The Mech Touch

Days passed since that fateful meeting with Radagast.

While the mysterious broker left the planet in order to deliver his other batches of Auto Heretics to other groups, Barrow and Idni returned straight to the NMRI with their new Carmine mechs.

They not only brought along their personal Carmine mechs, but also transported an additional 8 Auto Heretics that were ready to bond with any willing norm.

Suffice to say, each and every executive that received an exclusive offer from Barrow and Idni agreed to form a lifelong pact with a mech that they would have looked down upon in normal cases.

Just like everyone else who formed a Blood Pact with an Auto Heretic, they did not care about its lackluster performance or the many limitations of the Carmine System.

They already got sold from the moment they heard that they could control the mech through an experience that resembled the use of a neural interface, but conveniently omitted the excessively high wear and tear on the brain!

"This is impossible!"

"How can you control a mech with your brain when there is no direct interface?"

"Is this the power of a Class IX design philosophy?"

Although the leading members of the NMRI all reacted with shock and confusion at the bizarre qualities of the Auto Heretic, that did not stop them from praising how well it substituted the function of the neural interface!

If not for the extremely inconvenient rule that they could only form a single Blood Pact with a single Carmine mech, they would have definitely regarded the Carmine System ast the most perfect invention in the history of mech development!

Once the 8 remaining Carmine mechs found their new owners, Barrow and Idni subsequently called every member who was present at the NMRI facility for a general meeting and introduced the Auto Heretic.

The reactions from the hundreds of researchers and other personnel were initially skeptical, but that soon changed when all 10 leading members of the NRMI hopped into the cockpits and piloted their Carmine mechs as a demonstration!

Even though this display could easily be faked by turning the so-called Carmine mechs into battle bots, people's trust in their leaders was too high.

There was no way that ardent mech enthusiasts like Treasurer Barrow Rakovshchik would try to deceive them all like this! At most, the Carmine System may indeed be able to deliver on its astonishing promises, but do so at an unimaginably high price. Nobody really paid much attention to the latter, though.

All they thought about was how long they would have to wait until they could pilot their own Carmine mech!

Barrow smiled as he addressed the most pressing concerns of his fellow friends and like-minded mech fanatics.

"Quiet down! Be patient! While our off-world supplier has only been able to deliver 10 Carmine mechs to us, he has also supplied us with the mech templates and the original mech designs for all three versions of the Auto Heretic line. It is fully within our capability to derive a localized mech design based on the first-class version of the Auto Heretic mech template. The Carmine mechs that you see before you now are copies from a different mech design. While they can be used for reference value and other research purposes, we will not be able to reproduce their exact design due to differences in material supply!"

The Genser Federation was not only rich in valuable ore deposits, but also engaged in extensive trade and commerce.

Even so, it would be troublesome and unreasonably expensive to start producing mechs that required the NMRI and its partners to import uncommon exotics three star clusters away!

Most members of the NMRI understood the logistical constraints of trying to reproduce an unlocalized mech design.

"From today onwards, the NMRI will formally suspend all ongoing R&D projects." Barrow announced in his more officious posture that he regularly used it in his main job. "The existence of the Carmine System, the Auto Heretic mech line and the mech templates has given us all we need to start producing mechs that can enable all of us to pilot our own mechs. Since the Carmine System is leagues ahead of our own research projects, it is not worth the time and effort to try to expand the eligibility of users of neural interface technology."

Many researchers such as Idni Zenokon looked upset, but also resigned. They had already given up on the notion that their research could redeem neural interface technology.

However, there were also several other specialists who had become so invested in their research projects that they could not stand the thought that they had essentially wasted all of their years on an intellectual effort that ultimately contributed little to no value to

Society!

Their self-worth was at stake!

The lead researcher of Project WR-13 raised the strongest objection.

"Just because a strange Senior Mech Designer who scurried off to the lost Red Ocean managed to give us all a way to pilot mechs does not mean that our work has become a wasted effort. Every failure or disappointing result we attain is another step towards progress. The more we learn through our repeated failures, the greater our chance of producing a successful result. We would be doing ourselves and our many predecessors

An enormous insult for abandoning our current line of research when we are only halfway to our destination."

Another researcher voiced his own objection.

"I will not deny the historic advances made by Professor Larkinson." The distinguished woman spoke with an eloquent voice. "His Carmine System has solved the most urgent problem that has plagued all of us. Yet what if his Carmine System cannot be improved past this point? What if we are forever stuck with pairing a single human to a single mech if we favor the Carmine System to the exclusion of all other options? What if the Carmine System contains hidden dangers that cause any bonded Carmine mech pilot to age prematurely and die within a decade?"

Another researcher concurred. "We cannot grow overdependent on a single solution. The Carmine System comes with too many flaws. Not only that, but the only reason it works in the first place is because it relies entirely on metaphysical phenomena as opposed to more tangible and physical phenomena. The fact that there is no direct interface between the mech and the brain is proof of that. How are we supposed to study and imitate a channel as inscrutable as this 'Blood Pact"? None of us possess the right expertise to begin to understand its principles. We would be better off if we stick to our current fields. Perhaps we can learn a number of valuable lessons from the Carmine System and apply our gains to neural interface research."

The voices in support of neural interface research started to gain more momentum, but Barrow remained unmoved.

"I am not claiming that it is a dead end or that no innovation is possible in this field. I am merely being realistic about our capabilities, and so are others, including your very own chief scientist who is one of our foremost experts in the field of neural interface technology. The fact of the matter is that the NMRI does not have the funds and talents to study the Carmine System and Carmine mechs while at the same time sustaining your current research projects. Instead of chasing after a mirage that may or may not come true in the far future, I would rather have our institute devote our budget and energy to the subjects that truly matter."

That was not good news to many of the researchers. It was clear to them that the Carmine System had little in common with neural interfaces.

Idni Zenokon actually grew angry at the reluctance of his fellow researchers. "Neural interface technology is dead to us!" He shouted, causing many of his fellow researchers to look aghast. "It is not obsolete, as potentates can still make excellent use of them, but what does it matter to us? Remember what the NMRI stands for! The New Mech Research Initiative was founded to complete the mission of developing a new kind of mech that can allow norms such as ourselves to enjoy the same power and privileges as potentates. Now that one such a new mech has arrived at our doorstep that happens to replace the cursed and narrow-minded neural interfaces entirely, why are you not welcoming it with open arms? Even if the existence of the Carmine System had directly made us all redundant, I would gladly welcome this development because the

Opportunity to pilot a Carmine mech is more important than conducting research that has never produced any serious results in centuries!"

His rebuke successfully caused most researchers to reflect on themselves and recognize that they too preferred to pilot a real mech than to waste their time on tech that had become irrelevant to them all. Now that a far better alternative had arrived, there was not strong reason anymore for them to stick to neural interfaces.

Barrow grinned at his audience. "The NMRI will shortly begin to restructure. We will devote ourselves entirely to the research and development of Carmine mechs and the Carmine System for the benefit of the Genser Federation and human civilization as a whole. Our immediate priority is to develop a localized mech design from one of the mech templates in the fastest possible time frame. I cannot state the importance of completing this priority project within a week or preferably sooner. After we have completed a reasonable design, we will use our workshop and our closest partner companies to fabricate the first batches of Carmine mechs."

"Who will get to pilot those Carmine mechs first?" A manager asked.

"You" Barrow directly pointed at the man before sweeping his hand across the gathered people. "All of you will receive the offer to take possession of a Carmine mech and pilot it first. We have made the special decision to buy an Auto Heretic from us at a discount of up to 80 percent. This discount will be applied to the estimated production cost of 800,000 MTA credits per copy. I am aware that this is still a considerable sum for many of you, but our institution is willing to extend low-interest loans to any of you whose

Finances are tight."

That was great news to most of them! The volunteers worked for the NMRI out of love for mechs and a desire to contribute to the cause. Their incomes weren't entirely competitive, mostly because the institute did not wish to squander its donation money. For the NMRI to still go out of its way to supply the first batches of Auto Heretics to them was an incredibly valuable privilege, especially when many of them could foresee that demand would become so high that everyone else would have to wait much longer!

Barrow's expression suddenly turned serious.

"However, if you agree to receive one of our Carmine mechs and pilot it, you must also

Be prepared to face hostility and retaliation from those who oppose what the Auto Heretic line stands for and how its availability may change our society. The MTA may decide to initiate a crackdown in as little as a day. We will never give up in our attempt to fulfill the cause, so we may become wanted criminals in a month. If you are not ready to sacrifice your life and wellbeing to open up mech piloting to every human, then you can submit your resignation letters after the conclusion of this assembly."

A tense atmosphere had fallen over the previously jubilant members of the NMRI. Many

Of them had just begun to realize that their work at this institute had become a lot

Graver than before!

They could suffer real adverse consequences if they continued to devote their work on a variation of a mech that contained multiple forbidden features!

The treasurer of the NMRI summed up their new reality if they chose to stay and fight.

"We are no longer engaged in a hopeless technological goose chase. We are turning from researchers who explored the limits of neural interfaces to fighters and agitators who must do everything in our power to help the Auto Heretic mechs spread across the Genser Federation and beyond, even if it costs us our life! Only then shall we be able to repay our gratitude towards Professor Larkinson for gifting us this miracle without expecting any remuneration!"

Though the members of the NMRI weren't soldiers, they gradually got caught up in the

Excitement of the moment.

Compared to everything else in their lives, nothing mattered more than to pilot a mech themselves, and share this precious opportunity to others! Barrow abruptly raised his fist in a martial manner!

"The Carmine Revolution has begun!"

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