The Mech Touch novel Chapter 699

Ethics played a significant role in the rules and regulations set up by the Mech Trade Association. Born from the embers of the Age of Conquest, the MTA along with the CFA attempted to impose order on the loose rules against genocide, reckless human experimentation and other crimes against humanity.

From the ground up, the MTA envisioned mechs as a more restrained weapon of war that served the interests of the people instead of the opposite.

Mechs had to be proportional, selective and above all else avoid any possible harm to their own wielders.

The emerging class of potentates enjoyed an elevated status in society. As current and potential mech pilots, each of them were precious and deserved to be treated with reverence.

As for the mech designers that sprung up to accommodate the demands of the mech pilots, their most fundamental goal was to help the pilots fight better. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the interests of the mech designer largely overlapped with the interests of the mech pilots.

They both wanted their mechs to be the best!

Right now, the Soulless Priest demanded the opposite from Ves. If he understood his assignment correctly, then he was expected to work on a torture device in the form of a mech!

"Do you realize the significance of what is being asked of me?"

"We do." The crone replied in an amusing tone, as if lives weren’t at stake here. "You are expected to comply. We care nothing for the strictures of the MTA in this region of space. Only the will of Haatumak reigns supreme in this Temple!"

Crazies! Obviously, the fanatics like to make light of the gravity of the situation.

"What are the exact parameters of my assignment?"

Acolyte Villis silently transferred a bunch of virtual documents to his comm. They outlined various demands and restrictions that diverged substantially from what was expected of a normal mech.

The Soulless Priest bestowed the salvaged lancer mech before him with the name of Evaporating Spear. It had been picked up from some abandoned debris field in space a couple of months ago, but hadn’t been worked on until a few weeks ago, when it had been assigned to serve as Acolyte Gien’s Redemption mech.

A mech designer before Ves made a lot of progress in restoring the Evaporating Spear. However, various parts still needed to be refurbished or tweaked before the mech regained

Ves did not have much time or resources at his disposal. He had access to an internal scrapheap where the Temple of Haatumak stored the loose salvage they picked up over the years. Many of those rusted wrecks and parts were in awful condition.

That was already bad enough, but the restrictions he faced were arguably worse. The mech the Soulless Priest expected from him needed to be battle worthy enough to battle out a duel in space. However, Ves had to do so while working with the special cockpit with the modified neural interface!

As someone who received a few tutoring lessons on neural interfaces, he understood enough of the technical details to know what a travesty the Soulless Priest had produced!

The tampering done to the neural interface looked like a nightmare to Ves. The depraved Senior manipulated the connections that moderated the flow of data between the mech pilot and the mech and damaged the filters that were supposed to block unwanted noise from polluting the channels.

Basically, it was as if the Soulless Priest broke the processing plant that prevent polluted water from flowing into the pipes conveying clean water to various households. The various acts of tampering had systematically disabled enough filters that raw sewage began to leak out into the flow of clean water!

Deviously, the polluted signals channeled by the neural interface wouldn’t kill a mech pilot instantly. Instead, they’d overload their brains while heating it up to dangerous levels. Simultaneously, the noisy signals wracked with junk data and other nonsense would make it harder for Acolyte Gien to maintain effective control over the Evaporating Spear!

In fact, at its current state, the Evaporating Spear was basically uncontrollable! It would be as if a promising mech pilot with a B-grade genetic aptitude devolved into a near-cripple with a pathetic E-grade genetic aptitude!

"The increased difficulty in piloting the Evaporating Spear has effectively reached a three-strep drop from the mech pilot’s original genetic aptitude!"

Ves could still work with a mech pilot with an E-grade aptitude, but the problem was that according to the documents he received, Acolyte Gien only possessed a C-grade aptitude!

"From C to D is one step. From D to E is another step. E to F is the third step. It only takes three steps to go from average to disaster!"

What was the significance of an F-grade genetic aptitude? Ves possessed the exact same grade! In fact, up to 96.5 percent of every human in the galaxy shared this aptitude!

"Damnit, how can this Soulless Priest foist me upon a mech which effectively turns its intended pilot into a norm?!"

"Remember, Mr. Larkinson, you are not allowed to touch the cockpit at all." the old acolyte reminded him from the side. She had been observing Ves all this while as he started to take in the immensity of this assignment. "While the Soulless One does not demand the Evaporating Priests to win the upcoming Redemption Duel, it must exhibit a worthy struggle! Haatumak will not be pleased if the Evaporating Spear is defeated within seconds because Acolyte Gien failed to move his mech!"

He groaned. Ves wanted to cry out that this assignment was impossible, yet he held back his protests. The Soulless Priest knew what he was doing. Ves wouldn’t be able to change his mind on this matter.

Rather than waste his limited time by bleating about the unfairness of it all, Ves would rather move on and make some progress.