The Mech Touch novel Chapter 943

Major Verle’s question came out of the blue.

What did guilt have to do with Ves?

"I don’t understand what you mean." Ves replied while squirming in his seat. "What’s this question about, sir?"

His default dark green mech designer uniform made him feel awfully exposed and vulnerable. He badly wanted to get back to wearing the Squalon.

"The psychoanalysis programs analyzing your expressions state that you are shouldering a considerable burden of guilt. Therefore I’m asking you whether you feel guilty."

"I don’t." Ves answered simply.

"Truly?"

Ves shrugged. "I have some regrets. I regret not finding a way to save the ground forces. I regret not being able to help the mission more. I regret..."

He regretted having to kill Venerable Karol Xie in the eve of battle. Though it seemed unlikely that Xie could have turned the tides against Venerable Relia Foster and her ridiculously extravagant Belisarius mech, perhaps Xie might have still been able to mitigate the losses somehow.

Though Ves hadn’t pulled the trigger that put a laser beam through the expert pilot’s head, it was through his insistence that made Calabast arrange for the expert pilot’s death.

He had blood on his hands. The blood of an expert pilot.

"Hahaha!" Ves burst out an unhinged laugh without any regard for his audience.

In the end, no matter what kind of excuses he came up with, he was guilty of the same crime that led the Skull Architect to flee to the frontier!

If the MTA ever learned what Ves did, they’d probably put a bounty on his head as well!

"Got it out of your system yet?" Major Verle asked.

"Ahem. Yeah. Thank you for your patience sir. A lot of awful events happened on the surface. There was no time to stop and take the time for me to go through my experiences."

"There is help for you when you need it Mr. Larkinson. Many mech pilots haven’t gone through the trauma you must have undergone."

"No thanks, sir." Ves brushed off the major’s concerns. "I’d rather just return to work, if I’m allowed to. Working with mechs is the best therapy for a mech designer."

"You’ll have to go through a more thorough debriefing as well as another checkup and observation period, but you are more than welcome to resume your post as head designer. Mr. Mercator who has been filling your seat in your absence has proven... less than capable."

Ves smirked. "I can imagine. It takes a lot more than conceit to fill in such a big pair of shoes."

Due to all the monitoring, Major Verle didn’t take too long before he left. After his departure, the Vandals resumed their observation on him. Several days went by as Ves went through a more thorough medical checkup as well as going through various competence tests.

His performance during most of these tests exposed how much all of his cognitive enhancements turned him into a freak in this regard!

In fact, his record already included his abnormal cognitive functions, but all the experiences he went through matured him quite a bit since the start of his draft. All the treatments and operations he received on the Starlight Megalodon also comprehensively boosted all of his cognitive abilities by a small notch.

All of this resulted in complete puzzlement on the part of the doctors and specialists administering the tests. Ves performed so far out of bounds in many physical and mental aspects that they simply couldn’t judge whether there was anything wrong with his health or mental state.

In the end, they metaphorically threw their hands up and took Ves at his word that he felt fine.

Doctor Cuscar blew out a tired breath as he held a data pad that contained the results of a thorough brain scan. "Compared to an average baseline human’s brains, yours is so far out of the norm that you could be mistaken for an alien species."

"Any problems, doc?"

"Hell, what do I know? I think someone who specializes in studying alien biology can tell you more about yourself than a simple doctor like me! You’ll have to undergo a more thorough examination at a military hospital if you want to have any hopes of deciphering the impact of all your transformations on your health."

"No thanks. I trust in the CFA’s work. There’s nothing wrong with me, really."

Though Dr. Cuscar seemed skeptical about the quality of medical treatment a crashed battleship could provide, Ves just wanted to get this all over with. There was no way the Bright Republic’s standards on medical technology could ever fathom the work of top-tier trans-galactic organizations such as the CFA and the Five Scrolls Compact.

After his examinations finally ended, he finally received his gear again, having been cleared to make use of most of his gear including his CFA comm, though such a decision was strictly against regulations.

According to Chief Armorer Mandelsen who passed Ves back his gear, Major Verle himself overruled the rules concerning the use of foreign devices and technology.

"We’ve been going from one crisis to another." Mandelsen remarked as she signed off on all the gear being returned to Ves. "We’re still gathering a slew of surviving ships and trying to find the best way to jump out of this forsaken star system. There’s pirates, Vesians and above all else the sandmen lurking in every corner. If worse comes to worst, you’ll be better off in your fancy CFA suit than the crappy goods us space peasants use."

Ves raised his eyebrows at her cynical words. "Oh, come now, chief. I’m still a Brighter, just like you. You should call yourselves space peasants."