The Mech Touch

After a lot of buildup, Ves finally dumped the most crucial information to the public.

Ves finally felt unburdened. He had carried this shocking and subversive secret for so long that it had begun to gnaw on his mind. He had heard many stories from many people who dreamed about piloting mechs, but never had a chance to earn the right to do so due to factors outside of their control.

Around 96.5 percent of the population did not possess the right genetic aptitude to pilot mechs with the use of a neural interface.

In reality, the proportion of people who lacked the chance to make a career out of piloting mechs was probably at least a percentage point higher. Different states labeled people with E, D or even C-grade genetic aptitude as inferior manpower stock. These unlucky potentates faced an uphill battle if they wanted to enroll in a mech academy and learn the skills needed to pilot mechs in a professional capacity.

The extreme inequality and inequity generated by the random and uncontrollable development of this biological factor even gained its own name.

Genetic aptitude tyranny.

Most people learned in school that human civilization had come under the rule of a hegemony between the Mech Trade Association and the Common Fleet Alliance.

This may be correct, but humans during the Age of Mechs also fell under the sway of a different reign.

Although it sounded dramatic, genetic aptitude tyranny aptly described the cruel and oppressive rule that had shackled the futures of far too many unfortunate people.

A tyrant was defined as an absolute ruler who was unconstrained by law. A tyrant did what he wanted without regard for fairness, precedent or the common good. A tyrant all-too-easily resorted to repression and cruelty to reinforce his rule.

Genetic aptitude was not a person, but certain scholars and philosophers regarded it as the cruelest and most inequitable tyrant of the last few centuries.

In a society where piloting mechs had become a supreme honor, it was incredibly cruel for genetic aptitude to deprive so many people of a chance to take up this profession!

The tyranny of genetic aptitude remained uncaring of the efforts of people to qualify themselves to piloting mechs.

Neither augmentations, training, education, praying or any other activity could significantly raise the chance of a child developing the right genetic aptitude.

There was slight proof that certain bloodlines or designer baby formulas may be able to increase this probability by a small margin, but the differences were so slight that it failed to change the overall situation!

Despite the efforts of countless mech designers and other scientists, no one had managed to break the genetic aptitude tyranny.

Not even the vaunted Star Designers managed to solve this impossible problem. This was a huge disappointment as they had made a name for themselves for introducing new possibilities!

In other words, even the high-and-mighty Star Designers had surrendered to its tyrannical reign.

It had proven to be too strong and stubborn to get rid of! It was so persistent that it even survived the transition to the Age of Dawn and held sway over red humanity like nothing had changed!

People had already adopted the assumption that they would continue to fall under the yoke of genetic aptitude tyranny for many centuries more.

Hardly anyone who attended this mysterious product reveal expected to hear that a Senior Mech Designer of all people managed to obliterate this tyrannical reign all at once!

It was too fast!

It was too sudden!

It was too unexpected!

As people began to process the bold but substantiated claim, the masses began to react with great emotions!

The noise levels rose dramatically as people couldn't help but cheer, cast doubt on the results or accuse Ves of being a liar!

"I never thought... I never thought that I would have a chance to pilot a real mech in my lifetime. I can't contain my emotions anymore..."

"Hey dad, I can pilot mechs now! There's no reason to send me to a regular school now. Please let me attend mech academy instead!"

"THIS CAN'T BE TRUE! TELL ME THAT HE IS LYING! NO ONE CAN INVENT A SINGLE GADGET THAT MAKES NEURAL INTERFACES COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY. IT CAN'T BE. THIS IS NOT TRUE!"

"WHY WAIT SO LONG UNTIL YOU DEVELOP THIS 'CARMINE SYSTEM"?! WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE INVENTED IT 40 YEARS SOONER?! I WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO BECOME A MECH PILOT INSTEAD OF RESIGNING MYSELF TO DESIGNING MECHS INSTEAD!"

"Hey, what do the numbers and graphs in the projected documents mean? I don't understand this science stuff at all! Does it really prove that norms can pilot mechs for

Real?"

"If these numbers and descriptions are credible, then... they do. There are hardly any exceptions. The success rate is close to 100 percent for healthy human individuals. The only people who can't pilot mechs with the Carmine Systems are those with severe

Health problems, rare allergies, extreme genetic modifications and severe mental incapacities. Not everyone can pilot these new Carmine mechs, but as long as you are healthy and fit, there is no chance for you to fail."

People continued to embrace or question the claims made by Ves with so much intensity that he was not able to continue his presentation!

Ves knew that the reaction to his key claims would result in upheaval, so he already took this into account. He merely stood still and smiled in order to convey his confidence in

His own creation.

He made sure that the main projection displayed the most important pages of research reports related to testing the Carmine System, Many industry professionals recognized the formatting, typesetting and typical dry academic writing style standardized by the MTA and the RA.

The mechers always imposed high demands on science related to mechs. They took the adage that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof seriously and conducted an extensive amount of testing and stress-testing to determine once and for all that the Carmine System could function as a legitimate control system for mechs!

As reluctant as the mechers may be to acknowledge that this weird and esoteric mechanism could allow mech pilots to control their machines without a clearly identifiable channel for data transmissions, the scientists and engineers were professional enough to acknowledge that it existed in the face of overwhelming proof. Although the mechers were very careful to state in their research reports that they still did not understand the underlying mechanisms of the Carmine System, they had tentatively deemed it safe to use.

The only way they would give this new control system a strong seal of approval was if numerous longitudinal studies had confirmed that it was safe to use over the long term. Many sharp and skeptical mech designers and skeptics understood the implications of lack of longitudinal studies. They knew that it was not characteristic for the RA to rush out a radical new invention without spending the time to thoroughly determine whether the Carmine System did not gradually kill or cripple its users over a span of years and decades.

Yet when they thought about the continued proliferation of bad news in the past half year, they understood a little better why the mechers prematurely introduced this

Invention.

When they looked and listened at the masses reacting to this announcement with overwhelming enthusiasm, they recognized that people had regained a lot of hope and optimism for the future!

"Clever." Lieutenant-Commander Astrid Jameson twitched her mouth as she witnessed the uncivilized hollering taking place below her private box. "The mechers have obtained a treasure. I may have my fair share of disagreements with the Devil Tongue, but I cannot deny that he is the best innovator of his generation. This Carmine System will change everything. Mechs will occupy an even greater share of our society now that theoretically anyone can pilot mechs. Even fleeters such as you and I can pilot one according to the conclusions of these research reports."

Captain Zonrad Reze responded with a smug grin. "I recognized Professor Larkinson's brilliance long ago. I have always maintained the stance that we should maintain good relations with him despite the fact that he is a mech designer and is close to the mechers. A man with his combination of talents, courage, and knowledge can do much for the mech industry, as evidenced by his Carmine System, but he can mean much for other sectors as well. I strongly support initiatives to increase our cooperation with him. The Red Association may have hooked their claws into him first, but he is not the sort of person who likes to fall under the yoke of others. If we can offer him an alternative channel for resources, tech and military support, you will find that he is quite amenable to collaboration. What is crucial is that we treat him as an equal partner instead of adopting our typical superior attitude against a 'space peasant! That is a good way to alienate the only person so far that can create a Carmine dreadnought."

The suggestions made by Sigrund normally would have fallen flat among the fleeters, but that changed now that Ves had produced an invention that would cement his place in

The history of mech design.

To see the Red Association and the rest of the mech community receive such an amazing benefit from the Devil Tongue caused the fleeters to grow intensely jealous! Astrid sighed. "There are a surprising amount of brilliant and unconventional talents among the people we pejoratively refer to as space peasants. For so long, our CFA has remained far too insular and closed off to the potential of human society at large. After the Great Severing, our RF has taken steps to become more connected with grassroots society, but it is clear that we are not doing enough to tap into the strength of the masses. I shall talk to my ancestors about this subject and more. If we continue to stick too closely to our old traditions, I fear that we may ultimately get overtaken by the changes of the times."

"You better start sooner rather than later. Captain Zonrad Reze warned. "The release of Carmine mechs will spark such a massive change to our society that a lot less people will be able to maintain their interest in our warships. Unless the Red Association heavily restricts who is permitted to obtain and use Carmine mechs, the craze for mechs will become several times worse than before."

There were always winners and losers in a game. The fleeters who always competed against the mechers for supremacy had long struggled to gain the upper hand. Although the fleeters fielded far more battleships than their mecher counterparts, the lack of a warship that could fight against god mechs on an equal basis had always been one of their sources of pain.

Now that the Carmine System threatened to capture the adoration of 96.5 percent of

The population who previously did not possess the qualifications to pilot a mech, the Red Fleet's very existence had come into question!

"We have depended far too long on genetic aptitude tyranny to help preserve our place in human civilization." Astrid noted. "Now that it is on the verge of collapsing, I agree that we must adapt quickly so that our Red Fleet can still justify its existence as more and

More people prefer to play with mechs rather than warships."

"Only technology can save us, lieutenant-commander. The mech industry is much larger, more diverse and more innovative than the warship industry. No one can argue against this truth. I am not suggesting that we should liberalize everything and make warships available to the common man, but... we need to take measures to encourage the technological development of warships. Professor Larkinson has not spent any further time on developing his Carmine warship concept any further because we insisted on transferring the Dominion of Man away and conducting our own tests and experiments with her. If this is our response to every massive technological improvement, then we deserve to get beaten by the mechers."

Not just Astrid Jameson, but many other mid-level fleeter officers in the private box looked ashamed.

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