The Mech Touch

Chance Bay was a remarkable settlement. Despite its short history and relatively recent colonization, the modest-sized moon had become a hub of trade, tourism and entertainment for many second-raters.

Its surface was completely covered by urban development interspersed with carefully manicured parks. Office buildings, condominiums, warehouses and trade centers were everywhere. They not only occupied the ground, but also floated in the air, producing a magical environment where flight was essential to enjoy everything that Chance Bay had to offer!

Everything was artificial. Vulit XIV-B originally started out as an unremarkable ball of rock that orbited a gas giant, but the MTA thoroughly intervened so that it could support human life.

Its gravity level had been brought close to standard gravity while it had gained an atmosphere that almost perfectly replicated the air of Old Earth.

To Ves, accomplishing these transformations was an immense, expensive and time-consuming endeavor.

To the MTA, it was as easy as pie.

One common feature to every settlement in the Vulit Star Node was that the MTA and CFA monitored everything. Although no one said it out loud, privacy simply didn't exist in their turf and any measly attempts to block their eavesdropping such as deploying a signal jammer was like using a sheet of paper to block a laser beam.

For this reason, conducting shady business in places like Vulit was an extremely bad idea!

Ves liked it, though. After his experiences on planets such as Kesseling VIII and Prosperous Hill VI, he had grown a considerable phobia towards spending time on any planet without sufficient protection.

He promised to himself that he wouldn't descend onto another planet if he couldn't bring an adequate escort or was forced to entrust his safety to third parties.

There was an exception, though.

While Ves did not fall for the illusion that the MTA and CFA were neutral and infallible, he at least trusted their credibility when it came to matters like these. There was a reason why they charged expensive fees and taxes, and it wasn't just because they were greedy for money!

When the expeditionary fleet parked at an extremely high orbit of the gas giant, the Larkinsons began to relax for the first time in many months.

Of course, that didn't mean that everyone could leave at once and leave their precious capital ships unattended. It was also expensive to reside and partake in many different activities that Chance Bay had to offer.

The clan administration formed a rotation schedule where each batch of Larkinsons had to wait their turn until they could go down in order to enjoy their shore leave.

There were also other clansmen who went down to the surface to conduct business instead of looking for enjoyment.

Ves and Gloriana decided to go down in order to do both. They certainly had to address the priorities of the Larkinson Clan, but they had been working so hard lately that they also needed a proper vacation.

What Ves was looking forward to was to broaden his horizons and see what the people who came from the other parts of the old galaxy had to offer. He always gained inspiration from witnessing different possibilities and going through new experiences.

His wife didn't think that much. Her design approach was less dependent on innovation and more reliant on gradual improvement.

She just wanted to enjoy a good time with her husband while taking along their daughter for her first proper field trip.

A single armored shuttle exited the hangar bay of the Spirit of Bentheim and calmly followed the instructions from traffic control.

After landing on the spaceport and going through a redundant security check, the couple along with their baby floated out of one of the exits and beheld the daytime view of a metropolis that went on without end.

"So this is what rich people do with all of their money." Ves remarked.

"Even Centerpoint is inferior." Gloriana said.

She had lived in Centerpoint for a time, so she was already accustomed to the extreme living standards of the mechers.

Every settlement in Vulit was better than the majority of settlements in the old galaxy. The MTA put real effort into developing each and every planet or colony it controlled and it showed.

From starship-sized buildings floating in the air to rivers winding through the air, Ves was appalled by the sheer amount of energy being expended just to keep everything aloft.

Sure, there were plenty of structures that remained rooted to the ground, but it was obvious that the air structures held all of the true attractions.

The sheer display of wealth might not be a big deal for Gloriana, but Ves still wasn't used to these sights. He gaped for a minute before Aurelia began to babble in Gloriana's embrace.

"Wuuu… gagabooboo…"

"This is a city, my dear. Doesn't it look great?"

Their infant daughter paid more attention to her mother than the grand city around them.

"…Miew…"

Mana was about to crawl out of Aurelia's head, but Alexandria emerged from Gloriana in invisible form and made sure to keep the spiritual kitten in place.

With the MTA's ubiquitous monitoring system recording everything, it was not convenient for the Larkinsons to show off their remarkable spiritual applications!

"Meow."

"Miaow."

Lucky and Clixie were much calmer despite the new environment. Both cats floated in the air behind the human couple. Lucky was able to rely on his own features to fly but Clixie needed to wear a special pet harness in order to do the same.

After making sure that Aurelia and Mana were okay, the couple gradually floated forward.

Neither of them showed any worry about dropping to the ground. Even if their anti-grav clothes malfunctioned, Chance Bay was riddled with gravitic systems that specifically looked out and protected anyone from falling to their deaths.

Of course, the parents applied special precautions just to be sure. They never joked around when it came to their safety or the safety of their child.

Since the couple weren't planning to conduct any official business today, both of them dressed nicely but casually today. Numerous honor guards wearing understated suits maintained a discrete distance around the pair.

Although Chance Bay was completely safe, that didn't mean that its people were immune to getting bothered by random people. There were all kinds of personalities visiting the place. Clashes between different cultures were fairly common in the Red Ocean for that reason.

"Look at all of these people and how they dress." Gloriana said as she gazed at the others flying through the air. "You can really tell they came from all over the old galaxy."

There were people wearing heavy trench coats while tying their long hair into ponytails.

There were women who wore masculine suits but put up so much makeup on their faces that they began to resemble clowns.

There were bands of soldiers who wore their full military dress uniforms, complete with rows of full-sized medals that extended all of the way onto their pants.

Ves even spotted a genuine catholic bishop wearing an archaic black outfit complete with a short shoulder cape.

The flying bishop drew ugly stares from a nearby group of punk-like cyborgs with mohawk haircuts.

"Go back to the Milky Way, you old geezer! Your savior doesn't belong in the Red Ocean!"

This was just a fraction of what was happening. Although the multi-dimensionality of the city gave people plenty of space from each other, Ves realized that there was actually an immense amount of people flying about.

If they were all forced to walk on the ground, then multiple people had to stack on top of each other in order to fit!

Ves didn't even try to calculate how much revenue the MTA was earning from these visitors. He just wondered whether the Larkinson Clan could replicate this liveliness aboard the Vivacious Wal on a smaller scale.

"Where do you want to go first, Ves?" Gloriana tugged his arm. "Chance Bay has a lot of attractions, but we can't visit all of them. We need to make the most out of our short vacation."

"I know. I already have a number of destinations in mind, but there is one place that I'm sure that the both of us would like to visit."

"What's that?"

"The Masterwork Gallery."

Gloriaana's eyes instantly lit up. "Good choice!"

The museum and exhibition hall was situated three-hundred kilometers away from the main spaceport, so it was impractical for the Larkinson couple to reach their destination at their current flight speed.

They instead boarded a sky train that was exactly as it sounded. The couple booked a first-class cabin and enjoyed the luxurious furnishings for a while until the vehicle finally reached the district where the famous gallery was situated.

Once he emerged back into open air, Ves noticed that this part of Chance Bay was a lot more upscale than before. The structures were smaller but much more expensive and beautiful. Traffic was also a lot less, particularly down on the ground.

Just like in any other multidimensional city, all of the poorer people stayed on the ground where all of the cheaper venues were located. Even if they possessed antigrav clothing, it was useless for them to fly because none of the structures floating up high were affordable!

Only richer people such as Ves and his wife possessed enough capital to stay in the air. No matter the culture, the people who confidently roamed the skies of Chance Bay possessed more refined demeanors. A fair number of them were even accompanied by their own entourage of bodyguards.

"Look, the Masterwork Gallery is up there!"

Ves stared in the direction that his wife was pointing towards and spotted a large castle in the distance.

As the group flew closer, Ves became surprised to see that the structure was actually a masterwork in itself!

He could see and feel a portion of the essence that its architect and builder had put into the magnificent palace.

As a floating white structure, it did not feature a traditional layout but took full advantage of the lack of a defined direction. Different spires and towers jutted out from the top and bottom side, creating the illusion that the palace was mirrored.

The closer the family approached the mirrored palace, the more Ves was able to leverage his own understanding of masterworks to glean out the details of this structure.

Ves had the sense that the creator of this magnificent building wanted to provide proper accommodation to all of the masterwork mechs and other magnificent creations it was privileged to exhibit.

The visitors of the gallery were incidental in comparison. It was as if the architect set out to make a temple where paying customers turned into the supplicants of the masterworks!

"Interesting."

The extravagant masterwork palace along with the ability to stuff it full with masterworks showed that its owners were wealthy and powerful.

This wasn't a surprise, as many venues in Chance Bay were operated on the behalf of various mechers.

After Ves and Gloriana had their fill of admiring the exterior of the resplendent building, they approached the entrance and passed through the massive gates.

For an attraction that definitely possessed an enormous appeal to mech designers and other creative professionals, the amount of traffic inside was quite modest.

Ves only noticed a couple of dozens of visitors lingering in the large foyer. When a receptionist bot approached his group and listed out the ticket prices, he understood why such an impressive place attracted so few tourists.

"These prices are extortionate!"

A typical visitor had to pay as much as 20 MTA credits to purchase a standard day ticket.

20 MTA credits!

Although the number itself sounded trivially low, the currency was incredibly high-end!

When converted into a more familiar currency, a standard ticket was priced approximately 3,800,000,000 hex credits!

That was equivalent to the price of a normal second-class combat carrier in the old galaxy!

"Ugh…"