The Mech Touch novel Chapter 118

The next day, Ves stared at a glowing blue ball. He remembered that Lucky settled into his bed here. Overnight, he somehow turned into a dangerous-looking ball of energy. After stretching out his hand, he noted that the ball did not emit any kind of heat.

"Lucky should have warned me if he was up to something dangerous. I’d better leave this ball alone for now."

He remembered that he promised Lucky a million credits worth of minerals. Despite his apprehension at spending so much money, Ves still wanted to keep his promise. He went to his terminal and opened the MTA’s internal market. After ordering a bunch of shiny-looking ores, he confirmed his order. He expected Lucky’s present to arrive within the week.

He walked to his backyard and stared at the large containers that arrived in the morning. Ves summoned up his workshop’s cargo bots and brought its contents to a secure storage room. He handled the boxes of Dortmund parts carefully.

As Ves did not plan to reconstruct the Dortmund immediately, he left the boxes unopened. Before he started work on reconstructing the industrial-scale 3D printer, he wanted to accumulate more skills. It would be foolish to ruin the reconstructed printer due to underestimating the difficulty involved in putting it back together.

"It’s all about the skills." He said ruefully. "I’m never ready to do anything if I constantly chase after upgrades."

He couldn’t help it. Reconstructing the Dortmund and updating the Marc Antony variant both required him to exert his utmost. Both were critical projects that Ves could not afford to screw up.

The extra office equipment he ordered yesterday arrived as well. Ves received the extra terminal, chair, drinks dispenser and other amenities and set them up in his workspace.

He reconfigured the workroom into an office space that complied with the local codes. He installed several privacy screens into basic cubicles that ensured a worker’s privacy without isolating them completely.

Ves also activated the setting that prevented sounds from spreading. He had a tendency to talk to himself, and didn’t want to bother Carlos with his ramblings.

Some of the work might not be entirely necessary at the moment. Ves wanted to prepare for the future.

"Speaking of expansion, I don’t think I’ve thought up a proper name for my business yet. It’s still registered as a sole proprietorship. That’s fine when I’m just starting out, but now that I’m thinking of increasing my scale, I really should get around to registering a corporation."

A sole proprietorship basically meant that Ves and his business were one and the same. Any losses the business made reflected directly on him. This might be fine for small-time street corner stores, but for a company that dealt with goods worth millions of credits, it was wholly inadequate.

A limited liability corporation was a separate legal entity in the eyes of the Bright Republic and most other states. If his business somehow screwed up and incurred a loss of a billion credits, then Ves wouldn’t be liable if it the company declared bankruptcy. Naturally, things weren’t so simple, and Ves still had to deal with some of the consequences.

Registering a corporation was not a simple task at all. He had to set up a charter and enumerate everyone’s rights.

"Ah, I’ll take care of it later." Ves waved his hand, adding it to his increasingly growing to-do list. "First, I’ll have to bring in Carlos to the fold."

His friend arrived at his doorstep at noon. Ves met him outside and hailed a high-speed aircar for them both. After boarding the vehicle, they were on their way to Orinoco, the planetary capital on the other side of the planet.

On the way, Ves explained his expectations for his new fabricator. "Once you’re officially employed by me, you’ll have to brush up your assembly. It’s of prime importance that you can assemble one of my designs without my supervision. If I have to look over your shoulder every time you bump into trouble, then what’s the point of hiring you in the first place?"

"I understand." Carlos dutifully nodded. "In the time I’ve been waiting for you to return, I dove into my old textbooks. I’ve got a solid grasp on theory."

"That’s insufficient for my purposes. My first and only commercial design so far is a very complex advanced mech. Its maze-like internal layout alone is prone to faults. Just one mistake could set me back millions of credits. No, you need lots of practice before you can even think of using my machines for real. I’ll register and pay for an Iron Spirit mech developer account in your name."

"What? You want me to play a game?"

"Hey, don’t knock on the game. The realism is sufficiently close enough that you’ll be able to master almost all of the fundamental steps to fabrication in a safe, virtual environment."

"Doesn’t it cost a lot of money to start fabricating a virtual mech?"

"Don’t worry, I’ll cover the costs. With my current savings, I can afford to splurge a little. Consider it an investment. Just don’t expect a raise anytime soon."

According to the current rates, it cost about 18,000 credits to fund the fabrication of a virtual Marc Antony. As a notoriously overstuffed advanced 5-star mech, Ves considered that Carlos needed at least a month of practice before he mastered the basics.

That was with the old version of the design. When Ves introduced the second generation of the variant, Carlos most likely had to do things over again.

Carlos smiled in appreciation. "I don’t have time to be greedy when you’ve given me these opportunities. Thank you for taking care of me. I really appreciate all you’ve done."

"Then repay me by helping me grow my business. I need a trustworthy man by my side."

They spent the rest of the ride discussion the ins-and-outs of fabricating the Marc Antony. Ves did not have any notes about his insights, so all he could do was to pass them using his own words.

After a couple of hours, the aircar arrived at the MTA’s local branch. Ves already scheduled an appointment, so they were led into an elegant meeting room by a low-level representative. Both Ves and Carlos confirmed their identities through numerous tests before signing a bevy of digital documents.

After leaving the MTA, Ves decided to stick around the capital. As they walked through Orinoco’s modest shopping streets, Carlos whistled in appreciation.

"I can actually walk around without bumping into people all the time. I’ve got to say that it’s a nice change of scenery. The only downside is that I still haven’t gotten used to the constant cloud cover. It’s even more disconcerting when the clouds adopt a rainbow sheen."

"Blame the original settlers for leaving the terraforming to the lowest bidder." Ves amiably said. "When you get used to it, you’ll realize our sky is an endless canvas. Folks like to gaze endlessly at the clouds, taking inspiration from its infinite varieties."

It sounded incredibly boring to Carlos, but he kept his opinion to himself. Instead, he pointed at a nearby sculpture. "What’s that?"

Ves did not answer his question immediately. Instead, he led his new employee to the foot of a thin but tall statue. It had been shaped into an archaic candle that reached above the tallest office buildings in the city.

A narrow trail of smouldering black smoke ascended from the top of the candle. Somehow, the smoke did not disperse, but maintain cohesion as it climbed its way into the clouds.

Both men looked up at top of the candle where its tip ceaselessly smouldered. Compared to the many monuments they onced toured in Rittersberg, the lone stone candle hardly matched up.

"Do you remember the founding story of the Bright Republic?" Ves suddenly asked.

"Sure I do. A bunch of marginalized idealists and pacifists from the New Rubarth Empire banded together and funded a colonization expedition to the galactic rim. They chafed at the stifling, militaristic culture of the Empire and wanted to create a paradise in the most remote corner of the galaxy. In their eyes, they wished to preserve the light of civilization in an unforgiving galaxy."

Every Republican citizen knew the story, and what followed after. The ancestors of the Bright Republic eventually reached the Komodo Star Sector, only to find the juiciest star systems claimed by expeditions funded by their more warlike rivals.

The few times the Bright Republic tried to wrest control of them ended badly, as pacifists did not make for very good soldiers.

Carlos continued the story. "After losing so many ships, supplies and men, they eventually came across a habitable world. They settled down on the planet and called it Rittersberg, the last refuge of a noble venture. The Bright Republic was founded there and then, and over time the colonists expanded and claimed the surrounding stars."

"It’s already done." Ves replied and drew his employee’s attention to a greyed-out icon in the starting menu. "I’ve set the terminal up to unlock the design software after working hours is over. You can stay over after you finish your shift if you want to play around with designing your own mech." _{ƒrēewebnovel.com}