The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1322

With two new members on his staff, Ves finally had someone other than Gavin to talk to on a daily basis.

After comprehensively upgrading everyone’s gear at Crindon’s advice, they retired to the hotel.

They upgraded to a larger hotel suite to accommodate the extra additions. Though Ves could have rented another room for his two Kinner bondsmen, they both suggested they room together in a larger suite.

"If anything happens to you, we’d be able to react in an instant."

Ves still had to get used to the Kinners he bought. Different from Gavin, the latest two members of his staff didn’t have a choice in their employment!

Despite their similar births as Kinner vatters, Fe Nitaa and Michael Crindon both diverged from each other in many aspects.

The Kinner Tribe had been in this business for so long that they became very good at differentiating their human products.

Yet despite their differences, their addition to his staff significantly improved his security situation.

Though Ves would never be able to defend himself against every possible attack, he shouldn’t make it easy for his enemies either. Both Kinner bondsmen added valuable expertise to the table that he desperately needed but always held back because of his lack of trust in others.

It said something about him that he only gave in when he had the opportunity to buy some slaves.

Oh, the Kinners weren’t technically slaves. Yet despite all the rules, customs and traditions surrounding their job markets, they were pretty much engaging in a polite form of slave trade.

Instead of shackling their own tribesmen with physical shackles, they instead bound their minds from birth. The Kinners spent a lot of effort in instilling their distinctive culture into the minds of their childrens. By the time they grew up, their beliefs in the values of the tribe was so strong that they would rather die than betray the tribe!

Still, Ves found it rather odd that the Kinners managed to succeed so well in keeping every Kinner loyal. Instances of betrayal happened very little.

This made him suspect that the Kinners might have perverted the genes or bodies of the Kinners.

Since the Order of Fl’xix was tied to the Five Scrolls Compact, who could say that the rest of the tribe had been left off?

Ves shook his head. Such a suspicion was a bit spurious, since the MTA and CFA would have found out by now if an entire state was tied to their mutual enemy.

In any case, everyone believed that once a Kinner swore their oaths to someone, their loyalty was virtually assured. Barring obvious abuse or neglect, Ves should be assured that Nitaa and Crindon would never stop serving him for the rest of their lives.

"That still sounds like slavery." He sighed.

In truth, the practices of the Kinner Tribe did not meet with universal approval in the star sector. The notion of buying and selling humans, even if done willingly, reduced them to commodities rather than unique individuals.

One of the few collective values that the overwhelming majority of humanity agreed upon was that they were special!

As a whole, their race was the strongest in the galaxy! Although their individual might and prowess may be negligible compared to the Seven Apex Races, their quantity and birth of exceptional people more than evened out the score!

The huge accomplishments humanity had secured during the Age of Stars and Age of Conquest made every human proud.

This individual pride manifested in a belief that every human, even the most lowliest of space peasants, was worth more than the most exceptional alien leader!

In practice, few people took human supremacy to such extremes. Instead, they took the middle ground and elevated the value of humans slightly above a typical alien race.

Essentially, the prevailing belief was that while humans and aliens were mostly equals, the latter were just a tad bit inferior.

"Humans are still proud of themselves, though." He muttered. "Slave trade is still a taboo, hence why it only takes place outside human space or in a disguised form."

The pirates in the frontier not only found slavery to be acceptable, but they depended upon it to keep their ships, mechs, space stations and other facilities running!

Compared to the open and undisguised form of slavery practiced in the frontier, the Kinner Tribe managed to do the same without incurring public outrage.

How can Kinners be slaves if they willingly sold themselves to clients for eternity? They got paid! They retained their rights! They were never coerced!

None of this screamed slavery, so most people simply shrugged it off as a weird Kinner quirk.

The people that did take offense at the resemblance to slavery did not enjoy strong support. They were mostly idealists, and mostly came from the middle classes of their states.

The upper echelons never expressed a lot of objection to the Kinner Tribe’s practices, because a significant portion of them happened to be their customers!

"The Kinner Tribe is quite ruthless." Ves quietly snorted. "By selling its own people, they keep their state secure and free from political opposition!"

The practice of bonding Kinners to foreigners for substantial sums went on for so long that Ves began to doubt whether it was even necessary. Surely the Kinners must have earned enough money to diversify their economy and develop new means of creating wealth, right?

Yet throughout all the centuries since the Kinner Tribe first turned to desperation, they never scaled back their Kinner trade. In fact, the opposite happened. Industrial birthing factories became more prevalent, and more and more vatters came into the galaxy only to be told throughout their entire youth that they were nothing but products in the making!

Was this what humanity was supposed to be like? Raising children en masse in conditions that were barely acceptable enough to stave off criticism, only to sell them to other humans in order to ’protect the tribe’ and ’provide a future for the next generation’ went way beyond a desperation strategy!

How much money were the Kinners at the top earning these days? How much did they spend on developing the tribe, and how much did they siphon the sums into their own pockets?

The worst thing about it was that the ’slaves’ themselves fully supported the practice, as evidenced by Nitaa and Crindon’s attitudes!

"Your sympathy is appreciated, but unneeded." Crindon said back at their hotel suite. "We can tell you have misgivings about ’buying’ us, but we are very pleased to work with you, Mr. Larkinson."

Nitaa nodded in agreement. She didn’t even bother to suppress the glee on her face. "That goes double for me! Working for a.. mech designer.. as exceptional as you is my greatest honor! I earnestly believe that you will go far!"

Both of them expressed their devotion towards Ves in different ways. While Nitaa was almost fanatical in her service to him, Crindon maintained a calmer and more professional demeanor. _{freewebnσvel.cøm}

At least Ves could pretend that Crindon was just a normal employee.

Now that they were by themselves, Ves could finally have a moment alone with Nitaa.