The Mech Touch novel Chapter 72

To planetbound people, the notion of space travel required a bit of explanation to figure it out. Despite the immensity of the galaxy, it mostly consisted of empty space with a couple of stars in between. The sheer scale of it caused those ’couple’ of stars to pile up into many billions.

It took a lot of time to travel from one star to another, even with FTL. It was not as if FTL travel was too slow, but it took a lot of calculations and precision to nail the right destination. A single percent deviation in the coordinates could throw a ship off-course by hundreds of light-years.

Only through vital port systems could ships speed up their navigation. Like lighthouses in the dark, they allowed distant ships to hone in on a location much easier, with much less risk of overshooting their destination.

A highly advanced vessel such as the Torch of the Vanguard was capable of performing the monstrous calculations necessary to jump over entire states. The moment she entered FTL, she was on course to a star system from a neighboring state. Her modern FTL drive compressed an awe-inspiring distance of dozens of light-years to a mere two-day journey.

Not that Ves, Dietrich or any other passenger paid attention to the ship’s incredible speed. Technology such as this was commonplace, though on the expensive side.

Instead, Dietrich half-dragged Ves into one of the vessel’s many bars. As it was still universal daytime, the rather plain-looking drinking hole looked rather sparse. Most of the patrons wore the uniform of Townsend Spacelines, their tight collars unzipped and faces relaxed as they enjoyed an off-shift moment.

"Hey there! Two Crincho’s please!"

The human bartender poured a couple of beers from the tap and slid it over the counter. Dietrich grabbed one mug and gulped down a generous amount. "Ah, this Crincho is a lot better than the swill in our local joint. Our supplier is ripping us off!"

"It’s not very cheap to ship goods over to our planet." Ves said as he took a modest sip, still a bit uncomfortable. "And it’s not like our planet is loaded. We can’t afford to spend as much as a Bentheimer."

Both of them commiserate for a moment over Cloudy Curtain’s pathetic economy. The backwater system lacked a robust industrial base that transformed cheap raw materials into expensive end products. In terms of resources, its asteroid fields only held common junk such as iron ores and ice. The planets also failed to distinguish themselves.

In a universe with billions of stars, humanity did not lack basic resources. Any random corporation could hire a bunch of miners and drop them at a random unclaimed star system. No, what most people paid attention to nowadays were exotic resources, something that became scarce as one left the center of the galaxy. The Bright Republic happened to be situated at the very end of a galactic arm.

"Pssst." Dietrich bumped his elbow into Ves as he nodded towards an incoming pair of passengers. "Chicks spotted at three o’clock."

Ves raised his eyebrow and wanted to say something like ’so what?’, but a hand suddenly dragged him from his barstool. The two young men quickly approached the pair of girls.

Though dressed informally, the pair of women looked resplendent. The pair of raven-haired goddesses resembled each other so much they must be sisters. The taller one was sportier and not afraid to show her abs with her exposed midriff. The shorter one dressed more conservatively but had a curvier body. Both of them stopped their conversation and regarded the approaching hunters.

"Hey there beautiful ladies, what brings you here to this fine vessel?"

The girls both giggled behind their raised hands. The elder sister took the lead. "Oh you know, worried parents wanting to send us to somewhere safe."

Dietrich continued to put the moves on the elder sister, obviously leaving the younger one to Ves.

Gulping a little, he said, "Hey. What’s your name?"

"Rose. Rose Allemaier."

"What is it you do in life?"

"I’m in my last year of finishing my degree in Terran Ecology. And you?"

"I’m an independent mech designer. I just started my business a few months ago and managed to achieve a couple of sales."

Ves boasted a little about his accomplishments, but Rose’s eyes slowly glazed over. Sensing the disinterest, he changed topics. He struggled to catch Rose’s interests but couldn’t judge if he succeeded.

Meanwhile, Dietrich and the older sister named Piper got along swimmingly. He even put his hand around her hips and drew her closer.

He wished he had brought Lucky along instead of letting him laze about back in the cabin. As Ves conducted a halting conversation with the demure Rose, not making a lot of headway into learning more about the girl.

"It’s been fun, but we gotta go back to our parents." Piper said as she bumped her comm against Dietrich’s wrist, exchanging contacts. "See you around!"

As the two women left, Dietrich stared at Ves while scratching his head. "Man, seeing the two of you stumble around makes me embarrassed to say you’re my friend. Did you grow up in a cave or something?"

"I spent most of my energy on my career. I couldn’t afford to get distracted by girls."

The Little Boss gazed at Ves as if he was an alien. "Man, that sounds sad. You should get out more. This is the best time of our lives. Don’t wait until you grow wrinkles before you start entering the dating scene. It’s far too late by then!"

He blathered on about the art of picking up girls. The man talked with gusto, attracting a couple of other same-minded men who shouted liberal amounts of advice. It turned into a small show where they all attempted to teach the nerd how to get along with the opposite sex.

Ves only half-listened to everyone’s drunken words as he focused more on how he should spend his steadily accumulating Design Points. With the infamy of his model driving his sales, he could afford to round out his foundations. Forget about getting in bed with girls, he’d rather jump into a pool of DP.