The Mech Touch

"Hiding is so typical of you, Ves." She said in a patronizing tone as she patted his smooth-shaven cheek. "The truth cannot be hidden. The harder you try to suppress the obvious, the greater the blowback from doing so. You should embrace your true self and be proud of who you are. There is no reason for you to shape your decisions based on the potentially adverse reactions of your lessers. Don't forget that you aren't just a proto-god. You are also a mech designer… right?"

"I can still design mechs as usual. In fact, I've become a lot better at it. You'll see when we begin to collaborate again."

"I am looking forward to seeing how much better you have become." Gloriana happily smiled. "Hopefully, you won't make so many obvious mistakes in your work as before. Anyway, if you have become better at designing mechs, you shouldn't hold back in an attempt to hide your improvements. I cannot tell you how stupid it is to cripple your own work when it is in your nature to design better mechs. Are you truly the sort of mech designer who is content to pretend that he is worse due to societal pressure?"

"Uhhh… I get what you are saying, honey, but this is my life and career we are talking about! I only need to make one wrong move to disappear. Aren't you concerned at all about this possibility?"

She shook her head. "It will be fine. You worry too much. Haven't you developed a close relationship with the Survivalist Faction and the Transhumanist Faction for these kinds of situations? I suggest you make active use of your network to pre-empt any adverse reactions by letting the MTA handle your problems on your behalf. I am already certain that the Transhumanists will love to study your body. You've got phasewater flowing in your bloodstream, correct?"

Ves almost jumped in shock!

"How did you know that?! I never told you that, and my body should have done a good job at hiding this particular trait!"

"I have invested an extensive amount of time on studying phasewater theory. In order to accelerate my understanding of phasewater, I conducted many different experiments on it so that I can personally witness its effects. I am not a novice when it comes to phasewater."

"That doesn't tell me how you managed to sniff out that my body has phasewater." He became more frustrated. "Can you give me a straight answer on how you have come to your conclusion?"

She lifted her finger and tapped the side of her head. "I have a piece of you inside of me, remember? I am connected to you all of the time, just as you are connected to me. The difference is that I have actively trained myself to become more attuned to what this connection can bring to my life. I can spot and understand your changes better than anyone else. Together with the fact that your new glow carries a slightly familiar 'flavor' that reminds me of phasewater, it is easy for me to come to this conclusion."

She lifted her head and acted as if she was expecting Ves to praise her brilliance.

"I'm impressed." He said. "Do you think that other people will be able to figure this out as well?"

"It's unlikely, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you." She told him. "You should expect your secret to be out as soon as you meet with a delegation from the MTA. This is also why I am telling you not to bother with hiding these changes. It will all become exposed sooner or later. It is best that you do so on your terms before it is too late."

"I would prefer not to expose anything more than is necessary." He said. "I don't know how the Transhumanists will treat me once they learn what I have become. I distinctly recall that their researchers are incredibly interested in figuring out how to safely infuse phasewater into human bodies without producing horrible fatalities."

Gloriana let out a sigh in exasperation.

"You're not their test subject, Ves. You are an asset to them. Your value is so much greater than giving them a working example of how a human body can live with phasewater integrated in the body. Frankly speaking, I don't understand why you are so reticent. Human civilization is enormous and there are many transhumans that have gone through much more radical changes than you. You don't see the Big Two kidnapping and cutting up every Terran and Rubarthan in order to decipher and reverse engineer their unique and proprietary augmentations."

A memory flashed through Ves' mind. He thought back on how Master Dervidian of the Transhumanist Faction essentially forced Ves to test and display the effects of the transcendence glow to hundreds of captured Terran and Rubarthan mech pilots.

The results were quite messy and bloody as far as he recalled.

"Ehm, I don't want to base my survival on the MTA's goodwill alone. I have bad experiences with putting too much faith in authorities that decided to break the rules."

Gloriana grew serious. "Then I suggest you build additional relationships with other powerful factions. Haven't you brought our expeditionary fleet to this border region in order to search for a missing first-class scion? As long as we can find Lord Pearian Yorul-Tavik and return him to safety, we can gain an inroad into the Yorul Tavik Clan of a genuine first-rate state. That should grant you an escape route in case you have become persona non grata to the MTA."

With everything that happened as of late, Ves had genuinely forgotten about the search for Lord Pearian. The rich rewards for finding the overconfident first-class pioneer was the entire reason why this particular region of space was crawling with pioneering groups like the Gemini Family and the Adelaide Mercenary Company!

Ves had thought about pausing the Trailblazer Expedition so that he could bring his entire fleet back to the nearest port system in order to process all of their gains.

This was the safest and most prudent course of action to take, but he was afraid that another powerful pioneering fleet might beat him to Lord Pearian!

He and his fleet had already expended plenty of time on Operation Lighthouse. This was supposed to be a side activity that had somehow blown up into a massive battle of enormous proportions.

Though he had no complaints about the rewards for this operation, he was well aware that his fleet needed to head over to another pit stop.

Yet… if Ves began to harbor greater fears towards the MTA, then it became a lot more important for him to befriend at least one group of first-raters.

Now that he was thinking in this direction, he already remembered one of his encounters in his strange dream sequence.

The Common Fleet Alliance was supposed to be unfriendly territory to mech designers, but Captain Zonrad Reze sounded a lot more open-minded than many of his fellow fleeters.

The thought of cooperating with a CFA warship captain on anything sounded heretical and unholy to him, but practicality was more important than ideology.

Besides, it was not as if he needed to defect to the CFA in order to make good use of this relationship. He merely had to show to the MTA that he was on friendly terms with an up-and-coming fleeter in order to improve his negotiating position. He was tired of the mechers imposing their demands on him while giving him only scraps of MTA merits in return.

"I will think about it." He thoughtfully said to his wife. "You have made a good point, though. We shouldn't build up a dependence on a single human faction. Our civilization is greater than that. I just need to find a way to build bridges with other major factions without alienating myself from the MTA. I don't think the mechers will be happy if I start to grow chummy with the Terrans or the Rubarthans."

"We will deal with that issue once it becomes a problem. There is no need to think too far ahead." Gloriana advised.

The two began to cuddle as they talked about other important matters. Gloriana alternated between asking intrusive questions and providing him with a second opinion on many important matters.

It was times like these that Ves appreciated his wife. Her radically different background and perspective allowed her to analyze his circumstances in a different way. Her remarks always helped him gain a better understanding of his situation.

"Tell me about that secret superweapon that you have launched against the unclean whale." Gloriana demanded.

"Uhhh…"

She reached up with her suited hand and pinched his cheek. "Don't you go silent on me again. You can't get away with pushing me away again. Tell me where you got that weapon. I have rewatched the log footage so many times, but somehow I still couldn't get a clear image of what you have done. The instant transition from your old self to your new self is too abrupt, and that powerful phased projectile that launched from your lap had already turned into a blur by the time it appeared. It was as if everyone but you had suddenly frozen in time, leaving you free to move around and do a lot of work on yourself and your Unending Regalia before you finally built a compact weapon that was powerful enough to pierce the spatial barrier of the unclean whale."

"Uhhh…"

"Don't say anything more." Gloriana smirked and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "I already obtained the clues I need. Your secret is safe with me. I won't bother you any further regarding this matter. I trust you to always do what is best for us and our children. You protected us all today, and that is commendable. I'm interested in how you managed to miniaturize so much powerful technology into a handheld weapon system. How did you do it? What alien tech did you resort to in order to develop a weapon that is powerful enough to break the defenses of an expert mech? Do you have any spares that I can study?"

Sometimes, Ves wished he had married an airhead instead of a highly intelligent and observant woman.

He quickly squashed that thought. How could he entertain such a horrible idea? An airhead wouldn't be able to collaborate with him on his mech design projects.

He at least maintained his confidence in Gloriana's ability to keep up with his growth. That was one of the strongest appeals to maintaining a relationship with her. No matter how far he got ahead, his competitive wife would find a way to close the gap. This way, they would always be able to cooperate with each other as equal partners and contributors.

That was much more valuable to a mech designer than the alternatives.

Ves shook his head after hearing all of her questions. "Stop, please. You know I can't tell you much about what I have done. Besides, I don't think it will be useful to explain all of my methods to you. You have your own specialty and research interests. I suggest you spend your time on them instead."

"Hmm, I suppose you are correct…"

He knew his wife well enough that she was still interested in figuring out his methods. It was the nature of a mech designer to be curious about other people's successful implementations.

Ves needed to pay close attention to his work going forward. His wife would most certainly study his designs in the hopes of acquiring useful inspiration.