The Mech Touch novel Chapter 701

Without a rudimentary understanding of how neural interfaces worked, a mech designer could still figure out a viable solution, though it would take them longer.

When Ves cut out the complicated jargon and unimportant variables, the basic situation with the mech looked clear. The filters and other measures the neural interface possessed to truncate and purify the data entering the brains of the mech pilot stopped working as normal.

They still worked, but not to a perfect extent. If they stopped working at all, a mech pilot’s brains would probably fry within seconds, which was not what the Church of Haatumak wanted to see.

"They want to drag out the torture, make the mech pilots suffer, and witness a good show."

Another clue reinforced this notion. The Evaporating Spear was one of the crappiest third-hand mechs he had ever seen. Even the cheapest, most awful pieces of junk that Walter’s Whalers employed in the Glowing Planet campaign were more reliable than the Evaporating Spear at its current state!

"Two days? This mech probably needs at least three weeks of around-the-clock servicing to reach a satisfactory level of performance!"

However, Ves knew that the cultists didn’t want to see that. The Redemption Duel wasn’t about the machines. To these crazies, it was all about torturing the mech pilots as long as possible and to see which one lasted the longest.

The crappier the mechs, the longer it took to deliver a lethal blow to each other, thereby insuring the Redemption Duel wouldn’t end in the first minute.

"It’s also cheaper that way. If they employed their proper mechs instead, they risk damaging tens of millions of worth of credits in mechs."

Losing the Evaporating Spear cost the Church of Haatumak nothing, considering they likely salvaged it off a debris field in space somewhere. Losing a more valuable mech like the Gun Whale or the Snapper Dolphin directly weakened their defense line while impacting their budget.

Fanatics or not, they could hardly operate the Temple of Haatumak on faith alone!

The first two problems Ves planned to address required little thought on his part to address. Ves possessed an abundant amount of experience in tweaking the internal architecture of mechs, and patching up the structure of the frame sounded no different to what he was already responsible for as head designer.

"It’s the third problem that’s really the crux. The neural interface is actively working against the mech pilot, and the only way for me to mitigate the damage is to manipulate the input of data from the rest of the mech."

A mech consisted of a complete system. The cockpit of a mech served as the control center that directed the actions of a mech by transmitting the commands of the mech pilot sitting within.

Mech. Cockpit. Mech pilot.

Ordinarily, a mech designer grouped up the former two or all three of them in a single group, essentially regarding them as one entity. A completely normal neural interface allowed the mech designer to blur the distinction between the mech and mech pilot and therefore consider their combination as the effective controlling force of the machine.

"Yet now the neural interface has stopped working as intended."

A complication occurred in the connection between the cockpit and the mech pilot. The chain had been broken and the cycle of input and output became rugged and uneven.

The input from a mech to its mech pilot became bloated with junk data, while the output from the mech pilot to its mech became shriveled due to the unimaginable pain he went through.

Both of these effects decreased the level of control of the mech to a point where the mech pilot effectively exhibited an F-grade neural aptitude.

This was catastrophic.

"I’ve got to bump up the effective neural aptitude to at least E or E+. Settling for E- is too insufficient. Acolyte Gien is no Leviticus, and a spaceborn mech requires substantially more exertion to pilot than a landbound mech."

If Ves centered his perspective around the mech pilot, then he had two ways of addressing the problem. He could either minimize the input of data or amplify the output of data transmitted out of the mech pilot’s brains.

Despite the gruesome nature of this torture, Ves couldn’t help but become intrigued at this unique problem. It was a novel situation that Ves had never encountered before in his career as a mech designer.

Ves enjoyed these challenges. They presented an interesting set of demands that Ves needed to pull all the stops to fulfill. Any passionate mech designer would feel the same as him. Fail or succeed, they always came away with another distinctive experience that enriched their mech design foundation.

However, this assignment came with one other major snag. The ethical dilemma constantly hung over his head like a Sword of Damocles ready to slice his head from his neck.

The issue stemmed from the fact that if Ves played along with the twisted game the Soulless Priest pushed him into, he’d be engaging in a gross violation of the mech designer’s creed.

A creed was more than a simple statement of intent. It governed the spirit that guided his design work.

The wording differed from region to region, from school to school, from teacher to teacher, from generation to generation.

However, the essence of the creed broadly followed the same core thread.

"Mech designers are servants to the mech pilots they serve."

This simple, broad sentence laid down the ideal relationship between a mech designer and a mech pilot. A mech designer must not place their interests above the interests of the mech pilot, and should never produce a mech that harmed the mech pilot.

It was pretty safe to say that the Evaporating Spear with its messed up neural interface directly took a dump on the mech designer’s creed.

If Ves was a scummy pirate designer who possessed no scruples for any rules or taboos, then he wouldn’t let this little ethical violation stop him from advancing his goals.

Yet he was not. Ves may have played fast and loose with some of the rules, but when it came to mech design he had almost always embodied the spirit of a proper mech designer.