The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1515

After spending more time with Gloriana in a day than ever before, Ves retired to a guest room set aside for him on the Stellar Chaser. When Ves entered the compartment with Nitaa and Lucky, he immediately noticed that Gloriana added a few touches.

The luxurious room exuded a grand and palatial atmosphere with its white interior and its large, traditional bed. It made Ves feel as if he entered a luxury hotel suite. The only weirdness about the room was that it featured numerous images and projections related to Gloriana!

Gloriana designing a mech. Gloriana performing research on an exotic. Gloriana graduating from university. Gloriana playing happily with Clixie on Scimitar II. No matter where Ves directed his gaze, Gloriana was everywhere!

Acting upon a hunch, Ves looked upward, only to see a huge portrait of Gloriana staring straight down on him! Though the portrait looked incredibly artful and aesthetically-pleasing, Ves did not relish going to sleep with Gloriana’s giant face staring down at him all the time!

Ves grimaced even deeper when he recalled that this was her ship. If she was obsessive enough to sprinkle the guest room with her images, then she definitely bugged every surface!

Maybe travelling aboard her ship hadn’t been such a great idea after all.

"Alright, Nitaa. Let’s sweep the room. Sorry Gloriana, but I still like my privacy. Don’t blame me if I have to wreck your guest room."

Though Gloriana wasn’t present in the room, he knew for certain that she was listening in. He didn’t need to rely on his intuition to determine that he was being observed.

He activated his jammer while sending Nitaa and Lucky to sweep the guest room. While his bodyguard failed to detect anything with her armor’s inbuilt sweeper, Lucky continually managed to detect and neutralize the tiny bugs buried under practically every surface!

Gloriana probably expected that he only had access to third or second-class anti-surveillance tech. Unfortunately for her, Lucky assimilated tons of CFA tech, and while a bit outdated, was still more than capable enough to defeat her best spying tools!

Lucky didn’t even need to break too much in order to disable the bugs. His body turned intangible and only briefly solidified a claw to destroy the tiny bugs without affecting any other systems.

"That’s new." Ves observed with surprise.

"Meow!" Lucky proudly swished his tail.

Evidently, eating the P-stone had refined his spiritual abilities and improved his spirituality. Not only could Lucky maintain his intangible state for a longer period of time, he also gained more control over his power!

Ves frowned at Lucky while his cat continued to hunt down bugs as if he was chasing after mice.

"Should I eat a P-stone?"

He shook his head and rid himself of this ridiculous notion. Even if his digestive system had been modified by a crazy exiled exobiologist, he couldn’t digest minerals like a gem cat.

He still glowered enviously at Lucky. The only way for him to grow his Spirituality at this time was by developing his design philosophy.

As for Lucky, it appeared that all he needed to do was to eat lots of spiritually-reactive exotics!

How unfair!

Of course, Ves didn’t seriously believe that he was disadvantaged compared to his own cat. They just grew my different means. Whereas Lucky’s growth depended on an ever-increasing amount of rare and expensive exotics, Ves could basically continue to advance all the way to Master while designing the cheapest mechs.

He decided to busy himself by deactivating all of the projectors and screens depicting Gloriana. The jamming device already disabled the bulk of them, but they would quickly return to normal once the interference ended. It was better for him to disable them before he turned crazy!

Some time passed until Lucky finally deactivated all of the bugs. Ves was worried if Gloriana or a crew member of the Stellar Chaser would knock on his door, but evidently it was no big deal to sabotage the monitoring system in his own room.

Ves sat on the surface of the bed and let down some of his guard. He still kept the jammer active, though.

"Alright, I think we can speak freely now. What are your thoughts, Nitaa?"

His bodyguard took a few seconds to compose her answer.

"I’ve kept my nose active ever since we stepped aboard this ship. No one carries a suspicious scent. As for my observations, I have not detected anything amiss. While I’m not confident enough to clear Gloriana, her assistant and her guards of suspicion, I see no cause for alarm."

"That’s good to hear."

While Ves would have liked to trust Gloriana, he was still a paranoid person by nature. Until he ruled out that Gloriana was a spy for the Compact or one of the Big Two, he would refrain from sharing anything sensitive to her. The stakes were simply too high!

"Gloriana definitely has some ties to the MTA." He spoke. "It’s fine if the relationship is shallow. If it turns out that she is spying on their behalf, then... we won’t be an item anymore."

"It will be difficult to prove or disprove this possibility. Even if she’s a spy, she won’t leave any incriminating evidence within reach."

He smirked. "Within reach of normal people, perhaps. I doubt she knows what Lucky is capable of. Isn’t that right, buddy?"

"Meow!"

"You know what to do."

Lucky pressed a paw against his collar, causing him to turn invisible. His disappearing form also phased through the deck as he became intangible.

With his phasing power and his Miniaturized Stealth Generator, he gained complete and undetected access to the Stellar Chaser for five minutes at a time!

While five minutes didn’t sound like much, the Stellar Chaser wasn’t a very large ship. As long as Lucky knew where to go, he could easily infiltrate any compartment and utilize his CFA hacking capabilities to steal lots of data!

The entire reason why Ves agreed to accept his girlfriend’s invitation to stay aboard her ship was to access her systems! Before he was willing to progress their relationship any further, he needed to allay his suspicions!

Was he a bad boyfriend for going behind her back this way? Perhaps. He didn’t care, though. After finding out about Gavin’s double loyalties, he no longer took anyone’s loyalty and sincerity for granted.

A bit more than five minutes later, Lucky phased through the bulkhead and reappeared in the guest room.

"Meow meow."