The Mech Touch

To say that Ves was caught off-guard was an understatement.

He was completely flabbergasted by the revelation!

He never once imagined that a filthy cosmopolitan had actually infiltrated him so well that she collaborated with him on one of the most important commercial mech design projects of his career!

The importance of the Swarm Project was so immense that Ves could not afford to suffer any mishaps.

He at least developed a good amount of trust towards his fellow collaborators. They collaborated with each for an entire half half year. During that time, they began to know and befriend each other.

During the months where they worked on their secret projects in the design lab of the Tarrasque, the five Senior Mech Designers quickly developed mutual respect towards the capabilities of every member of the team. None of them were average in the slightest. This allowed Ves to comfortably allocate responsibilities to the individual who was most suited to take charge over them with the expectation of receiving positive results on time.

Though Ves never found it clear whether Lady Romanda Devos or Lord Richard Brownstone had any intentions of sticking around, he still felt that they would remain life-long friends and occasional collaborators.

It was therefore quite difficult for Ves to accept that Lady Romanda was anything as she appeared on the surface. He had never once associated the identity of a cosmopolitan to the woman in the past.

Why should he? She was a descendant of the powerful Devos Ancient Clan!

Even if her status was not all that good, she was still regarded as a winner compared to many of the citizens of the Terran Alliance!

With how tightly the ancient clans controlled and molded the lives of their descendants from before they were even conceived, how the hell could the cosmopolitans sink their roots into Lady Romanda?

Ves' eyes briefly shook as an incredibly frightening possibility came to mind.

Had the entire Devos Ancient Clan become compromised by the cosmopolitans? Or was it just the side branch that Lady Romanda belonged to that had become tainted by traitors?

He inwardly shook his head. This was way too unreasonable! An ancient clan sat at the top of the pyramid in Terran society. The clan existed for so long and possessed such an enormous track record that any sign of treachery would have been detected and purged a long time ago! There was no way a clan that maintained so much wealth and prosperity to this day would consort with the cosmopolitans for any reason.

Lady Romanda must have been pulled in the orbit of the Cosmopolitan Movement later in her life.

Was it when she attended an elite university?

Or was it after she entered the workforce?

As Ves quickly recalled what he learned about Lady Romanda's record, he soon fixated on a very suspicious entry in her record.

Shortly after she graduated and became a Novice Mech Designer, she quickly found employment at a secret Terran research institution.

This was not an unusual phenomena. Research institutions allowed states like the Greater Terran United Confederation to maintain its technological lead. They preferred to hire fresh graduates because the Novices had yet to work for other employers, which meant that there was a much lower likelihood that they would leak confidential research results.

However, anyone who proceeded to work in these strategic facilities needed to abide by a very high standard of discretion. In order to prevent them from leaking any sensitive research that took a huge amount of money and resources to attain, employees such as Lady Romanda had received a cranial implant that specifically made it impossible to extract the secrets she knew without causing her head to explode!

Though these cranial implants obviously existed to protect confidential research results, Ves could also foresee that they were a fantastic way for cosmopolitans to hide their true allegiance!

These cranial implants must have been good enough to prevent the Red Two from cracking their security measures. Combined with other specialized methods and solutions, the cosmopolitans may even be able to fool the intuition of ace pilots!

That explained why Lady Romanda was able to avoid exposure for so long. Ves found it rather amazing that she was able to become a Senior Mech Designer and go on a pilgrimage to the sector headquarters of the MTA or RA at least two times without getting caught!

Though there was a possibility that Lady Romanda lied in front of his face, Ves did not entertain this possibility at all. No one dared to joke around when it came to the cosmopolitans!

No matter whether they were being serious enough, anyone who claimed to have any connection with the cosmopolitans would be taken into custody without exception!

Even if it all turned out to be a giant misunderstanding, the stain of suspicion would haunt the former suspects for the rest of their lives!

Ves had no choice but to take Lady Romanda at her word. A genuine cosmopolitan had managed to infiltrate his design team for at least half a year.

During this period of time, the Terran had managed to earn Ves' trust and appreciation, so much so that she had plenty of opportunities to get close!

Even if she was unable to smuggle any obviously dangerous weapons aboard the Tarrasque where they secretly worked on the Swarm Project, the cosmopolitans mastered so much impressive high technology that she could have harmed or sabotaged him in many different ways.

The most likely possibility was that she somehow managed to leak the secret details of the Swarm Project to her fellow cosmopolitans!

If that was the case, then that was definitely a disaster because the cosmopolitans could use the information to gather a sizable group of adversaries that were all united in their opposition to Carmine mechs!

As Ves struggled to accept the reality of the situation, his posture subtly shifted as he became on guard against his 'friend' and 'collaborator'.

"Meow…"

Lucky was not stupid either. Though the cat completely failed to ascertain the Terran mech designer's true allegiance, he could at least make up for it by clawing out her face if she did anything suspicious!

Strangely enough, Lady Romanda maintained a harmless posture. Though she was anything but relaxed, there was a sense of acceptance and resignation in her body language. She did not look as if she was about to detonate a bomb or shoot Ves in the face!

"Romanda." Ves said as he finally managed to regain a semblance of his composure. "I have so many questions that I do not know where to begin. Explain to me succinctly how you became a cosmopolitan and whether you are a true believer in the Movement. Please help me make sense of your actions."

"Very well. I shall keep this as simple as possible. As you may have already deduced, I was not born among cosmopolitans. I grew up as a typical Terran scion of an ancient clan, and only came into contact with the Cosmopolitan Movement after I started to work at a secret research institution. Before you ask, it is not filled with cosmopolitans, but it is relatively easy for us to infiltrate them and conduct our actions in an environment that is already filled with secrets. As for how I joined the Movement, my supervisor slowly eased me into it. I did not become a cosmopolitan against my will. I became one of my own volition because I truly believe that there is a better way for humans to survive in our universe than to make enemies and attempt to exterminate every alien race and civilization we come across."

The emotion that Lady Romanda put in those latter words instantly convinced Ves that he was dealing with a true believer.

There was no way that Romanda was faking it! Not when she spoke so proudly of an ideology that most normal humans vehemently hated!

Ves grimaced. "If this is the case, why are you exposing yourself to me? Shouldn't sneaky cosmopolitans like you continue to infiltrate our society while secretly continuing to plot our downfall at the hands of the aliens that you love so much?"

The alleged cosmopolitan shook her head in disappointment. "You have an overly simplistic understanding of our Movement. I do not blame you. We are not eager to publicize our internal situation. The truth is that your description only applies to certain cosmopolitans, but not others."

"What do you mean by that?"

"The Cosmopolitan Movement is old. It has originated from the Age of Stars and has managed to stay active for multiple millenia. We can never truly remain fully aligned with each other over such a long period of time. So many cosmopolitans have emerged that they inevitably formed their own cliques and factions, just as what has taken place among the mechers and the fleeters. In our case, every cell is different from each other. They operate in relative isolation from each other in order to prevent the exposure of one cell to spare the other cells from the same fate."

"I understand that. What makes yours different, Romanda?"

"There are many cells under the Movement. Even I do not have an accurate count of how many of them are still active in the Red Ocean. Perhaps you may be aware that all cells can be roughly divided into two categories, radical or moderate."

"I have learned at least that much. I take it that the cell that you hail from are part of the moderates. If you were a radical, you probably would have attempted to assassinate me before ever revealing your true alliance."

"Just so. I can tell you that the radical cells mostly tend to operate outside of mainstream human society. That makes it easier for them to become out of touch with normal humans, which they regard as an advantage. They tend to radicalize much easier for that reason as they are not in touch with enough people to entertain opposing opinions. The fact that they most often consort with aliens does not help either. In comparison, our moderate cells are much more in touch with the needs of ordinary citizens. We do not seek to collapse the current human order in its entirety in order to rebuild a new one from its ashes. We are much more open to initiating gradual cultural and institutional changes over time. If we are allowed to fulfill our plans, then we can initiate a bloodless revolution."

"That doesn't automatically mean that you moderates are friendly and sympathetic towards our current society." Ves retorted. "Radical and moderate is an artificial division. Moderate cells can be just as crazy and extreme when they hatching their ambitious plots. Besides, even if you are part of the cuddliest and most pacifistic cell, it does not change the fact that you and other moderates always provide strong support to the radical cells that share your ultimate goals."

Lady Romanda actually looked ashamed after hearing that. "This is unfortunately true in many circumstances. The radicals among us have gone too far in my opinion. Their goals are noble, but they have become so radicalized that they cannot conceive of an instance where the human race has become the weaker and more vulnerable side again. According to our mission statement and policies, we should have never given the Red Cabal so much active assistance. The radicals should have stopped as the balance of the Red War has turned against the human race, but still they continue to increase the probability of our own extinction!"

"That is exactly why everyone hates cosmopolitans. They have degenerated into the lapdogs of our alien foes."

"That is not what our Movement should be about." Romanda said through gritted teeth. "We seek equality and co-prosperity between humans and aliens. It should never be about making either humans or aliens superior to one another. It is just that we have lived through far too many years where humans have maintained absolute dominance. The radicals have tried to assist and strengthen the alien underdogs for so long that they cannot control themselves anymore. As the native aliens continue to grow their advantage over the course of the Red War, the radical cells are unwittingly becoming our Movement's greatest enemies! If they persist in their actions, they will eventually contribute to a total alien victory, thereby ruining any chance of building a cosmopolitan society where humans can live alongside aliens as friends and allies!"

What Romanda said about the Cosmopolitan Movement resonated a lot with Ves. He held many of the same thoughts about these bunch of filthy traitors. It was nice for the female Senior to confirm much of his speculation on the cosmopolitans.

"That sounds interesting and all, but what does this have to do with your own actions?"

"There are moderate cells that have decided that our radical colleagues have done too much damage." She explained. "In order to prevent their misguided actions from ruining our ultimate purpose, we have decided to compensate in the other direction. Our cells… have chosen to proactively assist the human race."

"...I see."

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