The Mech Touch - Chapter 18

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The Mech Touch - Chapter 18

The Mech Touch

Watching TheSeventhSnake's replays impressed Ves. The mech pilot's
flamboyant piloting of his Seraphim showed a remarkable mastery of
its capabilities. The Seraphim domineeringly claimed the skies,
fighting particularly well against other fliers, and launched aggressive
attacks against opponents on the ground.
Though Ves knew little of mech piloting, he still recognized
TheSeventhSnake's remarkable skill. His aggressive play style and
continuous risk taking hid a keen sense of timing. If this Snake wasn't
at the threshold of promoting to Silver, he was absolutely in the upper
tier of Bronze League.
When Ves noted that TheSeventhSnake had come online and entered
matchmaking, he chose to spectate his match. What he saw of the
young pilot's performance reaffirmed his judgement. Snake piloted the
Seraphim in ways even Ves hadn't imagined.
"But does he have the X-Factor?"
Good piloting didn't necessarily mean one has the X-Factor.
Disregarding the phenomenon's vague definition, the X-Factor might
not even work in a virtual reality environment! Perhaps
TheSeventhSnake was only a good pilot, and nothing more. Still, Ves
believed it would be beneficial to his understanding of his mechs if he
had a talk with the pilot.
When Ves initiated a call, the mech pilot answered immediately.
"Hello. I saw you spectating my last match. Who are you?"
"I'm the mech designer who created the Seraphim variant you're
piloting."

"Wow." The pilot gasped. "No wonder I found your nickname familiar.
So you're the famous Fantasia customizer."
"I'm researching a new project, and I need some feedback from the
people who pilot my older work. Can you spare me a moment of your
time?"
"Yes!"
Ves was taken aback at TheSeventhSnake's enthusiasm. This was the
first time since he became a mech designer that someone afforded him
respect.
"Hey, calm down kid. I just want your thoughts on some stuff, so don't
be too stiff." Ves told the player, hoping he wouldn't be paralyzed into
silence. "Let me ask you my first question. Your records show that
you've been piloting the Seraphim ever since you bought it. What
makes you stick with the model? I think you must have realized by
now that it isn't the best mech in its weight class."
TheSeventhSnake paused as he tried to formulate his words. "I can't
describe it. I never thought about replacing my Seraphim. I love it far
too much to get rid of it. The mechs that I've piloted before are all
good machines, but they don't fit my style."
"What do you mean when you use the word 'style'?" Ves asked,
wondering if it had anything to do with the X-Factor.
"My play style. My way of fighting. Something like that. The Seraphim
just clicks with me in a way no other flier could. It's like we're part of
the same brain wave. I can feel my passion engulfing the entire mech
when I'm deeply engaged in a fight. No other mech can make me feel
this good."

"Alright. Let me ask you something else. Have you ever experienced a
moment where your mech gave you a push? For example, did the
mech warn you of danger while you were unaware of it? Were there
moments when you thought doing something was impossible, but you
still managed to achieve it because your mech gave you a helping
hand?"
TheSeventhSnake fell into silence. "I don't recall any moments like
that. I'm always in full control of my mech. What I'm pretty sure of is I
feel more at ease with the Seraphim. It's easier to play at my best when
I'm piloting the Seraphim than with any other mech. I've even bought
your Phantasm and Nomad models, but I never could get quite as
comfortable when I play with them. Maybe it's the lack of wings. I've
fallen in love with flying."
Ves asked TheSeventhSnake some other questions. What
distinguished a good pilot and a great one? Are mechs better when
they are smaller or larger? Does he believe in metaphysics?
The young pilot's answered revealed no surprises. The boy wasn't
aware of the X-Factor, nor did he seek to pursue anything magical. Ves
formed an image of the young potentate. Young, wealthy and well-
trained, his view of the mech world had been colored by the many
teachings of his tutors. It was therefore no surprise that they avoided
telling him about the X-Factor. A young man like him had no business
chasing after a fantasy.
"I have one last question." Ves wrapped up the interview. "Try to take
a moment before you answer this. Do you believe your mech is alive?"
"Uhh.. I don't know." TheSeventhSnake replied with a confused
expression. He scratched his head, trying to recall the times when he
piloted the Seraphim. "I'm not delusional. Of course its not alive. The
Seraphim's a great mech, but it doesn't have an AI as far as I know.

What I can say is that piloting my Seraphim makes me feel more alive
than anything else."
"Alright. Thank you for taking the time to tell me about your
experiences."
"Goodbye. I hope I helped."
"You certainly did, don't worry about it."
"Uh, can I ask you something before you go? Are you going to put
more 1-star mechs on the market?"
Ves shook his head. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I don't plan to do
so. I've sold most of my 1-star licences so I can't construct any new 1-
star mechs. My hands are kind of full trying to start up my real
universe mech business."
"Oh, so you're a real mech designer? No wonder."
"That's not to say I still don't have a use for Iron Spirit." Ves
responded carefully, naturally not mentioning that earning massive
DP was his main reason for sticking around. "Once I earn some
revenue, I'm transitioning to 2-star mechs. The profit margin is better
in that tier."
He would also have an easier time to reach beyond his limited
customer base in Cloudy Curtain. In a few months, he'd hopefully gain
enough skills to produce a competitive design.
After shutting down the game, Ves stood up and stretched his limbs,
mentally reexamining the interview. TheSeventhSnake spoke with a

peculiar accent that reminded him of the officials working in the
capital of Cloudy Curtain. Despite his good upbringing, the young
potentate described his piloting in the same vague way as the veterans
did when describing their incredible feats that others thought involved
the X-Factor.
In other words, the interview provided inconclusive results.
Ves hadn't come much closer to understanding the elusive X-Factor.
Was it some kind of energy that hid inside a mech? Was it some
evolutionary catalyst that manifested in only a couple of pilots?
"There's one thing all interviews about the X-Factor have in common."
Love. Affection. Grief. Vengeance. Whatever was the case, most of the
extraordinary performances mentioned in the galactic net were backed
by strong and unrestrained emotions. It seemed unrelated. What do
emotions have to do with the performance of a mech? That's like
suggesting that an aircar can fly faster if the driver felt happy or angry.
It made no sense.
"But an aircar doesn't have a neural interface." Ves remarked as he
thought he found a clue. "The neural interface allows mech pilots to
receive sensory input from the mech, allowing them to treat the frame
like its their own body. Any decision a mech pilot makes is sent as
output through the same interface, thus causing the mech to move
according to its commands."
Ves went back to his terminal and sought out a few articles about the
neural interface.
The neural interface was a highly restricted and highly controlled piece
of hardware. Under no circumstances did any manufacturer allow the

neural interface to leak out unnecessary signals. Excessive sensory
input would overload a pilot's brains, while excessive movement
output would cause the mech to lose control. The neural interface was
strictly programmed to detect and block unauthorized signals, and
technicians checked them frequently if they weren't tampered with.
Pretty much every mech designer and technician trusted the neural
interface to work as advertised.
"If thousands of industry insiders are sure there's nothing fishy with
the neural interface, then its not the source of the X-Factor."
Emotions also elicit brain signals, and since those were different from
the sensory and movement signals, they were explicitly blocked by the
neural interface.
"But.. what if those signals are inseparable?"
Could emotions be conveyed through the same signals, therefor
making it impossible for the neural interface to filter them out?
For example, if a mech held a sword over a fallen enemy, did its pilot's
desire to kill his opponent get blended in with the same signal that
commanded the mech to thrust down its sword?
If a mech spotted missiles flying in its direction, did an emotion like
fear accompany its sensor signals of the incoming threat?
Unfortunately, Ves had no background in the neural sciences.
Everything he learned about the neural interface in college was how to
install it and how to maintain it. A designer had no need to know how
the gadget worked in order to use it in their designs. This left Ves
unable to answer this question.

"I don't think all those other people who have hunted down the X-
Factor are that stupid. If someone like me can think of it, I'm sure they
exhausted themselves to death trying to see if the neural interface was
capable of doing more."
In the end, Ves was stuck again. With no solid theory on how to
achieve the X-Factor, Ves had no starting point in designing a mech
that incorporated it. With the huge interest payment looming over
him, time began to run out for him. He could not waste the remaining
days on a fruitless quest.
Lucky chose this time to barge inside. With a nonchalant walk, the
mechanical cat dropped the shiny blue sapphire before Ves' feet. It
then nuzzled his legs with its slim but lively body.
"Another gem I see. At least you didn't bury it in the backyard again."
Ves picked up the sparkling blue gem and inspected it briefly before
storing it in a small safe. "Good job, buddy."
Ves took a break. He picked up his gem cat and sank down on a sofa.
He scratched the cat's metallic hide, not really sure if the cat even felt
his fingers, but sure acting like it did. Lucky closed its eyes as it lay
down comfortably on Ves' lap.
As he looked at Lucky, a strange thought inserted in his head. "Are you
alive?"
The cat kept purring as if he didn't understand the question. But Ves
knew the gem cat was smarter than he looked. It possessed an AI way
more sophisticated than the thoughts of an average household cat.
"What is life?"

The age old question of life engendered a lot of controversy over the
years. Many scientists mentioned that life had the ability to learn,
adapt and reproduce. These clinical definitions of life try to encompass
all manner of life, including even the tiniest bacteria. That made the
definition far too broad to be of use in this situation.
Instead, Ves wondered if Lucky could be called a living being. Sure, he
probably couldn't mate with another mechanical cat, but Lucky was no
different from any other pet. Whether Lucky's responses formed
spontaneously or through a large script of possible responses, it didn't
matter. Humans worked in the same way if one pulled up their
microscopes and sunk deeper into a person's cells and DNA.
"I don't care what the scientists and experts say. Since you're capable
of expressing your emotions, you're alive in my book."
Ves was also pretty certain the key to unlocking the X-Factor lay in
emotions. If Lucky could express emotions like Love, hate, fear and
disgust, why not a mech? Certainly, a mech didn't possess the
programming to ferment such redundant thoughts in the eyes of
scientists. But what if a mech bypassed the neural blockade? It could
borrow the pilot's complex neural system to form its own emotions.
Since the mech neurally connected to its pilot's brain, its emotions
mirrored the pilot's own feelings. A mech's anger would neatly mirror
its pilot's own hostility towards an opponent. This would only enhance
a pilot's current mood and not display anything abnormal in the
neural interface.
"I'm kind of reaching out there. How can a novice designer like me get
it right while countless of experts missed this gap?"
At this point, Ves stopped caring about the opinions of others. He kept
it simple.

"Lucky is alive. The System is also a living being. If these two entities
are capable of life, then I believe that Mechs can also live."
If he presented these words to one of the researchers who studied the
X-Factor for decades, he'd be laughed and ridiculed at. It was a stupid
sounding argument that relied entirely on subjective anecdotal
experience. But when he looked down and stroked Lucky's back, he
felt no regrets.
"I can't phrase it in any better way, but my faulty logic doesn't matter.
My belief is enough. My heart tells me I'm looking in the right
direction, and that's good enough."
Now, Ves had finally obtained a somewhat coherent picture of the
relation between life and the X-Factor. He felt as if a weight had
disappeared.
"Now I have to put theory into practice."
Ves was ready to design a new mech. One that hopefully unlocked the
X-Factor.