The Mech Touch novel Chapter 5219

Though Ves was both impressed and horrified by what he learned, he still retained enough awareness to know that this was all a deliberate ploy.

By exposing his superior technological prowess and capabilities, the Xenotechnician made a powerful show of force.

Ves no longer dared to dismiss this old and eccentric geezer as a senile old man who had fallen behind the times.

It was foolish to underestimate and dismiss any Star Designer to begin with. Though the Xenotechnician had made the weakest and most pathetic impression during the opening speeches on the first day, that did not mean that he was any less competent!

The Xenotechnician did more than strengthen his own impression.

By demonstrating his ability to circumvent his colleague's security measures with apparent ease, he had also managed to diminish the aura of invincibility that the Polymath had steadily accrued!

For all of her confidence and clever plans, the Polymath was not without her flaws. Her blindspots and weaknesses sounded serious enough to put her judgment into question.

Now that the Xenotechnician had made his point, he proceeded onto actual business.

"I have to admit that I did not fully understand the value that you can bring to the Polymath and society at large. I scheduled this meeting after hers with the express intention to learn what she seeks from a curious Senior like yourself. I must say that I am pleasantly surprised by what I have managed to learn. Our own intelligence documents on you and your organization have gone through great lengths to underplay these 'kinship networks' of yours. The Polymath and her subordinates have done their best to protect you and keep their knowledge of your greater works to themselves. What they have done is not quite proper, but it is of no consequence now that I have been brought into the loop."

The Xenotechnician sure had a penchant for disparaging his fellow Survivalists and mechers. The man showed so little concern about all of the damage his words could do that Ves had grown numb by what he heard.

"I... am not sure about what you know about kinship networks." Ves cautiously replied. "I have no knowledge about the efforts that certain mechers have taken to keep it hidden. I did forge a general understanding between myself and both the Survivalists and the Transhumanists to protect my work and fend off any unwelcome interests from other parties."

The Xenotechnician nodded. "That is a wise course of action. You have managed to produce a remarkable amount of revolutionary and disruptive inventions that pose a great threat to the interests of too many stakeholders. Times have changed, however. Our entire race is pressed against a wall. If we do not employ our best solutions in the best possible capacity, then we will all go extinct. On that, I find myself agreeing with the Polymath."

Ves blinked. So the Xenotechnician was able to get along with his much younger peer on at least a few issues.

"The Polymath has a clear idea on how she wants to make use of my kinship network, Your Excellency. 1 am not sure what you have in mind. Do you want to form your own kinship network that is centered around yourself?"

"Ah, no." The much older mech designer immediately responded. "1 am ideologically opposed to an excessive concentration in power. I object to her plan as I do not think it behooves our race to be subjected to the rule of a solitary authority figure. That said, I am not principally opposed to the use of your kinship networks. They purportedly come with many benefits that can increase the cohesion and confidence of entire population groups. I am of the opinion that we can strike a more comfortable balance by setting up multiple kinship networks of roughly equal strength. In this way, we can take advantage of their benefits while simultaneously preventing any form of abuse from dooming our entire civilization. The rival kinship networks can also keep each other in check."

Ves actually found this alternative a lot more palatable than the proposal made by the Polymath.

Putting her in charge of everything sounded like a disaster in the making. Too much could go wrong, and if anything was directly related to the Star Designer, there were too few people that could stop her from overreaching!

Spreading more kinship networks around would be like doing what he had already done, but on a much wider scale.

Yet that was not the extent to the Xenotechnician's plan.

The old man started to grin like a shark as he leaned forward and stared directly into Ves' eyes.

"Let me ask you a question. These kinship networks of yours... according to the intelligence that I have only recently perused, they encompass more than humans, is that correct?"

"Uh..."

"Your Larkinson Network has not only managed to forge many bonds with many of your peculiar 'living mechs', but also formed connections with all of the cats and other pets that are part of your clan! How fascinating! I cannot believe that I have not taken note of your Larkinson Clan sooner."

Of all of the possible traits that the powerful Star Designer could fixate upon, he set his sights on the fact that the Golden Cat also forged bonds with a lot of living mechs and pets.

Ves already had a good idea where the Xenotechnician intended to take this argument...

"Several days ago, Xena informed me of how we can leverage your wonderful companion spirit fruits as strategic trade goods. I agree with her assessment. My analysis on all of the major alien races leads me to the conclusion that there are multiple angles that we can take to negotiate a favorable diplomatic arrangement where we can employ your fruits as a means of guaranteeing continued cooperation. Your kinship networks can extend this strategy further."

"In what way, Your Excellency?"

"The best method to forge greater understanding between two vastly different alien races is to find more common ground." The Xenotechnician answered with a grin. "What better way to foster mutual understanding than to bring both humans and aliens into the same kinship network! Do not insult my intelligence by claiming it is impossible for this to happen. I am certain that it is technically feasible."

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