The Mech Touch novel Chapter 4353

"Is this what you guys think as well?" Ves asked the other mech designers in the conference room.

"I think your wife has a good point." Ketis immediately replied. "A weapon can only protect us when it is under our control. If there is any possibility that this can no longer be maintained, we should seriously think about whether it is wise to continue to play with fire."

"We have all kinds of tech at our disposal. Is there a pressing need why we should resort to something as dangerous as this self-aware biological construct?" Dulo asked.

"The Titan-5 Project reminds me of the horror stories of the biotech industry that I have read in the past." Merrill O'Brian spoke up. "Many bioresearchers and biomech designers have attempted to develop more powerful weapons by creating organisms that are highly autonomous and able to regulate their own systems. So many of these cases produced deadly accidents that the biotech industry ultimately had to impose stricter rules and standards on itself. The Larkinson Biotech Institute is clearly in violation of those rules and standards by the fact that they have continued to work on the Titan-5 Project without taking any measures to limit its uncontrollable nature."

Ves didn't take those nitpicking moral and ethical standards too seriously. The Mech Trade Association was the only industry organization he respected, and that was mainly because the mechers were able to enforce its own rules with the help of lots of warships and first-class multipurpose mechs.

As for any other biotech industry associations, why should the Larkinsons care about their silly regulations?

He didn't even care if those disapproving organizations tried to ban or ruin the Larkinson Biotech Institute's commercial ventures.

The Larkinson Clan derived the vast majority of its income from the Living Mech Corporation. Its biotechnology arm was more of a breeding place for experiments related to his design philosophy.

In other words, he was its biggest customer.

Aside from that, he believed that the LBI would eventually be able to develop so many groundbreaking innovations that enough customers would come regardless of any rules violations.

In any case, the Larkinson Biotech Institute did not operate in the Life Research Association or any other state. It operated under the auspices of the Larkinson Clan which Ves always viewed as a sovereign state.

If he said that the Titan-5 Project was legal, then no one except the Big Two could tell him otherwise!

"I understand that many of you have doubts and concerns about the safety of the Titan-5 Project." Ves spoke after most of the Journeymen voiced their opinions. "Given how… energetic the meat suit behaved during the last battle, you are all justified in questioning whether it is wise for us to continue its existing development."

Gloriana snorted and crossed her arms. "I know that tone of yours, Ves. Let me make a guess. Your next words will reveal that you intend to completely disregard our warnings and concerns so that you can continue to play with your latest toy. Am I right?"

"Pretty much." Ves admitted with a shrug. "Nothing you guys say to me will stop me from continuing to support the development of the Titan-5 Project. It is an incredibly interesting living weapon that is providing a wealth of new and original empirical data to me. I am able to learn much about my core specialty from studying its behavior and performance when it is put into action. Though the Titan-5 Project does not represent the ideal that I am striving for in my work, its existence will help me design better living mechs that are less dangerous to their own pilots. Does that satisfy your concerns?"

The dubious looks on the faces of the other Journeymen showed that Ves had not been convincing enough, but that was okay.

Ves was in charge of the Larkinson Clan so he could do what he wanted, more or less.

Not even the MTA had come to tell him to stop working on the Titan-5 Project despite the fact that its autonomous nature went against the powerful organization's own principles.

He figured that the mechers were just as eager to collect novel research data as him! There just weren't any bioconstructs comparable to the meat suit in human space, and that was what Ves counted upon to implicitly bribe the MTA.

Though his wife tried to convince him to stop going overboard with the Titan-5 Project, Ves continued to stick to his guns.

"Alright, that's enough." Ves swept his hand. "This meeting has gone long enough. Let's move on to addressing the last expert mech before we return to our own work. What do you think about what has happened to the Shield of Samar?"

Silence descended in the conference room again as Ves finally brought up the only expert mech that suffered a total defeat in the last battle.

Sara Voiken had to speak up first. She had become the latest project leader of the Shield of Samar's development project by virtue of her competence in defensive systems.

"Venerable Jannzi and the Shield of Samar performed admirably given the strength of their opposition." She began. "Our expert space knight only succumbed against the Skorpion Kommando under exceptional circumstances and only after resisting many other attacks. The Shield of Samar may have failed in preserving frame, but it had succeeded in stalling a dangerous high-tier expert mech that was just as powerful as the Shockshell if not more."

That was a rather positive way to describe the Shield of Samar's performance in the last battle, but nobody objected to it. The Journeymen knew enough about mechs to know that it had overperformed in the last battle.

Ketis shook her head in regret. "We didn't have the right mechs to help the Shield of Samar defend against the Skorpion Kommando. The Promethea was not a good match despite its ability to inflict damage on the enemy expert space knight. An offensive melee mech such as the First Sword would have reduced the burden on Venerable Jannzi."

"I'm not so sure about that." Ves disagreed. "The First Sword would have just gotten hit by the Skorpion Tail each time it moved in to launch an attack. The Skorpion Kommando is just too deadly against any mech that enters its range. Its Skorpion Tail makes it so that it is even more effective at attacking enemies from behind than the front. At least the Promethea was able to damage the enemy expert mech while maintaining its distance."

"You admire the Skorpion Kommando, don't you, Ves?" Gloriana asked. "That's why you want to redesign and rebuild the Shield of Samar into a more mobile and offensive space knight."

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify