The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1946

1946 /7079

Chapter 1946 Partial Digitization

After Ves woke up, he wasn't in a hurry to get back into the saddle.

He knew he had to make a lot of important decisions soon, so he needed to make sure he was in the best state possible to tackle all of the problems that came up during his month-long absence.

Though Gloriana wasn't always the best source of information, Ves patiently questioned to her throughout the evening in order to gain a complete picture of their ongoing situation.

Currently, the LMC, the Larkinson Clan and his other organizations successfully evacuated the Kesseling System.

Along the way, their large fleet encountered little hindrance. The CRC didn't seem to have any pursuit forces in place that could intercept their flight.

The Ylvaine Protectorate, which could have stopped their escape by mobilizing its entire military, descended into anarchy.

Betraying the Bright Martyr and the loss of Ylvaine's glow immediately roiled the Protectorate as a huge majority of citizens rose up against their leaders!

The three leading dynasties not only lost the support of the common people, but also many of its own members!

With all of the unrest taking place, no one was in a position to prevent the Larkinson Clan from leaving Protectorate space and crossing over into the region of space that was ravaged by the sandmen!

Hearing that the fleet was crossing through the ruined border states worried him a bit. Even though he agreed with the logic of this decision, he wasn't sure whether they would bump into the sandmen along the way!

"You don't have to be concerned, Ves." Gloriana said as she settled into the bed for the night. "We've been passing through the former territory of the Coman Federation while encountering nothing but sanded ruins and greedy scavenging fleets. You should be more concerned about humans than aliens, because some of those scavengers were likely thinking about raiding our fleet!"

"Are they that threatening?"

"Not really." She shrugged. "We may have taken a beating at Kesseling VIII, but that mainly applies to our landbound contingent. We've repaired and bolstered our spaceborn assets to the point where hardly any scavengers or pirates dare to get close to us when we translate back into realspace!"

That sounded about right.

"Where are we heading to next?"

"We're not sure yet. Right now, we're continuing our flight from Coalition-aligned space. Brutus wants to take a detour to the Vindmar Republic while most Larkinsons just want to reach the Sentinel Kingdom as fast as possible in order to obtain some much-needed respite. They're not happy with remaining stuck on a vessel for months on end."

This was a very considerable problem to Ves. How could he ever embark on his grand expedition if his own clan preferred to go back to life on land?

"I understand. I'll consider this matter later when I talk to the Council and the Assembly."

They eventually grew tired and fell asleep. Both of them slept while enjoying each other's company.

The next morning, they woke up in each other's embrace. After a bit of cuddling, they went through their morning routine and enjoyed a much sober-looking breakfast.

"I'm sorry, Ves." She told him. "After your exobiologist's betrayal, we don't have anyone who can prepare ingredients as well as him. Once we reach the Sentinel Kingdom, I intend to remedy this problem. For now, my guards are taking extra care to scan our meals."

Ves waved his hand. "It's okay. I'm not a picky eater. It's a shame about Dr. Guernica though. Did you ever get to the bottom of the reason why he betrayed us? He had a promising future under my employ."

"We're not sure. The Friday Coalition has many ways to incentivize someone to turn traitor. It doesn't happen a lot in the Hegemony, but there are always Hexers who are greedy enough to betray the Hegemony for money and status."

"If it happened once, it can happen again."

"I agree. Cabalast is already addressing this issue."

This was yet another topic on the agenda. Ves certainly had a lot to talk about with Calabast, but first he wanted to complete the Archimedes Rubal's integration process!

With the implant boosting some of his cognitive functions, he hoped he would be better equipped to navigate his problems.

Once they finished breakfast, the pair left the dining room and headed to the infirmary.

"Good morning, Ranya."

The exobiologist threw a resentful look at Ves. "It's about time you woke up. Gloriana insisted that I stay aboard the Stellar Chaser in order to be on call if you ever suffer a problem. Now that you're up and walking, I can finally go back to my ship and resume my personal research projects."

"Hey wait a minute! Don't forget to activate my implant!"

"Oh. Yes. That. Let me see. Go ahead and enter that machine. We'll need to perform a complete scan of your body."

This was a familiar if time-consuming process to Ves. It took hours before Ranya gathered the data she needed. She spent a bit more time inspecting his condition before she was ready to issue her verdict.

"Your body hasn't atrophied at all while you remained dormant." She told him. "Your alien organs and the CFA's gene optimization treatments have done much in ensuring that your physical state remains in peak condition."

Ves didn't feel any worse despite lying dead in bed for a moment. "Sounds great. What about my brain?"

She smiled. "While the Archimedes Rubal took its time to integrate with your brain tissue due to the complications that arose during the surgery, it has settled in without any meaningful issues. In fact, your brain is taking onto the implant a lot better than I expected. I don't think you'll have a very long adaptation process. It must be the gene optimization treatments. Almost every fleeter possesses a cranial implant."

It also helped that the Archimedes Rubal was originally a CFA implant. It would make sense that the CFA would tailor the gene expression of its spacers to increase their compatibility with its implants.

After a long and somewhat technical discussion, Ranya finally got to the point. "While I can't rule out the possibility that something might go wrong, there aren't any glaring risks. The only issue I'm concerned about is whether the alien part of you develops an adverse reaction to your implant."

So far, this problem hadn't arisen, so the likelihood that this would happen was very small. Ranya was only mentioning the possibility in order to do her due diligence.