previous conceptions. The sheer energy the surrounding people spent on the cats was like a charged atmosphere that encouraged even the most skeptical people to begin adoring the fluffy, innocent animals!

\"Cat ears! Get your organic cat ears here! Get the latest model, they’ll last for decades!\"

Ves turned his attention to a number of stalls selling cultivated cat ears and cat tails of all things. Out of curiosity, he approached one of them and browsed at the items for sale.

\"Nyaaaaah, hey there, customer!\" A cute teenage salesgirl greeted him from the other side of the stall. Her maroon tail twitched excitedly behind her back while her twin pointed cat ears perked upwards. \"Would you like to sample the latest products developed from our labs, nyaah? Felixia’s best geneticists have poured countless hours to develop the best, safest and most responsive organic cat attachments in the star sector! They’re completely functional while remaining completely removable, nyaaaaaaah!\"

\"Is that what you’re wearing right now?\" Ves curiously asked.

\"Nyaaaah!\"

\"Is that a yes or a no?\"

The girl puffed up her cheeks. \"Who do you think I am, nyaah? As a born and raised Felixian, of course my cat attachments are real! See?!\"

She sharply tugged at her cat ears, causing her to yelp. \"Nyaaah! It hurts!\"

\"Okay, okay, no need to hurt yourself!\" Ves raised his palm. He couldn’t bear to see a cute catgirl in pain! \"Do you have a pair of ears that match my hair color?\"

\"Oh, we do, but you’d look even better with different colors, nyaah!\"

\"No thanks. I’m too old for that. Give me the black ones.\"

The catgirl seller pulled out a box from underneath the stall and opened them up to show off two, furry cat ears laying dormant while hooked up to some sort of cultivating machine to keep them alive and healthy.

The catgirl took the ears out of the box and gestured Ves to lean over, which he did. Once his head came within reach, the salesgirl expertly placed them on top of his head.

The bottom side of the cat ears did not press against his hair but weaved through them instead. Ves felt as if two squirming tentacles stuck themselves on the top of his head. It was a slightly unnerving situation, but the sensation quickly passed.

Surprisingly, once the black-furred cat ears finished settling in, his eyes widened in surprise as he actually started hearing sounds from his cat ears!

Not only that, but his range of hearing expanded to a range beyond the human norm! He heard various sounds in the air that he previously couldn’t hear but were as obvious as day to cats!

\"These ears are amazing!\"

\"Nyaaah! Of course they are!\" The catgirl grinned. \"They’re the latest and most premium products that came from our labs! They contain their own auditory processing organs and are able to transmit their sensory data to your head through safe, non-invasive, organic and remote transmission! Nyaah!\"

\"Wow.\"

\"If you think this pair of ears are already great, you should consider implanting them permanently on your head, nyaaah! If you become like me, your sense of hearing will improve at least five-fold!\"

Ves became seriously tempted at the offer!