The Mech Touch



Ves did not have to wait long for the next development to occur. A few more seconds passed by until a rippling and slightly misaligned projection appeared in front of them. It depicted a white ball that immediately started to communicate by making alien sounds!

[AWSDQ#*WR#Q*Q! ADQEWIDJIWQO#!]

"That doesn't sound so friendly, brother…"

"Quiet. Let me listen for a moment." Ves spoke.

Even though the white ball continued to screech out alien words that sounded like gibberish, Ves listened carefully without trying to miss a single word.

Other screens also appeared. They depicted a lot of dense alien writing that looked completely indecipherable.

Once the white ball stopped producing any further sounds, Ves lowered his head and looked thoughtful. He communicated with the Illustrious One as evidenced by the increased activity generated by the primordial skull that Ves still held onto all of this time.

"So did you understand anything that the white ball said?"

"Nope." Ves replied. "Neither the Illustrious One nor I understood any word spoken by this computer avatar."

"Wait, don't you excel at communication? I have witnessed you converse with many different species while ignoring the language barrier."

"That is different, sister. I communicated with them face-to-face on a spiritual level. I was speaking directly to their spirits in other words. This ancient computer system obviously isn't alive, so I can't understand it, let alone know how to operate its interface."

He half-hoped that he could solve this problem easily enough by relying on his automatic translation program. He had downloaded extensive language libraries from the MTA. They could detect and translate known alien writing and speech to an impressively accurate degree, but frustratingly enough, the database found no match.

Helena frowned. "The Illustrious One can't help either?"

"No. Don't worry. I already expected this to happen. It would be too much of a stretch to assume that this old computer system would conveniently translate all of its messages in standard human language. Let me try out a potential solution."

Ves began to split his focus and call upon the Phase King.

Though he did not summon the alien design spirit as extensively as before, the strain on his mind and spirit still rose remarkably as he was already preoccupied with maintaining the Illustrious One's presence!

There was a strong reason why Ves called upon the Phase King's assistance this time. He cleared his throat and tried to shout an alien word!

"RHHHUUUGHA!"

The white ball suddenly shook as it took in the alien word spoken. It suddenly took on a purple shade, signifying that it had suddenly changed modes!

[Wuhggguueh. Rurghwurweew. RRRRhhuuughg.]

"Did… did you just speak phase whale language?"

"Yup." Ves grinned. "I suspected it would do so. This pocket space was originally created by the phase whales. I am sure this prison facility was built under their auspices as well. It makes sense that the computer interface would respond to the language of the most powerful and most revered race of this galaxy."

"I doubt that is enough to give you access to these alien systems. Surely other aliens must have learned this language as well, including the prisoners themselves."

Now that the interface changed to phase whale language, Ves was able to verbally communicate and manipulate it a lot more effectively than before.

Even if Ves did not call upon the Phase King, he still would have been able to rely on the automatic translation program to communicate with the ancient alien interface.

As Ves exchanged a few words with the purple ball, he eventually fell silent as he kept receiving the same sounds.

"Let me guess. You need to verify your rights to gain access to the prison systems, am I correct?"

Ves sighed. "You are right. I was hoping that just pretending to be a phase whale might get me in, but it is not so simple. I need to supply a password of sorts to get through this latest security check. Even then, I suspect that I will encounter additional barriers that I am not so sure I can overcome."

"Does that mean this plan is a failure?"

"Hey, have a bit more confidence in your brother, will you? I anticipated this reaction as well. The prison's layout and construction are so tightly put together than their software and their control systems are just as well-protected. It is pointless for me to wrestle them one by one. My plan to gain control is much more direct than that. If I can't subdue this control system in the way that I am supposed to do it, then I will just tear out this annoying purple ball and replace it with my own creation!"

"What?!"

"You must have wondered what is so special about my purple luminar crystal, right?" Ves grinned as he directed a glance at his sister.

"I did…"

"Well ,the reason why I put so much effort into creating it and making it alive is because I designed it to hijack this stubborn alien control system!"

He no longer said anything further but worked together with the Illustrious One to start his assault!

The purple crystal began to exude more light and power as it followed its programming and forcefully tried to take over the alien systems!

This was anything but simple as the tech bases and the programming languages were entirely different. The only way they could communicate at all was because Ves had added in the phase whale language to his luminar crystal.

The alien computing systems did not appreciate the intrusions. The purple ball began to produce a lot more ominous noises. A large number of working crystals started to flicker and pulse in a more aggressive manner.

An entire battle took place on a virtual battlefield!

Though Helena could not see this battle directly, she could sense from Ves' mood swings and the evolving light show that the alien security systems were trying to put up a notable fight!

However, the heavily damaged state of this interface worked against it this time!

"Hahaha!" Ves laughed as he continued to coordinate the luminar crystal's activities. "These heavily damaged crystals have lost a lot of functionality, and many of them are outright missing or broken. A single lone purple luminar crystal can't fight against the surviving security measures, but it has multiple advantages including the hacking suite built into my Unending Regalia as well as the computing support of my cranial implant!"

The state of native alien computing and processing technology in the Red Ocean was much more primitive than the equivalent tech in the Milky Way.

It was one of the reasons why the Big Two's warfleets continually outperformed native forces. A notable superiority in data analysis, mathematical processing and pattern recognition allowed human warships and mechs to achieve great results while using less power.

In contrast, the alien warfleets had to rely on stupider means to overcome human forces, such as relying on a crushing numbers advantage or saturating their targets with an excess of firepower.

Although the gap between the two was rapidly shrinking due to human traitors leaking valuable technological secrets and even complete production equipment to alien civilizations, that was a problem confined to normal space.

This ancient alien prison facility was stuck in time. Its tech was horribly out of date even when Ves took the glacial technological progression of the Red Ocean into account.

Ves took great advantage of this difference in technological strength and employed more and more processing power at his disposal to crush the damaged and incomplete security systems of the control interface by force!

Nothing reflected the increasingly dire state of the alien control system by the increasingly less stable appearance of the projected purple ball.

At this time, it looked as if several invisible hands were pulling it in multiple directions, causing it to grow spikes and looking as if it was getting ripped apart!

DRUUUUUUM!

A loud but incredibly deep noise rumbled through the entire control room!

The floor shook, causing Ves' body to shake as well as his footing grew less stable.

He had the sense that an important mechanism of a device buried underneath his feet had just turned.

It could be the release of a giant mechanical lock. It could be the breakdown of an ancient computer system. It could be the activation of a hidden contingency system.

Whatever the case, Ves had the premonition that the control interface that he had been trying to access had become a lot more active after this profound but unknown change!

The projection fizzled out all of a sudden. No matter whether it was the white ball or the purple ball, the crystals no longer projected any image to Ves anymore.

Helena became more alert. "What is the matter? Did you manage to unlock it, Ves?"

"I did… well… I am not so sure." Ves frowned. "I basically overloaded the security systems and employed a lot of advanced exploits that could get me through the security checks one way or another. Just as I was about to approach the final security measure, I think I tripped an emergency mechanism. Right now, I get the feeling that it is trying to communicate with a second control room that is located on the upper floors."

"Wait, that does not sound good."

"Relax. A connection can't be established because the communication channels between the two have already decayed over the years. It is clear that this place is only a secondary control room, and that everything it does is subordinate to the primary control room. In the event that communication between the two cannot be established, this control room will assume an emergency posture and operate in a more restricted but expedient fashion. At least, that is what is supposed to happen. So many variables have changed that I don't entirely know what will happen next."

Eventually, the control system finally projected a new image.

A purple sixteen-sided orb produced an aggressive alien sound.

[WWHUUGHH WWWWWUUVVV.]

"What is it saying this time, Ves?"

His expression grew more serious. "I've reached the final identity verification check. If I cannot prove I am an authorized prison official, the security system will self-destruct and I will lose access to it entirely."

Helena grew alarmed. "Unless you can hack this system further, it will be impossible for you to overcome this test. All your work will be in vain."

"Who said anything about that? I have anticipated this outcome as well." He told her before lifting the skull in his armored hand. "Thank you, Illustrious One. I will take it from here."

The luminar design spirit cut off his connection to Ves' mind and David's skull, causing the room to lose a lot of light.

Ves did not care. Blinky immediately appeared from his head and dove right into the skull that had become a lot emptier than before!

Mrow!

As Blinky took up residence in the primordial human skull, it began to exude a lot of vitality as the Star Cat brought a strong amount of vitality!

As the skull seemingly came to life, Ves lifted it forward and barked an alien phrase with the help of the Phase King.

"RHUUUGH WUWWUZURRRRUUZ."

The room rumbled again, though not as much as before. The many-sided purple construct buzzed like it was trying to parse information that it couldn't properly process.

It suddenly disappeared, only for an elaborate projection to appear in its place.

Helena looked with astonishment as a cat of all creatures appeared!

The electronic blue cat looked familiar to her. She had occasionally seen it around Ves and other mech designers when they were engrossed in their work.

[Reporting, sir. Connections established. Crystal processors are engaging. 12.9 percent of all registered systems have been restored. Connection to the primary mainframe remains offline and is currently blocked from this end according to your instructions. Attempting to restore more systems but permissions are insufficient. In the process of subverting access. Will take 27.6 seconds to produce additional results.]

"Is that… Bygul?"

"No. He's just a pale copy of the AI avatar of my flagship." Ves shook his head. "This is a poor and inferior imitation of that advanced AI that I have stuffed in my memory banks. It is not as versatile as my original intelligent assistant, but it will do for the moment."

"What did you do, Ves?"

He grinned. "Isn't it obvious? I ripped out whatever AI system regulates and controls these systems and replaced it with my own! Modern human technology will always beat ancient and outdated alien tech! This is the power of progress, hahaha!"