The Mech Touch novel Chapter 696

Ves maintained a wary attitude throughout his stay aboard the Temple of Haatumak. Even after the Seventeenth Altar led them away from the eerie pool of blood and the human-like entity that resided within, he still remained a little too jumpy for his own good.

Fortunately, his suit of armor and the cape that enveloped half his form helped a lot to hide the nervousness in his body language. As for his face, he consciously focused on keeping it as immobile as possible.

Of course, concentrating his mind on anything risked getting picked up by whatever detection methods the worshippers of Haatumak installed throughout the interior of the vessel.

Still, from the elaborate and deliberate showmanship around the entity known as TekTak, Ves figured that it wouldn’t be easy to replicate the same feat. The energy wave that emanated out of TekTak also spread out in an expanding sphere, meaning that if physics didn’t completely screw up, the expanding field should have been subject to the inverse-square law.

In simple terms, the energy wave should have lost enough power that by the time the delegations exited the central chamber, it should have been so dispersed it wouldn’t be able to do anything about his mentality at all.

So Ves should by all rights relax.

He couldn’t. Not when the Seventeenth Altar led the Swordmaidens and the Vandals deeper into the bowels of a ship that was possibly related to the dreaded Five Scrolls Compact.

Considering that the Compact may very well be his archenemy, Ves couldn’t afford to let down his guard.

As they walked through a number of corridors featuring the same kind of scenery as before, they finally emerged in a medium-sized compartment that looked cleaner than the rest of the ship. At least here the cultists actually made a decent attempt at matching the efficiency of cleaning bots.

Ves blinked as they met yet another robed fellow sitting at a desk in the center of the largely empty compartment. _{fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓}

"Coinlord, the delegation from Lydia’s Swordmaidens and the Flagrant Vandals wishes to discuss.. business with us."

The man called the Coinlord extended a gnarly finger from his voluminous sleeves. "Understood. Begone now."

With that brief exchange of words, the Seventeenth Altar silently stepped outside the compartment, upon which the hatch slid shut.

"I would invite you to take a seat, outsiders, but I am afraid this compartment is lacking amenities."

"We can stand." Major Verle replied in a curt tone. Denying them seats during a business negotiation was a petty move, but the cultists probably didn’t care. "We’d like to make a deal."

"Very well. Step closer. I shall bring up the suggested contract so we may discuss the finer points."

Compared to the Seventeenth Altar and the other robed figures, the Coinlord sounded a lot more normal than the others. It probably came with the job if he was responsible for taking care of the business side of running the Church of Haatumak.

Commander Lydia, Major Verle and the Coinlord all huddled around and started to negotiate. Ves idly listened in on the conversation. Besides handing over a substantial but not too painful sum of K-coins, the Coinlord also demanded some inexplicable requests the Vandals and the Swordmaidens were obligated to fulfill.

Many of these requests fell in the range of sending a number of Vandals to pray to Haatumak for three days in a row aboard the Temple.

Another request entailed sending another delegation to conduct a sacrifice to Haatumak. The cultists demanded a human sacrifice, the more the better. This request caused Major Verle and the Vandals to balk, but Commander Lydia calmly stepped in at that point.

"The Swordmaidens will provide the sacrifices. Just like before."

The Coinlord nodded underneath his robes. "Very well. Be aware that your sacrifices do not quite meet our requirements. If you wish to satisfy our lord, you must bring a greater number than you brought before."

"We shall bring half as much on top of the normal quota."

"Acceptable, if only just. I suggest you bring livelier sacrifices next time."

None of the Vandals officers present were stupid. They realized that the Swordmaidens have very well condemned some of their own slaves to death. Commander Lydia bartered away their lives like trading away chickens at a market stall.

Ves almost scooted away from the Swordmaidens. The brief exchange highlighted the fact that while the Swordmaidens may seem friendly to the Vandals, their pirate heritage still ran through their genes. They stuck to morality only when it suited them, and disregarded it whenever it became a hindrance.

As the horse-trading dragged on, his mind began to wander off a little. The presence of Ves, Mayra and the others seemed superfluous. It appeared they only accompanied their mech commanders in order to make them look more impressive. So far, they played no role in the negotiations.

His eyes rolled around the empty compartment and wondered why the Temple of Haatumak built such a huge space only to place a single desk and chair in the very center. The bulkheads were oddly bare. Besides some subtle alien script sprinkled here and there, the entire compartment looked as barren as an empty cargo hold.

Did the Church of Haatumek spend all those resources to build a massive and impressive looking ship, only to scratch their heads when they had to put all of that internal volume to use?

Ves saw nothing in the compartment. His nose and ears sensed nothing either. It was completely empty and devoid of any furnishings, markings or anything else.

The emptiness disturbed him and nagged at him. He wasn’t the only one who felt that way, as many of the Swordmaidens and Vandals fidgeted as they stood at attention behind their leaders.

Something was giving him the creeps again. The closed compartment had cut him off from the sounds of the praying worshippers, the sight of strange idols carved out of the bulkheads and the insectoid smell emanating from the bodies of the robed figures.

He should have been comforted by the lack of disturbing stimuli. Instead, their absence had the eerie effect of making him jump at shadows that didn’t exist!

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." He muttered silently to himself. He repeated these words because they felt apt to this situation.

This notion predicated on the premise that a threat likely existed, and may be closer than he thought!

He remembered earlier with TekTak that the Church of Haatumak may not be so oblivious to spirituality than the rest of humanity. If the Five Scrolls Compact had already scratched the surface of the secrets behind the spirituality phenomenon, then it may not be farfetched to assume the Church touched upon the same secrets!