The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2614

Chapter 2614: Hotel Bentheim

As the reality of the grand expedition settled in, a lot of Larkinsons became annoyed at the inconveniences of space travel.

The time it took for the slowest FTL drive in the fleet to complete its cycle time determined how long the Golden Skull Alliance lingered in realspace.

Since none of the ships in the pioneering alliance was slow, that amounted to a wait time of just 6 hours.

Once this break time was over, the fleet transitioned into FTL travel yet again, isolating each and individual starship from each other.

As far as humanity was concerned, there was no way to transfer energy and matter from one starship to another in FTL. Even if they shifted into FTL travel while flying right next to each other, the workings of the higher dimensions was still a mystery to most people in the galaxy.

There were rumors that the CFA and perhaps the MTA had managed to crack the secret to breaking this isolation phenomenon through the use of phasewater.

There were whispers of CFA warfleets forming some kind of bubble that allowed entire fleets to shelter under the protection of a battleship.

There were even claims that these CFA warfleets were able to fight against other starships in FTL travel!

Such possibilities were mind-boggling to space peasants. Ves did not believe he had any chance of accessing such incredible high technology.

Most humans had to make due with regular FTL travel and all of the constraints that came with it. Still, what if phasewater become more ubiquitous? What if this substance's amazing phasing properties lowered the barrier of waging warfare in other dimensions?

Warfare might change forever!

The Red Ocean might become more exciting — and dangerous — than Ves initially realized if this was the case.

For now, Ves and the Larkinson Clan did not concern themselves with these risks. They became much more occupied with dealing with the issues of extended isolation.

Every starship turned into a solitary prison the moment they transitioned into FTL travel. Aside from being able to transmit and receive data over the galactic net, no physical transfer was possible.

This annoyed a lot of Larkinsons at first. Many of the new recruits used to be planetbound citizens who were accustomed to being able to travel wherever they liked.

They may have signed up to the grand expedition, but they didn't actually expect the restrictions would be so bad.

"There is nothing fun to be had on this ship!"

"Am I supposed to lie down in my cabin and play virtual games in my free hours?"

"There's no room for sports on this cramped ship!"

The complaints rapidly flooded the clan administration. Those who served aboard smaller and more limited starships expressed much more dissatisfaction than those who were assigned to larger vessels.

"There are remarkably few crew members who are dissatisfied with serving aboard the Spirit of Bentheim." Gavin reported as he held his data pad. "The larger the ship, the more livable she is, though there are many other variables as well. The point is that most of our starships aside from the Bentheim aren't really geared for permanent residency. The Hexer-built vessels were meant to be crewed by professionals on a short to medium-term basis."

Ves held his daily briefing at his main office on the 2nd deck. He had fallen in love with it soon after settling in. The interior looked stately, dignified and classy without going overboard. Though the decorations were rather bare for now, he had plenty of time to personalize his office further.

For now, his main office did the job of making him feel powerful while impressive every guest he invited.

"We won't have these sub-capital ships for long, Benny. We won't be making this oversight again. After a couple of years, we'll reach the beyonder gate and get rid of the Hexer castoffs. we'll invest in more livable starships once we reach the Red Ocean."

Gavin looked a bit concerned. "That sounds great, boss, but that doesn't address our short-term problems. Let's face it. Over half of our 50,000 clansmen are way in over their heads. They went directly from living on a normal planet to being forced to live inside a metal box that is flinging through space. It's starting to make people crazy, and this is just the first week!"

That sounded quite concerning.

"I'm just a mech designer. How am I supposed to solve this complex sociological problem? Just throw the problem at the Larkinson Assembly or the relevant experts in our clan. I don't care what they do. Just make sure our clansmen are able to acclimatize to their new living conditions."

Gavin briefly looked at his data pad. "The Larkinson Assembly has already begun to debate on this issue. The assembly members came up with several proposals. One of them is to treat the Spirit of Bentheim as an ark ship, at least until we get the genuine article."

"What?"

"Ark ships are excellent living environments in space. That's why they are built. They are the best solution that people have come up with to solve the livability problems we are talking about. The issue is that ark ships aren't very productive in itself. You still need people crewing your combat carriers, logistical ships and so on. What usually happens is that the fleet sets up a rotation. A crew member must serve on a functional starship for 3 weeks straight before being allowed to relax on an ark ship for a single week. Something like that. If the crew member has a family, then the spouse and kids may be permanently living aboard the ark ship as well."

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