The Mech Touch

"Enough is enough, Barrow! You have been spending far too much time on your hobby." A loud female voice shrieked across the halls of an opulent estate. "Now you not only demand that we donate 1.9 percent of our family's liquid funds to the least successful research institution of the Genser Federation, but now you also insist on going away for 3 months just so that you can attend a conference where you attempt to persuade like-minded fools to throw their money away as well!"

The CEO of Yarad Industries faced his wife who he had married and perpetuated his family line for over 110 years.

Elena Ensambridge had known about Barrow's extracurricular activity since the

Beginning. He never hid his obsession for piloting mechs despite the fact that his genetic aptitude was abysmal.

Compared to other pursuits that a man of his status and wealth could preoccupy himself with, Barrow could be doing far worse than spending time with lots of nerds and other delusional mech enthusiasts.

The only problem that Elena had with her dreamer of a husband was that now that he had reached the pinnacle of what he could accomplish as a business executive, he

Diverted much more of his attention towards his hobby!

Of course, Barrow did not see it that way.

"I have much more time now that I am the CEO or Yarad Industries and managed to burnish my record by stabilizing the company during the latest crisis. I previously held myself back from involving myself further with the NMRI in order to help Yarad maintain its footing, but now that its position has grown secure, I can afford to divert more of my time to help the cause."

Elena Ensambridge rolled her eyes in a familiar manner. "Here you go again, Barrow. Have you ever considered that you have done enough for 'the cause"? You have clung to your dream of piloting a mech for too long! Most people are able to forget about their fantasies of becoming a mech pilot by the time they enter into adolescence. At worst, norms are able to accept their inability to fight with mechs no later than their mid-thirties. The only ones who still think that they can work to make the impossible happen are the ones who have never fully grown up such as yourself!"

Barrow did not grow angry at his wife. She did not understand. This was of no fault of her own, because their entire society had long worked to make norms accept their own inferiority.

It took active effort for Barrow and his like-minded comrades to resist the status quo and fight for the right to expand their own capabilities.

The fact that people like them had to defy the majority opinion and actively spend their own time and money to fund research into opening up mech piloting to the masses was a travesty in itself!

As much as Barrow had come to respect and appreciate Elena over the last century, her opinions with regards to his personal passion had never been good.

Perhaps Elena initially assumed that Barrow's phase towards his inadequate genetic aptitude lasted a lot longer than usual.

Surely he would outgrow his unwillingness to be denied the opportunity to become a mech pilot, right?

It certainly seemed that way. Back when he was younger, he did not join clubs like the NMRI because he simply did not have the time to do so. He was too busy trying to climb up the hierarchy of Yarad Industries.

Barrow felt that he had fulfilled all of his life's expectations and obligations.

He married Elena and established an alliance with another powerful family. The two had 4 children, who in turn produced a whole host of grandchildren who were already in the process of building their own careers.

He ascended the seat of patriarch of the Rakovshchik Family. He revived his family's fortune which was previously in decline due to the lack of successors who managed to climb their way to the upper echelon of the Genser Federation. After several decades, he eventually resigned his seat and passed it onto another relative so that he could devote more time to leading Yarad Industries.

He managed to become the hand-picked successor of the previous CEO and earned the trust of the board of directors as well as the institutional investors who initially cast doubt on his qualifications.

Yet if he was being honest, none of these pursuits gave him true fulfillment. Oh, he enjoyed the challenges, and he enjoyed the recognition and rewards whenever he succeeded in an endeavor, but he constantly wondered how much more amazing he could have become if he only possessed better genetic aptitude.

If he devoted all of his energy and talent into becoming the best possible mech pilot, he may have become an expert pilot or even ace pilot by this time!

Truth to be told, Barrow would have remained perfectly happy and content with his life if he just remained an ordinary mech pilot after a century of service.

Just the experience of piloting a mech and earning recognition as a true soldier was enough to make him feel as if he had accomplished the greatest goals of his life! What gratified Barrow was that he was far from the only human who felt this way. The members of the NMRI along with the people throughout the galaxy who have joined many other clubs, associations, research institutions and so on all shared the same dream.

What was even more important was that they were willing to work to turn it into a reality.

Barrow had met many like-minded norms through his participation in the NMRI that he

Was willing to call his brothers and sisters and arms.

They encompassed researchers who quit their high-paying jobs at prestigious companies and research institutions.

They included mech designers who were willing to divert valuable time away from developing their design philosophies to explore what it took to design a mech that could be piloted by norms.

They also included senior executives like himself who willingly extended their own name. and reputation to their cause in order to add more legitimacy to their collective effort.

Even if they had failed to produce any meaningful progress since the Age of Mechs, the friendships he made and the camaraderie he enjoyed among people who did not care about his day job were priceless.

Elena did not understand.

She would never understand.

"I am not asking you." He said. "I am informing you. The Rakovshchik Family is more than wealthy enough to make a charitable contribution to the NMRI. One of our research teams has recently made a notable advancement and requires a much greater infusion of cash in order to conduct large-scale follow-up experiments. As low as the chance of success may be, if our research has managed to produce real results, then our return on investment will be so enormous that we can buy out Arad Industries outright."

"You are insane if you think your investment can earn a profit at all. All of that money is lost as soon as you transfer it over."

"I am not in it for the profit." Barrow admitted. "Whether our latest research project succeeds or fails, I can accept both outcomes. Our goal has always been a longshot. I am fully prepared to suffer a near-guaranteed loss. This is why it is a donation. Do not question my right on how to spend the funds of our family. I may not be the patriarch anymore, but I can still persuade the current one to allocate our money under my

Direction."

"That is the family's money! How can you be so brazen to spend it on a personal project that is doomed to fail just as is the case for the ones that came before."

Barrow's expression hardened as he stared back at his wife.

"I am responsible for more than 80 percent of the earnings of our family. I did not have to enrich the coffers of the Rakovshchik Family, but I did so in order to promote solidarity with our less successful family members.

But now that the NMRI was in need of more funding, Barrow could only ask for solidarity

With the rest of his family.

If the other Rakovshchik were too greedy and shortsighted to accept his proposal, then

He would be willing to leave his family and help with funding the NMRI through his own

Efforts!

Hopefully, it should not come to that.

While Elena still objected to her husband's stubborn decisions, the pair no longer argued

Against each other.

They had done so many times in the past that they just grew tired or rehashing the same

Arguments.

Instead, Elena decided to take this conversation elsewhere and tried to pry open his

Head to see what was inside.

"You are nearing 150 years of life, Barrow. Why must you continue to persist in your unrealistic fantasy? Even if a mech appears that can allow norms such as yourself to pilot it, what then? Will you attend the mech academy and become surrounded by boisterous teenagers? Have you already made plans to enter the military of the Genser Federation as a mech officer and accept tours that take place in far-flung locations where you can experience actual combat?"

Barrow released a low chuckle. "It is too late for me to become a soldier. That does not stop me from working in the NMRI and solve the problem that has denied me the opportunities to grow stronger as a soldier. The younger generations of norms who have grown up at a later date but under the exact same regime with regards to mech piloting deserve a chance. Our cause is too important. If we do not invest our time, money and effort into these research initiatives, children who grow up 500 or 1000 years from now may still be deprived of the chance to pilot mechs due to their lack of genetic aptitude!"

"This is madness. Please wake up and realize what you are missing out on. You have done more than enough to contribute to the cause that has denied you all of these years. Let it rest. Enjoy the life you have actually lived rather than the life that can only exist in

Your fantasy."

"I cannot. The life I have lived is merely a means to spend my time and help me become useful enough to the community that I am a part of. The life that exists in my fantasy is my true goal and passion. To give up this dream is to rip out my heart from my chest. I

Cannot live anymore if you separate me from the cause."

Elena simply looked at him with incomprehension.

This was an extreme degree of altruism. Was the cause so attractive to them? There were there magnates who had not hesitated to donate all of their properties and other sources of wealth to the coffers of the NMRI!

Elena was even afraid that Barrow might pledge to donate a much greater share of the

Wealth accrued by the Rakovshchik Family to his centuries-long effort to deny his own inability to pilot mechs!

The two had lived alongside each other long enough to read what the other was

Thinking. Eventually, Barrow shook his head and turned his back to his life partner. "Enough. Going forward, I will be spending less time at Yarad Industries and more time at the

NMRI, I have already made the appropriate arrangements to cover for my reduced

Commitments at the company."

"The board of directors will not like that, Barrow. You have fought so hard to become the

Chief executive officer, I thought that you would continue to fight until you have been appointed as the chairman of the board."

"It will not make much of a difference to me anymore. I have had enough of climbing the corporate ladder. The only satisfaction that I look forward to in my life is to pilot a mech rather than watching other lucky potentates do so in my stead."

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