The Mech Touch novel Chapter 736

The Six-Sided Dice’s stealth plating gave the cubular shuttle a pitch-black surface that hardly reflected any light even in its unpowered state. After all, if the stealth systems suffered a malfunction of some sort, it wouldn’t do to reveal a bright pink cube in space that anyone could pick up with their naked eyes.

Though coating the Dice with black didn’t actually help too much since most detection systems didn’t solely rely on optical sensors, you never knew if it might save the lives of its occupants some day.

Besides, it became a custom in every industry to coat every stealth vehicle with black. Consumers expected it due to all of the action dramas they’ve seen. _{freewebnoveℓ.com}

While neither Ves nor Avanaeon ever intended to put the Six-Sided Dice up for sale, it beat coating it in any other color or pattern.

"All that work, just to build a shuttle that only has enough room to squeeze in four passengers. That’s the same capacity as a small aircar!"

"If you hadn’t insisted on including the air cycler module, then we could have added enough room for two more passengers." Avanaeon said. He never really agreed with that decision.

"Look, we’ve already gone over this discussion. The air cycler allows us to recycle the oxygen in the air which will not only work as long as we can power it, but it will also spare us from filling up our shuttle with oxygen tanks."

"That only benefits us if we are lingering in space for more than a month, Ves. I don’t think we’d be able to survive if we are still roaming around in space for that long. Most statistics on rescue incidents point out that ninety-five percent of the time, someone that is stranded will be rescued within the week."

"That study is outdated and no entirely applicable to our situation." Ves immediately replied. "A newer study refuted that result. The sample of rescue incidents the researchers took applies to all of human-occupied space. Everyone knows that there are a lot more ships and a lot less space the closer you get to the center of the galaxy. Out here on the galactic rim, it can take months or years before a human vessel drops by at a desolate star system. That doesn’t even count in the complication that we’re currently knee-deep inside the deep frontier. Therefore, expecting us to be rescued within the week is extremely optimistic."

"If someone picks us up, it may not be for rescue, you know that?" Avanaeon pointed out. "With all the pirates roaming around here, it’s much more likely that they’ll capture us."

"I’ll take my chances with the pirates rather than accept death by suffocation or starvation."

The conversation turned a bit too morbid to his tastes. Ves quickly changed the topic.

"Even if this shuttle looks complete, it’s not finished yet by far. Everything we’ve designed is pure theory so far. We still need to see whether its stealth will hold up in reality."

The two eager engineers eagerly put the cube into action. They first moved it down to a special section of the mech workshop. Vandals eyed the bizarre black cube with a mixture of doubt and confusion.

"What’s this machine? Is it a new 3D printer?"

"Maybe it’s one of those battle drones that fold up in a cube when inactive."

"Why is it black?"

Ves had no doubt that a couple of people among the Vandals knew exactly what they built, but as long as Ves didn’t neglect his duties too much they probably turned a blind eye to it. In any case, adding a stealth shuttle to their arsenal added a bit of extra versatility to the Vandals, not that Ves actually planned to let anyone else use his creation.

This was one machine that he intended to reserve for his own use.

He felt rather strange about that. He felt the same way when he crafted his high-powered gadgets. He spent so much time and effort into becoming good at designing products for others that he hardly thought about using his abilities for his own needs.

He designed mechs for a living. He felt passionate about his craft. Yet despite his love for mechs, he would never have the opportunity to pilot them in person. Such a tragedy was as horrible as a musician who composed a song he would never be able to hear.

Ves hadn’t realized it, but he constantly bore the suffering of this unfulfilled need. He wanted so badly to make use of his products, to be able to play with his own creations, yet his insufficient aptitude prevented him from satisfying one of his greatest desires.

"I thought I got over this." He shook his head.

He did, actually. He found a way to cope with his loss. The career of a mech pilot didn’t necessarily outshine the career of a mech designer. After several years of study, progress and experience, advancing to Journeyman came within his sight!

Journeyman Mech Designers emerged as infrequently as expert pilots, and enjoyed roughly the same status. Even the worst Journeymen enjoyed better careers than the most hard-working Apprentices.

Ves looked forward at the moment where his design philosophy became something substantial instead of ephemeral. While the process was irreversible, Ves held an untold amount of confidence in the correctness of his path!

"We’re here. Let’s put the Dice in its place."

They hitched the cube on a specialized cradle that allowed them to rotate the cube and subject it under a variety of signals while under the full observation of scanners and sensors. It served as the perfect testbed to perform live testing on their new invention without sending it out into space.

As they prepared to test its optical stealth capabilities, Ves suddenly received an alert from his comm.

"Ah, sorry chief, I have to answer this call."

"Go ahead, Ves. I can manage the testing process without you."

"Be sure to save some bugs for me!"

Ves walked over to a quiet corner of the workshop and activated the comm. The device immediately projected the familiar visage of Major Verle.

"Mr. Larkinson, a serious incident has occurred. Meet me at the brig."

The projection winked out before Ves could even acknowledge the order. "What the?"