The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5755 The Basic Model of Living Mechs

The first day of the public inquiry had begun.

After a magnificent introduction from Planetary Governor Rod Mergan-Castelaus, the audience became primed for a long, multi-day debate on living mechs.

The talks did not attract an immense audience. Ves had been able to draw a lot more eyes with his product reveals due to his reputation for showing off awesome new tech and mech models.

While the speakers of this event were bound to use battle footage as examples, they were clearly not the focus of a public inquiry. Much of the public inquiry was meant to be fought with arguments and speeches.

Much of the public understandably had no patience to listen to all of the boring politicking. Their lives were already busy enough and they had better things to do with their time than listen to the speakers bicker with each other.

However, it would be a mistake for ordinary people to think that the outcome of this public inquiry did not matter to them. Living mechs and everything that came with them promised to revolutionize the mech community. They brought qualities that were unheard of before Ves came onto the scene and proved many times over that they could succeed where other competing mechs would fail!

The people who understood this reality the best were the millions of customers and mech pilots who had already purchased and made use of living mechs.

Their appreciation for the LMC's products were almost universally positive, and would hate to let go of the machines they had invested in. The battles they fought and the interactions they made with their real living machines resulted in mutual growth for both the mechs and the mech pilots.

How could ordinary mechs ever replicate such a unique experience?

A lot of mech pilots who utilized living mechs for the first time often became sold for life. They refused to transfer to a non-living mech because they found them to be downgrades.

The public inquiry directly threatened to harm the interests of these loyal fans and customers.

They made up an unusually high proportion of viewers who tuned into the broadcast. They could be counted upon to remain engaged throughout the lengthy speaking sessions.

However, there were also other people who were just as invested on the opposing side. As the products of the LMC began to capture more market share, they displaced a lot of competitors.

Plenty of mech designers who previously enjoyed varying degrees of success in the second-class drone mech market and heavy artillery mech market suddenly lost out on a lot of revenue.

It wasn't just the mech designers incurred losses. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of average workers throughout the various middle zones all lost their jobs, commissions and so on as entire supply chains became unprofitable due to dropping sales.

Companies specialized in the sale, distribution and after-

market sales of previously popular product lines such as the Sparrow Storm line collapsed in months as customers had completely abandoned the mech ecosystems they used for years!

The Ultimatum also took away a lot of market share, but it at least gave competing heavy artillery mechs more breathing room.

The cash cow that was largely produced by Isthmus Manufacturing failed to dominate its category due to its excessive pricing and overspecialization in a single role.

That did not prevent Ves from designing other mechs that could displace a lot of product lines that previously dominated the market for a long time.

SKL Mech Industries had already lost out big time when its Sparrow Storm line turned into an abandoned child.

Other mech companies that were just as big if not bigger had many reasons to fear the Living Mech Corporation!

Despite the huge disparity in size and wealth, the LMC had one unquestionable advantage.

It was led by a Senior Mech Designer who had already proven his ability to defeat thousands of Master Mech Designers in terms of market success!

Ves keenly realized that he and his mech company had become the nail that must be hammered down. There was no doubt that much of the opposition was fueled not by legitimate concerns towards the safety of living mechs, but by plain old dirt competition.

Since the old market leaders could not compete fairly against living mechs, they likely funneled a lot of effort and resources into the opposition.

This meant that his enemies encompassed more than a bunch of mech pilot advocates and AI scaremongers. Ves could not afford to underestimate this opposition.

"Professor Larkinson." The man who looked like a sea king spoke from his magnificent pearl throne.

"Yes, governor?"

"Since this day is dedicated to exploring the merits and properties of living mechs, it is your obligation and your right to introduce them in your own terms. Please stand in the center of the speaking pit and give the public an overview of your works."

Ves smiled and nodded. "I would be glad to give everyone an introduction and a refresher."

By now, many people had already learned about the existence and the basic properties of living mechs.

He did not question the need for an introduction because people learned about living mechs from all kinds of messy sources.

The first day was dedicated to exploring all of the nuances of living mechs while also eliminating any misunderstandings and misinterpretations about their properties.

This was important because establishing truths that could not be questioned anymore deprived a lot of ammunition from the opposition.

If Ves did not do a good job on this day, then his opponents would definitely hammer him on the next two days!

As Ves strode to the center of the so-called speaking pit, he briefly admired the themed aesthetics of the interior of the Dragon King's Pace.

He would have loved to explore the architecture of this structure like a tourist, but his duties came first.

"Citizens of the Red Ocean." Ves began to speak as he faced in the direction of the clamshell throne. "Today, my living mechs have become subject to an increasing number of doubts and accusations. In my private discussions with some of the detractors to my work, I realized that many people fundamentally misunderstand my products. The fault does not necessarily lie with them. Radical innovation often produces results that contradict established wisdom. To understand my works, you must let go of some of your preconceptions and treat them differently."

Ves slightly spun around and gazed up at the rows and rows of seats filled with guests who expressed interest in this subject.

"Before I go on to explain the basic physical and non-physical properties of living mechs, let me begin by explaining their place in society." He said in a calm and measured tone. "Living mechs serve almost the same purpose as normal mechs. Both of them exist to fulfill a common need, which is to bestow mech pilots with a lot of power in order to complete their combat missions. My products may be able to do more than ordinary mechs, but they are always designed with mech pilots at the center."

He produced a projection that showed a simple theoretical model.

"The combat system centered around mechs is never about the machine alone. Instead, the mech and mech pilots both work together to combine their respective advantages while compensating for each other's weaknesses. Simple, correct?"

The projected model changed. The ordinary mech got swapped out by a living mech.

"Here you can see that living mechs still preserve this original relationship. This bond is still essential as my mechs are never designed to function by themselves. I admit that they may have the capacity to do so in an emergency, but too many factors will deteriorate if my living mechs are left to their own devices."

Ves waved his hand, causing the connection between the mech pilot and the living mech to break.

"Disconnecting these two variables from each other will cause this vital synergistic relationship to disappear. The mech pilot will be reduced to an ordinary human. The most he can do is don infantry gear and fight with only a fraction of the amount of power that he previously wielded."

Ves gestured towards the other variable.

"The living mech on the other hand lacks the training, experience, judgment and creativity of a professional human soldier. Depending on how long it has lived and how much experience it has accrued, a relatively intelligent third order living mech may be able to fight its enemies like a battle bot, but make no mistake. A living mech that fights on its own can never fully replicate the capabilities of a mech pilot. There are qualities to humans that artificial lifeforms do not possess. What is also important is that living mechs cannot 'break through' in the same way that humans can. There is no way that my products can evolve into god mechs or their equivalents, simply because god mechs are inescapably tied to their god pilots. Since the production of god pilots is one of the highest priorities of our civilization, this consideration alone is enough to reject the premise that living mechs will make mech pilots redundant."

As Ves continued to address his audience, he felt awfully exposed by speaking from the lowest location in this immense chamber.

He was accustomed to holding speeches from an elevated position. Reversing this trend gave Ves the illusion that he was being put on trial.

It was not a good feeling.

"The additional features that I have attached to my iconic living mechs serve as a complement to their core purpose and functionality. They are not designed to make mechs more powerful while diminishing the role of their pilots. They are instead designed to empower them both. They do so in different ways, and I would be more than happy to elaborate on them. I just want to make it clear right away that solely fixating the consequences of my design philosophy to my mechs while completely ignoring my efforts to promote the development of mech pilots is a huge mistake. I will not hesitate to challenge everyone that thinks my living mechs either do nothing or exert a detrimental influence on mech pilots. I have countless pieces of proof to back up my claims in this regard."

Ves really did not want to make it easy for his opponents to claim that just piloting his living mechs was detrimental in any fashion. This was a stupid argument, but people might believe it, so he wanted to shut it down as soon as possible.

"If that is not enough to convince you, then listen further. To those who have yet to read my record, my design philosophy played a central role in the development of living mechs. The Red Association has formally registered it as Mutual Growth. Think about what this phrase means. It contains the word 'growth', which in this context largely means power. It also contains the word 'mutual', which means that a factor is affecting at least two parties. Combine these two meanings together. The result is what I aim to do. Never have I designed a living mech while completely disregarding the safety, the success and the future prospects of its mech pilot. If you have any understanding of mech designers, you will know that we cannot break the core principles of our own design philosophies."

Ves gave this explanation with as much earnestness and conviction as possible.

He even began to loosen his restraint on his glow for a bit. This not only caused people to have a better evaluation from him, but also made it easier for his arguments to get accepted without too many questions.

"Alright. Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let me proceed by explaining the basic but vital elements of living mechs…"

Ves spent the remaining hour on giving his audience a crash course on living mechs. He briefly touched upon core concepts that he would teach to the students of his Introduction to Living Mechs course.

Since he had already taught this introduction lesson multiple times, Ves effortlessly eased into the role of a lecturer and tried to hold a short but engaging lesson on his iconic products.