The Mech Touch

Ves had unintentionally triggered a highly contentious and acrimonious debate on the utilization of companion spirits.

Inventing it was one thing. Deciding on how to make use of it was another thing!

Although Ves did not mind it if he had to wade into this discussion under normal circumstances, what complicated it was that it also came with enormous political implications.

The Fist of Defiance and the Polymath were completely different people, but they were also powerful visionaries who possessed extremely strong opinions on how to lead red humanity in the new age.

To be fair, Ves thought that both of their arguments made a lot of sense.

On the one hand, much of red humanity actually consisted of third-raters who were largely useless in the current conflict.

From a strategic perspective, their main purpose was to provide a lot of low-level labor and resources. They could occasionally spawn superior talents for second-rate powers, but the vast majority of them remained almost entirely irrelevant in relation to the war that had engulfed the entire Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy.

Turning each of them into cultivators could completely transform their usefulness to society!

In a time where red humanity did not have the luxury to wait for better solutions, this might be the best way to slow down the increasingly more serious alien onslaught.

On the other hand, Ves found himself resonating with the vision espoused by the Fist of Defiance.

Ves had always taken a lot of risks and ventured into the less explored regions of space for riches and rewards. He made a lot of gains in his expeditions, but there were many times where he felt that those who did not take the same risks were somehow inferior to him and his clan.

The differences between his people and the general public became more and more obvious over time.

The civilians who lived in an ordinary settlement did not have the slightest clue about what true hardship looked like. Their lives were placid as they behaved like drones that never thought about moving outside of their highly structured places in society.

It was easy for the Larklnsons to look at these ordinary people with contempt. The Red Ocean offered so much wealth and opportunities, but all these colonists had done since they came here was to repeat the old routines of their original lives in a different environment!

Ves inwardly shook his head whenever his thoughts strayed in this dark direction. This was not a healthy or proper mindset. Not everyone was cut out to be a soldier or a risk taker. Even ordinary civilians had a place in society as they worked on new scientific developments and kept the factories running.

He spent so much effort climbing up the ladder that he was starting to forget his humble roots. This was a natural development brought about by a widening perspective and increasingly greater isolation from the grassroots, but it was a depressing change nonetheless.

Ves glanced at Master Henry Urbeck and Master Tolarian Cerny. Their opinions were not their own. They put voice to the thoughts and the ideals of their powerful leaders and their large base of followers.

Neither of them were entirely right or wrong. They just preferred to solve a problem in different ways.

When Ves was asked for his personal input on this issue, he found it difficult to pick a side.

He could choose not to voice an opinion, but that was a cowardly decision. Ves could not avoid politics now that he had climbed up to this height.

He took a deep breath before he issued his response.

"Exotic radiation is changing all life in the Red Ocean no matter what we decide. Our race is transforming into something completely different over time. Decades from now, red humanity may have diverged so much from original humanity that we can hardly recognize each other anymore."

"What are you trying to convey, Professor Larkinson?"

"Power will come to people for as long as Messier 87 floods the surrounding space with exotic radiation. A lot of third-raters will experience certain degrees of mutations and additional powers. Their ability to cope with them is not good. They can easily harm themselves and the people around them if they do not know what to do. Companion spirits can provide a lot of help with learning how to handle E energy radiation in a safer and more effective manner. As energy-based life forms, they are much better suited to operate in an environment with greater energy density than before."

Master Henry Urbeck frowned at those words. "So you are of the opinion that companion spirits must be given to the masses regardless of whether they are deserving of them or not. I can understand the noble sentiment behind this approach. You care about their health and wellbeing. However, your compassion will not avail us anything if our soft and benevolent policies ultimately fail to stave off total defeat."

Though the powerful Master exerted a considerable amount of pressure, Ves maintained a straight posture as he continued to voice his own opinions.

"I do not accept the premise that a single invention, no matter how life-changing it may be, can decide the life and death of red humanity. There are so many brilliant and amazing innovators among us that it is our collective efforts that will help us turn the war around. Don't get me wrong, Master Urbeck. I do not oppose the strategy that you have espoused. I do not mind cooperating with it if the Survivalists end up voting for it. I just think that with all of the changes happening around us, we should endeavor to cling to the remaining pieces of our humanity."

Those words caused the three Masters to fall silent for a number of seconds. Ves had offered a gracious response. He stuck to his own stances without fear and without nakedly sucking up to anyone.

The sincerity struck a tone in the hearts of the older mech designers.

The only female Master in the chamber broke the silence.

She had remained silent for a long time as she allowed her other two peers to collide their ideas against each other.

The Xenotechnician had a very different use in mind for companion spirits.

"I would like to ask a question, Professor Larkinson. You have already told us that you have made precautions that can prevent your fruits from being used to empower our adversaries. Are you certain that your security measures will hold? I do not think I need to explain how much of a calamity it will be when the phase whales and our other more intractable alien opponents gain the power to properly harness E energy radiation."

"It won't happen." Ves stated with confidence. "There is a... strong entity that regulates every companion spirit tree. Since she is the sole supplier of the sole type of E energy needed to make the fruits work, she can easily deny any unauthorized applications of my work."

The mention of the word 'entity' caused Xena Wintress to grow more suspicious.

"Would you like to elaborate on this key factor? Is she a human, alien, or one of your 'design spirits' that are prominently associated with your iconic products?"

"The last one." Ves honestly answered. "She may not be human, but she is fully aligned with our race. 1 am aware that it is not entirely ideal for us to rely on this factor to maintain the efficacy of our companion spirit fruits, but any solution is better than no solution."

That caused Master Wintress to offer a slight grin. "So if we make use of your companion spirit fruit trees in any capacity, our race has already begun to cooperate with an alien. You may very well be the first red human in our society to embark on cross-species collaboration that is highly beneficial to our species!"

That assertion caused everyone else to be taken aback!

Ves never regarded this work in this light! No matter whether it was his mech designs or his companion spirit fruits, he mainly considered them to be the results of his efforts alone.

After all, his design spirits weren't really external factors given that he had created most of them by his own hand!

However, Master Wintress was not wrong to characterize his work in this manner.

She continued to press Ves by asking another question.

"We are aware that you have spent years on testing your fruits onto an extensive number of alien test subjects. This means that it is possible for you to develop fruits and trees that are specifically locked to races of your choosing, is that correct?"

Ves nodded a lot more reluctantly this time. "That is the case..."

Master Wintress grinned at this point. "That is an excellent response! We can make use of companion spirit fruits as an exclusive trade good. This can become a powerful point of leverage that can help us convert one of the hostile alien races into allies of convenience. So long as we limit and control the supply of companion spirit fruits that are attuned to our new friends, we can incentivize them to keep cooperating."

That sounded crazy!

However, it might actually work!

The allure of companion spirits was undeniable. Both humans and aliens had the potential to benefit enormously from them. This presented additional support for the Diplomacy Plan.

There weren't a lot of means for the relatively weak and outnumbered red humans to maintain the allegiance of foreign allies.

Without sufficient leverage, those seemingly friendly aliens could turn their faces at any time and stab red humanity in the back during a critical time!

This was where companion spirit fruits could make a crucial difference. If the leaders of the alien civilizations had grown dependent on this unique human trade good, they stood to gain a lot more benefits by maintaining the current relationship rather than ruin any further chances to give themselves and their offspring a new way to gain power.

All of this sounded great if not for the fact that this entire plan might become the prelude of an even greater future disaster!

What if all of those 'friendly' aliens who gained companion spirits became a lot more powerful than before?

What if those friends grew so fast because of this that the disparity in power had become a lot more severe?

There was a good possibility that those aliens would choose to crush their former pals in an attempt to rob humanity's heritage by force!

No alliance could survive in the long run when the parties diverged so much. Handing over companion spirit fruits to friendly aliens was a short term solution that could buy more time for red humanity.

Everyone still needed to rely on other measures to truly prevent red humanity from going extinct.

"We cannot proceed with sharing one of our new and most significant advances with our alien rivals." Master Henry Urbeck declared. "We shall only tempt fate if we do so. Companion spirit fruits should be known to the wider public as an exclusively human benefit. Don't you agree, Professor Larkinson?"

Ugh. This was another highly contentious political debate. Ves was not in the mood to wade into this particular affair, but he couldn't get away by saying nothing at this junction.

"I am of the opinion that red humanity needs to gain a racial advantage over all of the other aliens that occupy the Red Ocean. It is a crude but effective means of making our adversaries take us more seriously. The phase whales are respected because of their high intelligence and amazing phasewater integration. The nunsers are both numerous and combative. The puelmers are excellent at assimilating and adapting advanced technologies. As for us... we possess many advantages as a whole, but a lot of individual humans are rather weak and unimpressive. We can turn that around by using companion spirits as a common trait of our race. If we begin to share our fruits to the aliens, then red humanity will lose this distinction. I think that is a shame."