The Mech Touch

The advantage of asking for information from the managing director of a private club was that he could provide exactly what Gloriana needed.

The list of names that Director Aperson supplied to Gloriana were not only relevant, but also approachable to someone with her identity.

For example, most of the developers were either members of independent institutions or belonged to neutral groups.

There were doubtlessly more developers in Davute that worked on smart metal products as well, but they might not be willing to engage with the Larkinson Clan due to political or business reasons.

Director Levi Aperson was keenly aware of such relations. Even if few if any of this information was available in the public, his position and his resources allowed him to maintain a constant pulse on what went on at this layer of Davute's society.

Gloriana did not doubt that the contacts he provided would refuse to work with the Larkinson Clan. The only question was whether the developers could offer solutions that met her requirements.

She quickly contacted the first name on the list. In her experience, a lot of developers were quite willing to put down their work if a large or well-paying client inquired about their products.

This time was no different. The man reacted with enthusiasm and invited her over to his R&D center.

"That is not necessary." Gloriana replied over the comm. "I would like you to present your work to me at the Bronze Paradiso if possible. There are plenty of private rooms where you can explain your offerings and potentially demonstrate a sample of your work."

The reason why she declined to visit the developer's facility was because it was located in a city on the other hemisphere of the planet.

Once she ended the call, she contacted the next name on the list. She made a similar request as before and scheduled a meeting with the second developer at a different time slot.

Soon enough, Gloriana filled up her entire afternoon schedule with numerous appointments. She planned to listen to the sales pitches of all of the people she contacted before she was willing to make any further decisions.

She didn't really care whether the developers stumbled upon each other and discovered that they weren't the only ones that Gloriana approached.

"It will be better if they are aware of the competition." She smirked.

Smart metal systems were famously expensive. This largely reduced their appeal and made it difficult for developers to obtain more funding. Without enough money, how could these developers afford all of the expensive materials and lab equipment to invent better products?

It was for this reason that many of the people that Gloriana contacted earlier eagerly dropped what they were doing so that they could prepare for their upcoming sales pitch. They did not mind at all that they needed to meet their client at the Bronze Paradiso rather than welcoming her to their own workplaces.

Although it was a lot easier for Gloriana to examine some of the latest and most interesting smart metal products that the developers were working on, this was merely an initial exploration. It was already enough for her to learn the basics.

If none of the smart metal systems available in Davute satisfied her requirements, then she wouldn't waste any further time with the local developers. She would rather reach out to other parties who were located in another star system or zone.

Her first appointment was scheduled to start in several hours, so Gloriana passed the rest of the morning by socializing and befriending the other club members who had visited the Bronze Paradiso at this early time.

She met and talked about various matters with dozens of mech designers, researchers and industrialists.

There were little to no mech pilots present at this moment as they typically trained and performed their duties at this time.

She finally bid goodbye to a fellow mother and mech designer and entered a private room where a man in a lab coat already awaited her arrival.

The developer perked up when she arrived and eagerly shook her hands.

"Hello, madame. I am grateful that you have taken an interest in my work. Let me introduce myself to you. I am Rezen Makeorim, an associate professor at the Davute University of Technology. I am also a developer operating under the umbrella of Seifer Microtechnologies."

"What do you mean by the latter, exactly?" Gloriana asked. "It does not exactly sound as if you are working for the latter company."

"That is correct." Professor Makeorim replied. "Seifer Microtechnologies is an independent research institution that offers support and conveniences to independent researchers and developers such as myself. We still retain full ownership of everything we create, but Seifer is entitled to receive a share of the earnings should we succeed in monetizing our work."

"That sounds like a useful arrangement to smaller developers such as yourself. However, since you possess the qualifications of a professor, it should not be difficult for you to found your own company. Why not do that instead?"

Professor Makeorim sighed. "It is complicated. It is difficult to become truly independent in an environment like this. I am already satisfied with my current arrangement. Seifer Microtechnologies is affiliated with the Davute University of Technology and therefore carries enough weight for me to pursue my research and development projects without too many hindrances."

"Let us move on to exploring your products." Gloriana said as she recalled that she also had other appointments. "I have already informed you of my purpose and what I am looking for. I have heard that you have recently succeeded in developing a variation of smart metal that can be strengthened by supplying it with additional energy."

"That is correct." The professor smiled as he activated a projection that showed the partial design of a new nanomachine. "My Electra-Vizmar Smart Armor System is an enhanced take on the concept of smart armor. Different from ordinary smart armor that is either made entirely of nanomachines or use them to form solid armor plating on demand, the protection that my EVSAS can be amplified by up to 347 percent if you supply it with maximum power!"

Normal smart metal systems always needed a supply of energy in order to remain operational. It was not unusual for them to become a bit stronger and more useful when fed with additional energy, but there were always limits to this effect.

Nanomachines were extremely tiny and could never handle a high amount of current running through their relatively fragile structures.

However, Professor Makeorim defied this convention by spending his time on developing a new type of nanomachine that could tolerate a lot more energy than before!

"By combining the wonderful properties of a new form of exotic that is native to the Red Ocean with the technologies that I have mastered, I have successfully incorporated the new exotic in stronger nanomachines that can not only strengthen the linkages between them, but also resist electromagnetic attacks to a considerably greater degree. Powerful electric shocks will no longer damage it as badly as other smart metal mechs!"

Gloriana's eyes twinkled with interest. This feature alone already sounded a lot more useful than many other market offerings!

"Does your new EVSAS also offer improved resistance against directed energy attacks such as laser beams and positron beams?"

The associate professor shook her head. "They do, but their improvement in this area is relatively limited. Directed energy weapon attacks are too concentrated and it is challenging to spread out the damaging energies over a larger volume."

"How much heat does your EVSAS produce and how much can it tolerate before it reaches a limit?"

"The heat tolerance and capacity of my smart armor system are quite high." The professor confidently stated. "However, I must also mention that the efficiency of my first-generation EVSAS is not substantially better than other smart armor systems. As long as you supply maximum power to this system, its nanomachines will rapidly heat up and speed up their decay. You will have to replace and replenish the worn-out nanomachines on a regular basis if you make frequent use of this feature."

That did not sound ideal to Gloriana.

"Are there any special resources or equipment requirements to replenish any lost nanomachines?"

"It is not that difficult to renew the EVSAS. It can cannibalize any older nanomachines and reuse much of the materials to build new nanomachines. However, if the mech that utilizes my smart armor has lost a limb or suffered so much battle damage that it lost half of its frame, then you will need to supply a large amount of fresh resources to fully restore the EVSAS. It also needs to be supplied with an abundant amount of energy to produce the new nanomachines."

Gloriana continued to ask more questions about Professor Makeorim's new smart armor system. She gained a good understanding of the upsides and downsides of the EVSAS.

Of course, all of this was based on the premise that Professor Makeorim told Gloriana the truth without any omissions or distortions.

It was impossible to determine how much of his story was accurate, but Gloriana did not believe that anyone would hoodwink her. She not only knew her craft well, but also possessed her own means of determining the sincerity of other people.

The meeting finally ended after an hour had passed. Gloriana was reasonably satisfied with what she learned and finished making mental notes with her implant.

Both Gloriana and Professor Makeorim shook hands once again before the latter returned to Seifer Microtechnologies.

"I will analyze and discuss what I have learned about your EVSAS with my fellow mech designers before deciding whether it is a good fit for my expert mech design project. I will notify you of our decision within a week."

"I eagerly await your response."

In truth, Gloriana already crossed out the EVSAS. While it indeed offered a lot of strengthening, any expert mech that was based on this technology would be heavily burdened in terms of heat and energy management.

If Venerable Vincent made liberal use of the smart armor's powered mode, his C-Man would not only grow extremely hot, but also run out of steam after a short amount of time!

This was not necessarily a reason to reject the EVSAS right away. Gloriana could accept these limitations as long as the C-Man turned into an invincible powerhouse for the short time it was dueling against a more powerful expert mech.

What Gloriana couldn't accept was that EVSAS was much more geared to resist energy attacks.

While EVSAS was still capable of resisting a lot of gauss rounds or blows inflicted by melee weapons, it did not possess an inherent bonus in this aspect.

This was a shame because the C-Man was a melee expert mech that would most likely get challenged the most when fighting against other expert melee mechs!

While ranged expert mechs also posed a considerable threat against the C-Man, as long as Venerable Vincent's machine got close, there was no way that the vulnerable ranged machines could put up a serious fight at this range!

"Maybe EVSAS can still be useful in other situations."

Gloriana imagined the C-Man carrying a shield formed out of EVSAS that could help the expert mech survive a barrage of ranged attacks.

Once the C-Man no longer needed to rely on the EVSAS shield's enhanced protection against energy attacks, the nanomachines could break apart and turn into an additional layer of armor that allowed the mech to resist more attacks without significantly impacting its movements.

"Hmmm, I will think about it later after I have heard every pitch."

There may be a developer who created a better implementation of the same concept. If one smart metal specialist had access to an exotic that possessed special interactions with energy, then there were bound to be others who explored the same possibilities!

"Next!"

A woman wearing a smart red business suit strode into the room. It was time for the next smart metal developer to present her work!