The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2968

Chapter 2968: Manpower and Organization Concerns

Every capital ship possessed a unique charm. This charm profoundly affected the way that people lived their lives aboard a given vessel.

The Dragon's Den was a vessel designed to conduct research on the go. She possessed all of the facilities of a traditional ground-based research center, but made certain adaptations to make researchers feel more at ease.

During his tour through the upper decks of his new research ship, Ves encountered plenty of false windows that displayed views of lush, untamed planets. He passed through relaxation and socialization areas which were filled with greenery and possessed high ceilings which depicted a very realistic illusion of an open sky, complete with wind blowing in people's faces.

"Researchers are humans as well. No one except the spaceborn can endure living months and years on end while staying confined in metal or metal-like boxes all the time." Dr. Ranya explained as they observed dozens of off-duty researchers and other personnel relaxing in the garden area. "These Lifers possess a great appreciation of nature and natural environments. The Dragon's Den devotes quite a lot of internal space to compartments like these because the Lifers who built this ship are aware that regulating mood and stress are vital to keeping scientists healthy and productive."

The Life Research Association developed a highly enthusiastic and competitive culture towards biotech research. This produced good results as many scientists worked hard and did not shy away from innovating. Yet it also led to a lot of burnout and extreme behavior that could fell even the most promising academics.

As scientists, these Lifers were aware of the dangers and performed extensive studies on how to mitigate these negative consequences. The various design elements of the Dragon's Den reflected the measures that the Lifers had developed to stave off burnout.

"Not every problem can be solved by allowing our scientists to enjoy a break." Ves remarked. "One of the shortcomings I've noticed about them during my time on Prosperous Hill VI is that they are too isolated. They don't interact with people of a lower station than theirs. Certainly, they are proud elites who have the potential to become the ruling class of the LRA, but they spend so much time looking up that they don't even know that the ground beneath them has grown rotten. This is one of the many reasons why the Supreme Revolution resulted in so much chaos."

As the herder of all of these scientists, Dr. Ranya took his warning quite seriously. "I did notice that these Lifer scientists tend to behave more snobbish around lower-ranked clansmen. It appears the hierarchy they are accustomed to is a lot more vertical than ours. I'll try my best to pull them out of their ivory towers and mix them up with other Larkinsons on a more frequent basis. They'll probably get annoyed whenever they are forced to spend time outside their labs, but it will be for their own good."

"You have my full support. As long as you don't make any blatantly unreasonable decisions, I will stay behind you." Ves voiced.

"Thank you, sir. I will act more firmly if that is the case."

In moments like these, it was important for Ves to establish his stance. He explicitly granted Dr. Ranya the authority to implement whatever measures she felt were necessary.

Of course, giving her such a wide latitude was also a test of her leadership capabilities. If she somehow botched this task, then Ves would simply appoint someone else in her stead.

From what he had seen so far, Dr. Ranya did not want to let go of her current post as the director of the Larkinson Biotech Institute. Even though it did not amount to much in the past, now that it absorbed so many Lifer scientists and practically took possession of the Dragon's Den, she wielded a huge amount of power despite her younger age and lack of qualifications!

The scope of her responsibilities grew too quickly. He wasn't certain that she could keep up with the growing demands of her job. The only way to know if she was ready was to let her plunge into the pool and see whether she would sink or swim.

In any case, the LBI had yet to blow up under her reign, and Ves had good hopes for her. She was a Wodin, and if she was anything like Gloriana, then she would never slack off on the job.

After they finished touring the upper decks, they moved to the middle decks where most of the ship's operations took place. The bridge, the engineering bay and the crew cabins were all sandwiched in the middle of the capital ship.

Ves found this to be a rather odd design choice. "I would have thought that the Lifer shipwrights would place the laboratories in the center of the Dragon's Den."

"Knowledge is valuable, but lives are more important." Commander Rivington said as he felt more in his element in this part of the capital ship. "Don't get me wrong. It will definitely hurt to lose the research laboratories, but as long as our vessel is still spaceworthy, we can still escape enemy pursuit and limp back to safety. Our researchers can always restart their prior research as long as they are still alive, and they won't have to start over since they already harvested plenty of insights. They can also rely on backup data stored in the safer sections of our ship to restore their prior results."

That made a lot of sense. As Ves toured through the various core sections of the Dragon's Den, he noticed that the structure here was tougher and more robust than elsewhere on the ship.

In other words, her citadel was stronger and tougher than what was usually the case for non-combat vessels. This meant that while the Dragon's Den was easy to scratch, it was a lot more difficult to take it down entirely. Ves was glad that her designers included at least some survival measures.

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