The Mech Touch

In a location far away from the Bortele System, Bridgehead One had become a hive of activity.

The star system had always seen a lot of traffic, but experienced a sharp decline after its greater beyonder gate turned into a useless metal ring.

Now, one year after the Age of Dawn, the first port of arrival of many red humans flourished yet again.

Its distance from alien space along with the huge reconstruction effort of the greater beyonder gate turned it into the most important stronghold of red humanity!

This was the final bulwark of humanity in the Red Ocean. If Bridgehead One ever fell, then it was likely that the remaining human survivors could only scatter in the darkest corners of the dwarf galaxy in order to preserve their fragile lives.

As the unofficial capital of their greater society, Bridgehead One easily broke the record for hosting the most humans and possessing the largest amount of fortifications.

Many warfleets regularly patrolled the neighboring star systems. Each of them were on the lookout for any sneaky alien phase whales or warships that sought to infiltrate the central nexus of human space.

Extremely advanced detection devices that exceeded the size of space stations constantly expended a massive amount of energy to detect every single manifestation of space warping and FTL travel.

Based on the ingenuity of multiple Star Designers, these masterwork megasensor arrays exceeded the level that ordinary human scientists and engineers could develop on their own. It would probably take centuries of deliberate R&D in order for ordinary humans to develop anything comparable, and even then they would still be marked by shortcomings.

It could easily be argued that the megasensor arrays may be the most powerful and advanced sensor systems in the new frontier!

Supremely powerful processors rapidly analyzed every scrap of data, flagging anything suspicious up the chain until multiple human experts could form a conclusion.

Not even a voribug egg or an interstellar fly could sneak into Bridgehead One without anyone's notice!

Deep inside a secret base, an advanced and extremely well-equipped complex of research labs and industrial workshops was being put to use day and night.

What was remarkable was that there was hardly any noise. The pristine white chambers all looked cold and sterile as many different first-class instruments worked by themselves.

Bots, mechanical arms and antigrav manipulators handled all sorts of objects and control panels. They were so good at their jobs that they completely replaced the role of humans!

While it was true that many of these devices were at least partially governed by AIs, the truth was that these machines were all controlled by a single person from a remote.

Yes, a single person!

To call her a human was stretching it, though. She may possess the guise of a sharp and clever human female, but the Polymath had surpassed this humble form many years ago! Her true form was far greater and more abstract than most people thought!

As a Star Designer who boasted one of the brilliant minds that humanity had ever spawned, the Polymath could genuinely be regarded as a job.

Therefore, it was trivially easy for her to take control over an entire R&D complex. Just her supremely powerful mind alone was enough to do the work of thousands of different researchers and Master Mech Designers!

In fact, the Polymath had a lot of spare thinking capacity left. She did not let this powerful resource go to waste.

A part of her split attention accessed a huge amount of data feeds at the same time and constantly fed the Star Designer with new information.

Another part of herself conducted highly realistic thought experiments within the confines of her god-like mind.

From designing complete mechs within seconds to modeling the entire progression of the Red War in the next 20 years, the Polymath would have overheated to the point of immolating herself a long time ago if she was still constrained by human limitations!

Alas, as productive as the Polymath appeared to be, she could do so much more if she still retained her old status and rights.

She could not help but think about all of the additional inventions she could make if she was allowed to return to her old labs or visit other research bases.

Instead, she remained stuck inside this limited base. An esteemed Star Designer that almost every human eagerly wanted to please in the past had become a pariah in the Red Association and beyond!

Though the Red Two never made any comments about the change in the Polymath's status, the upper echelon of red humanity knew that it was best if they did not maintain their old relations with her for the time being.

All of this limited the Polymath's capacity to conduct research and develop new tech even further.

Every shipment of materials, tech and other goods had to be vetted by an entire department of mechers!

With the known and estimated capabilities of the Polymath, it was not outlandish to assume that she could construct a super-teleporter and forcefully move hundreds of light-years away in an instant despite being subjected to extreme space suppression.

Even then, few people let their guard down when it came to the most controversial Star Designer in the Red Ocean.

It was almost impossible for mortals to restrain the actions of a True God.

The difference in power and other capabilities were so enormous that many of the security officers and inspectors that occupied this base believed that they could do nothing to stop the Polymath from breaking the rules!

Only another True God could restrain such a legendary figure and encourage her to remain honest.

It became customary for a Star Designer or a god pilot to frequently drop by this secret base and check up on the Polymath's work.

On this particular day, a special visitor had come to keep the female Star Designer company for a few hours.

Both of their human forms sat on a couch and watched a live feed that was remarkably more detailed and realistic than what a general broadcast could ever hope to match in the foreseeable time!

The live feed just happened to depict Ves as he eagerly introduced the features of his latest commercial work.

"That cheeky brat has opened up Pandora's box." The woman garbed in a deceptively simple lab coat spoke. "He could have developed his living mechs in relative peace so long as he continued to present his work in his usual fashion. Now that he has equated his living mechs to cultivators, many more mech designers will seek to specialize in living mechs in any way they can manage. If he isn't careful enough, he will find that he is no longer the sole authority on this matter. What do you think, my friend?"

The god pilot sitting in a ramrod straight posture on another cough closed his eyes for a time.

Once he opened them, he struggled to hold back the huge amount of rage and power that continually threatened to escape his control and destroy the entire base in a destructive outburst of power!

There was always a price to power. The Fist of Defiance was famed for being able to unleash strength that was far beyond his level and fight against a multitude of equally strong opponents at the same time!

This had led to the belief that the Fist of Defiance was unbeatable in direct combat. He could win any duel as a stronger opponent only provoked a stronger response from the famous combat maniac.

In a battle where he was outnumbered by his opponents, his fighting spirit would explode so much that the god pilot turned into a beast that could hold back a multitude of ancient phase whales!

Where did all of that energy come from? Only his extreme rage and other aggressive impulses could sustain such outbursts!

The god pilot was a genius for turning his own powerful mood swings into an energy source that could empower him to a height that was difficult to attain through other means!

Of course, the violent emotions of a god pilot was nothing to joke about. Every aspect of a True God was stronger or better in any way. A simple temper tantrum could easily wipe out half a planet if the Fist of Defiance ever lost control!

The god pilot could not let that happen. He continually exerted his extremely potent willpower to suppress his perpetually rebellious emotions.

This also had the benefit of polishing and refining his willpower, which would ultimately help him strengthen his god kingdom and make him more powerful.

It took a bit of time for the Fist of Defiance to regain a semblance of his humanity.

This happened to be a fairly bad day, so the man still exuded a strong sense of oppression that could not be contained.

"WE NEED MORE MECH DESIGNERS LIKE HIM. HE HAS MORE GUTS THAN ALL OF THE COWARDS IN BRIDGEHEAD ONE COMBINED. THIS NEW DRONE MECH MODEL LOOKS INTERESTING. THEY LOOK LIKE BLANK SLATES THAT CAN LEARN ANYTHING. I WONDER IF I CAN TRAIN THEM TO FIGHT LIKE MYSELF."

The Polymath shook her head in disapproval. "Living mechs are not entirely reliable. The more intelligent they become, the more they question the point of working with humans. The stronger they become, the greater the probability they will show contempt towards our race. My calculations predict that there is a 87.343 percent chance that red humanity and living mechs will suffer a breakdown in their relationship. The release of living mechs that contain multiple different personalities such as the Fey Fianna has increased this probability by 16.82 percent alone."

Although the Polymath had been stripped of much of her power, her intelligence and formidable calculation ability were still as good as ever!

As a beacon of Truth, there was no way that the Polymath would fudge her calculations. Such an act was anathema to her very own creed and existence!

As a pilot who had effectively fused with his god mech, the Fist of Defiance was not as stupid as he looked.

That did not mean that he had lost any of his old habits.

"WE WILL CLEAN UP THESE LIVING MECHS ONCE THEY BECOME A PROBLEM. UNTIL THEN, WE CAN LEAVE THE BRAT TO HIS OWN DEVICES. THE REALITY OF OUR DIRE SITUATIONS DOES NOT GRANT US THE LUXURY TO TURN AWAY THE POWER OF LIVING MECHS."

"We have made too many compromises in the last year." The Polymath remarked as she continued to watch the broadcast while working on thousands of other processes. "The lack of enforcement has emboldened too many groups. They have all become more unscrupulous about employing dangerous cultivation techniques and developing dangerous means to exploit E energy. Are you truly willing to let our Association stand by while these space peasants play with fire?"

"CHILDREN ARMED WITH FIRE AT LEAST HAVE A CHANCE OF DEFEATING HOSTILE ADULTS." The Fist of Defiance gruffly replied. "IN THIS NEW REALITY, WE HAVE ALL BEEN REDUCED TO CHILDREN. WE CANNOT GROW UP INTO ADULTS AGAIN WHO CAN TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN AFFAIRS IF WE DO NOT BECOME STRONG ENOUGH TO LIVE PAST TOMORROW."

A moment of silence fell in the enormous lounge as the two powerhouses engaged in their own thinking.

The god pilot who had succeeded in reshaping red humanity eventually made another inquiry.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROGRESS IN CONVERTING THE GREATER BEYOND GATE?"

"We are proceeding faster than we anticipated. The greater beyonder gate remains fiendishly difficult to decipher and transform. What is different is that my ability to solve many of the problems that have delayed me in the past has improved. E energy radiation is fascinating, and contains a depth of information that is nearly impossible to attain through other means."

"HOW SOON?"

"Two years at the latest, barring any sabotage or hostile attacks."

"THAT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY, NOT YOURS."

"Your tone betrays your desire to fight against the ancient phase whales once again." The clever Star Designer quickly discerned. "Do not use the greater beyonder gate as bait. I have little doubt in your ability to suppress hostile intruders, but I am less confident you can keep the gate unharmed."

"THE GATE SHALL NOT INCUR ANY DAMAGE. YOU HAVE MY PROMISE. IT IS THE VITAL ENGINE THAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR REVITALIZING OUR RACE."